Memphis Grizzlies Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Young, Grizzlies, D-League

November 8th, 2014 at 4:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Thaddeus Young was one of many veteran players the Sixers rid themselves of as part of their rebuilding through the draft lottery plan, and the forward is finding life with the Wolves much better than he anticipated, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes. “It was frustrating to go out there each and every day to keep fighting and then you’re not coming up with anything,” Young said of his final year in Philadelphia. “But that situation is over now. I have a new team, new beginning and new chapter so I’m just ready to go out there and continue to play and get better with this team. We have a solid mixture of young guys and a solid mixture of veteran guys, which we didn’t have – the veteran guys – last year in Philadelphia and they don’t have the veteran guys this year as well.”

Here’s more from out west:

Young also made a statement that would seemingly indicate he hasn’t closed the door on possibly re-signing with the Wolves next summer, Kennedy adds. In discussing the future of the franchise, Young said, “I think the sky’s the limit for this team. If it’s not this year, then it’s the following year. We have really good pieces on this team as far as young guys and we have solid veterans as well. I think we all complement each other very well, enough to go out there and do some things.”
On the court the Grizzlies are the picture of consistency and lack much in the way of drama, but the team’s front office has been the exact opposite, Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes. Powell’s article examines the difficult run the team has had regarding its coaches and front office staff, including Dave Joerger replacing Lionel Hollins as coach two seasons ago, and the issues between ownership and former CEO Jason Levien.
The Grizzlies have sent Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes to the Iowa Energy, their D-League affiliate, the team announced in a press release. Stokes has yet to make an appearance for the Grizzlies this season, and Adams has gone scoreless in his one minute of action.

Lucas Eyes Bulls Amid Widespread Interest

November 5th, 2014 at 6:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Free agent guard John Lucas III has had inquiries from the Thunder, Pacers, and Grizzlies, but the player has declined those opportunities, Shams Charania of RealGM reports. Lucas has also received offers from teams in the Chinese Basketball Association, but the short-term nature of all the offers is what led him to pass on them, adds Charania. Lucas is believed to be hoping to ultimately return to the Bulls on a deal later this season, Charania notes.

Bernie Lee, Lucas’ agent, offered a slightly different take, telling Charania, “John has received interest from different teams, but to say he has declined any formal offers would be inaccurate. John is in a situation, after a crazy summer, of trying to make the right decision versus any decision, but he is willing to prove himself as requested. John owes a tremendous amount of his value in the NBA to the opportunity Chicago’s front office gave him there initially. Over time, it’s become clear that [GM] Gar Forman has a unique ability to find value in obscure places: He signed John out of China, and he might be the best in the NBA at this. In some ways John was at the beginning of this.”

Lee confirmed the offers from the CBA, saying, “I have not had a single conversation with Gar about John since John left. The different situations just haven’t lined up. Gar has found various ways to replace the role John left including this year and John has been under contract since leaving. I do have every belief that John will resume his NBA career soon, but to date the only opportunities John has declined have been lucrative money offers with Jilin in China earlier in the year and Fujian on Wednesday.”

Lucas, who has been working out in Houston since he was waived by the Wizards, would seem to be a logical target for all three of the NBA teams previously mentioned in light of their early season injury woes. But the 31-year-old out of Oklahoma State had the most success as a player for Chicago during the 2011/12 season, notes Charania. Lucas had four 20-point efforts that season, and averaged 7.5 PPG and 2.2 APG overall.

Chicago currently has 14 players on its roster, so no additional moves would need to be made in order to sign Lucas, but for now the interest would appear to be one-sided, with the Bulls already having Derrick Rose, Aaron Brooks, and Kirk Hinrich on their depth chart at the point.

Western Notes: Moreland, Green, Lucas, Hancock

November 4th, 2014 at 5:23pm CST by Alex Lee

There are six Western Conference teams in action tonight on a slate that includes a matchup of unbeatens between the Rockets and Heat, who also went head-to-head in the pursuit of Chris Bosh this past offseason. Let’s take a look at what’s going on out west before tonight’s action gets underway:

The Kings have assigned undrafted rookie forward Eric Moreland to the Reno Bighorns, the team announced today. Moreland, who signed a three-year deal with Sacramento in July, had yet to touch the floor in four games for the Kings after impressing this summer. His contract is guaranteed for $200K this season and is non-guaranteed for the two years beyond that.
Draymond Green, who will become a restricted free agent next summer, has switched agents, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter). Green was previously represented by Herb Rudoy of Interperformances, as our Agency Database shows, and will now be under the care of B.J. Armstrong and Arn Tellem of the Wasserman Media Group, according to Amick. Green originally signed a three-year pact with the Warriors as a rookie, the third year of which became guaranteed on August 1 when he remained on the Golden State roster.
The Grizzlies’ deal with Kalin Lucas, struck earlier today, is non-guaranteed for one year but will become fully guaranteed at some point in January, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter). Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders confirms it is a minimum salary deal worth the prorated amount of $486,446 (via Twitter).
Luke Hancock, who was waived by the Grizzlies in October, signed with Panionios B.C. of Greece, the team announced today (translation via Sportando). Memphis brought Hancock into camp on a non-guaranteed deal in September before parting ways with the undrafted rookie out of Louisville.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Grizzlies Re-Sign Kalin Lucas

