Tony Mitchell (North Texas) Rumors

International Notes: Parker, W. Hernangomez, Lin, Scariolo, NBL

September 15th, 2023 at 10:14pm CST by Rory Maher

Spanish club Barcelona added a couple NBA veterans this offseason in Jabari Parker and Willy Hernangomez. Parker, the former No. 2 overall pick, was out of the league last season, while Hernangomez played for the Pelicans.

Álex Biescas of AS.com has some highlights from the team’s introductory press conference (hat tip to Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops).

“It was an opportunity in every way,” Parker said. “I was talking to a couple of teams but I didn’t feel like I had to go there. Only when I arrived here did I feel the opposite. I don’t have years to wait. I want to be here and do great things.”

As for Hernangomez, he’ll be returning to his home country and the Liga ACB, Spain’s top league. He played for Sevilla and Barcelona’s longtime rival Real Madrid prior to his seven-year NBA stint.

“I knew I was coming to a great club, but I’m better than I expected,” Hernangomez said, per Biescas. “Super at ease, adapted and very happy with the reception. I noticed the enthusiasm of the fans.”

Here are a few more international notes:

Jeremy Lin is continuing his playing career with the New Taipei Kings of Taiwan’s P.League+, as Dario Skerletic of Sportando relays. Lin, who holds nine years of NBA experience, last played in the league for Toronto back in 2018/19. The 35-year-old guard has spent three of the past four seasons in China, with a G League stint in-between. Former second-rounder Tony Mitchell, who had a brief NBA stint with Detroit in 2013/14, will also be joining the Taipei Kings.
Italy’s Virtus Bologna has dismissed head coach Sergio Scariolo ahead of the upcoming season, the team announced in a press release. A Raptors assistant from 2018-21, Scariolo received two interviews this spring for Toronto’s lead coaching vacancy, which was filled by Darko Rajakovic. The EuroLeague’s head coaches board expressed support for Scariolo, who is also the head coach of the Spanish national team. Bologna has hired Luca Banchi as a replacement (Twitter link). Banchi is head coach of Latvia’s national team, winning the Best Coach award at the World Cup after a fifth-place finish. It was Latvia’s first-ever appearance at the World Cup.
The National Basketball League and the Australian Basketball Players’ Association announced the completion of a new CBA ahead of the upcoming NBL season, tweets Olgun Uluc of ESPN. Uluc passes along some details from the agreement.

And-Ones: Kerr, 2022 Draft, Mitchell, 10-Day Contracts, Kings

January 6th, 2022 at 8:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Warriors coach Steve Kerr is pushing for fouls committed to prevent fast breaks to be upgraded to technicals, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. That would mirror the FIBA rule regarding transition-stopping take fouls. “It’s terrible,” Kerr said. “It’s terrible for the game. It’s terrible for the fans.”

Kerr added that the NBA is “very serious” about changing its current rule. The league’s competition committee has discussed an increased penalty for take fouls.

We have more from around basketball world:

The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie has posted his latest mock draft and the first player taken doesn’t play for Gonzaga of Duke. He projects Auburn forward Jabari Smith going off the board first due to his superior shooting ability for a big man, giving him a slight edge over Duke’s Paolo Banchero and Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren.
Smith is also No. 1 on the latest rankings from Chad Ford of NBABigBoard.com. Ford even goes as far to say that’s he’s a consensus No. 1 among scouts and GMs he’s talked to, with Holmgren ranking No. 2.
Former Pistons forward Tony Mitchell is signing in Uruguay with Club Trouville, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. The 29-year-old last played in Venezuela. He saw action in 21 NBA games with Detroit during the 2013/14 season.
What has it been like for NBA executives to try to bring in players when members of their 15-man roster enter protocols? ESPN’s Brian Windhorst takes an in-depth look at the frenzy of free agent signings on 10-day deals to fill in for players who test positive.
The Kings have been fined $50K for violating league rules prohibiting team owners and executives from interacting with scorer’s table personnel during game play, NBA Communications tweets. Assistant GM Wes Wilcox was fined $15K.

International Notes: Buycks, Sessions, Eddie, Sloan

November 4th, 2018 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Dwight Buycks, who has NBA experience with the Raptors, Lakers and Pistons, has joined the Shenzhen Leopards in the Chinese Basketball Association, according to Sportando. Spanish reporter Chema de Lucas was the first to break the news of the deal.

