Kostas Papanikolaou Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rockets Notes: Papanikolaou, Dunn, Howard

September 30th, 2014 at 6:51pm CST by Alex Lee

The Rockets have been busy lately, finally inking Francisco Garcia to a new contract yesterday and earlier tonight deciding to exercise the options on Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas come late October. Let’s see what else is going on in Houston on Tuesday night:

Kostas Papanikolaou‘s new contract with the Rockets isn’t guaranteed unless he sticks on the roster through Saturday, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, who adds that next season carries both non-guaranteed salary and a team option (Twitter link).
Rockets head coach Kevin McHale has hired T.R. Dunn as an assistant coach, the team announced today. This will be the second stint in Houston for Dunn, who was also an assistant on Rick Adelman‘s Rockets staff from 2007 to 2011. The defensive-minded coach has been an assistant in Minnesota since then and also spent time on staffs in Sacramento, Denver and Charlotte.
While Dwight Howard can become a free agent at 30 in the summer of 2016, GM Daryl Morey likes his chances of re-signing him, writes Grantland’s Zach Lowe in a longer, Rockets-based piece. “We’re the first team Dwight has ever picked,” said Morey. “James [Harden] and Dwight are a combo you can win a title with, and we plan to have them here for the remainder of their careers.”

Chuck Myron also contributed to this post.

Contract Details: Papanikolaou, Suns, Sixers

September 30th, 2014 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Teams have made several roster moves in the past few days as they’ve prepared for camp, leaving a few loose ends to resolve contractually. Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders provides a few answers to the questions left unresolved, so we’ll pass along his revelations here:

The Rockets essentially reversed the salaries in each year of Kostas Papanikolaou‘s deal after the league forced the team to sign him to a new contract. He’ll make slighly more than $4.591MM this year and nearly $4.798MM next season, Pincus reports (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether the contract has guarantee dates, like the original pact, but it does include a signing bonus of almost $207K, according to Pincus (Twitter links).
The extensions that Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris signed with the Suns include salaries that go down in year two before rising again in years three and four, Pincus reveals (Twitter links). An earlier report had indicated that they were all escalating salaries.
Zoran Dragic will only make $1.5MM this year and the same amount in 2015/16, so his Suns contract is slightly less lucrative than thought, as Pincus details (Twitter link). Those figures include a signing bonus of about $413K.
The Sixers used some of their cap space to give Jerami Grant, this year’s No. 39 overall pick, a four-year contract that’s fully guaranteed for the first two seasons and non-guaranteed thereafter, according to Pincus (Twitter link). The final season also features a team option, Pincus adds. The salary of nearly $885K in the first year is more than the rookie minimum, but it’s otherwise a minimum-salary arrangement.
Christian Watford‘s new deal with the Celtics covers one year at the minimum salary and is non-guaranteed, Pincus shows (Twitter link). That makes him eligible to have signed an Exhibit 9 Contract that would keep the C’s from paying him if he were to suffer an injury in preseason, though it’s not clear whether it is indeed one of those sorts of pacts.

Southwest Rumors: Jefferson, Mavs, Babbitt

September 29th, 2014 at 9:02pm CST by Charlie Adams

Richard Jefferson admits that while other teams around the league offered him a chance at more playing time and a more lucrative paycheck, he decided to sign with the Mavs because he believes they give him the best chance at winning, as Michael Florek of the Dallas Morning News details. “We have a chance here,” said Jefferson, “Obviously you need to be lucky. You need things to go the right way, have the ball bounce your way, but I believe this was my best chance to win and win now.”

Here’s more from the Southwest:

Mark Cuban responded to the critical comments made by Rockets GM Daryl Morey, suggesting Morey’s assertion that free agents would prefer to play in Houston over Dallas is flawed. “I’m not sure how he would know that,” said the outspoken owner of the Mavs, who reminded Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com that the Rockets have won only a single a playoff series since 1997.
The Rockets had to scrap Kostas Papanikolaou‘s contract and re-sign him, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The NBA rejected the original agreement, and it’s unclear if any significant changes have been made to the structure of the deal.
Luke Babbitt was held out of Summer League play by the Pelicans because there was a chance he’d be dealt to the Rockets in the then-looming Omer Asik trade, writes Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune (on Twitter).

