Channing Frye Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Magic Make No Promise About Job For Vaughn

January 13th, 2015 at 10:33am CST by Chuck Myron

Magic GM Rob Hennigan didn’t directly answer a question from Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel today about whether coach Jacque Vaughn‘s job is safe for the balance of the season, though Hennigan described Vaughn’s performance as “solid.” Hennigan echoed Robbins’ report from Monday that the team is delving deep for answers to its continued struggles.

“Look, we’re clearly in a rut and we need to find our way out of it together,” Hennigan said in response to Robbins’ question about his job security. “The buck starts and stops with me. I’m responsible for the team and its performance, plain and simple. I’m constantly evaluating myself and ways in which I can do a better job for our team, and that will continue to be the case, and I’ll continue to make sure I’m evaluating every inch of the organization. It’s my job to make sure that we’re constantly evaluating every aspect of the organization from top to bottom. So, to your question, I’d say that everyone and everything is being evaluated right now. I wouldn’t be doing my job if that weren’t the case. I’ll also say that there’s not one isolated problem or issue and that we need to collectively be part of generating the solution.”

The Magic are coming off Monday’s upset win over the Bulls and sit just three and a half games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but their 14-27 record doesn’t otherwise indicate progress. It’s the third season for Hennigan and Vaughn, who came aboard the same offseason that the team traded Dwight Howard and began a rebuilding effort. Hennigan told Robbins that he believes the team has experienced more frustration than encouraging signs this year. Orlando exercised its team options for 2015/16 on both Hennigan and Vaughn during the past offseason, and Vaughn said recently that he’s not concerned about his job, as Robbins wrote in Monday’s report. Several players say Vaughn isn’t to blame, as Robbins also noted.

“I think Jacque has done a solid job. I think there are certainly areas that we can improve as a team,” Hennigan said when Robbins asked for his thoughts on Vaughn’s performance. “But it’s not our nature to rush to judgment on things. I think we understand there’s a lot of emotion, and we certainly acknowledge that. But as we evaluate anything, it’s our job to kind of eliminate that emotion. I’ve said that quite a few times, but I really do mean that when I say it’s our job to eliminate the emotion as much as we can, especially when it comes to evaluating the team and the staff and especially when we’re trying to troubleshoot challenges that we’re having.”

The Magic brought back only seven players from last season, and while Hennigan told Robbins he believes the turnover on the roster is “a little bit of a factor” in the team’s performance, he doesn’t see it as an excuse. He said that marquee offseason signee Channing Frye “will be just fine” in spite of his sharp decline in scoring this season in the first year of a four-year, $32MM contract, as Robbins relays.

Pacific Notes: Frye, Ellington, Thomas

December 1st, 2014 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Four Pacific Division teams have winning records, and even the one that doesn’t picked up a win Sunday, as the Lakers took advantage of a Raptors team missing DeMar DeRozan to score an overtime victory. Still, every win for the Lakers is in some way a gain for the Suns, too, since Phoenix receives L.A.’s first-round pick for 2015 if it falls out of the top five. The Lakers hold a tenuous one-game lead on the Wolves for the fifth spot in the Reverse Standings in what’s shaping up as one of the best draft position races of the season. There’s more on the Lakers and the Suns amid the latest from the Pacific:

A “theory floated out” suggested that the Suns were upset when Channing Frye turned down his player option this past summer and chose to instead go after marquee targets like LeBron James and Kevin Love, as John Denton of Magic.com writes. The Suns nonetheless reportedly made a push to re-sign Frye on the first day of free agency, though he’s pleased with his new home in Orlando, as Denton details. “It’s just a business part of it and it’s hard to separate business and personal stuff, especially with me being from [Phoenix] and loving the teammates here as much as I did. But at the end of the day, I know I made the right decision [signing with the Magic],’’ Frye said. “I made the right decision, not only for me, but for my family. The [Suns] organization did pretty dang well [when I was in Phoenix] and they are doing well without me. So no hard feelings. Of course, I wanted to continue to play with my [Suns] boys, but I’m finding new friends and working things out in Orlando.’’
The partial guarantee on Wayne Ellington‘s minimum salary jumps from $315,646 to $581,692 if the Lakers keep him through today, as our Schedule of Contract Guarantee Dates shows and as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders originally reported.
The up-tempo style of the Suns helped influence former Kings point guard Isaiah Thomas to choose to head to Phoenix this past summer, as he tells Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. “My teammates are good guys, the organization is great, and the style of play is perfect,” Thomas said. “It’s a big reason why I chose here because it favors my strengths, getting up and down, scoring and shooting at will, and using our strength, which is our guards.”

