Matthew Dellavedova Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Drummond, Budinger, Dellavedova

November 13th, 2015 at 7:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Andre Drummond reiterated his intention to re-sign with the Pistons this offseason when he is eligible to become a restricted free agent, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports relays. “I love it here. I plan on being here,” Drummond told Spears. Team owner Tom Gores, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, and Drummond mutually agreed to hold off on signing an extension to allow the team to retain more cap space heading into next offseason in order to make further roster upgrades.

Here’s more from out of the Central Division:

Small forward Chase Budinger is attempting to carve out his niche on the Pacers after having been acquired from the Wolves this past summer, writes Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star. “I’m still trying to figure that out, it’s still a work in progress,” Budinger said. “My role is still trying to evolve and trying to fit into this system and with this team. I’m still trying to find better ways to be more productive.” The 27-year-old has appeared in nine games this season, averaging just 4.1 points in 15.9 minutes per contest while shooting 41.9% from the field.
Cavs point guard Matthew Dellavedova has used his strong playoff showing from a season ago as a springboard to a solid start to the 2015/16 campaign, Chris Fedor of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “I feel confident,” Dellavedova told Fedor. “I think you should always be more confident in your game and that comes through putting in the work. I think it was a great experience for me playing in the playoffs last year and working hard in the offseason by playing with the national team. In a different role than I usually play here with the Cavs, and [I] have just tried to build on that. I think if you work hard that’s what helps with your confidence.“
The Bulls lead the NBA in building through the draft, with a league-best 10 draftees currently on the roster, Sam Smith of NBA.com notes in his leaguewide rundown. “The franchise always has had a strong belief in building through the draft and developing our own players,” said Bulls GM Gar Forman. “It starts with [owner] Jerry [Reinsdorf], who always has been a strong believer in the draft.”

Atlantic Notes: Williams, Crowder, McConnell

October 29th, 2015 at 7:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Knicks 2014 second-rounder Thanasis Antetokounmpo is signing with the Westchester Knicks, New York’s D-League affiliate, for the 2015/16 season, the player’s agent, Nick Lotsos, tweets. This comes as a minor surprise since Antetokounmpo’s camp had previously said that the swingman would not play another season in the D-League. The 23-year-old had reportedly been in contact with European and NBA teams in an effort to strike a deal, but apparently no concrete offer materialized. The Knicks waived Antetokounmpo along with four others last week.

Here’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Derrick Williams‘ play is beginning to justify Knicks president Phil Jackson‘s decision to sign him to a two-year, $8.8MM deal this past offseason, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. “I don’t know what he hasn’t done [in the past], but I think he’s just playing the game, trusting his instincts, even though he’s still learning a lot of new things on how to play,’’ coach Derek Fisher said. “I don’t think he’s overthinking. He’s making plays in front of him, shooting the ball well. It’s early. He had a really good preseason and was really good [Wednesday night]. He’ll have ups and downs, and it’s how he responds when the shots aren’t going in like they were.’’
Sixers coach Brett Brown is a big fan of point guard T.J. McConnell, and compares him to a former player who Brown coached on the Australian national basketball team in the 2012 London Olympics, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes.”He reminds me of Matthew Dellavedova a lot, who I had a lot to do with,” Brown said. “Somebody says, ‘He can’t shoot. No way can he make it.’ “
Jae Crowder was concerned after arriving in Boston last season as part of the Rajon Rondo deal that the Celtics would be trying to tank, a worry that was quickly dispelled by the team’s coaching staff and front office, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com relays. “I don’t like losing, man,” said Crowder. “I play this game to win. I never in my life played to lose. I don’t know what that feels like. I don’t play like that. I play to win. I felt like that the locker room here was kind of sulking right when I got here. It was sad to be in a professional locker room like that. I didn’t like it. I just wanted to come in each and every day and put my work in and hopefully make guys feed off my energy and take it from there. When you want to win, man, when you’re in a winning organization, you take pride in it. And when you lose, you let everybody know you lost. You’re not walking around happy.“

Cavs Re-Sign Matthew Dellavedova

July 27th, 2015 at 1:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:35pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

12:13pm: It is indeed the qualifying offer that Dellavedova will sign, McMenamin writes in a full story, which puts his reporting in agreement with that of Mannix.

10:56am: The Cavaliers will re-sign Matthew Dellavedova to a one-year deal worth about $1.2MM, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Chris Mannix of SI.com indicates that the Bill Duffy client is taking his qualifying offer (Twitter link), which is worth $1,147,276. Either way, it’ll likely cost the Cavs nearly four times as much in luxury tax penalties. The restricted free agent nonetheless appears to be taking a sharp discount from the $4MM he was reportedly seeking.

