Romero Osby Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: ‘Melo, Magic, Smith

August 31st, 2013 at 7:09pm CST by Spencer Lund

After J.R. Smith called out Paul Pierce for being bitter after being traded from the Celtics in a piece by ESPN New York's Ian Begley, Begley offered up some additional material from his conversation with Smith.

Begley asked J.R, about Carmelo Anthony's impending decision next summer whether to opt-out of his contract with the Knicks. 'Melo's current deal will pay him $23.333MM for the 2014/15 season. If he does terminate the contract early, as many expect, he'll be eligible to re-sign with the Knicks for a five-year, $129MM deal. Another team could only sign him for $95MM over four years.

Said Smith, via Begley's tweet, "I don't see him leaving, but I said the same thing in Denver so it's up to him." Here's more around the Eastern Conference during a Saturday night when many are watching the opening day of college football…

In reaction to the same Begley piece from earlier today, CBS Sports' Zach Harper debates whether the NBA could possibly issue a fine after misconstruing Smith's comments as a more deliberate "threat."
The fine would come on the heels of the news earlier this week that David Stern called a meeting to clear the air last season between Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Knicks owner James Dolan.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Brian K. Schmitz tweets that the Magic are negotiating with Hedo Turkoglu for a buy-out. The Magic are on the hook for $6MM of Hedo's $12MM 2014/15 salary, and the full amount if he's still on the roster by January 7th.
But that's highly unlikely since Turkoglu could well be playing in his native Turkey by that time. Can Pelister of TrendBasket.net reported earlier this week that Turkish team Fenerbahce Ulker is prepared to make Hedo a substantial offer.
Schmitz also adds that the Magic are inviting 2nd rounder Romero Osby to training camp as well as four free agents.

Kyler On Magic, Turkoglu, Bucks, Ellis, Sanders

August 12th, 2013 at 12:41pm CST by Luke Adams

As we noted yesterday, the Magic lost an asset this weekend, when the team let the $17.8MM trade exception created by last August's Dwight Howard deal expire unused. As Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld explains in his latest piece, Orlando explored a few possible uses for the exception. Ultimately though, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to take on additional salary when the club is already paying substantial amounts to players no longer on the roster. Here's more from Kyler:

The Magic are still talking to Hedo Turkoglu about a buyout, but there's a belief that he may have some value at the trade deadline as a big expiring contract. As such, he may remain on the roster beyond opening night, says Kyler.
Orlando remains undecided on what to do with second-round pick Romero Osby, who the team has said could earn a spot on the roster. If the Magic extend a training camp invitation to Osby, they'd have to either sign or waive him.
According to Kyler, the Bucks offered Monta Ellis a four-year, $46MM contract in free agency last month. If those numbers are accurate, they signal how uninterested Ellis was in remaining in Milwaukee, since he eventually settled for a three-year deal from the Mavericks worth about $20MM less.
The Bucks continue to discuss an extension with Larry Sanders, and Kyler says it sounds like Sanders could get the sort of deal Ellis didn't — something that could be worth up to $46-50MM for four years, depending on incentives.

Odds & Ends: Spurs, Nets, Pekovic, Muhammad

June 11th, 2013 at 11:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Spurs blew out the Heat tonight, behind 51 combined points from Danny Green and Gary Neal. Though Green and Neal are American-born success stories, many of the Spurs' accomplishments have been built around players from overseas, as Seth Wickersham of ESPN The Magazine examines. Foreign players are "fundamentally harder working than most American kids," Gregg Popovich says. GM R.C. Buford is similarly high on imports, as no team in the league has more players from outside the U.S. than the Spurs do. We'll see if San Antonio's global approach sparks copycats in the years to come, but in the meantime, here's the night's news from the Association:

The Nets, reportedly deciding between Brian Shaw and Jason Kidd for their next coach, want to make their choice by the end of the week, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. The Nets can give Shaw, also in the hunt for the Clippers job, the more lucrative offer, Bondy adds, speculating that Shaw's interview may be little more than a courtesy, given how high Brooklyn is on Kidd.
Timberwolves president Flip Saunders had to cut short his meeting with Nikola Pekovic in Italy this past weekend, but the team still "badly" wants to re-sign their restricted free agent center, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
Shabazz Muhammad will work out for the Blazers, The Oregonian's Mike Tokito notes via Twitter.
Peyton Siva highlights a group of second-round hopefuls set to work out Thursday for the Grizzlies, reports Chris Vernon of 92.9 FM ESPN in Memphis (Twitter link). Julian Gamble, Jason Jones, Murphy Holloway, Jordan Aboudou and Romero Osby will also participate.

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.

Draft Notes: Noel, Jones, Franklin, Mitchell

May 30th, 2013 at 6:37pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Andy Katz of ESPN noted earlier that Nerlens Noel will visit with the Magic this Sunday, and is yet to schedule a meeting with the Cavaliers. The potential number one pick is up six pounds (from 206 to 212) since the Chicago Pre-Draft Camp two weeks ago, and isn’t expected to visit any other teams beyond Orlando and Cleveland unless a team trades up to the first or second draft slots or there is a strong sense that a deal gets done (All Twitter links). We’ll keep you posted on anything draft related tonight below:

The Wizards are slated to bring in Archie Goodwin, Peyton Siva, Mike Muscala, James Southerland, Will Clyburn, Adonis Thomas, Khalif Wyatt, and Romero Osby for workouts starting on Monday. Otto Porter, Victor Oladipo, and Ben McLemore may be among the next wave of prospects to work out for the team during the following week.
SNYtv’s Josh Newman passes along that Iona standout Lamont Jones is set to work out for the Nets on June 20. Jones is the second confirmed prospect set to work out for Brooklyn, who will also take a look at San Diego State product Jamaal Franklin at a date yet to be determined (Twitter links).
Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports that the Trail Blazers brought in six draft hopefuls in for predraft workouts today, among them being a projected first-rounder in Tony Mitchell. Joining the North Texas big man were second round prospects Richard Howell, Dexter Strickland, Adonis Thomas, BJ Young, and James Ennis. Freeman profiled each of today’s visitors in a separate piece.
Hoopworld’s Alex Kennedy presents his list of 10 possible steals in this year’s draft.
Although the Pistons GM Joe Dumars acknowledged that the team’s preference would be to draft a viable wing player, he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of drafting the best available big man by the time Detroit is on the clock with the eighth pick (Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press).
According to this article from NBA.com, the Timberwolves hosted Tim Hardaway Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Ricky Ledo, Allen Crabbe, Mouphtaou Yarou, and Gregory Echenique for workouts today.