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Bismack Biyombo

Magic Sign Bismack Biyombo

July 2nd, 2016 at 2:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito
Nick TurchiaroUSA TODAY Sports Images

Nick TurchiaroUSA TODAY Sports Images

JULY 7, 10:18am: The Magic have formally announced Biyombo’s signing (via Twitter).

JULY 2, 2:45pm: Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical tweets that the pact will be worth $72MM over four years.

2:27pm: The contract is estimated at four-years and approximately $70MM, per Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

2:15pm: The Magic and unrestricted free agent Bismack Biyombo have come to terms on a deal, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports (on Twitter). The agreement is for four years, but the amount of the pact has yet to been reported.

Biyombo’s stock rose dramatically during the Eastern Conference playoffs, when his playing time spiked after Jonas Valanciunas was injured. He averaged 5.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while appearing in every regular-season game, then bumped those averages to 6.2/9.4/1.4 in 20 playoff games. He opted out of his deal and the $2.9MM he was set to earn next season and all but assuredly secured himself a hefty raise as a result.

Toronto reportedly wanted to retain Biyombo, but only held his Non-Bird rights, which meant it would have to use cap room to re-sign him. A number of roster moves designed to free cap space would have been needed to make that a possibility. Moves that the team was either unwilling or unable to make.

The addition of Biyombo, coupled with the trade acquisition of former Thunder forward Serge Ibaka certainly gives Orlando and imposing frontcourt defensively. It remains to be seen if these additions will prompt the team to shop center Nikola Vucevic, whose salary of $12,250,000 is looking more and more like a bargain every day.

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And-Ones: Parsons, Humphries, Bass, Howard

July 1st, 2016 at 2:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Unrestricted free agent Kris Humphries, who split time last season between the Wizards, Suns and Hawks, is one of the players the Celtics are considering making a run at this offseason, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays (on Twitter). The Hawks, Nets, Wolves, Spurs and Hornets are also interested in the big man, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets.

With free agency now underway, here’s the latest happening from around the league:

  • The Trail Blazers intend to make a strong push to ink both Chandler Parsons and Dwight Howard this offseason, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com tweets. Parsons and Howard were former teammates with the Rockets and have remained friends, the scribe notes.
  • The Hawks made a strong impression on Howard during their meeting with him today, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets. The scribe adds that the possibility of D12 joining Atlanta is gaining traction.
  • The Warriors are looking to bolster their bench and have expressed interest in unrestricted free agent Andrew Nicholson, who spent the past four seasons with the Magic, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays (Twitter link).
  • Former Wyoming head coach Larry Shyatt is joining Rick Carlisle‘s staff with the Mavericks, Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com tweets.
  • Former Nets forward Sergey Karasev signed a three-year deal with the Russian club BC Zenit Saint Petersburg, the team announced (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The 22-year-old made 40 appearances for Brooklyn this season and averaged 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds in 10.0 per contest while shooting .405/.297/.929 from the field.
  • Former Wizards forward Chris Singleton has signed with the Greek club Panathinaikos, international journalist David Pick relays (via Twitter). Singleton last appeared in the NBA during the 2013/14 season.
  • The Wolves have reached out to free agent power forward Brandon Bass to gauge interest, Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN tweets.
  • With the Pacers reportedly reaching an agreement with Al Jefferson, unrestricted free agent big man Ian Mahinmi won’t be returning to the team next season, Nate Taylor of The Indianapolis Star relays (via Twitter).
  • The Mavericks have no immediate plans to target Bismack Biyombo or Howard after missing out on Hassan Whiteside, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com relays (ESPN Now link).
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FA Rumors: DeRozan, Biyombo, Nets, Noah, Kings

June 27th, 2016 at 12:05pm CST by Luke Adams

With DeMar DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo facing free agency, the Raptors may not have the cap flexibility to bring back both players. However, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, Biyombo has “very real interest” in re-signing in Toronto, even if that includes waiting out DeRozan’s free agency and navigating cap challenges to make it all work.

Whether that will be a realistic outcome remains to be seen. Assuming the Raptors don’t trade any of their players, and the salary cap lands in the $94MM neighborhood, the team won’t be able to offer Biyombo anything close to the $15MM salary he may be able to land on the open market. Still, the 23-year-old center has indicated he’d be open to a “hometown discount” to remain in Toronto, and he doesn’t intend to rush into an agreement with another team when the free agent period opens.

As for DeRozan, he reportedly has no plans to meet with any teams besides the Raptors, and Amick suggests the All-Star guard may even be willing to accept a little less than the max from Toronto if it helps the team accommodate a new deal for Biyombo. If DeRozan does explore the market though, he’ll have no shortage of suitors. Amick lists the Clippers, Warriors, Heat, Knicks, and Magic as clubs with interest in DeRozan.

