2013 March | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Trail Blazers, Durant, Leslie

March 12th, 2013 at 8:48pm CST by Michael Pina

A few notes from around the NBA's Northwest Division:

The Oregonian's John Canzano gives his take on the Trail Blazers situation compared to that of the Seattle Seahawks. Both franchises are owned by Paul Allen, and in light of yesterday's big news that the football team had made a big splash by trading for wide receiver Percy Harvin, Canzano argues that in order for the basketball team to make similar high-impact moves, Blazers GM Neil Olshey needs to gain Allen's trust.
Jazz guard Travis Leslie hopes he'll get to stay with the team past his 10-day contract, writes The Salt Lake Tribune's Bill Oram.
The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry has quotes from Kevin Durant on his poor shooting performance last night against the Spurs.

Poll: Which Injury Is The Most Significant?

March 12th, 2013 at 7:43pm CST by Michael Pina

Earlier tonight we filled you in on a few bits of news regarding some of the league’s more notable players and the injuries they’re dealing with. Which one do you think is the most significant in terms of the playoff picture?

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Injury Notes: Rose, Gasol, Anthony

March 12th, 2013 at 6:51pm CST by Michael Pina

A few injury related notes about a few of the league's brightest stars.

According to CBSSports.com's Ken Berger, Lakers forward Pau Gasol is close to returning, as it's been six weeks since he tore the plantar fascia in his right foot against Brooklyn in early February.
Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony could get his knee drained, according to a tweet from Newsday's Al Iannazzone. But it's probable that this would only occur as a last solution. The knee injury won't force Anthony to miss time in the short term, but it's a situation that's constantly being monitored and reevaluated by the team.
According to the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson, Derrick Rose told reporters earlier today that he has no specific return date, and that he might not play at all this season.

Odds & Ends: Korver, Magic, Stoudemire, Balkman

March 12th, 2013 at 5:37pm CST by Luke Adams

A few Tuesday evening odds and ends from around the NBA:

Kyle Korver will hit unrestricted free agency this summer, and he's looking forward to going through the process, as he tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld. "It’s nothing to dread about it," Korver said. "Your wife wants to know where she’s going to live next year and I do too, obviously…. It’s an exciting time but right now you have to take care of the games you have in front of you and let July take care of July." I examined Korver's free agent stock last week.
With Dwight Howard returning to Orlando for the first time since being traded last August, Tom Ziller of SBNation.com notes that the package acquired by GM Rob Hennigan and the Magic in that deal is no longer being questioned.
As David Lee and the Warriors faced the Amare Stoudemire-less Knicks last night, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News tweeted that ex-Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni wanted the team to re-sign Lee in the summer of 2010 rather than pursuing Stoudemire.
Pointing out that Robert Sarver and the Suns were also willing to offer Stoudemire a max contract in 2010, but only if he met certain minutes-played thresholds, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic says the Suns made the right call.
Renaldo Balkman's lifetime ban from the Philippines' professional basketball league has been reduced to one year, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando writes.

10-Day Contract Tracker

March 12th, 2013 at 4:29pm CST by Luke Adams

The 10-day contract signing period is in full swing, and a number of teams have taken advantage of their ability to hand out temporary deals over the last couple months. While some clubs have used them to add veteran depth at a thin position, others have used them to bring in a young prospect for a trial run of sorts.

Teams figure to continue handing out 10-day contracts fairly frequently over the rest of the season, and we'll be tracking all of them. Hoops Rumors has created a database to keep track of the 10-day deals signed this year and in previous seasons (dating back to 2007). A number of search filters make it easy to find 10-day information sorted by team, player, year, or contract type.

For instance, if you want to find out which players signed rest-of-season deals in 2011/12 after playing out two 10-day contracts with their teams, you can find that info here. If you want to see the 10-day deals signed only by the Hornets over the past few years, you can view those here.

A link to our 10-day contract tracker can be found at any time in the Tools menu at the top of the page, or in the right sidebar. We'll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings.

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Tony Gaffney Drawing NBA Interest

March 12th, 2013 at 3:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Former UMass forward Tony Gaffney is getting out of his contract in Spain and is expected to receive his release from Joventut Badalona as soon as Friday, according to Alex Kennedy and Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld (Twitter links). Both HoopsWorld scribes report that several NBA teams have expressed some interest in Gaffney.

Since going undrafted in 2009, Gaffney has spent most of his playing career overseas, including stints in Israel, Turkey, and Germany. He participated in training camp in 2009 with the Lakers, and was signed by the Celtics late in the 2009/10 season to a multiyear non-guaranteed deal. Boston released him in the fall of 2010. Gaffney's only other action stateside came in 2011, when he spent 35 games with the D-League's Utah Flash, averaging 10.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG, and 2.3 BPG. In 2012/13 in Spain, he posted averages of 11.5 PPG and 5.9 RPG in 23 contests.

