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2016 NBA D-League Expansion Draft Results

August 24th, 2016 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA D-League conducted its expansion draft today, allowing the league’s three new teams to add the rights to 12 players apiece. The league’s previously-existing 19 teams had been permitted to retain the rights to 10 players each, leaving the rest of their players unprotected and free to be drafted, as Chris Reichert of UpsideMotor.com explained earlier today.

As we noted on Tuesday, the D-League’s three new franchises this year are affiliates for the Nets (Long Island Nets), Hornets (Greensboro Swarm), and Bulls (Windy City Bulls).

The players those three teams added today won’t necessarily play for them this season — in fact, it’s somewhat rare for expansion draftees to suit up for their new clubs, as D-League Digest tweets. Many of those players will try to catch on with an NBA team or will end up playing overseas. Still, the expansion draft gives the D-League’s new teams some assets as they start to build their rosters for the coming season.

Per Reichert, here are the results of today’s expansion draft. The player’s former D-League team is noted in parentheses, and picks are ordered by round. The teams will hold their players’ rights for the next two seasons:

Long Island Nets (Twitter link)

Gary Forbes (Grand Rapids Drive)
Carrick Felix (Santa Cruz Warriors)
Jamaal Franklin (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
Akil Mitchell (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Peyton Siva (Delaware 87ers)
Alex Kirk (Canton Charge)
Austin Freeman (Westchester Knicks)
Kendall Gray (Iowa Energy)
Lazar Hayward (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
Dwayne Polee Jr. (Reno Bighorns)
Matt Bouldin (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
Lewis Jackson (Salt Lake City Stars)

Greensboro Swarm (Twitter link)

Josh Davis (Austin Spurs)
Abdul Gaddy (Maine Red Claws)
Tony Bishop (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Scotty Hopson (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Toure’ Murry (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Rodney Williams (Oklahoma City Blue)
Josh Huestis (Oklahoma City Blue)
Ralston Turner (Grand Rapids Drive)
Keanau Post (Raptors 905)
Damien Wilkins (Iowa Energy)
Kris Joseph (Westchester Knicks)
Dee Bost (Raptors 905)

Windy City Bulls (Twitter link)

Wesley Saunders (Austin Spurs)
Kiwi Gardner (Santa Cruz Warriors)
Ralph Sampson III (Maine Red Claws)
Booker Woodfox (Texas Legends)
Jerel McNeal (Northern Arizona Suns)
Akeem Richmond (Reno Bighorns)
Casey Prather (Northern Arizona Suns)
Jon Octeus (Canton Charge)
Justin Dentmon (Texas Legends)
Jamal Jones (Delaware 87ers)
Xavier Thames (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
Ian Chiles (Salt Lake City Stars)

Sixers Cut Rodney Williams, Gani Lawal

October 27th, 2013 at 9:34am CST by Chuck Myron

SUNDAY, 9:34am: The Sixers officially announced the moves, via Twitter.

SATURDAY, 2:49pm: The Sixers have let go of Rodney Williams and Gani Lawal, a source tells Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News (Twitter links). The team will absorb Lawal’s $100K partial guarantee and the $35K partial guarantee on Williams’ contract. Their subtraction leaves the Sixers with 14 players, one under the regular season max and one more than the minimum.

Williams and Lawal appeared to be the most vulnerable among the team’s remaining non-guaranteed players, and Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer predicted yesterday that the last roster spot would come down to one of them (Twitter link). That assumed Philly would carry 15 players, but the team apparently will go with fewer. Cooney speculates on Twitter that Kwame Brown could be next to go, though he’s on a fully guaranteed deal for nearly $3MM and would likely have to agree to a buyout.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Sixers, Turner, Knicks

October 26th, 2013 at 5:47pm CST by Luke Adams

It appears the Celtics, Nets, and Knicks are all ready to get the regular season underway, having reduced their rosters to 14, 15, and 15 players respectively. The Sixers are also down to 14 players, though GM Sam Hinkie has been active enough in his first offseason that there’s no guarantee the roster is set in stone yet.

