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And-Ones: NBPA, Hackett, Whittington

July 16th, 2015 at 10:41pm CST by Eddie Scarito

NBPA head Michele Roberts released a statement today in response to commissioner Adam Silver’s recent comments where he indicated that several NBA teams were still losing money despite the salary givebacks and enhanced revenue sharing agreed upon in the last CBA (h/t RealGM). “Under the CBA, we do not have a gross compensation system. The players’ 50% share is calculated net of a substantial amount of expenses and deductions,” Roberts said. “New and renovated arenas around the league have proven to be revenue drivers, profit centers, and franchise valuation boosters. That has been the case over the past few years in Orlando, Brooklyn, and New York, to name a few. In some instances, owners receive arena revenues that are not included in BRI. Many teams also receive generous arena subsidies, loans and other incentives from state and local governments as part of their arena deals.”

Roberts concluded by adding, “Virtually every business metric demonstrates that our business is healthy. Gate receipts, merchandise sales and TV ratings are all at an all-time high. Franchise values have risen exponentially in recent years, and the NBA has enjoyed high single digit revenue growth since 2010/11.”

Here’s more from around the league:

A league source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link) that there are approximately 10 NBA teams that are currently losing money.
Terdema Ussery, a finalist for the union executive director position that went to Roberts, is leaving his position as president and CEO of the Mavericks effective August 30th, the team announced via press release. He’ll join Under Armour, the Mavs said.
Former Georgetown forward Greg Whittington has three partially guaranteed deals on the table from NBA squads, Shams Charania of RealGM tweets. The undrafted 22-year-old has averaged 15.7 points per game during Las Vegas Summer League play, Charania notes.
Shooting guard Daniel Hackett, who worked out for the Knicks, has officially signed with Olympiacos of Greece, the team announced (translation by Enea Trapani of Sportando).
Austin Rivers‘ two-year deal with the Clippers will pay him $3.1MM for next season, $3.3MM for the 2016/17 campaign, and the guard has a player option included in his contract for the final season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
The deal that Nemanja Bjelica inked with the Timberwolves will pay him $3.95MM for the 2015/16 season, $3.8MM the following year, $3.95MM during the 2017/18 campaign, and all three seasons are fully guaranteed, Pincus relays (on Twitter).

Atlantic Notes: Pressey, Prokhorov, Williams

July 15th, 2015 at 2:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

Phil Pressey, whom the Celtics waived today, is already drawing interest from other teams, according to agent Aaron Mintz, as Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reports, though he’d have to clear waivers before he could sign. In any case, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge had no shortage of praise for the point guard, as Himmelsbach relays.

“Phil may be my favorite player I’ve ever been around in the NBA, as a player, a coach or as an executive,” Ainge said. “It was a very difficult morning for me today. He’s a player I’d want on my team all the time. Unfortunately, we just have an abundance of small guards already. It’s unfortunate. He’s helped us a lot in the last two years, and he’s a classy and hardworking player.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

An announcement could come within the next two weeks that Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has bought Bruce Ratner’s 20% stake in the Nets, a move that would give Prokhorov 100% of the team, Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher says (video link). The possibility still exists that Prokhorov will move in the other direction and sell off his majority interest, but the indications are strong that he’ll indeed buy the remaining shares of the team, Bucher says. Such a deal would also see Prokhorov’s interest in the Barclays Center rise from 45% to 100%, according to Bucher. Still, the move may well have more to do with debt that Ratner’s company owes Prokhorov and his partners than Prokhorov’s desire to own all of the team and the arena, since according to NetsDaily, Ratner faces a deadline to resolve that debt.
The precise amount of money the Nets will have on their cap each of the next five years as a result of the buyout and stretch of Deron Williams‘ contract is $5,474,787, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (All Twitter links). That means he gave up exactly $16MM in the buyout. His new contract with the Mavericks is worth $5.4MM this year and $5.6MM next season, according to Pincus, so assuming he remains on that contract through the end of 2015/16, and assuming he and the Nets didn’t waive set off rights, Brooklyn’s obligation for 2015/16 will be further reduced to about $3.197MM.
Shooting guard Daniel Hackett, who worked out for the Knicks, has a verbal agreement to sign with Olympiacos of Greece, sources tell Sportando Emiliano Carchia. New York was willing to sign Hackett for training camp, Carchia adds, but it looks like he’ll stay overseas.
Fenerbahce Ulker said the contract that former Celtics forward Gigi Datome signed with them covered two years, but it includes a player option for a third, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.

