Al Jefferson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bobcats Rumors: Jefferson, Roster, Trades

August 13th, 2013 at 10:28am CST by Luke Adams

Zach Lowe's latest column for Grantland.com focuses on the Bobcats, and the efforts the team is making to move toward playoff contention. As Lowe notes, it's hard to see how the current players and assets held by the Bobcats point to a future as a 55-win team, but that's not necessarily every club's number one goal. For Charlotte, the short-term goal is returning to respectability, and the team feels like signing Al Jefferson this offseason is a step in the right direction. Here are a few of the most interesting tidbits from Lowe's piece:

The Bobcats considered sitting on some of their cap room, like the Sixers have done, or using it to absorb salaries and gain assets, like the Jazz did, but ultimately decided to spend it on Jefferson. "Of course, we had discussions about those options," said team president Rod Higgins. "We could have just sat on that money. But we've had a lot of losses over the last two years. We've gotten to the point now where we just want to compete. We have to send that message to our fans."
Jefferson didn't meet with any other teams in free agency besides the Bobcats and Jazz. Utah told Jefferson on July 1st that they weren't interested in re-signing him, which came as no surprise. "I told my teammates all season, 'Utah would be a fool to bring me back, with Enes [Kanter] and Derrick [Favors]," Jefferson said.
The Jazz did offer to sign-and-trade Jefferson to a team that didn't have room to sign him outright, but the big man was quickly sold on the Bobcats' pitch.
Lowe suggests that moving Kemba Walker in a Jrue Holiday-esque deal for a 2014 first-rounder could benefit the Bobcats, but the team doesn't appear to be seriously mulling that kind of move. Still, Higgins isn't ruling anything out, telling Lowe, "If there are opportunities to make this team better via trade, we will do that."
Higgins also denied that the Bobcats ever seriously discussed trading 2012's No. 2 pick (which became Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) in a deal for James Harden.
Lowe points out that, since none of the Bobcats' young players like Walker, Kidd-Gilchrist, Gerald Henderson, Cody Zeller, and Bismack Biyombo project as franchise guys, the team should have the flexibility to keep most or all of them long-term. That could put the club on a path similar to the Nuggets, who put together a collection of solid players worth between $6-11MM since moving Carmelo Anthony.
According to Lowe, executives around the league still aren't sure who makes the final calls on basketball decisions in Charlotte, with owner Michael Jordan, GM Rich Cho, and Higgins all involved in the process.

Southeast Updates: Wall, Harrington, Bobcats

July 13th, 2013 at 9:36pm CST by Spencer Lund

Michael Lee of the Washington Post spoke with John Wall today about his expectations for this upcoming season, which will be Wall's fourth in the league. Wall was matter-of-fact about his focus for next season tell Lee (via Twitter):

"My whole goal is, this is my 4th year & I need to be in the playoffs. Nothing more & nothing else needs to be said about that.”

Wall will make $7.259MM this season with the Wiz and if he and the team don't reach a deal on an extension by October 31st this year, the Wizards have the option to extend him a QO of $9.698MM in the spring.

Here are some more notes from around the Southeast division…

Lee also writes at the Washington Post that third pick Otto Porter's versatility will be put to the test.
Heat President Pat Riley says the team will try to find young veterans who can supplant the team's stars when they move on, as Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel notes.
The Magic will likely buy-out Al Harrington tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.
Louis Williams missed a large part of last season after he tore his right ACL, but as Lang Green at HoopsWorld finds out he's still a big part of the Hawks' plans after talking to coaches and executives. If the Hawks were to trade Williams to free up cap space, Mark Deeks of Shamsports.com says they would have no problem doing so.
The Bobcats finally made a splashy free agency signing by getting Al Jefferson with a three-year $41MM deal earlier this summer. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes that Jefferson has special skills as one of the last dominant low-post big men in the game today.
Bonnell's colleague, Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler sounds off on the hysteria over the Bobcats/Hornets name change.