Buycks has 49 games of NBA experience, including 29 last season with Detroit, where he averaged 7.4 points in about 15 minutes per night. He signed a two-way contract with the Pistons in September of 2017, then had the deal converted into a standard NBA agreement in January. However, the team opted to waive him in July rather than guarantee his contract for another season.

There’s more international news to pass along:

Veteran guard Ramon Sessions has finalized a deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, the team announced on Twitter. He split last season between the Knicks and Wizards, playing a combined 28 games.
Jarell Eddie, who had brief stays with the Celtics and Bulls last year, has signed to play in France, relays Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Eddie bounced around the NBA after going undrafted out of Virginia Tech in 2014. He signed a 10-day contract with Boston in January and another with Chicago in March, but couldn’t stick with either team.
Donald Sloan, who has played for five NBA teams, has signed with the Jiangsu Dragons in the Chinese Basketball Association, Sportando reports. He was last in the NBA with the Nets in 2015/16.
Former Pistons forward Tony Mitchell has signed a short-term deal to play in Argentina, Carchia tweets.

And-Ones: Thompson, Pacers, George, T. Mitchell

January 5th, 2017 at 1:26pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the Sixers waived Hollis Thompson on Wednesday, head coach Brett Brown expects to see the veteran swingman land with another team. “I feel like somebody’s going to pick him up,” Brown said, per Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link). “I don’t feel we’re going to see Hollis Thompson removed from the NBA.” Thompson could still be claimed on waivers tomorrow — if he goes unclaimed, he’d become an unrestricted free agent.

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

Within a look at potential trade candidates for 15 NBA teams, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders drops a handful of notable nuggets. Among them: Kyler notes that sources close to the situation in Indiana say that the Pacers are optimistic that the league’s new designated veteran extension will give them a good chance to keep Paul George. Of course, to qualify for that extension in 2017/18, George will first have to make an All-NBA team in 2016/17.
In a piece for The Sporting News, Sean Deveney lists 12 big men who may be available at this year’s trade deadline. While most of the players identified by Deveney have been involved in previous trade rumors and speculation, there are some more surprising names, including Amir Johnson, Marcin Gortat, and even Hassan Whiteside.
Israeli team Maccabi Haifa is cutting former NBA second-round pick Tony Mitchell from its roster after several missed practices and late arrivals, reports international basketball journalist David Pick (via Twitter). Mitchell, 24, was selected 37th overall in the 2013 draft by the Pistons after playing his college ball at North Texas.
NBA teams can sign players to 10-day contracts as of today, and there’s no shortage of candidates for a call-up in the D-League. Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders takes a look at a few players that could draw interest from NBA teams, including Briante Weber, Quincy Acy, and Lamar Patterson.

Pacific Notes: Morris, Russell, Mitchell

December 13th, 2015 at 6:11pm CST by Will Joseph

Trade speculation continues to grow the more Markieff Morris sits on the Suns‘ bench, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. Morris, as Coro notes, has seen only seven minutes of action in the past four games after being removed from his role as the team’s starting power forward. Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic have played over Morris during this recent stretch.

“We had a couple games where Markieff’s been out where the ball has moved around a little bit differently,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said, per Coro. “We have no real post-up threat we can go to in those situations. Markieff will get back. It’s a struggle for him right now but we all feel he’s a good player and he’s going to get it back. Right now, Jon and Mirza are playing better.”

Here’s more out of the Pacific Division:

The development of rookie D’Angelo Russell has hit a curious snag because of Kobe Bryant‘s farewell tour, Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports writes. Lakers coach Byron Scott‘s decision to sit Russell late in games is confusing to some members of the Lakers’ front office who were convinced to forget about Kristaps Porzingis and Jahlil Okafor because Scott favored Russell, Lee reports.
On the other hand, J.A. Adande of ESPN.com argues that Scott’s handling of Russell makes sense because he is allowing the young player to remain hungry for minutes. As Adande points out, Russell is actually fourth among rookies in minutes played at 28.4 per game so it seems as if Russell is not being singled out or anything along those lines.
Tony Mitchell, whom the Warriors waived in October, signed with Venezuela’s Cocodrilos de Caracas, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays.

Warriors Notes: Rush, Barnes, Mitchell

December 11th, 2015 at 7:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite Harrison Barnes and the Warriors not coming to terms on an extension prior to the deadline, Andrew Bogut believes the forward will remain with the team for the long-term, and thinks that the franchise values keeping its core together, Sam Amick of USA Today relays. Discussing Barnes’ contract situation, Bogut told Amick, “Within our group, it hasn’t been a huge distraction. Obviously you want every player to get their max worth. A career is very short, and obviously you want to make it while you can. Harrison is going to be a very rich man regardless of what direction that all goes.”

