Cedi Osman

Latest On Cedi Osman, Cavs

Cavaliers draft-and-stash prospect Cedi Osman is heading to Cleveland to meet with Cavaliers staff, according to international basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Pick reports that Osman has informed his Turkish team, Anadolu Efes, that he’ll pull the trigger on his NBA opt-out worth $1MM.

Osman, a 22-year-old wing, was the 31st overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, but has remained in Turkey for the last two seasons. In 2016/17, he averaged a team-high 13.4 PPG in 34 Turkish League games for Anadolu Efes, chipping in 4.2 RPG and 1.6 SPG.

We heard earlier today that the Cavs have been in discussions with Osman, though it wasn’t clear the team would have the flexibility to sign him this offseason, since the Cavs will likely be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception (worth $5.192MM) and may not want to dedicate most or all of it to a 22-year-old prospect.

For what it’s worth, Pick’s report doesn’t explicitly state that the Cavs have an agreement in place with Osman. While signing with Cleveland would be Osman’s easiest path to the NBA, the Cavs could still trade his rights to another club. Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net noted earlier today (via Twitter) that the Spurs are interested in Osman, though the two teams haven’t yet discussed a possible deal.

Cavs To Make Contract Offer To Kyle Korver

12:30pm: The Spurs, Lakers, and Clippers are also expected to have interest in Korver, per Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net. We can add those potential suitors to the Pelicans and Bucks, who are noted below.

11:57am: The Cavaliers are expected to make a contract offer to Kyle Korver when free agency opens early on Saturday morning, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. While details of that offer aren’t yet known, it will likely come at 12:01 am ET on Saturday, per Vardon.

Because the Cavaliers traded for Korver during the season, they acquired the veteran’s Bird rights along with him, which will allow them to make him a contract offer without any restrictions. However, the team will have to seriously consider the tax implications of an offer to Korver. Cleveland projects to be well over the tax line already, and repeater tax penalties will be significant.

There are also several other teams believed to have interest in Korver. Vardon names the Pelicans and Bucks as two clubs likely to be among the suitors for the veteran sharpshooter, though it remains to be seen how aggressive those teams – or others – will be.

In addition to eyeing a new deal for Korver, the Cavaliers have also had discussions with Turkish forward Cedi Osman, a draft-and-stash prospect who was the 31st overall pick in the 2015 draft. However, with no cap room and only the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.192MM) at their disposal, the Cavs’ ability to offer a significant contract will be limited, especially if they intend to use that MLE on someone else. As Vardon notes, Carmelo Anthony remains on the club’s radar as a probable target if he’s bought out, though there’s no indication that the Knicks are leaning toward that option.

The Cavaliers continue to operate without a full-time president of basketball operations or GM in place. We heard earlier this week from ESPN’s Jeff Goodman that Chauncey Billups and the Cavs remained in talks after Billups issued a counter-offer to the team, but there is still no resolution. Assistant general manager Koby Altman has essentially been Cleveland’s acting GM.

Cavaliers Notes: Korver, Osman, Shumpert, Brown

The Cavaliers were interested in Kyle Korver long before last week’s trade was completed, according to Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. GM David Griffin had been asking the Hawks about Korver for the past 12 months, and former GM Chris Grant tried to sign him in 2013, offering more than the four-year, $24MM deal he accepted from the Hawks. The Cavaliers believed they needed to acquire a shooter as quickly as possible after J.R. Smith had surgery on a broken thumb and Mike Dunleavy Jr. was unable to fit into the offense. Korver, 35, is headed for free agency in the offseason and didn’t fit into Atlanta’s long-term plans.

There’s more this morning out of Cleveland:

  • The Cavaliers refused to part with draft-and-stash prospect Cedi Osman in the trade, Pluto adds in the same piece. The 21-year-old wing plays for Anadolu Efes in Turkey and has developed into one of the best prospects in Europe. He wants to join the NBA next season and the Cavs told the Hawks he wasn’t available.
  • The addition of Korver allowed coach Tyronn Lue to insert Iman Shumpert into the starting lineup, writes Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal. Shumpert is an improvement over DeAndre Liggins, but Lloyd says Lue was hesitant to start him because he feared the second unit would be too thin. Smith may ultimately reclaim the starting spot, but he isn’t expected back until April. The Cavs started installing plays for Korver at Friday’s walkthrough, and Lue likes the idea of teaming him with LeBron James when the reserves are in the game.
  • Former Cavaliers coach Mike Brown talks in depth about his two stints in Cleveland in an interview with Anthony Slater of The San Jose Mercury News. Now the lead assistant in Golden State, Brown reportedly had trouble connecting with Kyrie Irving and was fired for a second time in 2014 when Irving was eligible for a contract extension.