Only the Raptors still have to make their cuts — the team is currently carrying 17 players, so at least two players will need to be released. Carlos Morais, Julyan Stone, and Chris Wright are all on non-guaranteed deals, and according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (via Twitter), Stone looks like the one most likely to survive until Monday and beyond.

Here are a few more notes from around the Atlantic:

Rodney Williams, whom the Sixers waived today, will play for the Delaware 87ers, the team’s D-League affiliate, according to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link).
In a Saturday update to his Instagram account, Evan Turner sought to clarify his remarks from yesterday about how he’ll “get money regardless” of whether or not he signs an extension. Matt Moore of Eye on Basketball has the details.
The Knicks have hired Idan Ravin, the personal trainer for Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith, as a player development coach, according to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter). It could be an effort by the Knicks to earn brownie points with their star player as he enters the final year of his contract.
According to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News, it’s hard to argue the Sixers will be tanking this season, since there isn’t much talent on the roster to begin with. I’d call that a question of semantics.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Tyler, Smith, Sixers

October 23rd, 2013 at 7:51pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets look like have their opening-night roster set, with 15 fully guaranteed contracts and three players on non-guaranteed camp deals who probably won’t be sticking around. The roster isn’t likely to change much throughout the season, as Billy King told Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report earlier this week that his club won’t sign anyone, even a minimum-salary player, as a replacement should someone get hurt. Most other rosters aren’t as stable, and we’ll examine some potential changes for a pair of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Division rivals:

The Knicks are “leaning toward” keeping Jeremy Tyler‘s partially guaranteed contract, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post, who adds that the team will likely make its first cuts Thursday night. Tyler is recovering from foot surgery and might not play until late next month. “He’s still patiently going through rehab,” coach Mike Woodson said. “I don’t think we kick him to the curb. We thought so much coming out of summer league. I think at least see it through, see what he has to offer. He’s a young big. Our thought process was to try to develop him.”
Woodson admits nepotism could influence the Knicks‘ decision on whether to keep J.R. Smith‘s brother Chris Smith on the roster for opening night, but even if he makes the team, Chris Smith expects to spend much of the season on assignment to the D-League, Berman notes in the same piece.
The Sixers have 20 players on the roster and only 11 of them have fully guaranteed deals, but perhaps as few as one opening-night spot is still up in the air, coach Brett Brown said. Rodney Williams is one of five with at least a partial guarantee, and he appears still in the running to make the team, as Brown said the staff is continuing to evaluate him. Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com tweets the details.

Contract Details: Melo, Sixers, Williams, Morris

September 20th, 2013 at 8:54am CST by Luke Adams

With most of the top free agents off the board by mid-July, September generally consists of minimum-salary signings with little or no guaranteed money. That's certainly the case for most of the contracts mentioned below, but since we at Hoops Rumors are interested in the minutiae of teams' cap moves, we'll pass along these updates nonetheless. Courtesy of Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld, here are a few notes on recent signings:

Fab Melo actually signed a two-year contract with the Mavericks, albeit one that's entirely non-guaranteed, says Pincus (via Sulia). Dallas still has 15 players on fully guaranteed deals, so it'll be an uphill battle for Melo to earn a spot on the roster, but if he does, the Mavs will have him under team control for two seasons at the minimum salary.
After I devoted a post yesterday to explaining how and why the Sixers have stayed above the cap and could continue to do so this offseason, Pincus renders my points moot (via Sulia), writing that the team has dipped below the threshold and started using cap room.
It's interesting that the Sixers would choose this point to claim its cap space — unless the team was caught off guard by Royal Ivey and Damien Wilkins signing with the Hawks and coming off Philadelphia's books, it seems the Sixers could've stayed above the cap line, since they recently finalized their deals with Rodney Williams and Darius Morris. Of course, I'm not privy to what's going on behind the scenes in Philadelphia, so perhaps it wasn't possible or the club felt it was no longer worthwhile.
In any case, getting back to Pincus' notes: He passes along the specifics on Williams' and Morris' deals with the Sixers, noting that both players signed four-year pacts. For Williams, it's a minimum-salary contract with a $35K guarantee in year one. Years two and three are fully non-guaranteed, while year four is a team option.
Morris' deal is worth slightly more than the minimum, and will pay him exactly $4.2MM if he plays out his full contract without being released. The first season is guaranteed for $200K, and the remainder is structured in the same way as Williams' — two non-guaranteed seasons plus a fourth-year team option.

