Cliff Alexander Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Players Catch On With D-League Franchises

October 26th, 2016 at 8:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

Several players who were recently waived out of the NBA have reached agreements with D-League teams, according to Chris Reichert of The Step Back:

Spencer Dinwiddie, released on Friday by Chicago, has signed with the Windy City Bulls (Twitter link). Chicago, which acquired Dinwiddie in a deal with the Pistons, then waived and later re-signed him, parted ways with the guard again despite being at the roster limit of 15.
Johnny O’Bryant, who was waived by the Wizards on Friday, has signed a D-League contract and will be eligible for the draft (Twitter link). The 23-year-old power forward spent the past two seasons with the Bucks.
Vince Hunter, who was waived by the Bulls and Grizzlies this month, will return to the Reno Bighorns (Twitter link). Hunter, 22, is a 6’8″ forward out of Texas-El Paso who has yet to play in the NBA.
Cliff Alexander, who was released by the Magic, has signed with the Erie BayHawks (Twitter link). The 20-year-old power forward played eight games for the Trail Blazers last season.
Chris Douglas-Roberts will return to the Texas Legends, where he finished the 2015/16 season (Twitter link). The 29-year-old swingman last played in the NBA in 2014/15, when he spent 12 games with the Clippers.
Josh Childress, who has been out of the NBA for almost three full seasons, signed with the Texas Legends (Twitter link). The 33-year-old swingman’s last NBA experience was four games with New Orleans during the 2013/14 season. He finished last season with the Legends after playing in Australia. (Update: Report denied by Childress’ agent; Reichert has removed his tweet)

Also, from the D-League Digest:

Axel Toupane, who was waived by the Nuggets, will return to Raptors 905 (Twitter link). The 6’7″ small forward played 21 games for Denver last season.
Jarell Eddie, who was released by the Wizards on Friday, will return to the Austin Spurs (Twitter link). Eddie, 24, appeared in 26 games for Washington a year ago.
J.J. O’Brien, who was cut by the Bucks, has signed with the Salt Lake City Stars (Twitter link). A 24-year-old small forward, he got into two games with the Jazz last season.
Egidijus Mockevicius, who was waived last week by Brooklyn, will play for the Long Island Nets (Twitter link). The 24-year-old Lithuanian forward has no NBA experience.
Veteran point guard Jannero Pargo has signed with Oklahoma City Blue (Twitter link). The 37-year-old last played for the Hornets in 2014/15.

Magic Waive Alexander, Dawson, Murphy

October 16th, 2016 at 9:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Magic have waived Cliff Alexander, Branden Dawson and Kevin Murphy, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Goodman. GM Rob Hennigan announced the moves, which bring the roster down to 16, after tonight’s game with the Hawks.

Alexander, 20, is a power forward/center who appeared in eight games with the Trail Blazers last year after signing as an undrafted rookie out of Kansas. Portland waived him in July before his salary for this season became guaranteed.

Dawson is a 23-year-old power forward who played six games for the Clippers last season. He was a second-round pick out of Michigan State, but spent most of the year in the D-League.

Murphy, 26, is a shooting guard who has played for three D-League teams and spent time in China and Japan. He played 17 games for Utah in 2012/13 after being taken by the Jazz in the second round of the 2012 draft.

And-Ones: Fredette, Alexander, Hunter

September 12th, 2016 at 9:13pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jimmer Fredette, who signed a one-year deal to play for the Shanghai Sharks in China, is disappointed he isn’t playing in the NBA this season, but looks at his overseas trek as the next chapter in his career, Dick Harmon of The Deseret News writes. “I’m anxious to get it started,” Fredette said. “It is very similar to an NBA style of play with the Sharks,” Fredette said. “And in a city three times the size of New York City, it will be a lot of fun. I can’t imagine a city that size after being in New York last year.”

The guard hopes his experience overseas will make him a better player and help him land another NBA shot in the future, Harmon relays. “I just want to get better. My goal is to improve everything I do,” Fredette said. “As an American, they want you to go over there and score the basketball, to be free and play your game and try to produce. That’s my game, to be aggressive, to score, make the right play. I think it will continue to grow my confidence and get me prepared for my future.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Magic training camp signee Cliff Alexander is a decent pick-and-roll player, has good hands and is physical around the rim and in the paint area, NBA.com’s Josh Cohen opines in his analysis of the player. The 20-year-old will compete for one of the remaining two regular season roster spots in Orlando during the preseason.
LeBron James, James Jones and Chris Paul have been served with notices of deposition in former NBA players’ union executive director Billy Hunter’s wrongful termination lawsuit against the NBPA, Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com reports. Paul is the union president, James serves as vice president and Jones as secretary treasurer. Hunter is suing the NBPA for $10.5 million in addition to attorney’s fees, for compensation he allegedly did not receive after his ouster in February 2013, Strauss notes.
The Bulls, who completely overhauled their roster this offseason, could struggle mightily this season if the team is unable to get consistent production from its reserves, Bobby Marks of The Vertical opines in his look back at Chicago’s summer.

