2014 August | Hoops Rumors

Clippers, Doc Rivers Agree To New Deal

August 27th, 2014 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:00pm: The deal is worth more than $50MM over the next five seasons, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

1:43pm: It’s an entirely new contract rather than an extension for Rivers, tweets Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. That indicates that the terms of Rivers’ original pact with the team, which wasn’t set to expire until the summer of 2016, no longer apply.

11:07am: The Clippers and Doc Rivers have reached a deal that will keep him under contract with the team through the 2018/19 season, the team announced. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported a couple of weeks ago that Rivers, who serves as coach and president of basketball operations, was set for extension talks with the team just as new owner Steve Ballmer formally took control of the franchise. The terms of the new deal aren’t immediately clear, but Rivers signed a three-year, $21MM contract when he joined the Clippers last summer.

“This is an important day for this organization,” Ballmer said in the team’s statement. “I am excited to work with Doc for a long time as we build a championship culture that will deliver results both on and off the court. Not only is Doc one of the best coaches and executives in the game, but he continually embodies the hard core, committed and resilient character and winning culture that the Clippers represent. It was one of my top priorities to ensure that he was firmly in place as the long-term leader of this team.”

The extension announcement comes just a day after Rivers and his front office staff pulled off a trade that sent Jared Dudley to the Bucks and provides some long-term salary flexibility for the Clippers. Rivers has had a busy and tumultuous past several months, and the saga involving former owner Donald Sterling was at the center of it.

Rivers helped guide the team through the playoffs this spring just after the scandal burst into the headlines, but it was weeks before he shushed rumors that he would leave if the Sterling mess weren’t quickly remedied. Doubts about Rivers’ future resurfaced when interim CEO Dick Parsons testified in Sterling’s probate trial that Rivers had told him he didn’t think he would continue with the team if Sterling remained the owner. Ballmer’s formal acquisition of the club earlier this month seemed to stabilize that situation, and Rivers spoke of his admiration for the new owner and enthusiasm for a long-term future with the club as part of the team’s statement today.

Ballmer several days ago stopped short of acknowledging extension talks, but he called Rivers “phenomenal” and made it clear that he wanted to keep Rivers around. The former Microsoft CEO paid $2 billion to buy the team, a record price, but with a net worth of $18 billion, according to Forbes.com, there’s little reason to suspect he was unwilling to pony up for Rivers, particularly given the speed with which they reached agreement.

Rivers, 52, has only more than a year of experience as an executive but has served as a head coach for at least part of each of the last 15 seasons, compiling a 644-498 record. He won the 2008 title with the Celtics, but that was one of just three postseasons in which the teams that Rivers coached won more playoff games than they lost.

Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images.

Central Notes: Love, Meeks, Bucks

August 27th, 2014 at 12:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kevin Love was unsurprisingly an early topic of conversation between Cavs GM David Griffin and new coach David Blatt, as Tim Warsinskey of the Star Tribune passes along.

“Kevin Love [is] a player who quite frankly fits us as well as any player possibly could,” Griffin said Tuesday. “The very first thing David Blatt said was, ‘I need a spacing big. Somebody who can shoot and pass and who knows how to play.’ We said, ‘We have one in mind. His name is Kevin Love, he’s a trade target.’ He said, ‘If you could get Kevin Love to go with LeBron James, you would have had a really good offseason.’ ”

Cleveland’s offseason has indeed been “really good,” and then some, but whether it translates into a championship and sustained success remains to be seen. There’s more on the Cavs amid the latest from the Central Division:

Love’s commitment to the Cavs is really more of a commitment to playing with James, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com writes as he explains the reasons why Love isn’t signing an extension with Cleveland. Love is excited about having star teammates who can help him win, and with James possessing the ability to opt out after this coming season, Love isn’t about to give up his ability to do the same, Windhorst explains.
Jodie Meeks confirms a report from the start of free agency that there were several teams interested in him, but he prioritized taking the first worthwhile offer, as he tells Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Meeks hopped the first flight out to meet with Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy the morning after Van Gundy called to make his pitch, as Langlois chronicles, and the sides had their deal on the first day of free agency.
Ben Golliver of SI.com lauds the Bucks for having been willing to take on Jared Dudley‘s salary to land a first-round pick in Tuesday’s trade. Golliver gives Milwaukee an A+ largely for coming away with the draft choice even though it’s likely to come at the back end of the first round.

