Al Horford Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Notes: Wade, Ellington, McGruder

July 19th, 2016 at 11:34am CST by Luke Adams

On Saturday, we rounded up several of the comments made by Pat Riley during a press conference, including his thoughts on Dwyane Wade‘s departure, the team’s unsuccessful pitch to Kevin Durant, and Chris Bosh‘s uncertain future. During that session, Riley also addressed whether or not the Heat had any interest in Al Horford, admitting the team eliminated the free agent big man from consideration very early in free agency.

“It’s not out of a lack of respect for him, it’s that at 12:01 am, I came to an agreement with Hassan,” the Heat president said, per Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post. “I don’t care if Dallas came in after us, we had Hassan. Once we got Hassan, I didn’t want to string along anybody else. … We like Al, we love Joakim Noah. Everybody that was at the top – the DeRozans, the Beals, the Batums, Howard, Horford – all those guys, their deals were done. Horford is going to really help Boston, I think. But we didn’t really push on that one.”

Here’s more out of South Beach:

Riley said on Saturday that the Heat don’t plan to use their $2.9MM room exception this summer, but that doesn’t mean it will go unused for the entire league year. As Anthony Chiang of The Palm Beach Post writes, the club intends to use it in February or March if a noteworthy veteran free agent becomes available, like Joe Johnson did last season.
Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel looks back at the Wade/Riley situation, noting that the crux of the issue between the two sides involved Riley’s preference to go season-by-season for Wade’s next few years. The longtime Heat star wanted a longer-term commitment from the franchise.
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has provided several salary-related updates on recent signings by the Heat. As Pincus details, Wayne Ellington‘s second-year salary ($6.27MM) is non-guaranteed until the first day after 2017’s July moratorium. Additionally, Stefan Jankovic and Okaro White got similar two-year, minimum-salary deals from the club, while Rodney McGruder got a three-year contract worth the minimum.
Jankovic, White, and McGruder all start with $100K guarantees, but each player has different deadlines for when more of their salaries become guaranteed, per Pincus. McGruder has four upcoming guarantee dates for his 2016/17 salary, then has multiple guarantee dates for his 2017/18 salary as well.

Atlantic Notes: Kuzminskas, Lin, Sullinger

July 10th, 2016 at 3:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks are hoping Lithuanian small forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas can help fill the void left by losing Derrick Williams to Miami, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Kuzminskas signed with New York Saturday, choosing the Knicks over the Lakers and Hawks. The 6’9″ small forward played in the Spanish League this season and has been compared with Danilo Gallinari. “We felt like we needed an agile, mobile 3 that had some ability to shoot distance and spread the court,’’ said team president Phil Jackson. “It may take him an adjustment to NBA play — we understand. It gives us another opportunity to play smaller, quicker with a wide extension of spacing.” The Knicks gave Kuzminskas a two-year deal, using almost all of their $2.9MM room exception for 2016/17. A source told Berman that Jackson hopes to add shooting guard Sasha Vujacic to the roster, along with a “cheap” veteran big man.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Reuniting with former mentor and current Nets coach Kenny Atkinson and getting a chance to be the leader of a rebuilding franchise led Jeremy Lin to Brooklyn, Brian Lewis of the New York Post details.
Sergio Rodriguez will miss Tuesday’s game with his Spanish team to finalize a deal with the Sixers, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. He agreed to a one-year, $8MM contract with Philadelphia last week.
Considering the Celtics added Al Horford, it’s best for Jared Sullinger that the power forward is now an unrestricted free agent because of an expected lack of playing time in Boston, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Sullinger land a one or two-year deal worth $6MM per season, Blakely adds.

Celtics Notes: McHale, Thomas, Durant, Horford

July 10th, 2016 at 11:17am CST by Arthur Hill

Immediately after he was fired as coach of the Rockets in November, Kevin McHale received a job offer from the Celtics, according to Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. He hasn’t joined the organization yet, but McHale appreciates the gesture from president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, his former teammate. “Danny and I are very good friends,” McHale said, “and once he heard about it, he basically called up and said what a bunch of BS it was, first of all. He said, ‘I feel bad for you.’ Then he said, ‘Any job you want up here, you just let me know.’” One exception, of course, was head coach Brad Stevens‘ job.

