Tony Allen Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Ian Clark Wants More Than Minimum; Wolves Still Interested

July 26th, 2017 at 6:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Free agent Ian Clark is still hoping for more than the minimum salary, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.

The Timberwolves are interested in signing the fourth-year guard shooting guard, who spent the past two seasons in Golden State. Tony Allen, formerly of the Grizzlies, remains another free agent possibility for Minnesota.

Clark has received multiple minimum-salary offers but is holding out for something better, according to Wolfson. The Wolves are operating just under the cap and already used their $4.3MM room mid-level exception on Jamal Crawford.

Clark appeared in 77 games for the Warriors last season, averaging 6.8 points per night and shooting a career-best 37% from 3-point range. He is seeking a raise from his 2016/17 salary of a little more than $1.015MM.

FA Rumors: Muhammad, Farmar, Mbah a Moute, Allen

July 12th, 2017 at 10:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Hawks, Nets, Bucks, Knicks and Magic have all expressed interest in swingman Shabazz Muhammad, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Bulls are on that list as well, tweets Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype. Muhammad became an unrestricted free agent last week when Minnesota pulled his qualifying offer to create enough cap room to sign Taj Gibson. He has been with the Wolves for all four of his NBA seasons and averaged 9.9 points in 78 games last year.

There’s more tonight on the free agent front:

Jordan Farmar is hoping to return to the NBA and spoke to Lakers coach Luke Walton today about a possible opportunity, Kennedy relays (Twitter link). The 30-year-old point guard played two games for the Kings in November of last season.
The Raptors have talked about making a play for former Clippers forward Luc Mbah a Moute, reports Michael Grange of Rogers Sportsnet (Twitter link).
The Clippers and Timberwolves are both considering Tony Allen, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Coaches Doc Rivers in L.A. and Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota have connections with Allen from their time with the Celtics.
Veteran point guard Beno Udrih is talking to several teams in Las Vegas, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Now 35, Udrih believes he can play for several more years. He got into 39 games with the Pistons last season.
Former Baylor standout Royce O’Neale is considering several NBA offers, according to Kyler (Twitter link). The 24-year-old forward went undrafted in 2015 and has been playing in Lithuania, but he has an NBA opt-out in his contract through July 20th.

Cavaliers Notes: Crawford, Osman, Lue, Green

July 8th, 2017 at 7:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers weren’t able to get into a bidding war for Jamal Crawford because they need to keep enough money to sign Cedi Osman, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Cleveland is well over the cap for the upcoming season and wasn’t willing to give Crawford its entire $5.192MM taxpayer mid-level exception. The Cavs will need at least $816K to sign Osman, who has a $1MM buyout with his Turkish team. Crawford will reportedly sign a two-year, $8.9MM deal with the Timberwolves once he clears waivers. Vardon wrote on Friday that the Cavaliers were the favorites to land Crawford, but the Osman negotiations apparently changed that situation.

There’s more news out of Cleveland:

Coach Tyronn Lue stayed out of negotiations involving former GM David Griffin and front office recruit Chauncey Billups, Vardon writes in a separate piece. “You know how it affects me, he gave me my job,” was Lue’s only response to a question about Griffin at Friday’s summer league game. It was Griffin’s decision to fire David Blatt and replace him with Lue midway through the 2015/16 championship season. A few months after that title, Griffin rewarded Lue with a five-year, $35MM contract. Griffin could have been replaced by Billups, a close friend of Lue, but he turned down a below-market offer reported at $2MM per year. “Any time you get the chance to advance, be the president and GM, it’s always something great,” Lue said. “I know it’s something he always wanted to do. But I just kind of stayed out of the situation because I was so close to Griff, so close to Chauncey, so I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
The Cavs don’t seem worried about Jeff Green‘s drop in production last season, writes Marla Ridenour of The Akron Beacon Journal. They signed the 10-year veteran to a one-year, $2.3MM contract on Friday, with ESPN reporting that LeBron James had “active conversations” with Green before the deal was reached. Green has been with four teams in the past three seasons, and averaged just 9.2 points and 3.1 rebounds with the Magic last year, the lowest figures of his career in both categories.
Cleveland is limited is what it can offer, but Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com put together a list of seven free agents who might be willing to take a little less to join a team that has been to three straight finals. He names Thabo Sefolosha, Tony Allen, Gerald Henderson, Luc Mbah a Moute, C.J. Miles, Rodney Stuckey and Dewayne Dedmon.

Clippers, Grizzlies Discuss Tony Allen Sign-And-Trade

July 5th, 2017 at 3:24pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers have engaged the Grizzlies in discussions about a possible sign-and-trade deal involving Tony Allen, reports David Aldridge of TNT (Twitter link). As Aldridge observes, Los Angeles is in the market for help on the wing after losing J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford this week.

