Ray Allen Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Bucks, Allen, Wear

November 7th, 2014 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

The Raptors, Wizards and Bulls are in a three-way tie atop the Eastern Conference, a pair of them clash tonight with Washington in Toronto. The two surprise teams from last year’s Eastern Conference playoffs took somewhat divergent paths this past summer, as the Wizards replaced Trevor Ariza with Paul Pierce while the Raptors retained Kyle Lowry and are mostly intact from 2013/14. We’ll have an early read on which approach was better by night’s end, but for now, here’s the latest from around the Eastern Conference:

Bucks majority partners Wesley Edens, Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan, along with former owner Herb Kohl, have pledged an estimated $300MM toward the roughly $420MM cost of a new arena in Milwaukee, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. That’s up from the approximately $200MM the current and former owners were set to invest in the building when the sale of the team took place this past spring. The new total includes a “major” contribution from Dinan, who joined the partnership this summer, as well as additional money from Edens and Lasry, and the Bucks are expected to raise yet more funding through a naming rights deal, Woelfel writes. The NBA has the right to take control of the Bucks if there isn’t significant progress toward construction by fall 2017, but it appears most of the arena will be privately financed, as Woelfel points out.
The Bulls have remained in contact with representatives for Ray Allen, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes in his mailbag column. An early September report identified the Bulls as one of many suitors for the Jim Tanner client, who recently made a non-basketball-related trip to Chicago.
Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders recounts the journey of Travis Wear, who went from 2009 McDonald’s All-American to undrafted this past summer before the Knicks, who’d begun to eye him even before the draft this year, gave him a chance. Voluntary workouts prior to training camp were the key to Wear’s ability to win a spot on the opening-night roster, as Beer details.

Eastern Notes: Antetokounmpo, Allen, Nets

November 6th, 2014 at 8:42pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Knicks second-rounder Thanasis Antetokounmpo remains a work in progress as a basketball player, but the team is extremely high on his potential, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv writes. As for when Antetokounmpo will be ready to dazzle the fans at Madison Square Garden, assistant GM Allan Houston said, “I don’t think you can put a time frame on a guy like that because you have to just take it as a daily process. I think because he’ll be with us this year [in the D-League], it’s the right approach for him personally. So he won’t get frustrated or impatient if it didn’t happen right away.”

Here’s more from the east:

Houston also added that the team sees Antetokounmpo’s eventual NBA position as a shooting guard, notes Zagoria. “When we saw him in the draft process we saw his just relentless energy,” Houston said. “I think his size [helps] because he’ll be able to guard multiple positions, especially in this league, and I think hopefully if he develops into an NBA player we want to see him be able to be comfortable on the perimeter with guard skills. He shot the ball better toward the end of the year in the D League so we think he can improve there as well. But I think it’s just his impact on the game is high. He finds a way to leave an imprint and I think in this system if he can continue to grow and we develop him into playing in different places on the floor and not be limited to just the wing or maybe a forward position, I think we’re going to keep him equipped and ready to make that jump.”
Free agent guard Ray Allen is visiting Chicago, but his agent Jim Tanner insists the trip has nothing to do with a possible Bulls signing, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). Chicago does happen to have an open roster spot, and would be a desirable destination for Allen, as the team is expected to contend for a title this season.
The Nets were reportedly up for sale last month, but majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov had told commissioner Adam Silver recently that he intends to maintain his controlling interest in the franchise, Mitch Abramson of The New York Daily News tweets.

