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Western Notes: Conley, Bogdanovic, Jazz Arena

June 14th, 2016 at 8:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

There is growing concern in the Grizzlies‘ front office that point guard Mike Conley might leave the team in free agency this summer, posts Ian Begley on ESPN Now. The 28-year-old will be the top point guard on the market after spending nine years in Memphis. Begley says Grizzlies part-owner Justin Timberlake will appear in a video presentation trying to convince Conley to remain with the team. Begley presents the item as possible good news for the Knicks, but it’s equally positive for all the teams planning to pursue Conley, and very negative for Memphis, which is hoping to keep the core of its perennial playoff team together. The Grizzlies still have the advantage of being able to offer Conley a five-year contract worth about $124MM, while other teams are limited to four years in the neighborhood of $92MM.

There’s more news from the Western Conference:

  • The Suns will negotiate with 2014 first-round pick Bogdan Bogdanovic now that his Turkish League season is over, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. This is the last season that Bogdanovic would be required to sign a rookie contract that would give him a salary of about $5.7MM over four years. If he waits until next offseason, Bogdanovic is free to negotiate any amount, starting with his draft year’s rookie salary scale.
  •  A request for $22.7MM in public funding for renovations to Utah’s Vivant Arena was approved today by the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City, writes Jasen Lee of The Deseret News. The money, which will be awarded though tax increment financing over the next 25 years, makes up 18% of the total cost of the proposed $125MM project. It will include safety and security improvements, heating and air conditioning upgrades, a new solar panel system and plaza, concession, seating and premium suite improvements.
  • The Mavericks are planning a free agent camp June 22nd with Arnett Moultrie, Bobby Brown, Dominic McGuire and Nick Minnerath among the players invited, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who played two games for the Knicks this season, also received an invitation but has not confirmed that he will attend the camp (Twitter link).
  • The Spurs will hold a free agent camp Wednesday, Kennedy tweets, with Chris Copeland, Adonis Thomas, Victor Rudd, Scott Suggs, J.J. O’Brien and Darius Adams among those expected to attend.
  • The Timberwolves have had workouts for several veteran free agents, including Jimmer Fredette, Phil Pressey, Marquis Teague, Ryan Boatright, Mike James, Ra’shad James, Mark Lyons and Aaron Craft, tweets international journalist David Pick.
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Free Agent Notes: Durant, Rockets, Clippers

June 4th, 2016 at 7:28pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kevin Durant would give himself a better chance at winning a title if he were to leave the Thunder and join the Warriors or sign with an Eastern Conference team, Bill Simmons of The Ringer writes. Many believe that Durant will sign a two-year deal with OKC that contains a player option for year two, as was reported earlier this week.

Simmons offers an unconventional viewpoint on Durant’s impending decision. Two years ago, Durant signed a $300MM deal with Nike. At the time, he and LeBron James had the best selling sneakers among all NBA players, Simmons points out. The 2014 MVP then injured his foot and missed a significant amount of time during the 2014/15 campaign. Durant’s comeback 2015/16 season was overshadowed by Kobe Bryant‘s retirement and the Warriors’ historic 73-9 record. Now, the conversation is between Nike with James and the Jordan Brand and Under Armour with Stephen Curry, Simmons adds. Simmons argues that Durant, his representatives and Nike know they won’t be competing with the top brands unless Durant wins a ring or he leaves the Thunder and he speculates that if Nike had its way, Durant would sign elsewhere this summer.

The piece, which is must-read, is a reminder that the NBA is a business and there are several off the court factors that play into basketball decisions. Selling sneakers likely won’t be the primary force that drives Durant to stay or leave, but it’s an interesting perspective nonetheless.

Here’s more on the NBA’s upcoming free agency:

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And-Ones: Suggs, Suns, Nuggets, Daniels

October 7th, 2014 at 8:01pm CST by Alex Lee

Let’s take a look at some of the news and notes coming out of the NBA on this Tuesday evening:

  • Acquiring the D-League rights to Scott Suggs of France’s Chalon-Sur-Saone as part of today’s Seth Curry deal might eventually pay off for the Warriors, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports hears that the former Washington Husky has legitimate NBA talent (via Twitter).
  • The Suns anticipated a skyrocketing salary cap when they handed out $122MM to Eric Bledsoe, Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris last month, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. After accumulating draft picks for years and locking up some of their better players, the team believes they are in an ideal position to add to an already impressive core, Coro writes.
  • The Nuggets‘ extension of Kenneth Faried projects to be very reasonable in the current cap climate and is a good bet to become a bargain after the inevitable cap adjustment, according to ESPN Insider’s Kevin Pelton. Pelton fully expects teams to put an emphasis on locking up their young players for as long as they can.
  • Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post provides a player-by-player look at how the inflation of the salary cap would affect the Nuggets, who seem to be well-positioned to build around Ty Lawson and Faried.
  • Marquis Daniels, who played in the NBA as recently as the 2012/13 season, is in the early stages of a transition to coaching, writes Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders.
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Sixers To Audition Scott Suggs, Johnson-Odom

March 10th, 2014 at 2:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:32pm: Sixers coach Brett Brown is “thrilled” with Varnado and would like to keep him around, notes Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com, suggesting that it’s no certainty that anyone set to work out for the team will receive a contract. Brown has had a say in each of the moves the team has made since the start of the season, according to Lynam.

8:08am: The Sixers will bring in Scott Suggs and Darius Johnson-Odom on Tuesday to audition for the team, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. They also have workouts lined up for James Nunnally and Kevin Murphy, as we passed along Sunday night. Philadelphia has 14 guaranteed contracts and Jarvis Varnado on a 10-day deal, so their pursuit of another signee indicates that Varnado’s time in Philadelphia will be short. His deal expires at the end of the day today.

Suggs is a 6’6″ shooting guard who went undrafted out of Washington this past June. He’s been playing for the D-League affiliate of the Knicks, averaging 17.6 points and 41.4% three-point shooting in 36.0 minutes per game. He saw summer league action with the Bucks, but the 24-year-old wasn’t in camp with any NBA team. Johnson-Odom is a more familiar name, having seen four games of NBA action with the Lakers last season. He joined the Lakers again for camp in the fall and split the season between China and the Nets D-League affiliate. Jorge Gutierrez recently edged out Johnson-Odom for a 10-day contract with Brooklyn.

Sixers coach Brett Brown suggested late last month that the team would be cycling through several players at the end of the season, and it appears they’re indeed planning on giving at least a handful of guys a look. Varnado has scored 2.5 points and 3.8 rebounds on 12.5 minutes per game in his time with Philadelphia. If no one impresses during the workouts, it seems reasonable to think that the team would consider signing Varnado to a second 10-day contract.

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