Month: November 2024

Speights Savors Title As Contract Year Looms

Marreese Speights chats with friends and family with the Larry O'Brien Trophy on display at a reception today in St. Petersburg, Florida. CHUCK MYRON/Hoops Rumors

Marreese Speights chats with friends and family as the Larry O’Brien Trophy sits on display at a reception today in St. Petersburg, Florida. CHUCK MYRON/Hoops Rumors

The Larry O’Brien Trophy glistened in front of Marreese Speights this afternoon as about two dozen family, friends and well-wishers clutched paper plates of food in one hand and cell phone cameras in the other while they crammed into a tiny room at the Childs Park Recreation Center in his native St. Petersburg, Florida. The crowded but low-key hometown celebration, the latest stop for the trophy as the Warriors take it on tour around the country, served as a coda to a short but proud offseason for Speights and the Warriors, who start training camp a week from Tuesday.

Three months and three days have passed since the Warriors finished off the Cavaliers for the franchise’s first NBA title in 40 years, and soon begins Golden State’s attempt to win a second in a row. It’s an accomplishment that’s happened so often during the lifetime of the 28-year-old Speights, a period in which 10 NBA champions were the same team that had won the year before, that it almost seems like a rite of passage for the truly elite. Speights doesn’t quite see it that way.

“No, we’re already in a different class, so repeating would just be a bonus,” he told Hoops Rumors, “but hopefully we get another one.”

The 6’10” center/forward nonetheless made it clear as he spoke during today’s event that the team is hungry to add to its trophy collection, and this season, Speights has extra motivation. The three-year, $11MM contract that he signed with the Warriors in 2013 expires at season’s end, and he’s set to hit free agency just as the salary cap is projected to catapult from its present $70MM to $89MM. The Andy Miller client nonetheless insists that he won’t change the way he plays just because it’s a contract year, and that he isn’t focused on the strength of next summer’s market for him.

“I really don’t worry about things I can’t control,” Speights said. “As long as I come into camp, as long as I start the season off good, everything will be all right. So, I’m just focused on the things I can control.”

The Warriors have so far paid to keep their talented team together. They gave Draymond Green a new five-year, $82MM deal in restricted free agency this summer, and rewarded Leandro Barbosa with a one-year, $2.5MM deal after he spent last season making the minimum. They also cast luxury tax concerns aside to pick up their $3.185MM team option on Speights, who made the most of his 15.9 minutes per game this past season. He averaged 10.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest, numbers that extrapolate to 23.6 points and 9.7 boards per 36 minutes.

Speights applauded the front office’s efforts to maintain continuity and chemistry, and he also has a positive impression of the team’s most prominent newcomer. Jason Thompson arrives after a series of July trades in which the Warriors shipped out David Lee for Gerald Wallace and flipped Wallace for Thompson, while Thompson went from the Kings to the Sixers and finally to the champs.

“He’s a good player. He’s been in the league. He’s going on his eighth year. He played with Sacramento. He’s going to come to our team and bring us something we need, or something that somebody else can’t bring,” Speights said of Thompson. “So, hopefully he comes in and contributes and that’ll be the role with him.”

Coach Steve Kerr envisions Thompson fitting in somewhere amid a frontcourt that boasts Green, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and James Michael McAdoo in addition to Thompson and Speights. The role that Lee played last season is “up for grabs,” as Kerr recently told Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Thus, Speights, whose minutes in the playoffs this spring were curtailed by a right calf strain, would appear to have a chance to inherit some more playing time. Still, just as with his looming free agency, he won’t focus on decisions that rest in the hands of others.

“Like I said, I don’t know. I just got to worry about things I can control,” Speights said. “I don’t know what my role’s going to be. I’m just going to go into training camp and be the best player I can be, and hopefully, I have a role. So, I’m looking forward to training camp.”