Cavs Notes: Osman, Luxury Tax, James

Cavaliers draft-and-stash prospect Cedi Osman could be dealt in the near future, according to Joe Vardon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Vardon hears there is “interest in some corners” for the 6’8” forward, who reportedly wants to play in the NBA next season. Osman, 21, is averaging 8.9 points and shooting 45% from the field for Anadolu Efes Istanbul. What makes him attractive, as Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer points out, is his 41% shooting from 3-point range. Osman was selected in 2015 with the No. 31 overall pick by the Timberwolves. His draft rights, along with those of forward Rakeem Christmas and a future draft pick, were then shipped to the Cavs in exchange for the draft rights of point guard Tyus Jones.

In other musings involving the club:

  • The Cavs’ ability to make moves is hamstrung by their luxury-tax and draft pick issues, as Pluto details. Chris Andersen and Mo Williams are out for the season and J.R. Smith is out 12-14 weeks after thumb surgery, leaving them with just 12 players. But if they cut Williams to sign a minimum salary player, he would cost about $10MM because of the luxury tax implications, according to Pluto, while cutting Andersen for a minimum player would cost them $7MM.
  • Cleveland cannot move any first-round picks prior to the 2020 draft in a trade, according to Pluto. That’s because it dealt its 2018 pick in the Channing Frye acquisition last season and teams aren’t allowed to deal picks in consecutive years.
  • LeBron James, who turned 32 on Friday, feels strong heading into the New Year and the stats bear that out, Vardon writes in a piece comparing James to Michael Jordan when Jordan was 32. He’s averaging 8.6 assists, equaling his career high, and his 25.4 point average is in line with his output over the last two seasons. His 7.9 rebounding average is his highest since the 2012/13 season with the Heat. “I’ve told you guys, I feel great,” he told Vardon and other reporters. “I’ve conditioned myself and I’m having one of the best statistical categories seasons of my career so far and I just want to try to continue to keep it going.”

Cedi Osman Eager To Join Cavs Next Season

The Cavs recently met with Turkish swingman Cedi Osman, who told them he wants to play in the NBA next season, a source told international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Cleveland holds Osman’s rights by virtue of a draft-night trade in 2015.

The reaffirms a summertime report that Cavs GM David Griffin and his staff were keeping a close eye on Osman with the idea of signing him next season.

The 21-year-old Osman, who was born in Macedonia, was selected with the No. 31 overall pick by the Timberwolves. His draft rights, along with those of forward Rakeem Christmas and a future draft pick, were then shipped to the Cavs in exchange for the draft rights of point guard Tyus Jones.

The draft-and-stash prospect is a member of the Turkish national team and plays for Anadolu Efes Istanbul. He averaged 7.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 20 minutes last season.

In his DraftExpress profile prior to the draft, the 6’8”Osman was considered “a very mature prospect with a great pedigree and a clear passion for the game,” adding that “he has already established a niche for himself as an offensive garbage-man who is willing to do the dirty work defensively and contribute with his unselfish mentality and strong feel for the game.”

If Osman were to sign with the Cavs, he’d probably have to settle for a relatively modest salary. Though the Cavs only have eight guaranteed contracts for the 2017/18 season, all but two of them are at least $10MM, with the trio of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving alone eating up $75MM in cap space. There could be a need for a wing player, as James Jones becomes a free agent after the season and Mike Dunleavy‘s $5.175MM salary for next season is not guaranteed.

Cavaliers Notes: Smith, McRae, Felder, Liggins

GM David Griffin isn’t concerned about the possibility of losing J.R. Smith, writes Sam Amico of Amicohoops. There reportedly has been little interest outside of Cleveland in the 30-year-old free agent shooting guard, who started 77 games during the regular season and was an important contributor to the Cavaliers’ championship run. “These things sometimes take time,” Griffin said. “When the time is right, something will get done. I’m very confident about that.” The team has remained in contact with with Smith, tweets Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com, who adds that Smith’s situation is not related to LeBron James‘ contract talks. Haynes says James is “no rush” to wrap up his new deal.