“Danny said, ‘You want to help the big guys? You just want to come in and see where it fits? You just tell me,” McHale continued. “Whatever you want to do, you let me know and we’ll make it work.’” McHale, who still had two years left on his Rockets contract, did some television work this season, but is not in a hurry to get back into coaching or front office position.

There’s more news out of Boston:

Point guard Isaiah Thomas was unhappy that Boston missed out on Kevin Durant, but he believes the Celitcs made their best effort to attract him, relays A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. Boston was among five teams that met with Durant last weekend in the Hamptons, and Thomas was part of the Celtics’ contingent. “I walked out thinking we had a chance at him,” he said. “But I didn’t think he was going to go to the Warriors; I definitely didn’t think that. But leaving that meeting, I had a sense he was leaving OKC.”
Thomas can finally reveal the name of the player who asked him during this season’s All-Star break what it was like to play in Boston, writes Mark D’Amico of Celtics.com. It was Al Horford, who signed a four-year, $113MM contract with the Celtics. “I wrapped that one up, I just didn’t want to say anything,” Thomas said. “I knew he was coming to Boston for sure.”
Thomas has offered to be a recruiter to help Ainge add some more talent, relays Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. Thomas said he knows a few players who would like to join the Celtics and named one veteran who he believes would help the club. “I know there is an old guy out there named Jason Terry — he can still hit some shots,” Thomas said. “That’s my old head. I know there’s some shooters out there that can put the ball in the basket and hopefully we can get our hands on them.” Terry, 38, is a free agent after spending the past two seasons in Houston. He played for the Celtics during the 2012/13 season.

Celtics Sign Al Horford

July 8th, 2016 at 9:42am CST by Will Joseph

JULY 8: The Celtics have officially announced the signing of Horford, who says in a statement that he’s “extremely excited” to be heading to Boston.

JULY 2: The Celtics plan to sign Al Horford to a four-year, $113MM deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Horford, on his verified account, changed his avatar to the Celtics’ logo and tweeted, “Celtics Pride,” in an unsubtle way of announcing the agreement.

The signing is a coup for the Celtics, who have not landed a free agent in his prime in quite some time, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe relays. The decision is also somewhat surprising, given that the Hawks appeared to have momentum to re-sign the veteran, according to Wojnarowksi, who just minutes prior reported the Celtics figured Horford would stay in Atlanta. Alas, the Hawks and Horford were $6MM apart on a deal, Wojnarowski tweets.

Interestingly, there was also a time when Horford preferred to sign with the Wizards, per Wojnarowski. What’s more, the Thunder pitched to Horford, but he turned them down because there was no assurance that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook would be there long-term, Wojnarowski tweets. Horford also reportedly had some level of interest from the Lakers, Magic, Pistons, and Nets, but those teams were never serious suitors for the veteran big man.

In Horford, the Celtics now have one of the better big men in the league. The longtime Hawk leaves the franchise he joined as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 draft, and the city in which developed into a four-time All-Star. Horford appeared in all 82 regular season games for Atlanta this past season, averaging 15.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 32.1 minutes per night. His shooting line was .505/.344/.798.

We ranked Horford as this year’s No. 3 free agent, behind only Durant and LeBron James. This is turning out to be a big weekend for Boston, which hosted Durant Saturday and still as the cap flexibility to land the superstar, as Bobby Marks of The Vertical points out on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Eastern Rumors: Hawks, Millsap, Wade, Jennings

July 7th, 2016 at 3:17pm CST by Luke Adams

In an interesting piece on the Hawks, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com explains that Atlanta’s original offseason plan was to re-sign Al Horford to pair him with Dwight Howard, and to move Paul Millsap in exchange for young players and/or draft assets. That plan ultimately fell apart, but before it did, the Hawks spoke to the Nuggets, Suns, Raptors, and Rockets about a Millsap deal, according to Lowe, who adds that Denver had been ready to move a “players-and-picks package” led by Kenneth Faried.

