Dallas Lauderdale Rumors

Hornets Waive Dallas Lauderdale, Brian Qvale

October 24th, 2014 at 10:48am CST by Chuck Myron

The Hornets have waived big men Dallas Lauderdale and Brian Qvale, the team announced via press release. They were on non-guaranteed contracts, as was Justin Cobbs, whom the team also let go. The moves take Charlotte’s roster down to 15 players, and while they can carry as few as 13 for opening night if they choose, it appears as though Jason Maxiell is set to remain with the team into the regular season on his non-guaranteed deal.

Both Lauderdale and Qvale saw just three minutes of action during the preseason, going scoreless. It was Lauderdale’s second straight year in camp with an NBA team after he spent last fall with the Blazers. He played 39 games for Portland’s D-League affiliate last season, averaging 7.5 points and 8.7 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per contest.

Qvale has spent his professional career overseas since going undrafted out of the University of Montana in 2011. He’s played with teams in Turkey, Belgium and Germany, and while it’s conceivable that he’ll remain stateside to play in the D-League this year, the Hornets are without a one-to-one affiliate.

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Varejao, Hornets, Heat

September 24th, 2014 at 9:05am CST by Chuck Myron

The Magic supplemented their coterie of young players with veteran signees like Channing Frye, Ben Gordon and Luke Ridnour this summer, but much more significant moves have to happen for the team to become a contender again, as Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel argues. The team has failed to land marquee free agent talent in recent years, and it’ll be a challenge to contend without the benefit of a No. 1 overall pick, Schmitz writes. Only the Bulls and Cavs look like true title contenders in the East this year, but with the season looming, we’ll soon find out if there are any surprises in store. Here’s the latest from around the East:

Phil Jackson believes that the Knicks should make the playoffs this year, as he declares in an interview with Steve Serby of the New York Post. Jackson also disputed the notion that the Knicks didn’t offer Steve Kerr as much to coach the team as they gave Derek Fisher. The Zen Master added that during negotiations with Carmelo Anthony on his new contract, ‘Melo repeatedly expressed a desire for the team to alleviate some of his scoring burden.
People close to Anderson Varejao advised him to buck for a trade the past few years, but he says he never wanted to leave the Cavs and can’t see himself playing for another team, as he tells Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Varejao can hit free agency next summer.
Hornets signees Justin Cobbs, Dallas Lauderdale and Brian Qvale are all on non-guaranteed contracts for the minimum salary that cover one season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
The Heat named Phil Weber the coach of their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Weber, a longtime NBA assistant coach, had been serving as a consultant for Miami.

Hornets Sign Brian Qvale For Camp

September 22nd, 2014 at 5:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Hornets have signed former University of Montana center Brian Qvale, the team announced via press release. The release also included formal announcements of the team’s deals with Justin Cobbs and Dallas Lauderdale. David Pick of Eurobasket.com originally reported the team was set to sign Cobbs, while Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer first had the news on Lauderdale. Terms for all three remain unclear, but while the team has the capacity to give each of them more than the minimum salary, it seems unlikely that’s the case with any of the trio.

The 6’11” Qvale has spent the past three years playing overseas after he went undrafted in 2011. His addition to the Hornets roster is particularly surprising, given that he’s never attended camp with an NBA team before and didn’t take part in summer league action this past July. His career has taken him to Turkey, Belgium and last year to Germany, where he averaged 13.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 26.8 minutes per game for Medi Bayreuth.

Charlotte’s roster swells to 17 with today’s signings. The team has fully guaranteed pacts with 14 players, leaving Qvale, Cobbs and Lauderdale to fight for the 15th spot on the team’s opening-night roster, providing GM Rich Cho decides to carry a full complement of players into the regular season.

Hornets Sign Dallas Lauderdale For Camp

September 9th, 2014 at 3:07pm CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 22ND: The deal is official, the team announced.

SEPTEMBER 9TH: Big man Dallas Lauderdale will attend training camp with the Hornets, reports Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer (Twitter link). The terms of the arrangement for the former Ohio State Buckeye aren’t immediately clear, but it’s likely for the minimum salary, perhaps with a nominal guarantee included.

The 6’8″ 25-year-old is heading to camp with an NBA club for the second straight year, having done so with the Blazers last autumn. Portland retained his D-League rights for this past season, and he did his most impressive work on the boards, averaging 8.7 a game to go with 7.5 points in 29.3 minutes per contest in the D-League.

Charlotte has been carrying 14 players on 14 guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show, but while Lauderdale doesn’t appear to have much camp competition as it stands, the Hornets will almost certainly bring in a few more camp invitees. NBA teams don’t have to carry any more than 13 players in the regular season, so it’s possible that Lauderdale or anyone else the team signs this month will have to be particularly impressive to make it to opening night.

Western Notes: Ledo, Ellington, Murray

September 5th, 2013 at 6:14pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Let's pass along some of tonight's miscellaneous news and notes from the Western Conference:

Brian Gutierrez of ESPN Dallas evaluates the Mavericks' signing of second-round pick Ricky Ledo and gives the team a "B" grade for the move.
Although Wayne Ellington wasn't one of the more heralded free agents signings for the Mavs this summer, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com underscores the value that the former UNC standout brings to the table as a shooter.
Ronald Murray and Dallas Lauderdale will be participating in Jazz mini-camp this week, according to Mary Schmitt-Boyer of the Plain Dealer (via Twitter).
1500 ESPN's Darren Wolfson tweets that former Timberwolves executive David Kahn had spoken with a few teams about front office roles in addition to interviewing for the 76ers' GM opening.
Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times thinks that Brandon Davies has a legitimate chance to make the Clippers' opening night roster. However, considering the team's luxury tax situation, Pincus is curious to see how the team will ultimately make their decision on him (Sulia link).

