Charlotte Hornets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Spurs Sign Robert Vaden, Fuquan Edwin

October 24th, 2014 at 7:03pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Spurs have signed Robert Vaden and Fuquan Edwin, the team has announced. The length and terms of the deals were not disclosed, but they’re likely minimum-salary arrangements with perhaps small partial guarantees. These moves bring San Antonio’s preseason roster count up to 18 players, leaving the team three over the regular season maximum. Both players were likely signed with an eye on sending them to the D-League, as teams can retain the D-League rights for up to four players.

The 6’5″ Vaden technically has one year of NBA experience, even though he’s never appeared in a regular season or playoff game. The Thunder signed him to a multiyear deal in the final days of the 2010/11 season and traded him the following preseason to the Timberwolves, who cut him before opening night. He was most recently with Belfius Mons-Hainaut in Belgium where he appeared in 10 games, logging 9.0 PPG and 1.6 RPG in 27 minutes per night. Vaden was originally drafted with the No. 54 pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Hornets (then known as the Bobcats). In four college seasons split between Indiana and UAB, Vaden averaged 15.8 PPG and 4.6 RPG. He also spent two seasons in the NBA D-League for the Tulsa 66ers, averaging 11.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.

Edwin went undrafted this year after spending four seasons at Seton Hall. In 127 career games for the Pirates, he averaged 12.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.4 APG while playing 30.3 minutes a night. Edwin played for the Thunder in the summer league, appearing in three games, and notching 1.3 PPG in 7.5 minutes per night.

Eastern Notes: Butler, Wizards, Maxiell, Inglis

October 24th, 2014 at 3:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls and Jimmy Butler are “millions apart” in extension talks, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, and while the precise gap is unclear, it’s not uncommon for sides to be as far apart as the Bulls and Butler are even a week before the extension deadline, Johnson writes. The team and Butler’s representatives at Relativity Sports this week had their first extensive talks in awhile, Johnson adds. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

The Wizards recently tried to pry Julyan Stone out of his contract with Reyer Venezia of Italy, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). The point guard has an escape clause in the pact, according to Charania, who suggests that Stone would be disinclined to leave the team since he’s seeing heavy playing time. It’s unclear if the Wizards maintain interest after signing John Lucas III earlier this week.
Jason Maxiell will remain with the Hornets on opening night in spite of his non-guaranteed contract, coach Steve Clifford confirmed today to reporters, including Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
Bucks rookie Damien Inglis will miss at least another six weeks because the right foot he broke during a predraft workout for the Thunder has not healed, tweets Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Bucks drafted Inglis 31st overall in June. His deal is guaranteed for this season.

Southeast Notes: Stephenson, Nelson, Wizards

October 24th, 2014 at 12:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Magic have more money that counts against the cap for players who are no longer with the team than any other NBA franchise this season, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. That $14.2MM figure is likely to escalate soon with partial guarantees out to four of the team’s camp invitees. It also doesn’t include the cash going to the amnestied Gilbert Arenas, which doesn’t affect the cap. Still, Orlando isn’t alone, since “dead money” is piling up around the league as teams make cuts in advance of opening night. There’s more on the Magic amid the latest from the Southeast Division:

Lance Stephenson admits he wanted to re-sign with the Pacers, but he told Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star that he wasn’t ready to commit when the team set a tight deadline for him to accept its offer. The team quickly moved on and struck a deal with C.J. Miles on the second day of free agency, depleting its limited room against the luxury tax line, and that sealed Stephenson’s departure, as the new Hornets guard said to Buckner. “They didn’t have nothing else. They had no more money or anything. That was basically it right there,” Stephenson said. “Soon as I said no to that offer, they went and signed C.J. I figured they thought I had no chance of coming back, they just went on and signed C.J. … I felt like it was a wrap after that.”
The Pacers did follow up their five-year, $44MM offer to Stephenson with offers of three and four years, Buckner writes, refuting an earlier report.
Jameer Nelson‘s agent, Steve Mountain, said as recently as June that the point guard wanted to remain with the Magic for this season, but Nelson tells Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com that he instead felt it was time to leave Orlando. The Mavs signee referred to his departure from the Magic, who waived him at the end of June, as a mutual decision.
Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld doesn’t think the lack of a one-to-one D-League affiliate significantly hinders his team, but he nonetheless told Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post that the Wizards are looking into the possibility of having a D-League partner for future seasons.

