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And-Ones: Sellers, Superteams, Ayres

August 12th, 2017 at 9:08am CST by Austin Kent

After a quiet offseason, the Magic could be one of the league’s biggest sellers, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes. Other teams that could look to aggressively shop their assets include the Suns and Hawks.

Orlando’s front office was smart to lay low and gauge their own in-house talent, Kyler says, now they’ll look to start shaping their future with a number of notable trade chips ranging from Nikola Vucevic on a $12.3MM contract to D.J. Augustin ($7.3MM).

Phoenix, having stockpiled youth for years, could be in a similar boat, eager to unload contributing pieces to the highest bidder. While linked to Kyrie Irving for much of the past few weeks, the Suns won’t be afraid to shop players like Tyson Chandler or Eric Bledsoe around elsewhere if it means they can improve their standing as a franchise.

Kyler notes that the Hawks, fresh off of a summer that saw them part ways with Paul Millsap and Dwight Howard, could be in the market to deal. The club, he says, is in full-rebuild mode now after a year of half measures.

The Nuggets, Bulls and Lakers, Kyler says, could also be sellers over the course of the 2017/18 campaign.

There’s more from around the league.

  • Former NBA big man Jeff Ayres has signed a contract to play with Eskisehir Basket in Turkey, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports.
  • An ESPN Insider report penned by Kevin Pelton zeroes in on the league’s most recent transactions, suggesting that the Knicks‘ move to land Michael Beasley could reflect that the organization is bracing for a future without Carmelo Anthony.
  • The Superteam Era has hurt the chances small market teams have to compete and there’s no sign that it will end any time soon, Chris Mannix of The Vertical writes. So long as players are willing to forego max money in order to sign with other stars, there’s little the league can do to curb it.
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Poll: Which Southeast Team Had Best Offseason?

August 9th, 2017 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

For multiple teams in the Southeast, the 2017 offseason was more about retaining their own players than going out and making a major splash via trade or free agency. That was especially true for the reigning division champs in Washington.

Not only did the Wizards match Brooklyn’s four-year, maximum salary offer sheet for Otto Porter — the club also completed another four-year, maximum salary extension, locking up John Wall far beyond the remaining two years on his current contract. Washington also made other minor changes to its roster, adding Jodie Meeks and Tim Frazier, but the team’s major moves involved keeping its current core intact.

The same can be said about the Heat, who pursued Gordon Hayward, but missed out and quickly shifted their focus back to their own free agents, finalizing new long-term contracts with James Johnson and Dion Waiters. Miami also made the biggest investment in the division on an outside free agent, striking a four-year, $45.6MM deal with Kelly Olynyk, which could be worth even more via incentives.

The Hawks brought back Ersan Ilyasova and Mike Muscala on new deals, but opted not to re-sign their top free agent, letting Paul Millsap go to Denver. The move was one of several made by Atlanta that will re-shape the roster for 2017/18. Dewayne Dedmon, Miles Plumlee, and Marco Belinelli are among the newly-added Hawks, while Tim Hardaway, Dwight Howard, Thabo Sefolosha, and Mike Dunleavy are a few of the players who left Atlanta this summer.

The Hornets were on the other end of a major trade with Atlanta, landing Howard in exchange for Belinelli and Plumlee. The cap-strapped Hornets didn’t have a lot of flexibility to make upgrades, but the additions of Howard, Malik Monk, and Michael Carter-Williams are intriguing moves for a club that underperformed in 2016/17.

Meanwhile, the Magic didn’t make any big-money investments in free agency, but landed Jonathon Simmons, Shelvin Mack, Arron Afflalo, and Marreese Speights on affordable deals, and added a tantalizing athlete in Jonathan Isaac in the draft.

What do you think? Which Southeast team has had the best offseason so far? Vote in our poll and then head to the comment section to share your thoughts.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Previously:

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Southeast Notes: Wall, G League, Heat, Magic

August 8th, 2017 at 9:18pm CST by marksuleymanov

After agreeing to a four-year extension worth $170 million with the Wizards, which kicks in during the 2019 season, John Wall will be the face that runs the place for the foreseeable future. The super-max deal puts Wall in an elite class among his NBA peers and now he will have to be a leader for a talented team that has been on the cusp of an extended playoff run the last few years.

