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Marreese Speights

Warriors Nearing Deal With Marreese Speights

July 7th, 2013 at 6:13am CST by Zachary Links

The Warriors are closing in on a deal with big man Marreese Speights, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter).  Details aren't totally clear just yet, but it's expected to be a one-year pact.

The soon-to-be 26-year-old spent last season with the Grizzlies and Cavs, averaging 8.3 PPG and 3.0 RPG.  The Grizzlies dealt him, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby, and a future first-round pick to the Cavs for Jon Leuer in January, a deal that helped Memphis ease some of their payroll burden and get beneath the tax line.

Speights had a $4.52MM player option for next season with the Cavs but opted out and Cleveland reportedly didn't pursue re-signing him.  The Cavs didn't see him as a tremendous fit anyway, but with a frontcourt group that includes Anthony Bennett, Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, and Tyler Zeller, there wasn't much room for him.

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Marreese Speights Opts Out

June 29th, 2013 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

Marreese Speights has declined his $4,515,000 player option for next season with the Cavs and will become a free agent, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Cleveland acquired Speights as part of a three-for-one deal with the Grizzlies in January. The Cavs have no intention of re-signing him, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link).

An April report indicated that the Cavs felt Speights did not fit their culture, and that they were hoping he would opt out, so it sounds like they got their wish. The 25-year-old big man averaged 10.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in his 39-game stint with Cleveland, numbers that would have been career highs if stretched over a full season. Still, with No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett joining a crowded frontcourt that also includes Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao and Tyler Zeller, there may not have been many minutes left over for Speights.

The move will leave the Cavs with $27.5MM in guaranteed salary for next season, so Cleveland would have wound up with plenty of cap room regardless of Speights decision.

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Cavs Rumors: Trades, Speights, Livingston, Miles

April 28th, 2013 at 9:18am CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers missed the playoffs and have already hired Mike Brown as their new coach. The draft lottery, in which they'll have a 15.6% chance at the top pick, is more than three weeks away. Still, the rumor mill is far from dry in Cleveland. Bob Finnan of The News-Herald rounds up the latest:

  • Finnan doesn't believe rumors that the Cavs are willing to part with young talent like Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson in return for All-Stars LaMarcus Aldridge or Kevin Love, in part because Cleveland would have to give up too much to swing such a deal.
  • Finnan thinks Marreese Speights might not fit the Cavs culture, and the scribe believes the team is hoping Speights turns down his $4.515MM player option for next season.
  • A source tells Finnan that Shaun Livingston will likely ask for $3MM to $4MM this summer and settle for $2MM to $2.5MM.
  • It's no longer a given that the Cavs will bring back C.J. Miles next season. His $2.225MM contract for 2013/14 is fully non-guaranteed.
  • John Kuester has been expected to join new Brown's staff, but sources tell Finnan he might be reluctant to coach again in the NBA after negative experiences as head coach of the Pistons and as an assistant with the Lakers. 
  • Donyell Marshall, a player under Brown from 2005 to 2008, has likely inquired about a position on Brown's coaching staff, according to Finnan, who suggests Eric Snow, Jamahl Mosley, Nate Tibbetts and Alex Jensen as other possible assistant coaching candidates for the team.
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Cavs Notes: Thompson, Scott, Ellington, Gibson

April 13th, 2013 at 11:54pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Aside from shedding light on Tristan Thompson as arguably the Cavaliers' most valuable player (aside from Kyrie Irving), Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer makes the case that Cleveland will have to add a couple of experienced and productive veterans through trades or free agency if they are to make significant progress in 2013-14. We've got a few more notes to share out of Ohio tonight:

  • Pluto finds it odd that Irving didn't comment on Byron Scott, especially considering that Thompson gave the head coach a strong vote of confidence. Even if Irving was wary of saying the wrong thing, it didn't seem to indicate that all was well between the two. 
  • The team will offer restricted free agent Wayne Ellington some type of contract for next year, and although they'd like for Marreese Speights to exercise his $4.5MM player option, they'll also take a look at the type of offers he'll get if he declines. 
  • After an injury-riddled season and one of his worst statistically, Daniel Gibson tells Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer that he doesn't want to end his tenure with the Cavaliers this way and would be willing to consider any offer that they'd give him this summer. 
  • Mary Schmitt Boyer (also of The Plain Dealer) answered a bunch of questions from her readers about the Cavs, saying that the team should look to add a defensive specialist this summer and isn't sure whether or not Byron Scott will be back. Boyer doesn't think Scott should be fired, and believes that the team will make the playoffs if they are healthy next season. 
  • Cleveland has four draft picks in June, and Boyer doesn't foresee them ultimately adding four rookies to an already young roster. With that being said, she expects some of those picks to be shopped.

 

 

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Odds & Ends: Mavericks, Leslie, T’Wolves, Mayo

March 9th, 2013 at 6:37pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Eddie Sefko of SportsDayDFW writes that the Mavericks are now in the market for adding a player after severing ties with guard Dominique Jones. Sefko comprises a list including Mike Bibby, Michael Redd, Earl Boykins, and Gilbert Arenas as available veterans who could be worth a look. Among the D-League hopefuls who could warrant an opportunity, Justin Dentmon, Chris Wright, or Sean Singletary come to mind. Sefko rules out the chances of Delonte West making a return to Dallas, citing that the team wouldn't want to reconnect after how badly things ended with him last year. You can find more of tonight's miscellaneous news and notes below:  

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Spurs Expressed Interest In Omri Casspi

February 20th, 2013 at 9:45am CST by Luke Adams

Earlier this season, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Omri Casspi had requested a trade. A subsequent report suggested that wasn't the case, but Casspi himself didn't address the subject. Whether or not he asked for a deal, Casspi is a candidate to be moved because of his expiring contract and his limited role in Cleveland.

According to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld, sources believe that San Antonio would be a good fit for Casspi, and the Spurs have expressed some level of interest in the Israeli swingman. The Spurs aren't willing to offer a whole lot for Casspi, but would be open to including DeJuan Blair, according to Kyler. A Blair/Casspi swap wouldn't work financially though, so San Antonio would need to include more salary to make it a realistic possibility.

Kyler adds that the Cavaliers are also exploring moving Marreese Speights, and could package the two players together if the right opportunity arises. Cleveland remains well under the cap, so the club could take back more salary than it send out in any trade.

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Speights Could Net Cavs First-Round Pick

February 19th, 2013 at 11:24am CST by Luke Adams

Marreese Speights has been traded twice since the start of the 2011/12 season, and it's possible he could be on the move again before Thursday's deadline. According to Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (via Twitter), several teams are willing to part with a first-round pick for Speights. However, most of those picks are in the 20-30 range, and nothing is enticing the Cavaliers at the moment.

If the Cavs can land a first-round pick for Speights, even if it's near the back of the round, it would be a coup — when Cleveland acquired Speights, Wayne Ellington, and Josh Selby last month, it was a salary-dump for the Grizzlies, who included a future first-rounder of their own just to make the deal happen.

What's unclear is what else the Cavs would have to take on, along with a first-round pick, in a deal to move Speights. At least one report has suggested that Speights is a good bet to decline his player option for next season, in which case he'd be on an expiring contract this year, increasing his trade value. Still, not many teams would be able to take on the forward's $4.2MM salary without sending out salary in return, so perhaps Cleveland would need to take on a longer-term contract in order to land that first-rounder.

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Central Notes: Speights, Cavs, Plumlee

February 9th, 2013 at 5:35pm CST by Sean Highkin

With Derrick Rose returning to the Bulls soon, the Pacers rounding into a serious challenger to the Heat in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, and the Bucks looking like a late-seed sleeper, here's a look at the happenings around the Central Division.

  • Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer has a new mailbag column in which she discusses the possibility that Marreese Speights will be traded before the February 21 deadline. She believes it's possible if the team believes he will opt out of his $4.5MM option for next season, but says his veteran experience makes him worth keeping around.
  • Schmitt Boyer does not know when Lucas Nogueira and Augusto Lima, two Brazilian draft prospects represented by Anderson Varejao's agent, Dan Fegan, plan to enter the NBA draft.
  • Schmitt Boyer writes that the Cavs did not make an attempt to trade for Rudy Gay because his contract would have limited their options in future years of free agency.
  • Schmitt Boyer breaks down the protections on the Lakers' first-round pick the Cavs own, explaining that Cleveland only gets to swap their own pick with the Lakers if Los Angeles makes the playoffs.
  • Schmitt Boyer writes in a separate column that Cavs GM Chris Grant is known to make a lot of moves at the deadline, and she expects him to be active again this year.
  • Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star has a feature on Pacers rookie Miles Plumlee, who is currently playing in the D-League.
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Eastern Rumors: Cavs, Speights, Casspi, Lowry

February 3rd, 2013 at 11:57am CST by Chuck Myron

Much has been said about this week's three-team swap that sent Rudy Gay to the Raptors, and it's understandably overshadowed the three-for-one deal the Grizzlies and Cavaliers pulled off a couple of weeks ago. Still, the effects of that one persist, and GMs around the league believe it was a steal for the Cavs, reports Bob Finnan of The News-Herald. Finnan has more on the Cavs, and we'll round that up along with other rumors from the Eastern Conference right here:

  • Most around the league believe Marreese Speights will decline his $4.5MM option for next season, Finnan hears, motivating Cleveland to entertain offers for him between now and the trade deadline.
  • Omri Casspi isn't expected to re-sign with the Cavs this summer, and he may return to his native Israel to play, according to Finnan.
  • While Jose Calderon's departure doesn't necessarily mean Kyle Lowry is untouchable in Toronto, the point guard tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld he isn't worried about getting traded at the deadline, even though he's finally feeling comfortable with the Raptors after coming aboard this past summer.
  • Trade speculation hasn't fazed MarShon Brooks either, notes Fred Kerber of the New York Post.
  • Answering reader questions in his mailbag, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star doesn't think there's any chance the Raptors and Calderon would entertain a reunion in free agency this summer.
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Odds & Ends: Rondo, Dragic, Speights, Rumors

January 28th, 2013 at 10:01pm CST by Alex Lee

With seven NBA games on the docket for Monday night, here are some odds and ends from around the Association:

  • J.J. Redick has made Orlando his home and hopes to stay, he told Michael Scotto of RealGM.  But Redick also realizes that trade speculation is inevitable and therefore has stayed in close contact with his agent and the Magic general manager Rob Hennigan.
  • Ben Golliver of Blazers Edge provides a transcript of an interview of Neil Olshey in which the Blazers GM discusses his team's roster and potential future moves.
  • Andrei Kirilenko handpicked Minnesota as his destination this offseason because he found the roster intriguing as well as conducive to his game.  Unfortunately, due to the Timberwolves' long list of injuries, Kirilenko has yet to find out if his vision was as good as it seemed this offseason, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
  • Danny Ainge said that he fully expect Rajon Rondo to be ready for training camp come October, tweets Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.  How realistic that truly is will go a long way in determining the Celtics' next move.
  • Despite sitting at 15-30 and in last place in the Pacific division, the Suns have a reason for optimism in Goran Dragic, writes Derek Page of HoopsWorld.  Dragic, Page says, is the most important piece of Phoenix's rebuilding plans. 
  • We've already heard that Marreese Speights could be moved before the trade deadline despite rumors that the Cavaliers have coveted him for years.  The Plain Dealer rounds up some Speights-related buzz, linking to a Sam Amico article that says whether the team keeps Speights depends on whether it can do so without sacrificing its financial flexibility.  Amico, of Fox Sports Ohio, says that Speights will likely opt out of his deal after the season and seek a payday. 
  • Sean Deveney of Sporting News addresses several popular rumors that are floating around the NBA of late, the most notable of which include Rudy Gay, Paul Pierce and Pau Gasol.
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