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Four 2018 NBA Draftees Remain Unsigned

August 12th, 2018 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

With Thunder second-rounder Devon Hall set to spend the upcoming season playing in Australia, 56 of 60 players selected in the 2018 NBA draft have now made plans – in the NBA or elsewhere – for the 2018/19 campaign.

As our 2018 draft pick signing tracker shows, that leaves four players whose status for 2018/19 has yet to be reported or announced. Here’s what we know – or can deduce – about those four rookies:

Justin Jackson (Magic): According to our roster counts, the Magic have used both of their two-way contract slots and have 16 players on NBA contracts. However, only 14 of those NBA deals are fully guaranteed, meaning there could be a path for Jackson to claim the 15th spot. Still, Isaiah Briscoe looks like he’ll have an opportunity to make the team despite not having a guaranteed salary. Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel expects Jackson, who is coming off a major shoulder injury, to spend the 2018/19 season with the Lakeland Magic, so perhaps he’ll sign a G League contract with an eye toward joining Orlando’s 15-man squad in 2019.
De’Anthony Melton (Rockets): The Rockets only have 10 players on fully guaranteed salaries, meaning there’s plenty of room for Melton to join the mix. It’s possible Houston is waiting to sign Melton in order to keep him trade-eligible — as soon as he signs, he can’t be dealt for one month, and the Rockets may want to keep their options open as they scour the market for a wing player. Assuming Melton remains with the Rockets, they’ll likely lock him up for at least three years using part of the taxpayer mid-level exception, like they did with Isaiah Hartenstein.
Chimezie Metu (Spurs): The Spurs have a lone opening on their projected 15-man roster, with 14 players on guaranteed deals. It’s possible Metu could slot into that spot, but he’s not the only option. Former two-way player Darrun Hilliard is a candidate to be promoted to a standard NBA contract, and 2017 second-rounder Jaron Blossomgame could also be signed. The Spurs are very comfortable stashing draft picks, as they currently retain the NBA rights to 11 players who aren’t playing in the NBA. We’ll see if Metu becomes the 12th or if the Spurs held onto part of their mid-level exception this summer in order to sign him to a long-term deal.
Kevin Hervey (Thunder): Hall’s move overseas looks like it could be good news for Hervey. The Thunder have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, leaving no clear path to OKC’s regular season roster, but the club only has Deonte Burton on a two-way deal. That leaves the Thunder’s other two-way contract slot open, and it would make sense for Hervey to fill it, as four other 2018 draftees in the 54-60 range have inked two-way deals so far this summer.

Chris Paul Wasn’t Worried About Losing Clint Capela

August 12th, 2018 at 12:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

Even though it took nearly a month for the Rockets to re-sign Clint Capela, teammate Chris Paul said he was never concerned about losing the team’s starting center, relays Ashish Mathur of AmicoHoops.

Paul made the remarks in a recent interview on NBA TV, saying that although there was speculation Capela might sign elsewhere, he knew that conditions favored a return to Houston.

“It was good and well, but I mean I guess for the fans in the basketball world they probably don’t understand, we knew he wasn’t going nowhere,” Paul said. “You know what I mean? Like if you think about it, he was a restricted free agent. Clint wasn’t going nowhere.”

The Rockets could have matched any offer that Capela received, but none ever materialized. There was a feeling around the league that Houston was a lock to match anything short of a max contract, and two potential bidders filled their needs at center when the Suns drafted Deandre Ayton and the Mavericks signed DeAndre Jordan.

Capela could have opted to accept the Rockets’ qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer, but the parties were able to agree to a five-year, $90MM contract on July 27.

Capela is coming off his best statistical season, averaging 13.9 points and 10.8 rebounds in 74 games. Not only is he the anchor of the Rockets’ interior defense, he provides a perfect pick-and-roll partner for Paul and league MVP James Harden.

Rockets Sign Rookie Guard Rob Gray

August 10th, 2018 at 5:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Rockets have signed undrafted rookie guard Rob Gray, according to a team press release.

The terms were not announced but Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets that it’s a training camp deal.

The 6’1” Gray averaged 18.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.0 APG and 1.2 SPG in his three college seasons with the University of Houston. He’s the American Athletic Conference’s all-time leading scorer with 1,710 points.