In a new in-depth feature, Michael Lee of The Vertical speaks to Wall and breaks down his future in the nation’s capital. While pursuing a deal to play in a large media market is enticing to many NBA players, Wall says he’s comfortable staying with the only team he’s ever suited up for.

“I think a lot of players want to be in a certain place. Who wouldn’t want to be in L.A.? Who wouldn’t want to be in Miami? Those are amazing cities. Well, I’m in one of the best cities you want to be, in D.C. So I’m fine,” Wall said.

While the entirety of Lee’s piece is worth the read, the fact that Wall’s role with the Wizards and expectations have soared into the forefront.

Below you can read additional tidbits of news surrounding the Southeast Division:

  • In a pair of Ask Ira columns on Monday and Tuesday, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel addressed several Heat-related topics. Winderman discusses how the Heat roster would look if Willie Reed had been re-signed, the team’s 2017/18 lineup, A.J. Hammons‘ possible G League stint, and Josh Richardson‘s future.
  • The Magic announced on Tuesday that the team’s new G League affiliate – the Lakeland Magic – has named Anthony Parker the general manager and Stan Heath the head coach. Parker has served as a scout in Orlando for the last half decade, while Heath sports an accomplished record as a college head coach.
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Southeast Notes: Richardson, Johnson, Wall, G League

August 6th, 2017 at 10:32am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat should try to get Josh Richardson to sign an extension as soon as possible, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. After two NBA seasons, the former second-round pick is eligible for an extension up to four years and $42MM that would take effect with the 2018/19 season.  Even at the full price, Richardson’s starting salary that year will be $9.4MM, which could be a bargain for someone who has been a contributor when he’s been healthy.

The deadline for an extension doesn’t come until June 30th, and Winderman thinks Richardson might be wise to wait. If there’s no agreement, he will become a restricted free agent in July, with the Heat having the right to match any offer. The team will also have full Bird Rights, which would eliminate the possibility of a backloaded contract like the one the Nets offered Tyler Johnson. Winderman also notes that Miami will send two of its next four first-rounders to Phoenix in the Goran Dragic trade, so it can’t afford to lose a young talent like Richardson.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • With their current cap status, the Heat have little reason to try to move Johnson’s contract before it balloons in 2018/19, Winderman adds in a question-and-answer column. Johnson will make close to $5.9MM for the upcoming season, then nearly $19.25MM in each of the next two years. It’s a provision that Brooklyn threw into its offer sheet in an attempt to discourage the Heat from matching, and it was eliminated in the new collective-bargaining agreement. Winderman states that if Miami is successful with its current mix of players, the team will continue to operate over the cap and Johnson’s escalation won’t really matter.
  • With a supermax contract in hand, Wizards star John Wall has outlined several goals for the rest of his career, relays Chase Hughes of CSNMidAtlantic. At a press conference Friday to officially announce the new deal, Wall said he wants to win a championship in Washington and become the fifth player in franchise history to have his number retired. “We definitely have a lot of unfinished business,” Wall told reporters. “I want to bring a championship here, so we’re going to keep striving to get that. I’m not going to stop until we get there. That’s why I wanted to come back to this city.”
  • The Hawks are adopting a radical approach as they take over the G League franchise in Erie, Pa., writes Chris Reichert of 2 Ways and 10 Days. Instead of finding people with G League experience to run the team, they appointed Malik Rose as general manager and last week hired longtime NBA assistant Josh Longstaff as the head coach. Because Orlando pulled its G-League team out of Erie and took its returning player rights, the Bayhawks will be part of the expansion draft August 23rd.
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Magic Waive Patricio Garino

August 1st, 2017 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

A day after waiving Marcus Georges-Hunt, the Magic have reduced their roster count again, announcing today in a press release that they’ve also parted ways with Argentinian swingman Patricio Garino. Garino will become an unrestricted free agent on Thursday, assuming he clears waivers.

Like Georges-Hunt, Garino inked a multiyear deal with the Magic near the end of the 2016/17 season with a non-guaranteed salary for 2017/18. That gave Orlando the opportunity to keep those players through the summer and decide in camp whether either would have a role on the regular season roster. However, the Magic’s new management group opted to waive both Garino and Georges-Hunt early.

After going undrafted out of George Washington a year ago, Garino played for the Magic in Summer League last July, then joined the Spurs for training camp. The 24-year-old didn’t earn a spot on San Antonio’s regular season squad, but spent most of the year with the club’s G League affiliate, the Austin Spurs. He averaged 11.2 PPG and 3.4 RPG in Austin, with a .430 3PT%.

