Gary Payton II Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rockets Sign Four Players, Finalize Camp Roster

September 23rd, 2016 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 23: Nearly three months after agreeing to terms with Payton, Taylor, and Wiltjer, the Rockets have officially signed them, announcing the moves today in a press release. The team also confirmed the previously-reported signing of Bobby Brown, formally announcing its 18-man roster for training camp.

While the deals for the three undrafted rookies were initially reported to be three-year agreements, the Rockets have since used up their cap room, limiting the team to two-year, minimum-salary pacts. Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle reported this week that two-year contracts were likely for all four players.

JUNE 24: The Rockets drafted two players in the second round on Thursday night, and supplemented their rookie class shortly after the draft ended by agreeing to terms with three free agents who went undrafted.

Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com first reported (via Twitter) that Houston had agreed to a three-year deal with former Oregon State guard Gary Payton II, with Shams Charania of The Vertical reporting (via Twitter) that former Texas guard Isaiah Taylor had also agreed to a partially-guaranteed contract with the Rockets.

Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (via Twitter) confirms those two deals, and adds former Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer to the list of Rockets’ signees. All three players will ink three-year contracts that feature team options, according to Feigen.

Payton, Taylor, Wiltjer were all viewed as top-75 prospects by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, who ranked them 48th, 67th, and 75th, respectively, in his top 100. There’s no guarantee any of them will earn spots on the Houston’s regular-season roster for 2016/17, but whether or not they make the cut, they could end up spending some time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets’ D-League affiliate.

Exact terms of the three deals aren’t known, and they haven’t been officially finalized yet, but I’d expect minimum-salary pacts, with most – or all – of the guaranteed money coming in the first year.

Rockets Rumors: Harden, Motiejunas, Contracts

September 22nd, 2016 at 5:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Franchise player James Harden believes the Rockets have already shown better chemistry as they head into training camp on Saturday, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. Harden admits that many of the team’s problems last season could be blamed on a lack of harmony but that has changed, Feigen continues. “We’re doing something I haven’t (experienced) since I’ve been here in Houston,” Harden told Feigen. “Just trying to shake things up, just trying to make sure we really know each other in and out on and off the court. I think that will translate to a better team.” That improved camraderie was evident in mini-camps and workouts that Harden organized, Feigen adds. Along with team bonding, Harden has been focused on avoiding a repeat of last season, when the Rockets went .500 and were knocked out in the opening round of the playoffs after reaching the Western Conference Finals the previous season. “I’ve been training all summer,” Harden said. “Last season wasn’t great at all. It was very disappointing. I don’t want to let that happen two years in a row. I’ve been in the gym working out to get my mind, body and soul right.”

In other developments regarding the Rockets:

Harden says that signing restricted free agent Donatas Motiejunas is “very important,” Feigen relays in a tweet. There’s not much going regarding the impasse between the Rockets and Motiejunas, a source told Feigen (Twitter link). The power forward has not received a serious offer from the club, according to his agent, B.J. Armstrong. Motiejunas does not want to sign the $3.4MM qualifying offer the Rockets have made. The Pistons rescinded a deal with the Rockets at the trade deadline in February when Motiejunas failed a physical because of lingering back problems.
The team plans to sign point guards Gary Payton II, Isaiah Taylor and Bobby Brown and power forward Kyle Wiltjer on Thursday or Friday, Feigen added in the same tweet regarding the lack of progress with Motiejunas’ contract talks. Those contracts are likely to to be two-year deals, according to Feigen. Payton II, Taylor and Wiltjer are undrafted rookies who agreed to deals shortly after the draft. Brown, who hasn’t played in the NBA since 2010, agreed in July to attend the Rockets’ camp.

Rockets Sign Second-Rounder Chinanu Onuaku

July 20th, 2016 at 11:22am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have finalized a deal with second-round pick Chinanu Onuaku, reaching an agreement on a three-year contract, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston used its last chunk of cap room on Onuaku, allowing the team to formalize the signing of Nene using its room exception.