Sixers To Sign Rodney Williams

September 13th, 2013 at 6:23pm CST by Luke Adams

FRIDAY, 6:23pm: Agent Kevin Bradbury has informed Wolfson that Williams has signed his deal (Twitter link). The Sixers have yet to confirm it.

MONDAY, 2:10pm: The Sixers are expected to sign Rodney Williams to a multiyear contract tomorrow, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Wolfson tweets that the deal will likely include a partial guarantee.

Assuming his contract with the Sixers is only partially guaranteed, Williams won't necessarily have an inside track to a roster spot. Still, Philadelphia's camp is expected to be fairly wide open, which should give the 22-year-old a chance to earn a spot on the regular season roster. The club only has nine guaranteed contracts on its books for now, though that number will increase to 11 when Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams officially sign.

Williams, who went undrafted in June, averaged 10.1 PPG and 5.0 RPG in his senior year at Minnesota. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported way back on the morning after the draft that Williams had agreed to a deal with the Sixers, though at the time it wasn't clear if it would be for more than Summer League play. Williams recorded 8.0 PPG and 1.2 RPG in five contests for Philadelphia's Summer League squad.

Minor Moves: Nuggets, Leslie, Pressey, Daniels

June 28th, 2013 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2013 draft in the books, there are still plenty of intriguing prospects that were not among the 60 players who heard their names called on Thursday night. Many of those guys will be snapped up quickly for Summer League rosters, while others could sign outright with an NBA team.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported a handful of signings late last night, and it's my understanding that these are actual free-agent contracts rather than just Summer League invites, though that's not entirely clear. Either way, the agreements will provide these undrafted free agents a chance to audition for a possible NBA roster spot. Here's a recap:

Kennedy has corrected his earlier report (linked below), tweeting that Harris is simply playing for the Nuggets in Summer League action, and not signing with the team yet. I imagine that may be the case for Howell and some of the other players listed below as well, though it seems as if Covington, at least, will ink an actual contract with the Rockets. We'll likely have to wait until July for official word.

Earlier updates:

Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld reports (via Twitter) that undrafted free agents Richard Howell and C.J. Harris will sign with the Nuggets. Again, players don't necessarily have to be under contract with a team to play for a Summer League squad, so Kennedy's wording suggests that Howell and Harris will ink deals to earn a pair of Denver's 20 summer roster spots, though that's not 100% certain.
Former N.C. State forward C.J. Leslie has reached an agreement on a deal with the Knicks, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Leslie had been ranked the 40th-best prospect available by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com and 41st by ESPN.com's Chad Ford.
Phil Pressey, a 5'11" point guard out of Missouri, has reached an agreement on a deal with the Celtics, tweets Wojnarowski. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported last night that Boston figured to "immediately go after" Pressey once he went undrafted.
Former VCU guard Troy Daniels has agreed to a free agent deal with the Bobcats, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Daniels averaged 12.3 PPG and shot 40.3% on three-pointers in his final season with the Rams.
Rodney Williams, Ford's 80th overall prospect in this year's class, has agreed to a deal with the 76ers, tweets Wojnarowski. The 21-year-old forward is coming off four years at the University of Minnesota.
Robert Covington will sign a two-year, partially-guaranteed contract with the Rockets, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com (via Twitter). According to Givony's sources, the guarantee for the former Tennessee State forward will be "substantial" — likely around $150K.

