- Pistons executive Brian Wright will become the new assistant GM for the Spurs, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
- Davis Bertans, joining the Spurs as a draft-and-stash prospect, received a fully-guaranteed two-year contract worth the minimum from San Antonio.
- Ryan Arcidiacono and Bryn Forbes also got two-year minimum-salary deals from the Spurs. However, their salaries are only partially guaranteed in year one. Arcidiacono got a $75K guarantee, while Forbes received a $125K guarantee.
On Monday, our Community Shootaround discussion focused on 2016’s Eastern Conference playoff teams, as we asked which of those eight clubs is most likely to slide down the standings next season. While the Heat received the most votes, the response was hardly unanimous.
In the Western Conference, however, it seems far more likely that there would be a consensus on which team is in for the biggest slide. The Thunder, after all, lost a perennial MVP candidate in Kevin Durant, and traded a three-team All-Defensive player in Serge Ibaka. The team still has Russell Westbrook on its roster, and was widely lauded for its return in the Ibaka deal, but it’s hard to imagine Oklahoma City as a top-three team and a Conference Finals participant again in the West.
So, as we examine the West’s playoff teams, let’s not focus on which team will slide the most. Instead, let’s discuss which teams’ moves you liked and which ones you didn’t.
The Warriors, of course, made the biggest splash of the offseason when they landed Durant, but is there room for improvement on last year’s 73-win squad, or will it take some time for the team to adjust to its new-look roster?
The Spurs and Clippers have brought back most of their key pieces, but it’s the end of an era in San Antonio, where Tim Duncan has announced his retirement. Adding Pau Gasol to the mix will help, and Duncan had already been surpassed by Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge as the club’s go-to players, but this isn’t the same Spurs team that won a championship just two years ago. As for the Clippers, if their core players stay healthy into the playoffs, there’s still optimism that the team can finally get over the hump, but Chris Paul‘s not getting any younger.
It’s been an eventful summer for the other three Southwest playoffs teams, with the Mavericks bringing in Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut while losing Chandler Parsons and Zaza Pachulia. Parsons ended up with the Grizzlies, who also retained Mike Conley with the largest contract in NBA history. The Rockets, meanwhile, saw Dwight Howard walk in free agency, but landed Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon.
Finally, the Trail Blazers, one of 2015/16’s pleasant surprises, have managed to bring back key restricted free agents like Allen Crabbe and Meyers Leonard, and also made a couple more head-turning moves in free agency, adding Evan Turner and Festus Ezeli on multiyear deals.
So what do you think? Did any of the Western Conference playoff teams besides Golden State and Oklahoma City drastically improve or take a step back this offseason? Or will the storyline in the West next year simply come down to the Thunder losing their best player to the Warriors?
Take to the comments section below to share your opinions on the Warriors, Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Blazers, Mavs, Grizzlies, and Rockets. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
The Mavericks are planning an expanded role for newly signed forward Harrison Barnes, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Dallas gave Barnes $94MM over four years after losing small forward Chandler Parsons to the Grizzlies in free agency. “You’re going to see a lot more to his game than you’ve seen in the past,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said of Barnes. “I think he can do a lot more than he’s been asked to do, and that’s what we expect to see. … Maybe not first year, but I think he’s going to grow into [the role of go-to guy]. Just because a guy hasn’t done things doesn’t mean he can’t do it.” Barnes, 24, averaged 13.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in 66 games with the Warriors last season.
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Dirk Nowitzki probably would have left the Mavericks as a free agent or requested a trade by now if he hadn’t won a title in 2011, contends Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. Cowlishaw also gives Dallas a C grade for its performance in free agency and speculates that medical reports on Parsons must have been scary for Cuban to let him go.
- The Spurs‘ Tim Duncan, who announced his retirement this week, has officially cleared waivers, according to Real GM. It’s a minor footnote for someone who almost certainly is done with the NBA, but Duncan would be a free agent if he ever does decide to return.
- San Antonio has removed its cap hold for 2015 first-round pick Nikola Milutinov, Real GM notes. The move means the 6’11” Serbian center, who played this season with Olympiacos in Greece, will spend at least one more year overseas.