“These situations [with this kind of collective group] don’t come up very often, so when they’re available you want to milk them for as long as you can,” Bogut continued. “I think our owners and our GM [Bob Myers] understand that, that if you can keep this team together for another four or five years you try everything in your power to do that, rather than trying to all of a sudden put on an ‘I’m smarter than everyone and we’re going to make this big move,’ when it’s really not needed…I don’t think Harrison is going to go anywhere. I think he’s just obviously going to lift his value a little bit more with the new [salary] cap and all that going in.”

Here’s more from Golden State:

Brandon Rush said he didn’t really feel a part of last season’s championship team, as he averaged only 8.2 minutes per game across 33 appearances, but his minutes are up this year and he’s one of several on the Warriors bench playing about as efficiently as they ever have, observes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Rush, who’s already made seven starts this season, is in the last season of his contract.
Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson says there’s no reason for him to be upset, even as the Warriors team he coached as recently as 2013/14 reaches new heights, notes Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. Still, he remains proud of what he accomplished. “I took over a job in Golden State with a bad culture, guys that said they wanted to win, but didn’t want to win,” Jackson said, according to Leung.
Tony Mitchell, who was with the Warriors during the preseason, has signed with the Venezuelan team Cocodrilos de Caracas, the club announced (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Mitchell was with the Pistons for a season and a half until a trade last December sent to the Suns, who waived him shortly thereafter.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Warriors Waive Tony Mitchell

October 12th, 2015 at 2:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Warriors have waived power forward Tony Mitchell, the team announced. The subtraction of his non-guaranteed deal leaves Golden State with 19 players, 13 of whom have full guarantees, as our roster count shows. Mitchell was the only Warriors camp invitee who didn’t pose much of a threat from beyond the arc, as I noted earlier today, so it’s not entirely surprising that he’s the first cut, given the team’s desire for more shooting.

The former Piston who was the 37th overall pick out of North Texas in 2013 is not to be confused with the ex-Bucks small forward of the same name. Mitchell, who didn’t see any preseason action for the Warriors, has expressed interest in playing for Golden State’s D-League affiliate, notes Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). Still, the 23-year-old had been giving it a go in Warriors camp to see if he could return to the NBA after a 2014/15 season in which he didn’t appear in a single regular season game for the Pistons even though he was on their roster for nearly two months. Detroit traded him to Phoenix in late December, but he didn’t see any playing time there either before the Suns waived him in conjunction with the Brandan Wright trade.

James Michael McAdoo appears to have a line on the 14th regular season spot for the Warriors, leaving Chris Babb, Ian Clark, Ben Gordon, Jarell Eddie and rookie Juwan Staten to battle over spot No. 15, assuming the taxpaying Warriors carry a full roster on opening night.

How would you handicap the battle for the last regular season spots on the Warriors? Leave a comment to tell us.

Pacific Notes: Johnson, Morris, Barnes, Collison

September 30th, 2015 at 2:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Wesley Johnson grew tired of the individualism on the Lakers last season and sought a change this summer, as Janis Carr of the Orange County Register details. Johnson signed with the Clippers, citing the persistence of the front office that took a similar tack in its pursuit of Josh Smith, and the swingman praised the clear set of expectations that Doc Rivers has laid out for him, contrasting it to what he thought was a disjointed Lakers offense, Carr observes.

“You would go out there and want to play the right way, but everyone wanted to prove themselves,” Johnson said, according to Carr. “So nobody really knew what was going on. Nobody ever knew, so it was hard for anyone to come in and get into a good rhythm or flow. Nobody was playing together.”

