Jarrett Jack

Nets Waive Jarrett Jack

Apparently unable to find a suitable trade involving Jarrett Jack, the Nets have requested waivers on the veteran point guard, according to a press release from the team. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical had reported earlier in the week that the Nets would cut Jack before his salary for 2016/17 became guaranteed if they weren’t able to trade him.

Jack had been owed a $6.3MM salary for the coming season, but only $500K of that figure was guaranteed. The rest would have become guaranteed if the 32-year-old had remained on Brooklyn’s roster beyond today.

The Nets will save $5.8MM with the move, and will free up a little extra cap space by stretching Jack’s partially-guaranteed salary out over the next three seasons, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). Jack will now count against the team’s cap for about $167K per year for the next three seasons, rather than $500K in 2016/17.

Of course, if Jack is claimed off waivers by another team, that club will take on the full amount of the contract, wiping that leftover $500K from Brooklyn’s cap. And given what we know about free agent costs this offseason, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see a team put in a claim on Jack and his relatively affordable one-year contract.

As the Nets’ depth chart at RosterResource.com shows, Jack had been the only real point guard left on the roster in Brooklyn, with Shane Larkin and Donald Sloan eligible for free agency. Needless to say, the Nets will be in the market for point guard help during the next week, as they head into July armed with more than enough room for a max free agent or two.

Nets Shopping Jarrett Jack

The Nets are shopping point guard Jarrett Jack in advance of his salary for next season becoming fully guaranteed, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (Twitter links). If Brooklyn is unable to find a taker for Jack, Brooklyn plans to waive the player, Wojnarowski adds.

Jack’s contract calls for him to earn $6.3MM in 2016/17, the final year of his deal. His salary is already partially guaranteed for $500,00, an amount Brooklyn will be on the hook for if it releases the player. The point guard’s pact will become fully guaranteed if he remains on the roster past Thursday. Jack tore his ACL in January and has been rehabbing with the hope of being ready for the start of training camp.

It’s unclear if any market exists for Jack, who could potentially be had for a lower annual amount after clearing waivers. One potential suitor I could see stepping up in the event Jack is waived are the crosstown Knicks, who are in desperate need of backcourt depth, though this is pure speculation on my part.

The 32-year-old made 32 appearances for the Nets this past season and averaged 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 32.1 minutes per outing. His slash line on the campaign was .391/.304/.893.

Eastern Notes: Bulls, Butler, Jack, Wizards

Bulls general manager Gar Forman denies that the team made an effort to trade shooting guard Jimmy Butler, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN.com“We like Jimmy Butler,” the GM said. “We didn’t shop Jimmy Butler.” Forman admits that teams called to inquire about Butler’s availability, but says Chicago “never made a single call” and called some of the trade speculation “comical,” prompting Friedell to observe that he can’t recall ever seeing the GM publicly deny a trade rumor so forcefully. Still, Forman did acknowledge that the Bulls liked Kris Dunn and had talks about acquiring him, per K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).

Here are several more post-draft updates from out of the Eastern Conference:

  • Asked tonight about Jarrett Jack‘s $6.3MM team option, Nets general manager Sean Marks said the team is still undecided on it, per Andy Vasquez of The Record (via Twitter). Brooklyn has until next Thursday to make its decision on the veteran point guard.
  • The Wizards had some interest in buying a pick in the second round of the draft, but by the time it reached that point, the players they would have been targeting were off the board, per GM Ernie Grunfeld (Twitter link via J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com).
  • Three players who slid down the draft board had a chance to be selected much earlier, tweets ESPN’s Chad Ford. According to Ford, the Raptors gave serious consideration to Kentucky center Skal Labissiere at No. 9, and the Bucks talked about Michigan State big man Deyonta Davis and Washington point guard Dejounte Murray with the 10th pick. Of course, Toronto couldn’t have been overly high on Labissiere, considering the club passed on him again at No. 27.
  • The Hawks added a pair of wing players in the first round of Thursday’s draft, grabbing Taurean Prince at No. 12 and DeAndre’ Bembry at No. 21. Nonetheless, free-agent-to-be Kent Bazemore continues to be a priority, according to Hawks GM Wes Wilcox, who said after the draft that Bazemore “is a huge part of what we do.” Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the details and the quotes from Wilcox.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post.

Nets Notes: Ferry, Cap Exception, Jackson

Danny Ferry is no longer a viable candidate for the Nets GM job, sources tell Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Lewis previously heard that Ferry wasn’t “the likeliest candidate” not long after the former Hawks and Cavs GM emerged as a contender, in spite of his support from former GM Billy King. The candidacy of John Calipari is on the wane, Lewis also hears, which jibes with earlier reports from Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck that Calipari wasn’t under serious consideration and from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, who wrote that owner Mikhail Prokhorov hadn’t shown a willingness to pay the $120MM over 10 years that Calipari reportedly wants. See more from Brooklyn:

  • It appears the NBA granted Brooklyn’s request for a disabled player exception to compensate for the loss of Jarrett Jack, as Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports indicates within a look at the team’s situation heading into the February 18th trade deadline. That would give the team a $3.15MM cap exception to sign, trade for or claim a player whose contract doesn’t run past this season.
  • The Nets felt as though the Thunder “bamboozled” them last year when negotiations on a trade involving Brook Lopez and Reggie Jackson fell apart in the final hour before the deadline, writes Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said Monday that he thought his team had no chance to trade for Jackson two weeks before the deadline-day swap that sent the point guard to Detroit, as Mazzeo relays.
  • Restricted free agents are more likely than longer-tenured unrestricted free agents to look for a team that will give them minutes and opportunities rather than a strong chance to win, arguest Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM, who suggests five soon-to-be restricted free agents the Nets should consider this summer.

