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Josh Smith Rumors: Heat, Clippers, Lakers

December 22nd, 2014 at 10:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy pulled a stunner today, waiving Josh Smith. Reports quickly identified the Clippers, Mavs and Kings as suitors for Smith in free agency once he clears waivers, as expected, and more clubs are lining up for a chance to obtain him on the cheap. There’s plenty of news rolling in related to Detroit’s bold move and what happens next with the tweener forward, and we’ll pass along the latest in this thread, with any additional updates posted on top:

The Heat have formally applied for a disabled player exception from the league after losing Josh McRoberts for the year, reports Marc Stein of ESPN. While the exception, which would be worth $2.653MM, hasn’t been granted yet, the Heat are hopeful they’ll have it before Smith makes his decision (Twitter links here).

9:46pm update:

The Clippers will have interest in Smith if he clears waivers, ESPN’s Arash Markazi hears from multiple team sources. Markazi adds that the team can only offer Smith the veteran’s minimum and would likely cut Jared Cunningham to make room on its roster. Cunningham’s contract becomes guaranteed on January 10th and he is likely to be released before then either way, per Markazi.

8:51pm update:

Should Smith clear waivers, the Lakers will have a significant financial advantage over most of his other suitors, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. The disabled player exception they received from Steve Nash‘s season-ending injury allows the Lakers spend up to $4.85MM on a single player, per Pincus, which is more than twice what most other teams can offer. Pincus adds that the Lakers should have the cap space next summer to re-sign Smith.

7:14pm updates:

There is a strong belief among Rockets players, even beyond Howard, that they’ll convince Smith to sign in Houston, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said that Smith “fits the profile of the type of guys we love to bring in,” reports Bryan Gutierrez of Mavs Outsider. Cuban added that the Mavs would use Smith more down low than on the wing should they add him, per Gutierrez (Twitter links).
While it’s hardly a surprise, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports that the Sixers, flush in cap space, have zero interest in claiming Smith off waivers (via Twitter).

4:05pm update:

The Grizzlies have expressed interest in Smith, too, Grantland’s Zach Lowe hears, acknowledging that it’s nonetheless a long shot for him to wind up in Memphis (Twitter link). The Grizzlies couldn’t pay him any more than the minimum.

3:49pm update:

The Lakers would like Smith to play for them, according to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), but they wouldn’t fall into the category of a playoff-bound team, the only sort that Smith is reportedly considering (below).

1:55pm update:

Teams that aren’t headed for the playoffs are out of the running for Smith, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. That stance would appear to damage the chances of the Kings most of all among the clubs that reports have so far linked to the forward.

1:40pm update:

Smith was “fixated” on finding a way to join the Rockets before he signed with Detroit in 2013, according to Wojnarowski, who writes in a full piece.

1:05pm updates:

The Heat are in the running for Smith, Stein reports (on Twitter). Miami has only the minimum to give.
Houston will allow Smith to choose whether he wants a one-year or two-year deal, Amick hears (Twitter link). The biannual exception limits contracts to no more than two seasons, and the Rockets are without a way to sign him to a longer deal.

12:39pm update:

The Rockets are taking an aggressive stance in their pursuit of Smith, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). They attempted to trade for him but couldn’t find a workable salary match that didn’t involved Howard or James Harden, Wojnarowski adds in a second tweet.

12:28pm updates:

Houston will offer Smith its $2.077MM biannual exception, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The Rockets are optimistic about their chances to land Smith, given their status as a contender, the opportunity to offer him a large on-court role, and their financial advantage of having the biannual while others are limited to the minimum salary, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
No one has been a bigger fan of Smith in recent months than Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, according to Stein (Twitter link).

12:17pm updates:

The Clippers would like to research the matter more thoroughly before committing to a pursuit of Smith, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Though Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears the Clippers are indeed interested, coach/executive Doc Rivers said he doesn’t know quite yet what his team will do, as he told reporters, including Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
The Rockets do have interest in signing Smith, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link). Stein reported earlier that Houston, which has the $2.077MM biannual exception to spend, was still thinking about whether it wanted to go after Smith, who’s a friend of Dwight Howard‘s. Howard has said in the past that he and Smith have had conversations about playing together again as they did when they were AAU teammates, notes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
The Kings were the only team to express interest in trading for Smith as the Pistons sought to move him in recent weeks, Stein tweets. The Pistons refused to part with draft picks in any deal or take on burdensome contracts in return, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Derrick Williams was alongside Jason Thompson in the Kings‘ earliest trade proposals to the Pistons regarding Smith over the summer, and Carl Landry later replaced Williams in those offers, according to Stein (on Twitter). Van Gundy turned them down because he wanted to coach Smith before cutting ties, Stein adds (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Sixers, Bender, Ballmer

October 3rd, 2014 at 9:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Sixers managing owner Josh Harris believes the franchise has made remarkable strides in the 17 months since Sam Hinkie was hired as GM, Max Rappaport of NBA.com reports. “I think people see the early returns,” said Harris. “Certainly, we have a lot of cap room, we have two first-round picks next year, we have a slew of seconds, we have a number of players that we have the rights to in Europe, we have possibly two big men between Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel that will be franchise players for us over a long, long time, and we have the Rookie of the Year.”

