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Southeast Notes: Gordon, Wizards, Miller

July 30th, 2019 at 7:09pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Aaron Gordon jumped on Sirius XM NBA Radio to talk about the Magic‘s NBA offseason and he portrayed optimism about Markelle Fultz‘s future with the club.

“[Fultz] is a sleeper. If he wakes up and if he’s awake and woken up, he’s a monster,” Gordon said.

Fultz, whose return to the court has yet to be determined, will have a chance to win the team’s starting point guard spot. Incumbent starter D.J. Augustin, who has one season left on his deal, and Michael Carter-Williams, who re-signed with Orlando on a one-year deal, will be the former No. 1 overall pick’s top competition for the role.

Orlando didn’t make major additions in the backcourt this offseason. The team re-signed a few members of its core (Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross) and brought in Al-Farouq Aminu with its mid-level exception. Gordon is excited about the addition of Aminu, as well as the continuity the team will experience next season.

“We got Al-Farouq, which is dope,” Gordon said. “[He’s] another 3-and-D guy. Tenacious, hard noise, long-defender and that’s the most beautiful thing. Nothing has changed from this year to last year.”

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington examines whether the Wizards can make a quick turnaround. Hughes argues that if Washington is going to contend sooner than later, the team needs its young talent to show improvement. That would increase each players’ trade value and give the Wizards an avenue to place an immediate difference maker next to Bradley Beal.
The Hawks have promoted Tori Miller to assistant GM of the College Park Skyhawks, according to the G League affiliate’s website. Miller spent the last two seasons as the Skyhawks’ Manager of Basketball Operations. She broke into the NBA as an intern with the Suns from 2014-16.
Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel envisions Pat Riley remaining with the Heat for the foreseeable future, as the scribe details in his latest mailbag. Winderman adds that Miami’s team president remains determined to get the team back to contention and the franchise’s young players are suited to help them achieve that goal.

Suns Sign David Kramer

July 25th, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have signed free agent guard David Kramer to a one-year deal, according to RealGM’s official log of NBA transactions. Kramer posted a photo on Facebook on Wednesday showing him signing his new contract with Phoenix.

Kramer, 22, has spent the last few seasons playing for Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany and has also represented Germany in international competitions. The Suns brought him in for a look at Las Vegas Summer League this month and Kramer impressed, averaging 8.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG on 50.0% shooting in three games (14.3 MPG).

Phoenix is carrying 15 players on guaranteed contracts for 2019/20, so Kramer – like recently-signed big man Tariq Owens – is unlikely to earn a spot on the team’s regular season roster.

Kramer likely signed an Exhibit 10 contract, so he’ll be a candidate to join the Northern Arizona Suns if he decides to remain stateside.

Team USA Updates: Millsap, Plumlee, Harrell, Select Team

July 25th, 2019 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has issued a press release announcing a series of updates relating to the team it’s putting together for the 2019 World Cup in China, as well as the training camp that will take place in August before that event. Here are the highlights of that announcement:

More withdrawals:

Nuggets big man Paul Millsap has joined the ever-growing list of players from Team USA’s initial 20-man roster who have decided not to participate in this year’s World Cup. As expected, Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love has also withdrawn from Team USA’s 2019 roster.

Millsap and Love join Bradley Beal, Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon, James Harden, Tobias Harris, Damian Lillard, and CJ McCollum among the original invitees who have removed their names from World Cup consideration.

New invitees:

Team USA confirmed that Thaddeus Young, Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, and Jaylen Brown will join the training camp roster for next month, as previous reports indicated.

In addition to those four players, two big men will join the roster as well, with Clippers center Montrezl Harrell and Nuggets center Mason Plumlee have received invitations from USA Basketball. Assuming the remaining 11 players from the original 20-man roster remain committed, that would bring the roster back up to 17.

[UPDATE: Harrell may turn down his invitation]

Those 11 other players are Harrison Barnes, Andre Drummond, Kyle Kuzma, Brook Lopez, Kyle Lowry, Khris Middleton, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, P.J. Tucker, Myles Turner, and Kemba Walker.

Select Team:

For the first time, USA Basketball confirmed the players who will make up the Select Team at next month’s training camp in Las Vegas. The members of the 13-man Select Team will practice and scrimmage with Team USA’s training camp invitees, and will be coached by Jeff Van Gundy.

It’s possible that a player could be elevated from the Select Team to the primary roster and eventually find his way onto the 12-man squad that will play in China, but that’s probably a long shot.

The 13 players who will play for the Select Team are as follows:

Jarrett Allen (Nets)
Marvin Bagley III (Kings)
Mikal Bridges (Suns)
Jalen Brunson (Mavericks)
John Collins (Hawks)
Pat Connaughton (Bucks)
De’Aaron Fox (Kings)
Joe Harris (Nets)
Jonathan Isaac (Magic)
Mitchell Robinson (Knicks)
Landry Shamet (Clippers)
Derrick White (Spurs)
Trae Young (Hawks)

Team USA’s training camp will take place during the week of August 5, while the World Cup itself is scheduled to run from August 31 to September 15.

Suns Excited About Rubio's Playmaking, Defense, and Leadership

July 24th, 2019 at 5:32pm CST by clarkcrum

The Suns have been searching for a point guard to help lead them back up from the bottom of the Western Conference standings for years now, and the three qualities that veteran Ricky Rubio possesses that makes Phoenix think he’s the guy are playmaking, defense, and leadership, writes Cody Cunningham of Suns.com.

