Furkan Aldemir Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Aldemir, Brewer, Olynyk

November 8th, 2015 at 8:10pm CST by Will Joseph

With only seven black head coaches in this season, the league has its lowest total since opening night in 1999, when there were six, as Howard Beck points out in his investigative piece on the issue for Bleacher Report. In 2012, according to Beck’s research, the league had 14 black head coaches, an all-time high, but the number has decreased ever since. A big reason why, Beck suggests, is because NBA teams are looking to hire college coaches, foreign coaches and former video coordinators and are no longer hiring as many former players (and many former players are black).

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Furkan Aldemir‘s four-year deal with Darussafaka Dogus of Turkey is for more than $4MM, reports international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The Sixers were reportedly likely to re-sign him if they were granted a 16th roster spot via hardship. Aldemir played for Turkey’s Galatasaray in between the time the Clippers drafted him in 2012 and last December, when the Sixers signed him after trading for his draft rights. Philadelphia waived him last month.
Veteran Ronnie Brewer sat out last season and did not receive any training camp invitations, but he hasn’t decided to hang it up yet and that’s why he is with the Warriors‘ D-League affiliate, Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside writes. Brewer, 30, is a defensive specialist, but told Schlosser he is looking to be more versatile with the hopes of getting a call-up.
Kelly Olynyk, whom the Celtics exercised their fourth-year option on before the deadline, is blossoming into a better defensive player, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Olynyk is averaging more steals and blocks so far than he had in his previous two seasons. Olynyk has a defensive rating of 95.2, good for seventh in the league, as Blakely points out.

Furkan Aldemir Finalizing Deal To Play In Turkey

November 3rd, 2015 at 3:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

Furkan Aldemir is putting the finishing touches on a four-year deal with Darussafaka Dogus of Turkey, reports international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The Sixers were reportedly likely to re-sign him if they were granted a 16th roster spot via hardship, but it looks like Aldemir will be returning to his home country instead of Philadelphia. It’s unclear if the would-be contract will have any escape clauses that would allow him to return to the NBA anytime soon.

Darussafaka Dogus had been in pursuit of the former 53rd overall pick, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia, and Pick heard that the team was the front-runner to sign Aldemir, who wants to return to his homeland. Aldemir, 24, played for Turkey’s Galatasaray in between the time the Clippers drafted him in 2012 and last December, when the Sixers signed him after trading for his draft rights. Philadelphia waived him last month in spite of his guaranteed salary of nearly $2.837MM for this season. The Sixers could defray a small portion of that guaranteed salary via set off rights if the Turkish deal gives him more than the NBA one-year veteran’s minimum salary of $845,059 for this season.

Aldemir averaged 2.3 points and an efficient 4.3 rebounds in 13.2 minutes per game over 41 appearances with the Sixers last season. The Sixers released him knowing that they had several players out with injury but would have to wait until they played at least three games to qualify to petition the league for an extra roster spot they could use to re-sign Aldemir or bring in someone else.

Sixers Eye Furkan Aldemir, 16th Roster Spot

November 3rd, 2015 at 2:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers would probably sign Furkan Aldemir if the league permits them to carry a 16th player via the hardship provision, a source told Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News, confirming recent speculation (Twitter link). Joel Embiid, Carl Landry, Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten are all expected to be out for at least next two weeks, and all missed the first three games of the regular season, so Philadelphia, which has 15 players already, meets the criteria necessary to petition the league for an extra player. Aldemir, whom the Sixers waived before opening night, is meanwhile drawing interest from overseas, ostensibly giving Philadelphia competition.

Darussafaka Dogus of Aldemir’s native Turkey is interested in the 24-year-old big man, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia, and Aldemir is pushing to return to his home country, where Darussafaka is the favorite to land him, a source tells international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Aldemir played for Galatasaray before the Sixers signed him last December. Philadelphia guaranteed Aldemir’s salaries for both 2014/15 and 2015/16, and the Sixers ate nearly $2.837MM when they released him last month. The Sixers could set off a small portion of that when he signs his next contract, though the Sixers are still more than $4MM beneath the NBA’s minimum team salary of $63MM.

The hardship provision would allow the Sixers a 10-day window to stay at 16 players, and they could apply again once it’s over if their injured players are still expected to remain sidelined. The Sixers could keep Aldemir, or whomever they might add as a 16th player, and waive another player once they no longer have access to the provision, if they choose.

Sixers Sign, Waive Jordan Railey

October 26th, 2015 at 4:23pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers signed and waived Jordan Railey, the team announced via press release. The move involving the undrafted Washington State center is designed to secure his D-League rights, the team says. Philadelphia will make Railey one of four camp cuts whose D-League rights it’s allowed to claim through the affiliate player rule, providing he clears waivers. The statement from the Sixers also confirmed that they’ve waived Jordan McRae, Furkan Aldemir, Scottie Wilbekin, Pierre Jackson, and J.P. Tokoto, as a series of five previous reports indicated.