Southeast Notes: McRoberts, Harris, Frye

November 6th, 2014 at 3:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards haven’t won a division title since 1978/79, but they’re atop the Southeast Division standings today with a 4-1 record. Of course, the season is only nine days old, but Washington is looking strong so far even in the absence of Bradley Beal. Here’s more on the Wizards’ rivals in the Southeast Division:

Heat power forward Josh McRoberts said it was his intention to re-sign with Charlotte when he opted out of his contract to hit free agency last summer, observes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Miami made a stronger recruiting effort at the start, even though Hornets owner Michael Jordan doubled back to meet with him later, McRoberts said, adding that while he felt that some within the Hornets organization, including coach Steve Clifford, wanted him back, he didn’t think everyone did. The Hornets didn’t offer him a deal similar to the four-year, $22.652MM contract he signed with the Heat until Miami already had its money on the table, sources tell Bonnell.
Tobias Harris said the Magic never negotiated on an extension for him before the October 31st deadline, as Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel notes amid a piece examining the year ahead for the forward who’s poised for restricted free agency. GM Rob Hennigan said in September that he had spoken with the Harris camp, and multiple reports indicated that talks indeed took place, if only briefly. Perhaps Harris meant that the Magic didn’t budge from their initial proposals rather than that no discussions took place, though that’s just my speculation.
A fondness for the city of Orlando, the direction of the Magic‘s youthful roster, a chance for more playing time and a recommendation from Grant Hill helped influence Channing Frye‘s decision to sign with the Magic, as Frye told Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. The presence of Harris, Frye’s cousin, didn’t hurt, either, as Aschburner examines.

Eastern Notes: Frye, Jerebko, Thompson, Harris

October 4th, 2014 at 4:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Magic newcomer Channing Frye sprained his left knee during a scrimmage and is expected to miss anywhere from 1-2 months of action, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting. Orlando inked Frye to a four-year, $32 million contract back in July and were counting on him to be a big part of their rotation.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

With Frye out, the player who stands to benefit the most is Tobias Harris, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel opines. Harris is in the final year of his rookie contract and he and the Magic have until the October 31st deadline to sign an extension or else Harris will become a restricted free agent after the season. GM Rob Hennigan says he can’t envision the franchise not keeping Harris, Schmitz notes. Harris’ minutes will increase without Frye in the rotation and it will give him an opportunity to showcase his worth, according to Schmitz.
The Pistons‘ Jonas Jerebko isn’t feeling any added pressure this season despite it being the final year of his current deal, Brendan Savage of MLive writes. “I’d say it’s the biggest season of my career,” Jerebko said. “I’ve been working hard all summer trying to get ready for it. My body feels great, my shot feels great, I’m ready to go. It’s going to be a big year for me and I’m ready for it. Everything is going to fall into place for me.”
Tristan Thompson is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is eligible to sign an extension prior to the October 31st deadline. Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer looked at the pros and cons for the Cavs of giving Thompson an extension.

Hawks Rumors: Friday

September 12th, 2014 at 5:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

It had been a quiet offseason for the Hawks, but they wound up making waves in undesirable fashion this week as racially charged language from controlling owner Bruce Levenson and GM Danny Ferry plunged the franchise into turmoil. We’ll track today’s developments here, and any additional updates will be added to the top.