Gray, who saw brief action with the team’s summer league squad in Las Vegas, scored a combined 62 points in two NCAA Tournament games in March, including 23-point, 10-rebound effort against national runner-up Michigan. Gray averaged 19.3 PPG, 4.4 APG and 3.7 RPG in his senior year.

Gray hinted right after the draft that he’d get a training-camp invite from the Rockets.

“I will be playing summer league/training camp with them trying to earn a roster spot for the upcoming season,” Gray said.

Additional Details On Chinanu Onuaku Trade

August 10th, 2018 at 1:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Chinanu Onuaku trade between the Mavericks and Rockets was a minor deal on the surface, but included some interesting details, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays (Twitter links). Dallas will have the right to swap the Warriors’ 2020 second-round pick for the Rockets’ 2020 second-rounder, but that Houston pick is top-39 protected. If it ends up falling within the protected range, the Mavs will instead receive $500K from the Rockets. Additionally, the $1,544,951 in cash Houston is sending the Mavs in the trade to cover Onuaku’s salary will be paid out in 17 installments over the next year.
Before James Nunnally signed with Minnesota, he drew “great” interest from the Pelicans, as well as some interest from the Rockets, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN (Twitter link).

Trade Rumors: Rockets, Bazemore, Hawks, Heat, Bucks

August 8th, 2018 at 10:56am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets reportedly remain in the market for at least one more wing player, even after reaching a deal with Carmelo Anthony, but Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link) hears that the team isn’t actively pursuing Hawks swingman Kent Bazemore.

According to Amick, Bazemore isn’t a major part of the Rockets’ discussions at this point. Amick suggests (via Twitter) that the Houston front office would have more interest in sending Ryan Anderson to the Heat in a deal that brings back a player like James Johnson or Tyler Johnson.

Of course, any Rockets offer would need to include additional compensation, such as a draft pick and/or a young player, to entice the Heat. Even then, it’s not clear if Miami would be interested in such a trade.

One team with apparent interest in dealing with the Rockets is Atlanta, according to Kelly Iko of RocketsWire (Twitter link). While Houston’s interest in Bazemore seems limited, Iko reports that the Hawks would be open to a trade if they could get a draft pick and a young player such as De’Anthony Melton in addition to Anderson. That asking price may be one reason why the Rockets’ interest in a Bazemore trade appears to have dissipated.

According to Iko (via Twitter), the Bucks have also contacted the Hawks about the possibility of acquiring Bazemore. New Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer was in Atlanta with Bazemore, and Iko indicates the young wing would be open to reuniting with his former coach on a contender. Initial trade discussions between the Bucks and Hawks didn’t get far though, Iko notes.

Lakers At Warriors To Highlight Christmas Day

August 8th, 2018 at 8:10am CST by clarkcrum

AUGUST 8, 8:10am: The Rockets will host the Thunder to round out the Christmas Day schedule, tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

AUGUST 7, 8:02pm: Some of the more popular games of the 2018/19 NBA schedule will be announced tomorrow at 2:00pm EST. At that time, the NBA will announce the schedule for the opening week of the 2018/19 regular season along with the slate of games for Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

However, Marc Stein of The New York Times is already reporting matchups for three of the Christmas Day games. The Celtics will play the Sixers, the Knicks will host the Bucks, and the new-look Lakers will travel to Oakland to take on the Warriors. Chris Haynes of ESPN is also reporting that the Jazz will host the Trail Blazers.

This will be the fourth consecutive season that a LeBron James-led team will face off against Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and the Warriors. James’ Cavaliers teams went 1-2 against Golden State over the last three seasons.

Rockets Used Part Of MLE To Sign Hartenstein

August 7th, 2018 at 9:59am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets and Thunder dipped into their taxpayer mid-level exceptions for rookie deals for Isaiah Hartenstein and Hamidou Diallo, respectively. Both are three-year, minimum-salary contracts, but Hartenstein only has one guaranteed year (link) while Diallo has two (link).

