- Despite a strong showing in summer league action, Pistons center Luka Garza is unlikely to get rotation minutes during his rookie campaign, Rod Beard of the Detroit News speculates. He might get more of an opportunity if Detroit, which has one too many guaranteed contracts, opts to waive Jahlil Okafor. There’s also a good chance Sekou Doumbouya will spend a chunk of time this upcoming season in the G League unless he shines in training camp, Beard writes.
- The Cavaliers have officially added Sidney Lowe to J.B. Bickerstaff’s coaching staff, according to a team press release. The news that Lowe was leaving the Pistons’ staff to join their Central Division rival surfaced two weeks ago. “Sidney brings a wealth of coaching experience and familiarity to our staff,” Bickerstaff said. “He is a great teacher of the game and his ability to build lasting relationships across the board is integral to the growth of our overall culture here in Cleveland.”
DJ Bakker has been named the head coach of the Pistons’ new G League franchise, the Motor City Cruise, according to a team press release. Bakker has spent the last three seasons as an assistant and player development coach under Dwane Casey and served as the Pistons’ summer league coach in 2019. Bakker has also worked for the Raptors, Bulls, Mavericks and Magic. Detroit’s previous G League franchise in Grand Rapids, MI will now be the Nuggets’ affiliate.
Further contract details have emerged for new Pacers swingman Torrey Craig, reports Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). As expected, Craig’s fully-guaranteed two-year deal will come out of a portion of Indiana’s non-taxpayer mid-level exception. It will pay him $4,878,049 during the 2021/22 season and $5,121,951 during the 2022/23 season.
The reserve wing suited up for both of the teams that qualified for the 2021 NBA Finals, starting out the season with the Bucks before concluding it with the Suns. Craig could prove to be a valuable, defensive-oriented contributor for a revamped Pacers team hoping to return to the playoffs.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- The Pacers would prefer to leave an open spot on their 15-man regular season roster, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star reports (via Twitter). This could enable the team to make further moves during the season.
- Now that the Pistons are bringing back forward Hamidou Diallo on a two-year deal with a team option for the second season, Detroit’s offseason transactions appear to be wrapping up, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Langlois notes that Detroit has addressed its need for long-range shooting in adding jump-shooting big man Kelly Olynyk as a free agent. Rookies Cade Cunningham, Isaiah Livers and Luka Garza were all above-average long-range snipers in college and could also fortify the team’s three-point shooting. Langlois adds that the Pistons appear to be prioritizing size and length on the wing under GM Troy Weaver.
- The Pistons’ new NBA G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, are set to hold open tryouts for players next month, writes Rod Beard of The Detroit Free Press. Interested players will have to pony up a non-refundable $200 for the opportunity to audition for the club.
Center Balsa Koprivica has signed with KK Partizan, the Serbian club announced today in a press release. According to the team, the deal is for three years.
Koprivica, who spent two seasons at Florida State, averaged 9.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 1.4 BPG in 24 games (19.5 MPG) in 2020/21. He declared for the draft following his sophomore year and was selected with the No. 57 overall pick. Although the Hornets technically drafted him, they did so on behalf of the Pistons, who officially acquired his draft rights after the new league year began.
Koprivica was one of four players the Pistons added in last month’s draft. While Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Livers received standard contracts and Luka Garza got a two-way deal, there wasn’t room on the roster for Koprivica, who will be stashed overseas for at least a season. His new contract with Partizan covers three years, but I expect it will include NBA outs.
Koprivica, 21, was born in Belgrade and lived in Serbia until 2012, so his deal with Partizan represents a homecoming.
As our tracker shows, Koprivica is the fourth player from the 2021 draft class to be stashed overseas, joining Rokas Jokubaitis (Knicks), Juhann Begarin (Celtics), and Filip Petrusev (Sixers).
