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Pacers Sign Nick Zeisloft

September 7th, 2016 at 4:53pm CST by Luke Adams

After playing his college ball with the Hoosiers for the last two years, Nick Zeisloft will remain in Indiana this fall. According to RealGM’s NBA transactions log, the Pacers have signed the undrafted free agent guard. While terms of the deal aren’t known, it figures to be a one-year, minimum-salary “summer contract,” which won’t count against Indiana’s cap unless Zeisloft makes the team.

After starting his college career at Illinois State, Zeisloft made the move to Indiana for the 2014/15 season. In his two years with the Hoosiers, he averaged just 6.6 PG, but shot an impressive 43.2% from beyond the arc. Over the course of his four-year college career, Zeisloft was a designated sharpshooter for his two teams, making 216 overall three-pointers and just 43 two-point shots.

The Pacers, who already had 15 guaranteed contracts on their books, recently agreed to a deal with Kevin Seraphin that also looks to be guaranteed for 2016/17. With Julyan Stone and Alex Poythress also in the mix as camp invitees, the odds that Zeisloft earns a 15-man roster spot are extremely slim. Still, assuming the Pacers like what they see this fall, they may intend to have the 23-year-old join the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, their D-League affiliate.

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Latest On Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel

September 7th, 2016 at 3:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel were involved in several trade rumors around the time of this year’s draft and into the early part of the free agent period, but there hasn’t been much trade chatter surrounding either player lately. Still, that doesn’t mean the Sixers are entirely comfortable moving forward with both players as long-term pieces.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Philadelphia doesn’t believe that the talents of Okafor and Noel are complementary, and still intends to eventually move one of the two players. The Sixers have had “periodic” trade discussions involving the pair this summer, Wojnarowski reports.

With so many teams already having an idea of what their training camp rosters will look like, a deal at this part of the year may be difficult for the Sixers to pull off if they hope to get decent value back. Although GM Bryan Colangelo admitted in July that he’s not entirely comfortable heading into the regular season with Okafor, Noel, and Joel Embiid still on the roster, a move at the deadline is probably more likely.

Whether the Sixers explore a deal within the next few weeks or closer to the deadline, Noel’s contract situation will be an interesting factor in trade discussions. The former sixth overall pick is eligible for restricted free agency next summer, so whichever team holds his rights at the end of the 2016/17 season will have an inside track on locking him up long-term.

The decision to trade Okafor or Noel may also hinge on how third-year center Embiid looks this season. Despite having been with the team since 2014, Embiid has yet to make his NBA debut, but he recently said he feels 100%, and he’s expected to suit up for the Sixers this fall. A healthy and productive Embiid would make frontcourt minutes even harder to come by in Philadelphia, and might motivate the team to make a move involving Noel or Okafor sooner rather than later.

Earlier today, the 76ers added even more backcourt depth by re-signing veteran big man Elton Brand to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract.

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Sixers Sign Elton Brand To One-Year Deal

September 7th, 2016 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

2:48pm: Brand’s one-year deal is non-guaranteed, according to Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly (via Twitter).

2:29pm: Former first overall pick Elton Brand isn’t ready to call it a career quite yet. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Brand will return to Philadelphia for the 2016/17 season, having signed a one-year contract with the Sixers. The team has since confirmed the signing in a press release.Elton Brand vertical

Financial terms of the deal aren’t yet known. Philadelphia has no shortage of cap room, so the club could have lured Brand out of potential retirement by offering more than the minimum after he expressed back in April that he didn’t expect to keep playing. Still, a minimum-salary contract appears likely.

[RELATED: Salary Cap Snapshot: Philadelphia 76ers]

Brand, 37, signed with the Sixers last January and appeared in 17 games for the team the rest of the way, averaging 4.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG in 13.2 minutes per contest. When Brand first joined the team, he wrote a piece for The Cauldron suggesting that he believed his “experience and wisdom” could help Jahlil Okafor and other young players on Philadelphia’s roster. Presumably, he’s returning to fill that veteran leadership role once again.