The 16th overall pick from the 2008 draft is a veteran of seven NBA seasons, but he nonetheless made it clear that he’s eager to learn more and improve himself. Not long from now, he’ll learn what it’s like to defend a title, and soon after that, just how much championship experience is worth at the bargaining table.

Poll: 2015/16 Team Power Rankings (No. 28)

The start of NBA training camps is less than two weeks away, and teams are in the process of finalizing their preseason rosters. Every new season brings with it the hope for each franchise that it will conclude with the hoisting of the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. But for the more jaded fans — or practical, depending on your outlook — not every team has a realistic shot at making the playoffs, much less at being the last team standing when all is said and done and the playoffs have concluded.

We at Hoops Rumors want to know what you, the reader, think about each team’s chances this coming campaign. To help facilitate that, we’ll be posting a series of polls asking you to vote on where in the standings each franchise is likely to end the season. We’ll be going in reverse order, beginning with the question of which team you believe will occupy the very bottom of the standings. So please cast your vote below for the franchise you expect to end the season with the third worst overall record, or at No. 28 overall. But don’t end your involvement with the simple click of a button. Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on why you voted the way that you did. We look forward to what you have to say.

Previous Selections:

  • No. 30: 76ers
  • No. 29: Knicks

If you’re a Trade Rumors app user, click here.

Pacific Notes: Griffin, Kobe, Chandler

High-flying power forward Blake Griffin would ideally like to remain with the Clippers for his entire career, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays. Yeah, I mean L.A. is my home now,” said Griffin. “This is where I got drafted and I’ve been here since the beginning. I’ve been with this franchise during some bad times. You know, it hasn’t always been like it is now; anytime you have a chance to go from that to this, you feel invested. I’m not looking to go anywhere. With that being said, you never know [in this business]. But I’m happy here, I love it here, and I would love to finish my career here.” Griffin’s current deal runs through the 2017/18 season, though that final year is a player option worth $21,373,952. Be sure to check out the full interview Griffin did with Kennedy, as it is certainly worth a read.

Now here’s more out of the Pacific Division:

  • Kobe Bryant is expected to be fully healthy at the start of Lakers training camp, but coach Byron Scott intends to carefully limit the veteran’s minutes this season to maximize what could potentially be Bryant’s final NBA hurrah, Bill Oram of the Orange County Register writes. “We’ve got to stick to the guns,” Scott said. “If we agree on a certain amount of time we’re going to stick to it. I know Kobe’s a competitor and he’s going to play as many minutes as you want him to play. I’m also a competitor, so I want to win and I know having him on the court gives me the best opportunity to win. If this is his last year. I want him to go out standing. I don’t want him to go out hurt.
  • Even though center Tyson Chandler is past his prime he brings with him exactly what the Suns need stability to the pivot, spectacular interior defense, and leadership, the crew at Basketball Insiders opine in their season preview of the team. They also believe that the eighth seed in the Western Conference is likely to come down to a fight between Phoenix and the Jazz, with how well Utah compensates for the loss of Dante Exum being a big determining factor.

Hoops Rumors Weekly Mailbag 9/13/15-9/19/15

In addition to our weekly chat, which Chuck Myron facilitates every Wednesday, we have a second opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap, or the NBA draft? Drop me a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com or @EddieScarito on Twitter. Now for this week’s inquiries:

Do you think Doc Rivers was playing coy when he said the team won’t trade Jamal Crawford? Or do you see the Clippers keeping him the full season?” — James

I think Rivers will wait to see how Lance Stephenson will fit in with the team before he makes a final decision regarding Crawford. But beyond that, the Clippers are pretty stocked in the backcourt with Austin Rivers and J.J. Redick also on hand, and who will both cut into Crawford’s playing time. The most sensible path for the Clippers to take would probably be to hang onto Crawford until December, then try to deal him to fill any holes in the team’s rotation. The benefit of holding off on a deal is that it would give the team a better chance to assess its roster, as well as for them to hope that some other teams have a run of early season injuries in their backcourts, thus driving up the asking price for Crawford. Holding off dealing Crawford until the season is underway would also protect the Clippers in the event one of their players were to go down with a serious injury. In the end, I do think Crawford is traded, though it might not be until the February trade deadline.