Hornets Waive Dallas Lauderdale, Brian Qvale

October 24th, 2014 at 10:48am CST by Chuck Myron

The Hornets have waived big men Dallas Lauderdale and Brian Qvale, the team announced via press release. They were on non-guaranteed contracts, as was Justin Cobbs, whom the team also let go. The moves take Charlotte’s roster down to 15 players, and while they can carry as few as 13 for opening night if they choose, it appears as though Jason Maxiell is set to remain with the team into the regular season on his non-guaranteed deal.

Both Lauderdale and Qvale saw just three minutes of action during the preseason, going scoreless. It was Lauderdale’s second straight year in camp with an NBA team after he spent last fall with the Blazers. He played 39 games for Portland’s D-League affiliate last season, averaging 7.5 points and 8.7 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per contest.

Qvale has spent his professional career overseas since going undrafted out of the University of Montana in 2011. He’s played with teams in Turkey, Belgium and Germany, and while it’s conceivable that he’ll remain stateside to play in the D-League this year, the Hornets are without a one-to-one affiliate.

Hornets Waive Justin Cobbs

October 24th, 2014 at 10:26am CST by Chuck Myron

10:26am: The move is official, the team announced via press release.

8:48am: The Hornets are waiving Justin Cobbs, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Carchia indicates that the move has already taken place, and while the team has yet to make an official announcement, Hornets assistant GM Chad Buchanan spoke of the 6’3″ point guard in the past tense in his remarks to the Sportando reporter. Dropping the non-guaranteed contract for Cobbs will reduce the Hornets roster to 17 players.

“Justin was really good for us,” Buchanan said. “He plays hard and is a very mature kid with a good work ethic. He makes shots, isn’t selfish and plays defense. He has a bright future.”

Cobbs played sparingly in two preseason games this month, scoring just two points in about nine total minutes of action. The 23-year-old joined Charlotte after going undrafted out of California and playing for the Grizzlies in summer league. He also attended preseason camp with Laboral Kuxta in Spain before joining Hornets camp, and while the Spanish team’s coach praised Cobbs in comments to Carchia, the coach also indicated that he’s still a year or two away from becoming ready for Euroleague action.

The move leaves the Hornets with 14 fully guaranteed contracts plus non-guaranteed pacts for Jason Maxiell, Dallas Lauderdale and Brian Qvale. Maxiell is the leading contender for the 15th spot on the regular season roster, should the team keep that many for opening night, and Hornets coach Steve Clifford appears to favor holding on to the former longtime Pistons big man, as reports indicated earlier this week.

Eastern Notes: Pierce, Vucevic, Stephenson

October 22nd, 2014 at 12:37pm CST by Chuck Myron

Paul Pierce figures coach Jason Kidd‘s departure from the Nets helped dampen the team’s enthusiasm to re-sign the forward to a new deal this summer, as Pierce tells reporters, including Andy Vasquez of The Record. Pierce cites Kidd as one of the primary reasons he encouraged the Celtics to trade him to Brooklyn in 2013, as Vasquez notes. There’s more on key figures who changed places as well as one who’s committed to stay where he is among the news from around the Eastern Conference:

