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NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots

October 19th, 2018 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

When the Kings sign Troy Williams to a two-way contract after he clears waivers today, as is expected, they’ll become the 16th NBA team to fill all 17 of their available roster spots, with 15 players on standard contracts and two more on two-way pacts.

Still, that will leave nearly half of the league’s teams that will still have at least one opening on their rosters, either on the standard 15-man squad or in their two-way slots.

For many clubs, that decision is primarily financially motivated. Teams like the Warriors, Rockets, Thunder, Raptors, and Wizards all project to have pricey luxury tax bills at season’s end, so there’s no need for them to push those projected penalties higher by carrying an extra player they won’t use.

Other teams may simply prefer to preserve some roster flexibility rather than carrying a full 15-man squad. The Lakers, for instance, aren’t close to the tax line, but have an open roster spot for now. That could allow the team to make a trade or signing later to fortify its roster without costing anyone a job.

Listed below, with the help of our roster counts breakdown, are the teams that aren’t carrying full rosters.

Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:

  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Golden State Warriors
  • Houston Rockets
  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Miami Heat
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Toronto Raptors
  • Washington Wizards
    • Note: The Wizards have two open roster spots and will need to fill one of them by October 30.

Teams with an open two-way slot:

  • New Orleans Pelicans
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Portland Trail Blazers
    • Note: The Blazers have two open two-way slots.
  • San Antonio Spurs
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Southwest Notes: Carmelo, Rockets, Ding, Mack

October 18th, 2018 at 2:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Heading into the 2018/19 season, Carmelo Anthony – who has resisted accepting a bench role in the past – told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols that he’s ready to make that adjustment for his new team. However, in his first game in a reserve role for the Rockets, Anthony scored just nine points in 27 minutes on 3-of-10 shooting. After the loss, the veteran forward admitted that there would be a “learning curve” for his new role, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com relays.

“It’s challenging mentally more so than anything, having to prepare for the game differently,” Anthony said. “Other than that, it’s a challenge all the way around. It’s just a matter of how I’m going to react to that challenge and accepting that challenge, which I am, which I will do.”

As Anthony gets used to playing on the second unit in Houston, let’s round up a few more notes from around the Southwest…

  • The Rockets have promoted front office executive Monte McNair, changing his title from vice president of basketball operations to assistant GM, the team announced in a press release.
  • The Mavericks signed and waived camp invitee Ding Yanyuhang twice before the regular season began. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks confirms to Hoops Rumors, Ding’s first Exhibit 10 contract with Dallas only included a $5K bonus, whereas the second deal bumped that bonus to the maximum allowable $50K. Ding will earn that money if he spends at least two months with the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ G League affiliate.
  • When DeMarcus Cousins went down with his Achilles tear last season, it was something of a turning point for Anthony Davis, who recognized that he had to take his game to another level and carry the Pelicans. Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com has the story, along with the quotes from Davis and head coach Alvin Gentry.
  • The Grizzlies‘ signing of Shelvin Mack was something of an afterthought in an offseason that also included the acquisitions of Jaren Jackson Jr., Kyle Anderson, and Garrett Temple, However, Mack opens the season as Mike Conley‘s primary backup at point guard, as Jason Munz of The Memphis Commercial Appeal details.
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Jimmy Butler Trade Talks ‘Mostly Dormant’ For Now

October 18th, 2018 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2018/19 season officially underway, the Jimmy Butler trade talks that were so active in the weeks leading up to opening night are “mostly dormant” for the time being, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The Heat were the most aggressive suitor for Butler during the preseason, having nearly reached a deal with the Timberwolves that would have sent Josh Richardson, Dion Waiters, and a protected first-round pick to Minnesota for the All-NBA swingman. However, according to Charania, Heat president Pat Riley informed his players a few days before the regular season began that the club planned to stick with its current roster for now.

While the Timberwolves aren’t close to any deals involving Butler at the moment, trade discussions figure to pick back up at some point. Team owner Glen Taylor confirmed earlier this week that he and the 29-year-old reached an understanding — Butler will play hard for the Wolves while the team continues to seek out a trade package for him.

If and when those trade talks resume, Miami still looks like a prime landing spot. Marc Stein of The New York Times also noted earlier this week that “rumbles persist” about the Rockets maintaining serious interest in trading for Butler, despite the Wolves’ aversion to helping Houston build another super-team in the Western Conference.

Although Butler isn’t necessarily happy to still be in Minnesota, he has been making an effort to display leadership and help out his teammates by easing the pressure from head coach Tom Thibodeau, according to Charania.

“Just hoop, I told them, and I think that I can get Thibs to relax a little bit,” Butler said. “He’s never going to say anything about offense as long as you go down there and play with effort on the defensive end and get a couple stops. It’s whenever you’re not getting stops when he starts yelling. I think Thibs has calmed down a lot, and guys are playing with effort.”

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2018 Offseason In Review: Houston Rockets

October 17th, 2018 at 7:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2018 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2018/19 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Houston Rockets.

