Memphis Grizzlies Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pelicans Sign James Ennis To 10-Day Contract

March 30th, 2016 at 2:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:05pm: The signing is official, the team announced. The contract will cover six games, against the Spurs, Nuggets, Nets, Sixers, Celtics and Lakers.

1:31pm: The NBA has indeed given the Pelicans another hardship provision for an 18th roster spot, as Jim Eichenhofer of the team’s website confirms. Eichenhofer doesn’t mention Ennis but suggests the team may make a signing as soon as today. New Orleans has a two-day window from the time the league grants the provision to use it.

8:47am: The Pelicans will sign former Heat and Grizzlies swingman James Ennis, sources tell Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate (Twitter links). The move appears to be a signal that the NBA has given New Orleans another hardship exception for an extra roster spot. Seven Pelicans are out for the season with injuries, including Jrue Holiday and Alonzo Gee, whose season-ending maladies the team announced Tuesday. The Pelicans already have 17 players under contract, two over the normal limit.

Memphis waived Ennis on March 2nd to make room on its roster for Ryan Hollins, and somewhat curiously, the Grizzlies and Ennis haven’t circled back to each other even as the team has made a flurry of moves and received multiple hardship exceptions amid a rash of injuries similar to the trouble the Pelicans have gone through. The Grizzlies nonetheless seemed to have little use for the 25-year-old who was the 50th overall pick in 2013, sending him on eight D-League assignments and only putting him on the floor in 10 games at the NBA level.

Ennis began the season with the Heat, for whom he saw much more playing time before they shipped him out in November via the Mario Chalmers trade. The Heat never sent Ennis to the D-League once they signed him in 2014, and he averaged 5.0 points in 17.0 minutes per game across 62 appearances for Miami last season.

He’ll see $49,709 on his 10-day contract with New Orleans and add to a shrinking reserve of healthy Pelicans. Dante Cunningham, Omer Asik, Luke Babbitt, Toney Douglas, Tim Frazier, Jordan Hamilton, Kendrick Perkins and Alexis Ajinca are the only New Orleans players without some sort of ailment, The Advocate’s Brett Dawson notes (Twitter link).

Timeline: Injuries Force Grizzlies Roster Turmoil

March 28th, 2016 at 12:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

March Madness usually applies to college basketball, but it’s also fitting for the Grizzlies this year. Injuries have prompted a whirlwind of changes, and the number of players on the team has fluctuated from 14 to a whopping 18, three above the normal regular season limit. Perhaps most eye-catching among the team’s many moves was the March 10th decision to cut ties with Mario Chalmers, who had torn his Achilles tendon the night before. Chalmers was on an expiring contract and obviously isn’t going to play again this season, so the only net effect is that Memphis forfeited its Bird rights with the point guard. Still, the Chalmers release speaks to the depth of the problems the Grizzlies have faced as they’ve scrambled to tread water without Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and many others.

The Grizzlies are still strong bets for the playoffs because of the work they did before the injuries hit. Memphis has a six-game lead for a playoff spot with nine games to play, and the team is up four games in the loss column on the Trail Blazers for fifth place in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies have seen 27 different players appear in a game for them this season, tying the record set by the 1996/97 Mavericks, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com points out (Twitter links). Memphis is also poised to become the first playoff team in the history of NBA to have fielded more than two dozen players.

Gasol, Conley, Matt Barnes, Zach Randolph, Tony Allen, Vince Carter, Lance Stephenson, P.J. Hairston, Brandan Wright, Chris Andersen and Jordan Adams have all missed games for the Grizzlies in March, forcing GM Chris Wallace and Dave Joerger to work overtime. Here’s a timeline of the team’s roster moves:

March 2nd — Waived James Ennis. Signed Ryan Hollins to a minimum-salary contract for the rest of the season. Roster at 15.
March 10th — Waived Mario Chalmers. Roster at 14.
March 11th — Signed Briante Weber to a 10-day contract. Roster at 15. (Conflicting information raised debate about whether the team signed Weber on March 9th or March 11th, but he played in the team’s game on March 19th, which would have been impossible if he had signed March 9th, since he didn’t sign a second 10-day contract. RealGM, which initially showed the transaction happening on March 9th, now shows it as having taken place on March 11th.
March 12th — Signed Ray McCallum to a 10-day contract. Signed Alex Stepheson to a 10-day contract. Both moves came via the hardship provision, which allows the team to exceed the 15-man roster limit. Roster at 17.
March 16th — Signed Xavier Munford to a 10-day contract via hardship. Roster at 18.
March 20th — Last day for Weber’s 10-day contract. Roster at 17 at day’s end.
March 21st — Signed Jordan Farmar to a 10-day contract via hardship. Last day on the 10-day contracts for McCallum and Stepheson. Roster at 16 at day’s end.
March 22nd — Signed McCallum to a second 10-day contract via hardship. Roster at 17.
March 25th — Last day for Munford’s 10-day contract. Roster at 16 at day’s end.
March 27th — Signed Munford to a second 10-day contract via hardship. Roster at 17.

Grizzlies Sign Munford To Second 10-Day Contract

March 27th, 2016 at 1:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Grizzlies have signed point guard Xavier Munford to a second-10-day contract, the team announced today. Munford, who first signed with Memphis on March 16th, has averaged 2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists in five games with the team.

Munford was the latest addition to the injury-plagued Grizzlies’ roster after the league granted a request under the hardship provision to carry 17 players. With starting point guard Mike Conley likely out for the rest of the regular season, Memphis also recently signed Ray McCallum and Jordan Farmar.

Before joining the Grizzlies, Munford played 41 games with the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League. He was part of the D-League’s All-Star Game this season, ranking sixth in the league in assists and 11th in scoring.

Alex Stepheson Rejoins Grizzlies D-League Affiliate

March 25th, 2016 at 10:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Alex Stepheson has returned to the Iowa Energy, which is the D-League affiliate of Memphis, after the Grizzlies declined to sign him to a second 10-day contract, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (Twitter link). The 28-year-old made four appearances for Memphis and averaged 5.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per outing.

Grizzlies Part-Owner Unlikely To Buy Wolves Share

March 25th, 2016 at 3:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Timberwolves GM Milt Newton will be in charge of the draft and free agency for the team this summer, owner Glen Taylor said today on “The Chad Hartman Show” on WCCO-AM, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter links). Newton hadn’t previously been assured of remaining the team’s top basketball executive beyond this season after inheriting the role this past fall upon the death of president of basketball operations Flip Saunders. Taylor also said that it’s unlikely he’ll complete a deal with Grizzlies part-owner Steve Kaplan, who was to purchase a 30% share of the Wolves and perhaps eventually succeed Taylor as controlling owner. Kaplan, who’d have to sell his stake in the Grizzlies to buy into the Wolves, has reportedly met resistance from primary Grizzlies owner Robert Pera.

Conley Achilles Problem Lingers; McCallum Impressing

March 25th, 2016 at 8:40am CST by Chuck Myron

Soon-to-be free agent Mike Conley isn’t expected to have his sore left Achilles re-evaluated until the end of the regular season, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, presumably meaning he’s out until the playoffs, at least. That’s led the Grizzlies to turn to recent signees Ray McCallum, Jordan Farmar and Xavier Munford at the point, as Tillery examines. GM Chris Wallace is a fan of McCallum’s versatility, shooting range and ability to run a team, Tillery notes.

Grizzlies Vets, Coaches Hold Team Together Amid Injuries

March 23rd, 2016 at 10:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Grizzlies coaching staff deserves credit for keeping the team in the playoff hunt despite having to use 27 players this season because of the rash of injuries that have befallen the roster, writes J.A. Adande of ESPN.com. Coach Dave Joerger also credits the team’s veteran players with holding things together amid all the lineup and roster changes, Adande adds. “It’s crazy,” Joerger said. “It’s a couple of things, though. First of all, it’s veteran leadership. It’s Matt Barnes, Vince Carter, Tony Allen, Zach Randolph. Those guys have really been helping our younger guys, taking them under their wing. Our staff has done a great job with the young guys and new guys and helping them get acclimated. Our guys have accepted each other for who they are as individuals.”