Makur Maker has signed with Australia’s Sydney Kings, according to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. The 6’11” Maker, who attended Howard University last season, withdrew from this year’s draft but missed the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline. He’ll join the NBL’s Next Stars program with the aim of improving his draft stock.
“I can’t wait to learn from Luc Longley and Andrew Bogut, probably the best two big men in Australian basketball history who both were NBA champions,” he said. “Furthermore, under the leadership of our head coach Chase Buford, who is also of NBA championship background, and the front office with the CEO Chris Pongrass who was with the Memphis Grizzlies, I feel that this is my best pathway to becoming an NBA lottery pick next year.”
We have more from the basketball world:
- Following the schedule release on Friday, the Nets were listed by Caesars Sportsbook as the favorite to win the most regular-season games, David Purdum of ESPN relays. Brooklyn’s projected odds are 54.5 victories, just ahead of the Bucks (53.5), Lakers (51.5), Jazz (51.5) and Sixers (51.5). The Pistons (25.5), Magic (23.5) and Thunder (22.5) sit at the bottom of the projected wins list.
- Former NBA forward Johnathan Williams has signed with Italy’s Dolomiti Energia Trento, Sportando relays. He played with Germany’s Niners Chemnitz last season. Williams appeared in 15 games for the Wizards in 2019/20 and 24 for the Lakers in 2018/19.
- Hall-of-Famer Ray Allen has decided to become a prep coach, according to The Associated Press. Allen has been hired as the director of boys and girls basketball at Miami’s Gulliver Prep, and will also coach the boys varsity team.
George David has reached an agreement with the Pistons to become an assistant general manager, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. It will be a second stint in the organization for David, who spent 19 seasons in Detroit’s front office before joining Wasserman Media Group in 2015. David, who spent the bulk of his previous time in the organization in scouting and player evaluation, has strong ties with GM Troy Weaver, Wojnarowski adds in another tweet.
We have more on the Pistons:
- The two-year contract signed by Hamidou Diallo is worth a flat $5.2MM in each season, Keith Smith tweets. The second year, as previously noted, is a team option. Diallo entered the month as a restricted free agent.
- Jamorko Pickett, who signed an Exhibit 10 contract, has an uphill climb to make the opening-day roster, but he has no doubt he’s good enough to play in the NBA, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. Pickett, who played four seasons at Georgetown, averaged 9.8 PPG and 3.8 RPG in the Las Vegas summer league. “I was given opportunities and I took the most of them,” he said. “I know I belong here. It’s always having that mindset – knowing I belong, knowing I should start. That’s what pushed me when I did have the opportunity to excel.”
- Cade Cunningham will make his regular season debut at home against Chicago on Oct. 20, Langlois notes while breaking down the regular-season slate. The NBA released team schedules on Friday. The Pistons’ schedule can be accessed here.
8:35pm: A team press release has confirmed the signing, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com tweets. The second year of the contract is a team option, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets.
5:04pm: Restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo will remain with the Pistons on a two-year, $10.4MM deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
Diallo’s agents, Thad Foucher and Joe Smith, informed Wojnarowski of the decision.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), the Pistons will eventually have to make another roster move to fit in Diallo, since they now have 16 guaranteed contracts on their books. There’s no rush to make that move, since teams can carry up to 20 players in the offseason.
Diallo appeared in 20 games after Detroit acquired him from Oklahoma City, averaging 11.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 1.2 APG. The high-flying Diallo also showed improvement with his 3-point shot after the mid-season trade, draining 39% of his 3-point shots. He had a breakout season with extended playing time, as he also averaged 11.9 for OKC in 32 games.
A 2018 second-round selection, Diallo appeared in 129 games with the Thunder. He’s averaged 7.5 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 17.8 MPG during his three-year career.
General manager Troy Weaver, a former Thunder executive, had prioritized re-signing Diallo this offseason. Detroit extended a qualifying offer of $2.08MM to make him a restricted free agent.