Draft Workout Updates: Friday

June 14th, 2013 at 4:52pm CST by Luke Adams

With the 2013 draft less than two weeks away, the majority of the NBA's teams are continuing to bring in prospects to get a closer look at them. Here are the latest updates on draft workouts:

In addition to Michael Carter-Williams, who we heard about yesterday, Trey Burke and Alex Len also participated in the Pelicans' first draft workout today, tweets Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com.
The Pistons won't start working out players for the No. 8 pick until next week, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, who tweets that Mason Plumlee will work out for the club next Friday.
The six players scheduled to work out for the Nets on Monday include C.J. Leslie and Tony Mitchell, according to a team release.
Ray McCallum, Brandon Paul, Tony Snell, Nate Wolters, Jack Cooley, and Zeke Marshall worked out for the Trail Blazers today, according to Joe Freeman of the Oregonian (Twitter link).
The Timberwolves will work out six players on Sunday, according to the team's PR Twitter account: Shabazz Muhammad, Archie Goodwin, Rodney Williams, James Ennis, Kyle Barone, and Jamelle Hagins (Twitter links).
Brandon Davies, Mike Muscala, Elijah Johnson, B.J. Young, Grant Jerrett, and Colton Iverson worked out for the Clippers today, tweets Clips reporter Madelyn Burke.
Jerrett and Davies are also among the players who will work out for the Jazz tomorrow, along with Snell, Gorgui Dieng, Jamaal Franklin, Isaiah Canaan, and Kelly Olynyk, among others (link via Utah's official site).

Draft Notes: McLemore, Magic, Saric, Bennett

June 5th, 2013 at 7:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

Chris Mannix of SI.com hands out his draft superlatives, with an assist from scouts and executives. Anthony Bennett has the greatest superstar potential, Mannix writes, while Victor Oladipo could be the most resounding bust. It'll be a while before we can definitively say whether Mannix was correct on either account, but much more becomes clear with each passing day until June 27th. After passing along the latest this morning, we'll follow with with an evening draft roundup:

Ben McLemore has reportedly slipped behind Victor Oladipo in the eyes of the Magic, but Orlando will have McLemore in for a workout June 11th, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. (Twitter links). Keith Clanton, Erik Murphy, Michael Snaer and Kenny Boynton, all products of Florida colleges, are auditioning for the Magic either today or tomorrow, Robbins adds.
Chad Ford of ESPN.com chatted with readers, revealing that top-level scouts believe Dario Saric to be on par with Otto Porter and that the Wizards and Bobcats are especially high on Anthony Bennett.
Korie Lucious worked out for the Bucks today and did so for the Pistons earlier this week, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. D.J. Stephens, another participant in today's Bucks workout, has also drawn interest from the Pistons and Grizzlies.
Jody Genessy of the Deseret News had the news on six players working out for the Jazz today, and he tweets word of six more set to hit Utah on Thursday: Glen Rice Jr.,Vander Blue, Jack Cooley, Solomon Hill, Pierre Jackson and Trevor Mbakwe.
Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic adds second-round hopefuls E.J. Singler and Jared Berggren to the list of players who worked out for the Suns today (Twitter link).
B.J. Young, Brandon Paul, Reggie Bullock, Romero Osby, Kenny Kadji and James Ennis are among the prospects working out Thursday for the Knicks, the team announced via Twitter.
Ennis, Steven Adams, Rudy Gobert, Mike Muscala, Cody Zeller, Jeff Withey, Shabazz Muhammad, Rodney Williams, Reggie Bullock, Kelly Olynyk and Tony Snell will all audition for Minnesota in the coming weeks, Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders tweets. He also lists "Thomas," likely in reference to Deshaun Thomas or Adonis Thomas.
The Wizards announced they'll put Deshaun Thomas, Keion Bell, Laurence Bowers, D.J. Seeley, James Southerland and Khalif Wyatt through a workout tomorrow.