Aron Baynes Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Spurs Interested In Ayon, Baynes

August 29th, 2014 at 6:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Spurs have interest in signing power forward Gustavo Ayon, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The Spurs preseason roster count currently stands at 17 players, after the recently announced deals with Josh Davis, Bryce Cotton, and JaMychal Green

Ayon, the 6’10”, 29 year-old played in 26 games for the Hawks last season, averaging 4.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.1 APG. In three NBA seasons his career numbers are 4.7 PPG and 4.4 RPG. His career slash line is .536/.000/.504. Most recently, Ayon played for Mexico in the Centrobasket Championship, and was named tournament MVP.

San Antonio’s interest in Ayon is in addition to still desiring to re-sign center Aron Baynes, who is their first priority, notes Stein (Twitter link), The 6’10”, 27 year-old appeared in 53 games for the Spurs last season, averaging 3.0 PPG and 2.7 RPG. Baynes is a restricted free agent, and has mulled inking a deal over in Europe, rather than signing his qualifying offer, worth slightly more than $1.115MM.

Aron Baynes Mulls Signing In Europe

August 19th, 2014 at 9:36am CST by Chuck Myron

Restricted free agent Aron Baynes is exploring options in Europe even as he maintains a desire to re-sign with the Spurs, reports Ismail Senol of NTV Spor in Turkey (Twitter link; translation via HoopsHype). Senol suggests the center is looking for a better deal than what the Spurs have on the table, though it’s not clear whether San Antonio has proposed an arrangement any more lucrative than his qualifying offer, worth slightly more than $1.115MM.

Heading overseas would give Baynes a chance to control his own destiny, since the Spurs have the right to match any offer he receives from another NBA team. There haven’t been many reports about Baynes in the past few months, in stark contrast to Eric Bledsoe and Greg Monroe, the only other remaining restricted free agents. A dispatch from about a month ago indicated the Spurs maintained hope of re-signing the Marc Fleisher client, so that suggests the two sides have mutual interest but haven’t been able to find agreeable terms.

San Antonio doesn’t lack flexibility, since the Spurs could give Baynes a starting salary of up to $5,631,505 using his Early Bird rights, and doing so wouldn’t put them over the tax threshold. Of course, Baynes wouldn’t command nearly that much, having failed to average 10 minutes per game last season even on a Spurs team that employed one of the most egalitarian minutes distributions of all time. There were 14 Spurs who appeared in at least 10 games and averaged 10 or more minutes per contest last season, and Baynes wasn’t one of them.

Still, the New Zealand native represents one of the many prospects from overseas who’ve helped the Spurs build their lengthy run of success. Baynes was playing in Slovenia when the Spurs signed him in January of 2013, and he had spent the previous season in Greece. He went undrafted in 2009 after playing four seasons at Washington State.

The Spurs are already carrying 16 players, as our roster counts show, but only 14 of them have fully guaranteed deals. Bryce Cotton and JaMychal Green, both of whom have partially guaranteed pacts, would no doubt stand a better shot of making it to opening night if Baynes heads elsewhere.

Southwest Notes: Parsons, Mavericks, Baynes

July 16th, 2014 at 12:40am CST by Ryan Raroque

Here’s what we’ve gathered out of the Southwest Division:

It’s widely suspected around the league that Dan Fegan insisted that the Rockets turn down their team option on Chandler Parsons before he would allow fellow client Dwight Howard to sign in Houston last summer, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. Parsons strongly denied knowing of such a deal, notes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
On Monday, Parsons told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that he wasn’t thrilled with how the Rockets handled his restricted free agency. “…I was offended by the whole process…(Houston) publicly said that they were going out looking for a third star when I thought they had one right in front of them. I guess that’s just how they viewed me as a player. I don’t think I’ve scratched the surface of where I can be as a player and I think I’m ready for that role.”
Today, Parsons said he was surprised about the backlash he received by making those comments. While he didn’t back off from what he said, Parsons also cited that he praised Rockets GM Daryl Morey (Twitter link from Feigen).
On Monday, Mavericks president Donnie Nelson told Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the team may not be done tweaking their roster. “We’re not done…But we feel pretty good about where things are right now.” Following the team’s addition of Rashard Lewis today, Price reminds that Nelson plans to keep one of the team’s final two roster spots open for flexibility down the line (Twitter link).
In the former piece, Price mentions also Al-Farouq Aminu, Bernard James, Shawn Marion, and Ivan Johnson as other names that Dallas could attempt to add before the start of next season.
Nelson sat down for an interview with KESN-FM 103.3 to offer some insight on how the Mavs plan to approach the rest of the season (transcription via SportsDayDFW) and mentioned that the team is always keeping its eye out for a shooter. It’s worth noting that he said this before they added Lewis, however.
While they won’t close the door on re-signing Marion, Nelson acknowledges that the veteran forward’s value in the marketplace is much higher than what the Mavs can afford.
The Spurs still hope to retain restricted free agent center Aron Baynes, tweets Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News. Young adds that San Antonio is willing to match any reasonable offer.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Qualifying Offers: Monday