Should the Knicks seriously consider trading Carmelo Anthony?” — Vinnie

I think it’s getting to that point, yes. Though, for full-disclosure purposes, I think New York should have worked out a sign-and-trade last offseason rather than ink ‘Melo to his current deal. I’m not the biggest Anthony fan out there, and I firmly believe he needs to be the second or third best player on a team if he ever hopes to win an NBA title. That will likely never be the case with the Knicks, and with him being on the wrong side of 30, Anthony’s almost certainly in his decline phase. With their wealth of roster needs, and distinct lack of future draft picks, the Knicks are in dire need of a complete tear down, which will be difficult to accomplish as long as Anthony’s nearly $23MM salary is on the books for New York.

Of course, Anthony has a big say in all of this, given his no-trade clause. But if the Knicks get off to a slow start and hope for the postseason appears lost, I have a feeling Melo may be more amenable to relocating, though it will be extremely difficult to move that big a salary during the season. If he’s traded, it would likely occur after the season. That would net the Knicks a better return as well as expand the list of potential trade partners.

Who do you predict will win the Rookie of the Year award for this season?” — Aaron

This is a tough one to answer prior to regular season rosters and starting lineups being set, but I’ll give it a go. The ROTY award is much more about the situation each first year player is placed in than which player is the most talented. Playing time is a huge determining factor, because this is primarily a stats-driven award. So keeping that in mind, I’d have to say the early favorite is the Sixers’ Jahlil Okafor. Philly doesn’t have all that much talent around him, so he should receive ample playing time, as well as become the team’s primary offensive weapon. That combination bodes well for Okafor to earn himself the award … if he can remain healthy and teams don’t park multiple defenders in the paint area to stop him.

If the Isiah Thomas returning to the Knicks doomsday scenario does indeed come to pass, will Phil Jackson remain with the team?” — Nathan

Quick note, I love the phrasing of your question. It was definitely written by a longtime Knicks fan. I’ve had numerous nightmares involving Isiah making his return to the Knicks, and I hope and pray that it never comes to pass. But unfortunately, Thomas either has some serious blackmail material on James Dolan stashed away, or those two are simply destined to be together…in a basketball sense, of course. I fear as long as Dolan owns the team Isiah will always be lurking in the shadows awaiting his chance to strike, sort of like the antagonist in the film “It Follows.”

If this terrible event should indeed come to pass and Thomas is brought back into the fold with the Knicks, I can’t see any way that he and Jackson could co-exist. I should also mention that I don’t believe Jackson will complete his five year deal with the team regardless of Thomas’ whereabouts. So I could definitely see a scenario where Phil decides he’d rather be on the beach than at Madison Square Garden, and Dolan using that as a reason to bring back Thomas. No matter what the circumstances, I don’t see Thomas and Jackson being able to work together for very long, if at all. All I do know for sure is that I’m actively rooting against the New York Liberty to win even a single game next season. Maybe that would quell the return of Thomas talk? But these are the Knicks after all, so who knows at this point what it would take to make Dolan give up on Thomas for good…

Well, that’s all the space that I have for this week. Thanks to all those who sent in their inquiries. Please keep them coming, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.

Southwest Notes: Perkins, Stefanski, Matthews

Kendrick Perkins said it was the Pelicans‘ strong young core of players that led him to choose to sign with the team this summer, Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com writes. “You looked at every position from AD [Anthony Davis] to Jrue Holiday to Eric Gordon to Tyreke Evans and you just saw that they had a nice core, young guys that were good at every position,” Perkins said. “Raw talent. All they needed was a couple teaching points on the little things and professionalism. They had that [professionalism] already, because they work hard. But on the court, they needed a leader. The leader is not always the best player on the team, but more so the vocal side.