Examining Suns' Outlook For Next Season

July 21st, 2019 at 7:02pm CST by JD Shaw

Duane Rankin examines the state of the Suns in an article for the Arizona Republic, including the team’s projected starting lineup, bench group, and array of intriguing combinations. Phoenix enters next season with several new players around Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, including Ricky Rubio, Dario Saric and Aron Baynes.

Suns’ George King Will Play In Italy

July 21st, 2019 at 10:20am CST by Arthur Hill

George King, a two-way player with the Suns last year, will join Dolomiti Energia Trentino for the upcoming season, relays Dario Skerletic of Sportando. The Italian team made the announcement on Twitter this morning.

The 59th player selected in the 2018 draft, King agreed to a two-way contract with Phoenix last summer. The small forward appeared in just one NBA game, scoring no points and collecting one rebound in six minutes. He posted a 15.5/5.3/2.5 line in 41 G League contests with Northern Arizona.

The Suns will look elsewhere to fill their remaining two-way slot for 2019/20. They signed rookie guard Jared Harper to a two-way deal this week.

Rayvonte Rice Turns Down Suns’ Offer

July 19th, 2019 at 2:38pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 19: Rice won’t sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Suns after all, according to Carchia, who hears from Rice himself that he wants to keep his overseas options open (Twitter link).

JULY 18: After participating in Summer League play with the team earlier this month, free agent guard Rayvonte Rice is expected to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Suns, a source tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Carchia notes that the news was first reported by Italian outlet La Prealpina.

Rice, who went undrafted out of Illinois in 2015, has played professionally in a handful of international leagues since then, spending time with clubs in Italy, France, and Mexico.

The 27-year-old joined the Suns for Las Vegas Summer League this year and appeared in three games for the team, averaging 9.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 1.3 SPG in 19.7 minutes per contest. Much of his production came in a single game against the Knicks, when he scored 19 points in 22 minutes.

Assuming the Suns and Rice do finalize an Exhibit 10 deal, he’d be a long shot to make the regular season roster, but could end up playing for the Norther Arizona Suns, Phoenix’s G League affiliate.

Suns Sign Tariq Owens

July 18th, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have signed undrafted rookie Tariq Owens to a one-year contract, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log.

Owens, a 6’10” forward, played college ball at Tennessee and St. John’s before joining Texas Tech for the 2018/19 season. He helped lead the team to the national title game by averaging 8.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 2.4 BPG in 38 games (25.4 MPG).

The Suns carried Owens on their roster this month for Summer League play, though he didn’t see any action.

The undrafted free agent likely signed an Exhibit 10 contract, so he looks like a candidate to end up with the Northern Arizona Suns, Phoenix’s G League affiliate.

Suns Sign Jared Harper To Two-Way Deal

July 18th, 2019 at 3:59pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 18: The Suns have officially signed Harper to a two-way contract, per RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.

JULY 17: The Suns have reached an agreement to sign undrafted rookie Jared Harper to a two-way contract, reports Gina Mizell of The Athletic (via Twitter).

A 5’11” point guard, Harper declared for the 2019 draft as an early entrant after helping lead Auburn to the Final Four as a junior. In 40 games for the Tigers, he averaged 15.3 PPG and 5.8 APG with a .399/.370/.828 shooting line.

Although Harper wasn’t selected on draft night, he caught on with Phoenix for Summer League play, averaging 10.5 PPG, 2.5 APG, and 2.5 RPG in four games in Las Vegas (21.8 MPG). The Suns liked what they saw from Harper enough to commit one of their two-way contract slots to him.

Phoenix’s other two-way contract slot remains open for now, as our tracker shows.

Pacific Notes: Oubre, Dedmon, Lydon, Kawhi

July 18th, 2019 at 1:28pm CST by Luke Adams

As the last restricted free agent on the market this summer, Kelly Oubre may have preferred to resolve his free agency situation a little sooner. However, as Gina Mizell of The Athletic relays, Oubre – who didn’t have to wait until the fall to get a new deal like other RFAs have in recent years – had no complaints about the process after signing a new two-year, $30MM contract with the Suns.

“It was a little prolonged due to the things of the business,” Oubre said. “I was blessed enough to be able to watch it happen. Everything works out for people who put the right energy into the world. So I can’t really complain. It’s been a great two weeks.”

The Suns, meanwhile, made Oubre a priority this offseason due to the way he approaches the game, as general manager James Jones told reporters, including Mizell, this week.

“When you watch the games, you watch effort,” Jones said. “You watch the competitiveness. You watch the passion. That’s who you are. (Oubre) was consistent every game, every day. … Those are the foundational characteristics and traits that you look for in players when you talk about building a core, building a foundation.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Dewayne Dedmon‘s ability to shoot three-pointers and run the floor could help maximize the Kings‘ run-and-gun offense in 2019/20, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. For his part, Dedmon is looking forward to fitting into Sacramento’s system. “I had my free agency meeting with my agent and he broke everything down, talked about the teams and whatever, and Sac came with the best offer,” Dedmon said. “Best fit, best offer, everything was good, and it’s somewhere I can call home for the next three years, hopefully.”
Tyler Lydon‘s new two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Kings is only partially guaranteed for $50K in year one, tweets Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights. Given how little salary protection he has, the former first-round pick isn’t necessarily a lock to earn a regular season roster spot for Sacramento in 2019/10.
Nearly two weeks after Kawhi Leonard announced that he’d be joining the Clippers, Michael Lee of The Athletic looks back at the way Leonard wielded his power during the free agent process and the ripple effect the decision had on the Raptors, Lakers, and Thunder, among other teams.