Signings:

  • Standard contracts:
    • Chris Paul: Four years, maximum salary ($159.73MM). Fourth-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
    • Clint Capela: Five years, $87.5MM. Includes likely and unlikely incentives. Re-signed using Bird rights.
    • James Ennis: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
    • Carmelo Anthony: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
    • Gerald Green: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
    • Michael Carter-Williams: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed for $1.2MM. Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Two-way contracts:
  • Non-guaranteed camp contracts:

Trades:

Draft picks:

  • 1-52: Vince Edwards — Signed to two-way contract (converted from Exhibit 10 contract).

Draft-and-stash signings:

  • Isaiah Hartenstein (2017 draft; No. 43): Signed to three-year, minimum salary contract. First year guaranteed. Second year partially guaranteed for $708K. Signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.

Departing players:

Other offseason news:

  • Exercised 2019/20 option on Mike D’Antoni‘s contract.
  • GM Daryl Morey rebuffed Sixers’ efforts to hire him.
  • Associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik announced retirement.

Salary cap situation:

  • Remained over the cap.
  • Carrying approximately $131.14MM in guaranteed salaries.
  • Projected tax bill of $14.66MM.
  • $4.5MM of taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($838K used on Isaiah Hartenstein).

Check out the Houston Rockets’ full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.

Story of the summer:

It happened a year later than expected, but Carmelo Anthony is finally in Houston. He tried to get there for most of the summer of 2017, telling Knicks management that the Rockets were the only team he was willing to waive his no-trade clause to join. However, no deal could be worked out and Anthony expanded his list to include the Thunder shortly before training camps opened.

He never seemed fully comfortable in Oklahoma City, forming an awkward Big Three with Russell Westbrook and Paul George. His scoring averaged dipped to a career-low 16.2 points per night and he sat through the closing minutes of playoff games as OKC opted for a stronger defensive lineup.

An offseason trade to Atlanta and subsequent buyout cleared the final hurdles that kept him from Houston. Now Anthony is being asked to assume a reserve role and become a complementary shooter rather than a primary ball-handler. Playing alongside elite passers in James Harden and Chris Paul should provide plenty of open opportunities and help him improve on a shooting percentage that hit a career-low .404 in Oklahoma City.

Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni appreciates Anthony’s willingness to become a sixth man after starting all 1,054 of his previous games. “I know it’s not the ideal situation for him, because he’s a Hall of Famer and all that,” D’Antoni told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter links). “I know it’s a big adjustment, but you know what? He’s true to his word. He said he’d do anything for the team. We think that’s best today. It might not be best later – we don’t know – but having him is something that we didn’t have last year. Obviously, it’s really good.”

Read more

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Rockets Get Jersey Sponsor

October 16th, 2018 at 3:15pm CST by Luke Adams
  • Bobby Marks of ESPN.com passes along some interesting data on the NBA’s opening-night rosters, tweeting that the Nuggets, Knicks, and Trail Blazers have the youngest rosters, while the Rockets, Heat, and Mavericks are on the other end of the spectrum. Meanwhile, the NBA announces that the opening-night rosters feature a total of 108 international players from 42 different countries and territories.
  • The Rockets have agreed to a partnership with a new jersey sponsor, announcing today that the ROKiT Phones logo will appear in the top-left corner of their uniforms during the 2018/19 season. Twenty-seven NBA teams now have ad patches on their jerseys — Indiana, Oklahoma City, and Washington are the lone holdouts.
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Gentile No Longer In Rockets' Plans

October 16th, 2018 at 10:54am CST by Luke Adams

Last week, we noted that an entry in the NBA’s transactions log indicated that the Rockets had waived draft-and-stash prospect Alessandro Gentile. The move came as a surprise, considering we heard last month that he wasn’t attending camp with Houston, and the team never announced his signing.

Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle provides some clarity on the situation, tweeting that Gentile signed his required non-guaranteed tender offer with the Rockets, who immediately (and quietly) waived him. Gentile isn’t in the club’s plans, Feigen adds. Based on the pair of transactions, the Italian swingman, who was the 53rd overall pick in the 2014 draft, is free to sign with any NBA team in the future, though he’ll likely continue to play overseas for now.

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Rockets Set Roster For Regular Season

October 15th, 2018 at 4:28pm CST by marksuleymanov

OCTOBER 15: The two-way contracts for Edwards and Clark are official, the Rockets confirmed today. Houston’s roster is now set for the regular season.

OCTOBER 13: The Rockets have waived Bruno Caboclo, and forward Tim Bond, along with guards Angel Rodriguez and Brandon Sampson and forward , sources tell Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Additionally, Houston plans to convert Vince Edwards and Gary Clark to two-way players, Feigen adds.

Edwards, 22, was the Jazz’s second-round pick in this year’s draft but was immediately traded to Houston. He saw limited action in the preseason, playing double digits in minutes just once as he posted six points, four rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes on Tuesday against China’s Shanghai Sharks.