Before the Hawks could move Millsap though, the team needed to be sure it could re-sign Horford, and when the longtime Hawk chose the Celtics instead, Atlanta decided to hang onto Millsap. Per Lowe, there was some debate about how much the Hawks offered and how much Horford demanded, but the gap between the two sides may have only been about $5MM in total.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Hornets general manager Rich Cho confirmed that his team, which officially acquired Marco Belinelli in a trade today, tried to sign the Italian sharpshooter in free agency a year ago (Twitter link via Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer).
During Dwyane Wade‘s free agency saga, Heat president Pat Riley never called Wade directly, per Ethan Skolnick of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel notes (via Twitter), Riley and Wade had a meeting after last season ended, but it was owner Micky Arison who was in touch with the former Finals MVP during this past week’s negotiations.
According to Marc Berman of The New York Post, Brandon Jennings was seeking a one-year contract from the Knicks in the hopes of proving himself and boosting his stock for 2017’s free agent period. New York, which wanted to maintain cap room for ’17, was happy to oblige.
Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders spoke to Courtney Lee about the veteran shooting guard’s decision to sign with the Knicks, and being recruited by Joakim Noah.

Hawks Re-Sign Kent Bazemore

July 7th, 2016 at 1:39pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7: The Hawks have sent out a formal press release announcing their new deal with Bazemore.

JULY 1: The Hawks have secured one of their own free agents, according to Michael Scotto of The Associated Press, who reports (via Twitter) that Atlanta and Kent Bazemore have agreed to terms on a four-year, $70MM contract, which will feature a player option on the final year.

It’s the second big-money deal the team has struck today — the Hawks also reached an agreement with Dwight Howard on a three-year contract worth $70.5MM. The two deals for Bazemore and Howard will almost certainly take Atlanta out of the running for Al Horford, meaning he’ll likely find a new home within the next few days.

Bazemore, who went undrafted out of Old Dominion, emerged as a reliable three-and-D player for the Hawks last season, averaging 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 35.7% from beyond the arc.

We heard early in free agency that it might take an offer in the $19-20MM-per-year range to land Bazemore, and the Hawks will ultimately pay a little less than that — his reported deal averages $17.5MM annually. According to David Aldridge of NBA.com (via Twitter), Bazemore turned down four-year, $72MM offers from the Lakers and Rockets to return to Atlanta.

In addition to Los Angeles and Houston, the Bucks, Grizzlies, Nets, and Pelicans were among the rival suitors for Bazemore, and were in touch with him before he made his decision, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. There had been speculation that Bazemore would take a few days before deciding on his team — instead, he agreed to a contract with the Hawks on the day of his 27th birthday. Not a bad gift.

The value of Bazemore’s new deal is right in line with the four-year, $70MM deal agreed to by Evan Turner and the Trail Blazers earlier today.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Eastern Notes: Horford, Kuzminskas, Crabbe

July 5th, 2016 at 7:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Al Horford didn’t take his decision to leave the Hawks to join the Celtics lightly, former teammate Kyle Korver tells Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. “It was really hard for him to leave,” Korver said. “It was. He had a lot of life set up in Atlanta. He’d been there a long time. His family was all there. He’s got tons of great relationships in the community and in the organization. It was a tough decision for him. I don’t know if I ever thought he was leaving or not. I just knew he was looking at all his options. I encouraged him to look at all his options. I was like ‘Dude, this is your first time being a free agent. Obviously you know that I want you back and we all want you back. But look and see what’s there.’ I think that is the right thing to do. You want to feel good about coming back if that is your decision. Obviously we really wanted him to come back. He made his decision.”

“I think we are all a little surprised,” Korver said of Horford’s deal with Boston. “I think we were all hoping that it was going to work out, that he would come back. Al has been a cornerstone of the franchise for a lot of years. He’s been an amazing player and an amazing teammate and a great leader. We are going to miss him. But it’s a business. It’s his decision. We wish him the best. Grateful for all the memories and games and accomplishments that we had with him.”

Here’s more from the East:

Lithuanian forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who agreed to a two-year deal with the Knicks earlier today, has been compared by some European scouts to a number of notable NBA big men, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. One overseas scout told the scribe that Kuzminskas has “Danilo Gallinari skills’’ and is a good defender, while another said his game resembles a young Dirk Nowitzki’s in style, if not in quality.
The Knicks’ primary competition for Kuzminskas’ services were the Hawks and Lakers, Berman tweets.
There are conflicting reports on whether or not the Nets and restricted free agent Allen Crabbe agreed to an offer sheet, with the two sides set to meet again today. But regardless if an offer has been made yet, Portland missing out on adding Pau Gasol may increase the likelihood that the Blazers match any offer Brooklyn were to submit, Tom Lorenzo of NetsDaily writes.