Here are a few more free agent rumors from around the NBA:

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Atlantic Rumors: Simmons, Sixers, Knicks, Raptors

June 16th, 2016 at 11:24am CST by Luke Adams

The fact that Ben Simmons isn’t working out for the Sixers shouldn’t be viewed as a decision that reflects poorly on the franchise or one that will have a huge impact on Philadelphia’s choice at No. 1, writes Derek Bodner of PhillyMag.com. As Bodner points out, it appears that Simmons won’t be working out for any teams, so his decision is likely more about playing it safe and not hurting his stock, rather than trying to manipulate his landing spot.

Bodner also examines Bryan Colangelo‘s recent assertion that the Sixers’ decision regarding the first overall pick “changes every day,” suggesting that the GM’s statement sounded somewhat flippant, and probably shouldn’t be taken literally. For what it’s worth, multiple league sources continue to tell Bodner that Simmons is the “prohibitive favorite” to be Philadelphia’s pick to kick off the draft next Thursday.

Let’s round up a few more items from out of the Atlantic….

  • The Knicks don’t have a pick in this year’s draft, but they plan to acquire one, and continue to bring in prospects for pre-draft workouts. According to a pair of reports from Ian Begley of ESPN.com, New York worked out Shawn Long (Louisiana-Lafayette), Cat Barber (N.C. State), and Chris Fowler (Central Michigan) on Wednesday.
  • New Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek is eyeing Raptors assistant Andy Greer as a potential addition to his staff in New York, says ESPN’s Marc Stein (Twitter links). According to Stein, Toronto is making a strong effort to hang onto Greer, who has also drawn interest from the Timberwolves.
  • Doug Smith of The Toronto Star doesn’t expect the Raptors to make a trade to clear the cap room necessary to re-sign Bismack Biyombo, and he doesn’t expect the free-agent-to-be to take 50 cents on the dollar to remain in Toronto. In Smith’s view, the Raptors and their fans to accept that they’ll bidding adieu to Biyombo soon.
  • A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com presents five reasons why the Celtics may not be inclined to make a trade push for Kevin Love this summer.
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Bismack Biyombo Opts Out Of Contract

June 6th, 2016 at 10:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

June 6th: 10:20pm: Biyombo has officially opted out, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.

May 28th 9:10pm: Raptors center Bismack Biyombo will decline his $2.9MM option for next season and become an unrestricted free agent, sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein. Biyombo’s floor in contract negotiations is anticipated to be $15MM annually, thanks to the impending salary-cap increase (Twitter links).

Biyombo’s stock rose dramatically during the Eastern Conference playoffs, when his playing time spiked after Jonas Valanciunas was injured. He averaged 5.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while appearing in every regular-season game, then bumped those averages to 6.2/9.4/1.4 in 20 playoff games.

He had two double-doubles in the Eastern Conference semis against the Heat, including a 17-point, 16-rebound outburst in Game 7. He also had a 26-rebound effort against the Cavaliers in Game 3 of the conference finals.

An Eastern Conference GM told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News earlier this week that Biyombo could command a salary in the $16-17MM annual range, while another said that a contract averaging $20MM per season is a possibility.

Biyombo has been in Toronto for just one season, so the team only holds his Non-Bird rights. That means that, unless the Raptors renounce DeMar DeRozan‘s rights or get creative elsewhere on the roster, there’s virtually no chance that the club can retain Biyombo if he receives offers of $15MM or more per season. The Raptors already have nearly $70MM in guaranteed contracts on their books for next season.

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Biyombo Open To “Hometown Discount” For Raptors

May 30th, 2016 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

Over the weekend, Bismack Biyombo expressed a preference to remain with Toronto going forward, re-signing with the Raptors. However, the free-agent-to-be went a step further today in a conversation with Andrew Walker of Sportsnet 590 The Fan (Twitter link). According to Walker, Biyombo said he expects to return to the Raptors, and would open to exploring a “hometown discount” to make it happen.

Barring another major roster move, such as trading Jonas Valanciunas or Terrence Ross, or not re-signing DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors will likely need Biyombo to accept a hometown discount for the team to have a shot at signing him. Biyombo will decline a player option that would have paid him less than $3MM for the 2016/17 season, and will be in line for a significant raise on that amount.

