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Kevin Seraphin

And-Ones: Wolves, Monroe, Noel

April 7th, 2015 at 10:04pm CST by Will Joseph

After the season, Chase Budinger’s contract with the Timberwolves will be down to one year at $5MM and Kevin Martin’s deal will go to two years for $14.4MM, making it easier for Minnesota to find trade partners for both players this summer, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. The Wolves were exploring ways to deal both players, as previous reports indicated and as Deveney confirms. There were conflicting reports about Minnesota’s willingness to trade Martin, but while coach/executive Flip Saunders likes him and won’t give him up easily, the Wolves aren’t expecting significant return for either Martin or Budinger, according to Deveney. In the same story, Deveney notes that the Wolves’ biggest question mark heading into the summer is if Saunders will remain coach or return to solely a front office role.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Speaking of the Wolves, they came pretty close to originally signing Arinze Onuaku back in mid-January, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets, but Minnesota instead went with Miroslav Raduljica, who played five games with the team. The Wolves officially inked Onuaku earlier today, a few months later.
  • Kevin Seraphin, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, told J. Michael of CSNWashington.com that he is adjusting to his smaller role within the second unit. He hasn’t scored more than 12 points in a game since January 19th. The big man said in January that he would like to re-sign with Washington.
  • Reggie Jackson’s production increased and the Pistons played well without Greg Monroe, who will become an unrestricted free agent after the season, but the team is determined to make things work with the big man expected back on the court Wednesday, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. The Pistons were 7-4 without Monroe. Jackson is a restricted free agent this summer and it’s a distinct possibility that the Pistons will match any potential offer he receives from a different team, so it is much more likely that he is with Detroit next season than Monroe is, Mayo adds.
  • Cameron Payne, who announced Monday he will enter the draft fresh off finishing up his sophomore season with Murray State, has signed with agent Travis King of Relativity Sports, HoopsHype tweets.
  • Sixers rookie Nerlens Noel has quickly emerged as one of the league’s top big men because of his defensive efficiency, Wesley Share of RealGM.com writes. Noel, unlike many other rookies who were drafted in the first round, will hit free agency in 2017, and not 2018, because he signed his rookie scale contract before sitting out the entire 2013/14 season with an injury.
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Wolves Talk Anthony Bennett Trade, Eye Seraphin

February 18th, 2015 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Wolves have brought up Anthony Bennett‘s name in trade discussions, league sources tell Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link), and they’ve been in pursuit of Kevin Seraphin, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. It’s unclear if there’s any link between the Bennett talk and Minnesota’s attempts to trade for Seraphin. In any case, it’s unlikely that Seraphin will leave the Wizards, Michael adds, noting that he has a de facto no-trade clause and suggesting that it would make little sense from a basketball standpoint for Washington to part with the center.

Bennett arrived in Minnesota this past summer via the Kevin Love trade, a little more than a year after the Cavs made him a surprise No. 1 overall pick. The combo forward has notoriously failed to live up to that distinction, though this season has been somewhat of an improvement, as he’s shooting a higher percentage on more shot attempts in increased minutes, and his PER is up to 11.0 from a woeful 6.9 last season. Still, Bennett’s PER is indicative of below average efficiency, and the Wolves just acquired Adreian Payne to play at power forward, Bennett’s primary position. Bennett is on a rookie scale contract, but it’s a relatively expensive one that gives him nearly $5.564MM this year and almost $5.804MM next season.

The Wizards are willing to give up a first-round pick to make a trade of some sort before the deadline, a source tells Michael, who nonetheless cautions that a free agent addition is still more likely for the team than a trade is. As Michael writes, Washington continues to prioritize cap flexibility for the summer of 2016, when D.C. native Kevin Durant is a free agent, and that would complicate potential trades.

Seraphin is set for unrestricted free agency this summer after signing his qualifying offer, worth nearly $3.899MM, this past summer. The 25-year-old has the best back-to-the-basket game of any player on the Wizards’ second unit, Michael observes, and he’s seeing 15.8 minutes per game this season after only getting 10.9 MPG last year.

