Josh Harrellson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Yormark, Harrellson, D-League

December 19th, 2015 at 11:35am CST by Eddie Scarito

Nets CEO Brett Yormark is excited about the coming offseason and the free agent possibilities it brings, NetsDaily relays. “This will be the first time we’ve been able to test free agency and really realize the power of Brooklyn, the power of our brand and the commitment that ownership continues to make,” Yormark said. “We’ve got a good story to tell — with the addition of our $50MM practice facility and the D-League franchise — and I think we’ll be in a position where we’ll be able to add to Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Bojan Bogdanovic and some of the other younger pieces, and bring in the necessary pieces to turn things around quickly. I’m excited about that opportunity, but obviously we have to make all the right decisions and we have to plan now. … I think there’s a chance here to really build something special.” Brooklyn is currently projected to have between $32MM and $38MM in free cap space next summer.

Here’s more from the East:

Wizards camp cut Josh Harrellson has signed with the Latvian club VEF Riga, the team announced (translation courtesy of Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The 26-year-old averaged 3.9 points in 7.3 minutes per game over seven preseason appearances for Washington this year.
Brandon Jennings‘ decision to accept a rehab assignment in the D-League is a testament to the point guard’s commitment and love of the game, according to Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, Keith Langlois of NBA.com relays. It also demonstrates the value of the franchise having its own D-League affiliate, Langlois adds. “I think it shows how important the commitment [team owner] Tom [Gores] was able to make to have a D-League team and putting money into it,” Van Gundy said. “We’ve already gotten a value of last year sending Spencer Dinwiddie and Quincy Miller there and this year sending Spencer and Darrun [Hilliard] down. Now you’ve got a guy who can be a big part of what you do and you’ve got somewhere close by where you can send him and he can play. Those kinds of things seem minor when we’re talking about ownership commitment, but that’s a big one. We can send Brandon there to get significant minutes.”
The Raptors assigned shooting guard Norman Powell to their D-League affiliate, Adam Johnson of D-League Digest reports (Twitter link). This will be Powell’s first jaunt to the Raptors 905 this season.
The Pistons have assigned Darrun Hilliard and Reggie Bullock to their D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids, the team announced via press release. This will be Hilliard’s fourth stint with the Drive and Bullock’s first.

Wizards Release Five Players

October 24th, 2015 at 4:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:39pm: The moves are official, the Wizards announced via press release.

4:30pm: The Wizards are releasing Josh Harrellson, Ish Smith, Jaron Johnson, Jaleel Roberts and Toure’ Murry, reports Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). The team has yet to make a public announcement, but Castillo indicates the moves have indeed taken place. All were on non-guaranteed deals except Roberts, who had a $10K partial guarantee. The subtractions leave Washington with 15 players, all of whom have fully guaranteed salaries.

The players hitting waivers today faced long odds to make it to opening night, including Harrellson, who acknowledged he was likely auditioning for 29 other teams with his preseason performance. He averaged 3.9 points in 7.3 minutes per game over seven preseason appearances. The 26-year-old big man was making his return after 2014 back surgery that forced him to miss all of last season.

It was surprising to see Smith on a non-guaranteed deal with little chance to crack the opening night roster, given his strong performance down the stretch with the Sixers last season. The 27-year-old point guard averaged 12.1 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per game in 25 contests for Philaelphia. He was again an efficient ball-distributor despite lower scoring in the preseason with Washington this month, notching 2.2 points, 4.0 assists and 1.0 turnover in 11.5 minutes per game over five preseason contests.

Murry, 25, rejoined the Wizards during the offseason after he was briefly with the team on a pair of 10-day contracts last season. The two-year NBA veteran combo guard averaged 3.5 points in 7.5 minutes per game during four preseason contests.

Johnson spent last season with the Rockets D-League team after going undrafted out of Louisiana Tech in 2014. The 23-year-old shooting guard posted 2.0 points in 4.7 minutes per game over six preseason appearances for Washington.

The Wizards signed Roberts in August after he went undrafted out of UNC Asheville in June and played for Washington’s summer league team in July. The 23-year-old center put up 3.3 points in 6.9 minutes per game in three preseason contests.

