Jamal Crawford Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Clippers, Barron, Iguodala

October 15th, 2014 at 7:54pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Clippers are fortunate to have three solid veterans who are willing to come off of the bench, Melissa Rohlin of The Los Angeles Times writes. Discussing Spencer Hawes, Matt Barnes, and Jamal Crawford, coach Doc Rivers said, “There are two groups. One is the old veterans like Matt. They want to come off the bench. That’s when they’ve figured it out — it saves them, it makes them fresher, they’re smarter, they can actually watch the game and evaluate the game. And then there’s that extraordinary group of guys who clearly could be starters and actually still prefer coming off the bench…. Jamal could start anywhere, he could start here, but he prefers coming off the bench.”

Here’s more from out west:

The Warriors depth has been an issue since the team decided to sign Andre Iguodala and let Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry leave as free agents, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders writes. Golden State is exploring the idea of using Iguodala as their sixth man this season, notes Koutroupis.
One element of the Spurs‘ success over the years has been roster continuity, and the franchise places first overall in that department in Joe Freeman of the Oregonian‘s rankings. Finishing in second place was the Trail Blazers, which is a by-product of GM Neil Olshey‘s commitment to development from within the organization and to create year-to-year cohesion and consistency, notes Freeman. This plan will be tested next summer thanks to a number of players reaching free agency, Freeman opines.
With the Suns waiving Joe Jackson, Casey Prather and Jamil Wilson yesterday, Earl Barron remains the lone player in camp with a non-guaranteed contract, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic tweets. Coro notes that Barron has performed well enough in camp to be considered for the team’s final regular season roster spot.

California Notes: Warriors, Crawford, Nash

September 2nd, 2014 at 7:31pm CST by Cray Allred

The NBA landscape in California has undergone quite the transformation in recent years. In the past, there have been long stretches with the Kings near the top of the division, while the Warriors and Clippers have often scraped the bottom. Currently, Golden State and the formerly hapless Los Angeles franchise have established themselves as perennial playoff teams, while Sacramento underwhelms at the bottom of the division. The Lakers’ decline might turn out to be the most startling development, especially if the purple and gold don’t emerge from their downturn in the next couple seasons. Here’s a rundown of California rumblings this evening:

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle confirms that the contracts of Warriors camp invites James McAdoo and Mitchell Watt are partially guaranteed.
Agent Andy Miller has already signaled Jamal Crawford‘s interest in signing an extension when he becomes eligible next summer, and it sounds like the reigning Sixth Man of the Year will have a friendly face on the other side of the negotiating table. Crawford has a longstanding relationship with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer based on their Seattle connections, as Crawford details to Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. “We’ve done a lot of [charity] events together in Seattle, so I’ve known him before he was actually the owner,” Crawford said. “We were texting throughout the year and emailing each other and staying in contact and continuing to work together with charities around Seattle. It’s exciting. I don’t know how many people have actually known their owner before they actually played for the team they were on. So it’s pretty cool.”
Despite some thought given by the Lakers to use the stretch provision on Steve Nash, the deadline to execute the maneuver came and went without Los Angeles doing so. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times reports that the team was still considering stretching Nash’s deal before its top free agent targets of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh decided to sign elsewhere, eliminating the team’s need to gain cap flexibility from such a move.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Clippers, Williams, LeBron

July 4th, 2014 at 11:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link) wonders what the Clippers recent signing of Spencer Hawes will mean for the extension chances of DeAndre Jordan and Jamal Crawford with the team.

Here’s more from around the league:

Unless the Clippers are willing to trade J.J. Redick or first-round picks to the Nets for Paul Pierce, a sign-and-trade is unlikely, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
Free agent forward Marvin Williams has been in discussions with the Spurs, Heat, Wizards, Hornets, Clippers, Magic, and Suns, reports David Aldridge of NBA.com (Twitter link).
Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman breaks down the Thunder‘s Summer League roster.
The Lakers indeed met today with Rich Paul, the agent for LeBron James, as expected, Aldridge tweets.
Talks are advancing between Luol Deng and the Hawks, though no agreement is pending, notes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Twitter link).

