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Franklin, Blue Work Out For Wizards

September 22nd, 2014 at 2:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

Free agent shooting guards Jamaal Franklin and Vander Blue are working out today at the Verizon Center in Washington, the home court of the Wizards, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post observes (Twitter link). It’s not entirely clear whether the Wizards are putting Franklin and Blue through their paces or if they’re working out on their own, but it nonetheless seems as though they’re auditioning for the club one way or another.

Franklin was reportedly in San Antonio last week to work out for the Spurs, with whom he presumably has an in thanks to his connection with former San Diego State teammate Kawhi Leonard. Rumors have been sparse surrounding Blue since the Celtics elected not to re-sign the former Marquette standout following the expiration of his 10-day contract with the team this past season. Blue was in camp last fall with the Sixers, who cut him before opening night, while Franklin spent the season on the Grizzlies roster after Memphis made him the 41st overall pick in 2013. Franklin saw only 165 total minutes in the regular season and playoffs combined, and the Grizzlies waived him in August, using the stretch provision to defray the immediate cost of his guaranteed salary.

The Wizards struck camp deals with Xavier Silas and Damion James last week, bringing their roster to 16. Washington has fully guaranteed deals with 13 players and a partially guaranteed arrangement with Glen Rice Jr., but J. Michael of CSNWashington.com wrote last week that there’s a strong chance that Washington will open the regular season with fewer than 15 players. Even so, Silas told Michael that the Wizards are giving him a “legitimate chance” to make it to opening night, so GM Ernie Grunfeld is apparently in no rush to make decisions.

Spurs Work Out Fuquan Edwin

September 22nd, 2014 at 12:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

Undrafted former Seton Hall swingman Fuquan Edwin is auditioning for the Spurs today and Tuesday, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link). It’s the second time that the first-year pro will have shown off for the Spurs, who also worked him out prior to the draft.

Edwin suffered a regression this past season as a senior for the Pirates, as his scoring, rebounding and three-point shooting were all off from the marks he put up as a junior. He averaged 15.5 points and 4.7 rebounds and made 37.5% of his three-point attempts in 31.3 minutes per game the past two years combined for Seton Hall. He also saw 7.3 MPG for the Thunder in summer league this year.

Edwin joins a lengthy list of players reportedly on San Antonio’s radar. Michael Beasley, Hakim Warrick and Jamaal Franklin are among the veterans who’ve also apparently worked out for the Spurs, so Edwin seemingly faces long odds of making the training camp roster, much less remaining on the team through opening night. The Spurs have 14 fully guaranteed deals and three partially guaranteed arrangements.

Western Notes: McCalebb, Ayon, Bledsoe, Mavs

September 20th, 2014 at 8:22pm CST by Cray Allred

Kobe Bryant may not retire following the last two years on his contract with the Lakers, but he is eyeing an ownership stake in the Italian soccer team Bologna FC 1909, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation via Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times). Here’s more from around the West:

Bo McCalebb is in discussions with two teams in the Western Conference, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). This isn’t the first we’ve heard of interest in the 29-year-old Euroleague star point guard. McCalebb is a free agent and wouldn’t require a buyout to join an NBA team for training camp or beyond.
The Spurs had offered Gustavo Ayon the veteran’s minimum of $981,084 before the big man chose to sign overseas, Pick tells Hoops Rumors.
In a reader chat response, Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders wonders whether the Wolves will seek a third team to facilitate a sign-and-trade for Eric Bledsoe. Minnesota offered a max deal to the Suns restricted free agent, but Phoenix is reportedly uninterested in shipping him out for anyone on Minnesota’s roster.
Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News takes a look at the Mavericks‘ suddenly crowded backcourt, with incoming veterans in Jameer Nelson and Raymond Felton joining a roster already featuring Monta Ellis and Devin Harris. The team believes the players can coexist without any drama in coach Rick Carlisle‘s system. “A team can never have too many playmakers,” Carlisle said. “They can all play with or without the ball, so in my mind, they aren’t just point guards, they’re basketball players.”

Denzel Bowles In Talks With Chinese Team

September 20th, 2014 at 1:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Free agent center Denzel Bowles is closing in on a deal with the Jilin Northeast Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). This continues what has become a suddenly robust Asian market for free agents, with Andray Blatche and Jordan Crawford recently inking deals with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers.

The 6’10″ Bowles is familiar with Jilin, having played for the Tigers last season, averaging 26.0 PPG and 8.6 RPG in 32.5 MPG in 34 appearances. He played for the Nuggets in this year’s NBA summer league, logging 5.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per contest.