Eastern Notes: Monroe, Robinson, Harrellson

October 14th, 2015 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

Co-owner Marc Lasry’s confident demeanor and relationship with Jason Kidd sold Greg Monroe and agent David Falk on the Bucks, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com details. Lasry had never pitched a free agent before, but he led Milwaukee’s presentation, assuring Monroe that Kidd would be the team’s coach for the long-term, which helped sway the big man after years of coaching turnover in Detroit, Windhorst writes.

“He was very down to earth, but also passionate, and he connected with Greg,” Falk said of Lasry. “We didn’t need parades or balloons; this was a business decision. Marc treated it that way. What they had already put in place was strong, and he sold that.”

Monroe, who signed with Milwaukee for three years at the max, called his meeting with the Bucks “something I will never forget.” See more from the Eastern Conference:

Thomas Robinson said the Nets showed “heavy interest” in him before the 2012 draft, when he went fifth overall, and the longstanding connection made it an easy choice for him to sign with Brooklyn this summer, as he told Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. “I’m glad I’m here a few years down the road, after the stuff I’ve been through. I’m more mature now than I was when I probably wanted to come here,” Robinson said in part. “[I want to] take advantage of all of my opportunities. I feel like I’m right back where I was getting drafted again … now it’s just time.”
The Wizards signed Josh Harrellson because they like his shooting and wanted someone who would help them work on their new, more perimeter-oriented offense in practice, writes Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. Harrellson’s contract is non-guaranteed and the Wizards have 15 full guarantees. He’s taking a realistic approach, treating the preseason as a showcase for the 29 other teams while hoping to make a strong impression on the Wizards for another chance in the future, as Castillo explains.
The Sixers should let go of Furkan Aldemir, who’s ceiling is already apparent, and instead keep undrafted rookie Christian Wood for the regular season because of Wood’s superior upside, opines Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Such a move would entail a financial sacrifice, since Aldemir has a fully guaranteed salary of nearly $2.837MM while Wood is only assured of $50K, as Moore points out. Aldemir also shares agent Misko Raznatovic with Dario Saric, Moore concedes (on Twitter).

Eastern Notes: Sefolosha, Rose, Harrellson

October 13th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

While he was originally expected to be cleared to return to basketball activities this week, Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is now going to miss the remainder of the preseason, and his availability for the regular season opener is also in doubt, writes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. “They still want him to be a little bit careful just with the swelling, make sure his vision is back to where it was before he got hit, before they want him to get anything going on with his blood pressure spiking is how I understand it,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.

“So he’s probably at least a week away from that happening, from where he’s able to get out and work up a sweat, and then hopefully it’s full go from there to where we can get him out into some contact drills, get him back out there running our offense, and hopefully get him ready to play,” Hoiberg continued. “So I think it’s still yet to be determined if we’re going to have him for the opener. But the good news is he’s progressing, he’s getting better. His vision is getting better, and hopefully we’ll get him back soon.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

There was concern among Hawks officials who saw Thabo Sefolosha‘s X-rays regarding his basketball future after his incident involving the New York City police, for which he was recently cleared of any wrongdoing, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. The April scuffle left Sefolosha with a broken leg that prematurely ended his season and limited the Hawks in the playoffs, where Atlanta fell in the Eastern Conference Finals. Sefolosha, who is entering the second year of a three-year, $12MM contract, expects to be 100% recovered in time for the season.
Josh Harrellson, who is signed to a non-guaranteed deal with the Wizards, believes his ticket to a regular season NBA roster spot is his ability to make three-pointers from the power forward position, J. Michael of CSNMid-Atlantic.com writes. The 26-year-old credits former Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni for helping him develop that part of his game, Michael adds. “I shot a lot of threes in my rookie year with D’Antoni because that’s how he played,” said Harrellson. “He spaced the floor with one big so he was the first coach to start playing that style. I thrived in that offense. How the NBA is going I think I can start thriving again.“

Wizards Officially Sign Five For Camp

September 25th, 2015 at 2:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards have officially signed Josh Harrellson, Jaron Johnson, Toure’ Murry, Jaleel Roberts and Ish Smith, the team announced. All five moves were expected, and none of them have any guaranteed salary, according to reports. The Wizards already have 15 fully guaranteed deals, so it would be tough for today’s camp additions to stick for opening night. All except Johnson are known to be on one-year contracts for the minimum, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, though it would be surprising if Johnson signed for terms that were any different.

