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Clippers Sign Jeff Ayres To 10-Day Contract

January 23rd, 2016 at 4:55pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 4:55pm: The Clippers have officially announced the signing.

FRIDAY, 11:18am: The Clippers will sign Jeff Ayres to a 10-day contract, filling the roster spot they’re poised to open with the Josh Smith deal, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Ayres spent the past two seasons with the Spurs and has been playing this year with the D-League affiliate of the Jazz, who made him the No. 1 pick of the D-League draft in the fall.

Ayres, formerly known as Jeff Pendergraph, has averaged 16.3 points and 9.5 rebounds in 32.7 minutes per game with the D-League Idaho Stampede this season. He’s otherwise carved out a modest five-year NBA career, averaging 3.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.1 minutes per contest over 220 total appearances with the Spurs, Pacers and Trail Blazers. He’ll give the Clippers depth on the front line with Smith headed back to Houston via trade.

The signing temporarily mitigates the tax savings the Clippers are achieving in the Smith swap. Ayres will cost the Clippers $55,722 in payroll, the same amount Smith would over the 10-day period, plus tax penalties if they’re still above the $84.74MM threshold at season’s end. However, the Clippers, who’ll be at about $95.5MM in team salary following the trade and prior to the Ayres signing, aren’t obligated to re-sign Ayres after the 10 days are up, a luxury that Smith’s contract didn’t afford them.

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Jeff Ayres Tops D-League Draftees

October 31st, 2015 at 2:03pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA D-League held its Draft today, with Jeff Ayres going first overall to the Idaho Stampede, the Jazz’s D-League affiliate. The selection of Ayres was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor was the first to report that Ayres signed a D-League contract making him eligible for today’s draft. In addition to Ayres, the top of the draft was saturated with selections of players who had not survived the October 26th league-wide cut down date, when rosters were required to be pared down to the regular season maximum of 15 players, including the likes of Jimmer Fredette, Perry Jones III, and Cartier Martin.

The 28-year-old Ayres, once known as Jeff Pendergraph, averaged 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 7.5 minutes per game during the 2014/15 season for San Antonio. Rumors of NBA interest in the big man were scarce over the summer after the Spurs renounced their Early Bird rights to him in an effort to clear cap room for their offseason free agent haul, according to RealGM. Ayres had inked a one-year deal with Shanxi of the Chinese Basketball Association worth a reported $1MM back in early September, but he was unceremoniously waived by the club at the beginning of October.

It was a bit of a surprise to see Jones slip to the No. 3 overall pick, with the 24-year-old possessing one of the higher upsides among the pool of potential draftees. However, it wasn’t a shock to see the Knicks nab Fredette, who was born in Glens Falls, New York, and who will likely become a fan-favorite in Westchester in short order. With the Knicks’ backcourt depth dangerously thin, as well as being one of the poorer units statistically in the NBA thus far, Fredette has an excellent chance of returning to the NBA at some point this season, though he is still free to sign with any NBA team that were to come calling.

Here is the full list of first round selections. You can view the complete round by round summary of picks here:

  1. Idaho Stampede (Jazz) — Jeff Ayres
  2. Westchester Knicks (Knicks) — Jimmer Fredette
  3. Iowa Energy (Grizzlies) — Perry Jones III
  4. Iowa Energy (Grizzlies)  — Cartier Martin
  5. Delaware 87ers (Sixers) — Rysheed Jordan
  6. Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets) — Amir Williams
  7. Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors) — Sam Thompson
  8. Delaware 87ers (Sixers) — David Laury
  9. Iowa Energy (Grizzlies) — Rick Jackson
  10. Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets) — Jarvis Summers
  11. Maine Red Claws (Celtics) — Askia Booker
  12. Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets) — Cliff Hammonds
  13. Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder) — Rodney Carney
  14. Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat) — Jabril Trawick
  15. Canton Charge (Cavaliers) — Antonio Barton
  16. Austin Spurs (Spurs) — Jean Victor Nguidjol
  17. Bakersfield Jam (Suns) — Kevin Young
  18. Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors) — Jared Shaw
  19. Raptors 905 (Raptors) — Mike Anderson
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Several With NBA Ties Enter D-League Draft

October 31st, 2015 at 10:37am CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA D-League Draft is set for today, and a whopping total of 290 players are eligible for selection during this annual event. The D-League posted the full list of eligible participants, which can be viewed here, and it contains a number of notable players with NBA ties.

The two names that immediately jump out off the list are Jimmer Fredette, who was waived by the Spurs last week, and Perry Jones III, whose fully guaranteed deal was cut loose by Boston. Fredette’s chances of catching on in the NBA appear to be dwindling rapidly, though I do expect that there is a better than average chance he will be selected No. 2 overall by Westchester, the Knicks’ D-League affiliate. If that is indeed the case, then Fredette may have a shot at catching on with the Knicks at some point during the course of the 2015/16 campaign, given New York’s lack of backcourt depth.

