2016 September | Hoops Rumors

Chris Bosh Suffers Setback, Not Cleared By Heat

September 23rd, 2016 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

11:54am: In the wake of Bosh’s latest setback, the Heat “increasingly believe” that his career with the team is over, says Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). Wojnarowski adds that Bosh hasn’t wanted to speak to team president Pat Riley “for months.”

11:08am: Chris Bosh has failed his physical exam with the Heat and has not been cleared by the team to participate in training camp, reports Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (via Twitter). The Heat confirmed the news in a press release. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, a “complication” arose during the team’s medical tests on Bosh, derailing his attempted comeback for the time being.

As Jackson details, the Heat’s exams discovered “evidence of some continued clotting,” which is thought to be related to one of the previous blood clot episodes that sidelined Bosh for parts of the last two seasons. The clotting complication isn’t viewed as life-threatening, but it will require medication, and the club doesn’t consider it realistic for Bosh to get back on the court and play in his current condition.

Bosh has long been optimistic that he’ll get back in uniform for the Heat this season, and the team had become increasingly hopeful that he would be cleared for camp — there was a growing belief that the veteran big man could potentially play during the regular season, despite taking blood-thinning medication. However, Bosh’s return was always contingent on him passing several medical tests before training camp, and being cleared by Heat doctors. That hasn’t happened.

According to Jackson, it’s not yet clear whether Bosh will continue pushing to return. In the short term, amidst this week’s setback, he’s not expected to file a grievance with the players’ union.

While we wait to see what the next step is for Bosh and the Heat, a February 9 deadline looms for salary-cap reasons. If Bosh has been unable to play for Miami by that date, and a doctor jointly approved by the NBA and the Players’ Association rules him medically unable to return, the Heat could remove his current and future cap hits from their books, creating significant cap space. However, if the team made that move and Bosh was eventually cleared to return, he wouldn’t be able to rejoin the Heat.

Rockets Sign Four Players, Finalize Camp Roster

September 23rd, 2016 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 23: Nearly three months after agreeing to terms with Payton, Taylor, and Wiltjer, the Rockets have officially signed them, announcing the moves today in a press release. The team also confirmed the previously-reported signing of Bobby Brown, formally announcing its 18-man roster for training camp.

While the deals for the three undrafted rookies were initially reported to be three-year agreements, the Rockets have since used up their cap room, limiting the team to two-year, minimum-salary pacts. Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle reported this week that two-year contracts were likely for all four players.

JUNE 24: The Rockets drafted two players in the second round on Thursday night, and supplemented their rookie class shortly after the draft ended by agreeing to terms with three free agents who went undrafted.

Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com first reported (via Twitter) that Houston had agreed to a three-year deal with former Oregon State guard Gary Payton II, with Shams Charania of The Vertical reporting (via Twitter) that former Texas guard Isaiah Taylor had also agreed to a partially-guaranteed contract with the Rockets.

Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (via Twitter) confirms those two deals, and adds former Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer to the list of Rockets’ signees. All three players will ink three-year contracts that feature team options, according to Feigen.

Payton, Taylor, Wiltjer were all viewed as top-75 prospects by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, who ranked them 48th, 67th, and 75th, respectively, in his top 100. There’s no guarantee any of them will earn spots on the Houston’s regular-season roster for 2016/17, but whether or not they make the cut, they could end up spending some time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets’ D-League affiliate.

Exact terms of the three deals aren’t known, and they haven’t been officially finalized yet, but I’d expect minimum-salary pacts, with most – or all – of the guaranteed money coming in the first year.

Thunder Sign Three Players, Finalize Camp Roster

September 23rd, 2016 at 10:47am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have officially finalized their roster for training camp, bringing their roster count to the maximum allowable 20 players. The team announced today in a press release that it has signed guard Alex Caruso, center Kaleb Tarczewski, and forward Chris Wright. Tarczewski’s and Wright’s camp invites had been previously reported.

Caruso, who went undrafted in June, played his college ball at Texas A&M, averaging 8.1 PPG, 5.0 APG, 3.6 RPG, and 2.1 SPG in his senior year, while shooting 36.8% from three-point range. The 22-year-old was also named to the SEC’s All-Defensive Team.

Tarczewski, meanwhile, also wasn’t selected in this year’s draft, following a senior year at Arizona in which he averaged 9.4 PPG and 9.3 RPG. Like Caruso, the seven-foot center is a strong defender, having been named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

Wright, who turns 28 next Friday, previously appeared in a total of 32 NBA games for the Warriors and Bucks, but has spent most of his time during the past few years overseas. Most recently, Wright appeared in 34 Israeli League games last season for Maccabi Rishon Le-Zion, averaging 12.2 PPG and 5.1 RPG while shooting 61.5% from the floor and playing solid defense.