Spurs, Knicks Work Out Elliot Williams

July 14th, 2015 at 12:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 12:41pm: Williams worked out for the Spurs on Monday, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). San Antonio appears to be limited to the minimum salary, with the $2.814MM room exception ticketed for Manu Ginobili. Still, the Spurs are open to adding at least one more wing player, according to Charania.

MONDAY, 9:59am: The Knicks worked out four-year veteran Elliot Williams on Sunday, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Williams, the 22nd overall pick in 2010, signed a total of five 10-day contracts this past season, split among three different teams, but he didn’t end up on any deal that covered a longer amount of time.

Reports have linked the Knicks and their $2.814MM room exception to Alexey Shved, but Williams may well be a cheaper alternative at shooting guard. Williams averaged 6.0 points in 17.3 minutes per game across 67 appearances for the Sixers in 2013/14. He split his time between the Jazz, Hornets and Pelicans in 2014/15.

New York also completed its planned workout with shooting guard Daniel Hackett, who went undrafted out of USC in 2009 and has since played extensively overseas, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). He averaged 9.9 PPG in 27.4 MPG for EA7 Emporio Armani Milano of Italy this past season.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Hackett, Nets

July 9th, 2015 at 9:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics‘ primary goal this season will be to make he franchise as attractive as possible to free agents hitting the market during next Summer, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. With the team expected to have approximately $40MM to spend on free agents in 2016, the team has to develop its young core enough to convince big names like Kevin Durant that they can win in Beantown, Blakely adds.

Here’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Euro guard Daniel Hackett will work out for the Knicks in Las Vegas, David Pick of Eurobasket relays (Twitter links). Hackett, who is also on the radar of the Mavs and Rockets, was offered a contract by the Greek club Olympiacos, but the 27-year-old wants to explore his NBA opportunities before heading back overseas, Pick adds.
Nets GM Billy King‘s first two calls when the free agent signing period began were to Shane Larkin and Thomas Robinson, Rod Boone of Newsday tweets. Both players officially signed with Brooklyn today.
When King was asked if he expected Deron Williams and Joe Johnson to remain on the Nets‘ roster, he responded, “at this point, yes,” Boone tweets. King also indicated that the reports of the team trying to deal Johnson have been exaggerated, Boone adds.
The Knicks are still in contact with the representatives for Alexey Shved, Cole Aldrich and Louis Amundson, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com tweets.
The Nets will still look to add another big man to the roster, King indicated, but the team wants to get as close to, if not under, the luxury tax line as it can, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (via Twitter).

And-Ones: NBPA, Hackett, Stoudemire

June 20th, 2015 at 2:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The way teams discuss their own pending restricted free agents is under fire from the National Basketball Players Association, which has officially taken the position that the traditional “we’ll match any offer” comments so often made by NBA executives are a circumvention of the salary cap in their intent to discourage potential rival bidders, Marc Stein of ESPN.com writes. The league had issued a memo back in November warning teams that, while the NBA itself doesn’t agree with the NBPA’s stance on the matter, league officials see enough potential merit in the union’s stance to advise those who continue with match-any-offer comments that they could be opening themselves up to legal action, Stein notes.

The ESPN scribe’s sources informed him that this impetus stems from Klutch Sports agents Rich Paul and Mark Termini, who urged the NBPA to challenge the way that teams have historically dropped none-too-subtle hints about their plans to match offers in an attempt to depress the market for restricted free agents. This movement stems from the willingness of new NBPA head Michele Roberts to aggressively speak up for the players, Stein adds. It’s not too surprising to see Paul and Termini at the center of this, given that they represent Eric Bledsoe, whose restricted free agency dragged on for months last year after the Suns pledged to match any offer. The duo also represent Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph and Norris Cole, all of whom could become restricted free agents this offseason.

Here’s more from around the league:

Unrestricted free agent Amar’e Stoudemire said that he’d love to return to the Mavericks next season, but is also potentially interested in returning to play for the Suns or Knicks, Jared Zwerling of BleacherReport tweets.
Euroleague guard Daniel Hackett intends to void his contract with Emporio Armani Milano in order to pursue an NBA contract, David Pick of Eurobasket.com relays (Twitter link). The 27-year-old out of USC went undrafted back in 2009.
The Blazers held workouts on Friday for Gary Bell Jr. (Gonzaga), Seth Gearhart (Rice), Jelani Hewitt (Georgia Southern), Dakari Johnson (Kentucky), Kevin Pangos (Gonzaga), and Thomas van der Mars (Netherlands), the team announced.