2013 October | Hoops Rumors

Central Links: Kadji, Cavs, Robinson, Pistons

October 26th, 2013 at 4:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Here’s the latest out of the Central Division on a busy day of roster moves in the NBA:

The Cavs’ release of DeSagana Diop, Jermaine Taylor, Elliot Williams and Kenny Kadji means that Henry Sims and Matthew Dellavedova have made the Cavs’ 15-man roster, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal writes. The Cavs like Kadji, however, and they’re expected to protect the power forward from the D-League draft and retain his rights for the Canton Charge once he clears waivers.
Bob Finnan of The News-Herald has more on Sims, who made the team on a non-guaranteed deal, and sizes up the chances the Cavs‘ other cuts have of ending up with the Charge.
Nuggets guard Nate Robinson misses Chicago but he understands why the Bulls didn’t re-sign him, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. “It’s a business,” he said. “Everybody knew I wanted to come back, but they had other things in mind. They signed a great shooter in (Mike) Dunleavy. They got a good rookie (Tony Snell). They’ve got a great team. I miss it. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t. … I had a hell of a year and it was a great run.”
It’s too early to call the Pistons’ big frontline a success, but they’re optimistic about having Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, and Josh Smith on the floor together, writes Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Nuggets Cut Damion James

October 26th, 2013 at 4:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nuggets have waived small forward Damion James, the team announced on its website. The move takes the club’s roster down to 15 players, the regular season maximum.

He had the only non-guaranteed contract remaining on the team, and though he played Jordan Hamilton to a draw, according to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post, Hamilton’s fully guaranteed $1.169MM salary gave him a decided advantage. The move to cut James had been expected, as Dempsey tweeted earlier today.

Quincy Miller, whose deal is guaranteed for $150K, remains on the team, and assuming he makes it to opening night, his contract will become fully guaranteed. Most deals that aren’t fully guaranteed don’t become so until January 10th, but Miller is among several players who have earlier dates written into their contracts.

Rockets Waive Troy Daniels

October 26th, 2013 at 4:17pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets have placed Troy Daniels on waivers, tweets Jason Friedman of Rockets.com. The move leaves Houston with 17 players, meaning the team will have to make two more cuts to get down to the 15-man regular season limit.

Daniels seemed the most likely casualty among the Rockets with non-guaranteed contracts. Reggie Williams has the largest partial guarantee, at $474K, but he’s up against Ronnie Brewer, whose deal is guaranteed for $100K, and Greg Smith and Patrick Beverley, who are on non-guaranteed deals. All four have been NBA rotation-level players, so Rockets GM Daryl Morey has a few tough calls on his hands, though Beverley, who has alternated at point guard with Jeremy Lin, seems safe.

The Rockets didn’t use Daniels in any of their preseason games. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reported yesterday that the team was expected to let him go, and it appears Daniels will wind up signing with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s D-League affiliate.

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.

Suns Pick Up Options On Plumlee, Morris Twins

October 26th, 2013 at 3:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns have exercised their 2014/15 options on center Miles Plumlee and forwards Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Markieff Morris will make $2,989,239 next season, slightly more than his twin brother Marcus, who’ll earn $2,943,221. The option covers the fourth season for both Morrises, while Plumlee’s $1,169,880 option is for his third, as our rookie contract option tracker shows.

Plumlee has impressed in the preseason after arriving over the summer via trade from the Pacers, and his improvement made the Suns more comfortable with trading Marcin Gortat to the Wizards. Marcus Morris also came to the Suns in a trade, as the Rockets shipped him to Phoenix at the deadline in February. Houston drafted him 14th overall in 2011, one pick before the Suns took his brother at No. 15, which accounts for the slight difference in salary between the two.

The more than $7.1MM the exercised options add to Phoenix’s books still leave the team with ample projected cap space next summer. The Suns will have only about $22.1MM in commitments for 2014/15, about $40MM beneath the cap.

Timberwolves Waive Chris Johnson

October 26th, 2013 at 2:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:40pm: The Wolves have officially announced the moves, according to the team’s Twitter account.

1:19pm: The Timberwolves have waived big man Chris Johnson, a source tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). The former LSU Tiger is not to be confused with the Chris Johnson from Dayton whom the Nets waived earlier today. The Wolves will be on the hook for Johnson’s guaranteed $916,099 salary this season. The move likely means Robbie Hummel and A.J. Price, both of whom are on non-guaranteed deals, have made the opening-night roster, since the subtraction of Johnson leaves Minnesota with 15 players.