Diallo joins a crowd at the wing that includes top pick Cade Cunningham, who will often share the floor with Killian Hayes, as well Saddiq Bey, Josh Jackson, Rodney McGruder, Frank Jackson and Jerami Grant (in bigger lineups).
Pistons second-round pick Luka Garza earned a two-way contract with strong performances in the Las Vegas summer league. Garza dropped 25 pounds since the college season ended and noticed a difference in his mobility, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. “I think it definitely improves my ability to move in multiple ways,” Garza said. “But, for me, I’m not comfortable. I want to continue to work on that and get better and better and better. The better I am on that end, the better my career is going to go.”
- Top pick Cade Cunningham showed that he’s ready and willing to be the Pistons’ team leader during summer league action, Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports writes. Cunningham made his presence felt, not only with his play but the way he encouraged and directed his teammates. “He’s a natural leader, which is rare for a 19-year-old kid,” coach Dwane Casey told Goodwill.
When Usman Garuba officially signed his rookie contract with Houston earlier this week, he became the 30th and final first-round pick from the 2021 draft to sign his first NBA deal. There will be no draft-and-stash players among this year’s first-rounders — they’re all now officially on NBA rosters.
As our tracker shows, another 23 second-rounders from this year’s draft class have also signed their first NBA contracts or – in Joe Wieskamp‘s case – agreed to a deal that should be officially completed soon.
That leaves just seven prospects from 2021’s 60-player draft class who have yet to be signed. They are as follows:
- New York Knicks: Rokas Jokubaitis, G, Lithuania
- Boston Celtics: Juhann Begarin, G, France
- Brooklyn Nets: Marcus Zegarowski, G, Creighton
- Philadelphia 76ers: Filip Petrusev, F, Serbia
- Philadelphia 76ers: Charles Bassey, C, Western Kentucky
- Detroit Pistons: Balsa Koprivica, C, Florida State
- Brooklyn Nets: RaiQuan Gray, F, Florida State
Of these seven players, at least three appear on track to spend the 2021/22 season in Europe. Jokubaitis returned to his team in Barcelona following his Summer League stint with the Knicks, while Petrusev signed with Turkish team Anadolu Efes after playing for the Sixers in Summer League. Begarin, who also played in Summer League for the Celtics, will likely end up heading back overseas to France
That leaves just four true unsigned second-round picks, including a pair of Nets. It will be interesting to see what Brooklyn’s plans are for Zegarowski and Gray. The team currently has 13 players on guaranteed contracts and one on a two-way deal, so there could conceivably be room for Zegarowski on the 15-man squad, with Gray getting the other two-way deal.
However, DeAndre’ Bembry has a partially guaranteed contract and looks like a good bet to make the Nets’ regular-season roster, and Reggie Perry (free agent) and David Duke (Exhibit 10) are among the other candidates to get a two-way deal from the team. It’s also not clear if Brooklyn intends to carry a full 15-man roster to start the season, since leaving a roster spot open would create major tax savings for the franchise.
I could envision a scenario in which Zegarowski signs a two-way contract and Gray signs a G League deal to play for the Long Island Nets, but that’s just my speculation. There are still a number of ways the Nets could go.
Meanwhile, prospects drafted in the 50s like Bassey (No. 53) and Koprivica (No. 57) are generally good candidates for two-way deals, but the Sixers and Pistons have recently filled both of their two-way openings. Perhaps Philadelphia envisions Bassey taking Anthony Tolliver‘s spot on the 15-man roster, since Tolliver is on a non-guaranteed contract.
It’ll be trickier for Detroit to find a roster spot for Koprivica. The Pistons already have 15 players on guaranteed contracts and still may re-sign restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo. Stashing Koprivica overseas or in the G League could be the plan. Koprivica was born and raised in Serbia, so he might be more comfortable spending a season overseas than a typical NCAA draftee would be.
- The two-way contract that undrafted rookie Chris Smith signed with the Pistons will cover two seasons, according to Keith Smith (Twitter link).