Alonzo Gee Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kings Waive Alonzo Gee

September 25th, 2014 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings have waived swingman Alonzo Gee, the team announced. The move is no shock, since he was due a non-guaranteed $3MM for the coming season, and he came to the team in the Jason Terry trade that appeared to be primarily about clearing space beneath the tax threshold from Sacramento’s perspective.

Gee has been a member of four NBA teams this offseason, largely shadowing the path of Scotty Hopson, who passed through the hands of five clubs. The Cavs, who originally signed him to his three-year deal in 2012, traded him to the Pelicans, who flipped him to Houston in the Omer Asik trade. The 6’6″ Gee started all 82 games for the Cavs in 2012/13, but he made just 24 starts last season, and his efficiency declined when he did see the floor. His 8.6 PER this past year was his first single-digit mark in that category in his five NBA seasons.

Sacramento has deals with 18 players in the wake of Gee’s release, which leaves room for the team to sign two more for training camp. The team had been less than $1MM shy of tax territory after striking a deal with Omri Casspi earlier in the offseason, but a series of moves has left the Kings with only about $71MM in guaranteed salaries, well short of the $76.829MM tax threshold.

Western Notes: Kings, Mavs, Robinson III

September 18th, 2014 at 8:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings aren’t done tinkering with their roster, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. Despite signing Darren Collison GM Pete D’Alessandro would still like to add another ballhandler into the mix. Jones also believes the franchise should be concerned about not having a second round pick in next year’s draft since those selections are growing increasingly valuable, as they allow teams to add young players at lower salaries to their rosters.

Here’s the latest from out west:

Alonzo Gee is still expected to be waived by the Kings prior to the start of training camp after he was acquired along with Scotty Hopson in the deal that sent Jason Terry to the Rockets. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio thinks that there is a good chance that Gee ends up in training camp with the Lakers since Coach Byron Scott was a fan of the player during their time together in Cleveland.
The Wolves have guaranteed $250K of Glenn Robinson III‘s minimum salary deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link).
After the Cavaliers, the team that has done the most to improve themselves this summer is the Mavericks, the staff at Basketball Insiders write in their season preview. They were divided on how Dallas would fare this upcoming season, with the predictions ranging from the team finishing second to ending the season fourth in the Southwest Division.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/17/6716192/kings-offseason-moves-will-continue.html#storylink=cpy

Rockets Acquire Jason Terry

September 17th, 2014 at 2:47pm CST by Eddie Scarito

SEPTEMBER 17TH: The deal is official, the teams announced in separate releases. It’s Terry and a pair of second-round picks to the Rockets, and Gee and Hopson to the Kings. The Rockets get Sacramento’s 2015 second-round pick if it falls anywhere from the 31st through 49th selections, according to Houston’s statement, not the 31st through 50th, as the previous report indicated. The Knicks 2016 second-rounder that’s headed to Houston via Sacramento is indeed unprotected.

SEPTEMBER 8TH: The trade will include Gee and Hopson, but not Powell, Feigen tweets.

AUGUST 31ST: 5:01pm: The picks that the Rockets are receiving come with some unlikely protections, notes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Houston would get Sacramento’s 2015 second-round pick as long as it falls between the 31st and 50th selections. There is no protection for the Knicks’ 2016 pick, writes Feigen. The deal will take several weeks to complete, notes Feigen, and will include other non-guaranteed contracts, likely either Scotty Hopson, Josh Powell, or both.

4:25pm: The Kings will send Houston two second-round picks in deal, including the 2016 second-rounder that was acquired from the Knicks, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link).

4:10pm: The Kings are finalizing a deal that would send Jason Terry and a future second-rounder to the Rockets for a package of non-guaranteed contracts, including Alonzo Gee, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links).

Terry had been acquired by the Kings at the trade deadline along with Reggie Evans, in exchange for shooting guard Marcus Thornton. Terry never played a game for the Kings, instead opting to rehab his surgically repaired knee in preparation for the 2014/15 season. Prior to the trade, Terry appeared in 35 games for the Nets, averaging 4.5 PPG and 1.6 APG.

