Chris Andersen Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: 76ers, KG, Knicks, Pacers

July 13th, 2014 at 8:05pm CST by Zachary Links

The 76ers are wise to try and emulate the Spurs, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Like the Spurs, the Sixers are putting emphasis on continuity, as evidenced by their commitment to reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams amidst trade speculation. Of course, they also have a Gregg Popovich disciple in coach Brett Brown. Here’s tonight’s look at the Eastern Conference..

Despite the loss of Paul Pierce, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears that Kevin Garnett likes the direction of the Nets and is “excited” about joining them for the upcoming season. That would indicate that Garnett, who is under contract for $12MM this season, won’t be retiring. That jibes with a report from Tim Bontemps of the New York Post earlier today.
Knicks president Phil Jackson indicated to reporters today that he won’t be spending much more this summer after re-signing Carmelo Anthony, writes Al Iannazzone of Newsday.
Despite all of his idiosyncrasies, Paul George believes the Pacers will be a stronger title contender with Lance Stephenson back in the fold, writes Michael Marot of The Associated Press. “It’s all on Lance’s plate,” George said. “I didn’t have to deal with this because I was a restricted free agent. It’s really up to Lance, but I will say I do want him to come back.”

Cavs Rumors: Love, Andersen, Irving, Miller

July 12th, 2014 at 2:29pm CST by Charlie Adams

Cleveland has had nothing to complain about so far this offseason, landing the first overall selection in the draft, securing Kyrie Irving to a long-term deal, and signing the league’s best player in LeBron James. Let’s have a look at the latest from the Cavs’ camp..

Kevin Love is “intrigued” by the notion of being traded to the Cavs, a source tells Marc Stein of ESPN.com, in a report that confirms the All-Star would still be willing to re-sign in Cleveland now that LeBron will be present.
The Cavs have been in contact with Chris Andersen‘s agent, but haven’t entered into serious talks yet, reports Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio. Amico adds that the Heat are determined to keep the big man from landing in Cleveland.
Irving holds an early termination option for the fifth year on the max extension he recently inked with the Cavs, and the deal will also include a 15% trade kicker, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Talks between the Cavs and Mike Miller are not yet imminent, but Cleveland is Miller’s top choice, hears Amico (Twitter links).

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

Rockets Rumors: Parsons, Deng, Ariza, Pierce

July 12th, 2014 at 11:12am CST by Cray Allred

After striking out on signing Chris Bosh, the Rockets are in scramble mode, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston might have some major rebuilding to do after shipping out Jeremy Lin in a cap-clearing move, and Omer Asik is still set to depart as soon as the Pelicans create room to finalize that separate agreement. Here’s the latest on Houston’s latest turbulence, including more from Feigen’s article:

The Rockets have been in contact with free agent small forwards Luol Deng and Trevor Ariza, a sign that they are considering alternatives to matching the Mavs offer sheet signed by Chandler Parsons, writes Feigen. Houston was prepared to pay Parsons a max salary as a piece in a premier lineup featuring Bosh, but is less eager to do so now.
Paul Pierce recently showed interest in joining the Rockets, although Feigen is unsure if that interest was contingent on Houston obtaining Bosh.
The talks with Deng and Ariza were described as “advanced” by Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (on Twitter). McMahon considers the development a good sign for Dallas’ hopes of acquiring Parsons, but notes that nothing is yet certain.
However, Houston appears out of the running for Deng, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Stein says the Rockets are “still in the hunt” for Ariza.
The Rockets have joined the Heat, Cavs, and Mavs in pursuit of Chris Andersen, tweets Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report.
Earlier, we passed along news that the Rockets have reached a snag in contract negotiations with No. 25 pick Clint Capela.

And-Ones: Wizards, Trade Exceptions, Booker

July 11th, 2014 at 11:42pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA issued a memo this week establishing that teams that trade coaches or other non-playing personnel are not allowed to make any other trades for one calendar year or until the coach or executive’s contract would have expired, whichever is earlier, notes Mark Deeks of ShamSports. The memo also issues guidelines that make it more difficult for teams to dump salary in trades, as Deeks explains.

