Bismack Biyombo Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Biyombo, Hornets, Hawks

October 18th, 2015 at 10:30pm CST by Will Joseph

The Raptors‘ signing of Bismack Biyombo for two years and $6MM appears to be a steal so far because of the center’s defense and how vocal he is on the court, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun writes. While the Raptors have several capable scorers, Biyombo fills the role of setting screens and grabbing offensive rebounds, which should help the team a great deal, Wolstat adds. Biyombo, as Wolstat points out, is also only 23.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Veteran Damien Wilkins, undrafted rookie Aaron Harrison and third-year player Elliot Williams appear to be the candidates for the Hornets‘ final roster spot, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer details. Wilkins, Bonnell contends, has the best chance to play among the three because of his experience at small forward. The Hornets are thin at the position after Michael Kidd-Gilchrist‘s season-ending injury, as Bonnell points out. Williams likely has the smallest chance because the Hornets are deep at point guard, Bonnell adds.
Though he was mentored by Gregg Popovich, Mike Budenholzer, who is entering his third season as head coach of the Hawks, has put his own mark on the franchise and its style of play, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. While the Hawks use a system similar to the Spurs, Budenholzer has crafted it to fit his personnel, Vivlamore adds.
Dahntay Jones, a native of New Jersey, said he always wanted to be on the Nets, but Tim Bontemps of the New York Post writes that it’s going to require a surprising move for the team to keep the 34-year-old. That’s because the franchise has made an effort to get younger and there likely just is not a spot for Jones, Bontemps adds. The Nets, as Bontemps includes in his piece, have 13 guaranteed contracts and will likely use one of the two remaining spots on a point guard. The Nets signed Jones to a non-guaranteed deal in September.

Eastern Notes: Porzingis, Raptors, Hawks

October 5th, 2015 at 9:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kristaps Porzingis‘ shooting ability has Knicks assistant coach Kurt Rambis comparing the lottery pick to Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reports. “He might be a combination of both of them just because he can do so many things,” Rambis told the team’s beat reporters on Monday. “You guys haven’t seen it yet and probably all of it won’t come out for three or four or five years, either. He’s got to grow up, mature, develop, get stronger, get used to the NBA game. But he already understands basketball.” Rambis anticipates that opponents will have to craft their defensive gameplans around the team’s rookie power forward because of his “effortless 3-point range,” Bondy adds.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

The Raptors’ unheralded free agent signings of veteran power forward Luis Scola and center Bismack Biyombo could pay large dividends, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca opines. Both are expected to play key roles off Toronto’s bench, as coach Dwane Casey values Scola for his experience and durability while Biyombo could anchor the second unit’s defense, Lewenberg continues. “His [role] is to be our defensive captain,” Casey told Lewenberg. “I think his talking, his shot blocking, his protecting the rim is off the charts.”
Lamar Patterson has made a strong impression on his Hawks teammates as he battles for the 15th roster spot, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Kent Bazemore have all singled out Patterson as having an impressive camp, Vivlamore continues, but the 6’5” shooting guard faces competition from Terran Petteway, Earl Barron, DeQuan Jones, Edgar Sosa and Arsalan Kazemi.
Tobias Harris is showing better accuracy on 3-point attempts above the break, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The Magic’s starting small forward became an above average 3-point shooter from the corners last season and wanted to improve in other areas around the arc, Robbins continues. He hit an above-the-break 3-pointer in the team’s preseason opener and showed that shot again in an open practice on Monday. “I think it’s a big weapon, and I think it’s only going to help our spacing on the court to extend that range out,” Harris said to Robbins. “It’s something that I’ve been working on all summer and I’m going to continue to work on.”

Atlantic Notes: Ross, Nets, Turner, Sixers

September 30th, 2015 at 5:19pm CST by Eddie Scarito

2014/15 Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams departed via free agency to the Lakers this offseason, and the Raptors will look to Terrence Ross to help replace his production off the bench, writes Eric Koreen of the National Post. “The first guy that comes to mind is Terrence Ross,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said of the swingman. “Not only just a scorer, but he’s got to come in and defend. He had an off year last year defending. He knows it. We know it.”