Kevin Love Fallout: Taylor, Wolves, Cavs

August 27th, 2014 at 10:05am CST by Chuck Myron

Wolves owner Glen Taylor said Tuesday that Kevin Love‘s health was one reason he hesitated to sign him to a five-year extension in 2012, and he believes it’s a lingering question surrounding around the star power forward, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune observes.

“I had that concern then,” Taylor said. “I still have that concern, and Cleveland should have that concern, too: if he can keep his health. If they sign him to a five-year contract like they’re thinking about, that’s a big contract on a guy who’s had some times when he has missed games.”

Love acknowledged that there are some raw emotions surrounding the blockbuster move but called for Taylor to keep his focus on his own roster, as the newest Cavalier said today on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike” show, Zgoda notes. We passed along plenty on Love Tuesday night, and we’ll detail more here:

Taylor said Love never asked him directly to be traded, but agent Jeff Schwartz did make the request to Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders, according to Taylor, as Zgoda writes in the same piece. The owner suggested that he would have preferred that Love go through him instead.
Love and Taylor haven’t spoken since the end of the season, the owner said, though he insists they’re still on good terms, as Derek Wetmore of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities chronicles.
Taylor had insisted amid Love trade rumors early in the summer that he was in no hurry to make a trade, and he explained his shift in thinking Tuesday to reporters, including Wetmore. “I spoke the truth when I said if Kevin would stay here then we would have the best season. Inside I knew Kevin wasn’t giving us that alternative even though it’s what I wanted,” Taylor said. “So now you have the thing where Kevin kind of said, ‘Trade me or you’re going to pay the fine next year if you don’t trade me.’ I think once we got going on that, we had about four teams that came to us with significant offers. But this one truly had the biggest upside. Flip pushed it and negotiated it the best he could so I’m really happy with it.”

Sixers Notes: Embiid, Salary Floor, Richardson

August 27th, 2014 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Sixers GM Sam Hinkie expressed optimism Tuesday about what Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved can contribute, but he seemed most excited about acquiring the Heat’s protected 2015 first-round draft pick, observes Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers wound up with those assets in the Kevin Love trade, though it appears like they’ll simply net cash from Tuesday’s Hasheem Thabeet swap once they waive Thabeet, as expected. In any case, Philadelphia has been a hub of activity the past few days, so we’ll round up the latest here:

Hinkie also said Tuesday that he’s not sure whether Joel Embiid will play this season, as Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News writes. The GM had said in June that the timetable for Embiid’s recovery from a broken foot was five to eight months. The team has yet to officially announce the signing of Embiid, though the No. 3 pick from this past June indicated Tuesday on Twitter that he had inked his deal, posting a photo of what appeared to be his signed contract.
The Sixers aren’t concerned about reaching the NBA’s minimum team salary, Hinkie said, as Cooney notes. That’s not surprising, since the penalty for any club that fails to meet the $56.759MM salary floor is only that the team must distribute the difference between that figure and its team salary among the players on the roster.
In Cooney’s estimation, Jason Richardson and Arnett Moultrie are more likely to reach buyout deals with the team than remain for the regular season.

And-Ones: Thomas, Wiggins, Drew

August 26th, 2014 at 10:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA is creating more room around the basket stanchions and reducing the number of photographers along the baseline, as Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press reports. The league planned the changes before Paul George was hurt, league president of basketball operations Rod Thorn tells Mahoney, and that’ll prevent another injury of the sort that befell George, but that’s of little comfort to the Pacers at this point.

Here’s the latest from around the league:

Isaiah Thomas tells Jeff Caplan of NBA.com that he never requested trade from the Kings, who wound up participating in the sign-and-trade that sent him to the Suns. “I was always professional about every situation,” Thomas said. “I always came in with my hard hat on willing to do whatever is best for the team. When they signed Darren Collison, I knew I was going in a different direction.”
Larry Drew said that he was blindsided by the events which led to him being fired and replaced by Jason Kidd as coach of the Bucks, writes Howie Kussoy of The New York Post. Drew also said, “From their [the owners’] standpoint, there’s no set time for these type of things. It caught me in a position when I least expected it. But I know how these things work. I don’t have any hard feelings, any grudges against anybody. [Owner] Marc [Lasry] called me and I just wished him luck. I’ve got to keep moving forward.”
Andrew Wiggins just wanted to play for a team that wanted him, and called the completion of the deal that sent him to the Wolves a big relief, writes Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press.
Former NBA player Dominic McGuire has signed with Hapoel Eilat of the Israeli League, reports David Pick of Eurobasket (Twitter link). McGuire’s last NBA action came during the 2012/13 season with the Pacers, Pelicans, and Jazz. In six NBA seasons, he has averaged 2.7 PPG and 3.4 RPG.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Contract Details: Clarkson, Young, Powell