- The Grizzlies have withdrawn their qualifying offer to shooting guard Nick Calathes, according to Real GM. Calathes, who spent this season with Panathinaikos in Greece, would be an unrestricted free agent if he returns to the NBA. The 27-year-old spent two seasons in Memphis.
The Spurs‘ initial offer to unrestricted free agent Manu Ginobili was in the range of one-year, $3MM, but the team was forced to significantly increase its offer because of the Sixers, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (video link). Philadelphia offered Ginobili a two-year, fully guaranteed deal worth $16-$17MM in the first season, Wojnarowski notes. Sixers coach Brett Brown has an excellent relationship with the shooting guard dating back to his days as a Spurs assistant, the scribe adds.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Mavericks and unrestricted free agent point guard Rodrigue Beaubois continue to discuss a potential deal that would bring the former No. 25 overall pick back to Dallas, Marc Stein of ESPN.com relays (on Twitter). The 28-year-old last appeared in the NBA during the 2012/13 season when he played in 45 games for Dallas and averaged 4.0 points and 1.9 assists.
- Ryan Arcidiacono‘s multiyear deal with the Spurs includes a partial guarantee for $75K this season, plus includes a number of trigger dates for further guarantees, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops relays (Twitter link).
- The Bulls and Mavericks have expressed interest in unrestricted free agent Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays (on Twitter). The forward appeared in two games for the Knicks this past season.
JULY 14, 5:41pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
4:50pm: The Spurs and Ginobili have agreed to a one-year, $14MM deal, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets.
1:07pm: The Spurs and Ginobili are discussing a one-year deal in the $10MM range, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein (via Twitter). Ginobili figures to be one of the last deals the Spurs make official, since they’ll have to use up their cap room, then go over the cap (using his Bird rights) to re-sign him.
JULY 7: Early in the free agency period, Manu Ginobili announced his intention to play at least one more NBA season. And despite the fact that we’ve seen multiple star players leave their longtime franchises within the past few days, Ginobili won’t follow in their footsteps. The veteran guard tweeted this morning that he’ll be “coming back to the Spurs for another season.”
While no formal contract agreement is in place yet, agent Herb Rudoy expects to finalize one soon, telling Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News that a one-year deal could be completed by Friday or Saturday. “We are very close on terms and conditions,” Rudoy said. “It just needs some tweaks.”
While a return to San Antonio is imminent for Ginobili, Rudoy tells Orsborn that he turned down a “very serious, big offer” from another club on behalf of his client. “He was committed to coming back (to the Spurs),” Rudoy said. “Those were my marching orders.”
The Spurs hold Ginobili’s Bird rights, so the team can go over the cap to give him a raise, as long as his current cap hold doesn’t need to be renounced to create additional room.
JULY 14th, 3:10pm: The signing is official, the Spurs announced via press release.
JUNE 24th, 1:47pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement to sign Ryan Arcidiacono, a member of the NCAA-champion Villanova Wildcats, reports Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (via Twitter). It’s a partially-guaranteed deal, according to Wolfson. Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News tweets that it’s for two years.
Arcidiacono, 22, averaged 32.1 minutes in 40 contests during his senior year at Villanova, contributing 12.5 points, 4.2 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He also shot nearly 40% on three-point attempts. Arcidiacono didn’t earn a spot among the top 100 prospects on DraftExpress.com’s big board, but placed 79th on Chad Ford’s top 100 at ESPN.com.
The Spurs only had one pick on Thursday night, but they used it to make one of the most widely-praised selections of the night, nabbing Dejounte Murray at No. 29. The pick earned San Antonio the only A-plus grade of the draft from Ford at ESPN.com.
With Murray on board, and Arcidiacono joining him, the Spurs are also expected to add a former first-round pick to their rookie class for 2016/17. According to a report from L’Equipe (via Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops.net), San Antonio is poised to sign Livio Jean-Charles, the French forward selected by the team in the first round of the 2013 draft. The 22-year-old is reportedly set to leave ASVEL Basket, the French team owned by Tony Parker, in order to join Parker on the Spurs’ roster.