Here’s more from around the league:

16-year-old Croatian forward Dragan Bender is turning heads over in the Israeli league, writes David Pick of Eurobasket. Pro scouts watching Bender play say his best-case NBA scenario would be to equal Andrei Kirilenko‘s numbers, while the worst-case would place him in Jan Vesely territory. Bender is currently projected by DraftExpress to be selected thirteenth in the 2016 NBA draft.
Steve Ballmer acknowledged a passing interest in buying the Bucks earlier this year and wonders if the NBA would have allowed him and Chris Hansen to purchase the Kings and move them to Seattle if they had put up more money in a one-on-one with USA Today’s Sam Amick. The new Clippers owner also said that a long-term extension for Doc Rivers “seemed absolutely right to me” based on Rivers’ track record and recommendations from others. Ballmer had more to say to Amick for another piece that we passed along earlier.
Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders shares his predictions on which players will have breakout seasons during the 2014/15 campaign. Topping the list are Jonas Valanciunas, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Steven Adams.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Thunder, Clippers, Bledsoe

September 24th, 2014 at 8:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Thunder revealed that the name for their new D-League team will be the Oklahoma City Blue in a press release they issued earlier today. As for why that name was chosen, Brian Byrnes, the Thunder’s senior vice president of Sales and Marketing said, “Blue is one of our primary Thunder colors, but it has become more than just a color for us. It has come to represent the passion, loyalty and unity of our fans and our community in their support for our team. Our players wear it proudly on their uniforms, our fans sport Thunder blue shirts, Thunder blue flags fly across Oklahoma and our statewide Blue Alliance fan groups show their connection to our team and what it stands for.”

Here’s more from out west:

Clippers president and head coach Doc Rivers praised the offseason addition of Spencer Hawes, and said the center turned down larger offers to come to Los Angeles, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register writes. Rivers said, “I thought he was a great fit. Because of salary and where we’re at, I didn’t think we could get him.” The coach also noted in the article that the franchise getting to the point where players will take less money to play there is a positive sign.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer hopes to have a team president who will handle day-to-day operations of the team in place soon, Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link).
Ballmer also announced that Eric Miller, former owner Donald Sterling’s son-in-law, has left his position as director of basketball administration, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register tweets.
The Suns are reportedly set to re-sign Eric Bledsoe to a five-year, $70MM extension, and Steve Kyler and Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders debate whether it was a mistake on Phoenix’s part.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim is no longer with the Kings, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee reports. Abdur-Rahim was the director of player personnel and GM of of the Reno Bighorns, the Kings’ NBA D-League team.

And-Ones: Wolves, Martin, Allen

August 29th, 2014 at 7:36pm CST by Zachary Links

Wolves president Flip Saunders hopes the Wolves new players’ athleticism will translate into improved defense, Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press writes. Saunders said, “I’m hoping that the biggest change is going to be defensively. Always a key in your ability to guard is your athleticism. The quicker you are, the longer you are, the better chance you have to be a good defensive team.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Doc Rivers was in contact with free agent guard Ray Allen earlier this summer, and Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter) expects the Clippers to make a run at him again.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is still over the moon about reacquiring Tyson Chandler this summer, as NBA.com’s Jeff Caplan writes. “It was kind of surprising that we got it done, just because with that many pieces and the fact that no one finds out,” Cuban said of the trade. “I’m glad we got it done. We’re excited. He can kind of quarterback our defense, he makes everybody better defensively and he’ll make Monta [Ellis] better offensively.”
Keith Schlosser of The Knicks Blog wonders if the Knicks would welcome back Kenyon Martin. Martin gave the Knicks one of the most intimidating and physical defensive presences they’ve had in years, but he struggles to stay on the court. Even though he’s seen just 50 games of action over the last two seasons, Schlosser sees K-Mart as a player who the Knicks could call on midseason if Amar’e Stoudemire, Andrea Bargnani, or Samuel Dalembert have injury troubles of their own.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Clippers Rumors: Rivers, Sterling, Raduljica