A pair of recent reports that surfaced after Biyombo made a major impact on multiple games in the Eastern Conference Finals suggested that $16MM+ could be within reach for the former top-10 pick in free agency. If Biyombo does receive offers in that range, it would be interesting to see how much less he’d be willing to take to remain in Toronto. Even though the Raptors may be his first choice, it would be pretty hard for Biyombo to turn down, for instance, a four-year, $60MM offer if Toronto’s offer is only in the $30-40MM range. Especially since he’d likely have a better opportunity to start for another team.

Of course, it remains to be seen what opportunities will be available to Biyombo. Even with a ton of extra cap room to work with, it’s not clear if teams will be willing to make a huge offer to a player who excelled for just a short time down the stretch of the 2015/16 season. Whether or not Biyombo actually accepts a hometown discount from the Raptors will likely hinge on what sort of offers are out there in free agency, and how Toronto tackles its other roster decisions.

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Raptors GM Talks DeRozan, Casey, Offseason

May 30th, 2016 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to the media today at his season-ending press conference, Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri admitted that he’s not sure “how possible it is” to bring back all of the team’s free agents, including both DeMar DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo (Twitter links via Raptors reporter Eric Koreen). Ujiri stressed that the team wants to bring back both of its top free agents, but cautioned that “sometimes those things are difficult or challenging.”

Asked specifically about the possibility of offering DeRozan a max contract this summer, Ujiri deflected the inquiry, suggesting that it’s a question to answer at a later time. The GM did say that DeRozan will be the Toronto’s top priority this offseason, however (Twitter links via Koreen).

Here’s more from Ujiri’s session with local reporters:

  • In the wake of the Raptors’ Game 6 loss to the Cavaliers, a report surfaced indicating that Toronto is expected to offer head coach Dwane Casey a new contract. Ujiri confirmed that today, suggesting that he has been in touch with Casey’s agent and expects a deal to get done sooner rather than later (Twitter link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN).
  • Last week, ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote that Casey likely would have lost his job if the Raptors had lost to Indiana in the first round of the postseason. Today, Ujiri deflected that subject, telling reporters that he can’t say what would have happened in that scenario, since the team ultimately didn’t lose the series (Twitter link via Koreen).
  • Ujiri acknowledged that power forward is a position the Raptors need to improve, indicating that the team will get creative there (Twitter link via Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun). Getting a solid backup at the three is another priority for Toronto, per Ujiri (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Michael Grange).
  • Raptors coaches may not want to add two first-round rookies to the roster, according to Ujiri, who said today that he’s open to any moves involving the ninth and 27th overall draft picks (Twitter link via Koreen).
  • Per Ujiri, Raptors ownership has always given him the freedom to enter tax territory with the team’s payroll — the GM is waiting until it makes sense to do so (Twitter link via Wolstat).
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Atlantic Notes: Kerr, Bender, Sixers, Biyombo

May 29th, 2016 at 8:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

As the Warriors prepare for Monday’s Game 7 with the Thunder, Marc Berman of The New York Post offers a reminder that the results of Golden State’s last Game 7 prevented Steve Kerr from coaching the Knicks. After the Warriors lost to the Clippers in 2014, owner Joe Lacob decided to fire coach Mark Jackson. The team contacted the agent for Kerr, who had a verbal agreement with New York but nothing on paper. Kerr met with the Warriors and decided that was a better opportunity for him. With the expected hiring of Jeff Hornacek, the Knicks are now on their third coach since Kerr’s change of heart.

There’s more news from the Atlantic Division:

  • Danny Ainge, the Celtics‘ president of basketball operations, is in Israel this weekend to scout Dragan Bender, according to Mike Petraglia of WEEI. Ainge was accompanied by his son, Austin, who serves as director of player personnel. They planned to watch Bender practice Saturday and today, but will not see him in a game. The 18-year-old is considered a possibility with Boston’s No. 3 pick in next month’s draft.
  • The Sixers will hold a workout Monday for six players, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Potential second-rounders Joel Bolomboy of Weber State and James Webb III of Boise State will be the top players at the session, according to Pompey. They will be joined by Brannen Greene of Kansas, Danuel House of Texas A&M, Tim Quarterman of LSU and Isaiah Taylor of Texas.
  • Bismack Biyombo’s playoff performance virtually assures his future won’t be in Toronto, claims Scott Stinson of the National Post. Biyombo put up dazzling numbers after Jonas Valanciunas was sidelined by a sprained ankle and may have earned a maximum contract. Valanciunas has a four-year, $64MM extension that begins next season, and Stinson doesn’t think the Raptors want to give huge money to two centers.
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Raptors Notes: DeRozan, Biyombo, Lowry, Cousins

