Carmelo Anthony

Western Notes: Miller, Kings, Bledsoe, Pelicans

Mike Miller is scheduled to meet with the Nuggets today, reports John Martin of ESPN929.com. The article also notes that the Grizzlies made an initial offer of two-years and an annual salary between $2.4MM and $2.9MM. The Thunder, Rockets, and Trail Blazers are all reportedly interested in Miller’s services, notes Martin.

More from the west:

  • The Kings are looking to clear up their overstock of power forwards through the trade market, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter links). The team is seeking a defender and a shot blocker to shore up their interior, and also want to free up some of the cap space tied to that position, notes Jones.
  • The Suns and Eric Bledsoe‘s agent Rich Paul are in early stages of contract talks, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Spears also notes that many of Bledsoe’s other suitors are in a holding pattern until Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James make their decisions.
  • Bogdan Bogdanovic signed a four-year deal with Fenerbahce that contains an NBA out clause in 2016, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Bogdanovic was the 27th overall pick of the Suns in this year’s NBA Draft.
  • The Pelicans lack of action on the free agent front is disconcerting, writes Jimmy Smith of the Times Picayune. One stopping block is the team’s need to clear enough cap space to complete the trade of Omer Asik, notes Smith.
  • Jeff Withey’s minimum salary for this coming season became partially guaranteed for $100K when he remained on the Pelicans‘ roster through Saturday. It’ll become fully guaranteed if the Pelicans decline to waive him before the end of July 22nd, as our Schedule of Contract Guarantee Dates shows.
  • The Thunder has named Darko Rajakovic as an assistant coach, the team announced via a press release. Rajakovic led Tulsa to a combined 51-49 record over two seasons, including a 27-23 record and NBA D-League Semifinals appearance in 2012/13. Coach Scott Brooks had this to say, “Darko’s diverse basketball background, knowledge of the game and ability to develop players at a high level were clearly apparent during his time in Tulsa, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to add him to our staff. His understanding of the core tenants of what we do, thanks to his time in Tulsa, will maintain a level of consistency that we value and his various head coaching experiences internationally will provide another layer to our coaches.”

Mavs Notes: Anthony, Hayward, Gasol

A source told Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Carmelo Anthony is going to re-sign with the Knicks and that his inclusion of the Mavericks on his recruiting trip was a “charade.” Anthony has also met with the Lakers, Bulls, and Rockets.

More from Dallas:

  • Price also tweets that between Vince Carter and Shawn Marion, the Mavs have a better chance at re-signing Carter, but they would like both players back.
  • The Mavericks still have Gordon Hayward on their free agent shopping list, reports Price  (Twitter link), but the Jazz have maintained they will match any offer sheet that Hayward signs.
  • The Mavs are also keeping a close watch on Pau Gasol, and envision him backing up both Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler, tweets Price.

Western Notes: Pelicans, Hawes, Anthony, Bosh

The Pelicans haven’t made any moves in the free agent market yet, but still have Anthony Morrow in their sights, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune. New Orleans’ primary focus though, continues to be finding a trade partner to move either Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers or center Alexis Ajinca in an effort to create enough cap space to absorb center Omer Asik‘s $8.4MM cap hit, notes Reid. The article also notes that several teams remain interested in acquiring forward Ryan Anderson in a trade, but the Pelicans are still reluctant to part ways with him.

More from the Western Conference:

  • Spencer Hawes was the Trail Blazers primary free agent target this summer, writes Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Haynes reports that Portland offered the exact same contract terms as the Clippers, but Hawes found Los Angeles to be a better fit.
  • Despite the reports that the Knicks are likely to retain Carmelo Anthony, the Lakers made a major impression on the free agent, reports Bill Simmons of ESPN.com (Twitter link). According to Simmons’ sources, it’s now a three team battle between New York, Los Angeles, or the Bulls to land ‘Melo’s shot attempts.
  • Chris Bosh definitely has an interest in the Rockets and Mavs, reports Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Twitter link). Amico also notes that Bosh has “zero knowledge” of what LeBron James is going to do in free agency.

Eastern Notes: Hamilton, Anthony, Deng

Justin Hamilton is mulling a guaranteed two-year contract from a team in Zagreb, reports Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Hamilton is signed to a non-guaranteed contract with the Heat for 2014/15. Hamilton has an unusual contract in that he is scheduled to make a base salary of $816,482, and if he is not waived before August 1st $408,241 becomes guaranteed, and if he’s not waived by December 1st, then $612,362 of that contract becomes guaranteed. You can check out our Schedule of Contract Guarantee Dates for more info on Hamilton and non-guaranteed contracts throughout the league.

More from the east:

  • Carmelo Anthony is expected to make a decision where he will be playing next season shortly, perhaps within the next 24 hours, reports Fred Kerber of The New York Post.
  • Luol Deng sat down with the Heat‘s Pat Riley today to discuss the possibility of Deng bringing his talents to South Beach, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. The meeting was described as “preliminary,” and Deng reportedly will not take a salary significantly below his market value, believed to be above $10MM per season, to sign with the Heat.
  • Danny Ainge hasn’t given up on trying to work out a trade that would bring Kevin Love to the Celtics, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

Free Agent Rumors: Bosh, LeBron, ‘Melo

So far today we’ve heard that Devin Harris struck a deal to remain in Dallas, while the Bucks are trying to find a way to pry one of Eric Bledsoe or Greivis Vasquez away from their respective clubs. Let’s have a look at even more happenings around the free agency front:

  • Chris Bosh is the key to keeping the Big Three together in Miami, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Unfortunately for the Heat, there are rumblings around the league that Bosh might actually prefer to take a max-salary contract elsewhere rather than stay in Miami for a discount.
  • At this point, some teams actually believe LeBron James is more likely to leave the Heat than Carmelo Anthony is to depart from the Knicks, passes along Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
  • A source tells K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune that the Bulls would hope to engage the Lakers in sign-and-trade possibilities should they get a verbal commitment from Pau Gasol.  The Bulls would dangle the expiring $16.8MM contract of Carlos Boozer and likely would have to include sweeteners, possibly in the form of draft picks.
  • If ‘Melo re-signs with the Knicks, expect Phil Jackson to make a run at trading for Kevin Love, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN.  Still, Wolfson doesn’t see a good match between the Wolves and Knicks.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Carmelo May Take Less Than Max From Knicks

In their meeting earlier this week, Knicks president Phil Jackson told Carmelo Anthony he can have the team’s maximum 5-year, $129MM contract if he wishes. However, Marc Berman of the New York Post has learned there’s a distinct possibility Anthony will still decide to take a little less than the max.

One scenario would be Anthony starting at the max $22.4MM, but taking a 7.5% pay reduction in Year 2, as allowed by the collective bargaining agreement.  That reduced salary for 2015/16 would give the Knicks a little more cap space next summer.

A source close to Anthony said he has confidence Jackson and General Manager Steve Mills will make the Knicks top-flight contenders in the future, but was unsure about their ability to upgrade the team for this season.  Anthony understandably does not want to go through another 37-45 campaign.

I don’t think the money ever was the most important part,’’ the source said. “I think his concern was, could they make the team better this season? He is comfortable in the outer years, but needed to be convinced about the upcoming year.’’

It was reported yesterday that Anthony left the meeting with the Zen Master feeling like the two men had a shared vision for the future of the club.

Knicks Will Not Take Boozer In Sign-And-Trade?

JULY 5th: While some have been skeptical that the Knicks would go for Boozer in a sign-and-trade, new team president Phil Jackson would have to consider it, and a person with knowledge of the situation said it’s expected that he would, writes Sam Amick of USA Today.

JULY 1st: The Bulls might want to work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Knicks for Carmelo Anthony, but they won’t be able to do it with Carlos Boozer, writes Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.  Chicago would probably want to include Boozer, who has been mentioned as an amnesty candidate, in such a deal, but the Knicks aren’t interested in the veteran forward.

Of course, this is all somewhat premature since the Bulls have yet to reach out to New York about an S&T scenario.  Still, it stands to reason that the Knicks would want to get something in return for Melo if he skips town.

Boozer is set to earn $16.8MM this season and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is probably less than thrilled about the prospect of paying him for nothing.  However, if he’s willing to go through with the amnesty clause, Broussard lays out some possibilities for the Bulls if they get Anthony to agree to sign.  If the Bulls dump Boozer and trade away Mike Dunleavy for nothing, could start a four-year deal for Anthony at $15MM in the first year.  If they moved Jimmy Butler as well, they could start Melo off at $17MM.  Of course, that’s still less than the $22.4 million the Knicks can offer him next season.

And-Ones: Bogdanovic, Blatt, Anthony

Serbian shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, the 27th overall pick of the Suns,  is finalizing four-year deal with Fenerbahce, reports David Pick of Eurobasket. The deal contains an NBA escape clause after the second year, according to Pick.

Here’s more from around the league:

Eastern Notes: Pistons, Raptors, Rose

Andre Drummond said he’ll do whatever’s necessary to convince restricted free agent Greg Monroe to remain with the Pistons and feels confident Monroe will return given his affection for Detroit, as Drummond told MLive’s David Mayo. Drummond expressed doubt that the team would trade Josh Smith, in spite of rumors.

Here’s more from the east:

  • The dispute over just how large a role Derrick Rose played in Chicago’s pitch to Carmelo Anthony seems to indicate a disconnect somewhere, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com believes it signals a deeper misunderstanding between the Bulls and Rose’s camp (Twitter links).
  • Bruno Caboclo and Lucas Nogueira appear likely to join the Raptors this year, but GM Masai Ujiri has indicated that the team probably won’t ink second-round pick DeAndre Daniels for this coming season, writes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
  • The Raptors are enamored with P.J. Tucker, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, who wonders if the team will throw an offer sheet his way now they know Steve Novak‘s contract is coming off the books (Twitter links).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Carmelo Anthony Rumors: Friday

Carmelo Anthony has been plenty busy, meeting with five teams in the first three days of free agency. He doesn’t have a visit on the agenda today as he takes the holiday weekend to decide where to play next season, but there’s still chatter surrounding the perennial All-Star. Here’s the latest:

  • The Knicks already appeared to be leading the ‘Melo sweepstakes, and Thursday’s meeting between Anthony and the team only upped New York’s chances, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Team president Phil Jackson cleared any doubt about the strength of his desire to have Anthony re-sign and the star forward left the meeting mostly sharing the Zen Master’s vision for the club’s future, Wojnarowski hears.
  • A brief hello was all there was to Derrick Rose‘s participation in the Bulls‘ recruiting pitch to Anthony on Tuesday, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Most other reports indicated that Rose had a somewhat larger presence, speaking to ‘Melo for 15 to 20 minutes in the locker room, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune notes via Twitter. The Bulls never asked him to formally take part in its presentation, but he would have done so if they had, as Broussard details.
  • Anthony and Kobe Bryant aren’t as close as most dispatches make it seem, a person who knows both well tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.