Kevin Durant Leftovers: Warriors, FAs, Thunder

July 5th, 2016 at 9:46am CST by Luke Adams

Kevin Durant dominated Fourth of July headlines this year, announcing on Monday that he has decided to sign with the Warriors later this week, rather than returning to the Thunder or heading to the Celtics, Heat, or Spurs. Many of the rest of Monday’s NBA headlines were directly correlated to Durant’s decision: Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut are both headed to the Mavericks, the Thunder may field trade offers for Russell Westbrook, the Spurs moved onto Plan B and locked up Pau Gasol, and Zaza Pachulia agreed to a deal far below his market value to join the Warriors.

In addition to those stories, we have a few more reactions and leftovers related to Durant’s signing, so let’s dive in and round up those items, sorted by KD’s new team and old team…

Warriors:

In the wake of Durant’s decision, the Warriors were linked to several free agent bigs, with Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reporting (via Twitter) that the team was eyeing Willie Reed and Dewayne Dedmon, while Marcus Thompson of The Bay Area News Group tweeted that Jermaine O’Neal is “game for a return” to Golden State. It was Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News that noted (via Twitter) the team’s interest in Pachulia, and it’s not clear whether or not that agreement will diminish the Dubs’ interest in those other low-cost bigs.
A number of free agents have expressed interest in joining the Warriors on veteran-minimum contracts to help fill out the roster, according to Kennedy (via Twitter).
In a piece for Sports Illustrated, Kennedy spoke to Draymond Green about the recruitment process for the Warriors and Durant. Meanwhile, Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com reports that Andre Iguodala gave an “incredible pitch” during Golden State’s meeting with Durant last Friday.
Sam Amick of USA Today goes a little more in-depth on how the Warriors landed Durant, providing some interesting details on Jerry West‘s involvement and how the Warriors’ two-hour meeting with Durant played out.
As Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated outlines, the Warriors were able to sell Durant on their unselfishness, “no-stars” culture, and their potential to win multiple titles together.

Thunder:

Thunder owner Clay Bennett and GM Sam Presti both issued statements on Durant’s departure, and they were far more measured than the infamous comic-sans statement Dan Gilbert put out when LeBron James left Cleveland. “Kevin made an indelible mark on the Thunder organization and the state of Oklahoma as a founding father of this franchise,” Presti said. “We can’t adequately articulate what he meant to the foundation of this franchise and our success. While clearly disappointing that he has chosen to move on, the core values that he helped establish only lead to us thanking him for the many tangible and intangible ways that he helped our program.”
Marcus Thompson (Twitter link) has heard chatter suggesting that it’s uncertain that Westbrook would have chosen to remain with the Thunder long-term even if Durant has stayed, which the Bay Area News Group columnist suggests may have played a role in KD’s decision.
Royce Young of ESPN.com, however, suggests that the Thunder aren’t as worried about Westbrook leaving Oklahoma City as they were about Durant heading elsewhere, with one team source suggesting to Young that Durant’s departure may make Westbrook more compelled to stay in OKC. Of course, a lot can change between now and July 1, 2017, but Young writes that the Thunder will try to sell Westbrook on the fact that it’s his team now.
Sources tell Young that the Thunder may take some time before making any significant roster decisions. Given how fast free agency moves, that might mean just taking a few days to think things through — it may not be long before the club has to decide on whether or not to match an offer sheet for Dion Waiters, for instance.
In his aforementioned story for USA Today, Sam Amick notes that the Thunder believe they would have had a very good chance to sign Al Horford if Durant had returned, which makes KD’s departure an even more bitter pill to swallow.
Also at USA Today, Amick conducted a Q&A with Presti focusing on Durant’s departure.

Latest On Kevin Durant

July 3rd, 2016 at 10:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

9:59pm: The Heat are still alive in the race for Durant, according to a tweet from InsideHoops.com. A source says the theory that Durant is deciding between the Thunder and Warriors is untrue.

8:43pm: Durant was impressed by the Celtics’ presentation on Saturday and is still “seriously considering” signing with Boston, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.

