2018 August | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Faried, L. Brown, Raptors, Celtics

August 21st, 2018 at 2:07pm CST by Luke Adams

As first reported by Valerie Gordon of 27East.com, new Nets power forward Kenneth Faried was arrested in Bridgehampton on Sunday morning and was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor for those allegedly possessing more than two ounces of marijuana. The Nets know about the situation, according to Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily, who confirmed the initial report.

“We are aware of the situation involving Kenneth Faried and are in the process of gathering more information at this time,” the Nets said in a statement.

While it’s possible the arrest could eventually lead to a modest fine or suspension for Faried, it’s fairly minor as far as criminal incidents go. It’s unlikely to have a major impact on the veteran’s on-court availability during his first season with the Nets.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Although Lorenzo Brown‘s one-year contract isn’t fully guaranteed, the Raptors view the veteran guard as a roster player, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. According to Lewenberg, Brown is a good bet to be Toronto’s 14th man and the club probably won’t start the year with 15, meaning camp invitees like Chris Boucher and Kay Felder are long shots to make the regular season squad.
The Raptors‘ acquisition of Kawhi Leonard is a roll of the dice that could represent either a new beginning for the franchise or the beginning of the end of the club’s recent run of success, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
The Celtics will enter the 2018/19 season as the favorites to win the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference, but the Raptors and Sixers won’t make things easy. A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston identifies five keys that could help Toronto or Philadelphia knock off the C’s next season.

Jeremy Evans To Play In Turkey

August 21st, 2018 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran NBA forward Jeremy Evans will play overseas during the 2018/19 season, having signed with Darussafaka. The Turkish club officially announced its deal with Evans today in a press release.

Evans, a second-round pick in 2010, spent five seasons with the Jazz after entering the league, averaging 3.7 PPG and 2.7 RPG in a limited role over the course of 219 regular season contests. He also won the Slam Dunk contest in 2012.

Since the 2015/16 season, Evans has bounced around among various teams and leagues, playing for the Mavericks, Hawks, and both of their G League teams. He also spent some time with Khimki in Russia. Most recently, the 30-year-old signed a 10-day contract with Atlanta in April and finished the 2017/18 season with the Hawks.

Cavaliers’ Trade Exception Set To Expire

August 21st, 2018 at 12:20pm CST by Luke Adams

A Cavaliers traded player exception created in last August’s Kyrie Irving trade with the Celtics is set to expire if it’s not used by the end of the day on Wednesday. The exception, which is worth $3,051,019, was created last August 22.

As we explain in our glossary entry on the subject, traded player exceptions can be used to acquire one or more players whose salaries fits within the amount of the exception (plus $100K). Using their TPE, the over-the-cap Cavaliers wouldn’t have to send out any salary if they were to acquire a player earning $3MM.

The Cavs have actually already made use of their Irving trade exception, which was initially worth over $5.8MM. When Cleveland acquired Sam Dekker from the Clippers earlier this offseason, the club didn’t send any salary to L.A. in the deal, taking on Dekker’s $2.76MM salary using a part of that TPE. So even if the Cavs let the rest of the exception expire, they’ve already been able to take advantage of it.

The Cavaliers’ traded player exception is the first of a handful of modest TPEs around the NBA which are set to expire before the 2018/19 regular season gets underway. Here are the rest:

September 3: New Orleans Pelicans ($3,853,931)
September 24: Memphis Grizzlies ($2,077,360)
September 25: Los Angeles Clippers ($1,577,230)
September 25: New York Knicks ($2,381,964)
October 15: Cleveland Cavaliers ($2,500,000)
October 15: Cleveland Cavaliers ($1,312,611)

The complete list of available traded player exceptions can be found right here.

Raptors Sign Kay Felder

August 21st, 2018 at 12:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 21: The Felder signing is now official, the Raptors confirmed today in a press release.

AUGUST 20: The Raptors have agreed to a one-year, partially-guaranteed contract with point guard Kay Felder, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets.

Felder hit the free agent market when the Pistons, who signed him to a two-way contract in mid-January, declined to extend a qualifying offer to him this summer.

Felder, 23, appeared in just two games with Detroit. He averaged 3.9 points and 1.4 per game over 14 games with the Bulls last season before he was waived in December.