Renounced Players: Wednesday

July 10th, 2013 at 9:58pm CST by Luke Adams

As teams clear cap space to finalize signings and trades, it may mean renouncing Early Bird or Bird rights to their own free agents, in order to remove cap holds from the books. Once a player is renounced, his previous team has no more claim to him that any other team — he could still be re-signed, but it would have to be done using cap space or an exception. Some of those decisions are more notable than others, but for completion's sake, we'll track the latest of these cap-clearing moves right here:

Mo Williams is the most prominent name among the several whose rights the Jazz renounced today, according to the RealGM transaction log. Al Jefferson, DeMarre Carroll and Earl Watson, who already have deals to join other teams, are also on the list, as are the long-retired Brevin Knight and Greg Ostertag.
Bobcats are set to re-sign Josh McRoberts, but they won't be using their Early Bird rights to do so, as they've renounced his rights, RealGM shows. The team also renounced their rights to Reggie Williams, who's heading to the Rockets, and it cut ties with DeSagana Diop, Byron Mullens and Jannero Pargo, too.
Golden State will sign Jermaine O'Neal, so the Suns have renounced his rights, as well as their rights to Wesley Johnson and Diante Garrett, as RealGM notes.

Earlier updates:

The Hawks have cleared out unwanted cap holds from their books, renouncing their rights to Hilton Armstrong, Erick Dampier, Devin Harris, Dahntay Jones, Randolph Morris, Zaza Pachulia, Johan Petro, Josh Smith, and Etan Thomas, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.
RealGM.com also has the Trail Blazers renouncing multiple players, including Luke Babbitt, J.J. Hickson, Eric Maynor, and Nolan Smith.
Most interestingly, according to RealGM.com, the Bucks have renounced their rights to Monta Ellis. That doesn't necessarily preclude a sign-and-trade, but it would mean the team would have to use cap space rather than Ellis' Bird rights to accommodate a deal.
The Pelicans have renounced their rights to Louis Amundson, Xavier Henry, and Roger Mason Jr., the team announced today in a press release.
In order to clear cap room for their signings, the Pistons renounced Will Bynum, Jose Calderon, Vernon Macklin, Corey Maggette, Jason Maxiell, and Ben Wallace, according to RealGM's transactions log. The Pistons plan to re-sign Bynum, but removing his $6MM+ cap hold and signing him to a smaller figure using cap space makes the most sense.
After renouncing their rights to Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom, the Clippers have also renounced Bobby Simmons, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.

Odds & Ends: Kings, Tolliver, Lakers, Ellis

July 10th, 2013 at 4:30pm CST by Luke Adams

After a bid to relocate the NBA's Kings failed, Seattle-based investors also reportedly explored the possibility of moving the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes to the city. Although the franchise appears to be staying put in Phoenix, Seattle wasn't the only city interested in relocating it. According to Dwight Jaynes of CSNNW.com, Paul Allen and the Trail Blazers were also interested in buying the Coyotes and moving the team to Portland's Rose Garden.

Here are more odds and ends from around the NBA on a very busy Wednesday:

The Kings have named high-ranking NBA executive Chris Granger as their new team president, according to Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. Granger, who had been the executive VP of team marketing and business operations for the NBA, will oversee the team's role in the development of a new downtown sports arena and its business operations, says Lillis. It doesn't sound like Granger will be involved much, if at all, in the Kings' basketball operations.
Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports (via Twitter) that Anthony Tolliver is in talks with five teams, including the Hawks, and hopes to make a decision soon.
The Lakers have had conversations with Josh Powell's representative, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. McMenamin adds in a second tweet that the team has also spoken to a couple more former Lakers: Sasha Vujacic and Lamar Odom.
As Monta Ellis continues to seek a free agent deal, there doesn't appear to be a clear favorite to sign him, writes Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. News broke today that Ellis has parted ways with his longtime agent.
Elton Brand and Brandan Wright are still talking to the Mavericks about a potential return, but Rodrigue Beaubois is almost certainly headed elsewhere, as GM Donnie Nelson told reporters today, including Bryan Gutierrez of ESPNDallas.com.
Before he agreed to sign with the Bobcats, Al Jefferson received interest from the Mavericks and Pelicans, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.

Bobcats Sign Al Jefferson

July 10th, 2013 at 12:34pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 10TH: The Bobcats signing of Jefferson has been finalized, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. The team confirmed the move in a press release.

