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Rockets Likely To Keep Asik, Lin Through Season

January 14th, 2014 at 11:53am CST by Chuck Myron

Omer Asik was the hottest trade candidate in the NBA a month ago, but it doesn’t sound like that will be the case again in advance of the trade deadline. It’s likely he and Jeremy Lin will finish the season on the Rockets, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, who hears that the market for them is becoming increasingly worse.

Both are due balloon payments worth nearly $15MM next season, though they’re only seeing about $5MM this year. With each paycheck the Rockets issue Asik and Lin, their trade value slips, since part of the rationale for other teams who would absorb next year’s increased costs had been this year’s bargain prices, as Deveney explains.

Their cap hits are close to $8.4MM each this season and next, but that doesn’t reflect the actual payments they’re receiving because Houston signed them via the Gilbert Arenas Provision, as I pointed out last month in examining the way Asik’s contract affected his trade value.

“It is a tough sell to bring something like that to your owner,” an executive from a rival team told Deveney. “You have got to tell him, ‘We’re getting a pretty good player, an $8MM player. Oh, but we have to pay him $15 million. We will be giving him LeBron (James) money. That’s OK, right?’ That’s not really a conversation you want to have.”

It’s still possible that the Rockets could find a deep-pocketed team willing to trade for Asik, but Houston probably isn’t as motivated to find a new home for Lin, who’s having the best shooting year of his career, Deveney notes.

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Warriors Rumors: Dedmon, Barnes, Thompson

January 14th, 2014 at 10:37am CST by Chuck Myron

The Warriors were interested in re-signing center Dewayne Dedmon before he agreed to his 10-day contract with the Sixers, but they’re keeping their final roster spot open for a backup point guard, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets. It’s a safe bet the Warriors will acquire a new backup point man in the next month or so, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who has plenty more from Golden State, as we detail:

  • Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson are drawing trade interest from teams across the league, and Barnes hasn’t lived up to the high standard the Warriors set for him this season, Lowe writes. Still, GM Bob Myers seems reluctant to deal either cornerstone player. “We like our core,” Myers said. “We believe in our core, and we believe they will get better.”
  • David Lee, in the midst of a $79.5MM contract that runs through 2015/16, is a frequent target of critics, but Myers isn’t one of them. “Our starting lineup is off the charts in terms of points and points allowed per possession,” Myers told Lowe. “And to assume you can replace someone who is a part of that — well, you don’t just replace someone like that. A lot of his detractors have been proven patently wrong, and they should admit they jumped the gun.” 
  • Lowe suggests that if the Warriors want to find a significant upgrade at the point behind starter Stephen Curry, it might mean parting with Barnes, Thompson or their 2019 first-round draft pick, the earliest first-rounder they can relinquish per the Stepien Rule. Tellingly, Lowe doesn’t mention Toney Douglas, whom the W’s signed this summer to a one-year, $1.6MM deal to fill the role of backup point guard. He appears to have dropped out of the team’s rotation.
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Sixers Sign Dewayne Dedmon

January 14th, 2014 at 9:56am CST by Zachary Links

TUESDAY, 9:56am: The Sixers have officially announced the signing.

MONDAY, 7:54pm: The Sixers are set to sign Dewayne Dedmon to a ten-day deal, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter).  Philadelphia auditioned big men today, including Dedmon and former Heat and Celtics forward Jarvis Varnado.

Dedmon, 24, was with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the D-League after a short stint with the Warriors’ varsity squad.  In 15 D-League games this season, the USC product put up 15.2 PPG and 13.5 RPG.

In addition to Varnado, Dedmon also beat out Kyrylo Fesenko and  Rutgers product Hamady N’Diaye for the vacant spot.  The Sixers had a need for frontcourt depth after waiving Daniel Orton prior to the contract guarantee deadline.

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Jerryd Bayless Wants To Remain With Celtics

January 14th, 2014 at 9:29am CST by Chuck Myron

Jerryd Bayless has led an itinerant NBA life, bouncing between five teams in five and a half years in the NBA. He’s a free agent at season’s end, so he could make his stay in Boston a short one after just having arrived via trade from the Grizzlies last week. Instead, he’d prefer to stay in green for a lot longer, as he tells A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.

