Jorge Gutierrez Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Sixers Notes: Okafor, Embiid, Noel

December 4th, 2015 at 7:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

Executives from other teams who’ve closely studied rebuilding strategies estimate that the Sixers would have to pursue what they’re doing for six or seven years before the odds of a successful turnaround would become highly favorable, reports Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. Philadelphia’s lack of willingness to sign veterans has irked agents, as has the team’s lack of tact when waiving players, as Lowe details. The Sixers assured Jorge Gutierrez they’d keep him after the trade that brought him to the team last season, but they waived him one day later while he was on the team bus, sources tell Lowe. The ESPN scribe is nonetheless skeptical that agents will keep their clients from signing with the team when it starts to win, as at least one agent has reportedly promised. See more from Philly:

A slowed-down version of the video of a second altercation allegedly involving Jahlil Okafor on the night of November 25th shows that Okafor didn’t hit a man, an attorney for Okafor claimed Friday on WIP’s Mike & Ike Show, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The incident, one of several in which Okafor has reportedly been implicated of late, helped prompt the Sixers to issue a two-game suspension.
Coach Brett Brown was asked if the team would benefit by a stronger veteran presence on the team, and he responded, “It’s hard to argue why not,” Noah Coslov of SiruisXMNBA relays (Twitter link).
Joel Embiid has grown to 7’2″, Brown told reporters, including Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News (Twitter link). Embiid was measured at 7’0″ at the 2013 Nike Hoops Summit, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
The jury is still out on whether or not Okafor and Nerlens Noel can coexist on the court together, with one NBA executive noting simply that the duo won’t ever mesh, Cooney relays in a separate piece. “They can’t play together,” the executive told Cooney. “I just don’t see it. Watch them defensively. Their instincts are both to defend the paint, because that is exactly what they’ve been doing all their lives. But here’s the problem. When the Sixers miss a shot or commit a turnover, both Noel and Okafor run back on defense and instinctively run to the rim, which they have been taught all their lives. Problem is, there is a Dirk Nowitzki or LaMarcus Aldridge or Kevin Love spotting up, waiting to get a wide-open shot. I don’t know if they can figure that out. The advantage to it is that Brett [Brown] has been around this situation before when he was in San Antonio and they were figuring out how to best get along with Tim Duncan and David Robinson. Of course, those are two Hall of Fame players.“

Bucks Waive Gutierrez, Landry, Powell

October 21st, 2015 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

The Bucks have waived Jorge Gutierrez, Marcus Landry and Josh Powell, the team announced, taking the roster down to the 15-man regular season maximum. The trio had non-guaranteed contracts while the other 15 Bucks are on fully guaranteed deals, so today’s moves come as no surprise. Damien Inglis and Johnny O’Bryant, both high second-round picks from 2014, were the Bucks players with the smallest guarantees, each promised less than $1MM, but their places on the roster appear safe for now.

Gutierrez was a holdover from last season, having joined the team on a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a multiyear deal. The 26-year-old former Nets point guard dished out 11 assists against only three turnovers in about 47 minutes of preseason action, totaling 12 points along the way, but it wasn’t enough for him to stick.

Landry, 29, was attempting an NBA comeback after last having seen regular season action during 2009/10 with the Knicks and Celtics. A native of Milwaukee, the combo forward averaged 2.5 points in 10.5 minutes per game during his four preseason appearances and looked sharp in practice, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter link).

Powell was also trying to revive his NBA playing career after spending last season as a player development coach with the Rockets. The 32-year-old former Lakers power forward has appeared in only one regular season game since the 2010/11 season. He went scoreless in about 23 minutes total over four preseason games with the Bucks.