See more from the Pacific Division:

Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic finds the sudden change of heart from Markieff Morris hard to believe, but Morris and Suns officials recently engaged in a lengthy conversation and expressed a mutual desire to make their partnership work, sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. “I’m excited. Happy to be back. Happy to be with my team,” Morris told Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
Harrison Barnes would have been pleased to sign for $10MM a year as of this past June, a source told Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. The former seventh overall pick more recently turned down a four-year, $64MM offer from the Warriors, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported.
Darren Collison signed with the Kings in 2014 chiefly so he could start, but he’s a long shot to remain the team’s starter this season with new signee Rajon Rondo aboard, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee examines. Collison wants to start, but he’s not about to rock the boat, either, Voisin writes.
Robert Upshaw was red-flagged over concerns about the health of his heart during predraft workouts, and though doctors eventually cleared him, he believes the time he had to step away from draft prep set him back, as he explains to Pincus, who writes in a piece for the Los Angeles Times. Upshaw went undrafted and signed a partially guaranteed minimum-salary deal with the Lakers. “It was zero basketball activity, zero activity,” Upshaw said. “It’s hard to get in shape and it’s easy to get out of shape. I got out of shape really fast, it was a month’s time where I was just barely doing anything.”
The contracts that Juwan Staten and Tony Mitchell signed with the Warriors are non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and cover only one season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Ben Gordon‘s full contract details are still unclear, but half of his salary becomes guaranteed if he sticks for opening night, according to former Nets executive Bobby Marks (on Twitter).

Warriors Officially Add Four For Camp

September 25th, 2015 at 5:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Warriors have officially signed free agent guards Ian Clark and Juwan Staten along with free agent forwards Tony Mitchell and Jarell Eddie, the team announced via a press release. Clark and Eddie will receive approximately half of their salaries if they make the Warriors’ opening night roster, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders noted. Clark would receive $474K on the contract he signed, while Eddie would make $423K. The length and terms of the pacts for Staten and Mitchell have not yet been relayed. Golden State has a roster count of 19 players, including 13 possessing full guarantees.

Clark, 24, had hoped the Nuggets would re-sign him after his summer league performance, in which he averaged 13.4 points per game and made 12 of 24 total three-point attempts, but Denver renounced its rights to him to clear cap room. The guard’s career NBA averages through 53 contests are 2.4 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.5 assists to accompany a slash line of .369/.344/.875.

Staten, 23, was the 81st-best draft prospect this year in Chad Ford’s ESPN Insider rankings, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress had him at No. 98 about a week before the draft. His playing time shrunk this past season as a senior compared to his junior year, when he averaged six more minutes per game. The 5’11” Ohio native put up 14.2 points, 4.6 assists and 2.0 turnovers in 31.3 minutes per contest for the Mountaineers this year.

Mitchell has yet to make his mark at the NBA level. In 2013/14, the forward saw just 3.8 minutes per game for the Pistons with averages of 1.0 PPG and 1.2 RPG. This past season, Mitchell did not see a single second of NBA action as Pistons coach/exec Stan Van Gundy kept him in the D-League for seasoning to start the year. A late December trade sent Mitchell to the Suns, but he dropped from the roster early on in the New Year. In February, Mitchell signed on with a Puerto Rican club when there was apparently little or no NBA interest.

Eddie, who turns 24 in October, made his mark as a three-point shooter while in the D-League for most of last season, nailing 127 of his 281 in-game attempts, a sizzling 45.2%, for the affiliate of the Spurs. He averaged 12.9 points in 26.2 minutes per game, but nonetheless made only 18 starts in 44 appearances for that team and didn’t receive a call-up to San Antonio. The Spurs and the Pacers both had him on their summer league squads last month, and he continued his sharpshooting, connecting on 46.3% of his 67 shots from behind the arc.

Warriors To Sign Tony Mitchell

September 21st, 2015 at 9:22am CST by Zachary Links

The Warriors have agreed to sign forward Tony Mitchell, league sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The forward was a former No. 37 overall pick of the Pistons in 2013. Agent Brian Elfus of Impact has confirmed the deal, Charania adds.

Mitchell was one of the top players coming out of high school in 2010, but academic issues cost him his true freshman season in 2010/11. As a redshirt freshman, he put up 14.7 PPG, 10.3 RPG and 3.0 blocks per game for North Texas, leading him to consider entering the draft. He wound up staying one more season with the Mean Green before finally going pro and becoming a second-round draft choice of Detroit.

Despite his tremendous athleticism, Mitchell has yet to make his mark at the NBA level. In 2013/14, the forward saw just 3.8 minutes per game for the Pistons with averages of 1.0 PPG and 1.2 RPG. This past season, Mitchell did not see a single second of NBA action as Pistons coach/exec Stan Van Gundy kept him in the D-League for seasoning to start the year. A late December trade sent Mitchell to the Suns, but he dropped from the roster early on in the New Year. In February, Mitchell signed on with a Puerto Rican club when there was ostensibly little or no NBA interest.