5:03pm update:

Players union interim executive director Ron Klempner issued a statement acknowledging Ferry’s public apology to Deng. USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt provides a full transcript of the statement via Twitter. “The NBPA deplores the insensitive & thoroughly inappropriate remarks by Danny Ferry,” Klempner said in part. “We are pleased to learn that Ferry acknowledges his statements were offensive, has extended a personal apology to Luol Deng and the other Atlanta Hawks players and that the Hawks organization has determined that discipline of Ferry was warranted.”

3:49pm update:

Kyle Korver says Deng told him he doesn’t believe Ferry or anyone with the Hawks organization is a racist, and Korver also expressed his own support for the team in an interview with Vivlamore. “My thoughts are, when I got traded to the Hawks, I didn’t want to come here because all I knew was what I had heard, about bad culture and no fans and no excitement in the city,” Korver said in part. “So I didn’t want to come to Atlanta. At all. I was bummed to leave Chicago. But by the next summer, I chose to re-sign and come back to Atlanta. After a year of watching what Danny (Ferry) was doing and the people he was bringing in. Everything I saw, was so attractive to me and I really believed in it. I believed that he was going to turn things around. I saw that Atlanta was an incredible city, and that there was so much potential here to both raise my family and help build a great basketball culture.”
Ferry is taking an indefinite leave of absence, as we covered in a full story.

2:46pm update:

The copy of the scouting report, as hosted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that Ferry is to have read indicates that the information came from someone associated with the Cavs. “Con isn’t bad, but it’s there. African-like store front looks great but there’s a black market section in the back,” the report reads in part. It also attributes a “sense of entitlement” to Deng and suggests that Deng held back while with the Cavs last season to protect himself from injury before he hit free agency in the summer, and that Deng “treated Cleveland like a pit-stop.” Still, the report indicates that he’d be welcome to return to the Cavs.

1:17pm update:

The snippet of the report that Vivlamore has posted closely resembles some of what Ferry said on the recording of the conference call. “He is a good guy on the cover but he is an African. He has a little two-step in him = says what you want to hear but behind closed doors he could be killing you,” the report stated in part.

1:08pm update:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV in Atlanta have obtained a copy of the scouting report on Deng that Ferry is to have read during the conference call, Vivlamore tweets. So, that further confirms the report’s existence and casts doubt on the notion that Ferry came up with the disparaging remarks about Deng on his own. The report does reference Deng’s African heritage, according to Vivlamore, but it’s not clear exactly what the report said at this point.

12:34pm update:

An NBA investigator has seen the report from which Ferry is to have read the remarks about Luol Deng that touched off the controversy, a source tells USA Today’s Sam Amick. The league isn’t punishing Ferry, whom the Hawks have already disciplined, and commissioner Adam Silver has said he doesn’t think Ferry deserves to be fired. Thursday’s release of the audio from the conference call in which Ferry recited insults with racial overtones about Deng prompted widespread speculation that Ferry made the comments off the cuff, and that he wasn’t reading from a scouting report. The investigator also heard the audio before it became public, Amick reports.
Levenson sent a sharply worded response to a letter that co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. sent to him in June in which Gearon called for Ferry’s ouster, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution documents within a timeline of the controversy. Levenson cited “false and misleading comments” within Gearon’s letter, and Levenson expressed reservations about continuing his partnership with Gearon. Levenson announced this past weekend that he’s selling his stake in the team.
Boris Diaw, Channing Frye, Pau Gasol, Greg Monroe and Thabo Sefolosha were among the other players the Hawks discussed during that conference call, as Vivlamore notes in the same piece. Of those names, Sefolosha was the only one who signed with the Hawks.