As Bobby Marks of The Vertical tweets, the Rockets had $543,772 of cap room left to spare, and the minimum salary for a rookie is $543,471, meaning the team was able to squeeze in Onuaku with just $301 left over. The team could signed Onuaku to a minimum-salary contract after going over the cap, but such a deal would have been limited to two years. Instead, the former Louisville center receives a fully-guaranteed three-year pact, per Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link).

“It’s a pretty good deal for the kid,” agent Derrick Powell said, according to Feigen. “He’s 19 years old. He has an upside that fits the contract. I think it was important for us because we wanted Houston to commit to his growth. They’re very committed to him. They like him a lot. He’s worked his buns off. He’s very excited about his future with Houston.”

Onuaku, 19, is still raw, but showed plenty of promise during his sophomore season, averaging 9.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 2.0 BPG for Louisville. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com ranked him as the 38th-best prospect in this year’s draft class, and the Rockets made him the 37th overall pick in last month’s draft.

Now that they’re over the cap, the Rockets will be limited to two-year, minimum-salary deals for the other undrafted rookies they’ve agreed to sign, including Gary Payton II, Kyle Wiltjer, and Isaiah Taylor.

Ben Simmons Works Out For Sixers

June 21st, 2016 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

11:00am: Simmons’ workout with the Sixers is the “strongest indication yet” that the club has promised to take the former LSU forward with the first overall pick, since agent Rich Paul likely wouldn’t have let Simmons work out without such a promise, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links).

9:52am: After initially appearing as though he wouldn’t work out for any teams leading up to the 2016 NBA draft, top prospect Ben Simmons did indeed have a workout this morning with the Sixers, sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Reports have indicated that the Sixers are strongly leaning toward Simmons with the No. 1 pick over Brandon Ingram, the other consensus top-two prospect in this year’s class. From Simmons’ perspective, there didn’t seem to be much benefit in working out for clubs — even if Philadelphia opted to pass on him with the first overall pick, he’d almost certainly land with the Lakers, initially rumored to be his preferred destination anyway.

However, it seems as if that stance changed, with Simmons getting a look from the Sixers this morning, a few days after meeting with the club. While there have been no reports yet on how today’s workout went, there’s probably not much chance it turned Philadelphia off the former LSU forward.

Let’s check in on a few other Sixers items…

Trade talks between the Sixers and Celtics may be heating up, according to Gary Tanguay and Tim Welsh of WEEI.com (Twitter link). As we’ve heard before, Philadelphia likes former Providence point guard Kris Dunn a lot, and while the team probably won’t seriously consider Dunn at No. 1, acquiring the No. 3 overall pick from Boston to select him is a possibility. Either Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel would have to be involved in such a deal.
In addition to working out Simmons, the Sixers also have a six-man workout group in today, according to a team release. The participants are Isaiah Cousins (Oklahoma), Chinanu Onuaku (Louisville), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Brandon Taylor (Penn State), Tyler Ulis (Kentucky), and Guerschon Yabusele (France).
Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga) is also expected to work out for the Sixers prior to Thursday’s draft, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.

Central Notes: LeBron, Pistons, Bucks, Draft

June 20th, 2016 at 4:24pm CST by Luke Adams

After leading the Cavaliers to a historic NBA Finals comeback, and the first championship in franchise history, LeBron James likely won’t be attempting to lead Team USA to Olympic gold later this summer. According to Chris Mannix of The Vertical, the Finals MVP is leaning toward not participating in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. As Mannix details, James has yet to inform USA Basketball of his decision, one way or the other. However, team officials are operating under the expectation that the 31-year-old superstar is unlikely to play in Rio.

Here are a few more updates from out of the Central division:

The Pistons‘ pre-draft workout today, highlighted by Ivica Zubac, also featured five other players, according to David Mayo of MLive (Twitter link). The other participants were Nikola Jovanovic (USC), Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga), Stefan Jankovic (Hawaii), Elgin Cook (Oregon), and Brannen Greene (Kansas).
The Bucks also worked out several players today, conducting an individual workout for Michigan State’s Deyonta Davis and a group session for six other prospects. As announced in a press release, those six players were Matt Costello (Michigan State), Isaiah Cousins (Oklahoma), Demetrius Jackson (Notre Dame), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Diamond Stone (Maryland), and Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall).
The Bucks formally broke ground on their new downtown Milwaukee arena over the weekend, according to a report from Genaro C. Armas of The Associated Press. The project is expected to cost approximately $524MM, and the club is expected to begin playing games in the new building at the start of the 2018/19 season.