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Papanikolaou, Liz, Ivey, Gay

September 25th, 2014 at 9:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kostas Papanikolaou’s two-year deal with the Rockets is non-guaranteed, surprisingly, but this year’s salary of nearly $4.798MM becomes fully guaranteed if he remains on the roster through Sunday, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). His second-year salary of almost $4.6MM becomes fully guaranteed if he sticks through September 28th next year, Pincus adds.

Here’s more from out west:

Dominican Republic guard Victor Liz is working on a deal to re-sign overseas, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). Liz had reportedly been offered a training camp invite by the Mavericks.
Former Hawks player Royal Ivey will be an assistant coach for the Thunder‘s D-League affiliate, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Twitter link).
With Rudy Gay picking up his player option to return to Sacramento, the Kings have stability at the small forward position for the first time in years, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Rockets Sign Kostas Papanikolaou

September 23rd, 2014 at 1:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 23RD: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.

AUGUST 11TH, 8:06am: George Sferopoulos, the agent for Papanikolaou, posted a photo on Twitter of what appears to be Papanikolaou signing his Rockets contract (hat tip to Sportando). The team has yet to make an official announcement.

AUGUST 8TH, 7:01pm: The Rockets will pay FC Barcelona the maximum Excluded International Player Payment Amount of $600K to bring Papanikolaou to the states this season, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter). As was reported last month, the total of the buyout is $1.5MM, meaning that Pananikolaou will be responsible for the difference of about $900K.

5:05pm: The first season is worth $4.8MM, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, and the second year is a team option. That figure is likely rounded up from $4,797,664, which is what the Rockets had left on their mid-level. The second season’s salary will be $4.6MM, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link).

4:54pm: The Rockets and draft-and-stash prospect Kostas Papanikolaou have struck a deal that will bring the Greek small forward to Houston this season, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It appears to be more than a minimum-salary deal, since Stein adds that the Rockets are using part of their mid-level exception (Twitter links). It’ll be a two-year arrangement, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).

Papanikolaou and the Rockets had reportedly stopped talking last month after the 24-year-old turned down an apparent two-year, $4MM offer. It seems the two sides circled back to the idea, however, and the 48th pick of the 2012 draft will suit up for Houston this coming season. Papanikolaou was initially selected by the Knicks in 2012 before his draft rights were traded to the Blazers a few weeks later. Last summer, his rights went to Houston as a part of the deal for Thomas Robinson.

The 6-foot-7 forward played in Spain last year for FC Barcelona, where he averaged 6.8 points on just over 47 percent shooting in 24.2 minutes per game. But it was the prior campaign in which he made a name for himself, shooting over 46 percent from three and 53 percent from the field for Greece’s Olympiacos en route to being named the Euroleague Rising Star for the 2012/13 season.

The signing of Papanikolaou is the latest manuever in what has to be considered a disappointing offseason in Houston for GM Daryl Morey. After striking out on Chris Bosh, the Rockets lost Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin from a team that won 54 games. They managed to offset some of that bad fortune by adding Trevor Ariza, Jeff Adrien, Joey Dorsey and Ishmael Smith, though that foursome would be hard-pressed to duplicate the contributions of the group that departed. Depending on how NBA-ready he looks in preseason, Papanikolaou could be in the mix at both forward positions.

Southwest Rumors: Leonard, Mohammed, Asik

September 22nd, 2014 at 9:32pm CST by Charlie Adams

Kawhi Leonard isn’t making any promises about signing an extension with the Spurs before the October 31st deadline for him to do so, but he tells Jabari Young of the San Antonio News-Express that he’s pleased with the other moves the team made this summer. He expressed particular satisfaction with new deals for Boris Diaw and Patty Mills, as well as Tony Parker‘s extension. “I’m happy about that just in case the Spurs do extend me and if I am a Spur for life,” Leonard said. “That’s a great thing to know that Tony will be there.” Let’s have a look at the latest from the Southwest:

Nazr Mohammed had expressed interest in returning to the Spurs for the 2014/15 season, but San Antonio clearly didn’t reciprocate the feeling, Young tweets. Mohammed, who won a championship with the Spurs in 2005, re-signed with the Bulls on minimum-salary contract this afternoon.
While taking on Omer Asik‘s bloated contract is definitely a risk for the Pelicans, Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune thinks New Orleans potentially stands to reap some major benefits from the decision. Specifically, Smith thinks Asik’s presence will help alleviate the pressure placed on Anthony Davis, who otherwise received the brunt of opposing teams’ attention last year in a less-than-stellar frontcourt.
Some of the advice that helped Kostas Papanikolaou decide to sign with Houston came from former Rockets shooting guard and fellow Greek native Vassilis Spanoulis, an unlikely source given the frustration Spanoulis felt upon his exit from the team. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle has the details.
The Mavericks had a busy offseason, and it’s one that Jae Crowder believes will push Dallas to the next level of competition, as Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram transcribes. “I feel like we picked up some championship-level pieces,” Crowder said. “I’m not just blowing gas… “One thing Cuban was talking about was just having a good mix of older guys and younger guys, and I feel like that’s exactly what they did this summer with bringing in a good group of guys.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Papanikolaou, Draft, Pacific Division

September 19th, 2014 at 10:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kostas Papanikolaou is ready to make the jump from the Euroleague to the NBA, Jonathan Feigan of the Houston Chronicle writes. Papanikolaou signed with the Rockets back in August though the deal hasn’t been formally announced yet. On his decision to join the NBA, Papanikolaou said, “I didn’t want to be thinking like five years later that I had this opportunity and didn’t do it. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I didn’t want to miss it. I thought, ‘This is the time.’ I spoke with the GM (Daryl Morey). The coach himself (Kevin McHale) called me. That means a lot to a player. But I just didn’t want to be stupid and lose this opportunity to be here, to live this dream to go to the NBA.”

Here’s more from around the Association:

The staff over at NBA.com previewed the Pacific Division, as well as provided their opinions on the division’s best offseason moves, which player they believe will have a breakout season, and much more.
It’s not too early to start thinking about next year’s NBA Draft, especially if you are a fan of a team that isn’t expected to compete for a playoff spot. The crew over at DraftExpress preview the top NBA prospects in the Pac-12 Conference, with Stanley Johnson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and Norman Powell topping the list.
The staff over at DraftExpress also ran down the top NBA prospects in the Big 12, with Kelly Oubre, Cliff Alexander, and Myles Turner snagging the top spots on the list.

Western Notes: Terry, Papanikolaou, Lakers

September 16th, 2014 at 8:56pm CST by Alex Lee

With a few weeks until training camps begin, here is the latest news coming out of the Western Conference on Tuesday evening:

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Rockets‘ deal for Jason Terry will be completed tomorrow (via Twitter). The trade, which will send Terry to Houston and Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to Sacramento, was originally agreed to on August 31st. There was a report yesterday that it would be finalized today, so we should expect an official announcement shortly.
Feigen also expects the signing of Kostas Papanikolaou to become official this week, though he cautions that his buyout ($1.5MM) and the necessary FIBA approval make it a little unpredictable (Twitter link). Papanikolaou’s first-year salary of just under $4.8MM is the most ever given to a second-round pick in his first NBA season.
The Lakers announced today that Paul Pressey, Jim Eyen and Mark Madsen will join Byron Scott on the Los Angeles bench as assistant coaches this season. Beyond that trio, the team also announced Clay Moser, Larry Lewis, Tom Bialaszewski and J.J. Outlaw as members of the staff. Rondre Jackson has been promoted to director of player development and Jordan Wilkes has been hired as an operations assistant, according to the team release.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Marion, Rockets, Spurs

August 11th, 2014 at 10:19pm CST by Zachary Links

With NBA training camp approaching, Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside wonders if D-League prospects should sign camp invites or take advantage of offers for guaranteed money overseas. The bigger names, he writes, can probably afford to go through training camp and take a stab at making an NBA team. The lesser-known ones, however, might want to think about going overseas. Here’s more from around the league..

