Boston Celtics Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jared Sullinger Eyes NBA Comeback

July 22nd, 2017 at 1:35pm CST by Joshua Fischman

Jared Sullinger, who was cut by the Suns in February, is looking to return to the NBA. This weekend Sullinger will display his skills and recent weight loss in Brooklyn at The Basketball Tournament, with several professional teams in attendance, including the Nets, Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors (link via Twitter) passes along, from the mouth of Fran Fraschilla.

Rob Oller of The Columbus Dispatch interviewed Sullinger about the power forward’s struggles, progress, and aspirations. Sully says he weighed as much as 320 pounds when he was with the Celtics. “I lost a year of basketball directly because of what I have done — my weight and my eating habits,” he said. Sullinger explained that his unwillingness to lose weight led Boston to release him in 2016 and the Raptors to trade him to Phoenix in late February. The Suns released him the next day.

Sullinger has now been a vegan for three weeks and is down to a svelte 285 pounds. The grand prize of The Basketball Tournament for many is $2MM, but for Sullinger, the true treasure could be an NBA or overseas contract.

In five NBA seasons, the Ohio State product has averaged 10.8 PPG and 7.5 RPG. In two consecutive seasons for the Celtics, Sully averaged a career-high 13.3 points per contest.

Stevens' Impact On Recruiting; Nader's Contract Details

July 21st, 2017 at 10:27pm CST by Austin Kent

One of the big strengths that Brad Stevens brings to the Celtics is his impact on recruiting players from around the league, Chris Forsberg of ESPN writes.
In his first year with the Celtics, Abdel Nader will make $1.2MM, the 2017/18 deal will then be followed up by two non-guaranteed years and eventually a team option in 2020/21. Basketball Insiders has the full contract details.

Celtics Sign Guerschon Yabusele

July 20th, 2017 at 3:48pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Celtics have signed 2016 No. 16 overall pick Guerschon Yabusele, according to the team’s website. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but since Yabusele was drafted within the last three seasons, he’s under the same restrictions as the rest of the rookie class.

Yabusele played last season for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. After the season concluded, he came stateside to play for the Maine Red Claws, Boston’s G League affiliate. He played in five G League playoff games for the Red Claws, where he averaged 12.8 points per contest while shooting 49.0% from the field.

The French native was considered one of the best international prospects entering the 2016 draft. He played professionally in France for three seasons before declaring for the NBA’s draft.

Celtics Sign Daniel Theis To Two-Year Deal

July 20th, 2017 at 11:37am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 20: Theis made it official today with the Celtics, tweeting out a photo that shows him signing his contract with the team. “I’m so excited to join the Celtics family and to live in this great city!” Theis wrote. “I will work my heart out for Boston.”

JULY 1: The Celtics and German forward Daniel Theis are in agreement on a two-year contract, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. International basketball journalist David Pick first reported last month (via Twitter) that Theis would be joining the C’s on a deal that runs through 2018/2019.

Theis, 25, went undrafted in 2013 and his rights aren’t held by an NBA team, so he’ll join the Celtics as a free agent after his contract with Germany’s Brose Bamberg expired. In 41 German League games last season, Theis averaged 9.5 PPG and 5.7 RPG. He also appeared in 30 EuroLeague contests, recording 9.6 PPG and 4.6 RPG.

While exact details on Theis’ new deal haven’t been reported, the first year will be fully guaranteed, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (via Twitter).

If it’s a minimum salary pact, which seems likely, it could be finalized before the moratorium ends, and it won’t affect the Celtics’ cap room, since Theis’ rookie minimum would have the same cap hit as the charge for an empty roster spot.

Celtics Sign Kadeem Allen To Two-Way Deal

July 19th, 2017 at 4:19pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Celtics have signed Kadeem Allen to a two-way deal, according to a team press release. Allen is the first player to sign that type of deal with the franchise.

Players on two-way deals will spend most of their season in the G-League since they cannot spend more than 45 days with an NBA club, as our glossary page on two-way contracts shows.

Allen, who was the No. 53 overall selection in the 2017 draft, came out of the University of Arizona where he earned Second Team All-Pac 12 honors last season. He played for both of Boston’s Summer League teams this offseason.

Celtics Sign Aron Baynes

July 19th, 2017 at 12:59pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 19: The Celtics have officially signed Baynes, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 9: The Celtics have reached an agreement with Aron Baynes on a one-year deal that will be worth $4.3MM, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Boston will be using its room exception to bring Baynes aboard.

Baynes, who spent the last two seasons with the Pistons, turned down a player option worth $6.5MM to become a free agent this summer. Detroit didn’t rule out bringing back the big man, but ultimately renounced his rights as part of this week’s moves, all but closing the door on the possibility of a reunion.

Boston lacked frontcourt depth after losing Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko, and Kelly Olynyk in free agency and waiving Tyler Zeller. Baynes has an opportunity to play a key role off the bench for the Celtics.

