The new Overtime Elite league for teenage prospects has made another noteworthy addition, securing a commitment from five-star recruit Tyler Smith, writes ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. The 6’9″ Smith, who ranked No. 8 on ESPN’s list of 2023 recruits, said he signed a two-year “seven-figure” deal with Overtime Elite, per Givony.
“This is different and new,” he said. “I wanted to be a pro already, working on stuff that NBA players work on. In high school, you can’t work out as much as they do at OTE.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report highlights five prospects projected to be part of the 2022 draft class who have generated buzz at the U19 World Cup and other recent events, including Michigan forward Caleb Houstan and G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels.
- In the first article in a three-part series, David Aldridge of The Athletic ranks the 10 teams that have – in his view – had the worst offseasons in 2021. The Trail Blazers (28th), Kings (29th), and Timberwolves (30th) occupy the bottom three spots on Aldridge’s list.
- According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter links), teams that finished in the tax in 2020/21 had their taxable salary adjusted downward by 28.9% to account for lost revenue. For instance, the Warriors finished the season about $37MM above the tax line, but were treated like a team over the tax by approximately $26MM — Golden State paid about $69MM in tax penalties, says Pincus.
Warriors paid $69 million tax last year. Fans thought it was $140 million. lol
I’m sure they won’t be laughing next year when the bill skyrockets to $184M.
I’ll be laughing. Why? Because I don’t give F**k One about Joe Lacob spending his billions.
Why worry about a guy who used tax money to build a big stadium? I don’t feel sorry for any owner of a sports team.
I don’t get this comment sections obsession with the warriors spending…it’s super weird…if you have 1$ you can pay for anything you want that’s 1$, if you have a gazillion then you can pay for things that cost a gazillion dollars, I doubt the warriors are worried about the tax due to the way they don’t worry about the tax, I’m not a warriors fan and I’m also not a fan of your dorks “oMg tHeY aRe goNNa bE tAxEd sO mUcH, mY tEam HaSnT wOn a tItLe sIncE ‘76”
The fans won’t be paying it. So, why would we be upset? You were saying it would be $170 million. Guess you are wrong again.
They literally are paying it. That’s how taxes work.
Shocker. Wally Wood commenting on the GS payroll. He just can’t help himself. He’s obsessed.
Don’t worry about Greenwood. He’s just salty cause his squad was never good enough to beat the dubs
Well because according to the NBA’s rules at the time, they were already over, facing a $66m tax bill PRE-OUBRE trade. His $15m would add up to roughly $84m w/contract and tax combined, however it was known from Nov 2020 that they’d be seeking a reprieve due to lack of ticket sales from the pandemic:
“According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, adding Oubre Jr. would take the Warriors from a $66 million bill to $134 million.
Add in Oubre Jr.’s salary, and the Warriors are paying as much as $82.4 million to add him to their roster.
Marks later noted the *Warriors will get some kind of **financial reprieve** from the NBA in the likely event of a revenue drop* for the league this year, but the team’s tax bill will still be above $100 million.”
This isn’t so much news, as it is clarification of something already stated over 9 months ago. It was public knowledge such a move was coming, it was just a matter of when.
This ‘news’ is similar to saying “I had the baby”, 9 months after we were given an “I’m pregnant” announcement.
Well, lets take a look : GM states he will be aggressive and make big thing happen this off season. OK, what has he done ??
He Resigned Holmes (Very Good Move)
Blew a trade that would have gotten rid of Bagley and Hield ($34m combined salaries), because he waited too long to pull the trigger.
States we are very interested in trading for Siakam, who’s Not even on the trade block.
Resigned Davis, and Harkless who were on last yrs team (that did NOT make the playoffs)
Signed Len who was on the prior years roster to last yr and again(we did not make the playoffs)
Passed on 6-8 PF Moody (who is lighting it up for the Warriors) in the draft for another PG which we did not need.
Drafted Queta, who we do Not even know if he will make the Roster or not.
So the Question Remains, Where is the Improvement ?? I don’t see it !!
Thank god for the Timberwolves!
There needs to be a trade still. I hope mcNair is not waiting on Simmons. He will bristle at forward.
When I read the McNair page at Bas.Ref, I find I agree with most things, perhaps the highest rate.
It would make sense to keep Hield if Fox were going. That trade BTW was Hield for Kuzma, Harrell and a #22, perhaps Usman or Isaiah Jackson. Didn’t get finalized before the draft.
It’s not like Beal/Siakam/Ben/Dame/PG/Brogdon/etc were traded, how can ANYONE say we “missed out” on something that hasn’t happened yet anyways????
They went from an 8-man rotation for the last 1/4 of last season consisting of Steph/Baze/Wogs/Dray/Loon, Poole/JTA/Mulder
TO:
Steph/Wigs/Porter/Dray/Loon
Iggy/Poole/JTA/Bjelicia/Wiseman
Lee, Moody, Kuminga, one of GP3/Mulder, and eventually Klay.
Wigs/Wiseman get their first actual non-COVID summer/training camps with the team, so I imagine improvement from BOTH.
In essence, they upgraded most spots:
Bjelicia>injured Paschall
Iggy>Wanamaker
Porter>Oubre(much, MUCH better fit)
Moody>Mannion
Kuminga>Smailagic/Jordan Bell
Klay>Bazemore(eventually, however Baze wasn’t starting until halfway through the season anyways.)
GSW played 2020/21 w/o 30+% of their team salary, and 2019/20 w/o 65+% of their team salary on the court. Every team in the NBA would suffer in a similar scenario. Lakers w/o Bron and AD. Bucks w/o Giannis and Middleton. Brooklyn w/o Harden and KD. Clippers w/o Kawhi and PG13, etc. AND they would’ve been the 8 seed if not for the play-in games, which is why they had to lose both in order to fall out of the playoffs.
Chriss, Lee, Loon, EP, Oubre, Wiseman, and Klay ALL missed significant time last year, so having a healthy Damion Lee(38% 3pt shooter as a Warrior), along with healthy seasons from Wiseman/Looney/Porter/Bjelicia/Klay will be a lot better for this Dubs team that suffered heavily despite having a Top10 lineup(Steph/Baze/Wigs/Dray/Loon) BECAUSE they had no depth/NBA level talent as soon as the starters left the court, resulting in an 8 man rotation that performed better than having EO/GP2/Mannion/Bell/Etc
I applaud Smith. You can’t spend a 1 year college scholarship but you can spend a seven figure income. If you are good enough why waste your time at college for a year or even your last year of HS…go pro.
If the NBA has age requirements to enter the league so be it, that is their prerogative as a business but what a player does before that needs to pried from the monopolistic hands of the NCAA. Basketball will probably be better at this than football or other sports because fewer players are needed to fill out a team.
Very well said Buckman, that is too true!
In Europe kids can sign pro contracts from the age of 16, can’t understand why anyone in the world can legally work from 16 but hoops players can’t, have to wait until 19 in the US of A, seems to be something very wrong with the concept, right?
Offseason move
Suns should find a way to acquire all three earlier this summer
Larry Nance Jr
Dillon Brooks
Covington
It’s all about championships.
Of coarse the Timberwolves had a horrible off season.
No draft picks because of Dlo trade and possibly from NOT tanking like they should have,
Not much $$$ to sign free agents.
Have to OVERPAY free agents anyhow.
Beasley in jail for being a idiot pothead.
Management pissed off the guy who wanted to play in the Olympics….