Cleveland Cavaliers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Cavaliers Sign Levi Randolph

September 18th, 2018 at 12:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have signed former Alabama standout Levi Randolph to a training camp contract, according to RealGM’s NBA transactions log. RealGM also lists Cleveland’s deal with Bonzie Colson, signaling that the previously-reported agreement is now official.

The signings are the latest in a string of moves for the Cavs, who are working on securing certain players’ G League rights and finalizing their roster for training camp. Cleveland recently added JaCorey Williams to its offseason roster, and also signed and released Isaac Hamilton and Scoochie Smith.

That 20-man offseason squad is now full, with Randolph and Colson officially under contract. The Cavs have reportedly reached a contract agreement with Kobi Simmons as well, meaning the team will have to open up a roster spot before Simmons’ deal can be formally finalized.

Randolph, who went undrafted out of Alabama in 2015, has played in the G League and in international leagues since then, spending time with the Maine Red Claws and with clubs in Italy and France. Most recently, he finished the 2017/18 campaign with French club SIG Strasbourg, averaging 8.6 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 22 French League games (19.5 MPG). The 6’6″ shooting guard also played for the Pacers’ Summer League team in July.

Cavaliers Sign Forward JaCorey Williams

September 14th, 2018 at 6:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Forward JaCorey Williams has signed a contract with the Cavaliers, according to the RealGM transactions log.

Terms were not disclosed but it’s almost certainly a training camp deal. Williams participated briefly in Cleveland’s training camp last season but was waived to make room for Dwyane Wade. Williams eventually wound up playing 49 games for their G League affiliate, the Canton Charge, where he averaged 15.4 PPG and 7.5 RPG. Williams went on to play for Israel’s Hapoel Gilboa Galil during the spring.

Williams, a 6’8″ forward, played his first three college seasons at Arkansas, then transferred to Middle Tennessee State for his senior year. He enjoyed a breakout season there, averaging 17.3 PPG and 7.3 RPG. Williams, who was named the Conference USA Player of the Year for 2016/17, joined the Warriors’ summer league team before his short stay in Cleveland’s training camp.

The Cavaliers have waived guards Isaac Hamilton and Scoochie Smith, whom they signed to Exhibit 10 contracts on Thursday, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. That duo will join the team’s G League camp.

The Cavs have also reportedly reached an agreement with point guard Kobi Simmons and also added forward Bonzie Colson, though neither have officially signed. If they do become official, Cleveland will reach the 20-player training camp roster limit.

Young Players Could Provide Intrigue

September 14th, 2018 at 3:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers could be more interesting and successful without LeBron James than many people expect, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer opines. The development of first-round pick Collin Sexton, Ante Zizic and Cedi Osman will be intriguing to watch and GM Koby Altman will likely make more moves during the season to reshape the team’s future, Pluto continues. Trading J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson, who have seemed disinterested during the regular season during the James era, would move the process along, Pluto adds.

Bonzie Colson Added To Cavs Camp Roster

September 13th, 2018 at 8:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former Notre Dame star forward Bonzie Colson has agreed to a training camp contract with the Cavaliers, Joe Vardon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

The addition of Colson gives Cleveland a full 20-player roster for camp. The Cavs also reached camp agreements with guards Isaac Hamilton and Scoochie Smith on Thursday.

The 6’6” Colson missed most of his senior season with the Fighting Irish due to multiple foot injuries. He was viewed as a potential second-round pick before fracturing his left foot against Penn State during the National Invitation Tournament in March. When he was able to take the court, he was very effective, averaging 19.7 PPG, 10.1 RPG and 2.2 BPG as a senior.

He was scheduled to play for the Cavs at the Las Vegas Summer League but that plan was scuttled because he was still rehabbing his foot.

Cavaliers Sign Pair To Training Camp Contracts

September 13th, 2018 at 10:09am CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers have reached training camp deals with guards Isaac Hamilton and Scoochie Smith, tweets Keith Smith of Real GM. Both players will receive Exhibit 10 contracts, which provide bonuses up to $50K if the players spend at least two months with the team’s G League affiliate.

Hamilton was in camp with the Cavs last year before spending the season with the Canton Charge. The UCLA product posted a 7.4/2.5/1.2 line in 42 G League games.

Smith played part of last season in Australia before joining the Charge in March and averaging 14.3/4.3/8.1 in eight games. The former Dayton standout played for Cleveland’s entry in this year’s Las Vegas Summer League.

Cavaliers Notes: Workouts, Osman, Sexton, Thompson

September 12th, 2018 at 10:32am CST by Arthur Hill

Kevin Love‘s duties in taking over for LeBron James as team leader include organizing the Cavaliers’ annual pre-camp workouts, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Love, whose leadership role was cemented when he agreed to a four-year, $120MM extension this summer, is hosting the voluntary sessions this week at the University of Miami.

Most of the players who are under contract are expected to attend. Coach Tyronn Lue is in Miami as well, but won’t participate if the players-only tradition continues. Tristan Thompson, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic are all out of the country to play in World Cup qualifiers.

James, who signed with the Lakers in July, organized the workouts in each of the past four seasons. They are usually held in vacation spots, with coaches and front office personnel accompanying the team but letting the players run things.

There’s more today out of Cleveland:

Osman can look forward to a much larger role in his second season with the Cavaliers, Vardon notes in a player profile. Osman may inherit James’ role as starting small forward, although Rodney Hood is also a candidate. The 23-year-old saw action in 61 games as a rookie, averaging 3.9 points per night. Osman played several years in Europe before coming to the NBA and appeared much more polished in this year’s Summer League, according to Vardon.
Collin Sexton will need to improve his shot, especially from long distance, to become a Rookie of the Year candidate, Vardon states in another profile. Sexton tied with Suns center Deandre Ayton as the favorite for the award in a poll among players drafted this year. However, his success could depend on improving his accuracy from 3-point range, where he hit just .336 last year as a college freshman, and just .242 in SEC games.
Thompson, who owns a championship ring and has made four straight trips to the NBA Finals, hopes to create that same atmosphere of success on the Canadian national team. He has been playing for his home country for nearly a decade and believes there’s an opportunity for Canada to become a major player in international competitions. “Right now we have a wave of really good players in the NBA,” Thompson said, “but who knows? Maybe 15 years from now we have a drought, so while guys are here and at a high level, let’s take advantage of it.”

Cavaliers Notes: Love, Trades, Hood

September 10th, 2018 at 9:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers will need Kevin Love to post the type of numbers he put up regularly in Minnesota for them to remain a playoff contender after the departure of LeBron James, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Love had an eventful off-season, highlighted by his 30th birthday last week and a four-year, $120MM extension in July.

Love was an All-Star with the Timberwolves before a trade brought him to Cleveland to be part of a Big Three with James and Kyrie Irving. That trio reached three straight NBA Finals and won the 2016 title before Irving was traded to Boston last summer.

Love played 59 games last season and made his fifth All-Star appearance, but he was sidelined for much of the year by a broken hand. He has become the face of the franchise now, Vardon notes, and the Cavaliers will be expecting much more than the 17.6 PPG and 9.3 RPG he averaged last year.

There’s more news out of Cleveland:

The Cavaliers should ignore calls to trade Love and accelerate the rebuilding process, David Aldridge of TNT writes in a mailbag column. Cleveland doesn’t have a great history of attracting free agents, Aldridge argues, and that path would be much more difficult without an elite player on the roster. Love can keep the Cavs competitive for the next couple of seasons, then be traded if the organization decides to commit to a youth movement.
Rodney Hood will be competing against a talented group of shooting guards when he becomes unrestricted free agent next summer, notes Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report. After failing to get a contract he liked as a restricted free agent, Hood opted to accept Cleveland’s $3,472,887 qualifying offer, reportedly turning down a three-year deal from the team in the neighborhood of $21MM. Also hitting the open market next summer will be Klay Thompson, J.J. Redick, Tyreke Evans, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Austin Rivers, Mario Hezonja, Danny Green, Terrence Ross and Jeremy Lamb.
Hood’s body of work through his first four seasons suggests his best days might still be ahead of him despite his playoff struggles, Joe Gabriele of the team’s website opines. Hood could have a breakout season since he’ll have more of a scoring and leadership role with the James-less Cavs, Gabriele adds.

Rodney Hood Details; Historic Cavs Trades

September 9th, 2018 at 6:33pm CST by Austin Kent

The Cavaliers have their work cut out for them building another serious contender in the Eastern Conference, fortunately the club isn’t afraid to take risks. Joe Gabriele of the Cavs’ team site recently broke down the biggest trades in club history.

It’s official, Rodney Hood‘s long, humbling summer is over. We wrote earlier today that the restricted free agent was planning to accept his qualifying offer from the Cavaliers and now, per Shams Charania of The Athletic, the paperwork has been submitted.

Hood will land back in Cleveland for one season at $3.4MM but will try his luck again as an unrestricted free agent next summer. While Hood had initially hoped to land an eight-digit offer sheet and put pressure on the Cavaliers to match, such a generous offer never materialized.

As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets, prior to Hood’s decision to sign the qualifying offer both he and the Cavaliers explored sign and trade options. Alas, the 25-year-old didn’t quite command what many – including us here at Hoops Rumors, admittedly – thought he might.

The Cavaliers have their work cut out for them building another serious contender in the Eastern Conference, fortunately the club isn’t afraid to take risks. Joe Gabriele of the Cavs’ team site recently broke down the biggest trades in club history.
Want to know more about Rodney Hood‘s terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad summer? Check out our summary of the initial announcement that he’d accepted the Cavaliers‘ qualifying offer, as well as some reporting about how he was angling for twice as much as recently as yesterday.

Rodney Hood Accepts Cavaliers’ Qualifying Offer

September 9th, 2018 at 12:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Restricted free agent wing Rodney Hood has accepted the Cavaliers‘ one-year qualifying offer, reports Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. The one-year deal, worth $3,472,887, will set up Hood to become an unrestricted free agent during the summer of 2019.

Hood, who was traded from the Jazz to the Cavs midway through the 2017/18 season, struggled to produce consistently with his new club, averaging just 10.8 PPG on .442/.352/.813 shooting in 21 regular season games with Cleveland before falling out of the rotation for part of the postseason. He had recorded 16.8 PPG with a .424/.389/.876 shooting line in 39 contests for Utah.

Having spent more than two months as a restricted free agent, Hood was in a tough spot, given the lack of teams left with roster spots and the willingness to spend big on an offer sheet. According to Vardon, Hood was seeking a long-term contract in the range of $9MM per year.

The Cavs had been willing to offer a multiyear deal worth approximately $7MM annually, per Vardon, which the 25-year-old turned down in a bet on himself. If he has a big year in 2018/19 as a primary option in Cleveland’s offense, Hood could be in line for a bigger payday in 2019, when more teams will have cap space available. The Cavs will still hold his Bird rights at that time.

With Hood back in the fold and David Nwaba having signed a one-year, minimum-salary pact with the Cavaliers, the club is moving closer to being ready for opening night. The Cavs will now have 14 players with fully guaranteed salaries, totaling about $115.7MM. Isaiah Taylor will also attend training camp on a non-guaranteed contract, and the club figures to fill out its 20-man offseason roster with a few more camp invitees in the coming weeks.

A players who accepts his qualifying offer as a restricted free agent receives an implicit no-trade clause for that league year, since they’d lose their Bird rights if they’re traded. As such, Hood won’t be able to be dealt without his consent during the 2018/19 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hood Still Seeking Better Offer From Cavaliers

September 9th, 2018 at 10:42am CST by Arthur Hill

Restricted free agent Rodney Hood is still trying to get the Cavaliers to increase their current offer, which is about $7MM annually over three years, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. If they can’t come to an agreement, Hood could opt to accept the team’s $3.4MM qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Cleveland has 13 players under contract after David Nwaba‘s signing became official yesterday. The 14th spot is being held open for Hood, and the final opening will be determined by what happens in training camp. The Cavs went with a 14-man roster for much of last season because of luxury tax concerns.

Hood, 25, came to Cleveland in February in a deadline deal with the Jazz. He struggled to find a role during 21 regular season games, then cratered in the playoffs, averaging 5.4 points per night while shooting 42% from the field and 17% from 3-point range. Still, the Cavaliers like his potential and believe he can help replace some of the scoring that was lost when LeBron James left for the Lakers.

Hood saw a lot of leverage disappear this summer as teams used up their cap space. The only team that still has its full $8.641MM mid-level exceptions available, aside from Cleveland, is Utah, which reportedly isn’t interested in bringing back Hood.