November 4th, 2014 at 12:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Grizzlies have signed point guard Kalin Lucas, the team announced. The move is intended to fortify the team’s depth as Mike Conley nurses a tender ankle, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, who originally reported the deal (Twitter link). Memphis has been carrying only 14 players, as our roster counts show, so the team has room to accommodate Lucas without letting anyone go. Lucas was with the Grizzlies during the summer league and in preseason before Memphis cut him a few days shy of opening night, as Tillery points out. Terms of the deal aren’t immediately clear, and while GM Chris Wallace has slightly more than the rookie minimum salary left on the team’s mid-level exception to float Lucas extra cash, make the deal a long-term arrangement, or both, it seems unlikely he would do so.

The 25-year-old Lucas went undrafted out of Michigan State in 2011, but he’s clearly made a strong impression on the Grizzlies in his time with the club. He played in all eight of the team’s preseason games, averaging 3.1 points and 1.0 assists in 8.0 minutes per contest. He put up 17.0 PPG and 3.4 APG in 33.4 MPG in his senior year with the Spartans in 2010/11 before spending time in Turkey, Greece and the D-League over the first three years of his pro career.

Memphis already had three point guards on its roster before adding Lucas, but Nick Calathes still has nine games to go on his 20-game drug-related suspension, which left Beno Udrih as the only available point guard if Conley had been unable to play. The Grizzlies haven’t felt any ill effects so far, having sprinted to a 4-0 start.

New York Rumors: Shumpert, Nets, Carmelo

October 27th, 2014 at 12:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

A report from Marc Stein of ESPN.com 10 days ago indicated that the Knicks and Iman Shumpert were in active extension negotiations, but Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com continues to hear that the sides haven’t engaged in any talks, echoing his dispatch from a month ago. The Knicks upset Shumpert when they made him a frequent subject of trade talk last season, Begley writes, and a source close to the swingman tells Begley that Shumpert is in no mood to give New York a hometown discount should he hit restricted free agency next summer. Here’s more from around the Big Apple:

Nets GM Billy King confirmed the team will keep Jorge Gutierrez and Jerome Jordan along with the team’s 12 fully guaranteed contracts for opening night, tweets Andy Vasquez of The Record. Presumably, that means Cory Jefferson will stick around on his partially guaranteed deal, too.
Carmelo Anthony did his part to refute a report that indicated that marquee free agents don’t want to play with Kobe Bryant, telling reporters that he’d “love” to play with the Lakers legend, as Ramona Shelburne and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com note. Anthony also said that Bryant tried to recruit him to the Lakers this summer, but the Knicks forward can’t hit free agency again until 2018, and Bryant’s under contract through the summer of 2016.
Lionel Hollins said he never got to know Grizzlies owner Robert Pera before the team let Hollins go in 2013, as he tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. The new Nets coach added that timing played a key role in his decision to take the Brooklyn job this summer while the Lakers still had a vacancy. “I felt either one of those jobs would be fine,” Hollins says. “The Lakers still had Kobe and they could change the team at a moment’s notice because they only had three players under contract. So I thought that wasn’t a bad situation and I thought this was a good situation so when it came about, it was one that I was happy and I wasn’t going to wait on the Lakers when I had a job in hand.”

And-Ones: Gasol, Tyler, Crawford, Griffin

October 26th, 2014 at 10:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Grizzlies big man Marc Gasol still won’t open up about his impending free agency, as Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal writes in a subscription-only piece. “That’s so far down the line that it’s not on my mind. I just want to do my job every day,” Gasol said. “You never know what might happen in seven or eight months. The franchise might go in a different direction. We’re going to see how we all feel in July. All of the talk now won’t change that fact.” Tillery also mentions the Knicks as a possible suitor for Gasol if he hits free agency, pointing to Phil Jackson’s belief that Gasol would be a perfect fit in the triangle offense.

Here’s more from around the league:

The contract Jeremy Tyler signed with Shanxi of the Chinese Basketball Association is fully guaranteed, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Tyler, who was released from the Lakers per his request to sign with Shanxi, will have a chance to catch on with an NBA team in March when the CBA playoffs come to a close.
Guard Jordan Crawford has yet to take off in the NBA and he’s now looking to make his mark in China, writes David Pick for Basketball Insiders. “During the offseason I didn’t think I’d sign in China. I thought I would get a good deal in the NBA, but I was overlooked,” Crawford said. “I knew some players who came over here from the NBA. I work out with Bobby Brown and Pooh Jeter all the time, so I learned a lot from them. One thing I heard were stories of Stephon Marbury and his success in China.”
After the Thunder parted ways with James Harden over their refusal to give him the max salary, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders wonders what they’re thinking when it comes to Reggie Jackson. Oklahoma CIty has until October 31st to work out an extension with the talented young guard, and Hamilton opines that a team playing for a title can’t afford to allow its young talent to walk out the door.
Free agent Eric Griffin, recently waived by the Mavs, has agreed to a deal with the Texas Legends of The NBA D-League, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link).