Because Garino’s full $1,312,611 salary was non-guaranteed, Orlando won’t be on the hook for any of that money.

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Weltman Focused On Versatility

July 31st, 2017 at 8:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman focused on versatile players who can play multiple positions in free agency, John Denton of the Magic’s website writes. Despite limited flexibility, the Magic struck quickly when the Spurs renounced their rights to Jonathon Simmons. Orlando also added center Marreese Speights, point guard Shelvin Mack and shooting guard Arron Afflalo to team-friendly deals, Denton continues. That improves the team’s depth and gives coach Frank Vogel a better chance to make in-game adjusments, Denton adds.

  • Dwight Howard‘s familiarity with Hornets coach Steve Clifford will help Howard focus on defense next season, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer opines. Clifford coached Howard with the Magic and Lakers and knows how to dole out constructive criticism to the enigmatic center, Bonnell explains.
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Magic Waive Marcus Georges-Hunt

July 31st, 2017 at 12:13pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have trimmed their roster count by one, waiving shooting guard Marcus Georges-Hunt today. The club issued a press release formally announcing the move and making it official.

Georges-Hunt, 23, joined the Celtics for training camp a year ago after going undrafted out of Georgia Tech, but didn’t earn a regular season roster spot with Boston. The 6’5″ guard spent most of the 2016/17 season with the Maine Red Claws, averaging 15.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 4.4 APG, and being named to the All NBA D-League Third Team.

Georges-Hunt’s performance earned him another NBA shot — he signed a deal with the Magic in April and appeared in five games for the team down the stretch. That contract included a second year, but Georges-Hunt’s minimum salary for 2017/18 was non-guaranteed until the fall, so Orlando won’t be on the hook for any of that money.

Georges-Hunt will become an unrestricted free agent if he clears waivers on Wednesday.

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Southeast Notes: Wizards, Hawks, Robbins, Bembry

July 29th, 2017 at 10:36am CST by marksuleymanov

While the Wizards had an expensive offseason which mostly centered around maintaining the current core intact, it was also a successful offseason, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post writes.  John Wall signed a designated veteran player extension, the Wizards matched Otto Porter‘s offer sheet to retain him, and Bradley Beal is already signed to a long term contract.

Washington is coming off a season in which the team made waves in the playoffs, defeating the Hawks in the first round before falling to the Celtics in a thrilling seven game series. As team majority owner Ted Leonsis explained to Bucker last week, this is the opportune time to lock up the team’s foundational pieces.

“They’re entering their prime while some other players are getting older,” Leonsis said. “I think we feel really good about keeping this core together.”

As Bucker adds, the Wizards have committed over $404MM in salary to Wall, Porter, and Beal. However, those deals are calculated ones as ownership has made it clear it intends to compete and keeping talented fixtures who have shown improvement each season are the type of players worth the investment. After finishing as the fourth seed in the East last season, the Wizards are in a position to make more strides in a weakened conference.

Below are additional notes around the Southeast Division:

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Marreese Speights Signs With Magic

July 27th, 2017 at 8:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

July 27, 8:01 PM: The signing is official, according to a team press release. “Marreese (Speights) has developed into [an] effective shooting big man during his pro career,” said President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman. “He is a veteran player that brings playoff and championship experience to our team. We are very happy to have Marreese and his family in Orlando.”

July 23, 3:31 PM: Speights’ deal with Orlando will be a minimum salary arrangement, Pick tells Hoops Rumors.

12:22 PM: Marreese Speights is “on course” to sign with the Magic, tweets international basketball writer David Pick.

Speights recently held a face-to-face meeting with Orlando officials, who have been searching for shooting help. The 6’10” Speights is a reliable shooter from distance for a big man, connecting on 37% from 3-point range for the Clippers last season while averaging 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

The Magic have their $4.328MM room exception available, so all or part of that could be used to add Speights. Even if he signs for the veteran’s minimum of $2.1MM, it will match the value of the contract he opted out of with the Clippers.

Speights spent one season in L.A. after signing there last summer. Before that, he was part of the rotation for Warriors teams that captured the 2015 NBA title and won 73 games in 2015/16. A first-round pick of the Sixers in 2008, he also spent time with the Grizzlies and Cavaliers.

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