And-Ones: ROY Predictions, Offseason Rankings, NBAGL

August 6th, 2018 at 4:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks guard Luka Doncic has the best chance to win the Rookie of the Year award, according to an ESPN panel. Doncic will fill up the stat sheet and might wind up with the ball more often than second-year guard Dennis Smith Jr., according to Mike Schmitz. Top overall pick Deandre Ayton ranks second on the poll, with Schmitz noting that the Suns big man likely to get more playing time than any other rookie. Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., Cavaliers point guard Collin Sexton and Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr. round out the top five.

We have more from around the league:

Retaining Paul George in free agency and dumping Carmelo Anthony‘s contract while receiving projected sixth man Dennis Schroder in return earned the Thunder the top spot on NBA.com’s David Aldridge’s offseason rankings. The rankings are based upon what teams have done during the offseason. The Lakers ranked No. 2 by virtue of signing LeBron James and handing out one-year contracts to other players, thus allowing them to be a force again in next year’s free agent market. The Nuggets gained the No. 3 spot by locking up Nikola Jokic and making trades that cleared roster spots and eased their luxury-tax situation.
Forwards DJ Hogg (Texas A&M) and Malik Pope (San Diego State) and swingman BJ Johnson (LaSalle) are among the top 10 prospects at the G League Invitational, according to Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype. The invitational takes place Sunday in Chicago and over a dozen of last year’s prospects received training camp invites afterward.
The Warriors’ over-under odds for wins next season is 62.5, according to Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. The Celtics ranked second overall with a 57.5 over-under win total with the Rockets third at 54.5. The Hawks have the lowest projected win total at 23.5. The odds for each NBA team were passed along by ESPN’s Ben Fawkes.

R.J. Hunter Has Become Summer League Regular

August 6th, 2018 at 11:41am CST by Arthur Hill

R.J. Hunter has become a Summer League regular after the Celtics made him a first-round pick in 2015, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Hunter, who has a two-way contract with the Rockets, played for Houston’s entry this year in his fourth consecutive Summer League. He has appeared in just eight NBA games since the Celtics waived him in 2016, but said his time with the Rockets has been a valuable learning experience. “Whenever I’m on the bench, just see what they need on the court,” Hunter said. “I think it’s more of a thinking game. Houston’s old. A lot of their players are vets, so they’ve been teaching me how to think the game and be patient.”

Analyzing A Potential Rockets-Heat Trade

August 5th, 2018 at 11:40am CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets have reportedly talked to Miami as they seek another perimeter defender, and salary cap expert Albert Nahmad believes James Johnson would be a better fit in Houston than Tyler Johnson (Twitter link).

James Johnson’s .308 shooting percentage from 3-point range prevents him from being a perfect replacement for Trevor Ariza, but his physical brand of defense and his ability to guard several positions could be just what the Rockets need, Nahmad suggests. He also describes James Johnson, who averaged a career-best 12.8 and 10.8 PPG during his two seasons with Miami, as “a sneaky good offense creator in short bursts.”

ESPN’s Zach Lowe recently reported that the Rockets have reached out to several teams about adding a wing player and are willing to offer Ryan Anderson and their 2019 first-round pick to the Hawks in exchange for Kent Bazemore. He also said there have been conversations between Houston and Miami, suggesting that the same package could be available for Tyler Johnson.

Nahmad doesn’t see that as a deal the Heat would accept because they would be taking on money by adding Anderson and Houston’s draft pick isn’t likely to be high enough to make it worthwhile (Twitter link). The offer sheet that the Heat matched in 2016 for the fourth-year guard begins to balloon in the upcoming season, with a salary of $19,245,370 in each of the next two years. That’s still a little cheaper than Anderson, who has two seasons and nearly $41.7MM left on his current deal.

Houston’s offer wouldn’t be enough to get Miami to part with James Johnson either, Nahmad tweets, and the Heat would have to include something else in the deal to make salaries match because his salary is only $14.65MM. Miami would like to get rid of Dion Waiters‘ contract, which will pay him more than $36MM over the next three seasons, but the Rockets are already into luxury tax territory and aren’t likely to take on that much extra money.

Nahmad notes that the expected signings of free agent Carmelo Anthony and second-round pick De’Anthony Melton will give Houston 14 players under contract with a base salary around $135MM and another $19MM in tax payments. Clint Capela‘s new contract has $2MM in potential bonuses that could push that figure even higher (Twitter link).