Eastern Notes: Whiteside, Copeland, Thomas

August 2nd, 2015 at 10:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Here’s a look at the latest contract news from the Eastern Conference:

The $981,348 contract for this upcoming season for Heat center Hassan Whiteside, who will hit free agency next summer, becomes guaranteed on Dec. 1st, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out. The deal is already partially guaranteed for $245,337, and that partial guarantee escalates to $490,674 if he makes it to opening night.
Chris Copeland‘s one-year deal with the Bucks is worth precisely $1.15MM, as Pincus shows (Twitter link). That means Milwaukee has $1.664MM left on its $2.814MM room exception, Pincus also notes.
Jorge Gutierrez‘s non-guaranteed minimum salary with the Bucks becomes partially guaranteed for $250K on December 1st, Pincus adds on the same page.
The deal between Adonis Thomas and the Pistons is a two-year pact for the minimum salary, according to Pincus (Twitter link).

Will Joseph contributed to this post.

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Contracts, Bucks

April 23rd, 2015 at 9:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Knicks team president Phil Jackson has sounded like a defeated man during his end of season press conferences, which isn’t what the organization or its fans need to see at this critical juncture in New York’s rebuilding process, Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post writes. The Zen Master has taken on a somewhat pessimistic attitude when discussing the team’s ability to attract free agents, Vaccaro notes. “The market value is going to be really interesting,” Jackson said. “There’s going to be a zillion guys being chased, and it’s not just us trying to do this. It only takes one individual team that says, ‘We want this guy.’ The prevailing attitude is: Guys get overpaid in this situation. You have do that in free agency to get a player. We know we have a limited amount and have to do some judicious shopping. We’re not going to the dollar store, but we may not be at one of the bigger [stores].”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

If Knicks guard Ricky Ledo is still under contract through August 1st, $100K of his minimum salary arrangement for 2015/16 will become guaranteed, with another $100K becoming guaranteed if he begins the season under contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
Jorge Gutierrez‘s minimum salary deal for 2015/16 with the Bucks is non-guaranteed, Pincus tweets.
Will Bynum‘s contract with the Wizards was strictly for the remainder of the 2014/15 campaign, and the guard will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Pincus notes (Twitter link).
Commissioner Adam Silver indicated that he still has faith that a deal can be reached on a new arena in Milwaukee for the Bucks, Kami Mattioli of The Sporting News tweets. The franchise is struggling to secure $250MM worth of public financing toward the construction of a $500MM arena.

Bucks Sign Jorge Gutierrez To Multiyear Deal

April 7th, 2015 at 5:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bucks have signed Jorge Gutierrez to a multiyear contract, as Josh Weir of The Repository reports (Twitter link) and as the team confirms in a press release. The signing will increase Milwaukee’s roster count to the league maximum of 15 players. It’s unclear if the deal contains any guaranteed salary for 2015/16, though it’s likely a minimum salary arrangement with little or no guaranteed funds.

Gutierrez had inked two 10-day deals with the Bucks earlier this season, appearing in seven games and averaging 3.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He signed his initial 10-day contact on January 28th and a second 10-day pact on February 7th. In 10 NBA appearances for Brooklyn, where he began the season, Gutierrez averaged 1.6 points in 4.4 minutes per game.

The guard also played 15 games this season for the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ D-League affiliate, and averaged 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 29.8 minutes per contest. Gutierrez opted to enter the D-League after being waived by the Sixers earlier in the season. This was shortly after Philadelphia had acquired him from the Nets in the deal for Andrei Kirilenko.