JULY 4TH: The Bobcats have reached an agreement on a three-year deal with Al Jefferson, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). According to Stein, the contract will be worth about $41MM, and the third year will be a player option. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer pegs Jefferson's average annual salary at $13.5MM, while Sam Amick of USA Today confirms (via Twitter) that the overall value will be $40.5MM.

Jefferson, 28, spent two days visiting with the Bobcats, but it still comes as something of a surprise that Charlotte would land him. When I explored the team's potential to add a max-salary free agent earlier this year, I noted that overpaying for an impact free agent may not be the best use of the Bobcats' resources, since they're more than one player from contention. As Grantland's Zach Lowe tweets, Charlotte's agreement with Jefferson isn't very damaging long-term, but an annual salary of $13.5MM is a significant price to pay.

The Bobcats' agreement with Jefferson is even more unexpected since we heard just last night that the big man intended to wait until after Dwight Howard signed, in case that resulted in more interest from the losers of the Howard sweepstakes. Jefferson was also reportedly seeking a four-year deal worth around $15MM annually.

While Jefferson isn't considered a strong defender, he's a very effective offensive post player, having averaged 18.5 PPG and 9.5 RPG for the Jazz over the last three seasons. The Excel Sports client will join a frontcourt in Charlotte that already features a pair of defense-first players in Brendan Haywood and Bismack Biyombo.

Assuming no sign-and-trade agreement with the Jazz is on the table, Jefferson's deal with Charlotte will remove his maximum-salary cap hold from Utah's books when the July moratorium is lifted. The Jazz could still decide to re-sign Paul Millsap, but if they don't bring back either of their free agent bigs, they'll have a ton of cap room available this month.

As for the Bobcats, with cap holds for Gerald Henderson and Cody Zeller on their books, the team only has about $10MM in cap space. Assuming Charlotte doesn't intend to renounce its rights to Henderson, clearing the room for Jefferson's first-year salary will likely require amnestying Tyrus Thomas, as Lowe notes (via Twitter).

FA Latest: Jefferson, Nets, Copeland, Collison

July 3rd, 2013 at 10:39pm CST by Alex Lee

Let's have a look at the latest offseason news and notes from this Wednesday evening:

Al Jefferson has spent the past day and a half with the Bobcats, as we know, but apparently the former Jazz center wants to wait until Dwight Howard signs before making any commitments, reports ESPN's Chris Broussard (via Twitter). According to Broussard, this is because if the Mavericks lose out on Howard, they could come calling on Jefferson. Jefferson is looking for a four-year deal, starting at $15MM per season, per Broussard (via Twitter).
Considering the make up of the Nets roster, head coach Jason Kidd needs to hit the ground running, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Assistant coach Lawrence Frank ran much of Kidd's first practice on Wednesday while Kidd mainly observed, according to Bondy. Ian O'Connor of ESPN New York reports that the Nets deal with Frank is for four year and is worth more than one million dollars a year, making him the league's highest paid assistant.
We rounded up the latest on Chris Copeland a bit earlier, but now Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York is reporting, via Twitter, that the Cavaliers are "in play" on Copeland with a potential multiyear offer and the Pacers are exploring roster options to create room for the 6-foot-8 forward. Sources tell Marc Berman of the New York Post that Copeland has three offers to choose from, which will make it next to impossible for the Knicks to retain him (via Twitter). None of the three are from the Jazz, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Mavericks free agent Darren Collison, in the process of sorting through his options, is intrigued by four potential destinations and hasn't ruled out a return to Dallas, writes RealGM's Shams Charania.

Kyler On Pekovic, Spurs, Iguodala, Pelicans, C’s

July 2nd, 2013 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

Here's the latest on free agency from Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld:

The Trail Blazers are expected to extend a "massive" offer to Nikola Pekovic, according to Kyler. After acquiring Thomas Robinson, Portland won't have the necessary cap room to make a huge offer, but perhaps the team has another move in mind to clear some space.
Al Jefferson, who is expected to meet with the Bobcats this week, has been linked to the Spurs as well. Kyler also hears from sources that San Antonio "kicked the tires" on a possible Marcin Gortat trade, so the Spurs are exploring ways to add a big man.
The Mavericks may make Andre Iguodala a "serious offer" if they miss out on Dwight Howard, says Kyler.
If Tyreke Evans wants to join the Pelicans, New Orleans would be open to moving Greivis Vasquez or Austin Rivers, either in a sign-and-trade with the Kings or in a separate deal, according to Kyler. However, the team seems more inclined to hang on to Eric Gordon.
Sources close to Rajon Rondo say the Celtics have pledged to be aggressive in putting together a roster around him that will be competitive in 2013/14 and beyond, writes Kyler.