June 30th, 2014 at 11:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Teams must decide today whether to tender qualifying offers to their players eligible for restricted free agency or lose the right to match offers from other teams. We’ll round up all of today’s qualifying offer decisions here:

The Pacers declined to tender a qualifying offer to Lavoy Allen, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Still, there’s mutual interest in a new deal, Buckner adds (on Twitter).
The Hawks extended a qualifying offer to Mike Scott, notes Mark Deeks of ShamSports (on Twitter).
No surprise here: Chandler Parsons got his QO from the Rockets, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
The Pacers won’t extend a QO to Evan Turner, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
Kevin Seraphin officially got his qualifying offer from the Wizards, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
As expected, the Warriors won’t extend a QO to Jordan Crawford, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
The Hawks have extended a qualifying offer to Shelvin Mack, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
The Bucks have told forward-center Ekpe Udoh he will not be tendered an offer thus making him an unrestricted free agent, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter).
The Grizzlies have passed on making a qualifying offer to Ed Davis, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Davis was reportedly a favorite of former CEO Jason Levien, but with Zach Randolph having agreed to an extension, it appears that Davis isn’t quite as highly valued in Memphis as he once was. His qualifying offer would have been worth $4,268,609, a slightly smaller amount than he was originally in line for, as I explained.
No shock here, but the Pistons extended a qualifying offer to Greg Monroe, tweets Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News, preserving their right to match offers for the fifth-rated player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. The qualifying offer is worth nearly $5.5MM, but he’ll command much more than that.
The Pelicans will not give Darius Miller a qualifying offer, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune. The offer would have been worth more than $1.115MM.
The Spurs have tendered a qualifying offer to Aron Baynes, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter). It’s worth more than $1.115MM, the same amount as Miller’s would have been.
The Knicks have elected not to make a qualifying offer to Toure’ Murry, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). They’d like to re-sign him nonetheless, Stein adds in a second tweet, but other teams have interest, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt says (on Twitter). The offer would have been worth more than $1.016MM.
Othyus Jeffers and Robbie Hummel won’t receive qualifying offers from the Wolves, the team announced (on Twitter). The offers would have been for amounts slightly greater than $1.148MM and $1.016MM, respectively.

Southwest Rumors: Grizzlies, Asik, Dalembert

December 9th, 2013 at 12:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reveals the details behind the Grizzlies‘ bizarre parting with assistant coach Barry Hecker in the middle of last season’s playoffs. Hecker butted heads with former head coach Lionel Hollins as well as Dave Joerger, who was then a fellow assistant, and he alleges that Joerger was after Hollins’ job as early as two years ago. There’s more on the Grizzlies coaching situation among the latest news from the Southwest Division:

The Grizzlies front office is beginning to wonder if they made the right hire with their decision to promote Joerger, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports notes in his weekly power rankings. Joerger’s job is nonetheless safe, Spears adds.
An executive tells Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio not to rule out the Celtics and Bucks as possible destinations for Rockets center Omer Asik. Other recent reports have also linked those teams to Asik.
The Mavericks planned to make Samuel Dalembert their starting center when they signed him to a two-year deal this past offseason, but he’s in danger of falling out of the rotation, observes Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
The Spurs recalled Aron Baynes and Nando De Colo from the D-League today, the team announced. De Colo had 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists while Baynes put up 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Austin Toros last night, hours after the Spurs sent them down along with Malcolm Thomas.

