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Eastern Notes: Harris, Celtics, Barganani

October 21st, 2014 at 7:59pm CST by Alex Lee

Here is a look at what is going on in the Eastern Conference on Tuesday night:

After locking up Nikola Vucevic earlier tonight, the Magic will continue to work on reaching an agreement with forward Tobias Harris, who is also entering his fourth season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). While the Magic are reportedly eager to extend Harris, Wojnarowski cautions that the sides are not close on the terms.
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders checks in on last week’s Pistons/Celtics trade that sent Will Bynum to Boston and Joel Anthony to Detroit. According to Pincus, the Celtics utilized the $4.25MM trade exception they received in July’s Kris Humphries deal to take on Bynum’s $2.9MM salary, reducing the exception to approximately $1.3MM. They received a new trade exception of $3.8MM for Anthony. Because these exceptions expire a year after the trade in which they’re acquired, Boston essentially downgraded their trade exception by about $450K in return for three months of additional time with which to use it (Pincus Twitter links here).
Any hope that Derek Fisher and the triangle offense could salvage last summer’s trade for Andrea Bargnani has been temporarily derailed by a preseason hamstring injury, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. There was talk that Phil Jackson and the Knicks were trying to move Bargnani this offseason, but his bloated $11.5MM salary for this season made that impossible.

Extension Rumors: Leonard, Thompson, Cole

October 17th, 2014 at 11:24am CST by Chuck Myron

The deadline for teams to sign rookie scale extensions with their eligible players is two weeks from today, and while only six players came to deals last time around, that number has the potential to be much larger this year, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein has more on many of those extension hopefuls that adds to the storylines we’ve been following throughout the offseason:

Kawhi Leonard, Tristan Thompson, and Norris Cole are among the players who are in active negotiations with their respective teams about rookie scale extensions, Stein reports. Klay Thompson, Ricky Rubio, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Reggie Jackson, Brandon Knight, Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks are also in active extension talks, according to Stein, who advances earlier reports that all of them had engaged in talks.
Iman Shumpert and the Knicks are also discussing an extension, Stein writes, countering a report from a few weeks ago that indicated that the sides hadn’t engaged in talks and that New York was content to let the swingman hit restricted free agency next summer.
Klay Thompson’s camp is considering the idea of going after an offer sheet similar to the one the Mavs gave Chandler Parsons if Thompson and the Warriors don’t come to an extension this month, Stein hears. Parsons’ near-max deal runs three years and includes a player option and a 15% trade kicker. Rival GMs have expressed admiration for its structure and Rockets GM Daryl Morey pointed to the difficulty that trading such a contract would entail shortly after he decided against matching it. The player option would allow Thompson to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2017, which is when Stephen Curry‘s deal is set to end, as Stein points out.
The Lakers have attempted to trade for Thompson in the past, Stein notes, though he doesn’t make any suggestion that they’re planning an aggressive push for the shooting guard if he becomes a restricted free agent next summer.

Eastern Notes: Frye, Jerebko, Thompson, Harris

October 4th, 2014 at 4:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Magic newcomer Channing Frye sprained his left knee during a scrimmage and is expected to miss anywhere from 1-2 months of action, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting. Orlando inked Frye to a four-year, $32 million contract back in July and were counting on him to be a big part of their rotation.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

With Frye out, the player who stands to benefit the most is Tobias Harris, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel opines. Harris is in the final year of his rookie contract and he and the Magic have until the October 31st deadline to sign an extension or else Harris will become a restricted free agent after the season. GM Rob Hennigan says he can’t envision the franchise not keeping Harris, Schmitz notes. Harris’ minutes will increase without Frye in the rotation and it will give him an opportunity to showcase his worth, according to Schmitz.
The Pistons‘ Jonas Jerebko isn’t feeling any added pressure this season despite it being the final year of his current deal, Brendan Savage of MLive writes. “I’d say it’s the biggest season of my career,” Jerebko said. “I’ve been working hard all summer trying to get ready for it. My body feels great, my shot feels great, I’m ready to go. It’s going to be a big year for me and I’m ready for it. Everything is going to fall into place for me.”
Tristan Thompson is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is eligible to sign an extension prior to the October 31st deadline. Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer looked at the pros and cons for the Cavs of giving Thompson an extension.

Magic Push For Extensions With Vucevic, Harris

September 29th, 2014 at 5:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

MONDAY, 5:06pm: Vucevic and Harris today expressed their desire to strike deals on extensions, too, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel writes.

“Obviously, I want to be here,” Harris said. “But I think I’ll just go out there and play basketball. I’ll let my agent handle all that. I know they’ve been having some talks, but I don’t really get too involved in it. I don’t want to use that as something to lose my focus. I’m about my team and about winning games this year and helping my team win games.”