Eastern Rumors: Jefferson, Knicks, Robinson

July 1st, 2013 at 8:07pm CST by Chuck Myron

Here's a look at the latest from the Eastern Conference on a busy first evening of free agency:

Al Jefferson will be meeting with the Bobcats on Wednesday, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, but Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer doesn't believe much will come of it (Twitter links).
The small forward position is still a need for the Knicks and they inquired about both Francisco Garcia and Matt Barnes, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post (via Twitter).
The Knicks spoke with Nate Robinson's representatives, but don't count on the diminutive point guard winding up back in New York, Berman tweets.
The Celtics are set to be a taxpayer in 2013/14, but president of basketball operations Danny Ainge hinted today that the team will try to get under the tax line, as Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com notes. Still, it looks like Rajon Rondo will be sticking around Boston.
The agreement between Mike Dunleavy and the Bulls figures to help second-rounder Erik Murphy make the Chicago roster, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Beno Udrih's agent told Sean Deveney of the Sporting News (on Twitter) that his client is "less likely" to re-sign with Magic but a return is "not impossible". The Pinnacle Management client has ten teams interested in him, according to his agent, though he wasn't specific on which clubs. Deveney has heard that the Wizards and Celtics are among those with interest, though the Wizards are probably out, with Eric Maynor coming aboard.
The Pacers officially announced that they have hired Nate McMillan as associate head coach.
Patrick Ewing will be Steve Clifford's associate head coach in Charlotte, with Bob Beyer, Stephen Silas, Bob Weiss and Mark Price filling out the Bobcats staff, according to a team press release.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Bobcats Pursuing Al Jefferson

June 30th, 2013 at 11:41pm CST by Zachary Links

As free agency opens, the Bobcats are going after Jazz forward Al Jefferson, a league source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). The unrestricted free agent is one of several key contributors in Utah that could be on the move this summer.

We heard last week that there's a rising sense around the league that the Jazz will simply let Jefferson walk. While that may seem crazy on the surface, there's actually little incentive for Jefferson to work a sign-and-trade deal unless he goes to a team that's over the cap. In the case of Charlotte, they have plenty of cap room to spare. They won't lure any max-caliber players in their direction, but they can definitely outbid the others for Jefferson and come out on top.

Jazz Likely To Let Al Jefferson Walk?

June 24th, 2013 at 11:21am CST by Luke Adams

A big offseason is set to get underway in Utah, where the Jazz have several key contributors headed for free agency, including Paul Millsap, Mo Williams, and Al Jefferson. While we haven't heard a whole lot about the team's plans for their free-agents-to-be, ESPN.com's Marc Stein says (via Twitter) there's a rising sense around the NBA that the Jazz will simply let Jefferson walk.

Responding to Stein's tweet, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld confirms (via Twitter) that he's hearing the same thing. In a second tweet, Kennedy adds that he heard shortly after the season ended that Jefferson was "packing his bags and expecting to walk elsewhere as a free agent."

While it may seem like poor asset management for the Jazz to let Jefferson walk in free agency without negotiating a sign-and-trade to get something in return, that's not necessarily the case. Unless Jefferson wants to go to an over-the-cap team, there's little incentive for him to agree to a sign-and-trade, since it could weaken the roster of the club with whom he lands.

Additionally, the Jazz would likely have to take on a good chunk of salary to make a sign-and-trade deal work, and the team may prefer to simply clear Jefferson's $16MM+ cap hold from their books and claim the cap space it creates.

Jefferson, 28, figures to be among the summer's most popular free agent targets. Given Andrew Bynum's health issues in 2012/13, Jefferson may have taken Bynum's place as the second-best center about to hit the open market.