Yogi Ferrell

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/1/16

Here are Thursday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

8:36pm:

  • The Nets recalled point guard Yogi Ferrell and forward Chris McCullough from the Long Island Nets in time for their game against the Bucks, according to a team press release. Ferrell and McCullough started for Long Island earlier in the day in the team’s 114-104 victory over Santa Cruz in Brooklyn. Ferrell recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists, while McCullough totaled 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

2:34pm:

  • As expected, Nerlens Noel was recalled from the D-League today by the Sixers, the team announced in a press release. Noel figures to go back and forth between the NBA club and the Delaware 87ers as he continues to rehab his knee injury and works toward a return.
  • Speaking of going back and forth between the NBA and the D-League, the Raptors once again assigned Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet to their NBADL affiliate today, per the team (Twitter link). Given the close proximity the Raptors and Raptors 905, Caboclo and VanVleet are among the league leaders in D-League assignments so far this season.
  • The Bucks have recalled guard Rashad Vaughn from the Westchester Knicks, according to a press release from the club. Milwaukee doesn’t control its own NBADL affiliate, so Vaughn played for New York’s affiliate, and has averaged just 16.6 minutes per game for the quad in three games this year — if the Bucks had their own D-League team, Vaughn likely would have seen more playing time.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 11/30/16

Here are Wednesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA, with the latest updates added to the top of the list throughout the day:

4:55pm:

  • The Nets have assigned a pair of players to the D-League, sending Yogi Ferrell and Chris McCullough to the Long Island Nets, the team announced today in a press release. Long Island will host an afternoon contest against the Santa Cruz Warriors on Thursday, so the duo will likely suit up for that game.

12:54pm:

  • As expected, the Hawks have assigned 2016 first-rounder DeAndre’ Bembry to the D-League, tweets Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Since Atlanta doesn’t have its own D-League squad, Bembry will play for the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s affiliate.
  • A day after being recalled by Golden State, rookie center Damian Jones has been sent back to the Santa Cruz Warriors, the team announced today in a press release. Santa Cruz had an early game today, which Jones participated in — he picked up two points, four rebounds, and a pair of blocks.
  • In addition to confirming Nerlens Noel‘s D-League assignment (noted below), the Sixers announced today that they’ve recalled Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot from the Delaware 87ers after a brief D-League stint for the rookie.

9:52am:

  • The Sixers are sending Nerlens Noel to their D-League affiliate for injury rehab purposes, league sources tell Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com. According to Spears, Noel, who has yet to make his 2016/17 debut after undergoing a knee procedure, is set to practice on Wednesday with the Delaware 87ers, Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate. Like Jerryd Bayless, who was recently assigned to the 87ers on a rehab assignment, Noel is not expected to play in any games during his time in Delaware. The big man hopes to return to the Sixers by mid-December.

Eastern Notes: Turner, Ferrell, Wade

The Celtics have struggled to begin the 2016/17 campaign, and one reason given by point guard Isaiah Thomas is the absence of swingman Evan Turner, who signed with Portland as a free agent this offseason, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald relays.

The wing position is a very important position in this league, and if you’re missing that, then it’s going to be tough for you,” Thomas said after Thursday’s practice. “Especially we don’t have Evan Turner, so it’s like, we’re not just missing Jae Crowder [who is injured], we’re missing Evan, who was a big part of what we’ve done. Now we’ve got a rookie [Jaylen Brown] in his place that things are coming fast for him, so he’s trying to figure out on the fly, as well, and, at the same time, play at a high level. So it’s tough, but we’ve got to just sustain or whatever we need to while Jae’s out, help rook at the things he needs to get better at and go from there. But all the things that we’re getting beat at are not because certain guys are out. It’s because we’re not playing with our heart. We’re not giving it our all for whatever reason.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Yogi Ferrell‘s minimum salary deal with the Nets will run two years, with the second season being a team option, NetsDaily relays (via Twitter). The point guard is also on Brooklyn’s books for $100K from the first time he was waived by the team.
  • Heat president Pat Riley says he has reached out to former player Dwyane Wade via e-mail, which is the first contact the executive has attempted with the shooting guard since Wade’s departure over the summer, Dave Hyde of The Sun Sentinel writes. “I hope he got it,” Riley said regarding his message. “You know those guys changing phone numbers and e-mails …” Riley also noted that the lack of offseason contact between the pair is nothing new, Hyde adds. “He’d get three letters from me,” Riley said. “One asked if his a– was in shape, one said to get his a– in shape and one said he’d better be in shape.
  • The solid play of the Hornets‘ reserves is a major reason for the team’s hot start to the season, as Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer notes. The scribe also points to the team’s acquisition of Marco Belinelli from the Kings in exchange for the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft as a move that is paying early dividends for Charlotte.

Nets Cut Greivis Vasquez, Re-Sign Yogi Ferrell

3:22pm: The Nets have officially re-signed Ferrell, the team announced this afternoon in a press release. According to international basketball journalist David Pick (via Twitter), the rookie will get a two-year deal — details on a potential guarantee aren’t yet known.