The Clippers’ roster remains somewhat in flux, with several moving parts involved in this week’s transactions, but the most logical outgoing piece in a sign-and-trade for Allen would probably be Wesley Johnson, who is earning $5.88MM in 2017/18 and has a player option worth $6MM+ for the following season. If Johnson were included in a deal with the Grizzlies, the Clippers would likely need to attach some form of draft-pick compensation as incentive for Memphis.

The Clippers will already be hard-capped at $125.266MM as a result of their tentative sign-and-trade deal for Danilo Gallinari, and completing a sign-and-trade for Allen would allow L.A. to hang onto its mid-level exception. In a hypothetical deal, Allen’s contract would have to run at least three seasons, though not all those years would have to be guaranteed.

Allen, 35, is coming off his 13th NBA season, and has spent the last seven of those years in Memphis. His production has remained remarkably consistent during that seven-year stretch — he has never averaged fewer than 8.4 PPG or more than 9.8 PPG, and continues to provide the club with solid defense on the wing, earning a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team last month.

We heard back in April that Allen wasn’t looking to “break the bank” in free agency, which suggested it may be possible for the Grizzlies to get him back on a hometown discount. However, a June report indicated that Memphis may only be open to offering the minimum, and it’s not clear if the veteran swingman is willing to take that much of a pay cut.

Green, Gobert Headline 2016/17 NBA All-Defensive Teams

June 26th, 2017 at 12:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2016/17 season, and Defensive Player of the Year finalists Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert, and Kawhi Leonard all earned a place on the First Team. Green led the way with 99 First Team votes, while Gobert received 97 votes for a spot on the First Team.

Here are the full rosters for the NBA’s All-Defensive teams:

First Team:

Draymond Green (Warriors)
Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
Kawhi Leonard (Spurs)
Chris Paul (Clippers)
Patrick Beverley (Rockets)

Second Team:

Tony Allen (Grizzlies)
Danny Green (Spurs)
Anthony Davis (Pelicans)
Andre Roberson (Thunder)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)

Avery Bradley (Celtics), Klay Thompson (Warriors), and John Wall (Wizards) were among the other players receiving votes who just missed out on an All-Defensive spot.

As Bobby Marks of The Vertical observes (via Twitter), Gobert’s cap hit for the 2017/18 season will now increase by $500K to $21.9MM based on his spot on the All-Defensive First Team.

Grizzlies Plan Minimum Offer For Tony Allen?

June 21st, 2017 at 12:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Grizzlies aren’t prepared to offer veteran guard Tony Allen more than the veteran’s minimum this summer, tweets Peter Edmiston of WHBQ 87.7 in Memphis. His source is Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, who was a guest on the radio show.

Allen, 35, has spent the past seven years in Memphis, where he has developed a reputation as one of the league’s best defenders. He appeared in 71 games this season, starting 66, and contributed 9.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals per night.

Allen just completed a four-year deal that paid him $20MM and could get offers well above the veteran’s minimum on the open market. If the report is true, he will have to decide whether he is willing to take a significant discount to remain with the Grizzlies.

Tony Allen Not Looking To “Break The Bank” In Free Agency

April 28th, 2017 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

While cornerstone pieces like Mike Conley and Marc Gasol remain under contract for multiple years, the Grizzlies will see some key players hit the open market this summer, including Tony Allen. Speaking today to the media after Memphis was eliminated from the postseason, Allen said he’s “not trying to break the bank” in free agency and is “confident” he’ll return to the Grizzlies, per Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter link).

Allen had previously expressed a desire to stay in Memphis, likening the possibility of leaving to a “divorce” and suggesting that he didn’t want to think about that scenario. At the time, the veteran guard said that he’ll always be a Memphian even if he doesn’t re-sign with the club.

Allen, 35, is coming off his 13th NBA season, and has spent the last seven of those years in Memphis. His production has remained remarkably consistent during that seven-year stretch — he has never averaged fewer than 8.4 PPG or more than 9.8 PPG, and continues to provide the club with solid defense on the wing, though he missed the end of this season – and the playoffs – due to a calf injury.

Allen’s salaries during that stretch have also been fairly consistent. He earned $3MM in his first season with the Grizzlies back in 2010/11, and has seen that figure rise a little each year — he made about $5.5MM in 2016/17.

With nearly $93MM in guaranteed salary already on their books for 2017/18, the Grizzlies won’t have the flexibility to use cap room if they intend to re-sign Allen and/or Zach Randolph. Still, they hold Allen’s Bird rights, allowing them to offer him anything up to the max. Despite Allen’s assertion that he’d not looking to “break the bank,” another modest raise seems fair if he intends to remain in Memphis.

JaMychal Green, who is eligible for restricted free agency this summer, also said today that he hopes to return to the Grizzlies, indicating that Memphis “feels like home” for him (Twitter link via Tillery).