Grizzlies Sign Ray McCallum To Second 10-Day

March 22nd, 2016 at 10:43am CST by Chuck Myron

The Grizzlies have signed Ray McCallum to a second 10-day contract, the team announced. His first expired overnight. The move restores Memphis to a 17-man roster, meaning the club has received additional clearance from the league through the hardship provision to carry two more than the regular season 15-man maximum. However, Memphis has no immediate plans to re-sign Alex Stepheson, whose first 10-day contract also expired at the end of Monday, tweets Grizzlies sideline reporter Rob Fischer. The hardship exception they’d used to carry Stepheson as one of 18 players on Monday’s roster wasn’t renewed, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, who suggests it likely means Chris Andersen will return tonight from the left shoulder injury that’s kept him out for the last nine games (Twitter link)

The latest deal for McCallum, which costs $55,722, will cover four games, against the Lakers, Spurs (twice) and Nuggets. The third-year pro has seen plenty of action in Memphis, starting the last two games and averaging 8.5 points, 2.8 assists and 1.8 turnovers in 24.3 minutes per contest across six appearances overall. He’s canned nine of his 18 3-point attempts as he’s seen far more opportunity than he did with the Spurs, who had him for most of the season before waiving him to make room for Andre Miller. The Knicks reportedly considered signing him, but the Grizzlies instead scooped him up to deal with their many injury problems.

Nine Grizzlies were ailing at one point earlier this month, and six have some sort of injury at this point, including Andersen. Marc Gasol is out for the season with a broken foot, while Brandan Wright, P.J. Hairston, Jordan Adams and Mike Conley are also sidelined, according to the CBSSports.com injury log.

Teams can’t sign any player to more than two 10-day contracts per year, but only 13 days will be left in the season when McCallum’s latest pact expires. The Grizzlies only have 14 players signed through season’s end, so they have flexibility to retain McCallum if they choose.

Heat Rumors: Whiteside, Wade, Weber

March 21st, 2016 at 10:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

Hassan Whiteside has earned a maximum contract with his play over the past two seasons, contends Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The Heat center leads the NBA in blocks and is fourth in rebounding, and Kennedy believes he has a strong case to be named Defensive Player of the Year. Because Whiteside was out of the league for two seasons, Miami was able to get him at a bargain rate. He’s making just $981,348 this year, but a major raise will be coming when he hits unrestricted free agency in July. Seventeen teams are projected to have enough cap space to offer at least one max deal, and the Heat won’t have Bird rights on him. “I can’t control anything that’s going to happen in free agency,” Whiteside said recently to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. “I just try to be the best teammate and the best guy I can be and I think everything else is going to take its place. [My inner circle and I] really don’t talk about it. It’s really like, ‘Whenever the time comes, it comes.’ We focus on making a deep playoff run and everything else is in due time.”

There’s more tonight out of Miami:

Dwyane Wade, 34, gives hardly any thought to retirement, according to Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post. The shooting guard, who scored his 20,000th NBA point Saturday, has a chance to play 75 games for the first time since the 2010/11 season. Team president Pat Riley said recently that the 13-year veteran could play until he’s 40, and Wade may be intent on doing that. “I go out there each year and try to do what I can within that season and I’m gonna try to do that until I don’t want to do that no more,” Wade said. “If God continues to bless me where I’m able to have the health to play, then I will do it. When I feel like I don’t want to do it no more, hopefully I can walk away from it when that time comes. But I’m enjoying it, man. I really like this team. I really like the vibe that we’re building in the city of Miami. No complaints here.”
Briante Weber, whom the Grizzlies chose not to re-sign when his 10-day contract ended Friday, has rejoined the Heat’s D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside and Motor.

Grizzlies Sign Jordan Farmar To 10-Day Deal

March 21st, 2016 at 12:42pm CST by ChrisCrouse

MONDAY, 12:42pm: The 10-day signing is official, the team announced.

SUNDAY, 12:02pm: The Grizzlies will sign Jordan Farmar, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal reports (Twitter link). No contract details have been provided yet, but it will likely be a 10-day deal, as Tillery reported earlier this week.

The Grizzlies currently have 17 players on their roster. The league granted them three additional roster spots via the hardship provision, so they ostensibly have an opening after not bringing back Briante Weber at the conclusion of his 10-day deal Friday night. The 10-day pacts for Ray McCallum and Alex Stepheson will expire Monday. McCallum and Stepheson are on their first 10-day deals, respectively, so the team has the option of bringing one or both of them back on a second 10-day contract or exploring other possibilities with the two roster spots.

Memphis currently has seven players who are dealing with some sort of ailment. Farmar will be the 26th player who will play for the team this season. He last played in the NBA during the 2014/15 season, when he was a backup to Chris Paul on the Clippers. He had expressed a willingness to join an NBA team via a 10-day contract earlier this year.