Boban Marjanovic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Notes: Lawson, Marjanovic, Mavs

August 7th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Southwest Division put five teams in the playoffs this past season and may well do so again in 2015/16, but it doesn’t receive much love from the ESPN Insider 5-on-5 crew, none of whom rank the Spurs or another Southwest team as the NBA’s best heading into the coming season. The Spurs and Rockets get one nomination each for No. 2, and while San Antonio gets plenty of support for No. 3, Bradford Doolittle and Ethan Sherwood Strauss both cite marquee free agent signing LaMarcus Aldridge‘s need for an adjustment period as one reason why they don’t rank the Spurs more highly. While we wait to see if the Spurs indeed encounter a measure of adversity, see more from around the Southwest here:

The Rockets understand the risk involved in having traded for Ty Lawson, GM Daryl Morey tells Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com, who details Lawson’s string of alcohol-related brushes with the law and his potential path to recovery. “We take those very seriously,” Morey said of Lawson’s issues. “He’s had some very serious incidents in his past and in his recent past. We feel like he’s part of the Rockets family now and through our conversations with him we feel confident he’s getting the help he needs and he’s taken that step to say this is something he needs to do is improve on those areas.”
The agent for Boban Marjanovic disputes the Spurs‘ claims that he’s not healthy enough to play for his national team this summer, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News details. The Serbian Basketball Federation is also fighting the decision that the Spurs made over concerns about ankle and foot problems for the center whom they signed last month. “After the game, he didn’t play basketball for 5 weeks,” agent Misko Raznatovic wrote on Twitter, referring to a June 28th contest (Twitter links). “Absolutely out of physical activity. And now is badly injured and can’t play! NO WAY!”
The subtraction of Monta Ellis, the additions of Wesley Matthews, Deron Williams, John Jenkins and first-round pick Justin Anderson, and the retention of Charlie Villanueva set the Mavericks up to become more of an outside shooting team this coming season, as Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com examines.

Southwest Notes: West, Marjanovic, Ndour

August 4th, 2015 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

David West had kept the Spurs on his radar as a potential destination for years prior to his surprising decision to sign with San Antonio last month for the minimum salary, as the power forward told WRAL-FM in Raleigh, North Carolina (audio link; transcription via Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News).

“At this point, I just want to win games,” West said. “I feel like I’m in a position to where I had a choice to make. I just chose to give myself a chance to win. The Spurs have an unbelievable culture. I just want an opportunity to be in that system and experience it and see what comes of it.”

Among those who signed new deals this summer, West will see the third greatest decline in pay this coming season compared to last. See more on the Spurs amid the latest from the Southwest Division:

The Serbian national team said it will challenge a decision the Spurs have made to pull newly signed center Boban Marjanovic out of international competition this summer, as the Serbian Basketball Federation announced and as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia translates. Serbia provided a copy of a letter the Spurs sent informing the national squad that it had exercised its right to unilaterally withdraw the center from international play because doctors had found a congenital defect in his feet that makes them more vulnerable to breaking. Marjanovic played on a broken foot this spring to help his club team, Red Star Belgrade, win the Serbian KLS League title, as David Pick recently chronicled for Bleacher Report.
Grantland’s Zach Lowe is willing to cautiously bet that the Rockets won’t sign rookie scale extensions with either Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas out the desire for greater cap flexibility next summer. Still, Lowe sees the extension candidacy of Jones as especially fascinating (Twitter link).
Mavs signee Maurice Ndour has a partial guarantee worth $437K on his $874,636 salary for the 2016/17 season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link).

Southwest Notes: Gee, Cunningham, Barea, Spurs

July 20th, 2015 at 10:43pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Pelicans used a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Alonzo Gee and Dante Cunningham, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders passes along (on Twitter). Gee will earn $1.32MM this season, while Cunningham will take home a bit more at $2.85MM. That means New Orleans still has $1.294MM of its mid-level exception remaining and 10 guaranteed contracts on the books. We’ve got more contract details in tonight’s look at the Southwest Division:

The front-loaded deal J.J Barea inked with the Mavericks will pay him slightly more than $16MM over four years, as Pincus reveals in his updated Dallas salary page. He’ll earn $4.29MM this season, $4,096,950 the following year, $3,903,900 in year three, and $3,710,850 during the 2018/19 season. The Mavs upped the Puerto Rican guard’s yearly salaries after missing out on DeAndre Jordan.
It has been a busy offseason in San Antonio, and the most overlooked move that the Spurs have made is the addition of 7’3” center Boban Marjanovic, as David Pick details for Bleacher Report. Marjanovic was a relative unknown prior to last season, but his efficient play and massive size netted him some lucrative offers from European teams that he turned down in favor of the Spurs, as Pick relays.
LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, David West, and Danny Green all have player options in the final years of their contracts, as Pincus notes on his updated Spurs salary page.

Spurs Rumors: West, Lalanne, Marjanovic, Bonner

July 19th, 2015 at 1:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Signing free agent LaMarcus Aldridge was one of several smart moves that should help the Spurs remain a contender for years, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. San Antonio also added David West to strengthen its bench and reached long-term deals with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. General manager R.C. Buford said the franchise took advantage of a unique opportunity. “The free agent market had some people that may consider San Antonio, which is closer to their home,” Buford said. “That won’t happen every year and this was our chance to see if we could make it work, and fortunately for us it did.”

There’s more this afternoon from San Antonio:

West’s contract includes a player option for a second season, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. Because West signed for the veteran’s minimum, he is almost certain to opt out.
Cady Lalanne doesn’t expect to spend next season with the Spurs, but overseas trips are nothing new for him, writes Mike Monroe of The Express News. The late second-round pick came to the United States with his family from Haiti in an overcrowded boat at age 6. He went on to star at the University of Massachusetts and caught the eyes of Spurs brass in a private workout two days before the draft. “He came in and had a really good workout,” Buford said. “He’s an athletic big guy that has a really good shooting form.”
Serbian center Boban Marjanovic’s contract with the Spurs is for one year at a guaranteed $1.2MM, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The 7’3″ center has been a professional since 2006 and made the All-Euroleague First Team for 2015, according to Monroe.
Even though he had to wait for his contract, Matt Bonner is excited to be returning to the Spurs for another season, writes Dan McCarney of The Express News. The veteran sharpshooter re-signed Wednesday for the veteran’s minimum. “I’m not naive enough to think I’m a top priority at this point in my career,” he said. “I knew I just had to be patient and let the process take its course.”

Spurs Sign Boban Marjanovic

July 17th, 2015 at 7:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 7:08pm: The Spurs have issued a press release announcing the deal is official.

TUESDAY, 8:28am: The Spurs haven’t made an official announcement, but the signing has taken place, as the RealGM transactions log shows.

1:38pm: It’s a one-year deal, agent Misko Raznatovic tells Pick (Twitter link).

FRIDAY, 1:09pm: The Spurs and All-Euroleague First Team center Boban Marjanovic have a deal, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter links). The Serbian who turns 27 in August has blossomed overseas since going undrafted in 2010.

Marjanovic spent the past season with KK Crvena Zvezda in his home country, averaging 13.1 points and 8.6 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game. His size is an asset, as he’s variously listed at either 7’3″ or 7’4″. Still, he posted only 0.9 blocks per contest this year, though that might be because few dare to challenge him at the rim.

Financial terms are unclear for the BeoBasket client, though San Antonio appears to have exhausted its cap room, and the room exception seems ticketed for Manu Ginobili. That would leave only the rookie minimum salary of $525,093 for Marjanovic unless the Spurs can make more cap-clearing moves.