San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

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.

Spurs Auditioning Michael Beasley

September 17th, 2014 at 11:46am CST by Chuck Myron

Michael Beasley is working out for the Spurs this week in San Antonio, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The former No. 2 overall pick is the latest and most high-profile in a string of veteran free agents the Spurs have reportedly auditioned, one that includes Hakim Warrick, Julyan Stone and Jamaal Franklin.

The Spurs are maintaining a dialogue with Aron Baynes, according to Wojnarowski, but fellow Yahoo! scribe Marc J. Spears reported this week that the club was open to sign-and-trade scenarios involving the restricted free agent. A fully guaranteed contract that bring Baynes back would be San Antonio’s 15th fully guaranteed deal, but while the slot sits open, the Spurs are showing interest in a long list of names, with Ray Allen the most prominent among them. Centers Gustavo Ayon and Ryan Hollins are also on the team’s radar.

The 25-year-old Beasley had a pair of workouts with the Lakers earlier in the offseason, but while several teams have reportedly expressed interest, no deal has materialized. The Jared Karnes client would have liked to have re-signed with the Heat, but the team didn’t make him an offer, tweets Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Concerns over Beasley’s defense and maturity had persuaded the team against bringing him back, as Jackson wrote last week.

Spurs Work Out Jamaal Franklin

September 16th, 2014 at 4:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

Former Grizzlies shooting guard Jamaal Franklin has spent the last few days working out for the Spurs in San Antonio, reports Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). The 41st overall pick from last year’s draft is tight with fellow former San Diego State standout Kawhi Leonard, who’s up for an extension to his rookie scale contract this fall, as Young points out in a second tweet.

Franklin became a free agent earlier this month after Memphis waived him and spread out his salary using the stretch provision. The 6’5″ shooting guard made nearly as many appearances in the D-League as a rookie as he did in the NBA, where he averaged 1.9 points in 7.7 minutes per game across 21 contests with Memphis. Still, he remains an intriguing prospect just one year removed from having been selected near the top of the second round.

San Antonio has reportedly been setting up workouts with several veterans of late, including Hakim Warrick and Julyan Stone, and they’ve also shown interest in Ray Allen, Gustavo Ayon and Ryan Hollins. They’re apparently open to sign-and-trade possibilities for restricted free agent Aron Baynes, though they seemed to maintain a level of interest throughout the summer in re-signing him. The Spurs have fully guaranteed deals with 14 players, as our roster counts show, leaving one open spot for the regular season roster.

Multiple Teams Interested In Ryan Hollins

September 15th, 2014 at 6:09pm CST by Cray Allred

Free agent Ryan Hollins has had contract talks with the Lakers, Kings, Bulls, and Spurs as a potential signing, the center told SiriusXM NBA Radio (transcription via Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times). The seven-footer has also been in talks with the Heat, the only team previously linked to his services this summer.

Aside from the Kings and Spurs, each of the teams considering Hollins as an addition are limited to offering the minimum salary. It would be shocking for Sacramento to exercise their biannual exception to spend more than the minimum, however, since the team has been working to stay beneath the luxury tax line for 2014/15. Hollins’ name is among a handful of big men drawing interest from many of the same teams looking to fill out their frontcourt depth. Gustavo Ayon and Emeka Okafor are other frontcourt pieces generating interest from overlapping teams, but an overseas commitment and injury concerns make the paths for both to land on an NBA team more complicated than that of Hollins, respectively.

It’s unclear if Hollins is close to reaching an agreement for guaranteed money, or if he’s facing the prospect of competing through training camp on a non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contract. While unspectacular, Hollins is a proven commodity, playing a very specific and useful role, as Chuck Myron detailed in our Free Agent Stock Watch article on the veteran center. The Stealth Sports client has career averages of 3.8 PPG and 2.2 RPG.

And-Ones: World Cup, Ayon, Budenholzer, Hill

September 15th, 2014 at 3:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

Support is growing stronger to make both the Olympics and the World Cup of Basketball solely for players age 22 and under, one NBA GM tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who bemoans an existing system that he believes to primarily benefit Mike Krzyzewski. The change would take effect for 2018 World Cup, Wojnarowski writes. SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues that while the NBA could work with FIBA to implement an age limit, FIBA has shown hesitancy to cooperate, and that the players union would have a case that any league-imposed restriction should be collectively bargained. Nonetheless, it seems there’s a decent chance that even without so many A-level stars, this year’s World Cup champion Team USA squad will be significantly more talented than the next American entry into the competition. Here’s more from around the NBA:

Shandong of China has jumped into the race for Gustavo Ayon as his European rights remain up in the air, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The Spurs are reportedly still in the mix, with Ayon needing to come up with $376K to pay FC Barcelona, which holds his European rights, if he’s to put pen to paper on a deal with Spanish rival Real Madrid.
Mike Budenholzer has never held an NBA front-office job, but he played as much of a role in talent acquisition for the Spurs as anyone outside of Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford during his time in San Antonio, writes TNT’s David Aldridge amid his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Budenholzer is in charge of player personnel for the Hawks while GM Danny Ferry is on indefinite leave.
A group that included Grant Hill as well as billionaires Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh made a strong impression on the league when they put up a $1.2 billion bid to purchase the Clippers this spring, Aldridge writes in the same piece. The TNT scribe speculates that they could resurface as contenders for the Hawks.

And-Ones: Rubio, Ayon, Garnett, Karasev

September 14th, 2014 at 10:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Wolves guard Ricky Rubio told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports that he never tried to talk Kevin Love out of asking for a trade. “If he wanted to leave, there’s no reason to talk to him about it,” Rubio said. “I really liked playing with him, but I’ll play with the players who want to be there. Kevin wants to win. That’s normal. He’s been there six years without the playoffs. I understand. If I was in the same situation – being one of the best players in the league – and not being able to be in the playoffs, I’d have a lot of frustration, too.” When asked about his own future, Rubio said that he is “loyal” and wants to give back to the organization. The guard can be a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension. Here’s tonight’s look around the Association..

The Spurs continue to eye center Gustavo Ayon, tweets Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net. Ayon is reportedly on his way to play for Spain’s Real Madrid, but no deal with the team can become official until he comes up with the equivalent of about $376K to pay off Spanish rival FC Barcelona, which holds his European rights, according to Javier Maestro of Encestando (translation via HoopsHype).
There has been some retirement speculation surrounding Kevin Garnett but the veteran has been one of “about ten” players who have already been working out at the Nets‘ East Rutherford, New Jersey practice facility, team insiders tell Robert Windrem of Nets Daily.
Anthony Puccio of Nets Daily ran down the best pickups made by the Nets this offseason. Trade acquisitions Sergey Karasev and Jarrett Jack make the list as well as 2011 first-round pick Bojan Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic, 25, may be an NBA rookie but he comes with seven seasons of international experience and should be ready to hit the ground running.
According to his Pistons preview, Adi Joseph of USA TODAY has the franchise improving their win total slightly, but still missing the playoffs.

Latest On Zoran Dragic

September 12th, 2014 at 8:36pm CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 8:36pm: Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic adds the Cavs to the list of teams interested in Dragic, and reports that Dragic’s current salary is approximately $1.4MM. It would take upwards of $2MM in annual salary to pry the younger Dragic guard from his current club in Coro’s estimation, considering the earnings and covered living expenses provided by his current team. The Arizona Republic scribe pegs Dragic’s NBA escape clause at $1.1MM, which lines up with an earlier report that the buyout exceeds $971K.

WEDNESDAY, 7:49am: The Suns, Pacers and Kings are the teams most aggressively going after Dragic, Stein tweets, expanding on his report about Phoenix’s heavy pursuit from a few days ago. Talks are expected to intensity now that Dragic’s World Cup obligations are over, Stein adds (Twitter links). Phoenix, Indiana and Sacramento all have the capacity to exceed the minimum salary.

TUESDAY, 4:51pm: The Heat, Magic, Spurs and Mavs are maintaining dialogues with Spanish-league shooting guard Zoran Dragic, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote earlier this week that the Suns were one of the three teams with the most interest in signing the 25-year-old, but it’s not clear if they remain in the running. The Pacers, too, have appeared to be in pursuit of Dragic of late, while the Rockets were reportedly the leading contender for him in May.

Several NBA teams scouted Dragic in the World Cup the past couple of weeks, Charania writes, a run that ended when his Slovenian team lost this afternoon to Team USA. New teams are inquiring about him with each passing day, the RealGM scribe adds. Dragic is the younger brother of Goran Dragic, who appears poised to opt out his deal next summer and hit free agency, and teams are already lining up to try to poach Goran from the Suns.

Zoran Dragic averaged 10.6 points in 20.3 minutes per game for Unicaja Malaga this past season but he reportedly possesses a strong desire to come to the NBA. He’d have to sign with an NBA team by Oct. 5th, according to Charania, and cover a buyout greater than the equivalent of $971K to break free from Unicaja Malaga this year, as Stein wrote in his report this week. That would appear to give the Spurs and Magic an edge on the Heat and Mavs, since Miami and Dallas can’t exceed the minimum salary and thus can’t give him more than the Excluded International Player Payment Amount of $600K toward his buyout.