12:34pm: The Nets are making a roster move at point guard, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that the team is re-signing Yogi Ferrell and waiving Greivis Vasquez. Brooklyn’s roster count will remain at 15 players when the pair of moves becomes official. For now, Vasquez’s release is official, having been announced by the club in a press release.Greivis Vasquez horizontal

Vasquez, who will turn 30 in January, signed a one-year contract with the Nets this summer as an unrestricted free agent, but has only appeared in three games for the team due to an ankle injury. According to Wojnarowski, that ankle injury will require surgery, so Brooklyn likely felt the need to add some immediate help at the point guard spot, where Jeremy Lin is also sidelined.

“Greivis did everything we asked of him and more to try to get back on the court at full strength,” said Nets GM Sean Marks said in a statement issued by the team. “The passion, grit and perseverance he has shown since he joined the team have been remarkable. We are thankful to Greivis for all of his efforts and wish him well in the future.”

While Vasquez will become a free agent later this week, he’ll continue to receive pay checks from the Nets, since his deal with the team was fully guaranteed. The veteran point guard will count for $4,347,826 against Brooklyn’s cap this season, but the club can afford to eat that money — total team payroll will remain in the $76MM range after Ferrell’s signing, which is still well below the 2016/17 salary floor.

As for Ferrell he signed with the Nets this summer as an undrafted free agent, but was waived by the club last month. A starter for the entire course of his college career at Indiana, Ferrell averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game in his senior season. During the preseason, the 23-year-old played sparingly for the Nets, appearing in three exhibition games and getting on the floor for a total of 28 minutes in those contests.

Ferrell had joined the Long Island Nets, so his signing represents the Nets’ first D-League call-up of the season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nets Notes: Lopez, Lin, Whitehead, Kilpatrick

Brooklyn center Brook Lopez may see his production go down while point guard Jeremy Lin is sidelined with an injured hamstring, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The Hornets packed their defense in the paint Friday to limit Lopez’s effectiveness, and he can probably expect to see more of the same. The Nets are reportedly listening to calls from teams interested in trading for Lopez, but are not actively looking to deal him. “It’s a huge adjustment [without Lin], no question, because he brings so much to our team,” Lopez said. “It was just a matter of giving Isaiah [Whitehead] confidence and letting him know that we’re all out there with him and have trust in him. It’s not just one of us on the floor.” Lin’s condition will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

There’s more news out of Brooklyn:

  • The Nets have point guard concerns beyond Lin’s injury, according to NetsDaily.com. Randy Foye has been out with a pulled hamstring and hopes to return Tuesday. Greivis Vasquez is having ankle problems and the team hasn’t said when he might be able to play again. Brooklyn has Yogi Ferrell and Boris Dallo on its new D-League affiliate, but neither is considered ready for the NBA.
  • The injuries have created a “trial by fire” for Whitehead, writes Bryan Fonseca of NetsDaily. The second-round pick made his first career start on Friday, putting up eight points and three assists in 23 minutes. “I think I’m getting much more comfortable, it’s just a matter of time,” he said. “Just getting better and better every time I get on the court. [It’s] just [about] reducing turnovers, just really getting everybody involved – it’s a tough process but I think I’ll get there.”
  • Sixth man Sean Kilpatrick is off to a strong start in his first full NBA season, notes Reed Wallach of NetsDaily. A D-League callup last season, Kilpatrick is adapting to coach Kenny Atkinson’s motion offense, averaging 17 points and four rebounds per night.“Sean likes to think of himself as a scorer, and I know he scored in the D-League,” Atkinson said. “But our player emphasis is to help him get better defensively. I think he can be better than he already is. He has size, and he’s got toughness.”

NBA D-League Affiliate Players For 2016/17

Throughout the offseason, and in the weeks leading up to the start of the regular season, NBA teams are permitted to carry 20 players, but that total must be cut down to 15 in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by teams before the season can be designated as affiliate players and assigned to their D-League squads.

The players have some say in the decision — if they’d prefer to sign with a team overseas, or if they get an opportunity with another NBA club, they’re free to turn down their team’s request to have them play in the D-League. Most NBA and international teams have fairly set rosters by late October though, so having the opportunity to continue playing in the same system is appealing to many of those preseason cuts. Especially since they’ll maintain NBA free agency while they play in the D-League.

There are a few other rules related to D-League affiliate players. A player whose returning rights are held by a D-League team can’t be an affiliate player for another club, which is why undrafted free agents from the current year are commonly signed and assigned. Additionally, an affiliate player must have signed with his team during the current league year, which explains why we often see players signed and quickly waived in the days leading up to the regular season. And, of course, not every NBA team has a D-League affiliate, so clubs like the Hawks, Nuggets, or Clippers have no place to send affiliate players.