Central Notes: Pistons, Gutierrez, Cavs

February 11th, 2015 at 6:03pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The only way the Pistons would part with one of their players on a rookie contract at the deadline is if they receive a star or another such deal in return, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy says, adding that the team is open to becoming a deadline buyer, as MLive’s David Mayo notes. “Yeah. But again, depending on what you have to give up,” Van Gundy said of upgrading at the deadline. “We don’t want to be making sacrifices down the road. If it was a matter of just spending more money, yes, we definitely would. But if it’s a matter of us giving up what we think are valuable assets, and it was just for a rental for the rest of the year, probably not.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Bucks GM John Hammond struck a similar tone about his team Tuesday, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays. “Look, the big picture for us is becoming a championship-caliber organization,” Hammond said. “For us to get short-sighted and say, ‘Let’s try to win today’ and replacing any thought of moving forward into the future, I think we’re all aware that’s not who we want to be. Anything we’re looking at today is still hopefully going to be focused on acquiring a piece or talking about adding pieces that can be long-term players for this organization.”
The early season trades that the Cavaliers had made are paying dividends for the franchise, John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders writes. Cleveland has shown significant improvement as a team since acquiring Timofey Mozgov, who has been the most vital addition, but the play of both J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert have also been a boon, Zitzler adds. GM David Griffin deserves praise for identifying the Cavs’ biggest weaknesses and promptly addressing them, the Basketball Insiders scribe adds.
The Bucks won’t sign Jorge Gutierrez to a deal for the rest of the season unless they make a move to free up a roster spot, Hammond told reporters, including Andrew Gruman of Fox Sports Wisconsin (Twitter link). That indicates the team expects Larry Sanders back from his suspension at some point this season, since Gutierrez, on day No. 5 of his second 10-day contract with the team, is in the extra roster spot that the suspension allows for.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Bucks Sign Jorge Gutierrez To Second 10-Day

February 7th, 2015 at 7:20pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bucks have signed Jorge Gutierrez to a second 10-day contract, the team announced (Twitter link). Uncertainty over the length of Larry Sanders‘ suspension loomed as a potential stumbling block to a new deal for Milwaukee and Gutierrez, but it appears Sanders will remain on suspension for a while longer, allowing the Bucks to once more carry a 16th man. The point guard’s first 10-day pact expired at the end of Friday.

Gutierrez had been the team’s 16th player, an allowance the league grants when a team has a player on the suspended list, as is the case with Sanders, who served the 10th game of his suspension Friday. The NBA had set the minimum length of the center’s suspension at 10 games and stated that it would end once Sanders is in full compliance with the league’s anti-drug program, so evidently Sanders has not yet satisfied the requirements.

Kidd has given the 26-year-old Gutierrez a fair amount of playing time, including one start, and the second-year NBA veteran has put up 4.5 points, 1.5 assists and 1.0 turnover in 14.8 minutes per game over four appearances. He posted similar results in a 15-game stint with the Nets at the end of last season.

Milwaukee will have to either sign Gutierrez for the season or let him sit in free agency once his second 10-day contract with the team expires. He parlayed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Nets into a deal that carried into this season with salary that became partially guaranteed when he remained under contract for training camp, but the Sanders situation figures to again serve as a complication once the latest 10-day deal runs out. The Bucks have the option of terminating Gutierrez’s 10-day contract early if the NBA lifts Sanders’ suspension soon, though they’d still be on the hook for the full amount, likely $48,028, of Gutierrez’s short-term deal.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Central Notes: West, English, Gutierrez

February 6th, 2015 at 4:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

There was less acrimony Thursday when the Magic fired Jacque Vaughn than there was when they ousted Stan Van Gundy in 2012, but the current Pistons coach and executive nonetheless has plenty of sympathy for the latest ex-Magic coach. “There’s no such thing as a longtime Magic coach,” Van Gundy contends, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press relays.

“All those things are the same,” Van Gundy said. “You get in the press conference, they loved Jacque. He did a great job. You listen to all that, and then I listen to [GM] Rob [Hennigan] say it doesn’t fall on Jacque, but he takes full responsibility. I laugh, obviously, because that’s not true. You’re still sitting there with a job, and Jacque doesn’t have one, so I don’t know what full responsibility means. But I would say they left the full responsibility on Jacque.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Grantland’s Zach Lowe heard six weeks ago that the Pacers had become open to trading David West for a first-round pick, but such chatter has quieted, Lowe adds, suggesting teams aren’t willing to pay that price for the power forward.
Bulls camp invitee Kim English has signed with Guaros de Lara in Venezuela, the team announced (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The 26-year-old who played in 41 regular season games with the Pistons in 2012/13 had played in France earlier this season after the Bulls cut him loose prior to opening night.
Coach Jason Kidd admits that the indefinite length of Larry Sanders‘ latest drug-related suspension complicates Jorge Gutierrez ‘s future with the Bucks, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel examines. Gutierrez’s 10-day contract expires tonight, when the Bucks play the 10th game of Sanders’ suspension. The ban was to last a minimum of 10 games, but the league still hasn’t revealed just how long it will last, and once Sanders comes back, the 16th roster spot the Bucks created when they placed Sanders on the suspended list goes away. “We understand this is Jorge’s 10th day,” Kidd said today. “We’ll go back and evaluate and see if we can do another 10-day.”