Zach Links and Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Patrick Christopher Waived By Grizzlies

October 25th, 2014 at 4:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

Guard Patrick Christopher has been waived by the Grizzlies, the team announced in a press release. It’s unclear if Memphis intends to send Christopher to the D-league, as teams can retain the rights for up to four players. The Grizzlies preseason roster now sits at 14 players.

The Grizzlies won’t be on the hook for any money because Christopher’s minimum-salary contract was non-guaranteed. The 26-year-old was considered a long shot to make the regular season roster, so the move isn’t surprising.

The 6’5″ Christopher played college ball at California, but has bounced around after going unselected in the 2010 NBA draft. He spent last season with the Iowa Energy of the D-league, averaging 13.6 points and 4.0 rebounds. He has also played professionally in Turkey and France.

Grizzlies Cut Ties With Kalin Lucas

October 25th, 2014 at 4:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

4:30pm: Lucas has been officially waived, the team has announced.

2:20pm: The Grizzlies have waived Kalin Lucas, Shams Charania of RealGM is reporting (Twitter link). The team intends for Lucas to play for them in the D-League, provided he clears waivers, Charania notes. Waiving Lucas reduces Memphis’ preseason roster count to 15 players, so they don’t have to make any further roster moves.

Lucas’ contract was non-guaranteed, so the Grizzlies aren’t on the hook for any cash for the 25-year-old point guard. He was a longshot to make the team out of camp, and spending time in the D-League should improve his shot at landing another shot at the NBA, either via a 10-day contract or a camp invite next summer.

He hasn’t seen any regular season action yet, but during his four seasons at Michigan State, Lucas averaged 14.2 PPG, 1.9 RPG, and 4.0 APG. His slash line was .425/.377/.796.

Western Notes: Thunder, Morrow, Martin, Lakers

October 24th, 2014 at 9:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There are indications that the Thunder are more willing to pay the luxury tax than in the past, USA Today’s Sam Amick writes. That’s in part because expected increases to the salary cap and luxury tax line will make it more difficult to become a repeat taxpayer subject to stiffer penalties, and those repeat-offender rules might not exist in the next collective bargaining agreement, Amick points out.

Here’s the latest out of the west:

Thunder guard Anthony Morrow has a sprained left MCL and is expected to miss a minimum of four-to-six weeks, Royce Young of ESPN.com reports. With Kevin Durant out for at least six-to-eight weeks with a broken foot, Morrow was in the running to join the team’s starting five.
The Rockets met with Kenyon Martin earlier today about a possible role on their coaching staff, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). Martin appeared in 32 games for the Knicks last season, averaging 4.3 PPG and 4.2 RPG, and was hobbled with ankle issues for the majority of the season. Neither Martin or his representatives have announced that he was retiring yet, so it’s possible that Martin is simply exploring his options rather than looking for his next career.
Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (Twitter link) offers a different reason for Martin’s visit with the Rockets. Berman is reporting that Houston was checking on the player’s health for a possible roster spot. It’s quite possible that the team wasn’t encouraged by what they saw, and this led them to claim Earl Clark off of waivers from the Grizzlies instead, though that is just my speculation.
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was noncommittal about the team signing another player now that Steve Nash will miss the season, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes (Twitter links). The GM also relayed that he met with Nash and his agent, Bill Duffy, in Las Vegas last night to finalize Nash’s decision.
The Lakers aren’t looking to add another point guard at this time, Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times tweets. The team is happy with Jeremy Lin, Jordan Clarkson, and Ronnie Price, notes Bresnahan. Although, with Price suffering an undisclosed injury in tonight’s preseason game, that could change rather quickly depending on the severity.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Rockets Claim Earl Clark Off Waivers

October 24th, 2014 at 5:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:13pm: The transaction is official, the team announced via press release.

4:59pm: The Rockets have claimed Earl Clark off waivers from the Grizzlies, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Clark had been on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary with Memphis, so Houston will assume control of it. The Rockets opened a spot on their 20-man preseason roster when they waived Josh Powell on Thursday.

Clark’s free agent stock plummeted after he performed poorly when the Cavs gave him a two-year, $8.5MM contract last season and the starting small forward job on opening night. The second year of the deal was non-guaranteed, helping Cleveland ship him to the Sixers at the deadline, after which Philadelphia promptly waived him. He signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Knicks, but they didn’t retain him for the rest of the season, and he was out of the league from that point until the Grizzlies brought him to camp. Still, there evidently remains at least some level of NBA interest in the 14th overall pick from 2009, as witnessed by Houston’s move today as well as his workout with the Spurs a couple of months ago.

Houston’s opening-night roster is still shrouded in mystery, since the team is carrying 15 fully guaranteed deals plus a non-guaranteed contract for starting point guard Patrick Beverley. The Rockets are also among the teams linked to trade candidate Chase Budinger.