Tyler Johnson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Johnson, Celtics, Anthony

December 26th, 2015 at 1:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics have taken great pains in their player evaluation process to avoid off the court issues similar to what Sixers rookie Jahlil Okafor has experienced this season, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald writes. “We have player development, and then we have veteran players and coaches work with them,” Celtics executive Danny Ainge said. “And I spend a ton of time talking with our players about life issues and challenges. The league does constant seminars throughout the season, and then we do them also internally as a team. You try to prepare them, and a lot of guys listen — and a lot of guys don’t, and they learn the hard way. We’ve had a large group of young players that have come through, and some listen and they get it. They understand their place in life, their place in the NBA, what’s ahead of them, the risks. They just get it; they grasp it. And some just don’t. Some just have to learn the hard way.”

Here’s more from the East:

Heat point guard Tyler Johnson strongly considered heading overseas after going undrafted out of Fresno State, but he ultimately decided to pursue his NBA dream stateside, a move that is paying off for both the player and the team, Jared Zwerling of NBPA.com writes. “The only reason why I even talked about overseas was people could see me more and people could have more footage, because [Fresno State] didn’t play national TV games,” Johnson said. “We barely played any TV games, so it can be written off, like, ‘Oh, he’s not in a very strong conference.’ I just needed an opportunity.”
Center Joel Anthony understands that his role as a veteran on a young Pistons team is to provide leadership for the other players, a task Anthony says he embraces, Aaron McMann of MLive.com relays. “Just as a vet. I feel grounded now saying that I’m the vet and older one. It’s weird how fast that happens, that I’m the older one among the much younger guys. It’s been good for me. I’ve gotten a chance to work with some of the young guys and try to help them out, try to help them get better,” Anthony told McMann.

Southeast Notes: Johnson, Heat, Murry

October 25th, 2015 at 5:35pm CST by Will Joseph

Heat shooting guard Tyler Johnson will have his contract fully guaranteed for the season on opening night, becoming the 14th of the 15 players on the roster to have such security, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel reports. Winderman tweeted Saturday that the terms of Johnson’s contract were reworked so that his full guarantee kicks in with the start of the regular season instead of the leaguewide guarantee date in January.

Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:

In discussing the composition of the team’s roster Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said cutting John Lucas III was a tough decision, Winderman relays. Lucas was among five players the Heat waived educe Miami’s roster to 15 players, the regular season maximum.
Damien Wilkins, who was recently waived by the Hornets, has signed a deal overseas to play for Guaros de Lara of Venezuela, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Wilkins, 35, had spent the 2012/13 season with the Sixers. He has played overseas and in the D-League since.
Toure’ Murry, who was waived by the Wizards, will start the season in the D-League, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports tweets.
Magic rookie Mario Hezonja seems to be adjusting well to life in the United States and the caliber of play in the league, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel writes. “He’s progressing for sure,” coach Scott Skiles said. “What we’ve been talking to him about is he has a tendency, like a lot of young players, [where] he checks into the game at whatever point we put him in and teams either go right at him or plays are occurring that he’s not yet comfortable with, and he gets taken advantage of often.”

Heat Cut Lucas, Benson, Kelley, Weber, Whittington

October 24th, 2015 at 12:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat have waived the non-guaranteed deals of John Lucas III, Keith Benson, Tre Kelley, Briante Weber and Greg Whittington, the team announced (Twitter link). The moves reduce Miami’s roster to 15 players, the regular season maximum. James Ennis is the only remaining Heat player without any guaranteed salary, so today’s moves put him in strong position to make the opening night roster. If the team indeed keeps him through Monday, his salary would become fully guaranteed. Tyler Johnson is also with the Heat on a partially guaranteed deal. The rest of Miami’s 13 players have full guarantees.

Lucas was by far the most experienced of the Heat’s camp invitees, as the 32-year-old point guard was attempting to make it into his ninth NBA season. He didn’t impress in preseason action, going scoreless in about 16 minutes of action in his lone appearance, dishing out one assist and committing one turnover.

Benson, 27, joined Miami on his first NBA contract in three years. The center was efficient during the preseason, averaging 5.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in 11.8 minutes across five appearances.