August 29th, 2014 at 1:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Clippers have pulled off a trade, reached a new deal with coach/executive Doc Rivers, and waived two players, and they reportedly met with Ekpe Udoh as they eye fellow free agent Chris Douglas-Roberts. That’s all within the space of the last three days. There’s a long holiday weekend ahead for some, but the Clippers certainly aren’t easing into it. Here’s the latest on the team:

Few knock the coaching credentials of Rivers, but his roster-building skills as an executive are another matter. Plenty of executives around the league question Rivers’ acquisition of Jared Dudley last year and his surrender of a first-round pick in the deal to rid the Clippers of Dudley this week, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher writes. “If [former Timberwolves GM] David Kahn made those deals, they’d have been burning crosses on his lawn,” one NBA executive told Bucher.
Shelly Sterling didn’t know who Steve Ballmer was when he called her this spring to express interest in buying the Clippers, as she tells Linda Deutsch of The Associated Press. Still, she negotiated him up from an initial offer of $1.9 billion to the $2 billion price he wound up paying and obtained a promise from Ballmer that he would never move the team to Seattle, as Deutsch details.
Rival teams called the Bucks to talk about trading for Miroslav Raduljica last season, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. That seems to suggest there will be NBA suitors for the center whose three-day tenure with the Clippers just ended, though that’s just my speculation.

Clippers, Doc Rivers Agree To New Deal

August 27th, 2014 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:00pm: The deal is worth more than $50MM over the next five seasons, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

1:43pm: It’s an entirely new contract rather than an extension for Rivers, tweets Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. That indicates that the terms of Rivers’ original pact with the team, which wasn’t set to expire until the summer of 2016, no longer apply.

11:07am: The Clippers and Doc Rivers have reached a deal that will keep him under contract with the team through the 2018/19 season, the team announced. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported a couple of weeks ago that Rivers, who serves as coach and president of basketball operations, was set for extension talks with the team just as new owner Steve Ballmer formally took control of the franchise. The terms of the new deal aren’t immediately clear, but Rivers signed a three-year, $21MM contract when he joined the Clippers last summer.

“This is an important day for this organization,” Ballmer said in the team’s statement. “I am excited to work with Doc for a long time as we build a championship culture that will deliver results both on and off the court. Not only is Doc one of the best coaches and executives in the game, but he continually embodies the hard core, committed and resilient character and winning culture that the Clippers represent. It was one of my top priorities to ensure that he was firmly in place as the long-term leader of this team.”

The extension announcement comes just a day after Rivers and his front office staff pulled off a trade that sent Jared Dudley to the Bucks and provides some long-term salary flexibility for the Clippers. Rivers has had a busy and tumultuous past several months, and the saga involving former owner Donald Sterling was at the center of it.

Rivers helped guide the team through the playoffs this spring just after the scandal burst into the headlines, but it was weeks before he shushed rumors that he would leave if the Sterling mess weren’t quickly remedied. Doubts about Rivers’ future resurfaced when interim CEO Dick Parsons testified in Sterling’s probate trial that Rivers had told him he didn’t think he would continue with the team if Sterling remained the owner. Ballmer’s formal acquisition of the club earlier this month seemed to stabilize that situation, and Rivers spoke of his admiration for the new owner and enthusiasm for a long-term future with the club as part of the team’s statement today.

Ballmer several days ago stopped short of acknowledging extension talks, but he called Rivers “phenomenal” and made it clear that he wanted to keep Rivers around. The former Microsoft CEO paid $2 billion to buy the team, a record price, but with a net worth of $18 billion, according to Forbes.com, there’s little reason to suspect he was unwilling to pony up for Rivers, particularly given the speed with which they reached agreement.

Rivers, 52, has only more than a year of experience as an executive but has served as a head coach for at least part of each of the last 15 seasons, compiling a 644-498 record. He won the 2008 title with the Celtics, but that was one of just three postseasons in which the teams that Rivers coached won more playoff games than they lost.

Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images.

And-Ones: Clippers, Rivers, Cunningham, Heat

August 18th, 2014 at 4:58pm CST by Zachary Links

New Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is making no secret of the fact that he wants to work out a new deal with coach/president Doc Rivers, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times tweets. “Everything I know about Doc, I’m just 100% behind. I think he’s phenomenal,” Ballmer said. “I’m lucky he’s got a contract that runs a little while longer but we have plenty of time to talk and I look forward to doing that.” We learned last week that Rivers and the Clips are set to discuss an extension soon. More from around the Association..