Arnovitz On Lockout, Rockets, Suns, LeBron

July 17th, 2014 at 10:34pm CST by Alex Lee

While members of June’s coveted draft class have yet to wow executives in the NBA summer leagues, it hasn’t curbed the chatter among the league’s decision-makers in Las Vegas, writes ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz. Arnovitz provides a plethora of big-picture issues being regularly discussed in the desert. Let’s round them up here:

Between the hefty prices that NBA franchises have fetched this offseason and a new television deal for the league on the horizon, insiders have been “downright giddy” in Vegas this week. Soaring revenues have resulted in teams investing in technology and analytics, though there is a growing fear that the NBA could be headed for another lockout in 2017.
Speaking of lockouts, the CBA negotiated during the last one has successfully limited the lengths of contracts in the NBA while simultaneously making it more difficult to plan for the long term, according to some executives. By limiting risk, shorter contracts have flooded the marketplace with bidders, in turn driving up the prices on free agents.
The reactions to the Rockets‘ offseason have been mixed, according to Arnovitz. On one hand, GM Daryl Morey has essentially traded Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin and first and second round draft picks for Trevor Ariza, a first round pick and a trade exception. On the other hand, Morey has landed two max players in two years while maintaining the cap space to add another. However, there is sentiment that Morey’s analytics-based approach might eventually discourage future targets from coming to Houston.
The Spurs are still undoubtedly the model franchise of the NBA, though there is a buzz about what the Suns are building in Phoenix. Citing several insiders, Arnovitz writes that the Suns are adding assets while simultaneously producing an exciting product for their fans.
LeBron James‘ return to Cleveland hasn’t evoked nearly as much gossip among league insiders as his departure did, but one general manager expressed appreciation for the Cavaliers‘ star “carrying” the NBA right now from a business standpoint.
The analytics movement continues to devalue the mid-range game, resulting in widespread approval of Channing Frye‘s four-year, $32MM deal with the Magic and even some support for the three-year, $19.5MM deal that Jodie Meeks signed with the Pistons.

Magic Sign Channing Frye

July 14th, 2014 at 3:33pm CST by Zachary Links

JULY 14TH: The deal is official, the team announced via press release

“Channing’s character, competiveness, veteran experience, and leadership ability are valuable additions to our developing team,” Magic GM Rob Hennigan said in the team’s statement. “His ability to stretch the floor and play sound team defense are also ways in which we envision Channing helping our team moving forward.”

JULY 9TH, 9:35pm Frye’s deal will be front-loaded and team-friendly in its latter years, a source with knowledge of the agreement tells Joshua Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. The deal will see decreases of 4.5% each season–the most allowable under the CBA–which projects to salaries of $8,560,707, $8,175,476, $7,807,579, and $7,456,238 for each year.

JULY 7TH, 5:04pm: The Magic have reached agreement on a deal with Channing Frye, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The deal will be for four years and $32MM (link).

While Frye has been garnering interest from around the league, the Magic weren’t seen as a likely destination and weren’t really mentioned as a possibility. The incumbent Suns wanted to re-sign him, the Warriors and Cavs were ready and waiting when Frye opted out of his deal with Phoenix, and there was mutual interest between the big man and the Blazers.

The 31-year-old missed all of 2012/13 with an enlarged heart but wound up playing and starting in all 82 of the Suns’ regular season games last season. Frye averaged 11.1 PPG with 5.1 RPG and 0.8 BPG in 28.2 minutes per contest. He’s had slightly better marks in those categories and in PER, but he was nonetheless a bright spot for the Suns last season.

In a league that is falling more and more in love with the idea of a stretch four every day, Frye is a hot commodity. The 6-foot-11 can consistently connect from the outside and owns a career 38.5% mark on three-pointers.

Orlando has upgraded their power forward situation in a big way this offseason. Frye will presumably be the starter with No. 4 overall pick Aaron Gordon in reserve.

And-Ones: Bosh, Rockets, ‘Melo, Thunder

July 7th, 2014 at 11:28pm CST by Charlie Adams

Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski told FOX Sports 1 that Chris Bosh told the Rockets something that they don’t want to hear: “I want to be in Miami, I want to play with LeBron [James],” (link via Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders). More from around the league..