Casey was pleasantly surprised by how vocal a player Bismack Biyombo is on the court, Koreen adds. “I knew [he was a good communicator] just talking to the coaches from Charlotte. I knew that about him,” Casey said. “I didn’t know before they told me. I wouldn’t have guessed it. Great communicator. He’s probably going to be the captain of our defense as far as a guy who can go vertical, block shots, communicate. … Now we’ve got to get everybody else, even the guards to join in on the party, especially in transition.” Biyombo signed a two year, $6MM deal with Charlotte during the summer.

Here’s more from out of the Atlantic Division:

Mikhail Prokhorov once again stated that he has no intention of selling controlling interest in the Nets franchise, Rod Boone of Newsday tweets. The Russian is reportedly working toward a deal that would give him 100% ownership of both the team and the Barclays Center.
The Nets are currently under the luxury tax threshold, but Prokhorov said he would have no problem going “far above the line once again, but it would have to be for the right opportunity”, Tim Bontemps of The New York Post tweets.
The Raptors are hoping that their offseason additions will make for a more cohesive roster and usher in a new on-court identity for the franchise, Koreen writes in a separate piece.
Celtics swingman Evan Turner has an extremely tradeable contract, with him set to earn $3,425,510 in 2015/16, the final year of his deal, but he would prefer to remain in Boston, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays. “I like Boston, I like the town and the city; the restaurants are pretty good too,” Turner said. “I like Boston; I genuinely would like to stay here. I’ve been places where I hated it.” Turner didn’t specify which city’s charms it was that he didn’t appreciate, but for reference, he has previously played in Philadelphia and Indiana.
Italian coach Andrea Mazzon is joining the Sixers‘ D-League affiliate in an unspecified, but important role, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports.
Sixers GM Sam Hinkie said that the team tried to make a bigger splash in free agency this summer than it did, but many of the better players didn’t change teams, Tom Moore of Calkins Media relays (Twitter links). However, the GM is happy with the organization’s progress, saying that it feels like “night and day” from when training camp began two seasons ago, Moore adds.

Atlantic Notes: Biyombo, Nets, Jones, Ledo

July 31st, 2015 at 11:01am CST by Chuck Myron

A relationship that goes back a while and a shared cultural heritage with GM Masai Ujiri paved the way for Bismack Biyombo to accept an offer from the Raptors after Ujiri called him three minutes into the free agent negotiating period, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun details. Both Biyombo and Ujiri are natives of Africa. Ujiri is excited about the center he signed using the room exception, citing Biyombo’s passion for the game, offensive rebounding, shot blocking, defense, physicality and more, Wolstat relays. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Nets insiders tell NetsDaily that the team would be OK with paying a small amount of luxury tax, but one source says it’ll be a long time before Brooklyn becomes a taxpayer again, if it ever does. The guaranteed salaries for the Nets this season total less than the $84.74MM tax threshold, though taxes are based on the roster as of the final day of the regular season.
The Nets had long preferred to rid themselves of Deron Williams instead of Joe Johnson, in part because of Johnson’s veteran presence and knack for scoring, as NetsDaily examines in a separate piece, hearing from sources who suggest Williams’ departure will ease Johnson’s mind, since they didn’t get along.
It’s not certain that Perry Jones III will be on the Celtics roster come opening night, as the team has 17 fully guaranteed contracts, but Boston intends to give the former 28th overall pick every opportunity to stick, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. “With OKC, there hasn’t been as much of an opportunity for him to play as much as he would like as a youngster on a team trying to compete for a championship,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said earlier this week. “But [he is] very athletic, a different type of player than we have in the frontcourt right now with his athleticism and length.”
The Knicks front office was higher on Ricky Ledo than the coaching staff was, sources indicated to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The team waived Ledo on Thursday rather than guarantee a portion of his salary.
It’s been nearly three weeks since the Sixers said Joel Embiid would have surgery on his foot within seven to 10 days, and the team’s silence in that time raises no shortage of questions, as Tom Moore of Calkins Media examines.

How Teams Are Using The Room Exception

July 24th, 2015 at 2:12pm CST by Chuck Myron

The NBA’s salary cap is a soft one, and that’s perhaps no better demonstrated than by the existence of the room exception. A form of the mid-level exception, it’s available for teams that have gone under the cap but spent their cap room. In other words, it’s essentially bonus cap room.