Harrellson, a three-year veteran big man, is returning to the NBA after sitting out last season as he recovered from back surgery. Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports first reported the deal with the 26-year-old.

Charania also revealed that Johnson, a 23-year-old shooting guard, would attend Wizards camp. Johnson spent last season with the D-League affiliate of the Rockets after going undrafted out of Louisiana Tech in 2014.

The Wizards are familiar with Murry from his time on a pair of 10-day contracts with the team last season. J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic reported the deal between the Wizards and the 25-year-old combo guard.

Roberts is poised to celebrate his 23rd birthday next month in Wizards camp. Charania reported that the center who went undrafted out of UNC-Asheville this year would head to Washington.

Four teams had Smith at one point or another in 2014/15, and though he had a strong finishing kick with the Sixers, the 27-year-old point guard will have to fight to stay on the roster in Washington. Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post reported Smith’s deal with the Wizards.

Which Wizards camp invitee has the greatest potential to surprise and remain on the roster for the start of the regular season? Leave a comment to tell us.

Wizards, Josh Harrellson Agree To Camp Deal

September 15th, 2015 at 2:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards and Josh Harrellson have reached agreement on a non-guaranteed deal, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The three-year veteran spent last season playing overseas after the Pistons waived him in July 2014. He’ll have a tough time sticking with Washington past the preseason, since the Wizards already have 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, which puts them at the regular season roster limit.

A debilitating back injury in early 2014 threatened his career, but Harrellson returned to action eight months after surgery and split last season between China and Puerto Rico. The big man who earned the nickname Jorts for his fashion sense at the University of Kentucky played summer league ball with the Suns this July, averaging 8.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game across seven appearances.

The efficient rebounding nonetheless failed to elicit much chatter about interest from NBA teams, though he told Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press at summer league that, “My main goal is to get a contract out of this. Even if it’s a partial [guarantee], just something.” He’ll instead settle for a non-guaranteed arrangement.

Harrellson is poised to compete with fellow NBA veterans Ish Smith and Toure’ Murry in Wizards camp. The Wizards are also reportedly set to sign undrafted center Jaleel Roberts from UNC-Asheville, though a more recent report casts Roberts merely as a “possibility” for Washington.

Do you think Harrellson belongs in the NBA, whether it’s with the Wizards or another team? Leave a comment to tell us.

And-Ones: Gallinari, Belinelli, Jazz, Harrellson

July 20th, 2015 at 10:35am CST by Chuck Myron

Danilo Gallinari confirmed to Italian media that he and the Nuggets are discussing an extension, as Dario Vismara of Rivista Ufficiale NBA tweets (translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post reported last week that the team intended to begin talks. The Nuggets can open about $6MM in cap room if they waive both Pablo Prigioni and Kostas Papanikolaou, whom they’re reportedly about to acquire in the deal for Ty Lawson, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks points out (on Twitter). They could use the cap room to give Gallinari a renegotiation and extension, as they did with Wilson Chandler, a maneuver that would be more lucrative for Gallinari than a simple extension. While we wait to see if that’s the route the Nuggets take, here’s more from around the NBA:

The Pelicans, Knicks, Clippers, Lakers, Spurs and Warriors all made offers to Marco Belinelli, who instead signed with the Kings, as he said at the same gathering of Italian media, Vismara notes (Twitter link).
The salary cap is set to surge next summer, but the 2016 free agent class doesn’t have much depth beyond Kevin Durant and LeBron James, leaving many teams with a conundrum as they face the prospect of a salary floor of some $81MM, as Marks examines for HoopsHype.
A work stoppage in 2017 is a “virtual certainty,” an executive from a team recently told Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com, in spite of commissioner Adam Silver’s suggestion to the contrary. Teams are worried that the new TV revenue somehow won’t allow them to keep up with surging payrolls, and clubs that have traditionally relied on revenue sharing figure to take a hit with fewer teams in line to pay into the luxury tax in seasons to come, as Arnovitz details.
The Jazz are drawing raves from coaches and GM around the league for their home-grown approach to rebuilding and hesitance to sign mid-tier free agents who’d only help the team make incremental gains, Arnovitz writes in the same piece.
Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tells the story of a handful of summer leaguers who carry divergent credentials, including three-year NBA veteran Josh Harrellson, who’s willing to be flexible as he tries to make it back to the NBA now that he’s recovered from a career-threatening back injury. “I think I’ll get a camp invite,” Harrellson said. “My main goal is to get a contract out of this. Even if it’s a partial [guarantee], just something.”

Josh Harrellson To Play In Puerto Rico

February 14th, 2015 at 3:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Three-year NBA veteran Josh Harrellson has signed a deal to play in Puerto Rico with Brujos de Guayama, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports (Twitter link). Harrellson had played briefly in China for the Chongqing Flying Dragons earlier this season, but he was released back in December.

The 25-year-old Harrellson didn’t generate much interest around the NBA after the Pistons had waived him last July in order to avoid guaranteeing his minimum salary for the 2014/15 season. The big man has also played for the Knicks and the Heat since being selected with the No. 45 overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.

In 75 career NBA games the 6’10” forward has averaged 3.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks per contest. His career slash line is .438/.347/.629.

And-Ones: Knicks, Batum, Cauley-Stein, ‘Melo

December 18th, 2014 at 10:29am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have been “very active” in trade discussions this week, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com reports amid a story on the team’s apparent peripheral involvement in Rajon Rondo talks. That seems to jibe with a report from Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck earlier this week that all the Knicks aside from Carmelo Anthony are available. Rumors are indeed flying fast around the NBA these days, and here’s a look at some of the latest news from around the league:

Nicolas Batum has pondered what it would be like to play for the Spurs, but he doesn’t see much need to leave the Blazers when he hits free agency after next season, as he tells Shams Charania of RealGM. “I still have time and I like low key so there’s no reason to think yet, but why not stay in Portland?” Batum said. “I’ve been here for seven years now, so why not?”
Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein has been on quite a tear recently, and this has catapulted him from No. 16 all the way to No. 8 on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s insider-only Big Board. Cauley-Stein is currently ranked 10th in Hoops Rumors’ 2015 NBA Draft Prospect Power Rankings.
‘Melo would have been better off joining the Bulls, opines Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, but there’s plenty of reason to believe that the Bulls lucked out when he decided not to, writes Sam Smith of Bulls.com.
Three-year NBA veteran Josh Harrellson has been released by the Chongqing Flying Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association, Enea Trapani of Sportando reports (Twitter link). The Pistons had waived Harrellson in mid-July rather than guarantee his minimum salary for the 2014/15 season.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Josh Harrellson To Play In China

September 23rd, 2014 at 8:56am CST by Chuck Myron

Three-year NBA veteran Josh Harrellson has signed with China’s Chongqing Flying Dragons, according to Harrellson’s representatives at the Altius Culture agency (on Twitter). The terms are unclear, but most such deals are one-year arrangements that allow the player to return stateside in time to latch on with an NBA club for the stretch run of the regular season.

The 25-year-old didn’t seem to garner much interest in NBA circles this summer after the Pistons waived him in mid-July rather than guarantee his minimum salary for the season. The 6’10” Harrellson played sparingly for the Pistons this past season, averaging 2.9 points in 9.9 minutes per game, and while he set a career high with 38.7% accuracy from behind the three-point arc, he only attempted 31 treys all year.

The Flying Dragons are about to embark on their first season in the Chinese Basketball Association, the country’s top-flight league. Harrellson joins Andray Blatche, Jordan Crawford, Toney Douglas, Al Harrington and Byron Mullens among players migrating from the NBA to China this offseason.