Bill Duffy Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Spurs, Celtics, Sixers, Pistons, Nuggets

May 13th, 2016 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili aren’t certain whether they’ll retire, as Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com details, but they’re not the only Spurs liable to hang it up in the wake of the team’s playoff elimination Thursday night. Andre Miller has strongly considered retirement, though he, too, hasn’t made up his mind yet, as he told Marc Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). San Antonio’s contract with the 40-year-old Miller expires at the end of next month while Duncan, also 40, and Ginobili, who turns 39 in July, have player options. David West also has a player option, and though he turns 36 over the offseason, the talk surrounding him isn’t of retirement but of the lack of regrets he has about sacrificing roughly $11MM to sign his two-year minimum-salary contract with San Antonio last summer, as Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio News-Express relays (Twitter links).

“It’s been a great experience,” West said of his season with the Spurs. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

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The Celtics, Sixers, Pistons, Nuggets, Pacers and Trail Blazers all benefited this season from set-off rights, reducing their obligations to waived players who had guaranteed salary remaining on their contracts, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders details. Boston saved $620,306 from the money it owed David Lee because he signed a deal with the Mavs that paid more than $845,059, a figure equivalent to the one-year veteran’s minimum salary, Pincus writes. The Sixers saved $227,241 on JaVale McGee the same way. The Nuggets were spared $68,144 on Pablo Prigioni, the Pacers avoided paying $159,900 to Toney Douglas and the Trail Blazers shaved $327,064 from their bill for Mike Miller, according to Pincus. The Pistons saved $341,353 on Josh Smith, though that figure will be spread evenly over each season of the five-year obligation Detroit still has to him because the team used the stretch provision.
The Pistons also got cap relief for Aaron Gray, whom they owe $452,049 each season from 2015/16 through 2017/18, Pincus points out. Gray had to retire because of a heart condition, but a team can remove the cap hit for a player who had to retire because of a medical reason one year after his final game. Gray last played in 2014. Detroit still must pay the money to Gray, but it doesn’t count against the team’s cap, Pincus notes.
Agent Jason Glushon and the Wasserman agency mutually agreed to part ways, and Glushon will start his own agency, a source told Spears (Twitter link). Glushon has a short list of clients, with none more prominent than Hawks soon-to-be free agent Al Horford, who left Wasserman, Glushon and B.J. Armstrong to sign with Bill Duffy of BDA Sports last fall only to rejoin Wasserman a couple of months later. Jrue Holiday and Norman Powell are other Glushon clients.

Atlantic Notes: Colangelo, Okafor, Lee, Ross

December 10th, 2015 at 10:01am CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers decided to hire Jerry Colangelo because they felt GM Sam Hinkie mishandled negative publicity surrounding Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor in recent months, Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher says in a video. Owners with minority stakes in the Sixers pressured primary owner Josh Harris to make the move, Bucher adds. It’s inaccurate to say that the hiring came about in part because of pressure from owners who complained to the league about the Sixers’ rebuilding and its negative financial ripple effects, league sources told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who writes at the bottom of a larger piece. Still, commissioner Adam Silver was indeed involved in the move, Pompey adds. See more from the Atlantic Division:

The NBA continues to investigate the recent incidents involving Okafor and it hasn’t decided whether it will mete out punishment on top of the two-game suspension the Sixers issued last week, league officials told TMZ Sports. Colangelo has a strong relationship with agent Bill Duffy, who represents Okafor, as Bucher points out in his video. “Based on what we currently know, we support the 76ers’ approach in this matter,” an NBA spokesperson said to TMZ Sports. “The league office is continuing to investigate the events of that night.”
David Lee doesn’t regret the trade that brought him to the Celtics and ended his time with the Warriors, even as Golden State has embarked on a 23-0 start, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group relays. Lee’s representatives reportedly cooperated with the Warriors as they sought a new home for him this summer. “This is a business, and because of the salary cap and things like that, it was time for me to move on, and that’s what I did,” Lee said. “It couldn’t have ended any better.”
Terrence Ross is much the same player he was a few weeks after the Rudy Gay trade two years ago, and that’s perhaps the glaring issue for the swingman who signed a three-year, $31MM extension with the Raptors last month, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. His game grew more in the immediate wake of the trade than it has since, and inconsistency has plagued him, Lewenberg asserts.

Western Notes: Ezeli, Miller, Lillard, Diawara

November 2nd, 2015 at 5:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

Festus Ezeli‘s favorable perception of the Warriors hasn’t changed in the wake of the end of extension talks between agent Bill Duffy and the team, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group relays. The center is headed into restricted free agency in July with the extension window officially set to close at 11pm Central tonight.

“Obviously [Duffy] didn’t come up to an agreement with the team, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I want to be here for the rest of my career, and I love these guys,” Ezeli said. “I love the team. We discussed it a little bit with my family, and [Duffy] kind of told us what he thought was best moving forward, and we went with that.”

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Part of the reason the Timberwolves wanted to sign Andre Miller is because Flip Saunders wanted to shore up the team’s troubles with simply inbounding the ball at the end of games, as TNT’s David Aldridge notes within his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Of course, Miller’s leadership was key, too, and Saunders told Miller ahead of time that the team would be signing fellow veteran Tayshaun Prince, as Miller said to Aldridge for a piece that further shows the respect the Wolves have for the late coach/executive.
Damian Lillard‘s play has been surprisingly underwhelming so far this season, but it’s chiefly a product of his willingness to experiment with his game so that he can tailor it to the needs of the Blazers‘ overhauled roster, as Jason Quick of CSNNW.com examines. “It’s easy for me to go out there and get 35 and have seven assists and the game not be played as well,’’ Lillard said. “But if we are going to play the game the right way and if our team is going to grow and keep getting better, then I have to make sure we are doing things the right way.’’
Four-year NBA veteran and Grizzlies camp cut Yakhouba Diawara has signed with CSP Limoges of France, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Freelance journalist Guido Guida first reported the news (Twitter link).

Odds & Ends: Pietrus, Knicks, Johnson

August 15th, 2013 at 6:30pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Mickael Pietrus's agent Bill McCandless tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com that the 6'6 forward has a workout scheduled with an undisclosed NBA team in September, and that two other teams have shown interest in bringing him in for a look as well. The 31-year-old swingman last played for the Raptors in 2012-13, averaging 20.3 MPG, 5.3 PPG, and 34.7% shooting from the field in 19 games. McCandless added that Pietrus is currently working out in France and is "100% healthy." Here are a few more news and notes from around the NBA:

Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (via Twitter) confirms that undrafted point guard Myck Kabongo has left agent Rich Paul and will now be represented by Bill Duffy, who also represents Lakers guard Steve Nash.
Citing a source familiar with the Knicks' plans, Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York tweets that the Knicks could possibly be looking to add another big man, but it isn't clear if they're looking to do so now or during veteran's camp (Twitter link).
Along with most free agents right now, Ivan Johnson isn't making much progress on any contract talks, as Zwerling (via Twitter) relays a source close to the situation who says that things are still in "slow motion right now."
Grantland's Jonathan Abrams writes an excellent piece which revisits the circumstances that contributed to Jonny Flynn's struggles with finding a niche in the NBA and the hip injury in Minnesota that stifled his development. Despite the lack of opportunity with the Clippers in this year's summer league, the 24-year-old guard is still determined to make it out of an NBA training camp in the fall. However, he could possibly opt for China or Spain if it doesn't work out.
Jeff Caplan of NBA.com thinks the change of scenery from Milwaukee to Dallas could be just what Mavericks guard Monta Ellis needed to become more efficient and consistent at this point in his career.