Nikola Vucevic is careful to point out that he hasn’t put pen to paper on an extension with the Magic, but he nonetheless made it clear that he’s ecstatic about the agreement that agent Rade Filipovich and the team have reached, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel details.
Representatives for Lance Stephenson urged the Pacers to offload other players to find room for the shooting guard under the tax line this summer, with the names of Luis Scola and Donald Sloan arising in the talks, but Indiana held firm against doing so, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. The Alberto Ebanks client has said he cried when he told the Pacers he was signing with the Hornets instead, but Stephenson tells Charania that he hasn’t spoken to Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird since he made up his mind to join Charlotte.
Charania also hears from a source who confirms that Jason Maxiell is the leading contender for a regular season roster spot among the Hornets camp invitees, as the RealGM scribe writes in the same piece. Coach Steve Clifford seems in favor of keeping Maxiell, writes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
Christian Watford will play for the Celtics‘ D-League affiliate assuming he clears NBA waivers, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). That means the C’s are following through on their plan to keep Watford’s D-League rights, though Pick hears that the power forward turned down many offers from European teams to instead go to the D-League.
Phil Jackson shared his scouting report on every Knicks player with Charley Rosen, writing for ESPN.com. The coach-turned-executive admits camp invitees Langston Galloway and Travis Wear are destined for the D-League.

Southeast Notes: Heat, Gasol, Ferry, Hairston

October 21st, 2014 at 10:31am CST by Chuck Myron

More NBA players will hit waivers in the next week than at any other time of the year, but the Heat and Wizards are bucking the trend and bringing new players aboard. The Heat signed Larry Drew II on Monday and the Wizards are poised to do the same with John Lucas III. Still, both teams will have to make cuts, too, and it appears Washington already has three players destined for the waiver wire. Here’s more from around the Southeast Division.

Pau Gasol admits that Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade recruited him heavily but says that the Heat‘s situation was too “unclear” at the time he made his decision to sign with the Bulls, notes Ethan J. Skolnick of Bleacher Report (on Twitter).
Danny Ferry seems unlikely to return to the Hawks from his leave of absence, but Jeff Teague is the latest player to come out in support of the embattled GM after Ferry made racially derogatory remarks about Luol Deng, as Sekou Smith of NBA.com chronicles. “Me, knowing Danny, he’s a good dude,” Teague said. “He’s never said or done anything disrespectful like that to me. So when those things came out I didn’t overreact or think he was a racist or anything like that. It’s a mistake that anybody could make. And he’s dealing with it right now. And hopefully, he can come back from it.”
P.J. Hairston is considering switching agents for the second time since becoming a pro, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (on Twitter). Former UNC-Greensboro player Rodney Blackstock is among those the Hornets‘ rookie is considering, Bonnell adds. Hairston switched to Jonathan Stahler of Upside Media Group after the discovery that his first agent, UMG’s Juan Morrow, wasn’t union-certified.

Charlie Adams contributed to this post.

Extension Rumors: Leonard, Thompson, Cole

October 17th, 2014 at 11:24am CST by Chuck Myron

The deadline for teams to sign rookie scale extensions with their eligible players is two weeks from today, and while only six players came to deals last time around, that number has the potential to be much larger this year, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein has more on many of those extension hopefuls that adds to the storylines we’ve been following throughout the offseason:

Kawhi Leonard, Tristan Thompson, and Norris Cole are among the players who are in active negotiations with their respective teams about rookie scale extensions, Stein reports. Klay Thompson, Ricky Rubio, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Reggie Jackson, Brandon Knight, Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks are also in active extension talks, according to Stein, who advances earlier reports that all of them had engaged in talks.
Iman Shumpert and the Knicks are also discussing an extension, Stein writes, countering a report from a few weeks ago that indicated that the sides hadn’t engaged in talks and that New York was content to let the swingman hit restricted free agency next summer.
Klay Thompson’s camp is considering the idea of going after an offer sheet similar to the one the Mavs gave Chandler Parsons if Thompson and the Warriors don’t come to an extension this month, Stein hears. Parsons’ near-max deal runs three years and includes a player option and a 15% trade kicker. Rival GMs have expressed admiration for its structure and Rockets GM Daryl Morey pointed to the difficulty that trading such a contract would entail shortly after he decided against matching it. The player option would allow Thompson to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2017, which is when Stephen Curry‘s deal is set to end, as Stein points out.
The Lakers have attempted to trade for Thompson in the past, Stein notes, though he doesn’t make any suggestion that they’re planning an aggressive push for the shooting guard if he becomes a restricted free agent next summer.