Jamal Crawford Seeks Contract Extension

July 2nd, 2014 at 9:51pm CST by Zachary Links

As the Clippers explore possible trades with Jamal Crawford, the guard’s agent says that his client wants a contract extension next summer, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

“Our intention is to get an extension with the Clippers or anywhere else that he may be traded based on the fact that he’s undervalued for the production he’s providing,” agent Andy Miller said.

Crawford has become a subject of sign-and-trade discussions for the Clippers, who explored deals for Cleveland’s Luol Deng and Spencer Hawes. The 34-year-old has two years and $11MM left on his deal, including a team option for the 2015/16 season. Crawford is eligible for an extension next summer, and believes he’s out-performed his deal.

Crawford had a strong year for Los Angeles, averaging 18.6 PPG in 30 minutes per game on his way to his second career Sixth Man of the Year award.

And-Ones: Sterling, Parker, Crawford

July 1st, 2014 at 9:44am CST by Chuck Myron

Attorneys for Donald Sterling will argue that wife Shelly Sterling exerted undue influence on one of the two doctors who examined Donald and declared him mentally incompetent, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com details. Donald’s mental competency is no longer on trial. Instead, the probate trial between the Sterlings will center on whether Shelly followed the rules of the Sterling family trust, according to Shelburne. Those rules required that two mental health experts submit letters to the effect that Donald was mentally incompetent before allowing Shelly to take full control of the trust, Shelburne writes. Shelly agreed to sell the Clippers in May to Steve Ballmer, claiming that she fully controlled the trust, but Donald is fighting the sale. Here’s more from around the league:

The Spurs kept Tony Parker through Monday, unsurprisingly, but doing so means his $3.5MM partial guarantee is now a fully guaranteed $12.5MM salary for 2014/15.
Jamal Crawford of the Clippers had his $1.5MM partial guarantee bumped to a full guarantee of $5.45MM when he remained on the roster through Monday.
Kosta Koufos remains on the Grizzlies, so his $500K partial guarantee is now a $3MM full guarantee.
Parker’s teammate Austin Daye is also still with the Spurs, so his $250K partial guarantee is a fully guaranteed minimum salary.
The Hornets kept Jeffery Taylor around, so his minimum salary went from non-guaranteed to fully guaranteed.
It appears as though the Magic are officially under the cap, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That means Orlando loses access to a $6,077,280 trade exception it could have reaped from last week’s Arron Afflalo deal.
The Hawks didn’t give big man Gustavo Ayon a qualifying offer by Monday’s deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent, notes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). There weren’t reports of qualifying offers to James Southerland of the Pelicans, Adonis Thomas of the Sixers and Bernard James of the Mavs, so presumably they’re all unrestricted free agents as well.
The Wolves hired Ryan Saunders as an assistant coach, the team announced (on Twitter). Saunders, the son of Wolves head coach/executive Flip Saunders, had served the last five seasons as a Wizards assistant.

Qualifying Offers: Monday

June 30th, 2014 at 11:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Teams must decide today whether to tender qualifying offers to their players eligible for restricted free agency or lose the right to match offers from other teams. We’ll round up all of today’s qualifying offer decisions here:

The Pacers declined to tender a qualifying offer to Lavoy Allen, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Still, there’s mutual interest in a new deal, Buckner adds (on Twitter).
The Hawks extended a qualifying offer to Mike Scott, notes Mark Deeks of ShamSports (on Twitter).
No surprise here: Chandler Parsons got his QO from the Rockets, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
The Pacers won’t extend a QO to Evan Turner, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
Kevin Seraphin officially got his qualifying offer from the Wizards, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
As expected, the Warriors won’t extend a QO to Jordan Crawford, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
The Hawks have extended a qualifying offer to Shelvin Mack, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
The Bucks have told forward-center Ekpe Udoh he will not be tendered an offer thus making him an unrestricted free agent, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter).
The Grizzlies have passed on making a qualifying offer to Ed Davis, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Davis was reportedly a favorite of former CEO Jason Levien, but with Zach Randolph having agreed to an extension, it appears that Davis isn’t quite as highly valued in Memphis as he once was. His qualifying offer would have been worth $4,268,609, a slightly smaller amount than he was originally in line for, as I explained.
No shock here, but the Pistons extended a qualifying offer to Greg Monroe, tweets Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News, preserving their right to match offers for the fifth-rated player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. The qualifying offer is worth nearly $5.5MM, but he’ll command much more than that.
The Pelicans will not give Darius Miller a qualifying offer, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune. The offer would have been worth more than $1.115MM.
The Spurs have tendered a qualifying offer to Aron Baynes, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter). It’s worth more than $1.115MM, the same amount as Miller’s would have been.
The Knicks have elected not to make a qualifying offer to Toure’ Murry, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). They’d like to re-sign him nonetheless, Stein adds in a second tweet, but other teams have interest, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt says (on Twitter). The offer would have been worth more than $1.016MM.
Othyus Jeffers and Robbie Hummel won’t receive qualifying offers from the Wolves, the team announced (on Twitter). The offers would have been for amounts slightly greater than $1.148MM and $1.016MM, respectively.

Draft Notes: Clippers, Exum, Heat, Stokes

June 26th, 2014 at 10:00am CST by Zachary Links

The consensus around the league is that Clippers president Doc Rivers is trying to shop the team’s first round pick at No. 28, writes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Rivers doesn’t want to add a rookie to his roster and would rather have the cap space than pay the guaranteed salary that goes to a first-round draft pick. Officials say that Rivers has offered trade scenarios centering around their pick, plus a wing player — either Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, or Jared Dudley — and reserve guard Willie Green. One deal that was proposed had Dudley and another Clippers player and the No. 28 pick going to the Hornets for guard Gerald Henderson, but it has gone nowhere so far. The latest draft news from around the league..

Dante Exum declined to fly to Cleveland for a workout today with the Cavs, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
In addition to the Clippers, the Suns (No. 27) and Thunder (No. 29) still have picks available via trade, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. The Nets have tried hard but they look unlikely to get into the first round at this point.
Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (on Twitter) hears that Elfrid Payton may have passed Marcus Smart as the first point guard selected. Presumably, Amico is regarding Australian guard Exum as a shooting guard rather than a PG.
The Heat like Tennessee forward Jarnell Stokes and he’s an option at No. 26, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Miami worked him out multiple times and came away impressed. Hoops Rumors spoke with Stokes earlier this offseason about his NBA goals and what he can bring to a team.
UConn guard Shabazz Napier is also an option for the Heat, but he’s not likely to be on the board when they pick (link). Napier is rising up draft boards and could go in the teens.
The Bulls really like Jordan Adams, Kennedy tweets, and he’s an option at No. 16 and No. 19 if they keep those picks.

Clippers Open To Dealing Griffin For LeBron?

June 24th, 2014 at 8:57pm CST by Ryan Raroque

8:57pm: The team is discussing a run at LeBron but won’t trade Griffin for him, tweeted Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com earlier tonight. Shelburne points to the many times that Rivers has assured the Clippers big man that he’s “untouchable.”

5:07pm Clippers president of basketball operations Doc Rivers would be open to dealing Blake Griffin in a sign-and-trade package to land LeBron James, several NBA officials told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Griffin is slated to earn $17.6MM in 2014/15; according to Turner, Jared Dudley or Matt Barnes could be included along with Griffin in a deal, presumably to give LeBron a contract starting at above $20MM annually. Dudley and Barnes are on the books for $4.25MM and roughly $3.39MM respectively next season. The team wouldn’t mind including DeAndre Jordan or Jamal Crawford as an additional piece, but also understands that it would be difficult to do so.

Turner includes that the Clippers also haven’t ruled out making a run at Carmelo Anthony this summer, but didn’t specify if Los Angeles would be open to offering the same package to New York. According to one NBA official, Steve Ballmer – whose $2 billion offer to buy the Clippers is not official yet – would agree to paying the luxury tax if the team were to land James or Anthony.