“Would l like to find a home? Of course,” Bayless said. “I would love to be here for the rest of my career if I could and find some stability.”

The 25-year-old guard said to Blakely that he’s expressed those sentiments to GM Danny Ainge and coach Brad Stevens. Ainge and the rest of the C’s front office have coveted Bayless for a long time, Blakely notes, so it seems there’s a decent chance the 2008 lottery pick will get to stick around beyond this year.

Bayless is making $3.135MM in the final season of a two-year deal he signed with Memphis in 2012. The Celtics have his Early Bird rights, so they can re-sign him for up to four years with a starting salary in the neighborhood of $5.5MM. The precise starting salary Bayless could receive won’t be known until after the July Moratorium, when the NBA will determine the average salary for the season, but he’ll be eligible for at least $5,486,250, which is 175% of his pay for this year.

Regardless, I’m not sure the Celtics or any other team would be willing to go quite that high, and just how well he meshes in Boston after Rajon Rondo returns from injury will go a long way in determining how much Bayless will command. Still, he’s off to a strong start, if his 15 fourth quarter points last night are any indication.

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Odds & Ends: Love, Spurs, Lee, Thunder

January 13th, 2014 at 10:16pm CST by Zachary Links

With the Wolves struggling and Kevin Love‘s frustration level rising, clubs are likely salivating at the chance to land him via trade.  However, Sam Smith of NBA.com hears that Love, a free agent in the summer of 2015, favors the Knicks and Lakers.  In Smith’s mind, there really isn’t a point to trading for the forward if he isn’t willing to extend his deal or re-sign with your club.  More from around the Association..

  • The Spurs announced that Danny Green will miss about four weeks with a broken left hand, but the team isn’t likely to sign a replacement, tweets Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.
  • Michael Cohen of the Commercial Appeal chatted with new Grizzlies guard Courtney Lee and those who helped shape his game.  “He’s a system guy. He’s not Paul George. He’s not this alpha male-type player. You put him in a specific role on a good team with good players, and that’s where he’s really strong. That’s what we see in him here,” said Stu Lash, Grizzlies director of player personnel and basketball development.
  • Thunder GM Sam Presti told a local sports radio station that while he’ll do his “due diligence” on the trade market, he’s happy with where the team is currently, tweets Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman.
  • Jerryd Bayless can do more for the Celtics than just help their finances, writes ESPNBoston.com’s Chris Forsberg.
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Draft Notes: Exum, Wiggins, Selden

January 13th, 2014 at 6:50pm CST by Zachary Links

The 2014 draft class is expected to be one of the strongest in modern basketball history and Dante Exum is a virtual lock to join in.  The Australian guard, who is projected to be a top five pick, has been meeting with agents for the past few weeks.  Here’s tonight’s draft news..

  • Exum finished his meetings with eight marquee agencies, leaving the representatives confident that he’ll enter this year’s draft rather than attending college, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.  That echoes what we heard about the Australian point guard last week.
  • Not everyone is head over heels about Kansas’ Andrew Wiggins, who was thought to be the top talent in this class pretty recently.  “There’s zero chance of any team taking anybody before Jabari Parker,” an Eastern Conference official told Mark Heisler of Forbes.com. “And there’s zero chance of any team taking Wiggins before [Kansas center] Joel Embiid.”
  • Fellow Kansas standout Wayne Selden is doing well, but scouts say he should stay in school, writes Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.
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D-League Notes: Harris, Jazz, Muhammad

January 13th, 2014 at 5:22pm CST by Zachary Links

Manny Harris, fresh off his second D-League Performer of the Week award, is drawing interest from the Hawks and Lakers, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.  NBA interest is nothing new for Harris, who also spoke with Thunder management about a week ago.  Here’s more from the D-League..