The young talent [was appealing],” Perkins continued. “You look at their team and [think about] having a veteran guy around to lead them and teach them how to be professionals, how to take care of their bodies, to be responsible on the road, to stay focused and don’t worry about the nightlife. Just the little things. You could tell they were a few things away from reaching a great goal. So I just felt like this was the place for me. I reached out to [GM] Dell [Demps] and he reached out to me. I felt wanted.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Grizzlies VP of player personnel Ed Stefanski is happy in Memphis and has no interest in the Bucks’ vacant assistant GM position, Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times tweets.
  • Wesley Matthews, who signed a four-year, maximum salary deal with the Mavericks this offseason, hopes to break out of the three-and-D label he had with the Blazers and show his full repertoire of skills this season, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com relays. “You know, I’ve never been one to allow someone to label me,” Matthews said. “I always continue to try to get better. I’m not a content type of person. If they come up with a term ‘three-and-D’ and they want to fit me in that category, that’s fine. But there’s not a thing that I don’t think I can do on the court, and I’m excited for the opportunity. You know, talking to coach [Rick] Carlisle, I’m obviously familiar with the system, having ran it in Portland. And talking to him, there’s opportunities that he sees how I can help this team. And I’m excited for those opportunities.

Hoops Rumors Originals 9/13/15-9/19/15

Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week…

  • In his weekly column, Sam Amico, the founder and editor of AmicoHoops.net and a broadcast journalist for Fox Sports Ohio, looked at the effect George Karl could have on the Kings.
  • Chuck Myron broke down all of the contract scenarios for restricted free agent Tristan Thompson.
  • I handed out my 2015 NBA Draft grades to the teams of the Pacific Division.
  • If you missed the week’s live chat, you can view the transcript here.
  • Chuck ran down the players who have partially guaranteed deals for the 2015/16 campaign.
  • As a part of our continuing series, “The Beat,” we interviewed Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @AdamHimmelsbach, and click here to check out his stories on BostonGlobe.com.
  • Chuck interviewed Dave King of SB Nation’s Bright Side of the Sun.
  • Chris Crouse looked at Tyler Zeller as an extension candidate.
  • I broke down the 2015/16 salary cap commitments for the Kings and the Spurs.
  • Chuck ran down who the longest tenured primary basketball executives around the league are.
  • Zach Links highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
  • Chuck looked at where all of the Celtics players who have been traded since July 2014 are currently.
  • We asked readers to vote on who they would select if they had the chance to redo the the 2003 NBA Draft. Here are the results for the No. 18, No. 19, and No. 20 picks.
  • Chuck looked at the verbal agreements made this offseason that fell apart.
  • If you missed any of our daily reader-driven discussions, be sure to check out the Community Shootaround archives.
  • Chuck ran down all the players who have signed qualifying offers over the years.
  • Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on social media and RSS feeds.
  • I answered reader questions in our Weekly Mailbag.
  • We reviewed our commenting policy. Play nice everyone.
  • We asked readers to rank where each NBA team will finish the 2015/16 campaign. Here are the results for teams No. 30 and No. 29.

Rockets Sign Montrezl Harrell To Three-Year Deal

SATURDAY, 11:19am: The Rockets have formally announced the signing (on Twitter).

2:35pm: Rockets GM Daryl Morey took to Twitter to welcome Harrell to the Rockets, so presumably that means he’s signed.

FRIDAY, 9:46am: The Rockets will sign Harrell to a contract worth $3.1MM over three years today, a source tells Feigen (Twitter link). It’ll include no option years or non-guaranteed salary, Feigen also hears. Still unclear is what Harrell will make this coming season, a figure that will determine how much the Rockets have left beneath their hard cap.

WEDNESDAY, 7:37am: Harrell is close to signing, but the sides are still hammering out some details, in spite of what McHale said, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). They do have agreement on the main parts of the deal, Feigen adds.

10:45pm: Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Harrell has signed with the team, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweets.