And-Ones: Jazz, Harris, Oden

May 8th, 2014 at 10:47pm CST by Cray Allred

Steve Smith tells Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News that he’s interested in becoming a GM at some point, but that the Pistons opening doesn’t interest him. “As of right now, I’m happy where I am,” said Smith. “The time will come when the right situation pops up and I’ll be ready.” Here’s a roundup of the night’s notes:

The Jazz are picking twice in the first round, but vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin tells Jody Genessy of Deseret Sports that Utah uses the pre-draft process as an opportunity to evaluate prospects well outside of their draft considerations. “Not only are we looking at guys for this year’s draft, but you’re also getting information and you’re getting a feel for players,” said Perrin. “Once we figure out where we are come lottery [time], then we can concentrate on those particular players in that particular area.”
Jay Yeomans of Deseret News profiles each of the six draft prospects who worked out for the Jazz earlier today.
Jamal Crawford told reporters including Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News that the unresolved ownership issues in L.A. won’t outweigh his desire to play there for coach Doc Rivers (Twitter link). “As long as I’m with this group of guys and Doc [is] leading us, that’ll work itself out,” said Crawford. The Clippers have control over Crawford’s partially guaranteed contract for the next two years.
Devin Harris and the Mavs have mutual interest in the soon-to-be free agent returning to Dallas next season, and Harris tells Dwain Price of The Star-Telegram he’d prefer to reach a long-term agreement. “Obviously I don’t really know where [the negotiations] will go,” Harris said. “My intent is to come back, but like I said, only time will tell. I would rather not [sign a one-year deal]. It’s kind of tough to do, especially coming off surgery.”
Greg Oden tells Mark Titus of Grantland he’s come to terms with being a deep bench player for the Heat (H/T Shandel Richardson of The Sun Sentinel). “I know I’m one of the biggest busts in NBA history,” said Oden. “It’s frustrating that my body can’t do what my mind wants it to do sometimes. But worrying or complaining about it isn’t going to fix anything…I wish the circumstances would let me play more, but I certainly don’t regret coming back, and I don’t regret signing with the Heat.”

Jamal Crawford Wins Sixth Man Of The Year

May 8th, 2014 at 10:05am CST by Chuck Myron

MAY 8TH: The league has officially announced Crawford as the award winner, with Gibson a close second. Crawford had 421 points to Gibson’s 395 in the balloting system in which each voter picks a first-, second- and third-place finisher. Gibson outpaced Crawford in first-place votes 57-49. Ginobili finished third, followed by Morris. Jackson and Carter were fifth and sixth, respectively. No other player received first-place votes.

APRIL 30TH: Clippers shooting guard Jamal Crawford has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It’s the second such honor for the 34-year-old, who also won in 2009/10 as a member of the Hawks. The NBA has postponed the official announcements of many of its awards until next week because of the Donald Sterling scandal, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe noted Tuesday (Twitter link), so it appears it’ll be awhile before Crawford can clutch the trophy.

Still, the news adds another layer to the Clippers-Warriors series, one that’s been at the heart of continued controversy surrounding Warriors coach Mark Jackson and his staff in addition to the Sterling saga. Crawford has shown why he’s deserving of the award with his postseason performance, averaging 15.2 points per game. Still, the honor is based on regular season achievement, and Crawford was even better then, notching 18.6 PPG, his most since he became a sixth man five seasons ago. Crawford also started 24 games this year as the Clippers dealt with widespread injuries, but he still came off the bench for 45 contests, enough to qualify for the award.

The voting won’t become public until the NBA’s official announcement, but Taj Gibson of the Bulls, Vince Carter of the Mavs, Manu Ginobili of the Spurs, Reggie Jackson of the Thunder and Markieff Morris of the Suns were among other strong contenders. None were as prolific in scoring as Crawford was, and that seems to have weighed heavily on the minds of the writers who voted.