Carmelo Anthony is “torn” over where to spend the prime years of his career, a friend of the Knicks All Star forward tells Frank Isola of the Daily News. Anthony, 30, is still debating his next move with the Knicks, Lakers, and Bulls as his top three choices, the source claims.
The Knicks are feeling uneasy about the Melo situation, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears. Meanwhile, the Bulls are encouraged by his indecisiveness, writes Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks met today with Pau Gasol, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
In his introductory press conference, new Nets coach Lionel Hollins presented himself as a very different man than Jason Kidd, writes Mitch Abramson of the Daily News.
A bunch of teams, including the Warriors, concluded early after July 1st that Channing Frye would get more than the mid-level exception, tweets Zach Lowe of Grantland. However, teams didn’t expect him to land with the Magic. Frye is set to ink a four-year, $32MM pact with Orlando.
Kobe Bryant is recruiting Steve Blake and Caron Butler to the Lakers, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
Blazers point guard Mo Williams is scheduled to meet with the Mavericks tomorrow, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

LeBron’s Agent Keen On Cavs Return

July 7th, 2014 at 11:12am CST by Chuck Myron

11:12am: There’s still confidence within the Heat organization that James will re-sign with them as there’s difference between Paul’s agenda and that of James, Wojnarowski tweets.

9:14am: It’s at the urging of agent Rich Paul that Cleveland is looking to clear cap flexibility for a max contract for LeBron James, as Paul has given the Cavs the belief they have a strong chance to sign the four-time MVP, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Paul has been telling people for years that it’s been “something of a mission” for him to bring James back to Cleveland, Wojnarowski writes.

James hasn’t been a part of Miami’s recruitment of talent this summer, and that’s sparked some worry surrounding the Heat, as Wojnarowski details. For Cleveland, the ability to sign James would also play a role in rookie scale extension talks with Tristan Thompson this summer, since he’s also a client of Paul’s. Thompson would have increased leverage, with the Cavs in position to pay back Paul for delivering James to Cleveland, Wojnarowski surmises.

The Cavs will try to split their max cap room among second-tier free agents, including targets Channing Frye and Trevor Ariza, if they’re unable to sign James, sources tell Wojnarowski. Cleveland is still thinking about tendering an offer sheet to Gordon Hayward, but the organization expects it wouldn’t extend a max offer to Hayward, and the Jazz plan to match any such offer, Wojnarowski hears.

James still has hard feelings about Cavs owner Dan Gilbert’s sharply worded public letter in response to James’ 2010 departure from the team, as Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier. That letter, which had been up on the Cavs official website for the past four years, has apparently been removed, Windhorst tweets.

Western Notes: ‘Melo, Mavs, Bledsoe, Kaman

July 4th, 2014 at 1:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

The offer the Mavs are making to Carmelo Anthony involves a starting salary of slightly more than $18MM, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link). That would mean a max of $77MM over four years, though McMahon pegs the likely value of the offer at $75MM. In any case, that’s significantly less than the nearly $96MM over four years the Lakers are reportedly offering in a max deal, and about $50MM less than the five-year max that the Knicks have apparently put on the table. There’s more from MacMahon on the Mavs amid the latest from the Western Conference:

The Mavs have confidence they’ll strike a deal to re-sign Devin Harris, presuming they don’t land Anthony or LeBron James, even if some of the inflated agreements around the league this week have pushed his market value higher, MacMahon writes. The team sees Isaiah Thomas as its primary fallback option should Harris sign elsewhere, and Dallas has also been in contact with the agent for Wasserman client D.J. Augustin, MacMahon adds.
There are some who believe that agent Rich Paul’s talks with teams about LeBron are instead intended to pitch clubs on Suns restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe, whom Paul also represents, tweets USA Today’s Sam Amick.
The Blazers came to terms with Chris Kaman believing they wouldn’t be able to sign Spencer Hawes or Channing Frye, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
The Warriors have officially hired Alvin Gentry, Ron Adams and Luke Walton as assistant coaches, the team announced. Gentry, who spent last season as a Clippers assistant, was a candidate for multiple head coaching vacancies this summer. Adams was an assistant with the Celtics last season while Walton was an assistant for the Lakers D-League affiliate.
Marcus Camby, 40, still harbors aspirations of returning to the NBA after missing last year as he recovered from left foot surgery, an injury that prompted the Rockets to waive him just before the start of the regular season.