Magic Add Six Camp Invitees To Roster

September 8th, 2016 at 2:46pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 8: The Magic officially confirmed that they’ve signed the six players listed below (Twitter link).

SEPTEMBER 7: The Magic entered the day with just 13 players on their roster, but will add six more names to that list with a group of training camp invitees. According to Brian K. Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter), the Magic are bringing the following six players to camp:

Cliff Alexander, F/C: Alexander signed with the Blazers as an undrafted rookie out of Kansas last July, but only saw action in eight games for the club during the 2015/16 season, playing a total of 36 minutes. He was waived in July before his 2016/17 salary became guaranteed.
Branden Dawson, F: Waived by the Clippers in July, Dawson faced felony domestic violence charges earlier this year, but the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office didn’t pursue those charges, due to insufficient evidence. On the court, the 2015 second-rounder out of Michigan State appeared in just six games for the Clippers, spending most of the season in the D-League.
Nick Johnson, G: The 42nd overall pick in the 2014 draft, Johnson spent a year with Houston, appearing in 28 games for the team. He was sent to Denver in last year’s Ty Lawson trade, and was subsequently waived by the Nuggets, eventually landing with the D-League’s Austin Spurs for 34 games.
Kevin Murphy, G: Since being selected by the Jazz in the second round of the 2012 draft and playing 17 games in his rookie season, Murphy has bounced around, spending time with three D-League teams, as well as in China and Japan.
Arinze Onuaku, F/C: Although he appeared in regular-season games for three different teams – New Orleans, Cleveland, and Minnesota – from 2013 to 2015, Onuaku saw action in just 11 total contests. The former Syracuse big man spent time with teams in Israel and the Phillippines last season.
Damjan Rudez, F: Rudez’ training camp invite from the Magic was first reported last month. The 30-year-old Croatian saw a decent amount of playing time in Indiana during his first NBA season in 2014/15, averaging 15.4 minutes in 68 regular-season contests for the Pacers. However, he was traded to the Timberwolves last July in a deal for Chase Budinger, and never carved out a consistent role in Minnesota last season. The Wolves declined their team option on his contract in June.

Contract details on the Magic’s new additions aren’t yet known, but the team is over the cap and short-term, minimum-salary deals seem likely. Orlando does still have its $2.898MM room exception available if it needs to offer more than the minimum to secure a player’s services.

With 13 guaranteed contracts on their books, the Magic could be looking to fill two more roster spots for the regular season, with the players listed above vying for those openings.

Trail Blazers Waive Cliff Alexander

July 8th, 2016 at 8:02am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have waived power forward Cliff Alexander, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). The move was required for Portland to free up the cap room necessary to sign Festus Ezeli without losing the rights to key restricted free agents.

Alexander, 20, signed with the Blazers as an undrafted rookie out of Kansas last July, but only saw action in eight games for the club during the 2015/16 season, playing a total of 36 minutes. Alexander’s contract had originally called for his 2016/17 salary to become guaranteed on June 30, but Portland pushed that guarantee date back to July 25, meaning the team won’t be on the hook for his cap hit for the coming season.

Per Jason Quick of CSNNW.com (via Twitter), assuming Alexander isn’t claimed off waivers by another team, the Blazers say he will be welcome to continue playing with their Summer League team this month.

Meanwhile, the Blazers also still face decisions on their three restricted free agents. Allen Crabbe has agreed to a huge four-year offer sheet with the Nets that Portland has three days to match, while Meyers Leonard and Maurice Harkless still remain unsigned.

Western Rumors: Durant, Duncan, Bass, Wolves

June 30th, 2016 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

Within a piece on Kevin Durant‘s free agency, Royce Young of ESPN.com passes along a handful of interesting tidbits, writing that Durant has privately “raved to friends” about newly-acquired Thunder guard Victor Oladipo. Young also suggests that, after finishing this past season with the NBA’s third-highest payroll, the Thunder still “have plenty of cash stashed away to keep on paying.”