Minor Moves: Johnson, Blazers, Brown

October 31st, 2012 at 7:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

With the D-League draft two days away and several training camp invitees out on the open market after cuts this week, there's plenty of player movement going on outside the NBA. We'll round up the latest here.

JaJuan Johnson, whom the Rockets recently waived, has entered his name into the D-League draft and is expected to be the No. 1 pick, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
Blazers camp invitees Coby Karl, Dallas Lauderdale and Justin Holiday have all been added to the roster of the Idaho Stampede, Portland's D-League affiliate, tweets Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge. Presumably, that means the Blazers elected not to protect the D-League rights of Demonte Harper and Adam Morrison, the other two camp invitees the team waived this weekend.
A Russian team has announced that they've signed free agent forward Derrick Brown, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The newest member of the club Lokomotiv Kuban was competing for a roster spot with the Spurs until San Antonio waived him last week.

Blazers To Send Harper, Lauderdale To D-League

October 23rd, 2012 at 6:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

Camp invitees Demonte Harper and Dallas Lauderdale aren't traveling with the Blazers to Utah for Thursday's preseason game, and Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com tweets that the team plans to send them to the Idaho Stampede, Portland's D-League affiliate. While that doesn't necessarily mean those two are getting cut, Haynes points out via Twitter that NBA clubs are allowed to protect up to three training camp invitees for their D-League affliates, once those players clear NBA waivers. So, it seems likely that's the plan for Harper and Lauderdale.

Haynes also tweets that GM Neil Olshey said he'll make roster cuts Saturday, which would allow the players to clear waivers by 5pm Eastern time Monday, the deadline for teams to be at the 15-man regular season roster limit. Harper and Lauderdale won't be waived before Saturday, Haynes says, since Olshey has maintained that he wants to wait as long as possible to make his cuts (Twitter link). The Blazers currently have 20 players on the roster, which is the preseason limit. Six are candidates to be cut, since they are all without even a partial guarantee, and that list includes Harper and Lauderdale. The other 14 have fully guaranteed deals. Mike Tokito of The Oregonian identifies Coby Karl and Justin Holiday as two likely candidates to be the third player waived and protected for Idaho (Twitter link).

Harper, a 6'4" guard, spent last year with the Croatian club KK Cibona after going undrafted out of Morehead State in 2011. He played with the Nuggets in summer league, but has registered just four minutes of playing time in preseason with the Blazers. Lauderdale, a 6'8" Ohio State product, was also passed over in the 2011 draft, and played with Turow Zgorzelec in Poland last season. He was with the Warriors' summer league team, but like Harper, hasn't seen much preseason action, garnering only six minutes.

Western Notes: McGee, Dirk, Biedrins, Jazz

October 12th, 2012 at 10:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Some Friday updates out of the Western Conference:

The Thunder announced a series of staff additions, they announced today. They hired Mike Wilks as a Pro Scout and Amanda Green as Basketball Operations Coordinator/Legal & Administration. They also promoted Paul Rivers to Director of Basketball Operations, Will Dawkins to Director of College Player Personnel and Brandon Barnett to Director of Minor League Operations/Pro Scout.
Also regarding the Thunder, Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman says that the backup point job in Oklahoma City is still up for grabs between Eric Maynor and Reggie Jackson. Maynor is the incumbent but is coming back from a knee injury. With James Harden sidelined with hamstring issues, Thunder coach Scott Brooks said he may experiment with both guards on the floor at the same time to gauge his backcourt flexibility.
John Reid of the Times-Picaynne puts together a lengthy but excellent feature on Austin Rivers, implying that it was Rivers' drive that resulted in him moving up draft boards before landing with the Hornets at the tenth pick.
Nuggets coach George Karl isn't about to let JaVale McGee's lucrative new contract dictate how much playing time he gives the big man, as Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post writes.
Dirk Nowitzki had his knee drained for the second time this month, and is still contemplating the possibility of undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee, according to Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
Coach Rick Carlisle expects offseason acquisition Darren Collison to "be great" for the Mavericks, writes McMahon.
SI.com's Chris Ballard examines Andris Biedrins' precipitous decline, and wonders whether the big man will be able to turn his career around. Biedrins still has two years and $18MM left on his contract with the Warriors, who no longer have the amnesty clause available.
Al Jefferson was glad to see the Jazz add a number of outside shooters via trades and free agency this offseason, writes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.

Blazers Sign Demonte Harper, Dallas Lauderdale

September 21st, 2012 at 3:10pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have added Demonte Harper and Dallas Lauderdale to their training camp roster, the team announced today (Twitter link). The Blazers also made their signing of Adam Morrison official, bring their roster count to 18 players.

Harper, 23, was part of the Nuggets' summer league roster in July, having gone undrafted out of Morehead State in 2011. In his senior year, the 6'4" guard averaged 15.5 PPG, shooting 37.3% from three-point range. Lauderdale, meanwhile, played his college ball at Ohio State and also went undrafted a year ago. The big man played for the Warriors' summer league squad in Vegas.

Harper, Lauderdale, and Morrison are all likely competing with Sasha Pavlovic to earn the final roster spot, since Portland's other 14 players are on guaranteed contracts.