As for Jones, his is likely to be the first named called by Idaho, Utah’s affiliate, when the draft commences, though that is merely my speculation. Jones, a former first-rounder, hasn’t been able to get on the court consistently over the course of his three years in the league. This was partly due to the depth and talent ahead of him while with the Thunder, but his lack of a consistent outside shot and defensive limitations also held him back from carving out a place in the team’s rotation. It was a bit of a surprise to see Boston cut him loose, but Jones was the victim of a numbers crunch with the Celtics, who had 16 fully guaranteed deals on their roster heading into the October 26th deadline to cut rosters to the league maximum of 15 players.

We’ve sorted through those 290 names to pare it down to a list of all D-League draft-eligibles who were in NBA camps this year or on NBA regular season rosters in 2014/15. The last NBA team with which they were under contract is in parentheses.
*Note that since the recent camp cuts among the names listed above are entering the D-League draft, they’re not affiliate players whose D-League rights were claimed by their former NBA teams.
These are NBA veterans who don’t fit the criteria for the above list but are otherwise noteworthy:

The current order for the first round of the 2015 NBA D-League Draft is as follows:

1. Idaho
2. Westchester
3. Iowa (from Los Angeles)
4. Iowa (from Reno)
5. Delaware
6. Texas
7. Grand Rapids
8. Delaware (from Santa Cruz via Erie)
9. Iowa
10. Rio Grande Valley
11. Raptors 905
12. Rio Grande Valley (from Fort Wayne)
13. Oklahoma City
14. Sioux Falls
15. Canton
16. Austin
17. Bakersfield
18. Santa Cruz
19. Maine

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Perry Jones, Jeff Ayres Signing In D-League

October 29th, 2015 at 11:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Free agents Perry Jones III and Jeff Ayres are signing D-League contracts and will be eligible for Saturday’s D-League draft, reports Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link). The D-League hasn’t made an announcement, but Reichert indicates that Jones and Ayres have already put pen to paper. Jones cleared NBA waivers after the Celtics cut him loose this weekend, while Ayres, coming off two seasons with the Spurs, was briefly on a deal this fall with Shanxi of the Chinese Basketball Association, which released him about a month ago. Jones and Ayres will still be able to sign NBA contracts should offers emerge.

Jones, 24, finds himself out of an NBA job in large measure because of a numbers crunch in Boston, where Jones had one of the 16 fully guaranteed salaries the Celtics carried into training camp, one more than the regular season roster limit. The C’s still owe him the $2.038MM that his rookie scale contract called for him to make this season. The Thunder offloaded his contract to the Celtics earlier this summer in the trade that sent the former 28th overall pick to Boston.

The 28-year-old Ayres, once known as Jeff Pendergraph, averaged fewer than 10 minutes per game for the second time in his five-year career last season. Rumors of NBA interest in the big man were scarce over the summer. The Spurs renounced their Early Bird rights to him to clear cap room for their free agent haul, according to RealGM.

Which NBA teams would be the best fits for Jones and Ayres? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

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Texas Notes: Carlisle, Ayres, Fredette

October 2nd, 2015 at 8:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle‘s contract status beyond this season is up in the air, but even so, owner Mark Cuban said Friday on 103.3 FM ESPN that he hasn’t lent much thought to the matter, given what he described as mutual interest in a continued partnership, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). Carlisle signed a four-year deal prior to the 2012/13 season, though at least one report at the time indicated an option for a fifth season was involved. “We obviously want to keep Rick and he doesn’t want to go anywhere, so I don’t see it being an issue,” Cuban said.

Here’s more from out of the Lone Star State:

  • Power forward Jeff Ayres, who made 51 appearances for the Spurs last season, has been waived by Shanxi of the Chinese Basketball Association, international journalist David Pick reports (via Twitter). Ayres had inked a one-year deal with Shanxi worth a reported $1MM back in early September. The 28-year-old averaged 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 7.5 minutes per game during the 2014/15 season for San Antonio.
  • While he may be a long shot to make the regular season roster, Jimmer Fredette was signed by the Spurs to help replace the outside shooting that was lost with Marco Belinelli‘s departure to the Kings via free agency this summer, Ananth Pandian of CBSSports.com writes. “He’s a shooter,” coach Gregg Popovich said about Fredette. “He’s a scorer, and we’re looking for that type of thing to add to the team. People always look at the big guys. But we started last season thinking that not having Patty Mills is going to be a big factor for us. And it was huge. First of all you don’t have him for the first half, and then it took him a long time to get back into the flow. And this year Marco not being here is important. He came off the bench and helped us in a lot of games and I think that’s a big concern.”
  • Fredette also noted that he was surprised that the Spurs were interested in him, Pandian adds. “I just hadn’t heard that [the Spurs] were a team that was necessarily on our radar,” Fredette told Pandian. “We always loved the Spurs organization and the team but it was kinda just a call that my agent told me was out of the blue. As soon as we got it, I was obviously extremely excited. I feel like this is a great opportunity for me to be on a good team and also it fits my style of play well. They move the ball well, they share they ball, lots of movement, play uptempo, so I’m excited to be part of this organization. Hopefully it will work out well.“

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Jeff Ayres To Play In China

September 4th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Unrestricted free agent Jeff Ayres has agreed to a deal with an unnamed Chinese team, international journalist David Pick reports (on Twitter). The pact will pay the power forward approximately $1MM for the upcoming season, Pick adds.