This year, the room exception is worth $2.814MM, and teams can use it to give two-year deals that include a 4.5% raise in the second season. So, the greatest total amount a player can receive using the room exception is $5,754,630. That’s not a lot, but it is significantly more than a two-year minimum-salary contract would entail, even for a veteran of 10 or more seasons.

The rising salary cap in the next few years will likely leave more teams under the cap each year, and thus, more teams with access to the room exception instead of the regular mid-level or taxpayer’s mid-level. That’s already the case for the majority of the league this summer. We noted Thursday that 13 teams stayed over the cap, so that leaves 17 teams that could use the room exception in 2015/16.

So far, only four teams have done so. Here’s a look at how they’ve used the room exception:

Bucks: Chris Copeland — Milwaukee has reportedly agreed to pay the forward $1.1MM this coming season, slightly more than his minimum salary. Thus, the Bucks, who’ve spent their cap space, would have to use part of the room exception for Copeland, leaving $1.714MM still available.
Pistons: Joel Anthony — The Pistons gave Anthony a two-year deal worth precisely $2.5MM each year, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. That leaves a $314K sliver of the exception that the Pistons can’t use in the offseason, since it’s less than the full season rookie minimum salary.
Raptors: Bismack Biyombo — Biyombo appears to have received the full value of the mid-level exception over two years, as Pincus indicates (Twitter links). Thus, Toronto is limited to paying no more than the minimum salary to outside free agents.
Spurs: Manu Ginobili — Ginobili’s contract is the same as Biyombo’s, according to Pincus, but the Spurs arrived at it by an unusual fashion, since they began the offseason with Ginobili’s Bird rights. They renounced those rights to clear cap room for LaMarcus Aldridge and others, circling back to Ginobili with the room exception once they used up their cap space, with Ginobili’s loyalty surely playing a key part. The Heat made a similar move with Udonis Haslem last summer. In any case, the renouncement doesn’t carry over now that Ginobili has re-signed, meaning that if Ginobili uses the player option in his deal to become a free agent next summer, the Spurs will again have his Bird rights, making it possible for him to sign a more lucrative deal with the team a year from now.

These are the other teams that could wind up using the room exception this season. Those with cap space still remaining are noted.

Celtics (cap space remaining)
Hawks
Jazz (cap space remaining)
Kings
Knicks
Lakers
Magic
Mavericks (cap space remaining)
Nuggets (cap space remaining)
Pacers (cap space remaining)
Sixers (cap space remaining)
Suns
Trail Blazers (cap space remaining)

Which remaining free agent do you think would be the strongest fit for a room exception deal, and which team should give it to him? Leave a comment to let us know.

Raptors Sign Michale Kyser For Camp

July 23rd, 2015 at 9:12am CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 9:12am: The deal is official, the Raptors announced.

MONDAY, 12:38pm: The Raptors will bring undrafted power forward Michale Kyser to camp on a partially guaranteed one-year deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Kyser played last week for Toronto’s summer league team. It’s almost certainly a minimum-salary arrangement, since according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), Toronto spent its room exception on Bismack Biyombo.

Many of Kyser’s numbers at Louisiana Tech weren’t overwhelming, as he put up 8.6 points and 6.6 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game as a senior this past season, but at 6’10”, he patrolled the paint well, blocking 2.9 shots per contest. He put up 3.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 0.8 BPG in 14.6 MPG in four summer league appearances.

Neither Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress nor Chad Ford of ESPN.com rated him within their top 100 draft prospects, though Givony did list him as the 74th-best senior in this year’s draft class. Kyser will turn 24 in November, making him older than many rookies. Still, he’s a candidate to wind up on Raptors 905, Toronto’s new one-to-one D-League affiliate.

Eastern Notes: Jackson, Embiid, Raptors

July 20th, 2015 at 6:39pm CST by Will Joseph

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, while appearing on SI.com’s Chris Mannix’s radio show (Twitter link), said the fear of Reggie Jackson signing a one-year qualifying offer played a big role in the five-year max contract Detroit offered. The five-year, $80MM deal was officially announced Monday. Jackson said the offseason moves the Pistons made prior to his agreement — Detroit added Ersan Ilyasova, Marcus Morris, Stanley Johnson and Aron Baynes — reinforced his decision, Brendan Savage of MLive.com writes.