Having used their cap room and their room exception, the C’s will now be limited to minimum salary deals for free agents going forward.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Celtics Sign Semi Ojeleye, Waive Demetrius Jackson

July 19th, 2017 at 10:07am CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 19: The Celtics have officially signed Ojeleye, according to a press release from the team. Meanwhile, Jackson cleared waivers this week and his partial guarantee has been stretched across seven seasons by the Celtics, as we noted on Tuesday.

JULY 15: The Celtics are planning to sign second-round pick Semi Ojeleye to a four-year deal with the first two years guaranteed, a league source told Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).

Meanwhile, point guard Demetrius Jackson has been waived and his guaranteed $650K will likely have his partially guaranteed salary stretched out if he’s not claimed, Himmelsbach adds in a separate tweet.

The four-year deal for Ojeleye is quite a commitment to the 37th overall pick in the draft. The 6’7” forward played two seasons at Duke before transferring to SMU. In his season with the Mustangs, he averaged 19 PPG and 6.9 RPG. He can play either forward spot but is mostly considered a stretch four. The club lost veteran power forwards Amir Johnson (Sixers) and Jonas Jerebko (Jazz) in free agency.

Jackson’s full salary of $1,384,750 for next season would have become guaranteed today if he had not been waived. The point guard appeared in just five games with Boston during his rookie year.

Atlantic Notes: Lin, Nets, Valanciunas, Miller, Raptors, Jackson, Celtics

July 18th, 2017 at 6:37pm CST by Joshua Fischman

Jeremy Lin boldly stated that his Nets will make the playoffs this upcoming season while answering questions from fans in an Instagram Live video, relays A.J. Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today Sports.

“We’re making the playoffs. I don’t care what anybody else says to me,” said Lin. He went on to say, “We’re gonna do some serious damage next year… I’m pretty sure he’ll (D’Angelo Russell) start (at shooting guard), but it will be pretty interchangeable. And then when one of us is out of the game, the other person most likely will have the ball in their hands. It will probably be a little bit combo guard-esque.”

This offseason the Nets have added Russell, as well as DeMarre Carroll and Timofey Mozgov. Brooklyn will be coming off a season in which it finished 20-62, dead last in the NBA standings. Lin played in just 36 games due to injury, but averaged a furtive 14.5 PPG to go with 5.1 APG and 3.8 RPG. Furthermore, Lin managed to put up those strong numbers in a mere 24.5 minutes per contest.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri addressed rumors that the team is trying to unload center Jonas Valanciunas, via Josh Lewenberg of The Sports Network. Ujiri said that he believes in Valanciunas’ talent and values his offensive rebounding. While admitting that the team looked at trading Valanciunas when they were in the tax, the team is now “very comfortable” keeping JV.
Raptors guard Malcolm Miller underwent right ankle surgery, the team announced via press release (link via Twitter). Miller is expected to miss the next 12 weeks. He signed the team’s first two-way contract on July 9.
Also via Josh Lewenberg of The Sports Network, the Raptors president says the team will “add a couple of different players. Maybe they’re non-guarantees, I don’t know.”
The Celtics employed a creative use of the stretch provision on the contract of Demetrius Jackson, reports Bobby Marks of ESPN. A day prior to waiving the former Notre Dame guard, Boston exercised the 2019/20 non-guaranteed team option on Jackson. This allowed Boston to stretch the contract over seven years rather than five, lowering the cap hit per year to $92,857 instead of $130,000.

Celtics Expected To Push For Davis If Pelicans' Season Goes South

July 18th, 2017 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Within the Vertical piece linked above, Chris Mannix notes that it’s “widely believed” the Celtics will make a run at Anthony Davis if the Pelicans‘ season goes south. New Orleans has been vehemently opposed to considering Davis deals, and while it’s possible that will change if the team struggles this season, DeMarcus Cousins would almost certainly land on the trading block first.

Jazz Sign Jonas Jerebko

July 17th, 2017 at 6:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 17th, 6:25pm: Jerebko has officially signed per team release.

JULY 12th, 9:25pm: Free agent forward Jonas Jerebko will sign a two-year, $8.2MM deal with the Jazz, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com.

The 30-year-old has spent the past two-and-a-half years in Boston. He was part of the Celtics’ rotation throughout last season, averaging 3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds in 78 games.

Jerebko is the second free agent signing of the day for Utah, which reached an agreement with Thabo Sefolosha this morning. The addition of Jerebko is a clear sign that the Jazz intend to part ways with Boris Diaw, whose $7.5MM contract for the upcoming season won’t be guaranteed if he is waived by Saturday.

Utah has multiple options for signing Jerebko, depending whether it chooses to operate over or under the cap. The Jazz are able to fit Sefolosha and Jerebko under the cap and keep their $4.3MM room mid-level exception, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.com.

The 6’10” Jerebko, a native of Sweden, made $5MM with the Celtics last season, but seemed destined to go elsewhere as Boston concentrated on freeing up cap space to sign Gordon Hayward. The 39th pick in the 2009 draft, Jerebko spent his first four-and-a-half NBA seasons with the Pistons.