And-Ones: Allen, Thabeet, NBPA

October 30th, 2014 at 10:42pm CST by Eddie Scarito

In response to commissioner Adam Silver’s statement that a third of the teams in the league are still losing money, new NBPA head Michele Roberts said, “The NBA’s cries of poverty will not work this time,” Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes.”I can say that I was more than surprised,” Roberts told Yahoo Sports. “I am not suggesting that Adam is telling a lie. I am sure that the owners told him that. But it’s difficult for me to believe that, especially after looking at the 2011 CBA negotiations and seeing all the money the players don’t have now. There’s $1.1 billion that the players would’ve been otherwise entitled.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Mavs owner Mark Cuban left open the possibility that Dallas could add either Ray Allen or Rashard Lewis later on in the season, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News reports. “We haven’t talked to him, but I think he’s doing it the right way,” Cuban said of Allen. “He’s waiting to see who’s doing well. If it comes down to it, we’d always consider it. We’re always open to improving the team. But you don’t want to mess up a good thing, either. That’s when Caron Butler got hurt and Roddy [Beaubois] got hurt. But Peja Stojakovic is a good example of us adding a veteran in season.” In regards to Lewis, Cuban added, “Rashard Lewis is working out here. We’ve stayed in touch with him and worked with him.”
Hasheem Thabeet has passed on playing in Europe and instead will play for Grand Rapids in the NBA D-League this season, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). It appears that the Pistons, who had waived Thabeet, will retain his D-League rights as franchises can retain the rights of up to four players that they have waived.
The NBA D-League Draft is scheduled to be held this Saturday and the crew over at DraftExpress ran down the complete list of eligible players.
The Bucks will keep working toward an extension with Brandon Knight up until Friday’s deadline, David Alarcón of HoopsHype tweets. It’s unclear how far apart the two sides are in their discussions, but in his look at Knight in our extension candidate series, Chuck Myron opined that the two sides could compromise on a four-year, $41MM arrangement similar to what the Sixers gave Jrue Holiday two years ago.

Eastern Notes: Allen, Heat, Cavs

October 16th, 2014 at 9:58pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Many around the NBA believe Ray Allen will become a member of the Cavs this season and Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio is among the Cleveland optimists. “My gut tells me he’ll join the Cavs,” Amico said. Cleveland is among the many teams with interest in bringing the shooting guard aboard. Amico also notes that he believes Allen has already decided on whether or not he’ll play this season, and where.

Here’s more from Eastern Conference:

After he struggled last postseason there were doubts the Heat would re-sign Mario Chalmers, but head coach Eric Spoelstra is a firm believer in the point guard, writes Shandel Richardson of the Sun Sentinel. “He’s one of the all-time clutch players in this game,” Spoelstra said. “How many times does he have to prove himself?”
In a separate piece, Richardson documents how the environment around the Heat is changing post-LeBron James. Dwyane Wade couldn’t be happier about the changes. “It’s more relaxed, more chill, an opportunity we can get some work in,” Wade said. “We can actually make some mistakes and not do things as great and not really be talked about as much. We’re a team that needs time individually to get comfortable with whatever roles we’re going to be in. It’s good it’s quiet.”
Although Kevin Love‘s neck injury isn’t believed to be too serious, Jeff Caplan of NBA.com wonders if LeBron’s new teammates can stay healthy. Caplan points out the injury history of Love and Kyrie Irving and notes how crucial it is that the new big three get as much time on the court together as possible
There are Atlantic Division teams that have young players with the potential to improve such as Terrence Ross of the Raptors and Tyler Zeller of the Celtics, writes Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.com. Mason Plumlee of the Nets, Iman Shumpert of the Knicks and Michael Carter-Williams of the Sixers are also among the players Tjarks lists as internal improvement candidates for the coming season.

Eastern Notes: Allen, Stevens, Celtics, Magic

October 14th, 2014 at 8:25pm CST by Charlie Adams

Here’s tonight’s look at the latest from the Eastern Conference, where we’ve rounded up a bit from each division out east:

Jason Kidd indicated that the team had sincere interest in bringing free agent Ray Allen to the Bucks, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. “We did contact Ray,” Kidd admitted. “He’s weighing his options to see where he wants to go. But we did have interest.” Allen started his career in Milwaukee before getting traded for Gary Payton during his seventh season as a Buck.
Brad Stevens is making a conscious effort to more closely align the playbooks of the Celtics and their the D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, as the second-year coach explains to ESPNBoston.com’s Chris Forsberg. “We’re trying to make [the playbook synergy] even more of a priority this year,” Stevens said. “I didn’t do a great job of that as I was balancing everything [last season]. [Red Claws coach Morrison Scott] has been here now for, really, the better part of [two months]. He’s been able to learn what we’re doing and they’ll play very similar to us.”
The Magic‘s decision to trade away a pair of first-rounders just to move up two spots in June’s draft looked questionable at the time, but early returns from Elfrid Payton, the player Orlando selected with that pick, are making GM Rob Hennigan look brilliant, opines Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Eastern Rumors: Allen, Wizards, Sixers

