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Bucks Waive Caron Butler, Shawne Williams

June 30th, 2015 at 4:35pm CST by Zachary Links

As expected, the Bucks have waived both Caron Butler and Shawne Williams, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Earlier this month, Butler told Racine Sports Zone that he was expecting to get waived by Milwaukee.

Butler, 35, is coming off career lows in points (5.9) and minutes (20.8) per game. He nonetheless shot 37.9% on 2.8 three-point attempts per game last season, so he at least still appears to have value as a spot-up shooter.  The Thunder, Bulls, Clippers, Spurs, Lakers, and Knicks reportedly have interest in the veteran.

Milwaukee acquired Butler and Williams in the Ersan Ilyasova trade earlier this month.  Butler played for the Bucks during the first half of the 2013/14 season.  Williams, 29, played 63 regular season games for the Heat and Pistons last season.  He averaged 5.4 PPG and 2.6 RPG in 17.3 minutes per contest between the two teams.  For his career, Williams has averaged 5.6 PPG and 3.0 RPG in stops with the Pacers, Mavs, Knicks, Nets, Lakers, Heat, and Pistons.

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Free Agent Rumors: Wade, Pierce, Aldridge

June 30th, 2015 at 1:55pm CST by Chuck Myron

The latest free agent rumors..

  • Dwyane Wade is seeking at least $16MM a year on a three or four-year deal, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com.  Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported earlier that Wade was seeking a three-year deal and would welcome $20MM a year.
  • League execs tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (on Twitter) that there is not a robust market for Wade because of his age (33) and history of injury problems.
  • The Wizards are growing more confident in their ability to re-sign Paul Pierce, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Clippers have appeared to be his primary suitor, with the Celtics also reportedly in the mix.
  • In addition to their pursuit of LaMarcus Aldridge, the Spurs could have some interest in former Blazers forward Thomas Robinson, according to Jabari Young of CSNNW.com (on Twitter).  Of course, Aldridge and Robinson have a history together.  Robinson, a former No. 5 overall pick, has bounced around the league quite a bit since he was drafted in 2012.
  • Trail Blazers center Robin Lopez is on the Knicks‘ radar, according to Al Iannazone of Newsday.  Lopez has value to the Knicks as a big man with energy and solid defensive skills.
  • The Thunder are among the teams expected to pursue Caron Butler when he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times writes.  It was previously reported that the Bulls, Clippers, Spurs, Lakers, and Knicks are expected to be in the mix for the veteran, who says he expects to get waived by Milwaukee.
  • Oleksiy Pecherov is eyeing an NBA comeback and is working out with the Nuggets today, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.  Pecherov has played 111 games in the NBA with the Wizards and Wolves averaging 3.9 PPG and 2.4 RPG.
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Latest On Caron Butler

June 28th, 2015 at 6:54pm CST by Will Joseph

Caron Butler, who expects to be waived by the Bucks, is expected to field interest from the Bulls, Clippers and Spurs, reports Shams Charania of RealGM, who cites a league source.

The Lakers and Knicks, according to Charania, are also in the mix. The Bucks plan to waive Butler and Shawne Williams before their guarantee dates on Tuesday, Charania also reports.

Milwaukee reacquired Butler, who played for the team during the first half of the 2013/14 season, and acquired Williams in the Ersan Ilyasova trade earlier this month.

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Caron Butler Expects Bucks To Waive Him

June 12th, 2015 at 9:09am CST by Chuck Myron

Wisconsin native Caron Butler made it clear that he thinks the Bucks will release him rather than guarantee his $4.5MM for next season, saying via text to Racine Sports Zone, “There’s no story here. I’m going to be a free agent on July 1st,” according to SB Nation’s Eric Buenning (Twitter link; hat tip to Marc Stein of ESPN.com). None of Butler’s salary for 2015/16 is guaranteed, but the full $4.5MM would be guaranteed if the Bucks don’t waive him by the close of business on June 30th. Milwaukee reacquired Butler, who played for the team during the first half of the 2013/14 season, in Thursday’s Ersan Ilyasova trade.

The Bucks have their sights set on signing a marquee free agent center, targeting Brook Lopez, Tyson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan, while also prioritizing the addition of a strong perimeter defender and a shooter, as Stein reported overnight. The Bucks have only about $36MM in guaranteed salary for next season, but given their plans for July, it would make sense that they’d want to retain as much flexibility as possible.

Butler and Milwaukee could circle back and work a new deal if he clears waivers, but Butler said in April that if the Pistons released him, he’d only consider signing with contending teams. The Bucks may well have a shot to win the Eastern Conference if they succeed in acquiring all of their targets, though it’d be a stretch to see them emerging as favorites. Still, Butler, at 35 years old, wouldn’t necessarily have his choice of intriguing offers, as he’s coming off career lows in points (5.9) and minutes (20.8) per game. He nonetheless shot 37.9% on 2.8 three-point attempts per game last season, so he at least still appears to have value as a spot-up shooter.

Milwaukee also acquired Shawne Williams in Thursday’s trade, though it’s not immediately clear what the Bucks plan to do with him and his minimum salary, which doesn’t become fully guaranteed until January. Williams shot 39.5% from behind the arc during the first half of this past season when he started in half of his 44 appearances as a member of the Heat, so he would seemingly be an option for the Bucks to consider as they look at shooters.

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Pistons Acquire Ersan Ilyasova

June 11th, 2015 at 3:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:11pm: The trade is official, the Pistons and Bucks have announced. “Ersan Ilyasova is a player we have coveted since we got to Detroit,” said Van Gundy. “Not only is he a proficient three-point shooter that can stretch the floor, he is a high-energy, hard-playing guy who fits extremely well with how we want to play. We are excited about what he can add to our team. We appreciate the contributions of Caron and Shawne. Caron, in particular, is difficult to say goodbye to. Not only did he play well for us, his leadership went above and beyond. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a single player have a more a positive impact on a team than Caron did on ours. He is a special person and we will always respect and appreciate what he did here.”

2:13pm: The Bucks and Pistons have agreed to a trade that will send Ersan Ilyasova to Detroit for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The move will give Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy a new stretch power forward of the sort that he so often employed when he was coach of the Magic. It’ll also set up Butler, a Wisconsin native, for his second stint with the Bucks after he spent the first half of the 2013/14 with Milwaukee, providing the Bucks keep him. Williams is also a stretch four who started 22 games for the Heat early this past season, but he saw little playing time in Detroit after the Pistons claimed him off Waivers.

Mar 24, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) during the game against the Miami Heat at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee won 89-88. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The swap will give the Bucks a chance to clear salary, Wojnarowski notes (on Twitter). Butler is due $4.5MM next season, but that salary wouldn’t become guaranteed until June 30th. Williams likewise is without a guarantee for next season, but his minimum salary wouldn’t become fully guaranteed until January. Ilyasova is due a fully guaranteed $7.9MM next season, with $400K of his $8.4MM salary for 2015/16 guaranteed.

The deal is a further signal that soon-to-be free agent Greg Monroe will be elsewhere next season, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, since Ilyasova plays his position. It also ostensibly gives the team more motivation to acquire a small forward, with the power forward slot accounted for and Butler on his way out of town, Ellis surmises.

It doesn’t appear as though either team will have a chance to create a trade exception, since Milwaukee is under the cap and the Pistons need both the salaries of Butler and Williams to match for Ilyasova. The Bucks will instead have the chance to benefit from an additional chunk of cap flexibility equivalent to Ilyasova’s salary. That gives Milwaukee only about $36MM in commitments for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, leaving enough room to re-sign restricted free agent Khris Middleton to a max deal and still have enough money left over for another marquee restricted free agent. Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times speculates that the Bucks will prioritize the addition of a perimeter shooter to offset the loss of what Ilyasova delivered in that regard (Twitter link).

Ilyasova acknowledged that trades are a part of the business when Woelfel asked for his reaction to the news (Twitter link). That Milwaukee would send him out is no surprise, since his name has been in rumors almost ever since he re-signed with the Bucks on a five-year, $40MM deal in July 2012. The team dangled him in trade talk as recently as the deadline in February, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then.

The 28-year-old Ilyasova is coming off a bounceback season in which he shot 38.9% from three-point range and averaged 11.5 points per game, but he did so in just 22.7 minutes per night, his lowest since he was a rookie in 2006/07. Butler, 35, put up 5.9 PPG in 20.8 MPG for Detroit. Williams saw less than 10 MPG for the Pistons after knocking down 39.5% of his three-pointers in 21.0 MPG for the Heat. Should the Bucks seek outside shooting, they could do worse than keeping Williams on the minimum salary, though that’s just my speculation.

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Pistons Notes: Monroe, Jackson, Butler

April 19th, 2015 at 5:44pm CST by Will Joseph

How active the Pistons were this season in trying to win under coach/president Stan Van Gundy and a restructured front office should play a big role in unrestricted free agent Greg Monroe’s decision on whether or not to return to Detroit, David Mayo of MLive.com writes in a Q&A mailbag feature. Mayo adds that Monroe is known for his introspection so the Pistons’ moves this season — especially trading for Reggie Jackson a month after Brandon Jennings suffered an injury — signal to the big man that they are willing to do what it takes to compete. Mayo adds, citing his own belief, that the Pistons also seem more interested in keeping Monroe than they did a year ago. Monroe has been heavily linked lately to the Knicks, however.

Here’s more from the Motor City:

  • In the same piece, Mayo writes that Jackson’s high number of turnovers won’t have much of an impact on the team signing the 25-year-old to a long-term contract. Jackson, a restricted free agent, averaged 3.5 turnovers in 32.2 minutes as a Piston, both highs among the 20 players to appear for the team this season. His passing ability and three-point prowess impressed the Pistons enough, Mayo adds. The Pistons have been adamant about inking Jackson to a longer deal. Mayo writes the Pistons should offer a deal just shy of the maximum.
  • Mayo, fielding a final question in the Q&A, is unsure if the Pistons will pick up Caron Butler‘s $4.5MM option for next season. “He has another season in him, as long as he isn’t stretched out like this season,” Mayo writes. “Is he worth it at the price? Perhaps.”
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Central Notes: Butler, Monroe, Wiggins

April 12th, 2015 at 4:54pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Caron Butler, whose salary ($4.5MM) for the next season is non-guaranteed, would like to remain with the Pistons next season, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. Butler adds that if he is released, he would only consider signing with true contenders.

“I’m in a good situation,” Butler said. “So it’s a great opportunity to come back and continue the thing on. Or, if not, obviously the best thing for me is to contend. It’s either one or the other. But I won’t be looking for another situation to start over with some guys and stuff like that again. It’s either do this or contend for it all.”

While President of Basketball Operations and coach Stan Van Gundy has praised Butler for adjusting to his role on the Pistons, he was non-committal about whether the the team will bring back the 35-year-old next season. “A lot of things will determine that, where we think we’re going to be salary structure-wise and everything else,” Van Gundy said. The Pistons only have slightly more than $27.8MM in guaranteed salary on the book for the 2015/16 season, as our Salary Commitment page indicates.

Here’s more from Detroit

  • President of Basketball Operations and coach Stan Van Gundy reiterated that he and Greg Monroe have stayed away from business discussions during the season, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. “Greg and I have not spent any time talking about that,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate, number one, to be focusing on anything beyond the rest of the season until the season’s over.” 
  • Monroe was slightly surprised he wasn’t able to sign an extension under Detroit’s old regime, Mayo writes in the same piece. “I thought I did enough and conducted myself in a way to at least get an offer. As people always say, it’s one thing if the player says no. But if I was never even offered anything, that says more to me than any explanation. I don’t really need an explanation once you get to that point where there wasn’t even an option for me,” Monroe said.
  • Andrew Wiggins appears to be the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award and Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer reviews his season as well as the seasons for some of the players whom the Cavs have traded away this year.
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Pacific Notes: Suns, Lakers, Butler

