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Magic Claim Copeland Off Waivers, Intend To Waive

February 24th, 2016 at 6:19pm CST by Eddie Scarito

6:19pm: Orlando saved itself approximately $315K by claiming Copeland as it allowed the team to reach the $63MM salary floor, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports explains (via Twitter).

5:30pm: The Magic intend to waive Copeland within the next 24 hours, Charania writes in a full-length story. The moves to claim and subsequently waive Copeland are being made to get Orlando above the minimum salary floor, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel tweets.

4:17pm: The Magic have claimed combo forward Chris Copeland off of waivers, Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). The addition of Copeland will give Orlando 15 players on its roster, which is the regular season maximum. No formal announcement has been made by the team, but the move had to have taken place prior to 4:00pm Central, which is when Copeland would have officially become a free agent.

Copeland was waived by the Bucks on Monday in order to clear a roster slot for the signing of Steve Novak. Orlando is utilizing a portion of the $8,193,029 trade exception that was created as part of the deal that shipped Channing Frye to the Cavaliers since Copeland earns more than the minimum salary. The Magic will now be responsible for the remainder of Copeland’s $1.1MM salary for 2015/16 and his entire cap hit.

The Bucks had signed Copeland this past offseason, but the veteran never made much of an impact with the team. The 31-year-old is averaging 2.1 points and 0.5 assists in 6.5 minutes per game this season.

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Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag

February 24th, 2016 at 5:38pm CST by Eddie Scarito

In addition to our regular weekly chat, which Chuck Myron facilitates every Wednesday, we have a second opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our weekly mailbag feature, which is posted every Sunday.

Have a question regarding player movement, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and might not get to all of them.

If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.

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Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript

February 24th, 2016 at 4:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:04pm: Click here to read this week’s chat transcript.

3:00pm: This year’s trade deadline wasn’t the bonanza that last year’s was, but 16 players still wound up changing teams, and three more almost did. Monday’s nullification of the Donatas Motiejunas trade sent Joel Anthony back to Detroit and Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton, not to mention a tax burden, back to Houston. The Sixers lost JaKarr Sampson to the Nuggets amid the shuffle, created when the Pistons didn’t like what they saw from Motiejunas’ physical exam. Health has played a key role in the NBA landscape this week, with confirmation coming that Marc Gasol is done for the year and conflicting reports about whether the Heat are encouraging the ailing Chris Bosh to join Gasol on the sidelines. That gives us plenty to talk about in this week’s chat.

 

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Heat Want Chris Bosh To Sit For Rest Of Season?

February 24th, 2016 at 2:55pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:55pm: A team source who spoke with Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post disputes the idea that the Heat is pressuring Bosh to sit out.

2:00pm: The Heat are pressing Chris Bosh to sit out the remainder of the season with a recurrence of the blood-clot issue that prematurely ended last season for him, but the All-Star big man continues to search for a way to return to the court, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Doctors would also like to see Bosh sit, sharing in the team’s concern about the potential risks involved for him, Wojnarowski indicates. Bosh, Heat owner Micky Arison, team president Pat Riley and other Heat officials will meet sometime today or tomorrow, the Vertical scribe adds, and Ethan Skolnick of The Miami Herald hears that “some finality” about Bosh’s status will come tonight (Twitter link). In any case, Bosh has an encouraging prognosis for his long-term health, as The Herald’s Barry Jackson reported last week.

Bosh, who turns 32 next month, suffered blood clotting in his left calf around the All-Star break, a situation eerily similar to the potentially life-threatening blood clots in both his lungs that emerged almost precisely a year earlier. The issue doesn’t appear to be as serious this time around, but it’s still troubling, and the Heat apparently don’t have any desire to take chances. Bosh, if he agreed to stop playing for the remainder of this season, would be re-evaluated in three to six months, sources told Wojnarowski. A three-month timetable would ostensibly leave the door open by at least a crack for a return in time to play in the Eastern Conference Finals, if the Heat make it that far, but Wojnarowski doesn’t raise that possibility in his report.