Draft Updates: Lakers, Ingram, Grizzlies, Richardson

June 17th, 2016 at 8:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com published his latest mock draft at The Vertical, and included a handful of interesting tidbits within his player blurbs. According to Givony, the Lakers would have targeted Brandon Ingram at No. 1 if they had won the draft lottery, so Los Angeles is perfectly happy to take him if the Sixers take Ben Simmons, as expected. Givony also suggests that the Grizzlies are “enamored with” Syracuse wing Malachi Richardson, urging him to stop working out for teams and promising to select him at No. 17.

As we wait to see if Richardson does indeed end up in Memphis next week, let’s round up a few Friday draft-related items from across the NBA…

Spanish forward Juan Hernangomez spoke to Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype about his draft outlook, and suggested that he’d be thrilled if a team picked him with the intention of bringing him stateside immediately. “Of course I would like to go to the NBA next year,” Hernangomez said. “If I have the slightest chance of making it happen, I’m going to take that opportunity. Teams know I want to go. Some teams want me for right away, others would rather have me stay in Europe for a year. I’m not sure yet what’s going to happen.”
The Celtics have scheduled a Saturday pre-draft workout for Yogi Ferrell (Indiana), Cat Barber (N.C. State), and Gary Payton II (Oregon State), according to Michael Scott of Sheridan Hoops (via Twitter).
Former Kentucky guard Tyler Ulis, who worked out for Detroit today, said he has one last workout lined up with the 76ers, per Vincent Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).
ESPN’s Chad Ford spent more than an hour fielding and answering draft questions from the media on a conference call, and ESPN has provided the full transcript. If you can’t get enough draft discussion, be sure to check out the 14,000-word breakdown of that call.

Western Draft Notes: Pelicans, Nuggets, Wolves

June 14th, 2016 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans had a large workout group in on Monday, with a dozen players earning a look from the club. According to the team (via Twitter), the following players participated in the workout: Isaia Cordinier (France), Troy Williams (Indiana), Michael Gbinije (Syracuse), Jake Layman (Maryland), Guerschon Yabusele (France), Wayne Selden (Kansas), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Yogi Ferrell (Indiana), Thomas Walkup (Stephen F. Austin), Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona), Prince Ibeh (Texas), and Perry Ellis (Kansas).

While none of those prospects figures to come off the board at No. 6, when the Pelicans make their first selection, many of them could be in play in the second round — New Orleans currently holds the 39th and 40th overall picks, and is doing its due diligence on potential second-round prospects.

Let’s check in on a few more draft updates from around the Western Conference…

The Nuggets, armed with three top-20 picks, will work out former Michigan State forward Deyonta Davis on Wednesday morning, the team announced today in a press release. We profiled Davis, the 10th prospect on DraftExpress.com’s big board, in April, noting that Denver could be a fit. The Nuggets are also expected to bring in Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono for a workout later this week, tweets Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post.
The Timberwolves, who have the fifth overall pick in the draft, had Jamal Murray in for an individual workout on Monday, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link).
Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops passes along a pair of updates, reporting (via Twitter) that Domantas Sabonis (Gonzaga) worked out with the Jazz on Monday, and that Xavier’s James Farr participated in a group workout with the Thunder today.
The Clippers will work out Dayton’s Dyshawn Pierre, according to Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link). Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link) adds former Kansas forward Cheick Diallo to the list of prospects that will work out with the Clips.
Former Iona guard A.J. English has a workout lined up with the Warriors, tweets Camerato.

