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Month: September 2024

Suns Notes: Beasley, McDonough, Hornacek

August 6th, 2013 at 7:55pm CST by Zachary Links

The Suns are still working on the rebuilding process and GM Ryan McDonough knows that Phoenix will need a star player to take them all the way.  The club's stockpile of first round picks, he explained in a radio interview recently, can help make that happen.

"When teams have maybe a disgruntled superstar, what are they looking for in return? Well, they're looking for picks, that's what they want. None of those guys are available right now, but as you know, some of the time you don't always see that coming. You look at the Deron Williams situation or something like that, and these things just kind of happen out of the blue. I think we're well-positioned to strike if and when the next disgruntled superstar becomes available," said the GM

Here's more out of Phoenix…

  • Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter) points out that the Suns have an option to waive and stretch the contract of troubled forward Michael Beasley.  In that event, the Suns would pay Beasley $9MM over five years rather than two, allowing them to stretch out the cap hit.
  • Meanwhile, it's unlikely that the Suns will be able to terminate Beasley's deal thanks to his arrest as it falls under the CBA (Twitter links).
  • After a disappointing year in Phoenix that brought sweeping changes, McDonough says that he just hopes to see the team play hard and cohesively as a unit, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.  The 2013/14 season under new coach Jeff Hornacek will be measured more on that than wins and losses, according to the GM.
  • Dan Bickley of AZCentral.com asks if Beasley could be the most pathetic player in franchise history.  In Bickley's opinion, the Suns can't afford to have him anywhere near this club during their transitional phase.
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Knicks Sign Jeremy Tyler To Two-Year Deal

August 6th, 2013 at 6:04pm CST by Zachary Links

After a standout performance in summer league with the Knicks, Jeremy Tyler has signed with the club, the team announced today.  It will be a two-year deal, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).  Shams Charania of RealGM hears that it will be a partially-guaranteed deal "signifying the organization’s commitment for him to be part of the short- and long-term future".

The forward/center received a training camp invite from the Knicks back in mid-July and it appeared at the time that the big man would be receiving a minimum salary, non-guaranteed one-year pact.  Tyler averaged 12.8 PPG and 6.4 RPG for the Knicks in summer league, showing firm post moves against decent competition.

As a high school talent, Tyler was once believed to be one of the more promising big men in his age group.  The big man made waves when he decided to forgo his final year at San Diego High School and a commitment to Louisville to instead play professionally in Israel until he was eligible for the NBA Draft.  Tyler wound up being the No. 39 pick in the 2011 Draft and spent more time playing for the Warriors' D-League affiliate than their varsity squad.  He was traded to the Hawks at this year's trade deadline but his time there was short-lived, leading him back to the D-League.

Tyler is represented by Gabe Giordano, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.

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Knicks Remain Focused On Beno Udrih

August 6th, 2013 at 4:41pm CST by Luke Adams

A report last week suggested that the Knicks were attempting to convince Beno Udrih to accept a minimum-salary deal to play in New York, and it seems the presence of other suitors hasn't diminished the Knicks' interest. According to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter), Udrih remains the club's top free agent priority, and the Knicks may not sign another player until they hear from the point guard.

The Knicks aren't necessarily considered long shots for Udrih, but he's reportedly still hoping he can earn more than the minimum, and there are at least four other teams with interest. If even one of those clubs is willing to make an offer worth more than the minimum, it could make things difficult on the Knicks.

Nonetheless, New York is preparing its Plan B just in case, according to Begley, who tweets that the team is bringing in Bobby Brown and two other players for workouts. Brown has an agreement with China's Dongguan Leopards, but can opt out for an NBA deal up until August 15th, so the Knicks want to take another first-hand look at him before then.

The Knicks are hoping to eventually sign a point guard to complement the team's existing duo of Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni.

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Odds & Ends: Clippers, Cousins, Pacers, Self

August 6th, 2013 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

While a few of the more notable games on the 2013/14 NBA schedule have already been reported, the full slate won't be announced until later this afternoon. As we look forward to the 5:00 CT announcement, let's check out a few odds and ends….