The January 15th deadline to apply for a disabled player exception is long in the past, and though Beno Udrih is out for three months and Tyler Johnson at least two, Miami is still one long-term injury shy of the number needed to qualify for a 16th roster spot via hardship. Of course, the Heat have two open roster spots as it is, and they can’t sign anyone to more than a 10-day contract until March 6th, lest they creep back over the luxury tax line and risk repeat-offender tax penalties. Miami is eyeing Jordan Crawford, Jason Thompson, Tony Wroten and Dorell Wright as they consider ways to fill out the roster after March 6th, as Jackson reported.

The optimism surrounding Bosh’s long-term prognosis is a saving grace for the Heat, since he still has three seasons remaining after this one on the five-year max contract he signed in 2014. It also provides a plausible explanation for why the Heat would prefer to err on the side of caution for this season, one in which the team has risen to third place in the Eastern Conference but still lacks a strong chance at winning the title.

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Southeast Notes: Bazemore, Richardson, Booker

February 24th, 2016 at 1:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

The presence of Kent Bazemore was one reason why the Hawks let DeMarre Carroll walk in free agency this past summer, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and over the first half of the season, Bazemore delivered on the team’s faith in him. However, Bazemore has slumped of late, as Vivlamore details. The fourth-year veteran heads into his own free agency July 1st, the same day he turns 27, with projections for next season’s salary varying widely between the mid-level and $12MM. Celtics coach Brad Stevens was the first to call him when he last became a free agent, in 2014, notes Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. That came on the heels of Bazemore’s first significant minutes in the NBA down the stretch of the 2013/14 with the Lakers, who had acquired him via trade from the Warriors at the deadline that season, and he’s grateful for the swap, cognizant that if he was ever to carve out a substantive role for himself in the NBA, he’d have to leave Golden State, Charania writes. See more on Bazemore’s current team amid news from the Southeast Division:

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Financial Impact Of Deadline, Buyouts: Southwest

February 24th, 2016 at 12:17pm CST by Chuck Myron

The effects of the trade deadline are still being felt around the NBA as teams work buyout deals, negotiate with new free agents and fill open roster spots. Hoops Rumors will be taking a team-by-team look at the financial ramifications not just of the deadline itself but of the post-deadline moves. We’ll start this series of posts today with the Southwest Division:

Grizzlies

  • Memphis gave up Courtney Lee, Jeff Green and $542,714 cash in two separate trades to bring back Lance Stephenson, P.J. Hairston, Chris Andersen and five future draft picks. None of the players they relinquished nor any they acquired have guaranteed salary for next season, so the deals don’t affect the ledger for 2016/17 at all, beyond the opportunity to pick up a $9.405MM team option on Stephenson. The net effect on this season’s payroll was the addition of a miniscule $76,440, which still leaves the Grizzlies about $2MM shy of the tax line, enough breathing room to make minimum-salary signings if they want. Memphis also gained a $450K trade exception from the difference between Green’s $9.45MM salary and Stephenson’s $9MM pay. The cash they sent to the Hornets in the Lee trade compromises their flexibility to a slight degree come draft time, when many teams swap cash for second-rounders. They’ll have $2,857,286 instead of $3.4MM to send out in those sorts of trades, though the picks they acquired last week give the team plenty of draft assets.

Mavericks

  • The Mavs didn’t make a trade, but they dabbled in the buyout market, signing David Lee the day after he came off waivers from the Celtics. Dallas reportedly used the prorated room exception on Lee, so assuming he gets the full amount left on the exception, Lee is making $2,085,671. The exception, originally worth $2.814MM, prorates by 1/170th each day starting January 10th. Dallas waived John Jenkins to make room for Lee on the roster, but the Suns claimed him and his guaranteed minimum salary of $981,349 off waivers. Jenkins has non-guaranteed salaries on his contract for next season and 2017/18, so even if Jenkins had cleared waivers, it wouldn’t have affected the Mavs’ long-term accounting. Instead, they merely hike this season’s payroll by the amount of Lee’s salary, minus Jenkins’ $981,349 pay, but since they were only at about $72MM anyway, well shy of the $84.74MM tax threshold, the team is in no financial danger.