Tony Allen Out Indefinitely

April 13th, 2017 at 6:24pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Tony Allen has been diagnosed with a strained calf and is out indefinitely, according to a team press release. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical notes (Twitter link) that the timetable for this sort of injury is roughly a month.

The Grizzlies play the Spurs in the opening round of the NBA playoffs and the team’s coaching staff is preparing for the matchup as if Allen will not be available, Wojnarowski adds.

San Antonio is favored to win the series against Memphis and if that outcome occurs, Allen may have played his last game for the team. The 35-year-old will be a free agent this offseason and he stressed that he wants to return. However, the Grizzlies are facing salary cap issues this summer, which could prevent them from offering Allen a fair-market deal.

Allen was one of the best perimeter defenders in the league this season. He ranks third among shooting guards in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus and he ranks eighth among non-bigs in NBAMath’s Defensive Points Saved.

Tony Allen’s Future With The Grizzlies Remains Unclear

April 10th, 2017 at 5:10pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Tony Allen is a fan-favorite in Memphis, but since he’ll be a free agent at the end of the season, there’s a chance he finds himself playing for a team other than the Grizzlies next season.

“I don’t even want to think about that,” Allen said about the possibility of leaving over the summer (via Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal). “What I embody for this organization, everything that I embody, it would be almost like a divorce if I go somewhere.”

Memphis wants Allen back, but if the shooting guard is aiming for one last sizable deal, he may have to look elsewhere.

“I’ve already talked to the front office, and if it works out for us that we can have him back, I love him,” said coach David Fizdale when asked about Allen’s future “But I also know that we have to make some decisions based on what’s best for the unit. That’s where we’ll come together and we’ll see what’s on the table and we’ll give our input on what gives us our best chance moving forward.”

Next season, the franchise will pay approximately $74MM in salary to Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, and Chandler Parsons. The 2017/18 salary cap is expected to come in at $101MM, which doesn’t leave the Grizzlies with much salary cap space for its other dozen roster spots.

Allen, who turned 35 this season, was one of the best perimeter defenders in the league this season. He ranks third among shooting guards in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus and he ranks eighth among non-bigs in NBAMath’s Defensive Points Saved.

It’s arguable that he’s the best perimeter defender in the history of the franchise. His playing style ushered in the team’s Grit-and-Grind era and the city of Memphis embraced the movement. Even if the era comes to an official end this summer, Allen will remain a part of the town.

“Even if I don’t sign here, I’m going to still live here,” he said. “I’m thankful, I’m glad that the city embraced me, my hard work and my work ethic. That’s what made that connection, that bond, that made me want to call myself a Memphian. You know I’m born in Chicago but I’m a Memphian.”

Allen is making slightly more than $5.5MM this season. I speculate that he could fetch a short-term deal with similar annual values in free agency. Given their cap woes, it remains to be seen whether the Grizzlies are willing to pay the market rate. Regardless, Allen knows where he wants to be.

“I really don’t know what’s going to happen, but what I do know is, my heart is here,” Allen said. “That big ‘ol blue face, that Grizzly bear, that’s where my heart is.”

Celtics Notes: G. Green, Zizic, T. Allen

December 28th, 2016 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

Gerald Green has racked up nine DNPs in December, but he got the opportunity to play on Tuesday night against the Grizzlies and responded with 19 points, his best mark since signing a one-year contract with the Celtics this past summer. It’s not clear if Green will be a permanent part of Boston’s rotation going forward, but the veteran swingman “has a clear value” to the club, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com.

“The one thing I’ve really been impressed with with Gerald, through the ups and downs of injuries and not playing, he’s very consistent in his support of his team,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said on Tuesday. “Not only there and quiet in the locker room, but also loud on the bench, active on the bench, and I knew that coming in. I had watched that pretty close in Miami last year, and things tend to work out when you’ve got that kind of spirit about you.”

Here’s more from out of Boston:

Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald also examined Green’s big night, writing that the player who showed up last night was the one the Celtics were hoping for when they signed him in the offseason.
In a conversation with Sas Ozmo of SportKlub.rs (translation via Sportando), agent Misko Raznatovic said that Ante Zizic‘s recent move to Darussafaka Dogus won’t prevent the draft-and-stash prospect from potentially joining the Celtics in 2017. “If it were [an obstacle], the transfer wouldn’t have happened,” Raznatovic said. “Zizic will be dominant in the NBA and I want him to go there as soon as possible.”
Stevens was also asked about Zizic’s development, telling Forsberg that the team’s 2016 first-rounder has a “high motor” and is “tough” (Twitter link). “We’re excited about him being a part of our future,” said the Celtics’ head coach.
With the Grizzlies in town on Tuesday, Tony Allen spoke to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) about the Celtics’ decision not to re-sign him back in 2010, when the team was reluctant to offer a third guaranteed year.