The Thunder are currently carrying 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Joffrey Lauvergne on a partially-guaranteed pact and Semaj Christon on a non-guaranteed deal. Caruso, Tarczewski, and Wright likely won’t get more than small guarantees, if they get any guaranteed money at all, which means they’re long shots to make the team’s 15-man roster. An assignment to the D-League’s Oklahoma City Blue is possible for all three players.

Contract Details: Kings, Lakers, Raptors, Wizards

September 23rd, 2016 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

Although he may not make the Kings‘ regular-season roster, second-round guard Isaiah Cousins received a $100K guarantee on his one-year, minimum-salary contract, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). If Sacramento waives Cousins at the end of the preseason, the club will lose his NBA rights. However, the Kings will be able to hold onto his D-League rights and assign him to the Reno Bighorns. That $100K guarantee may make Cousins more willing to accept a low-paying D-League assignment rather than seeking out a job overseas.

Here are a few more contract details on recently-signed contracts, via Pincus:

Thomas Robinson received a non-guaranteed, one-year summer contract from the Lakers, Pincus tweets. Robinson’s non-guaranteed $1,050,961 salary is the same figure he would have been guaranteed if he’d exercised his player option with the Nets back in June.
Pincus passes along another Lakers contract note, tweeting that Tarik Black‘s new deal includes a 10% trade kicker.
New Raptors sharpshooter Brady Heslip is likely ticketed for the team’s D-League affiliate, but Toronto made it worth his while to sign a minimum-salary deal, guaranteeing him $56,500, according to Pincus (Twitter link).
A pair of Wizards camp invitees, Johnny O’Bryant and Casper Ware, signed one-year, non-guaranteed summer contracts with the team, tweets Pincus.

Tomislav Zubcic Signed, Waived By Thunder

September 23rd, 2016 at 9:30am CST by Will Joseph

SEPTEMBER 23: Zubcic was technically waived by the Thunder after signing the second-round tender he received from the team, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The end result is the same: Zubcic becomes an unrestricted free agent, whose NBA rights are now up for grabs. However, it suggests that perhaps the player forced the issue, rather than the team simply letting him go.

SEPTEMBER 18: The Thunder have renounced the rights to Tomislav Zubcic on Sunday, making the 6’10” power forward a free agent, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman reports.

Zubcic, 26, played 36 games for Oklahoma City’s D-League affiliate last season, averaging 7.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 19.8 minutes per game. Zubcic was fourth on the Blue in 3-pointers made (44), shooting 35.2%.

Zubcic was unlikely to ever join the Thunder, Horne writes, so the move isn’t at all surprising and Zubcic can play with the Blue if he does not sign with another team. The 56th overall pick by the Raptors in 2012 was acquired by the Thunder in June 2015 in a deal that had helped the Thunder create roster space for Cameron Payne.

Bulls Sign Thomas Walkup

September 23rd, 2016 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls continue to fill out their training camp roster, signing former Stephen F. Austin wing Thomas Walkup to a deal. Walkup himself broke news of the agreement, publishing a photo on Instagram that showed him signing his first NBA contract (hat tip to HoopsHype).

“Signed my first NBA contract today,” Walkup wrote on Instagram. “So many people that helped me get to this point. Chicago Bulls training camp starting Monday!”

Walkup, 23, averaged 18.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 4.5 APG, and 2.1 SPG during his senior year at Stephen F. Austin, earning Southland Conference player of the year honors for a second consecutive season. He went undrafted in June.

Details of Walkup’s agreement with the Bulls aren’t known, but a non-guaranteed summer contract seems likely. Chicago currently has 13 players on its roster with guaranteed salaries, and five with non-guaranteed deals. Walkup figures to become the sixth, joining Spencer Dinwiddie, Cristiano Felicio, Vince Hunter, J.J. Avila, and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera as camp invitees competing for a 15-man roster spot.

Southeast Notes: Millsap, Heat, Wall, Hornets

September 22nd, 2016 at 9:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Hawks power forward Paul Millsap recently underwent a procedure to reduce mild swelling in his right knee, RealGM.com relays via a team press release. The procedure was not surgical and all indications are that he will be ready to play at the start of the season, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links). Millsap, who has averaged 17.1 points and 9.0 rebounds last season, has earned a reputation of being an iron man since joining the league during the 2006/07 season. He appeared in 81 regular-season games and 10 playoff games last season and has never missed more than nine games in any season.