Southwest Notes: Morey, Durant, Pelicans, Grizzlies

June 12th, 2016 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets already have several players on their roster who fit new coach Mike D’Antoni’s style, GM Daryl Morey told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Appearing as a guest on Wojnarowski’s podcast, Morey said D’Antoni has a very positive reputation with players and agents around the league because they know players can put up good offensive numbers in his system. “I think a lot of what we went through last year is guys weren’t as engaged on defense,” Morey said. “That’s because we were struggling from A to Z, and that impacted our defense overall.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

The Rockets are still hoping to meet with free agent Kevin Durant next month, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein reported this week that Houston isn’t among the teams that Durant is considering.
The Pelicans have workouts scheduled for 12 players Monday, according to John Reid of The Times-Picayune. On the list are French stars Isaia Cordinier and Guerschon Yabusele, along with Troy Williams of Indiana, Michael Gbinije of Syracuse, Jake Layman of Maryland, Wayne Seldon Jr. of Kansas, Gary Payton II of Oregon State, Yogi Ferrell of Indiana, Thomas Walkup of Stephen F. Austin, Kaleb Tarczewski of Arizona, Prince Ibeh of Texas and Perry Ellis of Kansas. New Orleans has the sixth pick in the first round and the 39th and 40th selections in the second round.
The Grizzlies held a workout today for Ben Bentil of Providence, Isaiah Cousins of Oklahoma, Brice Johnson of North Carolina, Payton, Malachi Richardson of Syracuse and Selden, according to Grizzlies.com. Memphis holds picks No. 17 and 57.
Johnson could be the young power forward the Grizzlies need, speculates Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. Zach Randolph will turn 35 this summer, and Jarell Martin and JaMychal Green haven’t shown they can handle the position, Tillery writes. At 6’10” and 210 pounds, Johnson has a mixture of size and skills that makes him an intriguing prospect.

Draft Notes: Selden, Onuaku, Richardson

June 10th, 2016 at 10:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Here’s the latest happenings regarding the upcoming NBA Draft, which will be held on June 23rd in Brooklyn, New York:

Former Kansas shooting guard Wayne Selden has worked out for the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs and Bulls in addition to previously reported sessions with the Knicks and Bucks, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays (via Twitter).
Former Louisville small forward Damion Lee has participated in workouts for the Clippers, Celtics, Suns, Spurs, Wizards, Jazz and Raptors, plus, he has upcoming visits scheduled with the Mavericks and Thunder, Kennedy tweets.
The Grizzlies have workouts scheduled on Sunday with Ben Bentil (Providence), Isaiah Cousins (Oklahoma), Brice Johnson (North Carolina), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Malachi Richardson (Syracuse) and Selden, the team announced via press release.
Draft prospects Chinanu Onuaku (Louisville) and Joel James (North Carolina) have signed with Tandem Sports for representation, Kennedy reports (via Twitter).
Former Manhattan power forward Jermaine Lawrence will work out for the Warriors on Saturday, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
The Jazz held workouts today for Julian Jacobs (USC), Payton, Kyle Collinsworth (BYU), Dakarai Tucker (Utah), Alpha Kaba (France) and Denzel Valentine (Michigan State), the team announced.

Draft Notes: Ellenson, Yusta, Stone, Whitehead

June 1st, 2016 at 9:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Here’s the latest news and notes from around the league regarding the upcoming 2016 NBA Draft:

The Sixers are holding pre-draft workouts tomorrow for Isaia Cordinier (France), Alex Caruso (Texas A&M), Daniel Hamilton (Connecticut), Brandon Austin (Northwest Florida State), Rosco Allen (Stanford) and Alex Poythress (Kentucky), the team announced via press release.
Former BYU point guard Kyle Collinsworth worked out for the Nets today, Jarom Jordan of BYU SportsNation tweets.
The Hornets have workouts scheduled on Thursday for Montay Brandon (Florida State), Retin Obasohan (Alabama), Goodluck Okonoboh (UNLV), Tim Quarterman (LSU), Adam Smith (Georgia Tech) and Diamond Stone (Maryland), the team announced.
The Pacers will bring in Robert Carter (Maryland), Julian Jacobs (USC), Marcus Paige (North Carolina), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Dyshawn Pierre (Dayton), and Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall) on Thursday for pre-draft workouts, the team announced.
Former Boise State small forward James Webb III worked out for the Wolves today, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets.
Spanish small forward Santiago Yusta has withdrawn from the 2016 NBA Draft, Encestando.com relays (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).
Former Marquette big man Henry Ellenson worked out for the Wolves on Tuesday and has workouts scheduled with the Lakers, Raptors and Suns next, Wolfson tweets.