11:45am: The sides have reached an agreement in principle, sources tell Spears (Twitter link).

TUESDAY, 11:02am: The Rockets and No. 32 overall pick Montrezl Harrell are finalizing a three-year deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The three-year length means the team is using its mid-level exception and will be hard-capped, as I explained in detail earlier. Houston won’t be able to carry a payroll of more than $88.74MM at any point this season once the deal with the Rich Paul client becomes official. The team already has $86,180,389 in guaranteed salary, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. It’s not immediately clear how much more the deal for Harrell will add to the total, but regardless, the Rockets won’t have much breathing room beneath the hard cap.

No. 31 pick Cedi Osman, the top pick of the second round, is unsigned, while No. 33 pick Jordan Mickey will receive a guarantee of nearly $1.171MM this season in the first year of the four-year contract he signed with the Celtics. No. 30 pick Kevon Looney will make a guaranteed $1,131,960 this season, though his salary was determined by the rookie scale that applies to first-rounders but not second-rounders. So, it would seem that Harrell is in range for a salary of around $1.1MM to $1.2MM, leaving as little as about $1.36MM beneath that hard cap for the Rockets.

Negotiations between the Rockets and Harrell’s camp have largely been quiet, with a late-August dispatch from Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com indicating the sides were talking the only substantive update since the draft in June. Still, it seemed the Rockets were doing what they could to clear the decks for a Harrell signing, breaking off their deal with Chuck Hayes, who later signed with the Clippers, and apparently also having undone their agreement to sign undrafted power forward Christian Wood, who inked with the Sixers instead. Both Hayes and Wood were to receive partial guarantees from the Rockets that would have counted against a hard cap.

Houston could have signed Harrell using the minimum salary exception and avoided the hard cap, but that would have entailed a salary of just $525,093 this season, one that Harrell and Paul were unlikely to have accepted, unless it came in the form of a one-year deal. The Rockets had to make a tender of a non-guaranteed one-year contract for the minimum salary by September 5th, and while signing that would have meant a short-term financial sacrifice for Harrell, he would have hit restricted free agency next summer just as K.J. McDaniels, last year’s No. 32 overall pick, did this year. McDaniels wound up re-signing with the Rockets on a deal worth $10MM over three years, the sort of price Houston probably wants to avoid paying to keep Harrell.

The Rockets instead appear to have averted that scenario at the cost of flexibility for this season. Harrell will presumably become the team’s 14th player with a fully guaranteed deal. Four others are on non-guaranteed deals, as our roster count shows, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Houston elect not to carry 15 players for opening night, given the team’s financial squeeze. Teams can have between 13 and 15 players during the regular season.

Do you think the Rockets made the right decision to control Harrell for three years and hard cap themselves for this season? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Atlantic Notes: Vujacic, Harper, Celtics

One benefit of the Knicks signing Sasha Vujacic is his knowledge of the triangle offense, which he is ready to share with the other members of the team, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. “Of course, of course. I was always someone that helped players on the court. We have a lot of rookies and a lot of younger players –- I still consider myself young by the way -– so we have a great mix of guys and I’m looking forward to teaching them and giving them help,” Vujacic told Begley. “I don’t want to be a teacher because we have a coach that will lead us towards something [but] if there’s going to be anything needed for me to show or do I’ll be more than happy to do so.

Here’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • Knicks team president Phil Jackson is looking for the veteran to be a game-changing shooter off the bench for the team this season, Begley adds. “Except for a 10-day contract with the Clippers in 2014, Sasha hasn’t played in the NBA for four years, but at age 31 he still has plenty of game,” Jackson said. “He’s a classic streak-shooter who, when he’s zeroed in, can totally change a game in three minutes. He’ll be a significant force for us coming off the bench.
  • Justin Harper‘s one-year deal with the Nets is for the league minimum and is non-guaranteed, Eric Pincus of Basketball insiders relays (Twitter link).
  • In a look at the Celtics‘ 2015 draftees, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com believes that Jordan Mickey will make the biggest impact this season, noting that at some point, injuries or inconsistent play by those ahead of him on the depth chart will create an opportunity for him to log significant minutes. Blakely also notes that if R.J. Hunter can demonstrate himself to be an adequate defender and shoot with a relatively high level of confidence, he could easily wind up as the biggest steal of this year’s draft.