Southeast Notes: Jordan, Webber, Hawks

October 16th, 2014 at 1:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hornets owner Michael Jordan isn’t on board with shortening games, an idea the NBA is experimenting with this weekend, as Jordan tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Jordan said the league didn’t indicate to him when it let him know of Sunday’s planned 44-minute game between the Nets and Celtics that it was seriously considering such a change for regular season games, Broussard notes. The iconic former player also expressed his disagreement with LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki, who told reporters this week that they’d like to see the NBA shorten the season.

“It’s not like football,” Jordan said. “We don’t really have to worry about concussions and some of the physical damage that football players deal with after they retire. I can understand football players wanting to play fewer games from a physical standpoint. But basketball’s not the same. I’m not diminishing the fact that we go through a grueling season. But I wouldn’t want to shorten the game or play 15-20 fewer games.”

Still, shorter games clearly have their proponents, so it’ll be interesting to see if Jordan can prevail on his fellow owners to make Sunday’s game a one-time experiment. Here’s more from MJ’s Southeast Division:

Chris Webber took to Twitter to confirm his interest in the Hawks, and while he doesn’t disclose the identities of the investors he’s partnering with, he insists they would keep the team in Atlanta.
The formal sale process and vetting of prospective owners can’t start for the Hawks until all of the team’s existing owners determine whether they’re selling, and they’ve yet to schedule a meeting to discuss the issue, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Free agent power forward Tyrus Thomas has changed agents as he attempts to return to the NBA, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Thomas hired Roger Montgomery of the Montgomery Sports Group, according to Kennedy, replacing John Hamilton of Performance Sports Management. Thomas has been out of the league since the Hornets (then the Bobcats) put him on amnesty waivers in July 2013.
Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel takes a stab at predicting the Heat‘s opening-night roster amid his latest mailbag column.

Southeast Notes: Hayward, Hornets, Hawks, Heat

October 14th, 2014 at 9:16am CST by Chuck Myron

Owner Michael Jordan‘s presence in Charlotte’s pitch meeting with Lance Stephenson was key to the team’s ability to strike a deal with the shooting guard, but the mere presence of Jordan via video conference was enough for Gordon Hayward, as Hayward tells USA Today’s Sam Amick. Hayward was “ecstatic” about the idea of playing for the Hornets before the Jazz matched Charlotte’s max offer sheet this summer, Amick writes.

“I didn’t know what to expect … but they blew me away with their presentation,” Hayward said of the Hornets. “They came in and did a whole analytical presentation too, which was really, really impressive. It spoke to the analytical part of me. I was a computer engineer and math major in college, so that was really impressive to see. It just showed that they’re taking steps to try and become a next-level team and push toward trying to win a championship.”

There’s more from Amick’s profile of Charlotte’s legendary player-turned-owner amid the news out of the Southeast Division, as we pass along:

Hornets assistant coach Patrick Ewing was also in the team’s meeting with Stephenson, and head coach Steve Clifford credits the presence of the former Knicks star as a linchpin in the recruitment of Stephenson, a Brooklyn native, as Amick details.
The Hawks will probably release camp invitee Jarell Eddie, since he has a non-guaranteed deal and the team has at least partially guaranteed money out to 15 others, but the swingman has impressed the team’s brass so far, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Justin Hamilton has only a partially guaranteed deal with the Heat and has missed time with a heart condition, but coach Erik Spoelstra on Monday gave a subtle hint that suggests the team intends to keep him around, observes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. Spoelstra pointed to Hamilton’s absence as a reason why the team’s frontcourt rotation is in flux, Winderman notes.