Terry is on an expiring $5.85MM contract for next season, and he figures to see some minutes with the Rockets backing up both guard positions. Terry will likely be more motivated playing for a Houston squad that hopes to secure a high seed heading into next season’s playoffs, than a still-rebuilding team in Sacramento.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Western Notes: Terry, Papanikolaou, Lakers

September 16th, 2014 at 8:56pm CST by Alex Lee

With a few weeks until training camps begin, here is the latest news coming out of the Western Conference on Tuesday evening:

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Rockets‘ deal for Jason Terry will be completed tomorrow (via Twitter). The trade, which will send Terry to Houston and Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to Sacramento, was originally agreed to on August 31st. There was a report yesterday that it would be finalized today, so we should expect an official announcement shortly.
Feigen also expects the signing of Kostas Papanikolaou to become official this week, though he cautions that his buyout ($1.5MM) and the necessary FIBA approval make it a little unpredictable (Twitter link). Papanikolaou’s first-year salary of just under $4.8MM is the most ever given to a second-round pick in his first NBA season.
The Lakers announced today that Paul Pressey, Jim Eyen and Mark Madsen will join Byron Scott on the Los Angeles bench as assistant coaches this season. Beyond that trio, the team also announced Clay Moser, Larry Lewis, Tom Bialaszewski and J.J. Outlaw as members of the staff. Rondre Jackson has been promoted to director of player development and Jordan Wilkes has been hired as an operations assistant, according to the team release.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Rush, Jeter, Terry, Wizards

September 15th, 2014 at 10:35pm CST by Cray Allred

After a difficult 2013/14 season in which he was granted sporadic playing time while returning from knee surgery in Utah, Brandon Rush tells Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle that he’s feeling positive about his upcoming season with the Warriors. “This is a great situation for me to be able to come back and to be with a winning team,” said Rush. “I’m just going to try to help the team out with little things: rebounding, shooting and playing defense. I’m in a good mood. My head is in on straight. I’m happy with where I’m at…Coming back [to Golden State] was a no-brainer.” Here’s more from around the league:

Pooh Jeter has no intentions of leaving his Chinese team, despite having a workout lined up with the Lakers, as he tells Hupu (translation via Enea Trapani of Sportando).
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders expects the deal in place between the Rockets and Kings, which will send Jason Terry to Houston and Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to Sacramento, will finally transpire within the next 24 hours (Twitter link). Pincus does not expect the Kings to retain either Gee or Hopson, whose contracts are non-guaranteed. The teams initially struck an unofficial agreement on August 31.
The Wizards are still working out additional players to bring to camp, tweets J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Washington will have 16 of the maximum 20 contracts on the books for training camp after the new additions of Xavier Silas and Damion James.
Brett Koremenos of RealGM looks at the careers of Milos Teodosic, Ante Tomic, and Emir Preldzic, three players caught in the “limbo” between European starring roles and NBA backup spots. While these players shine in international play, their advanced age, on-court shortcomings, and comfort level overseas are barriers to their likehood of signing in the NBA.

Rockets, Pelicans, Wizards Swap Ariza, Asik, Ely

July 15th, 2014 at 2:19pm CST by Zachary Links

2:19pm: The deal is official, the Pelicans have announced. New Orleans is folding Scotty Hopson into the trade after acquiring him over the weekend, marking the third trade for Hopson’s non-guaranteed contract in less than a week. So, It’s Asik, Casspi and $1.5MM to the Pelicans, Ariza, Gee, Hopson and a protected 2015 first-round pick to the Rockets, and Ely to the Wizards.

TUESDAY, 10:23am: The NBA has given its approval for the trade, and a formal announcement is forthcoming, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune (Twitter link).

SUNDAY, 7:55pm: Ely will not be retained by the Wizards, tweets J. Michael of CSNWashington.com.