Although the Sixers have a crowded frontcourt, Brand figures to ostensibly take Carl Landry‘s place on the roster. Landry was expected to the veteran presence for a group of frontcourt players that includes Okafor, Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Ben Simmons, and Dario Saric. However, Landry wanted the opportunity to earn more playing time, so Philadelphia granted him his release. In Brand, the Sixers have an experienced big man who won’t expect or demand significant minutes.

The 76ers, who had been carrying the maximum allowable 20 players, opened up two roster spots when they cut Landry and Tibor Pleiss, but have since filled those openings by signing Brand and Cat Barber. Not counting Barber and Brand, since the exact details of their deals haven’t yet been reported, Philadelphia has 11 guaranteed salaries on its books, plus seven non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed contracts.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Doc Rivers Talks Pierce, Allen, KG, Griffin

September 7th, 2016 at 1:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers made an appearance in Boston at the annual ABCD Hoops Dream fundraiser at TD Garden on Tuesday, and made time for a discussion with reporters. Given the location of the event, it was no surprise that many of the questions focused on the NBA futures – or lack thereof – for the Celtics’ old “big three” of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett.

In addition to discussing Pierce, Allen, and Garnett, the Clippers’ coach addressed a few other topics, including the offseason’s Blake Griffin trade rumors. ESPN’s Chris Forsberg has a nice round-up of Rivers’ comments, so let’s check out a few of the highlights….

On whether Pierce will be back for his 19th season, as has been reported:

“Depends on the day I talk to him. Paul has had the summer, he’s gone back and forth. … Paul didn’t have the best year last year. I don’t think he wants to go out that way. So I think that’s why he’s working to try to come back. But he still may change his mind next week. So we just have to wait. I told him if I see him at training camp, I’m assuming he’s playing.”

On Pierce’s eventual retirement:

“The day [Pierce] retires, he’s going to retire a Celtic. He has to. Paul’s a Celtic. So when he retires, he’s got to retire as a Celtic. I don’t think anyone disagrees with me.”

On whether Allen will return to the NBA:

“I don’t know. I won’t talk about what we talked about. I think if Ray was in the right spot, he may play. I think Ray wants to golf a lot too, right now. But Ray is in amazing shape. I don’t know how he does that. I didn’t know how he does that as a player; I don’t know how he does it as a non-player. He’s probably in top-five shape in the NBA. So could Ray play? Absolutely, I believe he could.”

On Garnett’s situation with the Timberwolves:

“I think Kevin – and I know it, because I talk to him – loves the young guys on his team. He loves how they work. He thinks they have an old-school mentality. So I think he’s really gotten into Kevin, the teacher. And I honestly never saw that coming, either. Yet he was a phenomenal teacher with [Boston]; I just didn’t think he would have the patience to do it. And I think Kevin loves teaching these young guys.”

On the Griffin trade rumors:

“We knew none of it was true. We figured that was one of you guys starting these rumors here in Boston. I was trying to find out who it was … No, it happens, unfortunately. Blake and [Chris Paul] are free agents [after this season]. Just like last year Oklahoma [City] had to deal with that, now it’s our turn.”

Be sure to check out the rest of Rivers’ comments right here.

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Stacey Augmon To Join Bucks’ Coaching Staff

September 7th, 2016 at 12:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks are close to finalizing an agreement with former NBA swingman Stacey Augmon to join their coaching staff, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. According to Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via Twitter), Augmon will sign a deal with the team soon.

Augmon last played in the NBA during the 2005/06 season before joining the Nuggets as a player development coach. For the last several years, the former ninth overall pick – known as “Plastic Man” during his NBA career – has served as an assistant coach at his alma mater of UNLV. As Stein notes, Augmon expressed disappointment at being passed over for the head coaching job at UNLV earlier this year.

In addition to Augmon’s hiring in Milwaukee, there are a couple other minor coaching notes from around the NBA to pass along. Let’s round them up…

  • The Cavaliers‘ D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, is expected to promote assistant Nate Reinking to head coach for the upcoming season, league sources tell Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. Reinking has been on the club’s staff since the 2013/14 season.
  • As Derek Bodner of PhillyMag.com tweets, the Sixers‘ D-League affiliate, the Delaware 87ers, also announced some coaching changes today. Former Villanova forward Curtis Sumpter is among the coaches on Delaware’s staff.
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Jazz Sign Quincy Ford

September 7th, 2016 at 10:36am CST by ChrisCrouse

SEPTEMBER 7: Ford’s deal with the Jazz, first reported in June, is now official, the team announced today in a press release. While Utah didn’t confirm the terms of the agreement, the club still has plenty of cap room, which allows Ford to sign a three-year contract.