With all that in mind, here are the NBA D-League affiliate players to start the 2016/17 season:

Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs)

Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)

Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers)

Read more

D-League Notes: Brown, Magette, Patterson

Forward Anthony Brown has signed a D-League contract and will be eligible for its draft on Sunday, a league source told the D-League Digest (Twitter link). Brown was the final training-camp cut by the Lakers. Los Angeles ate his guaranteed $874,636 contract, opting to keep two more experienced forwards on the bubble, Thomas Robinson and Metta World Peace. Brown, 24, was selected 34th overall in the 2015 draft by the Lakers, and appeared in 29 games during his rookie season, including 11 starts. The Stanford product averaged 4.0 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 20.7 minutes but shot just 31.0% from the field.
In other D-League developments:
  • Point guard Josh Magette has signed an NBADL contract, the D-League Digest tweets. Magette was a late training-camp cut by the Hawks. The Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders, owns his rights. Magette, 26, made three preseason appearances for Atlanta, spanning 17 minutes. He averaged 11.5 points and 9.1 assists in 45 games last season for the D-Fenders, with whom he has played the past two seasons.
  • Shooting guard Lamar Patterson has signed a D-League contract and will be an affiliate player for the Kings’ Reno Bighorns, according to another tweet from the D-League Digest. Patterson appeared in four preseason games for the Kings, averaging 5.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game, before he was waived. He spent much of the 2015/16 season playing in the D-League and the Hawks waived him in July.
  • Yogi Ferrell plans to open the season with the D-League’s Long Island Nets, according to Jeff Rabjohns of Scout.com. The former Indiana University standout was Brooklyn’s final training-camp cut. He appeared in three exhibition games, logging 28 minutes.
  • Forward C.J. Leslie has signed a contract with the Raptors’ D-League affiliate, the Raptors 905, Chris Reichert of The Step Back tweets.

Nets Waive Yogi Ferrell; Roster Down To 15

The Nets have requested waivers on rookie guard Yogi Ferrell, the team announced today in a press release. The move reduces Brooklyn’s roster from 16 players to 15, meaning the club is now ready for the regular season.

[RELATED: Nets waive Chase Budinger, three others]

Ferrell, who signed with the Nets this summer as an undrafted free agent, started all four years while attending Indiana, averaging 17.3 points, 5.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game during his senior season. During the preseason, the 23-year-old played sparingly for the Nets, appearing in three exhibition games and getting on the floor for a total of 28 minutes in those contests.

The deal Ferrell signed with Brooklyn in August featured a guarantee worth $100K, and there’s a good chance he’ll end up playing for the team’s D-League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, if he’s not claimed or signed by another NBA team.

Barring any last-minute roster moves, the Nets will head into the regular season with all 15 players on their roster on guaranteed contracts. That will reduce the team’s flexibility to a certain extent, but Brooklyn is well below the salary floor, so if the club needs to waive one of those players and eat a guaranteed salary at some point, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Nets Notes: Stephenson, Ferrell, Mockevicius, Beech

Former Nets GM Billy King turned down a trade proposal last season that would have brought Lance Stephenson to Brooklyn, according to NetsDaily.com. King, who lost the GM title in January in a shakeup that cost coach Lionel Hollins his job, nixed the deal, which would have sent Joe Johnson to Charlotte in exchange for Stephenson and other unidentified players. The trade had the approval of Dmitry Razumov, chairman of the Nets’ board of directors, and NetsDaily shares the story as a way of showing that King had final say on all personnel moves, including the disastrous deal with the Celtics that put Brooklyn in its current position. King, the columnist added, also rejected Razumov’s suggestion to pursue JaVale McGee.

There’s more news tonight out of Brooklyn:

  • Yogi Ferrell, Egidijus Mockevicius and Beau Beech will come into camp knowing that they’re likely headed to the Nets’ new D-League affiliate on Long Island, NetsDaily writes in the same piece. All three received “training camp invites,” which don’t become fully guaranteed unless the players remain on the roster until all contracts are guaranteed in early January. The author notes that roster spots could be hard to earn with Brooklyn having 15 players with fully guaranteed contracts, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Seven of those players have deals that either will expire or can expire after the upcoming season, so the Nets have flexibility if they decide to keep Ferrell, Mockevicius or Beech.
  • The Nets may pick up another player before camp with the intention of sending him to the D-League, NetsDaily adds. The rights of the last four players cut would automatically go to the Long Island affiliate if they aren’t claimed off waivers. Brooklyn currently has 18 players headed to camp, two shy of the NBA limit.

Nets Sign Yogi Ferrell

AUGUST 5: The Nets have officially signed Ferrell, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 22: Nearly a month after the Nets’ agreement with Ferrell was initially reported, it looks like it’s close to being made official. Michael Scotto of The Associated Press tweets that it will just be a one-year deal for Ferrell.

JUNE 24: The Nets and Yogi Ferrell have agreed to a partially guaranteed deal, according to Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers (Twitter link). Fischer adds that Ferrell turned down several draft-and-stash opportunities, presumably in the second round.

Ferrell started all four years while attending Indiana and he averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game during his senior season. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express ranks him as the 63rd best prospect in the draft.

The Nets don’t have a strong option at the point guard position on their roster. Incumbent starter Jarrett Jack, who played well last season before tearing his ACL, is no lock to return, as GM Sean Marks indicated that the team is still undecided on whether to pick up his team option. If Ferrell impresses early on, he could end up being part of the team’s rotation next season, though that’s merely my speculation.