Bowles had recently worked out for the Pistons, and Charania also reports that Detroit invited him to training camp. But as we saw with Blatche, who received a one-year, $2.5MM deal, playing five months overseas and then trying to latch onto an NBA team in March can be much more financially rewarding than competing for a roster spot with little-to-no guaranteed money to bank on. Bowles had also reportedly displayed his wares for the Spurs, but likely wasn’t offered a deal or a camp invite.

Spurs Open To Sign-And-Trade Of Aron Baynes

September 19th, 2014 at 10:37am CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 10:37am: Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks are among the teams in China looking to sign Baynes away from San Antonio, sources tell ESPN.com’s Marc Stein (on Twitter). Baynes, meanwhile, is still in the process of weighing all his options (link). The Spurs would still retain his NBA rights if he chose to play abroad.

MONDAY, 11:46am: The Spurs are open to a sign-and-trade deal that would send center Aron Baynes elsewhere, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The 27-year-old is the only remaining unsigned restricted free agent in the league aside from Eric Bledsoe, as our Free Agent Tracker shows.

Reports over the last month have indicated that Baynes and the Spurs have at least some level of mutual interest in an arrangement that would keep him in San Antonio, even as Baynes has cast his eyes toward signing in Europe while the Spurs have considered other players. San Antonio has 14 fully guaranteed pacts and is carrying Bryce Cotton, Josh Davis and JaMychal Green, each of whom has a nominal guarantee on his deal. The Spurs have carried fewer than 15 players on their opening-night roster in each of the past three seasons, as I noted earlier, so adding Baynes to the mix would leave them poised to go against their recent history. Reports have also linked San Antonio to Ray Allen, Julyan Stone, Ryan Hollins and others in recent weeks.

San Antonio is not without financial flexibility, possessing both its $5.305MM mid-level exception and $2.077MM biannual exception. The Spurs could use part of either to ink Baynes and send him out in a sign-and-trade, perhaps for non-guaranteed salary in return.

Miroslav Raduljica To Play In China

September 19th, 2014 at 8:06am CST by Zachary Links

Center Miroslav Raduljica has signed a one-year deal with the Shandong Flaming Bulls, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM. Raduljica took to Twitter this morning to relay the news and he sounds rather excited. “Next station in my career is CBA league, I’m looking forward to playing for Shandong!,” the big man wrote.

Raduljica, 26, was waived by the Clippers in late August shortly after he came over in the Jared Dudley trade. The 7-footer spent his lone NBA season with Milwaukee last year but didn’t get a whole lot of burn. Across 48 games, the big man averaged just 9.7 minutes per night and put up 3.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest.

Earlier this month it was reported that the center was leaning toward signing a lucrative contract with a European team if the NBA offers didn’t improve. The Matt Babcock client didn’t get the NBA deal he was after and presumably found something better in Shandong than in Europe. Teams reportedly called the Bucks last season to inquire on Raduljica and he had interest from several NBA teams this summer, including the Spurs and 76ers, according to Charania.

Ryan Hollins Signs With Kings

September 18th, 2014 at 3:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

THURSDAY, 3:28pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

WEDNESDAY, 7:13pm: Ryan Hollins has agreed to a deal to sign with the Kings, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Exact contract details aren’t yet known, but it is a one-year, fully-guaranteed deal according to Spears. The Lakers, Bulls, Heat, and Spurs had also expressed interest in the twenty nine year-old seven-footer out of UCLA. This will bring Sacramento’s preseason roster count to 19.

As for what he brings to Sacramento, Hollins will compete with Reggie Evans and Sim Bhullar for minutes as DeMarcus Cousins‘ backup. He offers the Kings high-percentage shooting, defense, and rim protection, as Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors points out in his Free Agent Stock Watch article on the veteran center.

Hollins spent last season with the Clippers, where he appeared in 61 contests, averaging 2.3 PPG and 1.5 RPG. His slash line was .736/.000/.625. In eight seasons in the NBA, Hollins’ career numbers are 3.8 PPG and 2.2 RPG.

Southeast Notes: Heat, Beasley, Hawks

September 18th, 2014 at 2:47pm CST by Zachary Links

Earlier this week, we learned that the Magic are bringing Seth Curry, younger brother of Stephen Curry, in for training camp. Curry had reportedly been weighing overseas opportunities earlier this summer, but he’ll try to stick in Orlando instead. More out of the Southeast Division..

