Erik McCree

2019 NBA G League Expansion Draft Results

The NBA G League conducted its 2019 expansion draft on Wednesday, allowing the latest iteration of the Erie BayHawks to acquire the rights to up to 14 players.

Erie has been a G League mainstay in recent years. However, after serving as the affiliate for the Atlanta Hawks last season, the BayHawks were relocated to College Park and renamed the Skyhawks. As such, the Erie BayHawks team that participated in today’s expansion draft is technically a new G League franchise — it’ll be the affiliate for the Pelicans in 2019/20.

[RELATED: NBA G League Affiliations For 2019/20 Season]

As Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days recently outlined, each of the G League’s other 27 teams were permitted to protect the rights for up to 12 players. Although the BayHawks could select up to 14 players in the expansion draft, they weren’t permitted to acquire more than two players from any one team.

Here are the 14 players whose rights were acquired by New Orleans’ G League affiliate, with each player’s previous NBAGL team noted in parentheses:

  1. Taylor Braun (South Bay Lakers)
  2. Trey Burke (Westchester Knicks)
  3. Quinton Chievous (Capital City Go-Go)
  4. Xavier Gibson (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
  5. Isaac Hamilton (Canton Charge)
  6. Isaiah Hartenstein (Grande Valley Vipers)
  7. Derrick Jones Jr. (Northern Arizona Suns)
  8. Scottie Lindsey (Grand Rapids Drive)
  9. Erik McCree (Lakeland Magic)
  10. Codi Miller-McIntyre (College Park Skyhawks)
  11. Xavier Silas (Iowa Wolves)
  12. Matt Williams Jr. (Grand Rapids Drive)
  13. Kyle Wiltjer (Canton Charge)
  14. Michael Young (Northern Arizona Suns)

Not all of the players whose rights the BayHawks acquired today will actually suit up for the team. In fact, many won’t.

Multiple players selected by Erie – Burke, Hartenstein, and Jones – are currently under contract with NBA teams and won’t be available to the BayHawks as long as they remain on those NBA deals. Other players will spend the 2019/20 season playing overseas.

However, if any of the players selected in today’s expansion draft sign contracts to play in the G League in ’19/20, the BayHawks will have their rights. Erie will hold each of these 14 players’ NBAGL rights for the next two seasons.

Erik McCree Will Play In Italy

Erik McCree, a two-way player with the Jazz last season, has signed with the Italian team Consultinvest VL Pesaro, tweets Keith Smith of Real GM.

After going undrafted out of Louisiana Tech, McCree joined the Heat for training camp but was waived before the season began. He agreed to a two-way deal with the Jazz in December and appeared in four NBA games, seeing just eight total minutes of playing time.

The 24-year-old small forward spent most of the season in the G League, splitting time between Sioux Falls and Salt Lake City.

Jazz Extend Qualifying Offers To Exum, Neto, Niang

The Jazz have tendered qualifying offers to three players eligible for restricted free agency, according to RealGM’s official NBA transactions log. Dante Exum, Raul Neto, and Georges Niang have received qualifying offers from the club.

Exum and Neto will now enter standard NBA restricted free agency. Exum, who failed to meet the starter criteria, will have a qualifying offer worth $4,333,932 as a result. As for Neto, the former second-round pick will have a QO of $1,839,228.

Either player could sign his qualifying offer and play out the 2018/19 season on a one-year deal before becoming eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2019, but RFAs rarely take that route. If Utah wants to keep both players, I’d expect the team to attempt to negotiate multiyear agreements with them. It’s also possible that either Exum or Neto could sign an offer sheet from another team.

Meanwhile, Niang was a two-way contract in 2017/18, so his QO will be more modest — for two-way players who remain eligible to sign another two-way deal, the QO is simply a two-way offer with a $50K guarantee.

RealGM’s transactions log doesn’t list a qualifying offer for Erik McCree, Utah’s other two-way player. The club will have until the end of the month to issue a QO to McCree, but if he doesn’t receive one, it’s a sign that the Jazz have other plans for their second two-way contract slot.

Jazz Sign Erik McCree To Two-Way Deal

The Jazz have signed forward Erik McCree to a two-way contract, the team’s public relations department announced. McCree went undrafted out of Louisiana Tech last summer but played through training camp with the Heat.

In order to make room on the roster, the club had to release big man Eric Griffin, who had also been on a two-way deal with the franchise (their second two-way signee, who will remain under contract, is Nate Wolters).

Given that the contract is being inked partially through the season, McCree’s 45-day NBA service alotment will be pro-rated to around 30 days, as was the case with Sean Kilpatrick (who signed with the Bucks on December 16).

McCree profiles as a four with three-point shooting range and will look to pilfer some of Jonas Jerebko‘s minutes when up with the big league club. The rest of the time he’ll suit up for the team’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.

 

Heat Waive Liggins, McCree, Mitchell

Miami trimmed its roster to 17 players by waiving DeAndre Liggins, Erik McCree and Tony Mitchell, the team announced on its website.