Central Notes: Monroe, Butler, Osman, Johnson

Bucks GM John Hammond believes the team’s plan for a new arena, which has since cleared all hurdles for public funding, played a role in convincing Greg Monroe to sign with the team, as Hammond told NBA TV’s Dennis Scott and TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Monroe cites advice from former Bucks who became his teammates on the Pistons. 

“When I signed, it wasn’t all the way done yet, but now, they have a new stadium coming,” Monroe said. “And I saw how the fans were. We played there, been coming there for years now, multiple times a year in the division. I know what kind of fan base they have. And I talked to a couple of my former teammates in Detroit who played here before, and they had nothing but great things to say about the city and the organization. So with all of that combined, I just definitely felt I made the right decision.”

See more from the Central Division:

  • Jimmy Butler thinks new Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg will improve the team’s floor-spacing, an element Butler thought was “terrible” last season, but Butler, in an interview with Aldridge for the same piece, identifies Hoiberg’s personal touch as the most significant change from former coach Tom Thibodeau.
  • The Cavs spoke with No. 31 overall pick Cedi Osman about a month ago, but he’s planning to remain overseas with Anadolu Efes, where he has a contract that runs through at least 2017/18, for the next two seasons, as Osman writes for Eurohoops.net. “I’m happy that my rights are owned by the Cleveland Cavaliers and I hope that when I go there, I’ll meet LeBron James!” Osman writes. “I have a lot to learn from him!”
  • Stanley Johnson was a surprise pick at No. 8 with Justise Winslow still on the board and he struggled in the Pistons‘ open scrimmage Saturday, apart from a highlight-reel play, but he’s otherwise made a strong impression with the team so far, observes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.

Cavs Talk Deal With No. 31 Pick Cedi Osman?

The Cavaliers recently met with small forward Cedi Osman, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). Cleveland selected Osman with the No. 31 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft after acquiring the pick from the Timberwolves along with the No. 36 overall selection in exchange for the rights to Tyus Jones, who was taken with the No. 24 pick.

It’s unclear where Osman fits in the Cavs’ plans for 2015/16, with the team already having 13 players possessing fully guaranteed deals, and a total roster count of 16. This doesn’t include Tristan Thompson, who may end up signing a one-year qualifying offer with the team. Cleveland’s depth chart at small forward begins, of course, with LeBron James, who will also spend time at power forward throughout the course of the season. The team also has Richard Jefferson and James Jones on hand for depth at the three spot.

Osman, 20, spent the 2014/15 campaign playing for the Turkish club Anadolu Efes. The forward made 27 appearances and averaged 6.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.1 assists to accompany a slash line of .397/.303/.667.

NBA Draft Withdrawal Deadline Updates

The deadline for college underclassmen to pull out of the draft and retain NCAA eligibility was way back on April 12th, but the NBA’s deadline isn’t until 4:00pm Central time today. That means that prospects from overseas who aren’t automatically draft-eligible finally have a decision to make. It’s possible that an early entrant from college or two will pull out, too, though that would force them to play in the D-League or overseas next season.

We’ll be tracking news of each player withdrawing from the draft today with this post, and we’ll pass along news about players deciding to stay in the draft here, too. A few reports came in over the recent days and weeks — Cyprus-born small forward Aleksandar Vezenkov is expected to withdraw, and so will German forward Paul Zipser, while South Korean center Jong-Hyun Lee is staying in the draft — but if the narrative changes on them, we’ll note it.

A few prospects changed their minds in the hours leading up to the deadline last year, so we’ll transfer names from one list below to the other if that happens again. Once it’s all settled, we’ll update our early entrants list with the final account as the draft, set for a week from Thursday, approaches.

So, here’s our list as it stands now. We’ll update it and bump it to the top of our home page as new information comes in.