According to Young, Durant built a strong connection with Billy Donovan during the coach’s first year in Oklahoma City, which is a positive sign for the Thunder. As Young explains, Durant is a big believer in the importance of coaching, and has wanted the sort of long-term relationship with a coach that Tim Duncan has with Gregg Popovich. Donovan – whom the Spurs previously considered as a possible eventual successor to Popovich, according to Young – is a candidate to become Durant’s Popovich, assuming KD remains with the Thunder.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Speaking of Duncan, his cap number will increase to about $6.4MM in 2016/17, since he cashed in on an incentive bonus worth $750K after the Spurs won 62+ games, per Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Duncan had previously been set to earn $5,643,750 on the player option he exercised this week, but the bonus should increase his salary to $6,393,750. The future Hall-of-Famer is still debating whether or not to continue his playing career.
As the Timberwolves survey the market for free agent bigs, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets that Brandon Bass is another potential target on the team’s radar.
The Trail Blazers have amended the language in Cliff Alexander‘s contract, moving his salary guarantee date from June 30th to July 25th, reports Jason Quick of CSNNW.com (via Twitter). The move will allow Portland to delay its decision on Alexander until after the free agent period — the team could cut him or guarantee his salary later, depending on how the summer plays out.

And-Ones: Baynes, Kilpatrick, Early

March 21st, 2016 at 10:20am CST by Dana Gauruder

Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy cannot understand why Aron Baynes has so many social media critics, he told the assembled media, including Hoops Rumors. Van Gundy signed Baynes to a three-year, $20MM contract last summer to back up All-Star center Andre Drummond and believes he’s gotten his money’s worth. “Some of you guys tell me that some fans on comment boards don’t like him. I don’t know what they’re watching,” Van Gundy said. “He’s certainly one of the top backup centers in the league. You compare him to the other backup centers, he’s been absolutely terrific. He plays with great passion and emotion.” Baynes scored a career-high 21 points against the Nets on Saturday.

In other news around the league:

Sean Kilpatrick‘s offensive ability earned him some long-term security, Nets interim coach Tony Brown told the media, including Hoops Rumors, over the weekend. The shooting guard agreed to a multiyear deal that includes a guarantee for next season after his two 10-day contracts with the team expired. “He’s very effective shooting from deep and he’s been getting some good looks off the dribble,” Brown said. “Obviously, the new deal for him is well deserved. They’re thinking down the road, for the future of the ballclub, that he’d be a nice piece to have on the roster.”
The anticipation for next season is growing in Philadelphia as the current season winds down, Sixers coach Brett Brown told Brian Seltzer of NBA.com. “Names get associated with prospective draft picks that we’re studying now that the [NCAA] Tournament’s going on,” Brown said. “The end is near where you’re looking at our existing players and how we’re going to respond to some of the people that are out of contract. You start talking a little bit more seriously about some of the free agent strategies. You start talking a little more seriously about the Joel Embiid situation, and Dario [Saric] situation, how it all fits.”
Former Bucks and Pelicans point guard Nate Wolters is leaving his Turkish team Besiktas, international journalist David Pick tweets, citing a source. Wolters chose to play overseas in July after playing for the Clippers’ summer league team.
The Trail Blazers recalled shooting guard Luis Montero and power forward Cliff Alexander from the D-League’s Santa Cruz Warriors on Sunday, the team informed Mike Richman of The Oregonian. Both rookies appeared in four games with the Warriors’ D-League affiliate during their assignment and have played seven games apiece for the Blazers this season. Alexander will likely be active for the Blazers’ game against the Mavericks on Wednesday because big man Meyers Leonard is out indefinitely with a dislocated shoulder, Richman adds.
The Knicks assigned small forward Cleanthony Early to their D-League affiliate in Westchester on Monday, the team tweets. The Knicks activated him on Sunday for the first time since he was shot in the right knee during a December 30th robbery.

Arthur Hill contributed to this report.

And-Ones: Robinson, Johnson, Parsons

March 10th, 2016 at 10:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Nate Robinson is trying to leap from the pages of Hoops Rumors to Pro Football Rumors. The diminutive NBA veteran who began this season with the Pelicans announced in a YouTube video that he’s going to make a run at playing in the NFL. The video features testimonials from NFL players Marcedes Lewis and Brendon Ayanbadejo, former NBA teammates Jamal Crawford and Glen Davis, as well as former football coach Rick Neuheisel, all of whom insist that Robinson is perhaps the only athlete who could make the transition from professional basketball to professional football.

Robinson, who turns 32 in May, went to the University of Washington on a football scholarship in 2002 and impressed with electrifying plays on the field, but many years have passed since he played competitive football. He didn’t say which position he would like to play in the NFL, but he spoke about both offense and defense in the video, inferring that he might try to market himself as being able to play on either side of the ball.