The 5’9” Felder, a second-round pick in 2016, played his rookie season with the Cavaliers and saw action in 42 games. He was traded to the Hawks during training camp last season and was subsequently waived. Chicago then claimed him.

Felder would appear to have little chance to make Toronto’s opening-day roster, barring injuries. The Raptors already have Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, Lorenzo Brown, and two-way player Jordan Loyd at that spot.

NBA Teams With Open Two-Way Contract Slots

August 21st, 2018 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

Only a small handful of two-way players from 2017/18 had their contracts carried over to the 2018/19 season, while a few more signed new two-way deals. For the most part though, NBA teams have filled their two-way contract slots for the coming season with new faces, including several rookies who went undrafted in 2018.

At the moment, 44 of 60 league-wide two-way contract slots are occupied, with a 45th set to be filled once the Wizards finalize their reported agreement with Jordan McRae. That leaves just 15 two-way deals available across the NBA as training camps approach.

Some clubs may not fill these slots before camps get underway, preferring to sign players to non-guaranteed NBA contracts and then convert those deals to two-way pacts later, depending on how players perform in camp and in the preseason. By the time the 2018/19 regular season begins though, I don’t expect many two-way slots to still be open.

With the help of our two-way contract tracker, which lists all the players currently on two-way deals, here are the teams who can still offer two-way contracts without waiving anyone:

Two open slots:

Brooklyn Nets
Houston Rockets
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs

One open slot:

Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Golden State Warriors
New Orleans Pelicans
Phoenix Suns
Sacramento Kings
Toronto Raptors

Fellow Rookies Pick Ayton, Sexton As RoY Favorites

August 21st, 2018 at 9:55am CST by Luke Adams

For the 10th time in 12 years, John Schuhmann of NBA.com got the opportunity to ask the NBA’s incoming crop of rookies a series of questions related to their fellow draftees.

Historically, the NBA rookies haven’t been particularly clairvoyant when it comes to their predictions — they haven’t accurately identified a Rookie of the Year winner since Kevin Durant in 2007/08. Still, it’s an interesting exercise, and one that occasionally results in a dead-on prediction, like when last year’s rookie class named Donovan Mitchell the steal of the 2017 draft.

Here are a few of the most interesting responses from this year’s rookies about the 2018/19 class:

Deandre Ayton (Suns) and Collin Sexton (Cavaliers) are viewed as the co-favorites for the Rookie of the Year award this season, with each player earning 18% of the vote. No other rookie had more than a 9% share of the vote.
Opinions were a little more divided on which player would have the best long-term NBA career, with Wendell Carter Jr. (Bulls) narrowly earning that title by receiving 13% of the vote. Interestingly, reigning EuroLeague MVP Luka Doncic (Mavericks) wasn’t picked by a single player for this question.
No. 48 overall pick Keita Bates-Diop (Timberwolves) was named the steal of the 2018 NBA draft by his fellow rookies, edging out 14th overall pick Michael Porter Jr. (Nuggets) and 18th overall pick Lonnie Walker (Spurs).
Trae Young (Hawks) is widely considered the best shooter and play-maker in this year’s class. Jevon Carter (Grizzlies) earned the most votes for best rookie defender, while Zhaire Smith (Sixers) is viewed as the most athletic rookie.
Be sure to check out Schuhmann’s full piece for the rest of the rookie survey results.

Latest On Kawhi Leonard

August 21st, 2018 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors are making an addition to their coaching staff, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports and Ian Begley of ESPN.com, who both report that former Spurs staffer Jeremy Castleberry will join the club.

As Begley details, Castleberry is a close friend of new Raptor Kawhi Leonard, having played with the star forward in high school and at San Diego State. An assistant video coordinator with the Spurs, Castleberry will serve as a player development coach in Toronto, per Charania.

While it’s unlikely that the Raptors would be making the hire if they hadn’t previously acquired Leonard, Castleberry is – by all accounts – “more than qualified” for his new position, tweets Begley. According to Begley, the Spurs didn’t want to lose him from their staff.

With Leonard heading into a contract year, the Raptors figure to pull out all the stops in an effort to convince him that re-signing with the club and remaining in Toronto long-term is the right move. The addition of Castleberry will likely play at least a small part in the Raps’ season-long recruiting efforts.