The Jazz’s roster has undergone some changes since Ford initially agreed to terms. There are 14 players with guaranteed contracts on Utah’s books, with Ford, Chris Johnson, Jeff Withey, and Marcus Paige on non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed deals.

JUNE 24: The Jazz will sign combo forward Quincy Ford to a partially guaranteed, three-year deal, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it will likely be a minimum-salary arrangement.

Ford was solid during his five years at Northeastern, shooting 34.9% from behind the arc and 46.5% overall. He injured his back early in his collegiate career and he underwent surgery on it in 2013. He was able to red-shirt during the 2013/14 season and he continued to improve in many areas once he returned to the floor.

Utah has 15 players under contract, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates. That figure doesn’t include any of the prospects whom were drafted by the team on Thursday, so Ford is going to face stiff competition for a roster spot despite receiving a three-year deal.

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DeJuan Blair To Play In China

September 7th, 2016 at 10:12am CST by Luke Adams

Confirming international reports from earlier in the week, DeJuan Blair‘s agent, Happy Walters, confirmed that his client will head to China for the upcoming season. According to international basketball reporter David Pick (via Twitter), Blair has signed with Jiangsu Tongxi of the Chinese Basketball Association.

A former second-round pick, Blair was a solid backup for the Spurs during his first four NBA seasons, but has seen his production slip along with his playing time in recent years. After spending a year in Dallas, the veteran big man played for the Wizards the past two seasons.

In 2015/16, Blair appeared in 29 games, averaging just 2.1 PPG and 2.0 RPG while shooting a career-low 41.2% from the floor. The 27-year-old was sent to Phoenix in the deadline deal that saw Markieff Morris head to Washington, and the Suns subsequently waived him, ending his season early.

In China, Blair will be joining a team that also signed Jared Cunningham last month. Blair and Cunningham will be tasked with helping to reverse the fortunes of a club that finished with a 12-26 record in CBA play last season.

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NBA Teams Below Salary Floor For 2016/17

September 7th, 2016 at 8:53am CST by Luke Adams

On Tuesday, we examined the teams in – or near – luxury tax territory. Due to the size of those teams’ payrolls, they could face penalties at year’s end, paying a few extra tax dollars in addition to the salaries they’ll pay their players.

On the other end of the spectrum are six clubs whose team salaries continue to sit below the minimum salary floor, which is set at 90% of the cap. For the 2016/17 league year, that salary floor works out to $84.729MM. Every franchise will have to spend at least that much on players for the year, so if any team payrolls remain below that figure at season’s end, those teams have to make up the difference by paying a little extra to their own players.

Often, clubs sitting below the salary floor at this point in the year will get over that threshold at some point during the season. Taking on salary in a trade is one possibility — in the past, when cap room has been a rarer and more valuable commodity, teams like the Sixers have agreed to take on other clubs’ bad salaries as long as they can get something out of the deal themselves, such as second-round picks. That could still happen this year, but that sort of trade may be rarer now that the cap is at an all-time high and teams have more flexibility to maneuver.

Renegotiating a player’s contract and signing him to an extension is another way teams can use up their remaining salary cap space at this point in the season. As we saw with Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, and James Harden and the Rockets, clubs with room under the cap can rework a player’s contract to increase their current-year salary up to the max, while tacking on additional years — but only certain players are eligible.

Of course, signing free agents is another way a team can quickly add salary and reach the floor, but at this point in the offseason, most of the players still available are minimum-salary guys, and most teams’ rosters are fairly set anyway.

