Washington Wizards Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Brown, Green, Morey, Ebanks

October 26th, 2013 at 4:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

Shannon Brown remains on the Wizards roster for now following last night’s trade, though the team is expected to let him go. He isn’t a lock to clear waivers, but if he does, HoopsWorld’s Steve Kyler hears he’d like to sign with the Lakers (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets that several teams are interested, and Brown has yet to make up his mind. Fellow ESPN.com scribe Ramona Shelburne isn’t sure the Lakers will be too inclined to pick up Brown, since they already have 15 players under contract (Twitter link). Here’s more from the West:

After being bounced among seven NBA teams and two international stops by age 27, Gerald Green is OK with waiting for his turn to get minutes in the Suns‘ rotation, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Green, who came to Phoenix in the Luis Scola deal, is one of three small forwards on the team, but he should see more time at two-guard now that Brown is elsewhere.
Rockets GM Daryl Morey paid no attention to rumors that his job was on the line in recent years, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. “I heard second hand those rumblings, and it never made sense to me,” Morey said. “Maybe because I knew Mr. Alexander had a lot of faith in what we were doing and was really an architect in a lot of the strategy, so we were executing on a plan and the owner knew it. I think that, yeah, if we hadn’t been able to turn the corner like we hoped, then at some point he probably says, ‘Hey, I’ve got to change horses,’ and that’s fine. That’s his right. I wouldn’t have been bothered. But he had a lot of belief in us, and I don’t forget that.”
Former Lakers forward Devin Ebanks was among the players the Mavs cut this week, and he has committed to play with the the Texas Legends, the D-League affiliate of Dallas, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (Twitter link).
Bob Myers was an agent before he became GM of the Warriors, and that experience shows in his masterful negotiations on extensions for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Curry, writes Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group. We had plenty more on Bogut’s extension in a post earlier today.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Wizards To Exercise Bradley Beal’s Option

October 26th, 2013 at 10:42am CST by Zachary Links

The Wizards aren’t going to pick up the fourth-year options on Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton, but they will trigger Bradley Beal‘s third-year option, a source familiar with the club’s thinking tells Michael Lee of the Washington Post. Of course, the move was widely expected.

Beal, 20, averaged 13.9 PPG with 3.8 RPG and 2.4 APG in his rookie season. The guard was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2012 draft and along with John Wall he helps to form one of the most promising backcourts in the NBA.

Beal & Co. could be joined by a bonafide star next year as they are projected to have about $15MM for next summer’s free agent frenzy.

Wizards To Decline Options On Vesely, Singleton

October 26th, 2013 at 8:16am CST by Zachary Links

The Wizards are set to decline their fourth-year options on Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. The team officially has until Oct. 31 to make the decision for the 2014/15 season, but it appears that their minds are already made up.

Singleton, who was chosen with the No. 18 pick in the 2011 draft, has missed the entire preseason after undergoing surgery on his left foot/toe. Vesely, who was the No. 6 overall pick in that draft, hasn’t progressed in the way that the club hoped he would at this stage. The big man has averaged just 3.6 PPG in 15.5 minutes per contest over his first two years in the league. Singleton hasn’t fulfilled his potential either, averaging 4.4 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 19.1 minutes per contest.

The Wizards could still re-sign both players following the 2013/14 season to less-than-scale contracts, but they won’t be back for the same amount, unless they truly break out this year. Vesely would have made $4.2MM while Singleton was set to make $2.5MM had their options been exercised.

Reaction To Suns/Wizards Trade

October 25th, 2013 at 11:10pm CST by Chuck Myron

Marcin Gortat took to Twitter to share his reaction to the trade that sent him from the Suns to the Wizards today, writing that he’s glad the deal happened before the season instead of in the middle of it. He also tweeted that he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward the Phoenix brass, calling Ryan McDonough “an amazing GM” for the Suns, and he expressed his excitement about playing with Nene. The man known as The Polish Hammer isn’t the only one with an opinion on the deal, and we’ve got more insight here:

J. Michael of CSNWashington.com calls the trade a win for both teams, and believes the three others headed to the Wizards in this deal — Kendall Marshall, Malcolm Lee and, in particular, Shannon Brown — could be claimed on waivers when Washington cuts them, as expected. If another team claims them, it would take their salaries off the Wizards’ books.
The pressure is on the Wizards to make the playoffs, and the trade makes the need for a postseason berth even more dire for GM Ernie Grunfeld and coach Randy Wittman, according to USA Today’s Adi Joseph, who thinks there was a touch of desperation involved.
TNT’s David Aldridge disagrees that the Wizards made the deal out of desperation, calling it “a classic NBA trade” involving one team with playoff hopes and another one robbing the present to invest in the future.
Miles Plumlee‘s development makes the loss of Gortat easier to stomach, McDonough told reporters, including Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. “Miles Plumlee’s progress is a big reason we did this trade,” McDonough said. “Miles was a big part of the deal we did with Indiana (also getting Gerald Green and a pick for Luis Scola). Our coaching staff has been very pleased with Miles. He’s improved ever since he left Duke and a lot in the short time he’s been with us.”
There have been trade rumors swirling around Gortat since last season, but McDonough said the team wasn’t especially anxious to move him, as Coro notes in the same piece. “We think he’s an above-average center and it took a great deal to do it,” the GM said, adding that “the way we build the next great Suns team is through the draft.”
There are fears that Suns acquisition Emeka Okafor will miss the entire season, as we noted earlier.

Emeka Okafor May Miss All Of 2013/14

October 25th, 2013 at 8:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

There hasn’t been any official timetable given for Emeka Okafor‘s recovery from a herniated disk in his neck, but Chris Mannix of SI.com hears the injury could keep him out all season (Twitter link). Others, including TNT’s David Aldridge, have noted that the Suns didn’t acquire Okafor and his expiring contract for what he could give them on the court, and it appears he may never take the court for Phoenix at all (Twitter link).

The notion that Okafor might miss the entire season clearly lent a sense of urgency to the Wizards negotiations to trade for Marcin Gortat. Washington has aspirations of making the playoffs this season, and the team would have been forced to scramble for a center if Okafor couldn’t play. Wizards coach Randy Wittman could have made Nene the starting pivotman, but the Brazilian prefers to guard opposing power forwards, as Mannix points out on Twitter.

Okafor will make $14,487,500 this season in the final year of his deal. The Suns will likely go with Miles Plumlee, whom they acquired via trade this summer from the Pacers, or Alex Len, the fifth pick from this year’s draft, as their starting center.

Wizards Acquire Marcin Gortat From Suns

October 25th, 2013 at 6:02pm CST by Luke Adams

6:02pm: The Wizards have officially announced the trade on their website. The Suns have also made an announcement via their site.

5:23pm: TNT’s David Aldridge’s tweets more about the protection on the first-round pick the Wizards are sending to Phoenix: If it falls inside the top 12 for 2014, it’ll be top-10 protected from 2015 through 2019, and unprotected after that.

4:24pm: The Wizards will acquire Marcin Gortat from the Suns, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein (via Twitter). Stein reports that Emeka Okafor will head to Phoenix in the deal, while Shannon Brown and Kendall Marshall will join Gortat en route to Washington (Twitter link).

Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com fills in a couple more details, tweeting that the Suns will acquire a protected 2014 first-rounder, while Malcolm Lee will also head to Washington. According to Goodman (via Twitter), the first-round pick acquired by Phoenix will be top-12 protected in ’14. The Suns now hold the Pacers’, Wolves’, and Wizards’ first-round picks, in addition to their own.

For the Wizards, the move will provide more scoring punch in the frontcourt, not to mention a healthier center — Okafor is out indefinitely with a herniated disc, whereas Gortat can be plugged into the lineup immediately. Brown, Marshall and Lee appear to be salary throw-ins, as Michael Lee of the Washington Post tweets that they aren’t expected to stick in Washington.

By reaching an agreement before the season begins, the Wizards will be able to complete the four-for-one trade without waiving three players already on their roster. Once Washington finalizes the deal, it will have 18 players on guaranteed contracts, three of which will need to be dropped before opening night, and it looks like the three extra players in this swap are the prime candidates.

All five players involved in the trade are essentially on expiring contracts. Only Marshall has years on his deal beyond 2013/14, but the final two years on his contract are team options, which the Wizards could decline if they so choose.

For the Suns, the deal clears up their roster logjam. Phoenix had 17 players with full or partial guarantees, but now will be carrying just 14 players, giving the club the option of adding another free agent.

The salaries going in both directions nearly match up exactly, so neither team gains a significant amount of cap relief in the deal, but the Wizards should save about $370K in the move. Considering the team had less than $1MM in breathing room before hitting the tax line, that extra flexibility could come in handy by season’s end. Washington also should create a small trade exception in the transaction which, by my calculations, will be worth about $1.25MM.

Wizards Waive Silas, Childress, Mensah-Bonsu

October 24th, 2013 at 5:07pm CST by Luke Adams

5:07pm: The Wizards announce that they’ve also waived Childress and Mensah-Bonsu in addition to Silas (Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today via Twitter). The roster now stands at 15.