In other news around the Southeast Division:

Nevada Smith has been named head coach of the Heat’s D-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald reports. Smith previously coached the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers for two seasons. Former Heat point guard Anthony Carter will join Smith’s staff. Former Skyforce Dan Craig has joined Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s staff along with Octavio De La Grana, who served as a Skyforce assistant coach last year.
Wizards coach Scott Brooks is uncertain about point guard John Wall’s status for the start of training camp, according to Candace Buckner of the Washington Post. Brooks is unsure when Wall, who underwent two knee operations during the offseason, will be cleared for five-on-five contact. “He’s improving,” Brooks told Buckner. “His body looks great [but] his conditioning is going to be behind. Once you step into an NBA practice, the level goes way up. Especially in a training camp situation where you have guys trying to make it, guys trying to fight for minutes, trying to fight for starting jobs, but we have to make sure [about Wall] because that’s when things can go sideways.”
The Heat’s decision on whether Chris Bosh will be cleared to play is not a function of the salary cap, Ira Winderman of the Florida Sun-Sentinel writes. Bosh, who has been diagnosed with blood clots in his leg the past two seasons, must be cleared by medical personnel and the rules of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement have to be followed, Winderman continues. Neither the team nor the players’ union will draw a line in the sand over one player, especially when either could opt out of the CBA as early as mid-December, Winderman adds.
The return of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist from injury and the addition of free agent center Roy Hibbert raises the defensive ceiling for a team that already ranked in the league’s top 10 last season, according to Basketball Insiders’ season preview of the Hornets. Basketball Insiders takes an optimistic view of the Hornets, with its reporters predicting anywhere from a first to third-place finish for the club this season.

Clippers Sign Xavier Munford

September 22nd, 2016 at 9:01pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 22: The Clippers have signed Munford to a non-guaranteed $874,636 summer contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.

SEPTEMBER 21: The Clippers have begun adding extra bodies to their training camp roster, reaching an agreement on a deal with free agent guard Xavier Munford, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter).

Munford, 22, made his NBA debut in March with the Grizzlies, joining the injury-ravaged Memphis roster for the stretch run. In his 14 contests with the team, Munford averaged 5.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG, and 1.6 APG, while connecting on 39.1% of his three-point attempts. Prior to getting called up by the Grizzlies, Munford scored an impressive 20.4 PPG to go along with 6.4 APG and a .412 3PT% for the 2015/16 Bakersfield Jam in the D-League.

The Clippers still had five openings on their 20-man offseason roster entering the day, but it’s not clear whether there will be any regular-season spots open, since the club’s 15 players all have guaranteed salaries. Munford will likely face an uphill battle to make the team, and could end up back in the D-League to start the 2016/17 campaign.

Euro Star Milos Teodosic Eyes NBA in 2017

September 22nd, 2016 at 8:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

European star guard Milos Teodosic wants to play in the NBA during the 2017/18 season, he reveals in a blog for Eurohoops.net. The 29-year-old Teodosic has one year remaining on his contract with defending champion CSKA Moscow.

The 6’5” Teodosic, who is primarily a point guard but can also play off the ball, averaged a career-high 17.8 points and 5.7 assists in 29 Euroleague games last season. He will be entering his sixth season with CSKA Moscow.

“In the past I felt that playing in the NBA was not something really close to me,” Teodosic wrote in his blog. “Now, I think about it. I want to travel to the States, play in the NBA and compete against the best players in the world. Maybe now I am more ready mentally and also on the court. I know what I can do it, I believe in myself and I have no doubts or second thoughts.”

Earlier this summer, a report surfaced that the Serbian Olympian would prefer to sign with either the Spurs or the Jazz if he made the jump to the NBA. The Grizzlies reportedly offered him more than $5MM in 2013 but he opted to stay in the CSKA Moscow.

Teodosic, who went undrafted in 2009, reiterated in the blog that he would be picky when it came to signing with an NBA franchise.

“I will not sign anywhere just to be able to say that I played in the NBA,” he wrote. “I need the whole package that will excite me. So it depends on what offers I get as a free agent and the way the teams approach and talk to me.”

The five-time all-Euroleague selection and Euroleague MVP in 2010 started for Serbia in the Rio Olympics. He averaged 11.1 points and 5.4 assists as his home country reached the Gold Medal Game, which was won the United States, 96-66.

Milos Teodosic

Dahntay Jones To Rejoin Cavs At Training Camp

September 22nd, 2016 at 7:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Veteran shooting guard Dahntay Jones has agreed to join the defending champion Cavaliers for training camp on a non-guaranteed contract, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.

The 35-year-old Jones was signed by Cleveland just before the end of the regular season this spring. He appeared in one regular-season game, then saw spot duty in 15 postseason games. He scored five key points late in the first half of Game 6 during the NBA Finals.

Jones was released in late July, just before his $1.55MM contract for this season would have been guaranteed.

Jones attended LeBron James‘ mini-camp in Santa Barbara, California earlier this week, according to Vardon.

The Cavaliers have just 12 players with guaranteed contracts and two others with non-guaranteed deals. However, that does not include starting shooting guard J.R. Smith, who is expected to eventually re-sign with the team. The Cavaliers already have plenty of other veterans along with James at the wing positions, including Richard Jefferson, Iman Shumpert, Mike Dunleavy and James Jones, which means Dahntay Jones could have difficulty making the opening night roster.

The journeyman guard’s career dates back to 2003/04, when he played for the Grizzlies. He’s also played for the Kings, Nuggets, Pacers, Hawks, Mavericks and Clippers.

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