October 11th, 2014 at 9:27pm CST by Cray Allred

A person close to Ray Allen told J. Michael of CSNWashington.com that “nothing has changed” for the veteran shooting guard, who has yet to decide whether to retire or join up with one several teams seeking his services. The Cavs remain the front runners for Allen, and GM David Griffin was in contact with Allen’s people a few days ago according to Michael. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference, including more on the Allen front:

The CSNWashington.com scribe reveals that the Thunder and Bucks have contacted Allen’s representatives, in addition to previously reported interest from the Cavs, Wizards, Bulls, and Spurs. Michael notes that Milwaukee’s homecoming pitch fell flat.
Michael doesn’t think a starting role with the Wizards while Bradley Beal recovers from his wrist injury will make Washington any more enticing to Allen. A source also tells Michael that Wizards won’t pursue a “knee-jerk” trade, which jibes with early reporter reactions to news of Beal’s injury.
While Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer doesn’t expect the Sixers to be a good team in the near future, coach Brett Brown tells Pompey that he sees “daylight” ahead for the club. “I see a big bright light at the end of this,” Brown said. “I see [Dario] Saric around the corner. I see [Joel] Embiid getting healthy. I see more draft picks. I see [Michael] Carter-Williams and Nerlens [Noel] getting older. I see an abundance of money and flexibility to look at free agents.”
Sam Amick of USA Today (video link) asked 27 GMs around the league whom they would start their team with, if given the choice, and the majority of them selected LeBron James despite cornerstones like Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis having youth on their side.

Bradley Beal Likely Out Six To Eight Weeks

October 11th, 2014 at 6:24pm CST by Cray Allred

Bradley Beal suffered a broken wrist to his non-shooting hand in last night’s preseason game, and the Wizards announced in a team release that he will undergo surgery for the non-displaced fracture this evening. While a timetable for return hasn’t been set, David Aldridge of NBA.com tweets that the team fears Beal could miss 6-8 weeks, and that a recovery estimate will be established after the surgery is complete within the next two days.

The injury is a blow to Washington’s hopes of contending for a higher playoff seed this season, as it could force them to be without their budding star for 18 games or more. The team is over the salary cap, so it can only sign someone to a minimum salary contract. An additional restraint is the luxury tax line; Washington sits just under $1.4MM short of that number. The team is carrying Damion James and Xavier Silas on non-guaranteed contracts, two wings who could have a better path to earning a regular season spot thanks to the void left by Beal in the lineup.

The Wizards only have 13 of the maximum 15 guaranteed contracts lined up for 2014/15, and they also have room for two more players under the 20-player preseason maximum. Martell Webster is a solid rotation player, but the veteran guard is still recovering from back surgery himself and likely won’t be back, or back to full speed, when the season opens. Behind Webster, Washington is very inexperienced at guard, with unproven wings Glen Rice Jr. and Otto Porter next in line for minutes. Point guard Garrett Temple can man the two-guard spot, but he had his minutes reduced to just 8.2 per contest last year with the Wizards. Veteran wing Rasual Butler is currently with the team on a non-guaranteed deal, but he is at the tail end of his career and only played 7.6 minutes per game last year with the Pacers.

A trade is a possibility, and the team does have two trade exceptions for $1,254,660 and $4,329,089 that could land them a player for more than the minimum without having to match returning salary. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to use much of the exceptions without exceeding the tax line. Zach Lowe of Grantland pegs Jared Dudley and Randy Foye as gettable players for the Wizards to trade for, but expects the team to ride out the injury while adding a player at the minimum (on Twitter). Chris Mannix of SI.com also tweets that he thinks a trade is unlikely.

In his full story, Aldridge suggests that the team will intensify its pursuit of free agent shooting guard Ray Allen, who has yet to signal whether he will retire or return to the court this season. The team would still only be able to offer the minimum salary due to its cap situation, so any increased efforts for Allen would come down to the size of his role, not his contract.