Here are the six teams currently below the salary floor:

Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Total team salary: $82,752,308
  • Guaranteed team salary: $80,791,446
  • Eligible for renegotiation/extension: Nikola Pekovic

Utah Jazz

  • Total team salary: $81,817,624
  • Guaranteed team salary: $79,332,496
  • Eligible for renegotiation/extension: Derrick Favors (eligible as of October 19), George Hill

Phoenix Suns

  • Total team salary: $80,900,983
  • Guaranteed team salary: $79,850,022
  • Eligible for renegotiation/extension: None

Brooklyn Nets

  • Total team salary: $76,948,637
  • Guaranteed team salary: $75,563,224
  • Eligible for renegotiation/extension: None

Denver Nuggets

  • Total team salary: $76,719,065
  • Guaranteed team salary: $74,039,362
  • Eligible for renegotiation/extension: None

Philadelphia 76ers

  • Total team salary: $70,341,137
  • Guaranteed team salary: $65,159,265
  • Eligible for renegotiation/extension: Hollis Thompson (eligible as of September 24)

Information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.

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Eastern Notes: Horford, Ellis, Green

September 6th, 2016 at 10:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics entered the offseason looking to add talent, which the team did by signing Al Horford to a four-year, $113MM deal. But coach Brad Stevens notes that he wanted Horford for how well he fits within the team’s system in addition to his skills, Michael Pina of Vice Sports relays. “We played [Atlanta] ten times [last season], so we had a pretty good idea of what they were doing and they had an idea of what we were doing,” Stevens told Pina. “One of the reasons we went after Al really hard on day one was because we thought that he fit in really well with how we play.”

“The part that’s great about Al is he gives you a lot of flexibility to play in different actions,” the Celtics coach continued. “Whether it be pick-and-roll, off-the-ball screens. Whether they are two-man game or more motion type concepts. He’s a good player in all of those situations. There are different ways to play, obviously, but the more skill, the more ability to dribble, pass, and shoot you have on the floor … people are going to play smaller at times against us, [so] the ability to move laterally at the five and guard smaller guys while at the same time being able to pass it from the top of the key out of a pick-and-roll, or out of the post versus a switch, is important.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Pacers‘ starting lineup appears set entering the preseason with the exception of shooting guard, which may see last year’s starter Monta Ellis shift to a role off the bench, Greg Rappaport of NBA.com writes. The move may be necessary due to the addition of Jeff Teague, who, like Ellis, is not known for his ability to consistently hit shots from deep, Rappaport notes.
  • The Raptors locking up the front office trio of Masai Ujiri, Jeff Weltman and Bobby Webster for the foreseeable future is good news for the franchise because it allows for continuity and the continuation of the team’s current plan, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star.
  • Stevens is also excited by the Celtics‘ offseason addition of swingman Gerald Green, whose offensive skills will add a needed dimension to the roster, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com relays (ESPN Now link). “I’ve been a big Gerald Green fan because I’ve been scared of him,” Stevens said. “And I think that that’s a great way to figure out how good a player is. When you go into a game, he’s on your scouting report, maybe in a highlighted way because he could go off for a lot of points in a short amount of time. He can change the course of a game. Does he do it every night, historically? No. But he’s had moments and times where he has done that. So I think he brings a spurtability to us that we clearly needed from a scoring standpoint.”
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Salary Cap Snapshot: Philadelphia 76ers

September 6th, 2016 at 9:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Here’s a breakdown of where the Sixers currently stand financially:

Guaranteed Salary

Total Guaranteed Salary= $85,143,679

Cash Sent Out Via Trade:  $0 [Amount Remaining $3.5MM]

Cash Received Via Trade: $1,800,000 received from Cavs in Sasha Kaun trade; $1,600,000 received from Jazz in Tibor Pleiss trade [Amount Remaining $100K]

Payroll Exceptions Available

  • Room Exception — $2,898,000

Total Projected Payroll: $85,143,679

Salary Cap: $94,143,000

Estimated Available Cap Space: $8,999,321

Luxury Tax Threshold: $113,287,000

Amount Below Luxury Tax: $28,143,321

Salary Cap Floor: $84,729,000

Amount Above Salary Cap Floor: $414,679

Latest Update: 4/15/17

The Basketball Insiders salary pages and The Vertical’s salary database were used in the creation of this post.

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