The 30-year-old Kelley was on his second contract with the Heat after having briefly joined the club before the 2008/09 season. The combo guard averaged 3.5 points, 4.0 assists and 1.5 turnovers in 13.8 minutes per game in a pair of preseason contests.

Weber, 22, signed with the team just this week after his inability to pass a physical scuttled an earlier deal between the sides. The undrafted combo guard who tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee while playing for VCU in January didn’t see any preseason playing time.

Whittington went undrafted this June and joined the Heat for summer league the next month. The 22-year-old power forward averaged 2.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 16.1 minutes per game across four preseason appearances.

Eastern Notes: Smith, Johnson, Nets

September 8th, 2015 at 10:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

J.R. Smith‘s two-year contract with the Cavaliers has become fully guaranteed for the 2015/16 season since he remained on Cleveland’s roster through Monday, as is shown by our schedule of salary guarantee dates, a date first reported by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The 29-year-old’s pact had an initial partial guarantee of $2MM included at the time of signing. Smith’s unusual deal also includes a $2.15MM partial guarantee on the full $5.4MM value of next year’s salary, which will become fully guaranteed if he is still a member of the Cavs past September 7th, 2016.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Heat shooting guard Tyler Johnson has been cleared to return to full basketball activities, the team announced (via Twitter). The 23-year-old suffered a broken jaw back in July during Orlando Summer League play. Johnson, 23, will likely need a full training camp in to help him secure a regular season roster spot with the team since Miami has a roster count of 19, including 12 fully guaranteed pacts. The guard’s $845,059 salary for 2015/16 is partially guaranteed for $422,530.
David West ‘s decision to jump ship and sign with the Spurs this offseason was the final push that the Pacers required to hit the reset button and begin a retool of the team, Mark Montieth of NBA.com writes in his mailbag. Indiana has added eight new players to its roster this offseason as a result, including Chase Budinger, Toney Douglas, Monta Ellis, Jordan Hill, Glenn Robinson III, and rookies Myles Turner, Joseph Young, and Rakeem Christmas.
Former Nets majority owner Bruce Ratner’s Forest City Enterprises made a capital call today worth $26.8MM in order to preserve its 20% ownership stake in the team, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (Twitter links). Ratner’s group was facing a deadline of today to come up with the funds or have its ownership stake reduced to approximately 8%, Mazzeo notes. Mikhail Prokhorov is in the process of working toward a deal that would give him full ownership of both the team and the Barclays Center.

Heat Rumors: Ennis, Richardson, Johnson

July 27th, 2015 at 10:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

James Ennis‘ contract will be fully guaranteed if he makes the opening day roster in an amended agreement between the Heat and his agent, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Ennis, who is represented by Scott Nichols of Rize Management, was originally scheduled to have half of his $845,059 salary guaranteed on August 1st. That partial guarantee is no longer in effect. The approach regarding Ennis’ guarantee has yet to be finalized but both sides apparently agree he will remain non-guaranteed for near future, according to Ira Winderman of the Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). The Heat will thus retain his rights through training camp, Winderman adds in another tweet. This gives the team a chance to evaluate him in camp before making any financial commitment, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets.

In other news concerning the Heat:

They plan to make an offer to No. 40 overall pick Josh Richardson soon, according to Jackson. The shooting guard from Tennessee will likely see a multiyear offer with partial guarantees similar to the deal that Ennis signed with Miami last year, tweets Winderman.
Miami didn’t signal the likelihood or lack thereof that it would offer Henry Walker a chance to re-sign with the team, but their parting today was “amicable,” agent Mike Naiditch told Jackson for the same piece.
Tyler Johnson‘s 50% contract guarantee will be picked up by Saturday’s deadline, according to Winderman (Twitter link). That would mean Johnson will receive at least $422,530 this coming season.
Team president Pat Riley and point guard Goran Dragic have collectively decided that Dragic won’t play for Slovenia this summer, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press tweets.