The 28-year-old appeared in 51 contests for the Spurs during the 2014/15 campaign, averaging 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 7.5 minutes per game. Ayres’ career numbers through five NBA seasons are 3.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 0.4 APG to accompany a slash line of .554/.500/.766.

Ayres will still have the opportunity to play in the NBA in 2015/16, provided there is any interest in his services, as the Chinese Basketball Association’s season concludes in late February, with the playoffs generally running through March. The forward would be free to sign with any NBA club once his team’s season concluded, or upon its elimination from the playoffs.

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Odds & Ends: Rondo, Carmelo, Tyler, Ayres

December 7th, 2013 at 10:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rajon Rondo doesn’t put much stock in the rumor that Carmelo Anthony is trying to recruit him to the Knicks, but Anthony has been privately yearning to see Rondo in orange and blue since July, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks attempted to trade Iman Shumpert for Rondo, and Newsday’s Al Iannazzone thinks it’s critical that New York continue to see if it can pry the All-Star point guard away from the Celtics or make some kind of splash, lest Anthony bolt in free agency. Here’s more on the Knicks and the rest of the NBA:

  • Berman, in the same piece, also suggests the Knicks may look to re-sign camp invitee Jeremy Tyler in another week as he continues to round into form after a preseason injury.
  • Unlike some free agents who were happy to leave their former teams behind, Spurs big man Jeff Ayres told Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News that he feels “no animosity” toward the Pacers and is “still really cool with all the guys on the team.”
  • Kendall Marshall is off to a fast start with the D-League affiliate of the Sixers, and Michael Kaskey-Blomain of the Philadelphia Inquirer thinks the big club should consider signing last year’s 13th overall pick to an NBA contract.
  • Doubts about the ability of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe to play together left some executives around the league believing the Suns would trade Dragic, but early returns show the pairing has been successful, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
  • Joel Embiid is developing into a potential No. 1 overall pick, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, joining ESPN colleague Chad Ford on the Kansas center’s bandwagon.
  • Knee troubles have sidelined Al Harrington for a good chunk of this season, but he remains involved with the Wizards. As he tells Michael Lee of the Washington Post, Harrington can imagine himself coaching after he retires and has been acting as a de facto assistant in Washington while he recovers.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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Jeff Pendergraph Changes Name To Jeff Ayres

September 19th, 2013 at 8:33am CST by Luke Adams

Jeff Pendergraph hit free agency this July and inked a two-year deal with the Spurs, but the player who showed up in San Antonio this fall no longer goes by that name. The former Pacer legally changed his name to Jeff Ayres last month, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.

The 26-year-old was born Jeff Orcutt, his mother's maiden name, and assumed the last name Pendergraph in elementary school when she married. That stepfather hasn't been in the picture since the Spurs forward was in high school, which eventually inspired him to assume the surname of his biological father, James Ayres.

As noted above, Ayres signed a two-year contract with the Spurs this offseason, so we shouldn't expect to hear any trade or free agency rumors involving him anytime soon. But when we refer to him going forward, it'll be by his new name. If you're looking for our archive on Ayres, you'll be able to find it at a new URL: hoopsrumors.com/jeff-ayres.

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Spurs Sign Jeff Pendergraph

July 11th, 2013 at 8:13pm CST by Zachary Links

JULY 11TH: The Spurs have officially signed Pendergraph, the team announced today in a press release. The deal is for two years and $4MM, tweets Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.

JULY 6TH: The Spurs have reached agreement with free agent forward Jeff Pendergraph on a two-year deal, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).  Pendergraph is a client of Impact Sports Basketball, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.

The 6'9" forward saw 10 minutes per contest for the Pacers last season and put up 3.9 PPG with 2.8 RPG.  Pendergraph spent his first season in the league with the Blazers and missed his sophomore year (2010/11) due to a knee injury.

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Eastern Notes: Cavaliers, Green, Lopez

December 9th, 2012 at 10:39pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal debunks the misconception that the Cavaliers will be forced to spend big in free agency this summer as a result of the NBA's minimum team salary floor requirement. Next season, teams will be required to spend at least 90 percent of the league's salary cap number next year. Although Cleveland's total amount of committed salaries could fall short of that number, Lloyd points out that the Cavs will be allowed to make up for the difference by dispersing the remaining required amount to its players. Here's more out of the Eastern Conference tonight: 

 

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