  • Chris Paul's new five-year contract with the Clippers makes him one of the NBA's only players locked up through 2018, but Paul believes the team's other long-term fixture will be crucial to L.A.'s success. "I think our team will definitely go as Blake [Griffin] goes," Paul told Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
  • Grantland's Zach Lowe examines the case of DeMarcus Cousins, exploring whether it makes sense for the Kings to try to lock him up or to explore potential trades.
  • Popeye Jones will join Pacers coach Frank Vogel's staff, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
  • At Brandon Knight's introductory presser, Bucks GM John Hammond told reporters, including Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that the team is "by no means" in tanking mode for 2013/14.
  • Kansas coach Bill Self hasn't ruled out the possibility of someday leaving the NCAA for an NBA job, as he told Michael Baldwin of the Oklahoman. "It hasn't really tempted me because I haven't had that many people talk to me about it," Self said. "But at some point and time, sure, I think it would. It would be great to be able to match wits with the best athletes in the world, but I'm certainly happy where I'm at."
  • Bobby Brown is flying to New York to meet with the Knicks, tweets Marc Berman of the New York Post. Brown is under contract with a Chinese team, but has until August 15th to sign an NBA deal and opt out.
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NBA Veterans Eligible For Contract Extensions

August 6th, 2013 at 1:24pm CST by Luke Adams

Last month, we listed the fourth-year players who are eligible for contract extensions of up to five years. The criteria for those players are fairly simple: If you're still playing on the rookie-scale deal you signed as a first-round draft pick and you're entering the final year of that contract, you're extension-eligible. John Wall became the first of those players to ink an extension with his current team last week, when he re-upped with the Wizards.

For veteran players, however, the criteria are a bit more convoluted. As Larry Coon explains in his invaluable CBA FAQ, veteran contracts of less than four years cannot be extended. However, longer deals can be extended in the following scenarios:

  • If a player is on a four-, five-, or six-year deal, it can be extended three years after it was signed.
  • If a player previously signed a contract extension, his deal can be extended again three years after the extension was signed.
  • If a player previously renegotiated his contract, his deal can be extended three years after the renegotiation was signed, if his salary was increased by more than 10%.

Given the specific circumstances required for a veteran contract extension, not a ton of players are eligible for them in any given year. Veteran extensions can also be for no more than four years, which includes the current season, meaning a player in the final year of his deal could only add three new seasons.

As such, top extension-eligible veterans such as LeBron James are far more likely to wait until free agency, where they can maximize their earnings. On the other hand, many other extension-eligible players like Charlie Villanueva, Richard Jefferson, and Andris Biedrins essentially have no chance of receiving new deals from their current teams, who are just waiting to clear those salaries.

Still, somewhere in the middle, there are a handful of players that we can reasonably expect to at least discuss the possibility of a contract extension with their respective teams at some point before next June. Here's the complete list, by my count, of veteran players currently eligible for extensions:

In addition to the players listed above, several players will become extension-eligible sometime before next June. Here's that list, along with the dates they become eligible to sign a new deal:

Storytellers Contracts was used in the creation of this list.

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Southeast Notes: Wizards, Heat, Bobcats

August 6th, 2013 at 11:58am CST by Luke Adams

Let's round up a few Tuesday morning items from around the Southeast Division….

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Top Scorers Still On The Market

August 6th, 2013 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

Last week, I examined the top three-point shooters still available in free agency, for teams in need of perimeter scoring. Many of those players saw their strong three-point percentages propel them to solid scoring averages in 2012/13, but outside shooting isn't the only way of putting the ball in the net.

While many NBA teams are done with their free agent shopping, there are likely still a few clubs that wouldn't mind adding a scorer or two to supplement their benches. Taking a flier on a Summer League standout or an undrafted rookie could pay dividends, but there are plenty of veteran scorers still on the market as well.

Listed below are the top 15 remaining free agents by points per 36 minutes. Their PP36 rate for 2012/13 is listed in parentheses. To qualify, these players must have averaged at least 10 minutes per game and appeared in at least 20 contests in '12/13.

