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Western Notes: Kobe, Kelly, Parker

September 19th, 2013 at 6:47pm CST by Ryan Raroque
As Lakers' star Kobe Bryant continues his path toward recovery, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News hears from team athletic trainer Gary Vitti that the 35-year-old guard is a few weeks away from advancing to full-weight bearing running and hasn't suffered any setbacks. With that being said, Vitti added that there still isn't a projected return date. Here's more out of the Western Conference tonight, including another injury update from Medina: 
  • As for most recent second-round pick Ryan Kelly (whom Vitti says is "asymptomatic"),  the trainers have still decided to take a conservative approach with his rehab and aren't sure when he'll be returning to action either.  
  • Tony Parker tells Mark Woods of ESPN that general manager R.C. Buford wants him to play less minutes at Eurobasket, but added that he has a great relationship with the Spurs and appreciates them letting him play for the French national team. 
  • Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation relays a snippet of Marco Belinelli's interview with HoopsHype, noting that the 27-year-old guard chose San Antonio over several other teams because of the opportunity to play for Gregg Popovich and a chance to win a championship. 
  • Rockets guard Jeremy Lin tells Mark Berman of Fox 26 about how great it was to work out with Hakeem Olajuwon and says that "anybody with (Dwight Howard) is a deadly combination" in response to the 50-year-old's recent comments about Lin and Howard being a potent duo next season (All Twitter links). 
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Spurs Sign Marco Belinelli To Two-Year Deal

July 11th, 2013 at 2:05pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 11TH: The Spurs have officially signed Belinelli, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 4TH: The Spurs have reached an agreement on a two-year deal with Marco Belinelli, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (via Twitter). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported that the two sides were engaged in serious discussions.

Belinelli, an Excel Sports client, is coming off a one-year deal with the Bulls, having averaged 9.6 PPG while shooting 35.7% on three-pointers in 2012/13. The 27-year-old signed for the bi-annual exception last summer, and will receive a slight raise this year. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the two-year deal will pay Belinelli about $6MM.

Having reached agreements to bring back Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs almost certainly won't have any cap space available during the offseason, though the club should have the full $5.15MM mid-level exception at its disposal. Presumably, part of that MLE will be allocated to Belinelli, but there still should be $2MM+ left to use another player. Alternately, Belinelli could be signed using cap room if the club decides to amnesty Matt Bonner and let Gary Neal walk, but I think that scenario is probably less likely.

Still, it's unclear where the agreement with Belinelli will leave Neal. The Spurs hold the free agent guard's Bird rights, so they have the flexibility to bring him back if they so choose, but Belinelli may be in line to receive many of the minutes that otherwise would have gone to Neal.

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Cavs Notes: Clark, FA Targets, Korver, Dunleavy

July 7th, 2013 at 2:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers made a couple of moves this week, agreeing to terms with Earl Clark and Jarrett Jack, as our Free Agent Tracker Shows. They still figure to have close to $15MM in cap space remaining, so they're not done yet. Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer, amid his look across the spectrum of Cleveland sports, passes along news on the Cavs' summer so far and what might be next, as we detail here:

  • Pluto has the value of Clark's deal at $8.5MM, slightly smaller than the $9MM total that Sean Deveney of The Sporting News originally reported.
  • The Cavs are in the hunt for a swingman who can shoot and a true center, according to Pluto. They were considering Kyle Korver before he agreed to re-sign with the Hawks, Pluto adds.
  • Pluto also confirms Marc Stein's ESPN report that Marco Belinelli passed up more money from the Cavs to go to the Spurs, and says that Mike Dunleavy did the same when he agreed to head to the Bulls.
  • Fellow Plain Dealer scribe Mary Schmitt Boyer answers reader questions in her mailbag column, and she touches on the notion of LeBron James returning to the Cavs.
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Stein’s Latest: Nets, Spurs, Cavs, Belinelli, Neal

July 4th, 2013 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

In between arguments about the relative merits of In-N-Out Burger, ESPN.com's Marc Stein has found time this afternoon to pass along several nuggets related to free agency. Here are the highlights from the ESPN.com scribe's Twitter account:

  • The Nets are still targeting point guards, with Shaun Livingston and John Lucas III among the players on the team's radar, says Stein (via Twitter). The club lost C.J. Watson to the Pacers in free agency.
  • Prior to agreeing to sign with the Spurs, Marco Belinelli had a more lucrative offer on the table from the Cavaliers, says Stein, adding that Belinelli couldn't resist the lure of the Spurs' "all-world operation" (Twitter link).
  • There are "strong indications" that restricted free agent Gary Neal won't be returning to the Spurs, which is why the team moved quickly to bring Belinelli aboard, tweets Stein. According to Stein (via Twitter), Neal is receiving interest at a price point that San Antonio is reluctant to match.
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Spurs In Serious Talks With Marco Belinelli

July 3rd, 2013 at 2:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs are engaged in "serious talks" with unrestricted free agent Marco Belinelli, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).

Belinelli is coming off a one-year deal with the Bulls, having averaged 9.6 PPG while shooting 35.7% on three-pointers in 2012/13. The 27-year-old signed for the bi-annual exception last summer, and figures to be in the market for a mid-level-type deal this time around.

Having reached agreements to bring back Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs almost certainly won't have any cap space available during the offseason, but the club should have its full $5.15MM mid-level exception. San Antonio is likely discussing a deal for Belinelli that would use that MLE, though perhaps not the entire thing — the Spurs could break up that exception and use the $5.15MM to sign multiple players, if they so choose.

According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), if the Spurs aren't able to reach an agerement with Belinelli, the club still plans to re-sign its own free agent guard, Gary Neal.

This post was first published on July 4th at 2:27pm CST.

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Nets No Longer Pursuing Marco Belinelli?

July 3rd, 2013 at 2:00pm CST by Zachary Links

WEDNESDAY, 2:00pm: Davide Chinellato of Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport (Twitter link) hears from a source that the Nets are no longer pursuing Belinelli, who is now talking to the Pacers.

MONDAY, 4:28pm: The Nets have reached out to free agent guard Marco Belinelli and discussed a multi-year deal for the taxpayer mid-level exception of $3.2MM, sources tell Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld.  Sources say that the Nets are debating whether to go with a guard like Belinelli or another big man to bolster the the frontcourt.

While it has been reported that the Nets and Kyle Korver have more-or-less agreed to a deal for the taxpayer MLE, Pincus reports that he could fall outside of the Nets' price range.  The sharpshooter has lots of suitors this offseason and could land a deal with a higher average annual value.  It's possible that Korver is high enough on Brooklyn to give them a discount and the 32-year-old has done quite well for himself over the years, earning more than $38MM over the course of his career according to Basketball Reference.

The Nets would also like to re-sign Andray Blatche, but the most they can offer is ~$1.4MM without using a portion of their MLE.  If he does return at that figure, that would enable Brooklyn to sign Belinelli. 

Belinelli spent last season with Chicago and averaged 13.4 PPG, but his 35.7% percentage from downtown was the lowest of his career.  The Italian is represented by Excel Sports Management, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.

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Bucks, Spurs Interested In Kyle Korver; Nets Out

July 3rd, 2013 at 9:39am CST by Luke Adams

9:39am: The Spurs are another team to keep an eye on in the Korver sweepstakes, tweets Stein. San Antonio should have at least the full mid-level exception available.

9:01am: Several teams are pitching offers to Korver that the Nets are unable to match, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who hears that the Bucks proposed a three-year, $20MM deal (Twitter links).

7:53am: Despite an earlier report indicating that a Kyle Korver signing was essentially "in the bag" for the Nets, it doesn't appear he'll be heading to Brooklyn after all. ESPN.com's Chris Broussard (Twitter links) reports that the Nets, without enough money to offer Korver, are out of the running for the free agent sharpshooter.

It comes as no surprise that the Nets, who only have the $3.18MM mini mid-level exception available to offer outside free agents, wouldn't be able to compete with rival offers for Korver. When I examined the 32-year-old's free agent stock earlier in the year, I predicted that he'd at least match the three-year, $15MM contract that expired this summer. It appeared for a time that Korver would be willing to accept a discount to join the Nets, but it seems that's no longer the case.

Brooklyn has also been linked to Marco Belinelli, who provides a similar skillset to Korver and would be more likely to sign for the mini mid-level. Now that the Nets seem to be out of the running for Korver, perhaps the club will pursue Belinelli or another outside shooter more aggressively.

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Odds & Ends: Kings, Lee, Martin, Cavs, Bulls

July 1st, 2013 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

Tyreke Evans is being courted by the Pelicans and Andre Iguodala is reportedly drawing interest from several teams, but the Kings are expected to make a pitch to both players today. Bryan May of News10 in Sacramento reports (via Twitter) that Sacramento brass is scheduled to meet with Evans and Iguodala in Los Angeles today.

Here are a few more Monday odds and ends from around the NBA:

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Wolfson On Mayo, Iguodala, Redick, Dunleavy

July 1st, 2013 at 10:17am CST by Chuck Myron

Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities has plenty on all things Timberwolves in his latest dispatch, including a look at the itinerary for president of basketball operations Flip Saunders that sheds some light on the team's order of free agent priorities. Here's what Wolfson is sharing:

  • The team's top targets appear to be Mayo, Redick and Martin, Wolfson tweets.

Earlier updates:

  • Saunders will meet with O.J. Mayo, and he could meet with Andre Iguodala as well, since agent Rob Pelinka has them together in Los Angeles. Iguodala, though, is probably out of the team's price range, Wolfson writes.
  • Saunders will then see Wasserman Media Group clients J.J. Redick and Mike Dunleavy Jr. Dorell Wright will likely meet with Saunders as well. Finally, Saunders will take his reported meeting with Rick Adelman favorite Chase Budinger, who's strongly interested in signing with the Bucks.
  • Kevin Martin is on the Wolves' radar, too, according to Wolfson. If Saunders can't land him or any of the above targets, he'll turn to Marco Belinelli.
  • Though it's more likely that Andrei Kirilenko will sign elsewhere, he'll still consider re-signing with Minnesota, a source tells Wolfson. The team made phone calls and held meetings last night, but it did not reach out to Kirilenko, Wolfson tweets.
  • Owner Glen Taylor's strong preference is to stay out of the luxury tax, and it's likely the team will remain below the tax line, but if Saunders can make a "can't miss" proposition to become a tax team, Taylor may consent to doing so.
  • We'd heard that the team plans to waive Greg Stiemsma before his non-guaranteed contract becomes fully guaranteed later this month, and Wolfson says the same is true for Mickael Gelabale, though Wolfson believes the team may try to find trading partners for them in the meantime.
  • J.J. Barea, Luke Ridnour and Derrick Williams are the others on the team's trading block.
  • The team has not reached out to Carlos Delfino, Wolfson reports via Twitter.
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Wolfson On Mayo, Budinger, Belinelli, Iguodala

June 30th, 2013 at 10:04am CST by Chuck Myron

Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities covers a broad spectrum of Minnesota sports in his weekly Scoops column, but with the NBA draft just completed and free agency about to start, his focus this week is on the Timberwolves. Let's dive in:

  • Wolfson writes that Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders may meet with O.J. Mayo this week, and Wolfson adds via Twitter that there's a strong belief that the meeting will indeed take place, around the same time Saunders meets with Chase Budinger.
  • Minnesota is also considering Marco Belinelli.
  • The Wolves are unlikely to go after Andre Iguodala, and his high price tag isn't the only reason.
  • A source tells Wolfson that while the Wolves like Bucks big man Ekpe Udoh, who was rumored this week to be part of a trade for Luke Ridnour, the team is getting plenty of offers for Ridnour, and Minnesota may wind up with a more attractive player than Udoh in return.
  • Bojan Dubljevic, whom the Wolves took 59th overall, will remain in Europe for at least two more years.
  • Another rumor around draft time had the Wolves swapping the No. 26 pick for MarShon Brooks, but such a deal was "never that close," Wolfson writes.
  • Greg Stiemsma has left agent Mike Naiditch, and the Priority Sports Agency will now handle his representation.
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