  • The Jazz today officially announced their recall of Ian Clark and Rudy Gobert from the D-League.  Jody Genessy of the Deseret News first reported the move yesterday.
  • The T’Wolves announced that they have recalled Shabazz Muhammad from the Iowa Energy.  The rookie forward is expected to practice with Minnesota today.  The UCLA product averaged 24.5 points and 9.8 rebounds in four games.  Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (on Twitter) notes that Flip Saunders said this would be the plan all along.
  • The Pistons announced that they have recalled rookie guard Peyton Siva and rookie forward Tony Mitchell from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.  Siva averaged 12.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.6 steals in five games (four starts) with Fort Wayne.  In six games (five starts) with the Mad Ants, Mitchell averaged 6.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.5 blocks in 22.1 minutes per game.
  • The Kings announced that they have assigned rookie guard Ray McCallum to the team’s NBA Development League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns.  McCallum was assigned yesterday and recalled just a few hours later.
  • The Raptors announced that they have recalled Dwight Buycks from the Bakersfield Jam.  Buycks has appeared in 12 games for the Raptors this season recording a total of 41 points, 10 assists, 20 rebounds and six steals in 121 minutes.
  • The Delaware 87ers of the D-League have claimed guard Vander Blue, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).  Maccabi Rishon LeZion of Israel waived the former Marquette shooting guard just before the New Year.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Odds & Ends: Salaries, Rondo, Hickson

January 13th, 2014 at 2:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

The NBA’s highest paid players used to dominate the list of the top earners in team sports, but no longer. Eight Major League Baseball players have deals that give them average annual salaries within the top 10 among all athletes in North American team sports, according to Liz Mullen and David Broughton of the SportsBusiness Journal (subscription only). Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony are the other two on that list. It’s a reversal from 2000, when eight NBA players were among the top 10 on those rankings, while two baseball players took up the other spots.

“The NBA players union has failed to protect the rights of the top players in the league,” agent Arn Tellem said. “Collective bargaining has proved totally ineffectual.”

It might help matters if the National Basketball Players Association were able to fill its vacant executive director position. They missed out on another target for the post when Blazers president Larry Miller turned them down, as Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com reported this weekend. While we wait to see who they wind up with, here’s more from the NBA:

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Sixers Auditioning Four Big Men

January 13th, 2014 at 1:59pm CST by Zachary Links

MONDAY, 1:59pm: Spears adds Kyrylo Fesenko and Hamady N’Diaye to the list of players working out for Philadelphia today (Twitter link).

SUNDAY, 5:11pm: The Sixers are working out free agent big men Monday, including the D-League’s Dewayne Dedmon and Jarvis Varnado, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).   Philadelphia lost some frontcourt depth last week when they waived center Daniel Orton.

Dedmon is currently with the Santa Cruz Warriors after a short stint with the Warriors’ varsity squad earlier this season.  The 7’0” center appeared in four games with Golden State, logging a whopping six minutes.  The Warriors flirted with bringing him back at different points since cutting him loose and as recently as last week they were mulling it over.

Varnado, a shot-blocking forward who spent time with the Celtics and Heat last season, is with the Iowa Energy this year.  The 25-year-old has averaged 14.5 PPG and 9.9 RPG in 23 D-League games this season.

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10-Day Contract Tracker

January 13th, 2014 at 1:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

NBA teams and players became eligible to sign 10-day contracts a week ago, and five such deals are already on the books. A pair of players signed 10-day deals shortly after having been cut in anticipation of last week’s leaguewide guarantee date, and plenty other newly minted free agents figure to follow suit.

The bulk of the signings that take place in the NBA between now and April will be of the 10-day variety, and we’ll keep on top of all of them. Hoops Rumors has created a database that allows you to track every 10-day signing all season long. It includes information on every 10-day contract signed since the 2006/07 season, giving you a chance to identify trends regarding your favorite teams and players. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player and year. You can even see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract, and if the short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season.

For instance, if you want to see how many times the recently released Louis Amundson has signed 10-day deals, you can find that information here. Similarly, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts the Knicks have signed in recent years, you can do so 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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