4:46pm: While the news has yet to be confirmed by the team, Xavier Silas has been released by the Wizards, according to an update on his Instagram account. J. Michael of CSNWashington.com reported last night that Washington was expected to cut Silas, Josh Childress, and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, so perhaps when the team makes an official announcement, it’ll include word on all three players.

Silas, 25, went undrafted out of Northern Illinois in 2011 after averaging 22.3 PPG in his senior year. Since then, he has had played overseas and in the D-League, and briefly saw NBA action for the Sixers during the 2011/12 season, appearing in two games for Philadelphia. As Silas noted in his Instagram update and as Michael Lee of the Washington Post detailed, the 6’5″ guard was impressive in his brief preseason audition with the Wizards, scoring 12 points in just 10 minutes.

Releasing Silas reduces Washington’s roster count to 17, while cutting Childress and Mensah-Bonsu as well would ensure that the team’s roster is regular-season-ready.

Wizards Expected To Cut Childress, 2 Others

October 23rd, 2013 at 10:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards are set to waive camp invitees Josh Childress, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Xavier Silas, a source tells J. Michael of CSNWashington.com (Twitter link). All three are with the team on non-guaranteed deals. Washington entered the preseason with 15 guys on fully guaranteed contracts, so it appears none of the players the team brought to camp compelled the Wizards to cut one of their guaranteed salaries. The team released D’or Fischer, its other camp invitee, last week.

All three of the Wizards about to hit waivers have NBA experience, and none more extensive than Childress. The swingman from Stanford impressed in a sixth-man role for the Hawks during his first four-year stint in the NBA, but he hasn’t been able to regain his footing in the league after signing a lucrative deal with a Greek team in 2008. He returned to the NBA in 2010/11, but the Suns amnestied his contract after two seasons, and he didn’t make it until New Year’s Day last season with the Nets. He scored eight points in 32 minutes over four preseason games with Washington.

Mensah-Bonsu spent this month trying to return to the NBA after a two-season absence, while Silas has been seeking to add to his abbreviated NBA regular season game log, which includes just a pair of games with the Sixers in 2011/12. Neither saw significant action in any of the Wizards’ preseason games.

Stein On Bledsoe, Davis, Turner, Pondexter

October 21st, 2013 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Gordon Hayward and the Jazz are working on an extension, and it looks like the two sides will work something out within the next 10 days, as ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported overnight. However, Hayward looks like the only member of the draft class of 2010 likely to receive a new deal by the October 31st deadline, in Stein’s view. The ESPN.com scribe examined the remaining extension-eligible players in his latest piece, so let’s round up the highlights….

Besides Hayward, Eric Bledsoe of the Suns and Ed Davis of the Grizzlies appear to be the strongest candidates to re-up with their respective teams. Sources tell Stein that Memphis has been discussing a new deal with Davis’ camp this month.
As for Bledsoe, Stein notes that next year’s free agent crop of point guards looks thin, meaning it may be risky for the Suns to let the ex-Clipper hit the open market, even as a restricted free agent. According to Stein, Favors’ deal may help Bledsoe’s negotiating position, since Utah paid its big man based in part on the expectation that his role and production will increase this season.
Evan Turner is more likely to be traded by the Sixers than extended.
Having spent big already on John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins respectively, the Wizards and Kings probably won’t extend their other fourth-year players this month. Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin are eligible for Washington, while Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson fit the bill in Sacramento.
Greg Monroe (Pistons) and Avery Bradley (Celtics) also continue to look like strong bets to hit free agency next summer.
A new deal for Quincy Pondexter hasn’t been completely ruled out by the Grizzlies, but Ekpe Udoh (Bucks) and Jordan Crawford (Celtics) won’t get extensions, says Stein.

Eastern Notes: Webster, Heat, Magic, Allen

October 21st, 2013 at 10:07am CST by Luke Adams

As the final week of the preseason gets underway, let’s round up a few items from around the Eastern Conference….

Martell Webster signed a lucrative four-year deal with the Wizards this summer, but a sense of entitlement didn’t come along with that contract, says Michael Lee of the Washington Post. Webster had been in the mix for a starting spot, but will come off the bench instead, and tells Lee that’s fine with him.
In his latest mailbag for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Ira Winderman wonders if the Heat would part ways with Rashard Lewis in order to clear a spot on the roster for Eric Griffin.
Solomon Jones spoke to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld about the opportunity the Magic are giving him to play during the preseason and potentially earn a regular-season roster spot.
As someone who had already been criticized for a perceived lack of effort, Lavoy Allen didn’t do himself any favors when he missed a recent Sixers practice due to “oversleeping.” However, he tells Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer that it’s not something he believes will hinder his NBA future.