Liggins signed with the Heat on Tuesday after being acquired and waived by the Hawks last month. He started Friday’s preseason game and scored five points. A two-time G League Defensive Player of the Year, Liggins will likely wind up with Miami’s affiliate in Sioux Falls if he clears waivers.

Mitchell, a 25-year-old power forward who signed with Miami on Thursday, has played 96 games for Sioux Falls since 2013. McCree, who inked a training camp deal in September, is a 23-year-old forward from Louisiana Tech.

With Derrick Walton on a two-way contract, Miami still has one more move to make to reach the roster limit. It’s possible that rookie guard Matt Williams‘ contract could be converted to a two-way deal.

Heat Notes: G League, Winslow, Whiteside, Williams

The Heat have passed the midway point of the preseason, which means a roster shakeup could be on the way, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. NBA rules state that players are eligible for an “affiliate” tag after spending half the preseason with a team. Winderman uses Erik McCree as an example, saying if he were to be waived now, then sign with another team and get waived again before the season opens, he would be assigned to Miami’s G League affiliate.

Waiving players once they pass the midway point and then signing replacements allows teams to create four affiliate spots for their G League franchises. The Heat pursued that strategy last year when they waived Stefan Jankovic and Keith Benson in the preseason, then signed Vashil Fernandez and Luis Montero, and all four wound up in Sioux Falls. In addition to McCree, Derrick Walton Jr., Matt Williams and Larry Drew II are eligible to join the Skyforce. Drew would be a returning player rather than an affiliate player, while Walton already has a two-way contract and will not count against the 15-man roster limit.

There’s more news out of Miami:

  • Justise Winslow will find out soon if the extra time he has been spending with shooting  consultant Rob Fodor is paying off, Winderman adds in a separate piece. The third-year forward has excelled in other areas, but shooting has been a persistent problem since he entered the league. He is a 40% career shooter from the field and 26% from 3-point range and is trying to bounce back from a torn labrum in his right shoulder that limited him to 18 games last season. “The way I see it in the basketball world, or just in general, God doesn’t give everyone everything,” Winslow said. “… And in the sense of basketball, once that thing gets figured out, there’s not much you could say I can’t do. I can bring the ball up. I can guard your best player. I can rebound. I can find my open shooters. I can push it on the break. So once that minor detail gets settled out, I think we’re going to have a very fun ride.”
  • Hassan Whiteside is a traditional low-post center, but the Heat would like to see him expand his shooting range, Winderman adds in another story.
  • Williams’ summer league performance gave him a shot to make the Heat roster, writes Mike Gramajo of The Miami Herald. The 23-year-old signed with Miami in late July after impressing the coaching staff with his performance during the summer. “It feels good just to know that my hard work is starting to pay off,” Williams said. “I’m with a great organization, and it couldn’t be better.”

Heat Sign Erik McCree

The Heat have moved one step closer to filling up their training camp roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed forward Erik McCree to a contract. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it figures to be a short-term deal that’s mostly – or fully – non-guaranteed.

After starting his college career at Murray State, McCree transferred to Louisiana Tech and has spent the last three years at the school. The 6’8″ forward averaged 17.7 PPG and 8.9 RPG in his senior year, with a respectable shooting line of .476/.362/.770. He went undrafted in June.

With the addition of McCree to their roster, the Heat now have 19 players under contract, including 13 on guaranteed salaries. Rodney McGruder and Okaro White – who don’t yet have fully guaranteed contracts – have the inside track on the team’s final two regular season roster spots, so McCree looks like a good bet to land with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League team, as an affiliate player.

Nets Notes: Birch, Workouts, Meeks, Obradovic

Khem Birch, a Quebec-born big man who went undrafted in 2014 and currently plays for Olympiacos in Greece, has been linked to the Nets. Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops cites sources who say that Brooklyn is “seriously considering” offering Birch a two-year contract for the upcoming season. However, NetsDaily (Twitter link) has been told that the Birch rumor is “completely false.”

Birch was solid last season as a part-time player for Olympiacos, and was a D-League All-Star back in 2015, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the UNLV alum get a shot at an NBA roster. But according to Eurohoops’ report, his buyout is worth upwards of $300K, so an NBA team with interest may be reluctant to pay that buyout for a camp invitee.

Here’s more on the Nets:

  • The Nets conducted a group workout today, according to Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders, who tweets that Dillon Brooks, Jawun Evans, Jimmy Hall, Amile Jefferson, Erik McCree, and Derrick White were in attendance.
  • UNC’s Kennedy Meeks worked out for the Nets last week, and according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com, some sources familiar with the workout said that Meeks “excelled.” The former Tar heels center isn’t one of DraftExpress’ top 100 prospects, but Begley suggests Meeks is viewed as a possible late-second-round pick, so he could be an option for Brooklyn at No. 57.
  • The Nets are adding Sasa Obradovic to their Summer League coaching staff, tweets international basketball reporter David Pick. Obradovic, a former international point guard, is currently the haed coach of Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia.