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Magic Sign Peyton Siva

September 29th, 2014 at 10:39am CST by Ryan Raroque

SEPTEMBER 29TH: The team followed up with a formal announcement via press release, finally making the deal official.

JULY 29TH: Free agent point guard Peyton Siva has agreed to a deal with the Magic, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 23-year-old guard recently participated in NBA summer league competition for the Pistons before being waived two weeks ago. According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, it appears that Siva will be brought to training camp on a partially-guaranteed contract before eventually being waived and sent to Orlando’s D-League affiliate in Erie. The money from the partial guarantee will be used to supplement his D-League salary  (Twitter links).

With the ability of Victor Oladipo to play point guard and the addition of playmaker Elfrid Payton via the draft, there doesn’t appear to be much room left for another young point guard on Orlando’s roster. The team also added veterans Luke Ridnour and Ben Gordon via free agency and traded for shooting guard Evan Fournier, which more or less has the team set in their backcourt rotation. It seems likely that the Magic would look to keep Siva’s rights in the D-League, which would keep him away from the D-League draft if the former Louisville star indeed decided to sign an NBDL contract. The partial guarantee could be an incentive to entice Siva to play for the Bayhawks rather than head to Europe for a more lucrative salary.

After being drafted 56th overall in 2013, the Andy Miller client played out the 2013/14 season for Detroit on a partially guaranteed deal, appearing in a total of 24 games. Siva averaged 2.3 PPG and 1.4 APG in 9.3 MPG, shooting just 31.6% from the field and 28.0% from long range.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post. 

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Morey: Rockets Will ‘Never Trade’ Dwight, Harden

September 29th, 2014 at 10:26am CST by Chuck Myron

Rockets GM Daryl Morey said his team would “never trade” Dwight Howard and James Harden amid comments to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that deride Mavs owner Mark Cuban for, among other moves, breaking up the core of his 2011 title team. Morey told Wojnarowski that he thought Cuban, who’s lobbed incendiary statements of his own at the Rockets from time to time, is angry at him for targeting Dirk Nowitzki in free agency. That longshot bid that didn’t derail the Mavs from re-signing the power forward to a discounted three-year deal.

“We’re no different than other teams,” Morey said. “We have a core of two players – Dwight Howard and James Harden – who we are going to build around and never trade. San Antonio has had three core guys who they’ve done an unbelievable job of building around, making a lot of changes around that core. We had Tracy McGrady and Yao [Ming] and we made changes around them. And Mark’s had a core of one [Nowitzki], who was there since before he bought the team.”

The case of Nowitzki, to whom the Rockets reportedly made a max offer, runs contrary to Morey’s assertion that if free agents are presented with equal offers from Houston and Dallas, they’ll choose the Rockets “every time,” since Nowitzki took less money to return to the Mavs. Still, the point of Morey’s remarks seemed to be chiefly to jab the outspoken Dallas owner, as Morey said the Rockets are in a fight “for the hearts and minds of free agents.”

There haven’t been any trade rumors surrounding Harden or Howard in recent months, as it’s seemed that the Rockets are indeed trying to build around them as pillars of the franchise. Still, Morey’s comments seem to preclude the notion that the team will look to reboot any time soon if this summer’s disappointments in free agency translate into regression in the standings. Howard is signed through the summer of 2017, though he can opt out in the summer of 2016. Harden’s deal runs through the 2017/18 season with no option clauses.

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Wizards Officially Announce Six Camp Deals

September 29th, 2014 at 9:22am CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards have officially announced the signings of Vander Blue, Xavier Silas, David Stockton, Rasual Butler, Damion James and Daniel Orton. The team statement is an acknowledgement of reports regarding all six, all of whom had already agreed to join the team for training camp.

They’re all non-guaranteed arrangements for the minimum salary. The length of Orton’s deal is unclear, but the rest are on one-year contracts, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, so that makes them eligible for Exhibit 9 Contracts that limit the team’s liability if they’re injured during training camp.

The group of six joins 13 Wizards with fully guaranteed pacts, along with Glen Rice Jr., whose minimum salary pact is partially guaranteed for $400K, roughly half its value. A report from J. Michael of CSNWashington last week seemed to indicate that James and Silas had an edge for the team’s 15th regular season roster spot, though Michael wrote earlier that there’s a decent chance the team won’t carry a full complement of players for opening night.

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Suns Sign Morris Twins To Extensions

September 29th, 2014 at 9:17am CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns have signed twins Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris to four-year extensions, the team announced. Markieff’s deal is worth a total of $32MM, while Marcus will see $20MM, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, who reported that the agreements had been struck (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported that the team was close to a pair of deals totaling $52MM (All Twitter links).

NBA: Los Angeles Clippers at Phoenix SunsBoth 25-year-old forwards will spend the coming season on rookie scale contracts that pay them nearly $6MM combined, split almost evenly, and the extensions will kick in for 2015/16. GM Ryan McDonough, in the team’s statement, expressed belief that both will continue to improve, pointing out that they’re just entering their primes, while president of basketball operations Lon Babby spoke to their unusual brotherly connection.

“We are particularly pleased to have reached extension agreements with Marcus and Markieff before the start of training camp,” Babby said. “There is an extraordinary bond between these twin brothers; they make each other better players and better men. We take pride in their growth and look forward to their bright futures.”

Markieff earned the larger deal, having been more productive in his playing time last season. He averaged 13.8 points and 6.0 rebounds in 26.6 minutes per game, all career highs. Marcus put up 9.7 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 22.0 MPG, though he was significantly better from behind the arc, shooting 38.1% compared to Markieff’s 31.5%.

The deals for the Leon Rose clients are somewhat surprising, since most players who ink rookie scale extensions do so for eight-figure salaries, or close to it. Still, there are occasional examples of teams and players who’ve come to terms on extensions for even smaller amounts, including Quincy Pondexter‘s four-year, $14MM deal with Memphis last year and the three-year, $9MM extension that Kosta Koufos signed with the Nuggets in 2012.

The past week has seen the Suns invest heavily in their future. They struck a new five-year, $70MM deal with Eric Bledsoe, but even so, they still had only about $32.5MM in commitments for next season, leaving plenty of room for reasonable deals with both Morrises.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Earl Watson To Retire

September 29th, 2014 at 8:54am CST by Chuck Myron

Point guard Earl Watson is retiring as a player and will become a coach for the D-League affiliate of the Spurs, reports Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer. The 35-year-old spent 13 seasons in the NBA after the SuperSonics drafted him 39th overall in 2001, and the Mark Bartelstein client played out a one-year guaranteed contract for the minimum salary with the Trail Blazers last season.

The former UCLA Bruin mounted a darkhorse campaign to fill the Jazz’s head coaching vacancy this offseason, picking up an endorsement from Gordon Hayward, but it’s unclear if Watson received an interview for the job that went to Quin Snyder. In any case, Watson will join the reigning champs despite never having played for San Antonio. He instead appeared with the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Thunder, Pacers and Jazz in addition to his time with the Sonics and Blazers. His best performance came with the Sonics in 2007/08, Seattle’s final year of NBA basketball, when he averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 assists against 2.2 turnovers in 29.1 minutes per game while shooting 37.1% from behind the arc.

That was the only season in which he had a double-digit scoring average, and one of just two years in which he started more than half of his team’s games. Still, Watson racked up nearly $42.8MM over his playing career, according to Basketball-Reference.

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And-Ones: Nets, Knicks, Butler, Magic

September 28th, 2014 at 9:41pm CST by Zachary Links

When center Brook Lopez was asked if he knew how many different people had coached the Nets since the team picked him in the 2008 draft, he wasn’t too confident in his answer. “Seven?” Lopez asked reporters, including Andrew Keh of the New York Times. “Or eight? Are you counting interim?”  The number, interim coaches included, is indeed seven, and the Nets are hoping that new coach Lionel Hollins will stick around for some time. Here’s more from around the league..

  • The Knicks appear to be more stable than they did a year ago, and seem to have a clear plan on how they want to build towards being a championship contender, Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes. “I think it feels much better now,” executive vice president Steve Mills said. “I think the addition of Phil to the team adds a different look in terms of creating a culture. I think that was important to Carmelo and I think it’s important to how we move forward as a unit. So I think there’s a lot more stability. I see the rhythm to how we need to build the team.”
  • If Jimmy Butler does sign a long-term extension with the Bulls, it’ll probably come at the last minute as it did with Taj Gibson two years ago, writes Sam Smith of Bulls.com.  It’ll be an especially crucial year on an individual level for Butler if he doesn’t ink a new deal.  Butler will look to his long-distance shooting which dipped to 28% last season thanks in part to playing a grueling 38.7 minutes per night.
  • The Magic have until October 31st to reach contract extensions with Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic, but it wouldn’t be a crisis if deals aren’t struck, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
  • With training camp set to open for the Mavericks this Tuesday, Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram gives a quick rundown of Dallas’ roster and what each player brings to the court.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

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Sixers Claim Chris Johnson Off Waivers

September 28th, 2014 at 9:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

9:11pm: The claim is official, according to the RealGM transactions log.

4:37pm: The Sixers have claimed Chris Johnson off of waivers, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Johnson, not to be confused with the player of the same name on the Heat, was waived by the Celtics on Thursday as Boston began paring down their roster to the maximum of 20 players. This move brings Philadelphia’s roster count to 21, so they will have to release someone in order to add Johnson.

This move continues the trend of the Sixers adding young, minimum salary players for their season-long quest for the No. 1 overall draft pick. Johnson will compete for minutes at small forward, and with a strong training camp it’s conceivable that Johnson could end up contributing as a rotation piece during the regular season.

In 48 career games Johnson’s numbers are 5.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 0.7 APG. His career slash line is .402/.338/.844.

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Poll: The Knicks And Iman Shumpert

September 28th, 2014 at 9:10pm CST by Zachary Links

Earlier tonight, we learned that the Knicks have yet to reach out to Iman Shumpert about a contract extension as the Halloween deadline draws near.  The news wasn’t terribly shocking for a couple of reasons.  One, president Phil Jackson has his eye on bigger fish down the line and an extension for Shumpert would hinder their financial flexibility.  Two, Shumpert’s name was all over the pages of Hoops Rumors last season.  The old regime viewed him as a trade chip and, apparently, the new front office feels similarly.

The Knicks have reportedly been dangling Shumpert throughout this offseason as well and while the offers weren’t great, that could change very quickly with a strong start to the season.  It’s not difficult to imagine things falling into place for the guard considering what he has been able to do when healthy and his eagerness to play in the triangle offense.

“There’s constant action going on,” Shumpert said of the Zen Master’s offense in August, according to Howie Kussoy of the New York Post. “I think I’ll be able to capitalize off that and I’ll be able to use my athleticism a lot more than standing in the corner.”

By the same token, one has to wonder if the Knicks might finally be ready to commit if Shumpert takes a significant step forward this season.  Cap flexibility is important, but the Knicks might want to have the first right of refusal on Shump more than they realize right now.  The Knicks might also come to the table with agent Happy Walters in the next four weeks and change to work out a deal after all, even though it appears to be something of a longshot at present.

How do you see things shaking out between the Knicks and the 24-year-old guard?

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Hoops Links: Spurs, 76ers, Heat

September 28th, 2014 at 8:01pm CST by Zachary Links

On this date in 1983, the NBA and the Players’ Association established a landmark program in sports to battle drug abuse, providing treatment, and rehabilitation that also mandated expulsion of repeat offenders and players convicted of using or selling drugs.  That policy has gone a long way towards cleaning up a league that was once plagued by rampant drug abuse.

Got a great basketball blog post that you want to see featured on Hoops Rumors?  Send it to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.  Here’s this week’s look around the basketball blogosphere…

Please send submissions for Hoops Links to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

September 28th, 2014 at 7:00pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s our look back at the original reporting and analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this week..

  • Hoops Rumors learned that Willie Reed‘s deal with the Nets is for one year and non-guaranteed.
  • Whatever happened to last year’s 10-day signees?  Chuck Myron has the answers.
  • Hoops Rumors was the first to learn that Lorenzo Brown‘s deal with the Pistons does not include any guaranteed money.
  • Chuck examined Rudy Gay as an extension candidate.
  • Circle them on your calendar: these are the important dates to look out for in the 2014/15 season.
  • Eddie Scarito is keeping track of the 2014/15 expanded roster counts.
  • If you missed out on Chuck’s Wednesday chat, get caught up here.
  • Play nice, everyone.  Review our commenting policy.
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