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Eastern Notes: Alexander, Seraphin, Harris

January 21st, 2015 at 6:22pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Joe Alexander has been labeled as a bust after lasting just two seasons in the league following his selection by the Bucks with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, something that doesn’t sit too well with the player, David Pick of Basketball Insiders writes. “I don’t think there is a hard definition of what a ‘draft bust’ is,” Alexander told Pick. “Ultimately not being in the NBA is on me, but as far as ‘who is a bust?’ you have to look at Milwaukee and the management that drafted me. If you want to label anyone with the term ‘bust’ — it’s the Bucks. When Milwaukee drafted me, I was touted as a ‘project’ and someone with a lot of potential who could contribute had I learned to play the game. That’s what the Bucks told me. I needed time. I didn’t start playing basketball until I was 16 years old, but I was the most athletic guy in the entire draft. The Bucks knew that. Everyone understood this. I could’ve been drafted by any other team in the league and they would’ve given me time to develop.”

While injuries definitely affected Alexander’s NBA career, he firmly believes that he was also the victim of a dysfunctional regime in Milwaukee, Pick adds. “I had a normal, mediocre NBA rookie season,” Alexander said. “If you look at my per-36 numbers, I was on par with every player in the draft except for Derrick Rose. There are players in the league who a few years ago played spotty minutes and made mistakes, but were able to learn from them. That’s an opportunity I wasn’t given in Milwaukee.”

Here’s more from the East:

  • Kevin Seraphin is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but the big man would like to re-sign with the Wizards, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders writes. “I’ve been here for five years,” Seraphin said. “For sure. For sure I’d like to be here long term, a very long time. Especially now that our team is good. Why wouldn’t I want to be here?”
  • Sixers coach Brett Brown hasn’t completely ruled out injured rookie Joel Embiid playing this season, Tom Moore of Calkins Media tweets. But Brown did add that there would be no chance of Embiid returning to the court prior to the All-Star break, Moore adds.
  • The Cavaliers have recalled Joe Harris from the Canton Charge, their D-League affiliate, the team has announced. This was Harris’ first trip of the year to Canton.
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Kevin Seraphin Signs Wizards Qualifying Offer

July 18th, 2014 at 6:02pm CST by Cray Allred

Kevin Seraphin has signed the Wizards $3.89MM qualifying offer, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The move will put Seraphin on a one-year contract and make him an unrestricted free agent once this season closes. It’s rare that a player accepts the one-year agreement, but not unheard of.

The four-year center was interested in returning to the Wizards, although in the hopes of receiving more playing time after seeing a career-low 10.1 MPG in 2013/14. Washington was only believed to be interested in bringing back Seraphin at salary below the qualifying offer’s value, which would indicate they anticipated matching another team’s offer sheet for more years at a lesser annual rate, or envisioned negotiating such a deal directly with Seraphin. There had been no reports of other teams showing interest in the big man’s services this offseason.

The Klutch Sports Group client has career averages of 6.4 PPG and 3.7 RPG, having come off the bench for the majority of his career. His sophomore campaign saw him at his most effective, when he turned in career-highs in PER (15.8) and true shooting percentage (54.9%). Seraphin will have his work cut out for him to earn meaningful minutes, as Marcin Gortat and Nene are set to return, along with newly acquired backups Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair.

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Southeast Notes: Jones, Seraphin, Boozer

July 16th, 2014 at 11:02pm CST by Charlie Adams

Despite expressing interest in a return to the Heat, James Jones just couldn’t pass up the chance to play with LeBron James again. Although it’s not clear whether or not Miami had intentions of bringing Jones back for the 2014/15 season, as Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald details, there’s no doubt LeBron’s return to the Cavs influenced Jones’ decision to hook up with Cleveland. Here’s the latest out of the Southeast..