5:59pm: Ariza will go to Houston on a three-way deal, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter). The Pelicans will get Omer Asik, Omri Casspi, and $1.5MM from the Rockets. Houston will get Ariza from Washington, Alonzo Gee, and a protected 2015 first-round choice from New Orleans. The Wizards will take on the non-guaranteed contract of Melvin Ely from New Orleans while receiving a $8.5MM trade exception (link).

Of course, Asik was already headed to the Pelicans in exchange for the 2015 first-rounder. Now, the deal has been expanded to help facilitate the Ariza sign-and-trade. Gee, meanwhile, has now been traded twice inside of a week.

5:08pm: The Rockets will acquire Trevor Ariza in a sign-and-trade deal with the Wizards, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The Wizards will get a $8.5MM trade exception by making the deal, but it’s not clear what they’ll be sending to Houston in the trade.

The Rockets and Ariza agreed on a four-year, $32MM deal yesterday. A number of teams were rumored to be interested in the sharpshooter’s services, but the Rockets came out on top. Ariza will try and help fill the void at small forward for Houston now that Chandler Parsons is Dallas-bound.

Ariza’s contract is structured on a declining scale, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. He will earn $8.6MM this season, and $8.2MM, $7.8MM, $7.4MM, in the following years. Ariza could have served as a stretch four alongside Dwight Howard if Parsons was retained, but he’ll now line up at his natural position.

In 77 games with the Wizards last season, the Rob Pelinka client averaged 14.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per night. He shot 40.7% from beyond the arc, well above his career mark of 34.7%. Ariza, 29, played in Houston during the 2009/10 season.

While Ariza is a nice addition, it goes without saying that this wasn’t the summer the Rockets had in mind.

Cavs Trade Alonzo Gee To Pelicans

July 11th, 2014 at 4:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:46pm: The deal is official, the Cavs announce. Gee goes to the Pelicans, and Cleveland will get the Clippers’ 2016 second-round pick, which New Orleans acquired in a previous trade, protected through pick No. 55. If it doesn’t fall within the final five selections in 2016, the Pelicans don’t owe the Cavs anything.

4:36pm: The Cavs will still acquire No. 45 overall pick Dwight Powell from Charlotte as part of a reworked Haywood deal, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).

3:09pm: The Pelicans will waive Gee upon receiving him from the Cavs, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).

2:57pm: The Cavs and Pelicans have struck agreement on a deal that sends Alonzo Gee to New Orleans, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported the teams were close to a deal, which nullifies the agreement that Cleveland had to send Gee to the Hornets for Brendan Haywood. Cleveland apparently still plans to acquire Haywood from Charlotte via other means, as Stein reported. A source also told Stein that Gee could wind up as part of the Pelicans’ deal with the Rockets to acquire Omer Asik,

Gee’s $3MM salary for this season is non-guaranteed, so it’s conceivable that the Pelicans envision waiving him to create the necessary cap flexibility to accommodate their deal for Asik, though that assumes New Orleans is giving up salary as part of the trade. The Cavs are reportedly still trying to clear room for a max contract for LeBron James, as Stein wrote earlier, and losing Gee, whose salary can be taken off the books, wouldn’t advance Cleveland toward that end unless other deals are in the works.

The 27-year-old Gee has been a part of the rotation for Cleveland for the better part of the last two seasons, and he started all 82 games in 2012/13. He mostly came off the bench this past season, averaging 4.0 points in 15.7 minutes per game.

Hornets, Cavs To Swap Haywood, Gee

June 27th, 2014 at 1:54am CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 1:54am: The Hornets will acquire Alonzo Gee as part of the trade, according to Tom Withers of The Associated Press (hat tip to the Plain Dealer).

THURSDAY, 11:28pm: Brendan Haywood is headed to Cleveland in the deal, Bonnell reports (on Twitter).

11:09pm: The Hornets have struck a deal to send 45th overall pick Dwight Powell to the Cavs in a deal that will give Charlotte some cap relief, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.