As for Clark, the undrafted forward out of Cincinnati signed with the Rockets and made a case for the team’s final roster spot. Instead, both he and Edwards appears set to split the year between the G League and NBA. Two-way deals permit players to spend up to 45 days in the NBA with the rest coming with the G League affiliate.

Houston elected to keep its 15th roster spot vacant for the time being to allow for both roster and financial flexibility.

Of the four waived players, Caboclo has the most significant NBA experience, appearing in 37 games with the Raptors over the past four seasons. The Rockets signed Rodriguez, Sampson and Bond to Exhibit 10 contracts, so the club will have the opportunity to make them affiliate players with the G League Rio Grande Valley Vipers, assuming they go unclaimed on waivers.

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Several Teams Must Make Moves Before Monday’s Roster Deadline

October 15th, 2018 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

Saturday was a busy day in terms of NBA transactions, with most of the league’s 30 clubs making cuts and getting their rosters down to the regular season limit. As we explained over the weekend, players on non-guaranteed contracts must clear waivers before the first day of the regular season in order to avoid counting at all against a team’s salary cap, which is why most of those players were released on Saturday instead of today.

However, not every team now has a roster in compliance with NBA rules. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the Clippers, Suns, Bucks, Pistons, and Spurs still need to make roster moves by 4:00pm CT today in order to get down to the regular season limit. Teams are permitted to carry no more than 15 players on standard contracts and two more on two-way deals entering the season.

Here’s a quick look at the decisions facing those five teams:

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers need to trim their roster from 17 standard contracts to 15. Normally, the guys on non-guaranteed contracts would be the most obvious candidates to be cut, but I’d be surprised if the team parts ways with Patrick Beverley or Tyrone Wallace.

Instead, players on guaranteed salaries like Jawun Evans, Wesley Johnson, and Sindarius Thornwell could be in trouble if the Clips can’t find any trades they like.

Phoenix Suns

Like the Clippers, the Suns have 17 players on standard contracts, with multiple vets on non-guaranteed deals whom they’d like to keep. If Phoenix keeps all 14 players with guaranteed salaries, that would leave just one spot for Richaun Holmes, Shaquille Harrison, and Isaiah Canaan.

Of the players with guarantees, Darrell Arthur is the most obvious release candidate, but if the club keeps him before getting an answer from the league on its disabled player exception request, it won’t be eligible for that DPE.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the Suns will be granted that disabled player exception anyway. Marks wrote on Saturday that multiple team executives were “dumbfounded” by what season-ending injury Arthur could have suffered since being acquired by Phoenix in July. While the big man has been bothered by recurring knee injuries in recent years, the team hasn’t announced any new ailments or listed him on its injury report.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks have 16 players on standard contracts, meaning one player will need to be traded or released today. Christian Wood, who has one of the team’s two non-guaranteed contracts, appears likely to make the team. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the other player on a non-guaranteed deal – Tim Frazier – will be waived though.

The decision may come down to Frazier vs. former first-round pick D.J. Wilson. Although Wilson has a guaranteed salary for 2018/19, his roster spot is “far from secure,” per Keith Smith of RealGM.com (Twitter link).

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons have 15 players on guaranteed contracts and two on two-way deals, leaving no clear openings for the club’s final non-guaranteed player, Zach Lofton. The undrafted free agent has impressed Detroit this fall though, so we’ll see if the club can find room for him, perhaps by having him supplant one of the current two-way players (Reggie Hearn and Keenan Evans).

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs‘ final move is a mere formality. Manu Ginobili, who announced his retirement this summer, technically remains on the roster, but he should be quietly waived today. Once that happens, San Antonio will have 15 players on standard contracts – including partially guaranteed veteran Quincy Pondexter – and one on a two-way deal.

Note: The Bulls and Rockets also still need to officially convert players on Exhibit 10 contracts to two-way deals. Chicago will reportedly do so with Tyler Ulis, while Houston will do so with Gary Clark and Vince Edwards.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Rockets Sign Bond, Waive Gentile

October 12th, 2018 at 9:12pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Rockets signed guard Tim Bond and he’ll join their G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Mark Berman of KRIV tweets.

The 6’6” Bond played all four of his college seasons with Eastern Michigan, where he averaged 8.6 PPG and 3.0 APG. He averaged 9.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 3.5 APG during his senior year.

In order to open up a spot for Bond, the Rockets have waived guard Alessandro Gentile, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

It’s unclear when Houston signed Gentile, since he wasn’t listed on the 20-man training camp roster. Gentile had been recovering from right hand surgery after suffering the injury in May.

Gentile, a 6’7″ wing, has played overseas since being selected with the 53rd overall pick in the 2014 draft.

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Anthony A Key Addition?

October 10th, 2018 at 10:30pm CST by clarkcrum

Fortunately for the Pelicans, they still have time to figure things out before the season starts, and Randle did suit up and play in tonight’s game. Ultimately, the team believes it has all the pieces in place to compete in the Western Conference and build on last year’s success. We’ll begin to find out if they can when they visit the Rockets one week from tonight to open the 2018/19 regular season.

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