Withdrawing from the draft

  • Brazilian point guard George de Paula, aka George Lucas, has left the draft, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
  • Rade Zagorac, a Serbian small forward is out of the draft, agent Misko Raznatovic says, as Givony reports (Twitter link).
  • Russian center Andrey Desyatnikov will withdraw from the draft, according to the ASM Sports Agency, Givony tweets.
  • Nedim Buza, a small forward from Bosnia and Herzegovina, will pull out of the draft, Givony tweets.
  • Combo forward Lucas Dias, aka Lucas Dias Silva, and small forward Humberto Gomes, both from Brazil, have withdrawn from the draft, according to their agent, as Givony tweets.
  • Point guard Miroslav Pasajlic, shooting guard Dusan Kutlesic and center Djoko Salic, all from Serbia, are pulling out of the draft, agent Alex Raskovic tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Another Serbian, center Marko Tejic, will also withdraw from the draft, Raznatovic tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Vladislav Korenyuk, a Ukrainian center, will pull out of the draft, agent Saulius Svetkauskas confirmed to Oleksandr Proshuta of basket-planet.com (Twitter link; hat tip to Givony).
  • Brazilian shooting guard Danilo Fuzaro will withdraw, agent Vinicius Fontana tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Moussa Diagne, a center from Senegal, is out of the draft, according to agent Herb Rudoy, as Givony tweets.
  • French power forward Alexandre Chassang will pull out of the draft, according to agent Pedja Materic, Givony tweets.
  • Big man Alpha Kaba of France won’t keep his name in, either, Materic says, as Givony relays (Twitter link).
  • Swingman Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, another Frenchman, is also coming off the early-entrant list, Materic tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Simone Fontecchio, a small forward from Italy, is pulling out of the draft, a source told Daniele Labanti of Corriere di Bologna (Twitter link).
  • French small forward Kevin Harley has decided to come off the draft board, agent Olivier Mazet tweets (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
  • Latvian center Andzejs Pasecniks is withdrawing from the draft, agent Artūrs Kalnītis tweets (hat tip to Givony).

Remaining in the draft

  • It’s no surprise, but Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis and Croatian shooting guard Mario Hezonja, both candidates to become top-10 picks, will stay in the draft, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
  • Guillermo Hernangomez, a center from Spain, will stick on this year’s early entrants list, according to the ASM Sports Agency, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
  • Serbian point guard Nikola Radicevic is staying in the draft, agent Alex Raskovic said to Givony (Twitter link).
  • Mouhammadou Jaiteh, a center from France, will remain draft-eligible, agent Herman Manakyan tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Serbian center Nikola Milutinov will stay in the draft, agent Marc Fleisher says, according to Givony (on Twitter).
  • Satnam Singh, a center from India, is keeping his name on the draft list, agent Travis King tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Macedonian-born small forward Cedi Osman will stay in the draft, tweets Can Pelister of Trendbasket.
  • Greek power forward Dimitrios Agravanis is staying in the draft, tweets agent Georgios Dimitropoulos (hat tip to Givony).

Draft Notes: Combine, Montero, Osman

Turkish swingman Cedi Osman indicated that he is most likely two years away from joining the NBA, and that he wishes to gain more experience by continuing to play overseas,

Here’s more draft related items:

  • Bowling Green product Richaun Holmes will participate in the NBA Draft combine in Chicago, according to Hoops Rumors’ Zach Links (via Twitter).  Zach spoke with Holmes late last month to kick off the Hoops Rumors Draft Prospect Q&A series.
  • Westchester Community College swingman Luis David Montero has qualified to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports tweets. The NBA league office relayed that Montero’s early entry letter was received prior to the declaration deadline, Spears notes. The 6’7″ Dominican isn’t currently projected to be selected come June.
  • With the NBA Draft combine set to begin next week, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders runs down six potential sleeper picks who will be participating in Chicago. According to Koutroupis, these players are Larry Nance Jr. (Wyoming), Norman Powell (UCLA), Keifer Sykes (Wisconsin-Green Bay), Chris Walker (Florida), and Joseph Young (Oregon).
  • Utah point guard Delon Wright would be a solid draft selection this June for a contending team looking for a role-player who could contribute almost immediately, Ford, Kevin Pelton, and Fran Fraschilla of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) write in their profile of the 23-year-old. Wright is the No. 26 ranked prospect according to both ESPN.com and DraftExpress.