Philadelphia first connected with Railey when he played for the Sixers summer league team in July, scoring three points in at least 15 minutes of action spread over three games. Railey had signed during the summer with BC Igokea of Bosnia, but either that contract included an NBA escape clause or the team decided to part ways with the 23-year-old 7-footer. He averaged 6.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.0 block in 16.4 minutes per game as a senior last season at Washington State, where he played his final two collegiate seasons after starting at Iowa State.

Sixers Cutting Furkan Aldemir

October 26th, 2015 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers are waiving Furkan Aldemir, league sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Charania indicates the move has already taken place, though the team has yet to make an official announcement. Philadelphia will eat his fully guaranteed salary of nearly $2.837MM for this season unless he clears waivers. Aldemir’s release is part of a series of moves the Sixers are making today, but they still must cut one more player to get to the 15-man regular season roster limit.

Aldemir dealt with a case of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, slowing him during the preseason. He nonetheless averaged 4.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per game across six preseason appearances. At 6’10”, he also showed proficiency on the boards in 41 games during the regular season last year after he signed with the Sixers in December.

The now 24-year-old was a draft-and-stash signee who played for Galatasaray in his native Turkey before coming stateside. The Sixers acquired his draft rights from the Rockets, who in turn had picked them up from the Clippers, the team that drafted him 53rd overall in 2012.

Atlantic Notes: Williams, Bogdanovic, Varnado

April 21st, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Lou Williams paid dividends for the Raptors, and it seems he believes the trade that brought him to Toronto this year was mutually beneficial. The guard reiterated Monday after winning the Sixth Man of the Year award that he wants to re-sign with the Raptors in free agency, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca observes.

“[Staying in Toronto] would be ideal for me,” he said. “Just the culture that they’re building here, just the identity that this team and this town has, I really want to be a part of it. I look forward to it. I don’t want to say hopefully we get something done, I’m really positive that we will get something done. I don’t see why not, at this point. So I just look forward to the future here.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

Bojan Bogdanovic struggled in his NBA playoff debut, but a player who has European postseason experience, as Bogdanovic does, has a measure of added value, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Bogdanovic is in his first NBA season after signing with the Nets for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception in the summer.
Jarvis Varnado, who was in camp with the Sixers this past fall, has signed to play in Puerto Rico with Piratas de Quebradillas, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Varnado also spent time with the Lakers D-League affiliate this season.
The Sixers, who’ll pay Furkan Aldemir nearly $2.837MM in guaranteed salary next season, didn’t invest much in the former draft-and-stash prospect, but it still seems like too much for a player who showed limited skills, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com examines.

Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Aldemir, Smart

March 29th, 2015 at 8:47pm CST by Will Joseph

The Knicks were ranked last in the ESPN Forecast panel’s ranking of the league’s front offices. The management team of Phil Jackson and Steve Mills was ranked 29th; coach Derek Fisher was ranked 30th and owner James Dolan also came in at No. 30. Good times might be on the horizon, however, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes in his analysis of the panel’s rankings. The Knicks will have at least $25MM to spend and could have a high first-round pick in this year’s draft, Begley noted while also adding that things could also change because Dolan is a willing spender.

Here’s more on the Knicks and the Atlantic Division:

It would be unwise for the Knicks to sign Kevin Durant when the reigning MVP is expected to become an unrestricted free agent after next season, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News opines. Isola believes that acquiring the superstar would be a risk the Knicks cannot afford to take, especially after the Thunder announced Durant will need another surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot and will miss the rest of the season.
Furkan Aldemir, a native of Turkey who is in the first year of a four-year deal worth about $12MM with the Sixers, has struggled to adapt to life in the NBA, but is expected to get more playing time as the season winds down, Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News writes. Aldemir, 23, has played in five straight games.
Clippers president of basketball operations and coach Doc Rivers is reminded of himself — albeit a better version, he said — when he watches Celtics rookie point guard Marcus Smart, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. “He’s a really good defensive player,” said Rivers, who played 13 seasons in the NBA. “On the ball, off the ball. Yet he’s making plays offensively. I like him a lot.”

