2012 July | Hoops Rumors

Grizzlies, T-Wolves Swap Cunningham, Ellington

July 24th, 2012 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies and Timberwolves have agreed to swap Dante Cunningham and Wayne Ellington, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). There had been rumblings over the last couple weeks that the trade would be consummated soon, but the T-Wolves needed to work through cap issues before making the deal official.

Financially, the deal works out almost perfectly, as the Grizzlies take on Ellington's $2,083,042 salary, while Cunningham and his $2,090,000 salary head to Minnesota. Ellington is in the final year of his rookie deal, while Cunningham has one more team option for 2013/14. From an on-court perspective, Ellington joins a Grizzlies' backcourt that has also added Jerryd Bayless and was in need of a shooter. Cunningham will add size to a T-Wolves' frontcourt that includes Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic, Derrick Williams, and Greg Stiemsma.

Having moved Cunningham, the Grizzlies will look to re-sign Hamed Haddadi for something close to the minimum, tweets Tillery. The Wolves, meanwhile, still need to officially finalize deals for Stiemsma, Alexey Shved, and Brandon Roy.

Bulls Sign Marco Belinelli

July 24th, 2012 at 3:03pm CST by Luke Adams

TUESDAY, 3:03pm: The Bulls have officially signed Belinelli, the team announced today in a press release.

MONDAY, 5:16pm: Belinelli's deal has been agreed to and is for one year at the bi-annual exception of $1.96MM, sources told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).

2:02pm: The Bulls and Belinelli are finalizing details on a one-year deal that would pay Belinelli a little under $2MM (Chicago's bi-annual exception), according to Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. An international report suggested the contract would be for two years, so we'll have to wait to see what the two sides work out.

FRIDAY, 3:16pm: Marco Belinelli and the Bulls appear to be in "advanced talks," according to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld (via Twitter). Kennedy cautions that nothing is imminent yet, but the Bulls figure to be seeking a two guard to replace the departed Ronnie Brewer.

According to Kennedy, Belinelli and the Bulls may be talking about a deal involving the bi-annual exception, though using the BAE would create a hard cap for the Bulls this season. The club is already well over the cap, and when it reached an agreement with Kirk Hinrich, it was for the $3.09MM taxpayer mid-level exception rather than the full $5MM mid-level exception.

That's not to say that the Bulls couldn't still access the full MLE and the BAE — the team hasn't passed the tax apron yet, so those exceptions are still available. But using them would mean the team would be forced to keep its payroll below the apron (about $74MM) for the rest of the season, and it would almost certainly mean letting Omer Asik walk. If the Bulls hoped to land Belinelli without introducing that hard cap, they would have to work out a sign-and-trade or get 26-year-old to accept a minimum-salary deal.

Earlier this week, Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld named the Bulls, Magic, Warriors, and Knicks as potential suitors for Belinelli, while Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com reiterated Chicago's interest in the former Hornet yesterday.

Rockets Sign Omer Asik

July 24th, 2012 at 2:48pm CST by Zachary Links

2:48pm: The Rockets have officially added Asik, the team announced in a press release.

11:58am: The Bulls have officially declined to match Asik's offer sheet with the Rockets, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. As a result, Houston will land Asik for three years and $25.1MM. Like Jeremy Lin's contract was, Asik's cap hit will be spread evenly across the three years, rather than being severely backloaded.

JULY 24TH, 11:27am: The Bulls will officially announce later today that they won't be matching Asik's offer sheet, says K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.

Free Agent Rumors: Landry, Thomas, Mason

July 24th, 2012 at 2:20pm CST by Luke Adams

A few more free agents have come off the board today, as A.J. Price and Pablo Prigioni finalized deals with the Wizards and Knicks respectively, while Ronnie Brewer was among the players to agree to a new contract, reaching a deal with the Knicks. With a number of available players still on the market though, here's a round-up of a few of the day's assorted free agent rumors:

The Hornets have renounced Carl Landry's Bird Rights, making a sign-and-trade difficult to work out, writes Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld. The Bobcats were interested in a sign-and-trade deal for Landry, but New Orleans would need to get back under the cap to have room to make it work.
Malcolm Thomas, who was named to the All-Summer League team, is drawing interest from a number of teams, including the Clippers, Bulls, Hawks, and Bobcats, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
Former Lakers second-rounder Patrick Beverley is seeking an NBA job, having worked out for the Bulls, Cavs, and Rockets this offseason. Agent Kevin Bradbury tells Scott Powers of ESPNChicago.com that he thinks his client would be a good fit in Chicago: "He plays defense and does what’s asked of him. He fits the Bulls’ system. I think that’s intriguing for the Bulls. He really respects [Tom Thibodeau]."
The Wizards have interest in bringing back Roger Mason, but Mason isn't looking to sign a one-year, minimum-salary deal, says Michael Lee of the Washington Post. The veteran guard has also received interest from the Thunder, Hornets, Bulls, and Lakers.

Knicks Sign Pablo Prigioni

July 24th, 2012 at 1:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 24TH, 1:47pm: The Knicks have officially signed Prigioni, the team announced today (Twitter link via Jonah Ballow of NYKnicks.com).

JULY 11TH, 7:32pm: Prigioni's contract will be for the rookie minimum of $473,604, Zwerling writes. He'll likely be the team's third string point guard behind Jeremy Lin and Jason Kidd.

6:18pm: The Knicks have reached an agreement on a one-year deal with Spanish league point guard Pablo Prigioni, Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com confirms via Twitter. The 35-year-old has been "on the radar" of Knicks GM Glen Grunwald for the last five years, Zwerling says. The team has been linked to Prigioni at various times during the summer. Marc Berman of the New York Post initially heard from Prigioni's agent, George Bass, that the agreement had been struck (Twitter link).

Wizards Sign A.J. Price

July 24th, 2012 at 1:14pm CST by Luke Adams

1:14pm: The Wizards have officially signed Price, the team announced in a press release. The deal is for one year, according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post.

11:04am: Looking to land a point guard to back up John Wall, the Wizards have agreed to sign A.J. Price, reports Michael Lee of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Terms of the deal aren't yet known.

A former second-round pick, Price has spent the first three years of his career with the Pacers. The 25-year-old has averaged 6.0 points and 2.0 assists in 14.9 minutes per game in 150 career contests. Because he has only been in the NBA for three years, Price was eligible for restricted free agency this summer, but after he posted a career-low 3.9 PPG and .339 FG% in 2011/12, the 6'2" guard did not receive a qualifying offer from Indiana.

As our Free Agent Tracker shows, the Wizards have been all but inactive on the free agent market this summer. Before Price, Washington's only other free agent activity had involved re-signing Cartier Martin for less than $1MM.

Mavs Notes: Free Agency, West, Stotts, Kaman

July 24th, 2012 at 12:42pm CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson appeared on fishbowlnetworkradio.com on Monday, speaking about a number of topics related to his team's offseason. As Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star Telegram writes, Nelson says Deron Williams was the key to the Mavericks' summer — Nelson believes the Mavs would have re-signed Jason Terry and Jason Kidd if Williams had chosen Dallas. Those are interest comments, since Terry and Kidd both had huge cap holds on the Mavs' books. If Dallas hoped to re-sign both players at reasonable rates, the team couldn't have renounced its rights to either player, which means there would have been no cap room for Williams. Perhaps a sign-and-trade could have been worked out with the Nets if D-Will had chosen the Mavs.

In any case, Nelson also weighed in a few more issues, so let's round up the highlights….

The Mavericks have two open roster spots, and rookie Bernard James is expected to take one of the two. Delonte West could re-sign and take the other spot, but that's no certainty, as Nelson points out: "There’s also an argument for keeping that last roster spot open, because sometimes you get lucky towards the end of the summer." The GM adds that the Mavs are still in negotiations with West and are hopeful that they'll work something out.
Nelson feels like assistant coach Terry Stotts is a great head coach candidate, and says the team is prepared to lose him if the Trail Blazers decide to hire him.
According to Nelson, Chris Kaman was at or near the top of the team's list of free agent targets after D-Will. The GM expects Dirk Nowitzki to benefit significantly from Kaman's presence.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban also spoke to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com about the offseason and the new CBA, pointing out that he wants his team to avoid the luxury tax not necessary for financial reasons but because taxpaying teams will face significant restrictions on roster moves starting next summer.

Sixers Sign Maurice Harkless, Arnett Moultrie

July 24th, 2012 at 12:20pm CST by Luke Adams

The 76ers have officially signed their pair of first-round picks, Maurice Harkless and Arnett Moultrie, to rookie contracts, the team announced today in a press release. Harkless was the 15th overall pick, selected with Philadelphia's own first-rounder, while Moultrie was drafted 27th overall with a pick acquired from the Heat.

As our rookie scale contract chart shows, Harkless and Moultrie would be in line for 2012/13 salaries of $1,731,960 and $1,042,320 if they signed for the full 120% permitted for first-year players.

Nets Sign Tornike Shengelia

July 24th, 2012 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

TUESDAY, 10:22am: The Nets have officially signed Shengelia, the team announced today (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 4:03pm: The Nets have agreed to sign second-round pick Tornike Shengelia to a two-year contract, according to Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Emiliano Carchia of Sportando first reported (via Twitter) that Shengelia was "on the verge" of a two-year deal with Brooklyn.

Shengelia, who was selected 54th overall in June's draft, was considered likely to return to Europe after playing in the Belgian League a year ago. However, the Georgian forward showed enough during the Orlando Summer League to earn a spot on the Nets for the coming season.

Hornets Sign Anthony Davis, Austin Rivers

July 24th, 2012 at 10:20am CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets have officially signed first-round picks Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers, according to a team release. Rivers was selected 10th overall, with the pick acquired in the Chris Paul trade, while Davis was, of course, the first overall pick.

Terms of the deals weren't disclosed, but both players figure to receive the full 120% of the rookie scale amount for their slots. That would mean a $5,144,280 first-year salary for Davis and a $2,238,360 rookie salary for Rivers. Their contracts will include two guaranteed seasons and two team options.

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