May 28th, 2016 at 1:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors’ top two impending free agents offered clues to their future as they cleared out their lockers this morning. In the wake of Friday’s Game 6 loss to the Cavaliers, shooting guard DeMar DeRozan sounded like he has made up his mind to stay in Toronto, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. “I don’t think so,” DeRozan said when asked if he thought he could find a better situation in free agency. “My mindset has always been Toronto. … I don’t want to switch it up now.” In response to a question about playing his entire career with one organization, DeRozan replied, “I think that’s the most incredible thing you can do. … That’s awesome.” (Twitter link). DeRozan, 26, has spent seven years with the Raptors, who took him ninth overall in the 2009 draft. He is expected to turn down a $9.5MM option for next season and become an unrestricted free agent. Toronto can offer a five-year deal worth $144.6MM, while other teams will be limited to four years and $107.4MM. DeRozan also seemed to dismiss rumors that he might be interested in returning to his hometown of Los Angeles and signing with the Lakers. “Only thing appealing to me is the things I’ve done in this organization and the things I can do,” he said. (Twitter link).

Bismack Biyombo also expressed a preference for staying in Toronto, and said he has overheard GM Masai Ujiri state that he will do “whatever it takes” to keep the big man (Twitter link). “I love it up here and I would love to be back,” said Biyombo, who has a shot at getting maximum offers after his playoff performance. Biyombo, who has already decided to opt out of his $2.9MM deal for next season, adds that he would be willing to remain in a reserve role behind Jonas Valanciunas if necessary. “For me it’s about winning,” Biyombo said. “Starting or not starting, it doesn’t matter.” (Twitter link).

There’s more out of Toronto:

  • Kyle Lowry will undergo a physical later today, and the Raptors will determine whether the point guard needs surgery on his right elbow, Lewenberg tweets. Lowry offered support to coach Dwane Casey, saying, “That man is the all-time winningest coach here. He’s been great. … He’s grown every year since I’ve been here.” Casey is expected to receive an extension after being on shaky ground heading into the playoffs.
  • James Johnson and Jason Thompson won’t be back in Toronto, and Luis Scola and Biyombo could be leaving as well, opines Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Wolstat writes that the Raptors’ biggest offseason challenge will be to add more shooting to the lineup without breaking up the current core. He also expects turnover on the Toronto bench, where Andy Greer, Rex Kalamian and Nick Nurse have all been rumored for other jobs.
  • Oklahoma point guard Isaiah Cousins will work out for the Raptors on Tuesday, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
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Bismack Biyombo To Command $16MM+ Per Year?

May 26th, 2016 at 8:54am CST by Luke Adams

Bismack Biyombo and his Raptors teammates had a poor showing on Wednesday night in Cleveland, but Biyombo’s performance over the course of the postseason – and particularly in the Eastern Conference Finals – has increased his value significantly as he prepares to enter free agency. Biyombo is unlikely to command a maximum contract, but at least one Eastern Conference general manager believes the big man will land a deal worth $16MM+ per year, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.

“For someone like (Biyombo), I think when you look at a guy like Tyson Chandler and what he got from Phoenix last summer (four years, $52MM), that’s where you start for a contract,” the GM said. “But you factor in the cap spike and it’s probably going to be high, I’d say, $16-17 million. It’ll be a heck of a $17 million-per-year gamble.”

Another Eastern Conference exec predicted to Deveney that Biyombo will receive an even higher annual salary in free agency, suggesting that a three-year, $60MM deal is within the realm of possibility. Meanwhile, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post tweets that he was also told yesterday that the Raptors center figures to be in line for $16MM+ per year.

Biyombo technically has a player option for 2016/17, which he could exercise to remain with the Raptors, but since that option would pay just $2.94MM, there’s no chance he won’t elect to test the market instead. And since Biyombo has been in Toronto for just one season, the team only holds his Non-Bird rights. That means that, unless the Raptors renounce DeMar DeRozan‘s rights or get creative elsewhere on the roster, there’s virtually no chance that the club will be able to retain Biyombo if his price gets anywhere close to $16MM annually.

So which teams might be fits for Biyombo? Deveney suggests a few possible suitors, including the Celtics, Lakers, Trail Blazers, and potentially the Bulls and Rockets. Whichever team lands the former seventh overall pick would likely be expecting him to start, given his projected salary, which is something Biyombo probably wouldn’t do in Toronto as long as Jonas Valanciunas is healthy.

“Tyson Chandler, Ben Wallace, someone like that, that is what you hope he becomes next year,” the aforementioned Eastern GM said of Biyombo. “He is never going to be a big-time offensive guy. But as much scoring that goes out to the perimeter, that would not matter on a lot of rosters. He can be a starter somewhere.”

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