Dellavedova, who went undrafted in 2013, quickly established himself as an NBA player and further proved his worth in this year’s playoffs, and especially in the Finals, when he served as a fill-in for the injured Kyrie Irving. GM David Griffin made it clear he wanted him back, but Cleveland’s tax concerns appeared to slow negotiations. Dellavedova wanted to move on a deal at this point in part because of a desire to have his future settled before he starts playing for the Australian national team this summer, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The Cavs can make him a restricted free agent again next summer, since he’ll only have three years of service.

The deal puts a further squeeze on J.R. Smith, who remains unsigned, though Dellavedova’s willingness to sacrifice ostensibly leaves more flexibility for the team to pay Smith what he would like to make, depending on just how much tax owner Dan Gilbert wants to shell out. The Cavs sliced their projected luxury tax bill to little more than $4MM when they agreed to trade Mike Miller along with Brendan Haywood to the Trail Blazers, but that doesn’t include what they’d have to pay for Dellavedova’s salary, nor does it take into consideration a new deal for Tristan Thompson, who remains a restricted free agent.

Is this a fair deal for Dellavedova, or should he have held out for more? Leave a comment to tell us what you think.

Eastern Notes: Porzingis, Dellavedova, Ellis

July 15th, 2015 at 9:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Scout Clarence Gaines believed the Knicks should have taken Kristaps Porzingis first overall if they had won the draft lottery, Knicks GM Steve Mills said Monday on MSG Network, as Marc Berman of the New York Post relays. Mills and team president Phil Jackson weren’t quite ready to do that, Berman notes, but the Knicks dropped to fourth in the lottery and took Porzingis with that selection. Mills said he noticed Guillermo Hernangomez, the 35th overall pick whose rights New York acquired in a deal put together on draft night, on a scouting trip to see Porzingis, as Berman details, adding that the Knicks plan to sign Hernangomez in time for the 2016/17 season.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

There hasn’t been much progress made between restricted free agent Matthew Dellavedova and the Cavaliers, Chris Mannix of SI.com notes. The point guard is seeking a multiyear deal at around $4MM per season, Mannix relays, and Cleveland is reluctant to commit to that amount due to the luxury tax implications. Former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter links) notes that even a $4MM annual commitment for Dellavedova would equate to that of a max salary player due to the approximate $14MM tax hit inking the guard would generate.
Celtics executive Danny Ainge views offseason additions David Lee and Amir Johnson as veterans who can help the team’s younger players grow, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald writes. “Veteran players teach young players how to play, how to live, how to make it through the rough times of a season,” Ainge said. “And they make young players better by their presence on the court. So it’s not always just about getting minutes for young players, although minutes are important in the process of development. But it’s also important for veterans to show the young players the way to play. Brandon Bass was a good guy to have on the team. You ask any good player in the NBA about the people who’ve had a positive impact on their careers and most every one of them will say some veteran that they played with as a youngster.”
Monta Ellis was sold on joining the Pacers when team executive Larry Bird told him he was the missing piece in the team’s championship puzzle, Michael Marot of The Associated Press writes. “He said all the right things,” Ellis said after signing his four-year, $44MM deal. “It was an easy choice. It made me feel great because they wanted me.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Cavs, Raptors, Pistons

July 12th, 2015 at 11:03pm CST by Will Joseph

Cavs GM David Griffin told reporters, including Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group, that he is interested in re-signing unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith and restricted free agent Matthew Dellavedova. “In Delly’s case, the restricted free agency is a totally different process,” Griffin said. “With J.R., I wouldn’t want to characterize the discussion or anything, but he’s a player I’d like to have back. We just have to find a way to make it work.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

The Raptors have hired Andy Greer as an assistant coach, reports Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter). Greer, who previously was an assistant with the Bulls under former Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau, will run the Raptors’ defense.
The Raptors let a leftover sliver of the Steve Novak trade exception expire Friday. It was initially a $3,445,947 exception created when Toronto sent Novak to Utah on July 10th, 2014. The lion’s share of it went toward the acquisition of Luke Ridnour last month, a move that failed to be of much efficacy for the Raptors, who simply waived Ridnour this past Thursday.
The Pistons plan to proceed with finalizing Reggie Jackson‘s five-year, $80 million contract later this week or early next week, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy told reporters including David Mayo of MLive.com. At around the same time, Gundy plans to address the topic of Andre Drummond‘s contract extension, Mayo adds. The Pistons expect to lock Drummond into a long-term extension, Mayo writes, though they would have about another $15MM in cap flexibility in 2016/17 if the 21-year-old center agrees to wait until 2016 to sign rather than inking an extension this summer.
Free agent guard A.J. Price, who was formerly with the Suns, is mulling a move overseas and might land with Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, a source told David Pick of Eurobasket.com (on Twitter).
Anthony Randolph has decided to return to Russia and the former NBA forward re-signed with Kuban, Pick also tweets.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Eastern Notes: Johnson, Watson, Dellavedova