FRIDAY, 12:45pm: The Magic have until October 31st to sign Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris to extensions that would keep them out of restricted free agency next summer, and Magic GM Rob Hennigan said the team wants to do so with both of them, as he told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Each are entering the final season of their respective rookie scale contracts.

“We’ve been in discussions with both Tobias’ and Nik’s representatives,” Hennigan said. “We’ll continue to be in discussions with them. We’re motivated to try to get something done if it makes sense for everybody, and our hope and intention is to do so.”

Hennigan and Vucevic last season expressed mutual interest in a long-term future together, but this is the strongest indication to date that the Magic envision the same commitment with Harris. Orlando acquired both via trade, obtaining Vucevic in the Dwight Howard blockbuster before the 2012/13 season and coming away with Harris in the J.J. Redick swap at the 2013 trade deadline, and both have thrived with increased playing time since joining the Magic. Still, the development of both appeared to plateau last season, as the Magic once more finished near the bottom of the standings, and Hennigan made it clear to Robbins that he believes it important that the team’s rebuilding effort start showing more progress this season.

Still, the Magic don’t have the benefit of seeing how Vucevic and Harris play in the regular season if they want to sign them to extensions, given next month’s deadline. When I profiled Vucevic as an extension candidate, I surmised that the BDA Sports Management client would come away with a four-year, $48MM extension similar to the one the Jazz gave fellow big man Derrick Favors last year. I didn’t think the team would be as enthusiastic about Harris when I examined his case, predicting that the Magic and the Henry Thomas client would pass on an extension for the combo forward, in part because of the other options the team has at the positions he plays.

Still, that’s just my speculation, and it’s unclear just what sort of money the team and the players have in mind. The Magic have only about $15MM in commitments for next season, not counting about $13MM in rookie scale team options for other players, so they have plenty of flexibility to accommodate deals for both, particularly with the salary cap projected to rise sharply in the coming years.

Extension Candidate: Tobias Harris

September 4th, 2014 at 10:45am CST by Chuck Myron

No player among those I listed as long shots to receive rookie scale extensions by the October 31st deadline gave me pause as much as Tobias Harris did. He’s one of a coterie of up-and-comers on the Magic roster who flashed star potential in the months after Orlando acquired him in the J.J. Redick trade at the 2013 deadline. The combo forward became the focal point of the Magic’s offense down the stretch that season, attempting 14.7 shots per game, more than anyone else on that team took.

This past season, Arron Afflalo and Nikola Vucevic put up more shots each night than Harris did, and rookie Victor Oladipo took just as many. Harris was just a part-time starter, and entering this season, he figures to compete for playing time long-term against Maurice Harkless at small forward and No. 4 overall pick Aaron Gordon at power forward. That casts serious doubt on whether the Magic intend to commit themselves to Harris for years to come if the Henry Thomas client doesn’t make it worth their while with a significant financial sacrifice.

Harris wasn’t quite as efficient in 2013/14 as he was during his 27-game stint with the Magic the previous season after coming over via trade, with his PER dipping from 17.0 to 16.5. That’s not much of a drop, of course, and it seems reasonable to suspect that’s simply a regression to the mean that took place as a result of a larger sample size.

If there was any reason to suspect that Harris was less efficient this past season, it would probably have to do with his shot selection. He took fewer shots from inside 10 feet and more long two-pointers, according to his Basketball-Reference page. More than one out of every five of his field goal attempts came from between the three-point line and 16 feet from the basket, a virtual no man’s land given the degree of difficulty and lack of reward. Perhaps Harris chose those shots because he lacked confidence in his three-point stroke. He made just 25.4% of his three-point attempts last season, a rate lower than in either of his first two NBA seasons, but he made 40.9% of his long twos. His effective field goal percentage from his first half-season with the Magic was virtually identical to his mark from last season, so his shots were just as productive as they had been, even if there seems to be room for improvement.

Shooters often get better over time, and Harris is still quite young, having entered the draft the first year he was eligible to do so. He’s already a proficient rebounder, as this past season he was 14th in the league in rebounding rate among players his height (6’8″) or shorter who averaged 10 or more minutes per game. There’s reason to be concerned about his defense, as the Magic gave up more points per possession when he was on the floor than when he was off last season, according to NBA.com, and his 6’11” wingspan isn’t altogether remarkable, particularly if he plays power forward. His wide body suggests he’ll have increasing trouble keeping up with opposing small forwards as he ages. Still, technique and system have much to do with defensive performance, and few young players are quick to establish themselves as strong defenders in the NBA. He averaged only 11.5 minutes per game over 70 appearances in his first season and a half with Milwaukee prior to the trade, so this past year was his first full season as a rotation mainstay for an NBA team.