  1. Nikola Pekovic (18.6) (restricted)
  2. Richard Hamilton (16.2)
  3. Ivan Johnson (15.7)
  4. Antawn Jamison (15.7)
  5. Leandro Barbosa (15.1)
  6. Mo Williams (15.0)
  7. Jannero Pargo (14.7)
  8. Jeremy Pargo (14.6)
  9. Hakim Warrick (14.3)
  10. Cartier Martin (14.0)
  11. DeJuan Blair (13.9)
  12. Beno Udrih (13.3)
  13. Damien Wilkins (12.8)
  14. Terrence Williams (12.5)
  15. A.J. Price (12.4)

Honorable mention:

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Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors

August 6th, 2013 at 8:51am CST by Luke Adams

As we've outlined before, there are a number of different ways to follow Hoops Rumors via Facebook, Twitter, and RSS. If you don't want to follow all the site's updates, you can follow team-specific or transaction-only Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds. Although we don't have Facebook pages or Twitter feeds for specific players, you can also easily follow all our updates on your favorite player.

If, for instance, you want to keep track of all the latest news and rumors on LeBron James as he enters a potential contract year, you can visit this page. If you're interested in keeping tabs on contract extension talks between the Kings and DeMarcus Cousins, you can find Cousins' page right here.

Every player we've written about has his own rumors page. You can find your player of choice by using our search box (located in the right sidebar); by clicking his tag at the bottom of a post where he's discussed; or, by simply typing his name in your address bar after hoopsrumors.com, substituting dashes for spaces. For example, LeBron's page is located at hoopsrumors.com/lebron-james.

In addition to players and teams, there are a number of other subjects you can track by clicking on the tags we use at the bottom of posts. Items related to the 2016 Olympics, for instance, can be found on this rumors page. If you want to follow early updates on the 2014 NBA draft, those are all available here.

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Poll: Best One-Year Deal Of The Summer?

August 5th, 2013 at 8:51pm CST by Zachary Links

Earlier today, our own Chuck Myron compared this summer's one-year free agent deals to those of last summer and found a significant drop off in dollars.  Last summer, Chris Kaman cashed in a one-year, $8MM with the Mavs, Nick Young got $5.6MM from the Sixers, Chauncey Billups and the Clippers agreed to a $4.3MM pact, and J.J. Hickson signed for $4MM with the Blazers after a strong second half with Portland.  This year, it's a different story.

The complete list of 2013's one-year deals (excluding the ones for the veteran's minimum) is headlined by a deal that would have been in the middle of the pack last year:

These free agents may not have gotten as much money as they would have hoped, but they're all notable names who can boost their value for the summer of 2014 and beyond.  For the teams that signed them, they could be getting a tremendous value on a player who wants to impress in their walk year.  Based on how you expect them to perform while also taking their salary into account, we want to know how you rank these signings – from the club's perspective – from best to worst.

Click here for the results.

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James Ennis Likely Heading Overseas

August 5th, 2013 at 6:35pm CST by Spencer Lund

On draft night the Hawks sent the 50th pick, James Ennis, to the Heat in exchange for a future second rounder. Fox Sports Florida's Chris Tomasson reports that Ennis' agent, Scott Nichols, has informed the Heat he is making phone calls overseas on Ennis' behalf.

No final decision on Ennis' future with the team will come until the end of the week when Nichols speaks to Heat president Pat Riley about the situation, but it looks highly unlikely Ennis will suit up for the Heat this coming season. If Ennis plays overseas, the Heat maintain his rights; if Ennis goes to training camp in the fall, they either have to sign him, or waive him.

Nichols tells Tomasson he's spoken with teams in France, Russia, Australia, Italy and Germany about the 6'7" swingman out of Long Beach State. But Ennis' agent was adamant that because the Heat have so many wings who are free agents next summer (Shane Battier, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and James Jones), Ennis will "definitely" be playing for the Heat in the 2014/15 season. 

Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel agreed that the glut of wings on the Heat probably led to the decision (Twitter link). The Heat are trying to avoid paying more in luxury taxes, and they're hopeful they can convince any remaining free agents–like their recent interest in point guard Sebastian Telfair–to take the minimum.

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