Atlantic Notes: Larkin, Morris, Aldemir

December 16th, 2014 at 1:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Atlantic Division is home to the teams with the NBA’s two highest payrolls — the Knicks and the Nets — as well as the Sixers, who have the lowest. All three of them are under .500, and the Knicks, with 21 losses, have suffered just one fewer defeat than Philadelphia has. Here’s more on a trio of teams with different approaches and similar results:

Shane Larkin wants to re-sign with the Knicks next summer even though they declined their 2015/16 team option on his rookie scale contract, as Larkin tells Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com. “I love it here. I want to be here,” Larkin said. “Obviously, I want to help bring the Knicks back to what they used to be.” The Knicks haven’t dismissed the possibility, but declining the option hamstrings the team, which can’t pay more than the $1,675,320 value of his option if they were to re-sign him, as Feldman points out, examining the risky play of ceding control over young talent in exchange for cap flexibility.
The non-guaranteed minimum-salary deal that the Nets gave Darius Morris last week covers two seasons, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The salary for 2015/16 becomes partially guaranteed for $25K if he remains on the roster through July 1st, and there are additional guarantee dates later in the year that further raise that guaranteed amount, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders Nets salary page.
Furkan Aldemir received a signing bonus of nearly $306K, Pincus reports (Twitter links). His base salary is $2.8MM in the first, third and fourth years of his four-year contract and $2.7MM in year two, Pincus adds. The first two seasons are fully guaranteed, so the cap hits for the signing bonus, which by rule are spread over the guaranteed seasons of the deal, come to $2.96MM for this season and $2.84MM for next, as Pincus also reveals.
The amount of guaranteed money going to Aldemir signals the gravity of his signing amid an otherwise low-risk strategy for Sixers GM Sam Hinkie, writes John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News. Aldemir’s ability to develop will be a key bellwether for the success of Hinkie’s tenure, Smallwood believes.

Eastern Notes: Lance, Nets, Knicks, Aldemir

December 15th, 2014 at 8:13pm CST by Alex Lee

While Pacers owner Herb Simon indicated tonight that he wouldn’t object to a deal bringing Lance Stephenson back to Indiana, he said the decision would ultimately be up to president of basketball ops Larry Bird and GM Kevin Pritchard, writes Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. Meanwhile, Gregg Doyel of the Star opines that the Pacers would be foolish to bring back Stephenson, who has worn out his welcome with the Hornets only 23 games into the season.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the former Pacer. Now let’s look at what else is going on in the Eastern Conference:

With no control over their 2015 first round draft pick, there’s no argument to be made for the Nets doing anything to their roster that might prevent them from winning, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. The Hawks have the right to swap first round picks with Brooklyn, potentially making a less desirable pick a positive for the Nets. Additionally, Bontemps confirms the Nets are looking at Stephenson, as we’ve already heard, as well as other options that might help to improve the team.
News that the Nets are willing to move their highest-salaried players might be an indication that owner Mikhail Prokhorov is ready to sell the team, says Ric Bucher in his latest Bucher Buzz segment. It doesn’t seem that Bucher’s information is coming from the Nets organization, but the Bleacher Report scribe says that his sources around the league are suspicious given the recent rumors coming out of Brooklyn.
Knicks coach Derek Fisher attributed some of his team’s early-season struggles to the fact that nine of his players are in the final year of their respective deals with the team, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. “You have a number of guys that are thinking about how they’re going to provide for their families and where their career is going and whether they’re going to be here or on another team and all the ramifications of those decisions,” said Fisher, whose been trying to implement the triangle offense in his first year in New York.
The Sixers will pay Furkan Aldemir $6MM over the first two years of his deal, reports Tom Moore of Calkins Media (via Twitter). Philly officially inked the Turkish big man to a four-year, $12MM deal yesterday but only the first two years of the pact are guaranteed.

Sixers Sign Furkan Aldemir

December 15th, 2014 at 11:35am CST by Zachary Links

MONDAY, 11:35am: The deal is official, team spokesperson Michael Preston announced (on Twitter).

SUNDAY, 3:18pm: Furkan Aldemir has agreed to a four-year deal in the $12MM range with the Sixers, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The first two years of Aldemir’s deal will be guaranteed. David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link) reported earlier today that the big man received his visa, allowing him to officially make his transfer to the Sixers.

The Sixers first reached agreement with the draft-and-stash prospect back in November. Since then, however, there have been a series of roadblocks and hurdles that delayed the union between Aldemir and Philadelphia. Now, however, Aldemir ostensibly has obtained FIBA clearance and the blessing of his Turkish club, Galatasaray, paving the way for him to pursue his NBA dream.

The Sixers obtained the NBA rights to the 6’9″ power forward in the 2013 Royce White trade with the Rockets. Aldemir, said to be a decent rebounder, reportedly wasn’t being paid in a timely fashion for his hard work as Galatasaray was behind on paying off his three-year, $5.3MM deal. The 23-year-old has played exclusively overseas since entering the draft in 2012, when the Clippers made him the 53rd overall pick before sending him to the Rockets the next day.

The deal marks one of the first attempts that Philadelphia has made to cash in on its store of overseas talent that includes the rights to No. 12 overall pick Dario Saric and two other 2014 draftees. As Hoops Rumors’ roster counts show, the 76ers are at the maximum of 15 and will have to make room for Aldemir before adding him to the roster. Aldemir is represented by agent Misko Raznatovic.