July 2nd, 2015 at 10:08pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nets have been actively shopping veteran forward Joe Johnson over the past few days, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (on Twitter). Brooklyn hasn’t had much luck in finding a taker, as teams are leery of taking on Johnson’s $24,894,863 salary for the 2015/16 campaign, which is the final year of his deal, as well as gutting their rosters to acquire the 34-year-old, Mazzeo adds.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

The Wizards refused to compromise their salary cap space for the summer of 2016, when Kevin Durant is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent, in order to re-sign veteran Paul Pierce, J. Michael of CSNWashington.com writes. This was the same stance the franchise took regarding Trevor Ariza, who ended up signing with the Rockets last summer, Michael notes. Pierce agreed to a three-year, approximately $10MM deal with the Clippers this week.
The Cavaliers and free agent point guard Matthew Dellavedova are making progress in their discussions to bring the Australian back to Cleveland next season, Shams Charania of RealGM tweets. Dellavedova is seeking a multiyear deal in the $3MM-$5MM range annually, Charania adds.
The Wizards have expressed interest in free agent guard C.J. Watson, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post notes (Twitter link). Watson is intent on signing for the mid-level exception, which is not necessarily what Washington is currently offering, Michael tweets.
Greg Monroe chose to sign with the Bucks because they were the most playoff ready team of all his suitors, Howard Beck of Bleacher Report tweets.
The Wizards could be a potential landing spot for free agent forward Chris Copeland, tweets Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report. Washington is also reportedly in discussions with the Bucks regarding a trade for Jared Dudley.
Prior to reaching an agreement on his five-year, $90MM deal with the Heat, Goran Dragic asked team president Pat Riley how he could be flexible to aid the franchise in retaining Dwyane Wade, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com writes (on Twitter). Wade and Miami agreed to a one-year, $20MM arrangement earlier today.

Qualifying Offers: Monday

June 29th, 2015 at 7:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Warriors formally made a qualifying offer of $2.725MM to Draymond Green, ensuring the versatile forward will be a restricted free agent, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Golden State is expected to match any offer sheet to Green, one of the key players en route to its first championship in 40 seasons. The Pistons, Hawks and Rockets are among the teams expected to pursue Green. The Warriors also extended a qualifying offer of $1.147MM to Ognjen Kuzmic but declined the same amount on Justin Holiday, allowing the shooting guard to become an unrestricted free agent, according to a tweet from Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.

In other news regarding qualifying offers around the league:

The Cavaliers made qualifying offers to three of their rotation players, allowing Cleveland to match any offer sheet, Pincus reports in a separate tweet. Tristan Thompson ($6.778MM), Matthew Dellavedova ($1.147MM) and Iman Shumpert ($4.334MM) were the players who received them.
The Thunder made a qualifying offer of approximately $7.47MM to Enes Kanter, according to Pincus (Twitter link).
The Jazz gave a qualifying offer of $1.045MM to Joe Ingles and the Timberwolves did the same for about $1.147MM to make Robbie Hummel a restricted free agent, according to Pincus (Twitter links). However, Minnesota declined the same price tag on Justin Hamilton‘s qualifying offer, Darren Wolfson of KSTP.com tweets, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.
The Suns made the qualifying offer of $4.79MM to Brandon Knight while his former backcourt partner, the Bucks’ Khris Middleton, got a qualifying offer of $2.275MM, according to Pincus (Twitter links).
The Raptors extended a qualifying offer of $1.829MM to a player who was overseas last season, Nando De Colo, Pincus tweets. De Colo played for CSKA Moscow last season.

J.R. Smith Opts Out, Plans To Re-Sign With Cavs

June 25th, 2015 at 11:53pm CST by Chuck Myron

JUNE 25TH, 11:53pm: The deadline for Smith to opt in lapsed, so he has officially opted out, GM David Griffin said, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

JUNE 24TH, 3:30pm: Smith is indeed opting out, reports Shams Charania of RealGM, who notes that there’s mutual interest in a return to Cleveland (Twitter link)

JUNE 17TH, 8:59am: J.R. Smith told Chris Broussard of ESPN.com that he’ll probably turn down his player option worth nearly $6.4MM for next season, but Smith said to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group that he “absolutely” plans to be back with the Cavaliers (Twitter links). The Leon Rose client is no doubt seeking to capitalize on a revitalization that’s taken place since the January trade that took him from the Knicks to Cleveland, though it appears he wants to remain in surroundings in which he’s thrived.