  • The Wizards elected to let Kevin Seraphin hit restricted free agency this summer, but Washington wouldn’t be against bringing the big man back at a price lower than the $3.89MM his qualifying offer would have been worth, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington.com (on Twitter).
  • The salary in the first year of Trevor Ariza’s new contract is $8,579,089, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports, so that’s the value of the trade exception the Wizards create from the sign-and-trade that sent Ariza to the Rockets. Washington is using part of that trade exception to accommodate this evening’s sign-and-trade acquisition of DeJuan Blair. The precise amount of the exception that the Blair trade uses won’t be known until Blair’s first-year salary figure is reported.
  • The Hornets aren’t interested in placing a bid on the recently amnestied Carlos Boozer, reveals Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (via Twitter). Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors had predicted as much earlier today when the club agreed to terms with Lance Stephenson.
  • Andrew Perna of RealGM grades the Hornets‘ acquisition of Stephenson, praising Charlotte and criticizing the Pacers’ decision to let the shooting guard walk after the Heat seemingly lost a step this summer.

Chuck Myron and Cray Allred contributed to this post.

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Qualifying Offers: Monday

June 30th, 2014 at 11:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Teams must decide today whether to tender qualifying offers to their players eligible for restricted free agency or lose the right to match offers from other teams. We’ll round up all of today’s qualifying offer decisions here:

  • The Pacers declined to tender a qualifying offer to Lavoy Allen, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Still, there’s mutual interest in a new deal, Buckner adds (on Twitter).
  • The Hawks extended a qualifying offer to Mike Scott, notes Mark Deeks of ShamSports (on Twitter).
  • No surprise here: Chandler Parsons got his QO from the Rockets, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
  • The Pacers won’t extend a QO to Evan Turner, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
  • Kevin Seraphin officially got his qualifying offer from the Wizards, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
  • As expected, the Warriors won’t extend a QO to Jordan Crawford, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
  • The Hawks have extended a qualifying offer to Shelvin Mack, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
  • The Bucks have told forward-center Ekpe Udoh he will not be tendered an offer thus making him an unrestricted free agent, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter).
  • The Grizzlies have passed on making a qualifying offer to Ed Davis, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Davis was reportedly a favorite of former CEO Jason Levien, but with Zach Randolph having agreed to an extension, it appears that Davis isn’t quite as highly valued in Memphis as he once was. His qualifying offer would have been worth $4,268,609, a slightly smaller amount than he was originally in line for, as I explained.
  • No shock here, but the Pistons extended a qualifying offer to Greg Monroe, tweets Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News, preserving their right to match offers for the fifth-rated player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. The qualifying offer is worth nearly $5.5MM, but he’ll command much more than that.
  • The Pelicans will not give Darius Miller a qualifying offer, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune. The offer would have been worth more than $1.115MM.
  • The Spurs have tendered a qualifying offer to Aron Baynes, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter). It’s worth more than $1.115MM, the same amount as Miller’s would have been.
  • The Knicks have elected not to make a qualifying offer to Toure’ Murry, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). They’d like to re-sign him nonetheless, Stein adds in a second tweet, but other teams have interest, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt says (on Twitter). The offer would have been worth more than $1.016MM.
  • Othyus Jeffers and Robbie Hummel won’t receive qualifying offers from the Wolves, the team announced (on Twitter). The offers would have been for amounts slightly greater than $1.148MM and $1.016MM, respectively.
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Qualifying Offers: Saturday

June 28th, 2014 at 7:11pm CST by Charlie Adams

The start of the NBA’s 2014 free agency period is just a little less than two days away, and teams continue to extend qualifying offers to their eligible free agents. The offers are rarely accepted, but the player becomes a restricted free agent as a result of the tender. Choosing not to extend an offer to a player who’s eligible for one means the player becomes an unrestricted free agent, prohibiting the player’s current club from matching offer sheets from rival suitors. For a full explanation, check out the Qualifying Offers entry in the Hoops Rumors Glossary. We’ll track today’s qualifying offer updates right here:

  • The Wizards haven’t made their final decision, but are likely to extend a qualifying offer to Kevin Seraphin, tweets Michael Lee of The Washington Post.