November 27th, 2014 at 4:13pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Isaiah Thomas called the Suns backcourt timeshare “a tough situation” that’s “not what I expected” when he spoke this week to James Herbert of CBSSports.com, but Goran Dragic isn’t upset about the logjam and told Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic that he accepts his minutes reduction. Eric Bledsoe said the team is growing more comfortable with the situation, Coro adds. Bledsoe and Thomas signed long-term deals with Phoenix this past summer, but Dragic can opt out of his deal at season’s end and is reportedly planning to entertain pitches from other teams.

Here’s the latest from the Western Conference:

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Central Notes: Sanders, Bucks, Marion, Billups

September 11th, 2014 at 9:07am CST by Chuck Myron

Murphy’s Law governed Larry Sanders last season after the Bucks signed him to a four-year, $44MM extension, and a report this summer indicated that the team was making him available in trade talk. Still, the Bucks maintain their faith in the 25-year-old, as Milwaukee assistant GM David Morway tells HoopsHype’s David Alarcon.

“Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Larry is in our future plans,” Morway said. “We are hopeful that this year Larry gets back to being the basketball player that he was two years ago. He is a defensive presence and a game-changer on the court. So when you have his length along with Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Jabari Parker, John Henson and then Zaza Pachulia, Damien Inglis, who is very long, and if you play Khris Middleton at the two … We are a fairly long team. We’ve got good experience with O.J. Mayo, Jerryd Bayless … And we like Kendall Marshall. So we are excited for next year.”

The executive had more to say about his club, as we’ll note amid the latest from around the Central Division:

  • Morway says the Bucks are “pretty much done” with their offseason moves, as he also tells Alarcon. Morway mentions the presence of 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster, though it appears as though Milwaukee only has 14. It’s likely he’s counting Marshall’s non-guaranteed deal in the guaranteed category, given the prominent role that Marshall is set to play, though that’s just my speculation.
  • The Bucks had a desire to let Caron Butler play for a winner when they let him out of his contract at midseason last year, as Morway mentions in his interview with Alarcon. Butler joined the Thunder for the stretch run, and while the Pistons are far from contention, the idea that they’ll start winning sometime soon was apparently key to Butler’s decision to sign with Detroit this summer.
  • Shawn Marion‘s pact with the Cavs is fully guaranteed, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), who confirms that he’s getting the minimum salary, which is all Cleveland could give him. It’s a one-year deal, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders salary pages.
  • The leadership of Chauncey Billups is what led the Pistons to sign him a year ago for what turned out to be his final season, but for most of his career he was the rare player who combined professionalism and All-Star talent, writes Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press.
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Pistons Notes: Bower, Butler, Meeks

September 10th, 2014 at 12:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

Chauncey Billups might not be headed for the Hall of Fame, as a majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted in Tuesday’s poll believe, but he’ll remain a Pistons icon, and his retirement serves as further notice of the changing times in Detroit. The 2013/14 season was the last with the organization for Billups, Joe Dumars, and a host of others. Greg Monroe is the only one among the team’s six signees to have played for the team last year, and it seems more likely than not that he’ll depart after his one-year qualifying offer expires next summer. Here’s more from a different-looking Motown:

  • GM Jeff Bower tells MLive’s Peter J. Wallner that he doesn’t see it as a threat to his job that the Pistons hired Otis Smith as the new D-League coach, even though Smith was a candidate to fill the GM job before Bower came aboard. “When Stan [Van Gundy] talked to me, I thought [Smith] was the perfect guy because he embodies everything that the developmental league is all about,” Bower said. “He’s great for this. [The D-League] is about getting the best out of guys.”
  • The chance for plenty of playing time and the promise that the team will be competitive sooner rather than later helped convince Caron Butler to spurn other suitors and sign with the Pistons, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
  • Playing time was also a key to securing fellow free agent Jodie Meeks after a season in which he saw plenty of it with the Lakers, as Langlois notes in a separate piece.
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