2012 February | Hoops Rumors

Clippers Sign Bobby Simmons

February 27th, 2012 at 4:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Clippers have signed Bobby Simmons out of the D-League to a 10-day contract, according to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times. ESPN's Marc Stein first reported over the weekend that the Clippers were planning to sign Simmons.

It will be the second stint with the Clippers for the 31-year-old Simmons, who won the Most Improved Player award while with the team in 2004/05. The 6'6", 220-pound swingman has played in parts of nine NBA seasons, the most recent being a two-game stint with the Spurs last year.

Simmons put up 16.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 2.7 APG during that award-winning season with the Clippers, but left to sign a free agent deal with the Bucks that summer and soon reverted to form. This year, he was averaging 13.5 PPG and 7.6 RPG for the D-League's Reno Bighorns.

The Clippers had an empty spot on their roster, so they won't have to let anybody go to bring in Simmons, who'll provide depth at the wing positions that was lost when starting shooting guard Chauncey Billups was lost for the year with a torn Achilles' tendon. Simmons is a career 40% three-point shooter, so he figures to help replace Billups' range, as well.

Nets Sign Gerald Green To 10-Day Contract

February 27th, 2012 at 3:35pm CST by Alex Lee

Gerald Green has officially signed a 10-day contract, the team announced (Twitter link). He'll take the roster spot that was vacated when Andre Emmett's 10-day deal expired.

Green had been a member of the D-League's Los Angeles D-Fenders, and was the MVP of this weekend's D-League All-Star game. He has averaged 19.1 points in 22 games on the season.

The 26-year-old Green last appeared in the NBA in 2009 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks when he averaged 5.2 points in about 10 minutes per game. The Nets will be his fifth NBA franchise, as the forward also had stops in Boston, Houston and Minnesota.

Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio first reported (via Twitter) that Green would sign with the Nets.

Wilson Chandler Rumors: Monday

February 27th, 2012 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, we heard that the Raptors may be looking to move Leandro Barbosa in order to make a contract offer to Wilson Chandler. While Chandler is drawing interest, two major obstacles stand in his way: He needs to receive FIBA clearance to officially become a restricted free agent, and he needs to be cleared before March 1st if he hopes to sign an offer sheet with a team besides the Nuggets. Here's the latest on Chandler:

Agent Chris Luchey tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando that Chandler is in talks with an Italian team about a rest-of-season deal (Twitter link). If the 24-year-old were to play elsewhere and not return to the NBA this season, he'd be a restricted free agent again this summer, potentially scoring larger offers from teams with cap space. Perhaps Chandler and Luchey are trying to regain some leverage over the Nuggets by seriously weighing that option.

Wizards Aggressively Shopping Blatche

February 27th, 2012 at 1:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards have "aggressively" attempted to move Andray Blatche in advance of the trade deadline, multiple sources tell Michael Lee of the Washington Post. For his part, Blatche wouldn't mind a change of scenery, Lee hears from a person close to the 25-year-old.

Blatche averaged 15.3 PPG and 7.1 RPG over his previous two seasons with the Wizards, but has struggled this year, with his PER slipping from 17.2 in the last two seasons to 11.4 in 2011/12. While Blatche has shown some promise, the remaining money on his deal is an obstacle — after this season, he's still owed over $23MM for an additional three years. Besides his contract, Blatche's condition and character concerns rival teams, says Lee.

According to Lee, the Wizards discussed a deal that would have sent Blatche to Charlotte for Tyrus Thomas, but were turned down by the Bobcats. We heard a similar rumor from ESPN.com's Marc Stein in the first week of February. Stein noted that the Wizards were hoping to acquire Boris Diaw's expiring contract in a deal with Charlotte.

If the Wizards can't find a deal they like before March 15th or this summer, they could consider using their amnesty clause on the 6'11" forward.

Kings To Remain In Sacramento

February 27th, 2012 at 12:34pm CST by Luke Adams

A "framework of an agreement" to keep the Kings in Sacramento has been reached, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson told reporters, including SI.com's Sam Amick (Twitter link). Johnson added, "It's game over, so our community should be really excited" (Twitter link).

Negotiations on Sacramento's $387MM arena proposal had been ongoing in Orlando over All-Star weekend, in anticipation of a March 1st deadline. According to Amick (via Twitter), the Maloof brothers, who own the Kings, have agreed to contribute $73MM in the deal. Amick also says the Maloofs will also pay a 5% surcharge on all tickets when the new arena opens in 2015, which will eventually add an additional $60MM to their contribution (Twitter link). According to Joe Maloof, those figures are slightly off — he tells Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee that the Maloofs' contributions will consist of $75MM now and $75MM later through ticket sales (Twitter link).

The agreement means that cities like Anaheim and Seattle, who are hoping to land an NBA team, will have to wait for another opportunity to arise. David Stern has repeatedly said he doesn't anticipate expanding the league within North America, so a franchise would have to be relocated for Anaheim or Seattle to be in play.