Heat Notes: Johnson, Haslem, Luxury Tax

April 22nd, 2015 at 4:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The athletic Tyler Johnson impressed with his ball-handling and playmaking this season for the Heat, and he’ll need to show more improvement with those ball-handling skills and shoot more consistently, as Surya Fernandez of Fox Sports Florida examines. Johnson has a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season that becomes 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1st, and he made his case for the Heat to keep him. “He’s relentless with his work ethic and with his drive,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “A lot of players would have gotten discouraged by being cut after a full summer and having to go to [D-League] Sioux Falls. He looked at it as an opportunity to get better and play minutes under our guidance and our system. Doors happen to open for players like that and it did when we re-signed him and he made the most of his opportunities so I know he’s poised and looking forward to this offseason.”

Here’s more out of Miami:

Sean Deveney of The Sporting News has doubts about Heat owner Micky Arison’s willingness to pay the luxury tax next season, noting that bringing back Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng would give the Heat room for little else. If Dragic re-signs for the max and Wade and Deng return with salaries equivalent to the values of their player options, the rest of the guaranteed salary on the books for the Heat would send them above next season’s projected $81.6MM tax.
Heat president Pat Riley has offered Udonis Haslem to several teams in trade conversations in the past few years, league sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Windhorst’s piece juxtaposes Riley’s willingness to sacrifice loyalty for winning against similar choices LeBron James has made in light of Riley’s recent remarks that seem to show the Heat president questioning James’ decision to leave for Cleveland.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Heat Rumors: Dragic, Whiteside, Ennis

April 19th, 2015 at 3:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Goran Dragic is intrigued by the possibility of blending his offensive skills with Chris Bosh if he returns to the Heat, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. Dragic indicated after the season he will turn down the $7.5MM player option on his contract, thus allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The team hopes to re-sign Dragic, who didn’t get a chance to play with Bosh after Dragic was acquired from the Suns at the trade deadline because of Bosh’s season-ending blood clot issues. “I always put pressure on the defense,” Dragic told Jackson. “If they don’t stop me, I’ve got a layup. If they stop me, Chris is going to pick and pop and that’s a wide open shot for him. Or he makes the next decision on a handoff, and then the big guy needs to recover from down to up, and so that makes a lot of room for other guys. It’s a lot of different strategies we can use with him on the floor.”

In other news involving the Heat:

The possibility of building around Dragic and center Hassan Whiteside, who became a rotation player in January, excites coach Erik Spoelstra, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Spoelstra considers Dragic to be an impact, top-10 point guard and Whiteside to be a legitimate, impact center who could get the team back into the playoffs next season, Winderman adds. “We feel very good about the group that we possibly could have back, if we could bring everybody back and start a training camp together,” Spoelstra told the media that covers the team. “We think we can fast-track a lot of this and make guys look different and more comfortable and more confident with each other with time.”
James Ennis and Tyler Johnson are the role players that the Heat will most likely bring back, Winderman speculates, as he writes in a separate article. Winderman does not believe the team views the possible returns of Henry Walker or Michael Beasley as a priority. Ennis, Johnson and Walker have non-guaranteed contracts for next season while the team holds an option of approximately $1.27MM on Beasley. Winderman also opines that Luol Deng is likely to return, based upon his body language, positive attitude and recent comments about his status. Deng holds a player option of approximately $10.15MM for next season.

Eastern Rumors: Cavs, Kidd, Johnson

April 13th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

GM David Griffin turned the Cavs into a potential championship contender with his in-season moves and unwavering support of first-year coach David Blatt, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today opines. Cleveland needed those improvements to be a true contender, Zillgitt continues, and his acquisitions of J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov made the desired impact. Griffin also diffused a potentially divisive issue with his public support of Blatt while the team was struggling, Zillgitt adds. Cleveland’s turnaround this season has made Griffin a prime candidate for the league’s Executive of the Year award.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Jason Kidd deserves Coach of the Year consideration after guiding the Bucks to the playoffs one season after they won 15 games, Matt Walks of ESPN.com writes. Kidd had to deal with the season-ending injury losses of Jabari Parker and Kendall Marshall as well as Larry Sanders‘ mental health issues that led him into retirement. Kidd also changed point guards from Brandon Knight to Michael Carter-Williams at the trade deadline, yet the club ranks second in defensive efficiency, Walks points out. The Bucks have a strong young core, provided they retains restricted free agent Khris Middleton, and has the draft choices to add more pieces, Walks concludes.
Tyler Johnson‘s story offers hope for prospects with seemingly little chance to be drafted, as he went from undrafted to a prominent role in the Heat’s playoff push within a single year, as Shams Charania of RealGM examines. Johnson, who’s averaging 18.4 minutes in 30 appearances, has a non-guaranteed salary for next season that becomes 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1st.
The Cavs assigned Joe Harris to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, the team announced on Monday. The guard has played in 50 games for the Cavs this season, averaging 2.7 points in 9.5 minutes per game. Harris was available to play for the Charge in their postseason game on Monday against the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Eastern Notes: Ferry, Brand, Kirilenko, Heat, C’s