Kyler’s Latest: Rivers, Bobcats, Sixers

February 5th, 2014 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that the Pelicans have had a deal in place all season to trade Austin Rivers if he didn’t start seeing minutes. His playing time has perked up of late, and Kyler wonders if the Pelicans are merely showcasing him for other trades. The Pelicans are also open to trading Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans, according to Kyler, who shares plenty more in his latest piece. We’ll hit the highlights here:

The Bobcats are “kicking around” the idea of trading for Greg Monroe, Kyler writes. He also hears they’d be willing to throw Bismack Biyombo into a Ben Gordon trade to convince teams to take on Gordon’s inflated deal, but as Kyler notes, that wouldn’t do much to persuade reluctant trade partners.
The Sixers could wind up dealing away all of their three veteran trade candidates — Spencer Hawes, Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young — by the deadline, Kyler writes, adding that the Rockets have been targeting Young all season. We heard Young connected to Houston in December, but this is the first report suggesting the Rockets have had interest in him since.
Dion Waiters and Alonzo Gee are the names most frequently mentioned around the league when the subject of Cavs trade candidates comes up, according to Kyler. Cleveland is reluctant to make Anderson Varejao a part of its talks, but the Cavs are coming around to ideas they hadn’t previously considered, Kyler observes, adding that the team looks like it will be a seller, either at the deadline or around draft time.
Almost everyone on the Bucks, outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo and John Henson, is fair game for a trade, according to Kyler, who hears that the Rockets have been eyeing Ersan Ilyasova.
Marcus Thornton and Jimmer Fredette are the Kings that Kyler keeps hearing in trade chatter, but there’s little market for either, he writes.
Rival teams are getting the sense that the Pistons will stand pat at the deadline, which Kyler finds vexing.
Sources close to the Raptors tell Kyler that their trade talk is simply due diligence, and that they’re only considering overwhelming offers.

Odds & Ends: Kobe, LeBron, Cavs

October 24th, 2013 at 11:11pm CST by Ryan Raroque

T.J. Simers of the OC Register writes that Lakers executive Jim Buss believes he has an understanding with Kobe Bryant regarding next summer, in which he’ll let him hit free agency, spend the money accordingly on free agents, and offer whatever’s left to the Lakers’ star afterwards. When Simers asked him to elaborate, Kobe “vaguely” responded: “We’ve probably talked (about it)…but I’m putting off any thought of that.”

In another piece, Kobe spoke with Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times about his inability to mesh with Dwight Howard last season: “We saw different ways of going about leading this team…Dwight wanted to do it one way and he felt like it was effective. I wanted to do it another way. It was constant tension the second half of the season.”

Here are a handful of tonight’s links to pass along from around the Association:

LeBron James remained diplomatic when asked if winning a third consecutive ring would provide an answer to whether or not he’ll stay in with the Heat beyond this year: “When that bridge comes, I’ll cross it with my family…And we’re going to make the right choice. We’ve been in this position before, I’ve been in this position before, and I’ll be excited about it, but we’ll see what happens” (Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald).
LeBron was also quick to assert that his focus is on the upcoming season, and later emphasized Dwyane Wade‘s health as the key to Miami’s success: “Winning, that’s my only concern right now, winning…I want to put a third ring on the guys that have two. I want to put a first ring on the guys that don’t have any and I want to put a fourth on [Udonis Haslem] and D-Wade. So, that’s my goal…Without (Dwyane), this ship doesn’t continue to move without him, and I hope he knows that,..I think he knows that because he’s a big part of what we do.”
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is still undecided about how he’ll handle the rotation at small forward this season, having been torn between Alonzo Gee and Earl Clark: “Nobody’s really separated themselves drastically from the other guy…One game, one guy’s played pretty good, then another guy’s played pretty good. … I told those guys, it can go into the regular season, just keep yourself ready to go in case your number’s called” (Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer).
Steve Nash spoke with Mark Medina of InsideSoCal.com about the challenges of staying healthy at this point in his career.
USA Today’s Sam Amick goes over what he’s learned so far after watching the pre-season.
Jody Genessy of the Deseret News says that the Jazz’ signing of Jamaal Tinsley makes Lester Hudson and Scott Machado longshots to make the final cut.