7:55pm: Durant is not expected to make an announcement before Monday, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. The final decision will come down to the Thunder and Warriors, according to Royce Young of ESPN.com (Twitter link). A source close to the Warriors told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated that Golden State pitched “culture, dynasty, style of play” to Durant, but the source wouldn’t be surprised if he stays in Oklahoma City (Twitter link).

3:25pm: Durant spoke over the phone with Warriors executive Jerry West yesterday, Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News tweets. A source told Kawakami that Durant likes the Warriors, but is unsure about leaving the Thunder (Twitter link). Nevertheless, Durant is strongly considering the Warriors and his decision will be released on the Players’ Tribune, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets.

9:05am: Kevin Durant plans to make a decision tonight or Monday, but that’s the only certainty as he prepares to meet his fifth and final suitor, writes Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Heat representatives will get the last chance to woo Durant this afternoon, following the Celtics and Spurs, who met with him Saturday, and the Warriors and Clippers, who had meetings Friday. The Thunder have requested a final session with Durant, but he and his representatives have not decided whether to grant that.

Officials from the four teams that have talked with Durant so far haven’t been able to determine whether he is leaning toward any of them, Broussard reports. He speculates that the Clippers may have taken themselves out of the running Saturday night by using a big chunk of their cap space on the three-year, $35MM deal they gave to Austin Rivers.

The Celtics may have improved their bargaining position with Saturday’s commitment by Al Horford, according to Broussard. Durant’s agent, Rich Kleiman, had been trying to convince Horford to join Durant in Oklahoma City, and there may be incentive now to team them up in Boston. However, a source told Broussard that while the Horford addition may enter into Durant’s decision, it won’t be a major factor.

Miami will send owner Micky Arison, chief exective officer Nick Arison, team president Pat Riley, coach Erik Spoelstra, GM Andy Elisburg and executive Alonzo Mourning into today’s session with Durant, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Meeting Durant so close to his deadline puts the Heat in a difficult position, tweets Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel, who says Riley’s main goal may be to dissuade Durant from choosing the Celtics.

Jackson says the Heat consider themselves an underdog for Durant, but they have several strategies to take on his $26.5MM first-year salary if he does choose Miami. The easiest would be to trade Goran Dragic and Josh McRoberts without taking salary back, start Hassan Whiteside‘s contract at $20MM rather than $22MM and try to convince Dwyane Wade to accept the approximately $16MM still left.

Durant reportedly flew to Boston on Friday to visit the city, then made a return flight with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, according to a report from CSNNE. The Celtics were happy with the active role that Brady played in the Durant presentation, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI. Brady joined the Celtics’ contingent along with co-owner Steve Pagliuca, president Danny Ainge and players Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk.

Celtics Notes: Johnson, Horford, Durant, Butler

July 3rd, 2016 at 10:15am CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics have told Amir Johnson they will pick up his option unless they issue two maximum contracts, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Johnson, who signed with the Celtics last summer, would make $12MM next season if Boston does pick up his option. The Celtics have until Thursday to make a decision on the 29-year-old power forward, who started 76 games this season, averaging 7.3 points and 6.4 rebounds.

There’s more this morning out of Boston:

The commitment by Al Horford Saturday night has started dreams of a new Big Three in Boston, Deveney writes in the same piece. The Celtics are hoping Kevin Durant may be more inclined to join a franchise that now has two All-Stars on its roster in Horford and Isaiah Thomas, along with the stability of coach Brad Stevens and GM Danny Ainge, who both received contract extensions last month. The Celtics are coming off a 48-win season and have a collection of young players and draft picks that they can use to acquire more veteran help.
The Celtics contingent was on a plane Saturday night and ready to leave New York when it learned the news about Horford, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Horford agreed to a four-year, $113MM max offer, with the fourth year reportedly a player option. He will be able to sign when the moratorium ends on Thursday. “Ever since Boston, Danny Ainge and the whole organization began to show interest in him, that opened his eyes,” said Horford’s father, Tito, who said the decision came down to the Celtics or Hawks. “He always had a good feel about Boston.”
The Horford signing takes away the sting of not being able to complete a deal for Jimmy Butler on draft night, states Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Washburn writes that the Bulls wanted two first-round picks and a package of veterans to part with Butler. Both Thomas and Jae Crowder reached out to Horford during the recruiting process, selling him on the merits of living in Boston.