Jarrett Jack Out For Season

JANUARY 13TH, 11:17am: Jack underwent surgery today, and the Nets anticipate that he’ll be ready to play by the start of next season, the team announced via press release.

JANUARY 3RD, 1:05pm: Nets point guard Jarrett Jack will miss the rest of the season because of a torn ACL and a small meniscus tear in his right knee, the team announced on its website. Brooklyn does not specify when Jack will undergo surgery, but NetsDaily reports it will happen on Monday (Twitter link).

The Nets have until January 15th to apply for a disabled player exception on Jack with the exception being worth $3.15MM, notes former NBA executive Bobby Marks (Twitter link). It would expire March 10th, Marks adds. The Nets, at 10-23 likely won’t make the playoffs, but Marks tweets that they should apply for the exception anyway because it might help make a difference during the trade deadline.

Jack, who is making $6.3MM this season, has a $500K guarantee for next season, NetsDaily points out in a full story. He averaged 12.8 points and 7.4 assists per game in 32 appearances (all starts) for the Nets this season. With Jack out, Shane Larkin and Donald Sloan will likely see more minutes.

Jack, 32, has been durable over the course of his 12-year career, as Andy Vasquez of The Record notes (on Twitter). Jack is the only player in the league to have played at least 79 games in nine of the last 10 seasons, according to Vasquez.

Atlantic Notes: Hollins, Stevens, Lopez

Nets coach Lionel Hollins seemingly turned a compliment Stephen Curry gave point guard Jarrett Jack into a negative, Fred Kerber of The New York Post writes. Responding to Curry’s praise of Jack’s vocal leadership when the two were teammates in Golden State, Hollins said, “Did Stephen Curry say it? When Stephen Curry speaks, everybody listens … so it must be right. I see the same thing. Here’s the deal. Too much is made of leadership. Everybody should be a leader on the court.

Leadership comes by you going out there and doing your job to the best of your ability as hard as you can consistently. You do that, people are going to follow you. Then the great players lead by their ability to score the ball, and people follow them because they know that they can help them win,” Hollins continued. “The worst kind of leadership is that ‘Rah-rah, come on, everybody.’ To me, that’s just annoying people. I think leadership is like, ‘OK, somebody’s missed two or three, don’t worry about it, I got you, I’m going to come back to you again.’

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • The strong play of Knicks rookie big man Kristaps Porzingis may force coach Derek Fisher to shift center Robin Lopez to the bench, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. Lopez, who has struggled this season after signing a four-year, $54MM deal this past summer, notes his slow start is due to adjusting to the triangle offense, Berman notes. “Defensively, that’s been pretty consistent,’’ Lopez said. “I’ve always been able to fall back on that. Offensively I’m trying to figure things out. How much I’m expected to score? What am I expected to do when I catch the ball in the post? Now I’m getting more comfortable, starting to realize what the role is.’’
  • Brad Stevens has molded the Celtics into one of the NBA’s toughest defensive teams despite the lack of a true rim-protector, Brett Koremenos of RealGM writes in his analysis of the team’s improvement.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Zeller, McCullough, Atkins

Nets GM Billy King said Tuesday that he’s comfortable with Jarrett Jack as the starting point guard, though he admitted he’s unsure if the team is better off without Deron Williams, whom the team waived in a buyout deal. Andy Vasquez of The Record has that and other details from King’s session with reporters Tuesday.

“It’s going to depend on how quickly it jells,” King said. “But I think with the core of guys, proven scorers, proven guys that can win, we have a chance to make the playoffs. And the goal for us going into this is just to try to get better.”

King also made it clear that the team won’t try to improve its record simply to try to keep from forking over draft picks that are too high, as Vasquez also notes. Brooklyn, which owes the Celtics unprotected first-round picks in 2016 and 2018, will rebuild at its own pace, King said. See more on the Nets and Celtics and other Atlantic Division news:

  • Tyler Zeller confirmed he and the Celtics have engaged in extension talks, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com details, but while the center acknowledged that he’d like to reach a deal before the November 2nd deadline, he doesn’t sound like he’s especially anxious for one. “It would be nice to have an extension, just a little more security,” Zeller said. “But at the same time, you have to approach the year and you can’t be heartbroken if you don’t get it. You have to make sure you’re fully prepared. Either way, I have to do my job this year. I have one more year on my contract. So I have to go out and do as much as I can to help our team this year.” Chris Crouse of Hoops Rumors examined Zeller’s extension candidacy earlier this month.
  • Nets first-round pick Chris McCullough seemed to make progress over the summer toward his target of a November return for full-contact practice, but he said Tuesday that he’s “nowhere near ready,” observes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. This year’s No. 29 overall pick is unlikely to make his debut until the second half of the season, according to Bontemps. “We’ll give a timetable on exactly where we think he’ll be after [the first] preseason game,” King said. “We’ll sit down with him and his agent and everybody and really just walk through it. I have an idea in my mind of what we want to do with him, but I want to sit down with him and with his agent and explain it.”
  • The deal between the Knicks and Darion Atkins is partially guaranteed for $75K, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. The team’s interest in the undrafted power forward from Virginia was late-developing, as the Knicks weren’t one of 16 teams to work him out prior to the draft and only turned to him when fellow undrafted rookie Maurice Ndour spurned them for the Mavs, Berman writes.

Atlantic Notes: Brown, Jack, Sixers

Markel Brown picked up an extra $50K in guaranteed salary when he remained on the Nets roster through Tuesday, when his partial guarantee increased from $150K to $200K, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders first reported and as is shown on our Schedule of Salary Guarantee Dates. You can view Brooklyn’s full 2015/16 salary cap outlook here.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Despite being regarded as one of the worst teams in the league for the past two seasons, the Sixers are finally ready to be competitive, Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders writes. Taylor isn’t predicting that Philly will make the playoffs in 2015/16, but does believe that a 10 win improvement over last season’s total of 18 certainly is within reach, and that the franchise could use that as momentum moving forward. The Basketball Insiders scribe also defends the selection of Joel Embiid with the No. 3 overall pick in 2014, noting the unusually high rate of injury among that draft class, and believes that the center could still end up being regarded as a solid choice by GM Sam Hinkie.
  • Nets point guard Jarrett Jack isn’t worried about those who doubt his ability to run a team and take over as the starter for Deron Williams, Mitch Abramson of The New York Daily News writes. “I’ve started in New Orleans,” Jack said. “And I’ve had countless other times- I started in Toronto. I’ve started in a few places so we’re just going to have to wait and see. Just answering questions is not going to show or prove anything on my behalf, so I’m just waiting until I can show and prove.” Williams and the franchise reached a buyout arrangement in July.
  • Jack, who was teammates with Andrea Bargnani in Toronto, believes that the oft-injured forward can have a productive season in Brooklyn if he can remain healthy, Abramson also relays. “Yeah, me and Dre [Bargnani] played together in Toronto,” Jack said. “So I know the type of player he’s capable of being, the talent he possesses. I think just the thing with him man, hopefully his health. Hopefully he can stay healthy throughout the course of the season and be that player that people thought he was when they drafted him No. 1 overall in Toronto.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Anthony, Scott

The Knicks need to show that the team has some forward momentum this season if the franchise wants to have a shot at landing premier free agents next offseason, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) writes. Doolittle points to the Bucks as an example, who despite their small market, managed to sign Greg Monroe this Summer, a player who the major market Knicks had their sights on. If the Knicks are unable to show improvement in the win column over last year’s squad, then no amount of available cap space will be able to convince stars like Kevin Durant that New York is a preferred free agent destination, Doolittle concludes.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • There’s an excellent chance that the Knicks will explore trading Carmelo Anthony this season, Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report opines (video link). New York will likely wait to see how the roster performs at the start of the season, and if the team doesn’t look to be headed toward the playoffs, then it could look to deal Melo, possibly to the Bulls, Bucher notes. Anthony’s contract does include a no-trade clause, so the forward would have to be on board with any potential swap.
  • The Raptors gave recent training camp signee Shannon Scott a partial guarantee of $25K on his minimum salary deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays (Twitter link).
  • Despite some skeptics saying that the Nets have the worst starting point guard in the league in Jarrett Jack, forward Thaddeus Young said during an interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio, that the team has full confidence in Jack’s ability to lead them, Tom Lorenzo of NetsDaily writes.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Knicks, Celtics

Nets coach Lionel Hollins, in a Q&A with Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com, likes that Brooklyn was able to get younger and more versatile this offseason. The coach also believes Deron Williams did not play as well as the franchise would have liked him to. Hollins said he also thinks Williams, who signed with the Mavs, will bounce back, though. Without Williams in the fold, Hollins is confident Jarrett Jack can handle the duties of starting point guard for the Nets. In addition, Joe Johnson, who was the subject of trade rumors earlier this summer, will likely start at shooting guard, according to Hollins.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • The search for the Knicks‘ new D-League coach is down to Mike Miller, a former associate head coach at Kansas State, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports (Twitter links). Miller also worked for the Spurs’ D-League team, Isola notes.
  • Thomas Robinson, who the Nets signed to a two-year deal,  wants a “long-term relationship” with Brooklyn after the forward has bounced around in the league, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily writes.
  • Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge believes that Boston coach Brad Stevens will be viewed as one of the all-time coaching greats in the future. “I wouldn’t have brought him in and given him a six-year contract if I didn’t think he was really good and special,” Ainge said during an on-camera interview with Comcast SportsNet (relayed by Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com).