Dante Cunningham still wants to return to the Wolves but there haven’t been any developments in terms of his free agency, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (on Twitter). Meanwhile, a source tells Wolfson (link) that the domestic assault charges against him have been dropped.
Undrafted point guard Scottie Wilbekin has a deal with Australia’s Cairns Taipans that includes an NBA escape clause that’s valid until December, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The Grizzlies reportedly extended a training camp invitation to Wilbekin last month, but it never appeared as though he had accepted it.
The Heat lost some major pieces this offseason, but they have filled in the gaps with an interesting mix of veterans and youth, writes Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders. However, Miami’s success will be determined more so than anything by Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Bosh will need to embrace his heightened role and go back to the sort of franchise player he was with the Raptors. Meanwhile, Wade will have to stay healthy and recapture some of his old form after sharing the ball with LeBron James for four years.

Clippers, Doc Rivers To Talk Extension

August 12th, 2014 at 2:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

Doc Rivers and the Clippers are expected to begin negotiation soon toward an extension, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Rivers and new Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who formally assumed control of the team today, have been anxious to forge a long-term working relationship, Wojnarowski writes.

Rivers, who serves in a dual capacity as coach and executive, has two seasons left on the three-year, $21MM pact he signed when the Clippers and Celtics worked out a deal that let him out of his contract with Boston. The 52-year-old had assumed control of Clippers player personnel when he joined the team last summer, but this June the club changed his title from Senior VP of basketball operations to president of basketball operations.

The notion of extension talks is an about-face from rumors that cast Rivers’ future with the team in doubt. Rivers publicly shepherded the team through the early days of the Sterling saga this spring, but weeks passed before he would definitely say that he had no plans to leave. Yet the specter of Rivers’ potential departure resurfaced last month during the probate trial to determine whether Shelly Sterling had the authority to agree to strike a deal to sell the team to Ballmer. Clippers CEO Dick Parsons testified that Rivers had told him he didn’t think he would remain with the team if Donald Sterling continued to own it.

Western Notes: Cuban, Pleiss, Sterling

August 3rd, 2014 at 8:54am CST by Eddie Scarito

In the wake of Paul George‘s terrible injury Friday night, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban blasted the IOC, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. Cuban hopes the injury will spur the NBA into creating its own international tournament where the league has more control as well as receives the benefits of holding such competitions. Cuban also said, “I think it’s a bigger issue than star players. We are being taken advantage of by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and to a lesser extent FIBA (International Federal Basketball Association). We take on an inordinate amount of financial risk for little, if any, quantifiable gain. It’s like our guiding principle is to lose money on every game and make it up in volume. There is no logic to our position. (We) just hope we get value somewhere in the future.”

Here’s more from out west:

Thunder 2010 draft-and-stash pick Tibor Pleiss is expected to sign a two-year deal with Barcelona, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Oklahoma City had made an attempt to bring the German big man to the NBA this season but his buyout amount became an issue, but the team was still hoping to work out a deal for the 2015/16 campaign. Details of Pleiss’ potential deal with Barcelona and buyout amount haven’t yet been announced.
Sam Cassell is leaving the Wizards to join Doc Rivers‘ coaching staff with the Clippers, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Los Angeles’ bench had recently lost Tyronn Lue to the Cavs and Alvin Gentry to the Warriors.
Donald Sterling built an empire but words were his undoing, write Nathan Fenno, Kim Christensen, and James Rainey of The Los Angeles Times. The trio profile the seemingly soon-to-be former Clippers owner’s rise and fall.

Chris Paul Mulling Boycott If Sterling Stays

July 24th, 2014 at 11:19pm CST by Charlie Adams

Chris Paul called the notion of Donald Sterling staying on as owner “unacceptable” and told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com that he would seriously consider sitting out the 2014/15 season if Sterling remained at the head of the Clippers franchise.

“That’s something me and [coach Doc Rivers] are both talking about,” said Paul on Thursday, in reference to a potential boycott. “Something has to happen, and something needs to happen soon — sooner rather than later.”

News broke Tuesday that Rivers indicated to interim CEO Dick Parsons that he’d potentially relinquish his role as coach and president of basketball operations if Sterling wasn’t ousted from his the front office. Now, Paul is publicly echoing Rivers’ thoughts and also suggested that a group of other players from the team are on the same wavelength as well.

“We’re all going to talk about it,” Paul explained to Goodman. “We’re all definitely going to talk about it. Doc, [Blake Griffin], [DeAndre Jordan]. It’s unacceptable.“

Closing arguments for the Sterling trial are set for Monday, at which point the judge will determine whether or not Shelly Sterling’s sale of the team without her husband’s consent was within the realm of legality. Should Donald Sterling keep his position as owner, and if Rivers, Paul, and company follow through on their threat to boycott, it would be an unprecedented move by the group that throws the state of the Clippers’ 2014/15 season seriously into question.