Bucks Sign Jorge Gutierrez To 10-Day Deal

January 28th, 2015 at 10:19am CST by Eddie Scarito

10:19am: The deal is official, the Bucks announced. Milwaukee makes no reference to a corresponding move in its statement, so it appears that they indeed moved Sanders to the suspended list to create room to carry 16 players.

WEDNESDAY, 9:43am: Milwaukee will take Gutierrez into a roster vacancy the team can create by moving Sanders to the suspended list, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (All Twitter links). Sanders served the fifth game of his league-imposed suspension Tuesday, so the Bucks are allowed to move him to the suspended list.

TUESDAY, 11:53pm: The Bucks intend to sign Jorge Gutierrez to a 10-day contract in the near future, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link) reports. The Bucks currently have 15 players on their roster, including Kenyon Martin, whose second 10-day contract is set to expire this week. Martin is expected to be signed by Milwaukee to a deal that covers remainder of the season by the end of this week. If the veteran is signed as expected, this will require the team to waive or release a player in order to add Gutierrez to its roster.

The need for a point guard arose when Kendall Marshall was lost for the remainder of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Their sudden shortage at the one spot could potentially make the Bucks regret their decision to waive Nate Wolters in order to add Martin to the team. Wolters has signed two consecutive 10-day deals with New Orleans since being released by the Bucks. Center Larry Sanders is also currently serving a drug-related suspension that will last a minimum of 10 games, further adding to Milwaukee’s roster woes.

Gutierrez has been playing in the D-League for the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ affiliate. He opted to enter the D-League after being waived by the Sixers earlier in the season. This was shortly after Philadelphia had acquired him from the Nets in the deal for Andrei Kirilenko. In 10 NBA appearances with Brooklyn this season, Gutierrez has averaged 1.6 points in 4.4 minutes per game.

In six D-League appearances with Canton this season, Gutierrez has averaged 15.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists in 35.6 minutes per contest. His slash line is .456/.143/.621.

Eastern Notes: Monroe, Nets, Embiid

December 23rd, 2014 at 10:13pm CST by Eddie Scarito

A number of league insiders believe that Greg Monroe, who will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, will end up with the Knicks, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops writes. “I could see $48MM for four years. I don’t think he’s a max [contract] guy, but he is pretty good. He might get more based on who is left on the board. I could see New York overpaying him,” a league executive told Scotto.

An Eastern Conference scout also believes that Monroe and the Knicks could be a fit down the line. “I think the Knicks are a possible free agency destination,” the scout told Scotto. “He has above-average passing ability, which makes him attractive for the triangle. If the Knicks strike out on the so-called top-tier guys, I think it makes sense.”

Here’s more from the East:

Jorge Gutierrez has been acquired as a returning player by the Canton Charge of the NBA D-League, Gino Pilato of D-League Digest reports (Twitter link). Gutierrez was recently waived by the Sixers after they acquired him from the Nets in the deal for Andrei Kirilenko.
According to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is to blame for the mess that the franchise has become. Prokhorov’s push for “star power” to be added to strengthen the team’s brand during the move to Brooklyn led to a number of questionable decisions, as well as the team stripping itself of future draft picks and tradeable assets, Beck opines.
While Joel Embiid isn’t likely to suit up for the Sixers this season, coach Brett Brown is still counting on the rookie to become a leader on the team, Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com writes. “We’re really trying to go overboard and help him understand what leadership is,” Brown said. “I’m desperately trying to build something that’s not top-driven. I don’t want it to be top-driven down. It needs to be the team dictating some rules and habits. And what is culture? What’s the behavior we want amongst our players? And I think the most powerful way to do that is something that’s player-driven.”