August 26th, 2014 at 9:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Eric Pincus has once more updated his Basketball Insiders salary pages, and included in his changes are a few tidbits of previously unreported news on players who’ve signed this summer. We’ll pass along those items here:

The two-year deal that Jerrelle Benimon signed with the Nuggets is for the minimum salary and is partially guaranteed for $35K this season, while his 2015/16 salary is non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link).
The Blazers gave Diante Garrett a $30K guarantee in the first year of his two-year minimum salary deal, but the second year is non-guaranteed, Pincus notes on Twitter.
Patric Young‘s two-year deal with the Pelicans is a minimum-salary arrangement that’s partially guaranteed for $55K this season, but it’s otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus notes (Twitter link). Darius Miller‘s deal with the team is partially guaranteed for $400K this year but otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus adds.
Both Will Cherry‘s and Jordan Hamilton‘s salaries are guaranteed for $25K for the 2014/15 season, Pincus tweets, adding that Hamilton’s pact is for the minimum. The Raptors signed Cherry to a two-year minimum salary deal, and Hamilton to a one-year arrangement. Cherry’s salary for 2015/16 is non-guaranteed, Pincus adds.
Dwight Powell‘s deal with the Cavaliers is fully guaranteed for the first season, with the second year non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link). The contract covers just those two seasons, as Pincus notes.
The Spurs‘ two-year deal with JaMychal Green is for the minimum salary and has a $60K guarantee for this coming season, Pincus reports (Twitter link). It’s non-guaranteed for 2015/16, according to Pincus.
Sim Bhullar‘s deal is for one year and comes with a guarantee of $35K, while Eric Moreland‘s three-year contract is guaranteed for $200K this coming season and is otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus notes (Twitter link). Both players are with the Kings, and, according to Pincus, make the minimum.
The two-year, minimum-salary deal that Jordan Clarkson signed with the Lakers is fully guaranteed for this coming season, but the 2015/16 season is non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link).

Latest On Kevin Love

August 26th, 2014 at 8:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Now that the Kevin Love trade is official and his introductory press conference is behind him, the pressure is on for Love, LeBron and the rest of the Cavaliers to compete for an NBA Championship this coming season. Here’s the latest news about the former Timberwolves star:

Wolves owner Glen Taylor said that if he could do things over again, he would have signed Love to a five-year, maximum salary contract back in 2012, as Derek Wetmore of 1500 ESPN Sportswire details.
Taylor thinks that Love’s defensive deficiencies will be exposed in Cleveland, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Taylor said, “I think where maybe he got away with some stuff not playing defense on our team, I’m not sure that’s how it’s going to work in Cleveland. I would guess they’re going to ask him to play more defense and he’s foul prone.”
In the same article, Taylor also thinks that Love may take the blame if the Cavs struggle. “I question Kevin if this is going to be the best deal for him because I think he’s going to be the third player on the team,” Taylor said. “I don’t think he’s going to get a lot of credit if they do really well. I think he’ll get blame if they don’t do well. He’s around a couple guys that are awful good.”
Shortly after LeBron James signed with the Cavs, he called Love, writes Tim Warsinskey of the Star Tribune. Of the call, Love said, “LeBron had signed to come back to the Cleveland Cavaliers and just few hours later he called me, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m in. James signing had a lot to do with my decision [to want to go to Cleveland].’’
Love admits his lack of playoff experience will be an adjustment that he’ll have to make with the Cavs, and the pressure will be much greater in Cleveland than in Minnesota, writes Chris Fedor of the Plain Dealer.