Minor Moves: Baynes, De Colo, Spurs, Conroy

December 8th, 2013 at 6:15pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves..

The Spurs assigned center Aron Baynes, guard Nando De Colo, and forward Malcolm Thomas to the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League. Baynes has appeared in 11 games for the Spurs this season, averaging 1.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 7.9 minutes. De Colo has seen action in six contests this season for the Silver and Black, averaging 2.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 9.0 minutes. Thomas was recently signed by the Spurs on Dec. 3 and will make his first appearance for the Toros this season. To keep up with all of this year’s D-League assignments, check out Hoops Rumors’ running list.
Point guard Will Conroy has signed to play in Germany with BBC Bayreuth, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia notes. Conroy appeared in four games with the Timberwolves last season, but the close friend of Brandon Roy wasn’t in an NBA camp this fall.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Farmar, Lakers, Pelicans, Spurs

December 2nd, 2013 at 3:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Let’s round up a few afternoon updates from around the Western Conference….

Jordan Farmar was diagnosed with a torn left hamstring today and is expected to be sidelined for about four weeks, according to the Lakers. Steve Nash is on the mend, but if Nash misses more time, the Lakers will be very shorthanded at the point, perhaps necessitating a roster move.
Another team that finds itself shorthanded is the Pelicans, who will be without Anthony Davis for the next few weeks. As Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes, New Orleans is in trouble and almost certainly headed for the lottery if Davis misses significant time. With a full 15-man roster and no obvious help available via free agency or trades, the Pelicans may have to make do with their current roster while Davis recovers.
A day after assigning them to the Austin Toros, the Spurs have recalled Aron Baynes and Nando De Colo from the D-League, the team announced today. The duo combined for 53 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists in the Toros’ win over the Delaware 87ers last night.
Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman passes along a handful of interesting quotes from Thunder GM Sam Presti on the evolving identity of the Oklahoma City franchise.

Southwest Notes: Hollins, Roberts, Spurs

December 1st, 2013 at 3:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Former Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins reportedly spoke with Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks about joining his staff as assistant, and Hollins confirms to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he was offered the job. He turned it down, however, intent on seeking out another NBA head coaching gig. Here’s more out of the Southwest Division..

Pelicans point guard Brian Roberts is on a fully guaranteed minimum-salary contract, but he’s fallen out of the rotation, and that might put his roster spot in jeopardy, as Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune examines.
The Spurs announced that they have assigned center Aron Baynes and guard Nando De Colo to the D-League’s Austin Toros. Baynes has appeared in ten games for the Spurs this season, averaging 1.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 8.1 minutes. De Colo has seen action in six contests this season for the Silver and Black, averaging 2.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 9.0 minutes. To keep track of all of this year’s D-League assignments, check out Hoops Rumors’ running list.
Jeff McDonald of the Express News (on Twitter) wouldn’t be surprised to see Baynes and De Colo back in San Antonio tomorrow.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

D-League Moves: Machado, Baynes, Garrett

April 8th, 2013 at 3:07pm CST by Zachary Links

We'll keep track of today's D-League assignments here..

After signing him yesterday, the Warriors assigned Scott Machado to their D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, according to a press release. Machado will be in action for the Warriors' first round series against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on Wednesday.
The Spurs announced that they have recalled Aron Baynes from their D-League affiliate. Baynes has appeared in 11 games with the Austin Toros, averaging 13.9 points and 8.7 rebounds in 26.9 minutes.
Earlier this week, the Suns announced that they had assigned guard Diante Garrett to the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League. Garrett has now been recalled from the D-League. The 6'4" guard was first assigned on January 10th to the Jam, where he averaged 15.1 points, 7.4 assists, and 1.7 steals in seven games for the Jam (five starts).

Spurs Assign Aron Baynes To D-League

April 5th, 2013 at 3:18pm CST by Luke Adams

We'll track today's D-League assignments and recalls here, with any additional moves added to the top of the page throughout the day:

The Spurs have sent Aron Baynes back to the D-League, the team announced today in a press release. The Austin Toros, San Antonio's D-League affiliate, have just two games left on their regular-season schedule, tonight and tomorrow. I'd expect Baynes to play in both of those contests, though it's not clear if he'd remain with the Toros for the D-League playoffs.