Eastern Notes: Nets, Allen, Cavs, Muscala, Wright

October 7th, 2014 at 6:46pm CST by Alex Lee

Nets GM Billy King took questions from reporters today, including Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. While King originally refused to comment on the Guggenheim ownership talks, he would eventually say Mikhail Prokhorov “isn’t selling” and described the current ownership’s commitment to winning as “unwavering” (Twitter links here). This further confirms the majority of reports over the last week that Prokhorov intends to remain the majority owner.

Let’s take a look at what else is coming out of the Eastern Conference on Tuesday night:

Jim Tanner, the agent for free agent Ray Allen, shot down any speculation that his client has or is about to sign with the Cavaliers. After speaking with Allen today, Tanner, through the Twitter account of Tandem Sports and Entertainment, indicated that Allen has yet to decide whether or not he will play this season (Twitter links here). Allen was linked to several teams this summer, but as of last month Cleveland still believed they will land the veteran sniper.
Speaking of the Cavaliers, the team isn’t panicked about their need for rim-protection, writes Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who suggests the Cavs aren’t going to rush to remedy the situation via trade. Instead, they’re more likely to target a wing defender whose salary would fit into their nearly $5.3MM Keith Bogans trade exception, according to Lowe.
The Hawks are high on the development of Mike Muscala, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta has 14 guaranteed contracts on the books for the upcoming season and Vivlamore’s report is just the latest evidence that they will award the final spot to Muscala, whose contract is partially guaranteed.
Greek’s Panathinaikos took a pass on Chris Wright, who’s decided to leave the Bucks, and the small forward rejected a $200K offer from Besiktas in Turkey, Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi reports. That seemingly leaves Wright in a limbo of sorts, but the Bucks have yet to formally place his non-guaranteed contract on waivers.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Beasley, Allen, Kings

October 1st, 2014 at 7:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace says Michael Beasley is one of six guys in training camp with a chance to show the team they deserve to snag the last regular-season roster spot, Teresa M. Walker of The Associated Press writes. “It’s up to him to show us, make the case for himself then we’ll see where this goes,” Wallace said. “We’re just at the beginning of it with training camp started, and obviously he’s someone that’s very talented … His career hasn’t gone the way he would’ve liked but this is the perfect place for him to rebound.”

Here’s more from out west:

Clippers coach Doc Rivers said that free agent Ray Allen was not a candidate to take the team’s final roster spot since Los Angeles has a glut of shooting guards already, Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Allen hasn’t announced if he will play this season or retire despite numerous teams having interest in his services.
Rivers also added that Joe Ingles and Jared Cunningham are candidates for the team’s final regular-season roster spot, tweets Bolch. Both players are in training camp on non-guaranteed deals.
In his season preview for the Kings, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio predicts a 40-win season and Sacramento missing out on the playoffs. Amico believes that the Kings are still one star player away from becoming a factor in the west.

Lloyd’s Latest: Thompson, Allen, Deng

September 23rd, 2014 at 12:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James is set to play a game in a Cavs uniform less than two weeks from now for the first time in more than four years, but that’s far from the only storyline surrounding the team as it prepares for training camp. Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal shares 23 mostly Cavs-related thoughts in honor of James’ No. 23 jersey, and the entire piece is a must-read for wine-and-gold faithful. We’ll pass along three highlights here:

The Cavs and Tristan Thompson‘s representatives with Klutch Sports have yet to talk numbers in a potential extension for the former No. 4 overall pick, a source tells Lloyd. Still, the Beacon Journal scribe believes agent Rich Paul will ask for a deal in the neighborhood of the four-year, $44MM extension the Bucks gave Larry Sanders and the four-year, $48MM extension the Jazz granted Derrick Favors.
Cleveland’s brass maintains belief that Ray Allen will sign with the team, as Lloyd wrote Monday, but they anticipate starting camp without him, as their full 20-man roster indicates, Lloyd explains in his latest piece.
The NBA and the Cavs are fairly certain that the racially derogatory remarks in the infamous Luol Deng scouting report that seemed to come from someone with ties to the Cavs emanated from someone who’s no longer with Cleveland, according to Lloyd. Instead, many around the league are directing their ire toward the Hawks for their handling of the situation, Lloyd writes.