Eastern Notes: Love, Bennett, Moultrie

August 26th, 2014 at 7:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kevin Love today indicated his intention to stay with the Cavs beyond this season, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com observes, and Cavs GM David Griffin is confident that Love and LeBron James will stick together for years to come, notes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). Love and James can become free agents next summer, and Love said today that he hasn’t spoken about an extension with Cleveland, though that only stands to reason, since he can re-sign for more money if he waits until free agency.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

There was confusion earlier this month about whether Anthony Bennett would go to the Sixers as part of the Kevin Love trade, but Sixers GM Sam Hinkie told reporters today that he never had any talks about acquiring the former No. 1 overall pick. Tom Moore of Calkins Media passes along the tidbit via Twitter. Bennett wound up with the Wolves instead.
Arnett Moultrie‘s future with the Sixers is cloudy, but Hinkie indicated today that Philadelphia still wants to give him a chance even though the power forward has to prove his worth, as Moore observes (Twitter link). “Arnett was working really hard last week,” Hinkie said. “It’s been going fine. It’s a big summer for him. He’s got to show what he can do.” Last week, Chuck Myron cast the chances as remote that Philly will up his 2015/16 rookie scale contract option by the October 31st deadline.
The two-year $550K offer that agent Tim Lotsos said Thanasis Antetokounmpo turned down from Cimberio Varese to instead join the Knicks D-League affiliate wasn’t quite so lucrative, as Guido Guida of La Gazzetta dello Sport hears (Twitter link). The gross amount wasn’t quite that much, and the net after taxes was only slightly more than $100K per year, Guida says. A source seconds Guida’s report to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Bucks Sign Damien Inglis

August 26th, 2014 at 6:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 26TH, 6:03pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

AUGUST 20TH, 8:05pm: The Bucks have signed 31st overall pick Damien Inglis, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The team has yet to make an official announcement, but the move took place Tuesday, as the RealGM transactions log shows. It’s a multiyear deal, according to RealGM. Inglis probably received a three-year deal worth a shade under $1MM this season and the minimum salary in the final two seasons if he’s like many of his peers from the top of the 2014 second round, including 36th overall pick and new Bucks teammate Johnny O’Bryant.

Inglis is a native of French Guiana who spent last season playing for Chorale Roanne in France. He had a decent chance to end up as a first-round pick, since he ranked 26th in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress prospect listings and 30th with Chad Ford of ESPN.com. The 6’8″ small forward is nonetheless a raw prospect, having averaged just 4.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game in France this year.

The signing creates a logjam of sorts in Milwaukee, particularly if Inglis’ contract is guaranteed, as is likely the case. The team already had 14 guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show, not including Kendall Marshall, who figures to be a part of the rotation on his minimum-salary pact after averaging 8.8 assists per game for the Lakers last season. The Bucks also renounced their rights to free agent Ramon Sessions, as Pincus and RealGM report, and while that doesn’t clear an additional roster spot, it’s a signal that the club is done with free agent signings this summer, save for perhaps a few training camp invitations.

Clippers Likely To Waive Delfino, Raduljica

August 26th, 2014 at 5:49pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Clippers are likely to waive Carlos Delfino, whom they acquired earlier today, using the stretch provision, reports Sam Amick of USA Today. The other player that Los Angeles acquired in the Dudley trade, Miroslav Raduljica is also likely to be waived by the Clippers, notes Amick, suggesting that the team and Raduljica, who’s owed $1.5MM for this coming season, may reach a buyout deal.

The swap that was announced earlier today which sent Jared Dudley to the Bucks left the Clippers with just $649,228 to spend under the hard cap, according to the figures compiled by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, which would leave only room for a prorated contract later in the season.

Delfino is owed $3.25MM for next season, and has a team option for 2015/16. By using the stretch provision prior to September 1st, the Clippers would be able to spread his salary for next season out evenly over the next five years, as well as his cap hit. This means Delfino would have to be waived by this coming Monday, otherwise this option would not be available to the team. By removing Delfino’s salary, the Clippers would then be able to add another player or two to their roster.

One strong possibility for the Clippers would be to add Chris Douglas-Roberts, reports Amick. The 27-year old shooting guard spent last season with the Hornets, appearing in 49 contests, averaging 6.9 PPG in 20.7 minutes per game. Douglas-Roberts could not be signed until Delfino was waived, notes Amick. Another player the Clippers could look to add would be Ekpe Udoh, who visited with Los Angeles earlier today.

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