March 13th, 2015 at 1:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hawks executive and prospective owner Dominique Wilkins hasn’t exactly been enamored with Danny Ferry after he tried to block the building of a statue in honor of the Hawks legend, as Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes in a subscription-only piece. Schultz examines the uncertain future of the GM who’s been on indefinite leave of absence since September and the opposition he faces from Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr., who reportedly sought Ferry’s ouster and, according to Schultz, fears the GM’s return. There’s more on the Hawks amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:

Elton Brand says he’ll wait until season’s end to decide whether he’ll retire, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Brand also considered retirement after last season before he re-signed with the Hawks on a one-year, $2MM deal.
It appears that Andrei Kirilenko‘s departure from the Sixers constituted a buyout deal, as his salary was reduced from $3,326,235 to $2,328,365, according to Eric Pincus, who reports via Twitter and shows more detail on his Sixers salary page at Basketball Insiders. Presumably, that $997,870 difference is on top of the money Kirilenko lost during his unpaid suspension.
Having Hassan Whiteside blossom as he has is “almost like getting a lottery pick” to make up for the first-rounders the team dealt away when it signed-and-traded for LeBron James and Chris Bosh in 2010, Heat president Pat Riley tells Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick (Twitter link). Riley added that he feels as though Michael Beasley and perhaps Tyler Johnson also have the ability to offset the loss of those picks.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is much more pleased with his club now than he was two months ago, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com observes.

And-Ones: Sanders, Johnson, Suns

February 11th, 2015 at 10:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Larry Sanders‘ league-imposed suspension for marijuana use has ended, Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (Twitter link). The big man had been suspended without pay for a minimum of 10 games for a violation of the anti-drug policy, the NBA had announced back on January 16th. The league had stipulated that the suspension would remain in effect until Sanders fully complied with his treatment program. There has been no official announcement from the league or the Bucks regarding Sanders’ reinstatement as of yet. Sanders has missed a total of 12 games while on suspension, totaling $1.2MM in lost wages.

The end of the suspension makes it certain that the team will be unable to re-sign Jorge Gutierrez, whose 10-day contract will expire during the All-Star break, unless the Bucks unload one of their 15 players who are signed through the end of the season. Gutierrez has occupied the extra roster spot that Milwaukee’s has had thanks to the presence of Sanders on the suspended list.

Here’s more from around the league:

If Tyler Johnson remains on the Heat‘s roster past August 1st, half of his $845,059 salary for the 2015/16 season will become guaranteed, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link). Johnson was signed to a two-year deal by Miami after completing a pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
The Suns have recalled Archie Goodwin and Reggie Bullock from the Bakersfield Jam, their D-League affiliate, the team has announced. This was the the fourth trek of the season for Goodwin to Bakersfield, and the second for Bullock.
Pistons president of basketball operations and coach Stan Van Gundy blasted the Kings for how they have treated interim coach Tyrone Corbin, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. Van Gundy took issue with the organization’s public courting of George Karl, who is reportedly finalizing an agreement to coach Sacramento, Mayo notes. “I think it’s an unfortunate situation, the way it’s been handled,” Van Gundy said. “I think Tyrone Corbin has been treated very, very poorly by their organization. I think the way they have treated him is unfortunate and inexcusable for one of the real class acts in our business.“
While Jahlil Okafor remains the consensus No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA draft, the player likely to be selected No. 2 remains a tight race between Emmanuel Mudiay, Karl-Anthony Towns, and D’Angelo Russell, Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) notes.