Here’s more from around the league:

Injured Heat point guard Tyler Johnson is aiming to play again this season after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder on February 3rd, though there is still no definitive timetable for his return to action, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes. “I’m still hopeful, for sure,” Johnson said. “But, again, I’m not going to push it to a point where I can maybe damage it a little bit more or do anything to have a setback. I think every day it feels a little bit better. So I guess that’s where the optimism comes in, is that every day I wake up I can start to do a couple of new things that I wasn’t able to do before. So, I’m going to push for that. That’s a personal goal. But the doctors and the trainers, they haven’t given me a timetable. They said, ‘We’re not going to give you a date to where you can come back,’ because we could get to that time and it’s not ready.“
Chandler Parsons, provided he remains with the Mavericks, is a solid candidate to replace Dirk Nowitzki as the face of the franchise once the German power forward calls it a career, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News opines. While Parsons certainly has the skill set to carry a franchise, the question remains whether he will put in the work required to achieve greatness, Sefko adds. The small forward is reportedly almost certain to turn down his player option for 2016/17, and Houston and Orlando are expected to pursue him.
The Blazers assigned Cliff Alexander and Luis Montero to the D-League, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets. The duo will report to the Warriors‘ affiliate as part of the NBA’s flexible assignment rule, since Portland does not have its own affiliate.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Blazers Likely To Keep Frazier, Alexander, Montero

January 7th, 2016 at 11:16am CST by Chuck Myron

The Trail Blazers expect to keep Tim Frazier, Cliff Alexander and Luis Montero past the close of business today, barring an unexpected trade, meaning their non-guaranteed salaries will become fully guaranteed, reports Jason Quick of CSNNW.com. An outside chance exists that the Blazers will use their league-high cap space of more than $20MM to absorb salary via trade and send out one or more of their trio of non-guaranteed deals in return, though that’s unlikely, Quick writes. Keeping them would give Portland 15 players with 15 full guarantees, limiting the team’s roster flexibility and bringing Frazier, Alexander and Montero one step closer to receiving bonuses of about $926K each if Portland fails to meet the $63MM team salary floor by season’s end, as Quick also points out.

Frazier has played the most prominent role for the Blazers among the three. He started a game against the Hawks last month when Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum were both unavailable, and he played nearly the full 48 minutes in a performance that impressed his teammates, as Quick wrote then. I speculated in the wake of that game that Frazier was probably safe. His contract, which he originally signed in March as a deal that covered the rest of the 2014/15 with a non-guaranteed 2015/16 tacked on, calls for him to make the one-year veteran’s minimum of $845,059.

Alexander was once a highly touted prospect in college whose stock plummeted before he went undrafted last year. He’s appeared on the court for all of 50 seconds since the end of November, and a bone bruise in his left knee that he suffered during the preseason didn’t help matters. Still, the Blazers appear poised to keep him and commit to his full-season salary of $525,093, the rookie minimum. Unlike Frazier, who’s set for restricted free agency after the season, Alexander’s contract runs through next season.

Montero played in only two of Portland’s first 29 games. He’s appeared in five of the nine the Blazers have played since then, though he’s yet to log more than six minutes in any single contest. The undrafted rookie shooting guard from the Dominican Republic, by way of Westchester Community College in New York, was a surprise offseason signing. His contract has him at the rookie minimum salary this season, with non-guaranteed minimum salaries for 2016/17 and 2017/18 also part of the deal. Like Alexander, he started the season with a $100K guarantee, though they’ve already earned more than that amount by virtue of sticking on the roster as long as they have.

Blazers Waive Phil Pressey, Omari Johnson

October 23rd, 2015 at 2:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Blazers have waived Phil Pressey and Omari Johnson, the team announced. Both had non-guaranteed deals. The moves leave Portland with 15 players, the regular season limit. Thus, Tim Frazier, Cliff Alexander and Luis Montero are in position to make the regular season roster despite the lack of full guarantees on their contracts, though the team can make additional moves between now and Monday before setting its roster for opening night. A dozen other Blazers have fully guaranteed salaries, as our roster count shows.

Pressey and Frazier were seemingly in a head-to-head battle for the third point guard job, as Jason Quick of CSNNW.com detailed. The 24-year-old Pressey, who signed with Portland shortly after the Celtics waived him this summer, averaged 4.8 points, 2.0 assists and 1.0 turnover in 16.4 minutes per game across four preseason appearances. Frazier, also 24, put up 5.0 points, 2.8 assists and 1.5 turnovers in 14.7 minutes per contest in his four preseason games. He’s one of the few holdovers on the Blazers roster from the end of last season.

Johnson, on his first NBA contract after going undrafted out of Oregon State in 2011, appeared to be much more of a long shot to make the Blazers opening night roster. The 25-year-old combo forward averaged 2.3 points in 5.9 minutes per game across four preseason contests.