In today’s mailbag, a reader suggests to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel that former Heat forward Michael Beasley could become a superstar under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich if he signs in San Antonio. The Spurs have found a way to make things work with guys like Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson that didn’t fit elsewhere, so Winderman could see Beasley enjoying a career renaissance in San Antonio.
The Hawks have dominated NBA headlines in recent weeks but in-fighting amongst their ownership has been going on for years, as Mike Tierney of the New York Times writes. Tierney noes that a year after the current ownership group took over, managing partner Steve Belkin blocked a trade for Joe Johnson that had been negotiated by GM Billy Knight and was favored by Belkin’s colleagues. The dispute wound up in court and Belkin finally sold his share of the team after five long years of bickering.
Even though the Heat‘s D-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, is still without a head coach, recent hires Chris Quinn and Octavio De La Grana figure to have a hand in the club’s operations, writes Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside.

Gustavo Ayon Mulls Offers From Spurs, China

September 18th, 2014 at 7:40am CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 7:40am: FC Barecelona exec Joan Creus tells Spanish journalist Alex Gozalbo (translation via Sportando on Twitter) that Ayon is not tied to the club anymore and he is free to sign wherever he wants. It’s not immediately clear whether Ayon has paid the tab on his own buyout as he said he would do yesterday or if they have simply allowed him to break his contract.

Despite the offers from the Spurs and China, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia writes that Ayon is likely to sign a three-year pact with Real Madrid. The veteran and Real Madrid shook hands on a deal before FC Barcelona interfered.

WEDNESDAY, 10:57pm: Ayon has told FC Barcelona that he’s willing to foot the bill for the buyout himself, according to Javier Maestro of Encestando, who adds that Real Madrid’s three-year offer is still on the table. The Spurs are offering less than $1MM, while Shandong’s offer is adequate, Maestro also reports (Twitter links; translation via HoopsHype).

1:10pm: The Spurs and Shandong of China have made formal offers to Gustavo Ayon, who’s debating between them and playing in Europe this season, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter links). Ayon reportedly had a deal in place with Real Madrid, but Spanish rival FC Barcelona holds his European rights, and their insistence on a buyout worth roughly $376K has thrown a wrench in those plans.

The Spurs have consistently shown interest in Ayon for the past couple of weeks, with an initial report having surfaced late last month and another dispatch from this weekend that indicated that San Antonio was still in the mix. Ayon is one of several players the team is considering for its final regular season roster spot, including Michael Beasley, who’s reportedly working out for Spurs officials in San Antonio this week. The Spurs have Bryce Cotton, Josh Davis and JaMychal Green on deals with nominal partial guarantees as well as 14 fully guaranteed pacts.

Ayon is coming off a three-year, $4.5MM contract he signed with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He wound up heading to the Magic and Bucks before spending last season with the Hawks, who made him an unrestricted free agent this summer when they declined to tender a qualifying offer. Atlanta hasn’t appeared interested in bringing him back, with the Spurs seemingly the only NBA club in pursuit.

Southwest Notes: Marion, Gentile, Clark

September 17th, 2014 at 5:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Shawn Marion said it was difficult to decide where to sign this summer and cited his continued longtime friendship with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, but he also told KRLD-FM in Dallas that the presence of his newborn son, who lives in Chicago, influenced his choice. “It wasn’t about the money,” Marion said, as the Dallas Morning News transcribes. “I got offered more money from different teams. It’s with just a matter of what I’m comfortable with. And also, from Cleveland to Chicago is not that far. It’s driveable and a quick flight.”

Here’s more from the Southwest:

Alessandro Gentile isn’t interested in playing in the NBA for now, and he’s uncertain that he’ll ever do so, as he told the Italian newspaper Leggo, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. The Rockets acquired the NBA rights to the Italian-born small forward, this year’s 53rd overall pick, in a draft-night swap, but he signed a new deal with Italy’s Olimpia Milano in July.
The pact between the Grizzlies and Earl Clark is non-guaranteed, as Eric Pincus writes for the Los Angeles Times.
A member of the Spurs staff will be shadowing Livio Jean-Charles, last year’s 28th overall pick, throughout the season as he plays for ASVEL Villeurbanne in France, as Jean-Charles tells Frédéric Dussidour of BeBasket (translation via Jesus Gomez of Pounding the Rock). It continues San Antonio’s practice of keeping close tabs on its draft-and-stash prospects, as Gomez examines.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.