Harris is part of a rebuilding effort in Orlando, but GM Rob Hennigan isn’t mimicking Sixers GM Sam Hinkie‘s bare bones approach. Hennigan is unloading veterans, as he did with Afflalo, but he’s also signing them, as he did with Channing Frye, Ben Gordon and Luke Ridnour this summer. The two-year, $9MM Gordon deal was a head-scratcher, but it’s only guaranteed for the first season. The same is true of the two-year, $5.5MM contract the Magic gave Ridnour. Frye is the only long-term investment, at a fully guaranteed four years and $32MM, and he most directly affects Harris. The 31-year-old Frye figures to take up some minutes at power forward when he’s not playing center, and he occupies space on the team’s ledger for the years ahead, when more of the Magic’s crop of promising young players will be up for their next deals.

Frye’s contract is frontloaded, and Orlando only has about $15MM in commitments for 2015/16, the first year an extension for Harris would kick in. Still, that figure doesn’t count a slam-dunk team option for Oladipo that’s worth more than $5MM. Rookie scale team options for Harkless, Andrew Nicholson and Evan Fournier total more than $7.5MM, so the Magic will reasonably be looking at about $27.5MM in commitments for 2015/16, and that’s without an extension for Vucevic. I predicted that Vucevic would come away with four years and $48MM, so another $12MM for 2015/16 would bring Orlando to roughly $39.5MM, $27MM beneath the projected salary cap. That’d still give the team the chance to open plenty of cap room next summer, but an eight-figure salary for Harris would challenge the Magic’s ability to afford maximum-salary free agents not only in 2015, but in years ahead, when the rookie deals of Harkless, Fournier, and Oladipo will come to term.

NBA executives covet flexibility these days, and signing both Vucevic and Harris to lucrative long-term extensions would impinge upon the maneuvers the Magic could make in free agency as well as the trade market, since both would be subject to the Poison Pill Provision this year. It seems more likely that Hennigan would choose to secure Vucevic rather than Harris, given the scarcity of quality inside players like Vucevic around the league and the multitude of options the Magic have at the positions Harris plays. The Magic would still retain the ability to match offers for Harris in restricted free agency next summer if they pass on an extension. Even though this year’s restricted free agency has been difficult to predict, there’s no reason for Orlando to bet against itself for a player who still has much to prove.

And-Ones: LeBron, Novak, Hibbert, Butler

July 10th, 2014 at 11:53pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Heat and Cavs expect LeBron James to make his decision on where to sign before he gets on his flight to Brazil this weekend, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. It’s likely that any decision James makes will impact where Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, and Chandler Parsons find themselves next season as well. While much is seemingly tied to the four-time MVP’s choice, odds are low anything is decided tonight. Let’s catch up on the rest of the league while we wait on LeBron and the 2014 edition of “The Decision”:

The Raptors are finalizing a buyout with Lucas Nogueira‘s team in Spain, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (on Twitter). We had heard earlier this week that Toronto was likely to bring over Nogueira and Bruno Caboclo prior to the start of 2014/15.
The $9.8MM trade exception that the Warriors had created from the Richard Jefferson deal with the Jazz expired tonight, as David Aldridge of NBA.com observes (via Twitter).
The Steve Novak trade, which became official today, allows the Raptors to create a $3,445,947 trade exception equivalent to Novak’s salary. The three-teamer between the Nets, Cavs and Celtics that was also formalized today allows the Nets to create a diminutive $741,160 trade exception equal to the difference between Marcus Thornton’s salary and the sum of the salaries for Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev. The Cavs could end up with trade exceptions out of the deal, too, but they’re poised to open cap room, so those exceptions would disappear when they officially dip below the cap.
The Bucks and Pacers have had discussions for a trade including Roy Hibbert, writes Gery Woefel of the Racine Journal Times. Milwaukee is interested in acquiring Hibbert, says Woelfel, but it isn’t clear if Indiana is interested in any packages the Bucks could put together.
Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris‘ rookie deals expire after 2014/15, and as a result, the duo became extension eligible this summer. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel hears discussions about new contracts between the Magic and the young big men will pick up some time around Labor Day.
Caron Butler is being pursued by the Clippers and Thunder, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Butler, of course, has spent time with both organizations.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Magic Exercise 2014/15 Options On Four

October 26th, 2013 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 1:59pm: The Magic have officially announced the moves.

FRIDAY, 10:12pm: Having just made their camp cuts this evening, the Magic will pick up their rookie-scale options on four players tomorrow, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team is set to guarantee the 2014/15 salaries of Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson and Nikola Vucevic.

Robbins first reported that the team had decided on the option pickups back in July, well ahead of the October 31st deadline and long before most teams make these kinds of moves. Together the exercised options will add $8,565,534 to the team’s 2014/15 commitments, bringing the total to about $33.4MM — the 11th lowest amount of guaranteed salary in the league when I ran the numbers and projected next summer’s cap space for every team earlier this month.