Earlier updates:

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Eastern Rumors: Seraphin, Knicks

June 7th, 2014 at 12:36pm CST by Cray Allred

Kevin Seraphin tells Brandon Parker of The Washington Post he would “for sure” like to re-sign with the Wizards, but wants an opportunity to play more. “I love this game so if I don’t play I’m frustrated,” Seraphin said. The power forward took a step back in his fourth season, with his minutes and production nearly cut in half across the board. Seraphin will either become a restricted or unrestricted free agent, depending on whether Washington extends his $3.9MM qualifying offer. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Phil Jackson explained to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com why he is committed to finding a Knicks coach with which he is familiar. “I’d like to have a prior relationship with a coach so that we know that we’ve gone through some kind of issues together,” said Jackson. “We’ve had conflicts, we’ve had disagreements and we know how to work things out. Those, I think, are part and parcel I think to having a relationship with people that can work together that can still disagree and come to terms.”
  • Jackson revealed that there are college coaches that intrigue him for the job, and confirmed that he sees a benefit in hiring a younger coach for the position. Jackson said he is looking for a coach to last for the long-term, not just as a one or two year stop gap.
  • We learned earlier today that the Cavs plan to offer Kyrie Irving a max extension this summer.
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Stein On Bledsoe, Davis, Turner, Pondexter

October 21st, 2013 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Gordon Hayward and the Jazz are working on an extension, and it looks like the two sides will work something out within the next 10 days, as ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported overnight. However, Hayward looks like the only member of the draft class of 2010 likely to receive a new deal by the October 31st deadline, in Stein’s view. The ESPN.com scribe examined the remaining extension-eligible players in his latest piece, so let’s round up the highlights….

  • Besides Hayward, Eric Bledsoe of the Suns and Ed Davis of the Grizzlies appear to be the strongest candidates to re-up with their respective teams. Sources tell Stein that Memphis has been discussing a new deal with Davis’ camp this month.
  • As for Bledsoe, Stein notes that next year’s free agent crop of point guards looks thin, meaning it may be risky for the Suns to let the ex-Clipper hit the open market, even as a restricted free agent. According to Stein, Favors’ deal may help Bledsoe’s negotiating position, since Utah paid its big man based in part on the expectation that his role and production will increase this season.
  • Evan Turner is more likely to be traded by the Sixers than extended.
  • Having spent big already on John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins respectively, the Wizards and Kings probably won’t extend their other fourth-year players this month. Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin are eligible for Washington, while Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson fit the bill in Sacramento.
  • Greg Monroe (Pistons) and Avery Bradley (Celtics) also continue to look like strong bets to hit free agency next summer.
  • A new deal for Quincy Pondexter hasn’t been completely ruled out by the Grizzlies, but Ekpe Udoh (Bucks) and Jordan Crawford (Celtics) won’t get extensions, says Stein.
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Southeast Notes: Seraphin, Hawks, Beal

January 15th, 2013 at 9:41pm CST by Alex Lee

The Bobcats were the only Southeast team in action tonight, getting torched by the Central-leading Pacers in Charlotte.  Let's take a look at what else is going on in the division on Tuesday:

  • According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst (via Twitter), Wizards big man Kevin Seraphin has changed agents, hiring Rich Paul.  Seraphin, a former first round pick, is under contract in Washington at least this year and next before the team must decide whether to extend him a qualifying offer. He was formerly represented by Bouna Ndiaye.
  • Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today offers his perspective on the job new general manager Danny Ferry has done with the Hawks.  After clearing cap space by moving Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams, much of the Hawks roster is currently playing on expiring deals.  While that can be a tough spot for a coach to be in, Larry Drew has gotten his team off to a solid start despite a recent lull.  The Hawks now have the financial flexibility to re-sign Josh Smith this summer as well as go after someone like Dwight Howard, Zillgitt writes. 
  • In a separate story for USA Today, Zillgitt concurs with much of what we heard yesterday with regard to Bradley Beal; essentially that the Wizards have no plans whatsoever of trading their rookie phenom for Rudy Gay or anyone else.  On the contrary, Zillgitt writes that Beal is settling nicely into his role as the team's closer.
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