There have been no indications yet what sort of deal Jean-Charles will sign if he joins the Spurs this season. He could ink a rookie-scale contract, but because it has been three years since he was drafted, he’s not limited to that rookie scale — the club could also use cap space or an exception to sign him.
The Kawhi Leonard trade continues to pay dividends for the Spurs, as the team announced today in a press release that it has signed Latvian forward Davis Bertans, who was also a part of the deal that saw Leonard land in San Antonio.
Back in 2011, the Spurs sent George Hill to the Pacers on draft night for the rights to Leonard, the No. 15 overall pick. As part of that deal, Indiana also dealt the draft rights for Erazem Lorbek and Bertans – 2011’s No. 42 overall pick – to San Antonio. Five years later, Bertans is heading stateside at age 23 to join the Spurs.
We learned earlier this month that Bertans was negotiating a deal with the Spurs, with international journalist David Pick pegging the value in the $1.3MM-$2MM range. The exact terms of Bertans’ new deal aren’t yet known, but the Spurs were able to clear a little extra cap room this week by waiving Tim Duncan and stretching his remaining salary, following Duncan’s retirement announcement.
Bertans has spent the last few seasons with Laboral Kutxa Vitoria in Spain, averaging just over 20 minutes per contest in 15 games for the team in Euroleague action last season. In those 15 games, he averaged 7.9 PPG and shot a blistering 47.4% on three-point attempts.
In addition to locking up Bertans, the Spurs also officially added a rookie free agent to their roster, announcing in a separate press release that they’ve signed Bryn Forbes. A shooting guard out of Michigan State, Forbes went undrafted after working out for about a dozen NBA teams this spring. Terms of Forbes’ new contract aren’t known, but it figures to be a minimum-salary pact.
JULY 14, 1:40pm: The Spurs have formally issued a press release to confirm their deal with Dedmon.
JULY 7, 10:52am: The second year of Dedmon’s deal with the Spurs will be a player option, tweets Michael Scott of The Associated Press.
10:01am: The Spurs have agreed to a two-year, $6MM deal with free agent center Dewayne Dedmon, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). Dedmon started out the free agent period as a restricted free agent, but the Magic rescinded his qualifying offer earlier this week, freeing him up to sign with any team.
The news of San Antonio’s agreement with Dedmon comes on the heels of a report that the Pistons are set to sign Spurs RFA Boban Marjanovic to a three-year, $21MM offer sheet. It sounds as if the Spurs are re-signed to losing Marjanovic, since they don’t hold his Bird rights and don’t have the cap room to match Detroit’s offer. Dedmon will be a less expensive replacement.
Dedmon, who will turn 27 next month, appeared in 58 games for the Magic last season, starting 20. He was a serviceable depth piece for the team, posting averages of 4.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 0.8 BPG in just 12.2 minutes per contest.
Per Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), the Warriors “really” wanted to land Dedmon as a rim protector for their bench. However, Golden State could only offer the minimum salary. Based on the reported terms of Dedmon’s agreement with the Spurs, it sounds like San Antonio will fit him in using the $2.9MM room exception.
The Spurs have locked up first-round pick Dejounte Murray, according to Mike Monroe of The Rivard Report, who tweets that Murray has signed his rookie contract with the team. The move comes on the heels of San Antonio making its deal with Pau Gasol official.
[RELATED: 2016 Draft Pick Signings]
Murray, 19, was viewed as a possible lottery pick in this year’s draft, but ultimately fell to No. 29, where the Spurs snatched him up. The pick earned San Antonio a grade of A+ from ESPN’s Chad Ford (Insider link) in his post-draft round-up, with Ford writing that the young combo guard has a chance to develop into an All-Star player if he can improve his shooting.
In his lone season at Washington, Murray averaged 16.1 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 4.5 APG, and 1.8 SPG. As Ford notes, Murray’s outside shooting wasn’t impressive – he shot just 28.8% from three-point range – but that’s something that could improve with age.
As detailed in our breakdown of this year’s first-round rookie salaries, Murray will earn about $1.18MM in 2016/17, and just over $6MM over the course of his four-year rookie contract.