Free agent forward Shawn Marion had a face-to-face meeting earlier today with Pacers president Larry Bird, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Last week it was reported that Marion was leaning heavily towards the Cavs but the Pacers are hoping that they can sway him.
Kostas Papanikolaou‘s nearly $4.8MM first-year salary with the Rockets is believed to be the greatest amount any NBA team has ever handed out for the rookie season of a second-round pick, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets.
In the wake of Mark Davis’ whirlwind tour of San Antonio, sources with knowledge of the visit said Spurs Sports & Entertainment would be against the Raiders, as they are currently structured, relocating to South Texas, write Tom Orsborn and Josh Baugh of the San Antonio Express-News. Spurs shareholder Charlie Amato says that the solution would be for the Spurs’ ownership group to have a controlling interest in the Raiders or perhaps any other franchise that wanted to move to San Antonio.
The recent ruling against the NCAA could help the NBA in its efforts to raise the age limit, writes Tom Ziller of SBNation.com. The Ed O’Bannon ruling grants colleges the right to pay players up to $5K per year and one of the big arguments against an age minimum was that would force prospects to play for free in the NCAA. Now, that’s no longer the case, even if the $5K figure is chump change compared to what many of the top collegiate stars should rightfully earning in relation to the revenue that they draw.

Rockets, Kostas Papanikolaou Halt Talks

July 17th, 2014 at 8:21am CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 8:21am: Discussion between the sides ended and Papanikolaou has decided to remain overseas, in spite of having fielded a call from Rockets coach Kevin McHale, who tried to convince the forward to take Houston’s offer, reports Sport24 (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The value of Papanikolaou’s buyout will come to down roughly the equivalent of $947K next year, perhaps making it easier for him to come stateside at that point.

TUESDAY, 5:03pm: Papanikolaou rejected a two-year, $4MM offer, but the sides continue to talk, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

2:43pm: The Rockets will meet with Papanikolaou’s agent to discuss their ideas for his role on the team, after which the forward will make his decision, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia, who hears the sides are likely to agree to a deal (Twitter links).

12:11pm: Papanikolaou’s buyout is $1.5MM, so the Rockets would cover $600K, and the rest would be up to him to pay, Sport24 reports (translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi).

11:04am: The sides are discussing a deal worth $4.5MM total, Pick tweets.

10:16am: The Rockets are in advanced talks with Papanikolaou, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe hears (Twitter link).

9:04am: Rockets draft-and-stash prospect Kostas Papanikolaou is leaning toward coming to the NBA this year, David Pick of Eurobasket.com reports (on Twitter). Pick indicates that he’d do so on a two-year deal, though it’s unclear if that’s something either the team or Papanikolaou is discussing. The Greek forward spent this past season playing in Spain with FC Barcelona Regal.

The Rockets acquired the rights to Papanikolaou, the 48th overall pick in the 2012 draft, in the trade a year ago that sent Thomas Robinson to the Blazers. Papanikolaou reportedly had strong interest in playing in the NBA this past season, with the Bucks among the NBA clubs eyeing him in case the Rockets were inclined to trade his rights, but he ultimately signed a four-year deal with Barcelona. It’s unclear how much his buyout would cost, but a report in February cast it as likely that the 23-year-old would end up in Houston one way or another for 2014/15.

Variously listed at 6’7″ and 6’8″, the combo forward averaged just 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 24.2 minutes this past season in Spain. He failed to duplicate a fantasic shooting season in 2012/13, when he made a dazzling 46.2% of his three-point attempts for Olympiacos in Greece. This past season, he made only 34.0% of his treys.