Multiple reports this month indicated Johnson’s spot on the team was vulnerable in spite of the guaranteed money on the contract he signed with the team last season after a pair of 10-day deals. He appeared in just two games for a total of nine minutes during preseason action. He averaged 3.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.5 minutes per game across 30 contests for the Wolves last year.

Wolves Pick Up Options On Rubio, Williams

October 26th, 2013 at 2:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 2:38pm: The team has officially announced, via Twitter, that it’s exercising the options on Rubio and Williams.

TUESDAY, 1:16pm: The Wolves will exercise their team option on Ricky Rubio for 2014/15, a source tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, and it’s a move that comes as no surprise. The source also confirms that the team will exercise its option on Derrick Williams, as owner Glen Taylor told Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities last night. Rubio’s option adds another $5,070,686 to the team’s payroll for next season, as our rookie contract option tracker shows.

I listed Rubio among the “no brainers” last month when I examined rookie option decisions, and there was never any doubt that Minnesota would ensure team control over the former No. 5 overall pick through his fourth season. A trickier decision involving Rubio looms next offseason, when the Wolves must decide whether to grant him a lucrative extension.

Picking up the options on Rubio and Williams will push the team’s commitments for 2014/15 to $68,403,149, ensuring the Wolves will be well over the cap unless they can move some salary via trade. Once these option pickups become official, Minnesota will trail only the Nets for the most amount of guaranteed money on the books for 2014/15.

Hawks Release Eric Dawson

October 26th, 2013 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Hawks have cut Eric Dawson, according to a press release from the team. The move brings Atlanta’s roster down to 15 players, but there’s still some uncertainty, since only 12 of them have fully guaranteed deals. Mike Scott seems likely to stick on his $100K guaranteed deal, and Shelvin Mack seems to slot in as the third point guard. If the Hawks do carry 15 players at the start of the regular season, it’s likely that Cartier Martin, on a non-guaranteed deal, beat out Dawson for a spot.

The 29-year-old Dawson came to camp with the Hawks hoping to add to an NBA resume that includes just four regular season games with the Spurs in 2011/12. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was an assistant on that San Antonio team, but the connection wasn’t enough to earn Dawson an opening-night roster spot. He notched 3.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 11.3 minutes per game over three preseason contests.

Atlanta won’t be on the hook for Dawson’s non-guaranteed salary. If the Hawks keep just 13 players, they’ll retain about $3MM worth of wiggle room under the cap, as well as their $2.652MM room exception to use to acquire players later in the season.

Magic Exercise 2014/15 Options On Four

October 26th, 2013 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 1:59pm: The Magic have officially announced the moves.

FRIDAY, 10:12pm: Having just made their camp cuts this evening, the Magic will pick up their rookie-scale options on four players tomorrow, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team is set to guarantee the 2014/15 salaries of Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson and Nikola Vucevic.

Robbins first reported that the team had decided on the option pickups back in July, well ahead of the October 31st deadline and long before most teams make these kinds of moves. Together the exercised options will add $8,565,534 to the team’s 2014/15 commitments, bringing the total to about $33.4MM — the 11th lowest amount of guaranteed salary in the league when I ran the numbers and projected next summer’s cap space for every team earlier this month.

Vucevic and Harris, who’ll be playing their fourth NBA seasons in 2014/15, will receive about $2.75MM and $2.4MM, respectively, while Harkless and Nicholson, who’ll be third-year guys that season, are set to make around $1.9MM and $1.5MM. Check out our tracker for details on 2014/15 rookie contract options for each team as the October 31st deadline to exercise them draws near.

Pacers Waive Hilton Armstrong

October 26th, 2013 at 1:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers have waived center Hilton Armstrong, the team announced via press release. That leaves Rasual Butler‘s deal as the only non-guaranteed contract on a roster that’s down to 14 players. Butler hasn’t necessarily made the team, since coach Frank Vogel has indicated the Pacers are likely to go with just 13 players to start the regular season.

Armstrong played sparingly in the preseason, appearing in seven games and averaging 1.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 6.1 minutes per contest. The 28-year-old has five years of NBA experience, but he hasn’t seen regular season action since 2010/11 with the Hawks.

The Pacers have about $69MM on their books for this season, roughly $2.7MM beneath the luxury tax threshold. The team has been adamant about avoiding the tax, so keeping fewer than the 15-player roster max as the regular season gets underway will allow them some flexibility to sign players later this year.

Month: November 2024