Categories:
Sacramento Kings

Warriors Offer Mickell Gladness 10-Day Contract

February 27th, 2012 at 12:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors have offered Mickell Gladness a 10-day contract, tweets Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida. However, Gladness hopes to sign a second 10-day deal with the Heat. He's expected to find out on Tuesday whether the Heat want to bring him back.

The Heat waived Gladness in early February rather than guarantee his contract for the remainder of the season, but brought him back within a week on a 10-day contract. When that deal expired last week, Tomasson said that if the Heat offered a second 10-day deal, it would happen after the All-Star break.

Gladness, who has appeared in eight games this season, prefers to sign with the Heat because they were "the first ones to give me a chance," he tells Tomasson (Twitter link).

Raptors Looking To Move Barbosa?

February 27th, 2012 at 12:20pm CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors are looking to trade Leandro Barbosa so they can make a "big offer" to restricted free agent Wilson Chandler, according to Sam Smith of Bulls.com.

There's still no word on whether Chandler, recently returned from China, has received FIBA clearance from the CBA. A report this weekend suggested that the process may be delayed, since the forward had been cleared to return to America by his team, but not by the league, which has control over his clearance. However, with Chandler's Chinese team now eliminated from the CBA playoffs, there shouldn't be a holdup.

When he's cleared, Chandler will be free to sign an offer sheet with any team, which the Nuggets would then have the option to match. However, teams aren't permitted to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets after March 1st, so if the Raptors hope to make a play for the 24-year-old, they'll have to move quickly.

The Raptors currently have about $4.3MM in cap space, which likely won't be enough to pose a serious threat to the Nuggets. Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld wrote last week that Toronto could try clearing salary to make a bigger offer to Chandler, but suggested Jose Calderon was a more realistic trade chip than Barbosa. I'm inclined to agree that it'll be tough to move Barbosa and his $7.6MM salary — trading him on March 15th would be doable, but if teams know that Toronto's hand is forced, they won't offer much this week.

I looked at Barbosa's trade candidacy earlier this month.

Ray Allen Drawing Interest

February 27th, 2012 at 11:48am CST by Luke Adams

The direction the Celtics will take over the next two and a half weeks is still unknown. If they decide to blow up the roster though, Ray Allen and not Rajon Rondo may be the team's most-coveted trade chip. According to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News (via Twitter), Allen has generated more interest than Rondo to date.

While Rondo is the more attractive long-term asset, Allen would require a smaller package and intrigue contenders in need of a shooter. Teams like the Clippers or Timberwolves would probably love to add Allen for a possible playoff run. Plus, the 36-year-old's $10MM salary makes his one of the largest expiring contracts in play this season.

The Celtics have a number of options as March 15th approaches, and it's possible the team hangs onto its veteran players for one more postseason run. Although the team, as constructed, likely isn't a title contender, holding onto its veterans would allow Boston to clear plenty of salary this summer. Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Jermaine O'Neal alone have expiring contracts that total about $38MM.

Daniel Seco of Hoops Rumors examined Allen as a trade candidate two weeks ago.

Trail Blazers Sign Joel Przybilla

February 27th, 2012 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

Joel Przybilla has officially signed with the Trail Blazers, the team announced today (Twitter link). Przybilla, who passed a physical yesterday, will earn a pro-rated portion of the veteran's minimum salary for the remainder of the season.

The ninth overall pick in the 2000 draft, Przybilla had spent six and a half seasons with the Blazers before he was traded last February as part of the deal that saw Gerald Wallace head to Portland. The 32-year-old averaged 5.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG with a .581 FG% during his first five years with the Blazers, though his health and production began to slip in 2009. The 7'1" center will add size and depth to a Blazers' frontcourt that includes LaMarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas, and Craig Smith.

Przybilla had been deciding whether to sign with the Blazers, Bulls, Heat, or Bucks, or to sit out the season and remain with his family in Milwaukee. Portland has a full roster of 15 players, so a corresponding move will have to be made before Przybilla officially joins the team.

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports first reported that Przybilla had decided to sign with the Blazers, while SI.com's Sam Amick and Jason Quick of the Oregonian added details.

Trail Blazers Waive Armon Johnson

February 27th, 2012 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have waived Armon Johnson, the team announced today (hat tip to Ben Golliver of Blazers Edge). The move clears a spot on the roster for Joel Przybilla, who passed a physical yesterday and should officially join the Blazers today.

Portland was said to be deciding between waiving Johnson or Greg Oden, who is out for the year after undergoing microfracture surgery on his knee. As Jason Quick of the Oregonian points out (via Twitter), the Blazers may believe another team will claim Johnson on waivers, freeing Portland of his salary.

Johnson, who turned 23 last Thursday, only appeared in one game this season for the Blazers after playing in 38 a season ago. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link) believes that Johnson's youth and athleticism will attract interest, and wonders if the Lakers could make a play for the 6'3" guard. According to Golliver, the Blazers "aggressively shopped" Johnson last month, seeking a second-round pick, but didn't find a taker (Twitter link). If he's not claimed on waivers, Johnson would become a free agent later this week.

Month: November 2024