Week In Review 9/13/15-9/19/15

A few NBA GMs reportedly believe that it’s possible that the NBA draft will expand by a round or two once the D-League has 30 teams. Such a move would require union approval and wouldn’t likely take place until every NBA team has a D-League affiliate. The Nets and Hornets have a goal of starting up one-to-one D-League affiliates in time for the 2016/17 season, and almost all of the 11 teams currently without a D-League affiliate have expressed interest in following suit within the next few years, according to TNT’s David Aldridge.

“With those independent teams, we’re in varying stages of expansion discussions,” D-League president Malcolm Turner said to Aldridge. “No question, it’s a process. Several months ago we added Toronto and they’ll start next season, and with the Indy purchase of Fort Wayne we’ll have all our teams affiliated. For 2016/17 we’re focused on adding two and perhaps three teams. Beyond that, while we haven’t written anything in stone, expansion and 30 for 30 is definitely in the discussions for us.”

Here’s more from the week that was…


Free Agent Signings

You can stay up to date on all of the signings with Hoops Rumors’ free agent tracker.


Waivers

  • The Rockets waived guard Remi Yusuf.

Miscellaneous News

  • Restricted free agent Norris Cole accepted his qualifying offer from the Pelicans.
  • The Mavericks reportedly held out hope as recently as late June that they could convince Steve Nash to come out of retirement to play for them this coming season.
  • The Bucks extended the contract of GM John Hammond through the 2016/17 season, the team announced.
  • Pacers owner Herb Simon is pursuing legal means to keep the estate of his late brother and his brother’s widow from claiming part ownership of the team.
  • Cavs draft-and-stash prospect Edin Bavcic signed with Sopron of Hungary.
  • The Raptors officially named Tim Lewis, Nathaniel Mitchell, and David Gale as assistant coaches for their D-League affiliate.
  • The Sixers reportedly don’t expect that draft-and-stash prospect Jordan McRae will be at training camp in spite of an August report that he would be.
  • Harrison Barnes parted ways with agent Jeff Wechsler of 24/7 Sports Management. Barnes replaced him with Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management.
  • Jerrelle Benimon agreed to play for the Foshan Long Lions of China, and he pulled out of his reported deal with the Cavaliers to do so.
  • The Hawks officially named Michael Blackstone as assistant GM, John Treloar as Director of Player Personnel, Malik Rose as Manager of Basketball Operations, Dotun Akinwale as Manager of Scouting, Matt Elijah as Manager of Basketball Administration, Daniel Starkman as Coordinator of Basketball Operations and David Painter as Director of Basketball Facilities.

Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 9/18/15

The Bulls currently have a bit of a logjam at the power forward position heading into training camp. Veteran Pau Gasol is the expected starter, but after him things become a bit muddled. The remainder of minutes at the four spot will need to be divvied up between Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic, rookie Bobby Portis, Cameron Bairstow, and offseason signee Cristiano Felicio. While not all of these players are assured of a regular season roster spot, new head coach Fred Hoiberg will certainly have some tough calls to make, not just during the preseason, but over the course of each and every contest throughout the season.

This brings me to the topic of the day: Who should the Bulls’ power forward rotation consist of during the 2015/16 season?

Time for you to play head coach and make the call. Should Gasol be utilized off the bench to better take advantage of his versatility, or should he indeed remain the starter? As for the rest of the rotation, who makes the cut, and what should be the minutes allotments between those players? If you feel that the team is too stacked at the four, who would you trade, and why? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the subject. We look forward to what you have to say.