Vucevic and Harris, who’ll be playing their fourth NBA seasons in 2014/15, will receive about $2.75MM and $2.4MM, respectively, while Harkless and Nicholson, who’ll be third-year guys that season, are set to make around $1.9MM and $1.5MM. Check out our tracker for details on 2014/15 rookie contract options for each team as the October 31st deadline to exercise them draws near.

Magic Notes: Harkless, Nicholson, Canada

September 7th, 2013 at 7:23pm CST by Spencer Lund

Hoops World's Alex Kennedy wrote about the young core Rob Hennigan has acquired since his term as Magic general manager started in 2012. The Magic's roster has been growing closer this offseason, akin to the young Thunder team Hennigan worked for before joining the Magic.

The youthful Magic players mentioned in the piece, Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, rookie Victor Oladipo, Andrew Nicholson, Kyle O'Quinn, and Doron Lamb only took a couple weeks off after the season concluded in April before returning to Orlando.

Once in town, they all work out, lift weights and scrimmage five-on-five together before hanging out off the court to grab food, play cards or watch TV at someone's house at night.

Said Harkless of all the time spent together, “I think it’s really important. We pretty much spend all of our time together, whether it’s in the gym or just hanging out at a guy’s house playing video games, watching TV or playing Spades. We just spend a lot of time together. I think it’s really good. It’s going to help us build chemistry, on the court and off of the court.”

It's that same chemistry Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Jeff Green, James Harden and Eric Maynor developed while they were all growing together in Oklahoma City with Hennigan looking on. Whether the Magic go on to reach the upper-tier as one of the NBA's true title-contenders, remains to be seen, but Magic fans have to like the growing bond between their young players.

This summer, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported that the Magic were going to pick up the options on four of the players mentioned in Kennedy's piece who are all on their rookie-scale deals: Harris, Vucevic, Harkless and Nicholson.
Picking up the options on all four – they have until October 31st, but Robbins believed the options could be picked before the 1st of October – means they'll be under contract in Orlando through the 2014/15 season. Next summer, the Magic will decide on fourth-year options for Harkless and Nicholson and an extension for Vucevic.
Nicholson played well for team Canada tonight during their 81-74 loss to the Dominican Republic at the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament, tweets the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat. Nicolson's play was one of the only bright spots in the game for Canada (Twitter).
According to another Wolstat tweet, Canada needs Puerto Rico to beat Venezuela tonight and Mexico tomorrow while Canada also needs to defeat Argentina tomorrow to grab a spot in the 2014 FIBA World Championships in Spain next summer.

Magic To Pick Up Options On Four Players

July 26th, 2013 at 4:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic will exercise their 2014/15 options on Maurice Harkless, Andrew Nicholson, Nikola Vucevic, and Tobias Harris, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter). For Harkless and Nicholson, the options are for their third years, while for Vucevic and Harris, they're fourth-year options.

Given the promise shown by Orlando's young players on rookie-scale contracts, none of these decisions comes as any surprise, and the moves may not become official for a while. The deadline to exercise team options on rookie-scale contracts is October 31st, so the Magic aren't in any rush. Still, Robbins says the moves could become formally completed prior to October 1st.

Picking up all four options will ensure that Vucevic (due $2.75MM in 2014/15), Harris ($2.38MM), Harkless ($1.89MM), and Nicholson ($1.55MM) will all remain under contract until at least the summer of 2015. In the 2014 offseason, the Magic will face decisions on fourth-year options for Harkless and Nicholson, and will have the opportunity to sign Vucevic and Harris to contract extensions.

Odds & Ends: Mavericks, Joseph, Harris, Jordan

April 11th, 2013 at 4:54pm CST by Luke Adams

After failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2000, the Mavericks will be opportunistic as they look to upgrade their roster this summer, Mark Cuban tells Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, vowing that the team will be better next year.

"We maximized for the first generation of Dirk [Nowitzki]'s golden years to win a championship," Cuban said. "So we'll do our best for his second generation of golden years and then the next generation and the next generation until he runs out of golden years."

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:

Kris Joseph's 10-day contract with the Nets is set to expire tonight, but teammate Jerry Stackhouse tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald that he expects the club to retain Joseph. If Joseph re-signs with Brooklyn, it figures to be a rest-of-season contract, which would make him eligible for the postseason.
Since being traded from the Bucks to the Magic, Tobias Harris has looked like a future star, as Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld writes. Kennedy spoke to the second-year forward, who is averaging 16.9 PPG and 8.8 RPG in 24 games with Orlando.
Ian Thomsen of SI.com examines what the next step is for all 14 teams headed for this year's draft lottery.
Following a D-League stint, former Knick Jerome Jordan is heading overseas to join Talk 'N Text in the Philippines, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.