Still, as has been reported since his trade request first went public earlier this year, Leonard’s preference is to eventually sign in Los Angeles, either with the Lakers or Clippers, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Celtics Sign P.J. Dozier To Two-Way Deal

August 21st, 2018 at 8:15am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 21: The Celtics have officially signed Dozier to a two-way contract, according to RealGM’s NBA transactions log.

AUGUST 3: The Celtics will sign free agent guard P.J. Dozier to a two-way contract, reports Sean Deveney of The Sporting News (Twitter link). While Deveney classifies it as a done deal, there has been no confirmation yet from the club.

Dozier, who went undrafted out of South Carolina in 2017, spent training camp with the Mavericks last fall, then signed a two-way deal with the Thunder after being cut by Dallas. The 6’6″ shooting guard made his NBA debut in February, but appeared in just two games for the Thunder, spending most of his rookie year with the team’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue.

In 43 NBAGL contests (28.5 MPG), Dozier averaged 12.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 1.3 SPG. He posted a shooting line of .465/.340/.653. Dozier stuck with OKC for Summer League action last month, recording 11.0 PPG on 52.2% shooting in five games in Las Vegas.

Looking to turn over their two-way contract slots this summer, the Thunder didn’t tender qualifying offers to Daniel Hamilton or Dozier earlier this offseason, freeing them up to sign anywhere. Dozier will join a Celtics team that has already filled its other two-way spot with Walter Lemon Jr.

Southwest Notes: Belinelli, Parker, Doncic, Rockets

August 20th, 2018 at 9:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Marco Belinelli will focus on the upcoming NBA season instead of playing for Italy’s national team, according to a Sportando report. The veteran shooting guard will skip World Cup qualifiers next month against Poland and Hungary in order to prepare for the Spurs’ training camp, the report continues. Belinelli, who had a previous two-year stint with San Antonio, played a combined 80 regular-season games last season for the Hawks and Sixers and averaged 12.1 PPG. He’ll back up DeMar DeRozan and could also see some action at small forward after signing a two-year, $12MM deal.

In other news from around the Southwest Division:

Tony Parker will come back to San Antonio to end his career, he told the Chinese website Hupu.com in an interview that was relayed by AmicoHoops.net. Parker, who signed a two-year deal with the Hornets, intend to sign a one-day contract with the Spurs when he’s ready to call it quits. “Yes, I will retire as a Spur,” Parker said.
Mavericks guard Luka Doncic should be able to handle the physical grind of the NBA but his athleticism and quickness will be tested in his rookie season, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. He also has to prove he can consistently knock down 3-pointers from behind the NBA arc, Sefko adds. Doncic is expected to jump right into the starting backcourt alongside Dennis Smith Jr.
Another trip to the Bahamas is on the docket for Rockets players, Mark Berman of Fox 26 reports. The team will try to build chemistry by holding a bonding experience there in early September, something it also did last season.

Community Shootaround: Kemba Walker

August 20th, 2018 at 8:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kemba Walker has spent his entire seven-year NBA career with the Hornets. But Walker’s future with the organization is murky at best as he heads into his walk year.

The 6’1” point guard has one year and $12MM remaining on his contract before he enters unrestricted free agency for the first time next summer. He recently said he’s intrigued about that prospect.

“I’ve never been a free agent. I don’t know how the process works,” he told the New York Post. “I will have options unless Charlotte gets something done.”

If anything gets done prior to next July, it will likely be a trade. A contract extension isn’t feasible because of Charlotte’s salary-cap restraints. The Hornets are hard-capped and will have make a move or two to avoid being a luxury taxpayer.

The Cavaliers reportedly explored the possibility of trading for Walker early in the summer prior to LeBron James‘ decision to bolt to the West Coast. New York has long been rumored as a potential landing spot for Walker, who grew up in the city. Both the Knicks and Nets might view Walker as an upgrade at that spot.

Walker has increased his offensive output with greater efficiency over the past two years. In 2016/17, he averaged career highs of 23.2 PPG on 44.4% shooting.

His numbers went down slightly last season, as he scored at a 22.1 PPG clip on 43.1% shooting. He’s become an outstanding 3-point shooter over the past three seasons, making 38.6% of his attempts.

Walker will be 29 during the next offseason and should be effective for at least another five seasons.

That brings us to our question of the day: Will Kemba Walker re-sign with the Hornets as a free agent next summer? If not, where do you think he will wind up?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.

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