If Gaffney, 28, is able to catch on with an NBA team before season's end, he'd be playoff-eligible, having not been on an NBA roster yet this season. I'd be a little surprised to see him sign with a contender, but perhaps a lottery team with an open roster spot would have interest in inking him to a contract that includes a non-guaranteed season for 2013/14, to take a look at him over the summer.

Tony Gaffney

Jennings: Bucks Never Made 4-Year, $40MM Offer

March 12th, 2013 at 1:42pm CST by Luke Adams

About a month ago, ESPN.com's Chris Broussard cited multiple sources in reporting that Brandon Jennings turned down a four-year, $40MM extension offer from the Bucks prior to the season. Last week, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports heard the same thing from a source of his own.

At the time of Broussard's initial report, Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times tweeted that the Bucks never made a four-year, $40MM offer to Jennings. In the wake of Spears' recent report, Woelfel took to Twitter again today, noting that Jennings himself said he wasn't offered such a deal.

Broussard and Spears are typically reliable sources of information, and the fact that they each identified the same years and dollar amounts in independent reports suggests to me that there's something there. Perhaps those terms were discussed but never officially put on the table by the Bucks, or perhaps something was lost in translation between Jennings and former agent Bill Duffy.

Whether or not the Bucks formally extended a four-year, $40MM offer to Jennings, the fourth-year guard was unlikely to accept it. As Spears reported last week, Jennings hasn't ruled out signing a qualifying offer from Milwaukee this summer, which would keep him under contract for one more year before he could become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2014. If he does explore a long-term contract this summer, I expect him to receive an offer more lucrative than four years and $40MM on the open market, considering how many teams are expected to have significant cap room.

Western Notes: McGuire, Iguodala, Kings, Mavs

March 12th, 2013 at 1:12pm CST by Luke Adams

As we look forward to an eight-game evening slate that includes Dwight Howard's return to Orlando, let's round up a few of today's stories relating to Western Conference clubs….

The Warriors elected not to sign Dominic McGuire after the trade deadline using one of their open roster spots at least in part because coach Mark Jackson didn't want McGuire taking minutes away from rookie Draymond Green, according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group (via Sulia).
Andre Iguodala admits to Paola Boivin of the Denver Post that his 2013/14 player option is in the back of his mind, but says he won't make a concrete decision on whether or not to exercise it until after the season.
Despite David Stern's insistence that the Kings sale won't result in a bidding war, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that the Sacramento group may be in trouble if the Seattle group "keeps pushing up the price."
Part of the reason the Mavericks released Dominique Jones was to give him an opportunity to find playing time with another club, as GM Donnie Nelson explains to Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "The playing time that Dominique probably deserves wasn’t here and available," Nelson said. "Hopefully that presents itself with another team some place."
Darren Collison isn't complaining about coming off the bench for the Mavericks, but when he becomes a free agent this summer, he'll hit the market believing that he's capable of being a starter somewhere, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.

Raptors May Target Carl Landry In Offseason

March 12th, 2013 at 11:46am CST by Luke Adams

Last Wednesday, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported that the Raptors would look to flip Andrea Bargnani for a "proven scoring post player" this summer. However, according to Spears' latest report, it sounds as if the Raps could also turn to free agency in search of the post player they covet. Spears hears from a source that Toronto may target Carl Landry if he declines his player option with the Warriors.

Landry, who signed a two-year contract with the Warriors last summer, is earning $4MM this season and has an option worth the same amount for 2013/14. Presumably, he'd only opt out if he felt that he could earn more than $4MM in '13/14 or if he thought he could get a similar annual salary on a longer-term deal. As such, it's hard to see the Raptors as a realistic fit.

Assuming the Raptors turn down John Lucas III's modest team option, the club will still have more than $71MM on next year's books for 11 players. Amenstying Linas Kleiza and his $4.6MM salary would get the team out of the tax, but would still make it difficult to use the full mid-level exception. As we saw with the Bulls this season, using more than the taxpayer portion of the MLE means that a club will be restricted by a hard cap for the remainder of the season. If the Raptors don't have the full mid-level available, it will be very difficult for them to make a competitive offer for Landry.

Of course, if the Raptors are able to clear more salary in other moves, the team could create enough flexibility to offer Landry the full mid-level, or perhaps try to acquire him in a sign-and-trade. But even then, I wouldn't be surprised if there were rival suitors prepared to make stronger offers.

Warriors Assign Bazemore, Thomas To D-League

March 12th, 2013 at 11:29am CST by Luke Adams

Here are today's D-League assignments and recalls, with any further moves added to the top of the page throughout the day:

The Warriors have assigned Kent Bazemore and Malcolm Thomas to their D-League affiliate, the team announced today in a press release. Thomas is on a 10-day contract with Golden State, so either his D-League stint will be brief or the team has a longer-term plan for him — perhaps both. For Bazemore, it's his fifth assignment to the Santa Cruz Warriors this season.

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