A raise for Smith would further inflate the cost to the Cavs of keeping this year’s roster intact. The team has had internal discussions about lifting the payroll to $100-110MM next season, which, if it ends up on the high end of that range, would entail a tax bill of some $75MM or more, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Cleveland’s only guaranteed contracts are with Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao, both of whom have extensions kicking in for next season, and Joe Harris. The Cavs also have a $4.95MM team option on Timofey Mozgov and the trade asset of Brendan Haywood‘s non-guaranteed salary of more than $10.5MM. Aside from that, every other player can elect free agency.

LeBron James and Kevin Love are also expected to decline their player options, Windhorst writes, which wouldn’t be a shock as far as James is concerned, but would run counter to what Love told Haynes in January that he planned to do. The Cavs are expected to extend qualifying offers to Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellavedova to retain the right to match competing bids for them in free agency this year, Windhorst adds.

The mercurial Smith seemed like a much better fit this season as a supporting piece in the Cavs starting lineup than in the Sixth Man role he played in New York, one in which he’d grown stale after winning the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2012/13. The 29-year-old, who turns 30 in September, took 7.3 three-pointers per game in the regular season with the Cavs, which would be a career high if extrapolated over an entire season. He made 39.0% of them, better than the 35.6% he made on only 3.8 three-point attempts per game for the Knicks this year, who appeared eager to make the trade out of the fear that Smith would opt in and take up some of their cap flexibility for next season.

Central Notes: Dellavedova, Tellem, Hunter

June 11th, 2015 at 11:30am CST by Chuck Myron

Some in the Cavaliers organization wanted to waive Matthew Dellavedova during training camp in 2013, but former GM Chris Grant believed in the undrafted guard and stuck by him, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. That decision has never been more important than it is now, current GM David Griffin acknowledges, as the soon-to-be restricted free agent has been a surprise star of the Finals.

“The fact that Chris believed in Delly to the level that he did is paying off for the organization in spades,” Griffin said. “Everyone benefits from everyone that comes before them.”

While we wait to see what Dellavedova can do for an encore tonight after scoring 20 points in Game 3, here’s more from around the Central Division:

It appears that incoming Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem will be taking more of an advisory role with the Wasserman Media Group than that of a traditional agent this summer, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. That’s not thoroughly surprising, considering the potential conflict of interest, but it nonetheless adds another layer of intrigue to the free agency of Wasserman clients like LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol and Michigan native Draymond Green.
The Bucks, who have the 17th pick, have made Georgia State shooting guard R.J. Hunter their primary draft target, according to some NBA personnel, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times hears.
Jason Kidd is apparently targeting Clippers shooting coach Bob Thate for the Bucks coaching staff, Woelfel writes in the same piece.
Marquette guard Matt Carlino, Oklahoma State power forward Michael Cobbins, Michigan State forward Branden Dawson, Temple guard Jesse Morgan and Northern Iowa power forward Seth Tuttle are working out today for the Bucks, the team announced. So is UCLA power forward Kevon Looney, who mentioned Milwaukee among his many workout stops when he spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors. Woelfel first reported Looney’s Bucks workout.

Cavs Notes: Love, Draft, Dellavedova

June 9th, 2015 at 11:46am CST by Chuck Myron

Team officials around the league are split on whether Draymond Green or Kevin Love is the better player, and no one on the Warriors would trade Green for Love straight-up these days, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. That represents a dramatic shift from the beginning of the season, but Cavs GM David Griffin, whose team had been discussing Love trades with the Timberwolves two years prior to last August’s trade, is adamant that the Cavs want to keep Love, according to Lowe. There’s more on Love, who likewise continues to insist that he wants to stay in Cleveland, amid the latest on the Cavs:

Cleveland’s willingness to have given up Andrew Wiggins for Love in the first place was tied to the choice LeBron James made to return to Cleveland, Griffin admitted in his interview with Lowe. “You have a finite window when you’re dealing with a player that’s 30,” Griffin said, citing James’ age. “The organization had wanted Kevin for a while, but we paid the price we paid entirely because of LeBron’s presence.”
Lowe nonetheless suggests that the Cavs could have kept Wiggins and acquired Thaddeus Young from the Sixers instead of Love, sending salary filler to Philadelphia along with the same first-round pick that ended up going to Sixers in the three-team Love trade.
The Cavs had workouts scheduled Monday with Arizona power forward Brandon Ashley, Michigan State guard Travis Trice, Wisconsin-Green Bay point guard Keifer Sykes, Louisville swingman Wayne Blackshear and Stanford small forward Anthony Brown, sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link).
Matthew Dellavedova is proving former Cavs GM Chris Grant wise as he makes an outsized impact in the Finals at the tail end of the two-year minimum-salary deal Grant signed him to in 2013, as Chris Mannix of SI.com examines. Dellavedova is set for restricted free agency this summer.