Pelicans

  • New Orleans essentially converted a trade exception into cash that they used to fund a partial guarantee for next season in their new contract with Bryce Dejean-Jones. As Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders pointed out, the Pelicans used the $947,276 trade exception they created when they traded Ish Smith to the Sixers in December to accommodate Jarnell Stokes, whom the Heat dealt Thursday to New Orleans. The Pelicans also received $721,300 cash from Miami in the Stokes trade, Pincus notes, and the only asset New Orleans relinquished was a top-55 protected second-round pick that will likely never change hands, making it the virtual equivalent of a phony asset. New Orleans waived Stokes shortly after the trade to reopen the roster spot that Dejean-Jones had been in while he was on his pair of 10-day contracts. Dejean-Jones apparently had talks with at least five other NBA teams before the Pelicans lured him back with the partial guarantee he was reportedly seeking. It’s unclear just how much that guarantee is worth, but it goes on next season’s ledger, while Jones’ salary for the rest of this season and Stokes’ full-season pay of $845,059 is on the cap for New Orleans this year, even though the Pelicans will actually pay only a prorated percentage of what Stokes is making. The Pelicans are still about $4MM shy of the tax line, which leaves plenty of room.

Rockets

  • The Rockets would have escaped the luxury tax, added about $3.2MM of room beneath their hard cap and created a pair of trade exceptions if their three-team trade with the Pistons and Grizzlies had gone through. The voiding of the deal leaves Houston with none of that. The team’s net cost of the trade falling through is about $8MM in payroll and projected tax obligations combined.

Spurs

  • San Antonio stood pat, not surprising given their record, which is now 47-9.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Wizards, J.J. Hickson In Advanced Talks

February 24th, 2016 at 11:10am CST by Eddie Scarito

WEDNESDAY, 11:10am: The expectation is that a signing will take place on Thursday, Castillo writes, noting that Hickson has to pass a physical before joining the Wizards.

4:36pm: The contract would be a prorated minimum salary arrangement that covers the remainder of this season, Charania writes in a full-length story.

4:30pm: Hickson and the Wizards are indeed engaged in contract talks, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post tweets, though the scribe notes that no agreement is expected to be formalized today.

TUESDAY, 4:18pm: The Wizards are in advanced contract discussions with free agent power forward J.J. Hickson, Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). The exact terms of the proposed deal are unknown but Charania notes that it would be for the remainder of the 2015/16 season. Washington currently has 14 players on its roster, so no additional move would be required to sign Hickson.

Hickson was waived by the Nuggets on Friday after Denver was reportedly shopping him leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline but found no takers. The power forward was scheduled to make $5,613,500 this season, an amount that the Nuggets will be on the hook for less any salary Hickson may have given up in a buyout arrangement.

The 27-year-old appeared in 20 games for Denver this season averaging 6.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 15.3 minutes per contest. Hickson’s career numbers through eight NBA seasons are 9.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists to accompany a shooting line of .505/.000/.622.

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And-Ones: Simmons, Beasley, Bargnani, Maxiell

February 24th, 2016 at 10:46am CST by Chuck Myron

The improvement throughout the season that Duke small forward Brandon Ingram has displayed and his greater opportunity for a postseason showcase gives him a decent chance to unseat combo forward Ben Simmons as the presumptive No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, but Simmons is still out in front, as Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com examine. The “overwhelming majority” of people around the NBA still think Simmons will be drafted first, Ford writes, believing that it’s because of his potential to play like a taller, more athletic Draymond Green. Still, Simmons’ lack of midrange and outside shooting is a concern, Ford adds. See more from around basketball:

  • Michael Beasley recently turned down an offer from Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and remains steadfast in his effort to return to the NBA, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Stein reported Tuesday that multiple NBA teams are monitoring the former No. 2 overall pick.
  • Andrea Bargnani rejected an offer equivalent to about $143K per month to sign with Olympiacos of Greece, which has instead turned its sights to Jason Maxiell, according to the Greek outlet Sport24 (translation via Sportando‘s Emiliano Carchia). However, Maxiell isn’t interested in the club’s idea of including an option for next season on the deal, notes international journalist David Pick (on Twitter).
  • Many agents and teams would like to see the league and the union discuss what to do about the moves that teams make in the aftermath of a trade that ultimately gets voided, as Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports hears. The Sixers lost JaKarr Sampson, whom they waived to open a roster spot for last week’s trade with the Rockets and Pistons, which was nullified Monday. Philadelphia reportedly wanted to re-sign him, but he had already inked with the Nuggets by the time the trade was called off.
  • The reversal of the trade meant teams that aren’t in the tax are projected to each receive an extra $200K, Marks notes in the same piece. That’s because the Rockets are back in line to pay the tax, and thus a greater amount of money is available for the league to distribute.
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Beno Udrih Likely To Miss Remainder Of Season

February 24th, 2016 at 10:26am CST by Eddie Scarito

WEDNESDAY, 10:26am: Udrih will undergo surgery for what the Heat are calling a torn plantar plate in his right foot, the team announced via press release. He’ll miss three months, according to the club. That timetable would put him back in action by late May, so ostensibly a slim chance exists that he’ll play again this season, if the Heat make the Eastern Conference Finals.

TUESDAY, 9:44am: Heat backup point guard Beno Udrih will undergo surgery to repair damage to his right foot, Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports. As a result of the procedure Udrih will miss the remainder of the 2015/16 campaign, Charania adds. No official announcement has been made by the team as of yet regarding Udrih’s injury.

Miami isn’t able to apply for any sort of roster relief to compensate for the injury, with the January 15th deadline to apply for a disabled player exception well in the rearview. Further complicating matters for Miami is the fact that they are unable to sign anyone to more than a 10-day contract until March 6th or else they would creep over the luxury tax line once again. The Heat are currently just $218,000 below the tax line, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports notes (on Twitter).

Combo guard Tyler Johnson is already out indefinitely after undergoing left shoulder surgery earlier this month, which makes the loss of Udrih sting even more. Udrih became the team’s primary backup to Goran Dragic after Johnson went down, appearing in 36 games for the team since being acquired from Memphis back in November. The 33-year-old averaged 4.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 16.3 minutes per outing to go along with a slash line of .434/.333/.882 since arriving in South Florida.

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Southwest Notes: Dwight, Stephenson, Lee

February 24th, 2016 at 9:33am CST by Chuck Myron

Many executives believe Dwight Howard‘s slumping productivity and recent history of injuries will keep him from receiving the max in free agency this summer, but the Rockets still see him as preferable to Al Horford or Ryan Anderson, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick. Howard’s agent Dan Fegan sent word to the Bucks, Hornets and Hawks, among others, that Howard isn’t anxious to take any discounts this summer, and he didn’t indicate a willingness to opt in and push back his free agency until 2017, Amick notes, which reportedly turned off the Bucks, at least, if not other suitors. Adding to the confusion before the deadline was that Howard was giving serious thought to changing agents, Amick writes. The USA Today scribe indicates that Howard’s uncertainty regarding Fegan is in the past, though that’s not entirely clear. See more from the Southwest Division:

  • The Grizzlies didn’t specifically target Lance Stephenson, Chris Andersen and P.J. Hairston, whom they garnered via trade before the deadline, and instead took them in merely because their contracts were a fit for the sort of draft asset collection the deals afforded Memphis, writes Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal. The protected 2019 first-rounder the Grizzlies received in the Stephenson trade is more likely than not to end up in another trade at some point, Herrington opines.
  • There’s talk that the Grizzlies will pick up Stephenson’s $9.405MM team option for next season, according to Herrington (Twitter links), but it’s unclear if that talk is coming from the team, and the Commercial Appeal scribe dismisses it as “irrational exuberance.”
  • David Lee said the Mavericks have told him rebounding will be his primary task, notes Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com (on Twitter). Conversely, the cohesiveness of the Mavs helped sell the new signee on Dallas, as Sneed also notes (Twitter link). “You can see the chemistry from playing against [the Mavericks], and that’s something I want to be a part of,” Lee said.
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