Gustavo Ayon To Play In Spain

September 9th, 2014 at 10:43am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 10:43am: The contract will cover three seasons, Pick hears (Twitter link).

MONDAY, 3:09pm: It’s a multiyear deal, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com. There will be several outs in the contract, Pick hears, though it’s unclear whether any of them pertain to the NBA (Twitter links).

10:02am: Free agent center Gustavo Ayon has agreed to play for Real Madrid in Spain, reports Igor Minteguia of Solobasket.com (translation via HoopsHype). It’s not immediately clear just how lucrative the deal is or just what sort of escape clauses the contract will contain to allow him to return to the NBA sometime soon.

The Spurs had reportedly been interested in him, among other potential free agent targets, but overseas options had reportedly been proving more lucrative than any stateside offers for the Emilio Duran client. Ayon spent the past three seasons in the NBA after signing a three-year, $4.5MM deal with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game as a rookie but didn’t match those numbers in either of his next two seasons. It appeared he had an opportunity to head to China before Real Madrid gave him the chance to return to Spain, where he played before entering the NBA.

Former Raptors point guard Dwight Buycks, who signed with Valencia, also jumped to Spain this summer after having played in the NBA this past season. The 29-year-old Ayon will join fellow NBA veterans Andres Nocioni, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez among the notable names on Madrid’s roster for the coming season.

Eastern Notes: Monroe, Celtics, Saric

September 7th, 2014 at 12:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There are two remote possibilities for the Pistons to keep Greg Monroe past this season, Perry A. Farrell of the Detroit Free Press writes. The first way would be for Detroit to offer Monroe a max contract, something they have been unwilling to do thus far, Farrell notes. The second would be for coach Stan Van Gundy to convince Monroe that his future would be best served by staying with the Pistons, something that can only happen if Detroit starts winning, opines Farrell.

Here’s more from the east:

Sixers coach Brett Brown was in Spain to check out Dario Saric, the No. 12 overall draft pick that Philadelphia acquired from the Magic in a draft night trade, Rigas Dardalis of Eurohoops.net reports. Saric won’t play in the NBA this season, but when asked what he thought of Saric’s potential, Brown said, “I think he can play [in the NBA] now! I think that in Philadelphia we are about development and about opportunity. He would look around and see a lot of fellow young players that just want a chance to play. Our whole emphasis in Philadelphia is about development and help our players. We are trying to be as good as we can be in sport science and growing up players physically and from a skill perceptive. He is an other one of our young lottery picks that we hope to grow the program with”.
Celtics team president Rich Gotham is excited for the potential of Boston’s two first-rounders, Marcus Smart and James Young, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes. “I’ve been loving Marcus Smart’s play, because he’s just tough. He goes out there and he competes. I saw James Young for the first time the other day, and I saw him stroke a couple of lefty 3-pointers from a couple feet beyond the arc and I was like, Hmmm, we could use that.”
One single play may have led to David Blatt becoming the first European coach to make the jump to being an NBA head coach with the Cavs, and Ettore Messina becoming an assistant with the Spurs, Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News writes.
The crew over at Basketball Insiders ran down their predictions for the Sixers 2014/15 season, and the consensus was that Philadelphia would finish fifth in the Atlantic Division and miss the playoffs yet again.

Ryan Hollins Meets With Heat

September 6th, 2014 at 10:51pm CST by Cray Allred

Ryan Hollins met with the Heat yesterday, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The veteran center is also generating interest from the Kings, Bulls, and Spurs, according to the Yahoo! scribe.

These are the first rumblings we’ve heard since Hollins hit the open market, as evidenced by his sparse Hoops Rumors player page. The 7-footer played out a one-year minimum contract with the Clippers last season, and isn’t likely to fetch any more than that this summer. The Heat and Bulls would only be able to extend a minimum offer, and the Kings don’t figure to dip into their bi-annual exception considering their ongoing efforts to remain under the luxury tax line. The Spurs have both a bi-annual and mid-level exception at their disposal, and have more wiggle room beneath the tax line, but San Antonio likely wouldn’t splurge for Hollins considering their interest in some of the market’s remaining high-profile free agents.

Hollins has played for six teams in his seven-year career, averaging 3.8 PPG and 2.2 RPG. The Stealth Sports client played just 7.9 minutes a contest for Los Angeles last year, as both DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin made a leap in the frontcourt, reducing the team’s need for Hollins to shore up the interior defense off the bench.