Joonas Caven Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Butler, Caven, Jefferson, Macklin

October 9th, 2014 at 9:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jimmy Butler is focusing on basketball rather than becoming a restricted free agent next summer, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Friedell adds that Butler may seek more than the $9.7MM annual salary that former Bulls teammate Luol Deng received this offseason from the Heat. When the topic of the new TV deal was broached, Butler deflected the question, saying, “I don’t know nothing about a TV deal. I just know that it’s my contract year, and I got to play well and I want to help us win. That’s all that I know.” Butler will be one of the first players to sign a deal in the new cap era, Friedell notes.

Here’s more from around the league:

The contracts of D.J. Mbenga (Knicks), Jason Kapono (Warriors), and Yuki Togashi (Mavs) are all non-guaranteed, minimum salary camp deals, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). Kapono’s deal is for one season, Pincus notes on Golden State’s salary page.
One of Europe’s top prospects, Joonas Caven, a 6’11” big man from Finland, will enter the NBA D-League Draft this year, according to his agent K.C. Callero, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports (Twitter link). Caven is targeting the 2015 NBA Draft and the D-League will act as a showcase for his talents, notes Carchia.
The Pelicans waived Vernon Macklin so that he could pursue an opportunity to play in Europe, John Reid of The Times-Picayune reports (Twitter link).
One of the newest members of the Mavs, Richard Jefferson, accepted a veteran’s minimum deal this offseason, but that doesn’t mean he is willing to settle for a minimal role, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. MacMahon adds that Jefferson understands that he won’t be a starter but he is determined to find his niche on the team. “I like to believe myself to be an everyday contributor,” said Jefferson. “Whether it works out that way remains to be seen, but my job is just to stay ready.“

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

NBA Draft Withdrawal Deadline Updates

June 17th, 2014 at 2:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

Monday was the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft, and the league has announced the list of those who’ve pulled out. The deadline applied mostly to prospects from overseas, since any collegian who takes his name out of consideration at this point isn’t be able to return to NCAA competition. Mychal Ammons of South Alabama is the only U.S.-based player who withdrew, but he’d already signed a deal with an overseas club.

Yesterday’s reports identified several of the prospects taking their names out of the draft, as well as some high-profile players staying in, and we’ve added the previously unreported names of those pulling out to the top of the list below. For the complete register of early entrants denoting those who’ve withdrawn, click here.

Withdrawing from the draft

Ammons, Berkay Candan, Tomas Dimsa, Marko Ramljak, Alejandro Suarez, Devon Van Oostrum are all out of the draft, the NBA announced.
Joonas Caven has pulled out of the draft, agent K.C. Callero tells Givony (Twitter link).
Matias Bortolin is withdrawing from the draft, his agent tells Sportando (Twitter link).
Ilja Gromovs will exit the draft, too, agent Arturs Kalnitis says to Givony (Twitter link).
Mateusz Ponitka has removed his name from draft consideration, Givony tweets.
Moussa Diagne and Guillem Vives will take their names out of the draft, agent Herb Ruboy says to Givony (Twitter link).
Rasmus Larsen has decided to exit the draft, as agent Doug Neustadt informs Givony (Twitter link).
OKK Spars Sarajevo teammates Nedim Buza and Adin Vrabac have decided to pull out of the draft, agent Alexander Raskovic tweets.
Lefteris Bochoridis has withdrawn from the draft, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.

Remaining in the draft

Jokic isn’t the only prospect to flip-flop today. Damien Inglis changed his mind and has decided to keep his name in the draft, agent Pedja Materic tells Jonthan Givony of DraftExpress (via Twitter).
Raznatovic, Saric’s agent, took to Twitter to confirm that his client will remain in the draft (hat tip to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Nikola Jokic has changed his mind and will remain in the draft after all, Raznatovic tweets (hat tip to Chad Ford of ESPN.com).
Dario Saric will stay in the draft, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).
Vasilije Micic remains in the draft, agent Misko Raznatovic tweets.
Clint Capela will keep his name in this year’s draft, agent Bouna Ndiaye tells Givony (Twitter link).

Joonas Caven To Declare For Draft

April 11th, 2014 at 10:42am CST by Chuck Myron

Finnish power forward Joonas Caven will enter this year’s draft, agent K.C. Callero tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 6’11” 21-year-old shoots well, though neither Givony nor Chad Ford of ESPN.com have him among their top 100 prospects for this year’s draft. Givony ranks Caven the fifth-best prospect among those born in 1993.

Caven plays for FIATC Mutua Joventut, a team in Spain’s top-flight league. He joined the team midseason after having played for CB Prat Juventud, a Spanish minor league team. Caven has averaged just 2.0 points in 5.4 minutes per contest for his current team, nailing 36.4% of his 1.8 three-point attempts in a small six-game sample size.

International early entrants can withdraw any time before the June 16th deadline, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Caven pull out. He’ll be automatically draft-eligible next year, but declaring this year gives him a chance to go through predraft workouts an extra time, if nothing else.