Eastern Notes: Hairston, Bazemore, Heat

July 11th, 2014 at 8:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

First-round draft pick P.J. Hairston told Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer that he had no idea his agent, Juan Morrow, wasn’t union-certified, as Kami Mattioli of The Sporting News reported Thursday. It’s unclear if the Hornets, who acquired Hairston in a draft-night trade with the Heat, engaged in negotiations with Morrow, but they’d be subject to a $50K fine if they did, as Mattioli notes.

Mavs To Pursue Chris Andersen

June 17th, 2014 at 11:23am CST by Chuck Myron

The Mavs will ask Chris Andersen‘s representatives about his interest in playing in Dallas, but the Birdman prefers to remain with the Heat, according to Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick (Twitter link). Andersen is reportedly set to opt out of his contract and hit free agency next month.

Andersen proved even more valuable to the Heat this year than he did in 2012/13, when he joined Miami at midseason and helped the club to a championship. He averaged 19.4 minutes per game, his most in four years, and his 5.9 rebounds per contest in the playoffs were second on the team behind LeBron James, as Andersen outdid starting center Chris Bosh in that category.

Andersen is a native of Iola, Texas, a town in between Dallas and Houston. Still, Dallas almost certainly sees the Mark Bryant client as a secondary priority, as the Mavs are again poised to go after marquee free agents. Andersen was on a minimum-salary contract with Miami, but his decision to opt out gives the Heat more cap flexibility, and it’s quite conceivable that Miami, which owns Andersen’s Early Bird rights, winds up bringing the Birdman back once the futures of Bosh, James and Dwyane Wade are resolved.

Chris Andersen To Opt Out, Hit Free Agency

June 16th, 2014 at 9:07am CST by Chuck Myron

Chris Andersen will opt out of his minimum-salary contract and become a free agent this summer, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The Birdman re-signed with the Heat in 2013 to a two-year deal that included a player option for the second season. Today’s news doesn’t necessarily mean that Andersen will leave the Heat, or even that he’ll wind up with a higher salary, since he took less than market value to stay with Miami last summer. Still, it appears as though the client of Mark Bryant will explore his options as the future of the Heat’s roster is in flux.

Andersen, who’ll turn 36 next month, scored 6.6 points per game this past season, the second-highest total of his 12-year career. He also averaged 5.3 rebounds in 19.4 minutes per contest with an 18.5 PER as Miami’s first big man off the bench.

The Heat have his Early Bird rights, meaning they can sign him for a starting salary of up to 104.5% of the league average salary, which will likely come in around $6MM. It’s unlikely he’ll merit that much, but he’s probably earned a raise on the minimum. Taking another minimum-salary deal would help Miami keep its team together, but given Andersen’s advanced age, I’m not so sure he’ll be willing to pass up another opportunity to cash in. Still, his decision to opt out does the Heat a small favor, since his cap hold will be $915,243, compared to the $1,448,490 he’d take up on Miami’s balance sheet were he to opt in.

Heat Likely To Pursue Carmelo Anthony

June 12th, 2014 at 3:23pm CST by Charlie Adams

3:23pm: Bosh tells Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that he, Wade and James have never discussed the idea of recruiting Anthony to join them on the Heat, casting the idea of all four playing together next season as “very, very unlikely.”

THURSDAY, 8:13am: Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel downplays the notion of Miami making a run at Anthony, writing in his mailbag column that while the Heat are thinking about trying to sign him, the same is true of Miami and virtually every other potential free agent. Winderman doesn’t think the stars would give up enough money to make the possibility feasible within the Heat’s budget.

WEDNESDAY, 6:52pm: The Heat will attempt to turn their “big three” into a “big four” by making a run at Carmelo Anthony this summer, sources tell Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN. ‘Melo holds a player option for the 2014/15 season that he would need to decline before Miami could purse him in free agency, and we heard earlier today that Knicks were pitching a run at LeBron James in the summer of 2015 to try and persuade ‘Melo into sticking around in New York.

In order for such a scenario to come to fruition, James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh would need to exercise the early termination options in their contracts this summer and then re-sign with the team at a discount. Reports have suggested that the trio of All-Stars were interested in opting out to search of more lucrative deals, but sources tell Stein and Windhorst that the “leading players” of the team, presumably the Big Three, have started to explore their options for creating sufficient financial flexibility to make a run at ‘Melo feasible.

Since the only contract guaranteed to be on Miami’s books next year is Norris Cole‘s $2MM pact, the Heat could find themselves with more cap room than any other team this summer. Cooperation from Udonis Haslem and Chris Andersen, both of whom possess player options, is instrumental in the pursuit of Anthony as well, but it’s certainly feasible the Heat find a way to clear enough room to make Anthony a tempting offer.

James, Wade, Bosh, and Anthony have at least discussed the idea of playing together one day, writes Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (on Twitter), who also tweets that while the idea of the quartet of stars joining forces might be a hard one to swallow, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Meanwhile, Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio opines via Twitter that there’s “no way” ‘Melo joins the Heat this summer. If ‘Melo were to sign in Miami this offseason, the Heat would lay claim to four of the top five selections of the 2003 draft.

Southeast Notes: Jefferson, Andersen, Nelson

December 8th, 2013 at 10:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Al Jefferson calls his decision to sign with the Bobcats a “no-brainer,” but he also tells HoopsWorld’s Bill Ingram that he thinks the Jazz will benefit from letting go of him and Hawks signee Paul Millsap.

“Most definitely, I think Derrick Favors and Enes (Kanter) are going to be big time big men in this league,” Jefferson said. “I kind of had a feeling that it really just wouldn’t make any sense basketball wise to sign back me or Paul Millsap back when you have them two young guys coming up. It was still tough to leave them. I felt like they were my little brothers, but it’s part of the business and it was the best decision for everybody.”

Jefferson had long been a fan of Kemba Walker, and says to Ingram that the former Connecticut guard was one of the Bobcats who recruited him to Charlotte. The ‘Cats are off to a 9-11 start, better than in years past, but they’re only in fourth place in the Southeast, the most competitive division in the Eastern Conference. Here’s more from those teams:

Chris Andersen is 35, but he tells Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick that he intends to play another three or four years (Twitter link). The Heat reserve thinks the two-year drug suspension that kept him away from the nightly NBA grind kept his body relatively spry.
Trade candidate Jameer Nelson has been frustrated with playing off the ball as the Magic try rookie Victor Oladipo at point guard, but he insists that he remains no less dedicated to the only NBA team he’s ever played for, observes John Denton of Magic.com.
The Dwight Howard trade gave Magic cornerstones Arron Afflalo, Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless chances to play the sort of key roles they most likely wouldn’t have been in with their old teams, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel examines.

Contract Details: Andersen, Young, Roberson

July 18th, 2013 at 8:49am CST by Luke Adams

The specific figures on several of this summer's contracts continue to trickle in, so we'll keep passing along any notable details or changes related to those deals. Here's the latest:

Chris Andersen will be getting the minimum salary in his deal with the Heat, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports (Twitter link). Previous reports indicated he'd receive 120%, the most the Heat could give him via Non-Bird rights.
Eric Pincus updated several team salary figures at HoopsWorld, including the Pacers, Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Timberwolves, Pelicans, Knicks, Thunder, Magic, 76ers, and Suns.
Nick Young's deal with the Lakers includes a 15% trade kicker, tweets Pincus.
According to Pincus, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, Carmelo Anthony, and Kendrick Perkins all saw their cap hits for next season increase or decrease, based on having met or failed to meet incentives (all four Twitter links).
While most of this year's first-round picks will sign for 120% of their rookie-scale amount, it appears Thunder first-rounder Andre Roberson signed for just 80% of his, tweets Pincus.
It seems as if Dwight Buycks received a portion of the Raptors' mid-level exception rather than the minimum salary. Deeks tweets that he'll get a guaranteed $700K from Toronto. Buycks reportedly signed a multiyear deal, so it's not clear if his second-year salary exceeds the minimum or includes a guarantee.