“I knew this was the place I wanted to be,” Jackson said. “But definitely some of the pieces that we signed, that made it that much more sweeter.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News said on radio station 94-WIP (relayed by CSNPhilly.com) that Joel Embiid‘s navicular bone in his right foot was re-broken. The news comes one month after the Sixers announced that Embiid had suffered a setback and a little more than a week after it was revealed the center needed another surgery.
Norman Powell, who the Raptors picked in the second round, will make $650,000 as a rookie, then $875,000 guaranteed in the second year and $1MM (not guaranteed) in the final year of a three-year contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
The Raptors used the room exception to sign Bismack Biyombo, Pincus reports (Twitter link).

Raptors Sign Bismack Biyombo

July 17th, 2015 at 9:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

JULY 17TH, 9:09pm: The signing is official, the Raptors announced in a press release.

JULY 4TH, 12:39pm: The Raptors have reached an agreement with unrestricted free agent Bismack Biyombo, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. The deal is for two years, and $6MM, Wojnarowski adds. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer had pegged Toronto as the likely landing spot for Biyombo earlier this week.

Toronto GM Masai Ujiri and coach Dwane Casey went into the offseason wanting to upgrade the team’s defense, notes Wojnarowski. The 6’9″ Biyombo, along with the team’s other free agent prize, DeMarre Carroll, who agreed to a four-year, $60MM deal with Toronto on Wednesday, can certainly help that desire become a reality.

Biyombo, a former seventh overall pick, did not receive a qualifying offer from the Hornets after making 64 appearances for the team last season. The 22-year-old averaged 4.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 19.4 minutes per contest, and owned a slash line of .543/.000/.583. Through 284 career games, his numbers are 4.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 1.6 BPG.

Free Agent Rumors: Wright, Belinelli, Barea

June 29th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

Dorell Wright is unlikely to return to the Trail Blazers, Jabari Young of CSNNW.com reports. Wright, who was born in Los Angeles, would like to return home and play for either the Clippers or Lakers, Young continues. The Lakers are the more likely suitor for the unrestricted free agent, who made $3.135MM last season, unless the Clippers fail to secure the services of Paul Pierce, Young adds. The Raptors could also make a run at Wright but Young believes the Heat, who were previously thought to be interested in Wright, probably won’t pursue him since Luol Deng exercised his player option.

In other free agent news around the league:

Spurs swingman Marco Belinelli could be targeted by the Bulls if they fail to re-sign Mike Dunleavy, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets. The Bulls have made retaining Dunleavy a priority and he’s comfortable playing in Chicago, Johnson adds. Both players are unrestricted free agents.
The Clippers are interested in C.J. Watson, Lavoy Allen, Darrell Arthur and Gerald Green, among others, according to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter links). They’d like to find a true point guard to serve as a backup, a league source tells Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter).
The Raptors could be a landing spot for Bismack Biyombo, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer tweets. Biyombo will be an unrestricted free agent because the Hornets decided not to make him a qualifying offer.
The Heat, Bulls, Lakers and Mavericks are among teams interested in signing J.J. Barea, a source told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link). Barea is seeking a multi-year contract in the $3MM per year range, MacMahon adds.
The only incumbent free agents the Pelicans don’t appear to have at least some interest in re-signing are Jimmer Fredette and Toney Douglas, as John Reid of The Times-Picayune details.

Biyombo To Become Unrestricted Free Agent

June 29th, 2015 at 4:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Hornets won’t make a qualifying offer to Bismack Biyombo, so the former seventh overall pick will become an unrestricted free agent Wednesday, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The value of the offer declined from $5,194,227 to $4,045,894 when he failed to meet the starter criteria this season, but even that apparently wasn’t enough of an enticement for Charlotte to retain its right to match competing bids for him.

Biyombo’s qualifying offer was a borderline case, and with Noah Vonleh off to Portland in the Nicolas Batum trade, there seemed a greater chance the Hornets would do what they could to keep him around. Charlotte and Biyombo can still sign a new deal, and the Hornets retain his Bird rights, so they can exceed the cap to re-sign him if they wish.