San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Spurs Pick Up Options For Leonard, Joseph

October 28th, 2013 at 5:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Spurs have exercised their 2014/15 options on Kawhi Leonard and Cory Joseph, the team announced via press release. It’s the fourth-year option for both, meaning they’ll be eligible for extensions to their rookie-scale contracts next summer. Leonard will earn close to $2.9MM in 2014/15, while Joseph will see a little more than $2MM, as our rookie contract option tracker shows.

The move to pick up Leonard’s option is a formality, since he quickly established himself as a key part of the franchise’s future in his first two seasons in San Antonio. I had the decision on Leonard as a “no-brainer” when I looked at pending rookie options last month, but I listed Joseph as “on the bubble.” The 29th pick in 2011 has appeared in only 57 games over his first two seasons combined, though he did serve as the team’s backup point guard for the majority of the playoffs last year, averaging 3.0 points and 1.2 assists in 9.6 minutes per contest.

The moves add nearly $5MM to San Antonio’s payroll for next season, bringing the total amount of the team’s commitments to about $33.5MM. That number is deceptively low, as I pointed out earlier this month, since it doesn’t include $9MM in non-guaranteed salary for Tony Parker and a $10MM player option for Tim Duncan.

Southwest Rumors: Young, Pelicans, Belinelli

October 28th, 2013 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Southwest Division could be the NBA’s toughest this year, with five teams that have legitimate playoff hopes. The two Southwest clubs that played for the conference title last year, the Spurs and Grizzlies, meet for a rematch on Wednesday in the first of a season of key clashes. Here’s more from the Southwest:

B.J. Young drew interest from the Sixers and Lakers before deciding to join the Rockets for camp, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com. He was the first player the Rockets cut from their training camp roster, hitting waivers nearly a month ago, but he’ll sign a deal with Houston’s D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Charania adds. Since he’s apparently signing directly with the Vipers instead of entering the D-League draft, that means the Rockets made him one of the three camp cuts whose D-League rights they can protect.
Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday are the major new arrivals for the Pelicans this year, and both shared insight on how the team’s new-look backcourt is coming together. Evans also spoke to HoopsWorld’s Alex Kennedy about his experience as a free agent, comparing it to college recruiting, while Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune points out that Holiday is the fourth starting point guard for the team in as many years.
Ken Rodriguez of Spurs.com examines the connection between a pair of San Antonio’s offseason signees. Marco Belinelli refers to Manu Ginobili as his “idol,” and it’s worth noting that Belinelli agreed to join the Spurs this summer shortly after the team reached a new deal with Ginobili.

Spurs Waive Josh Howard

October 26th, 2013 at 11:25am CST by Zachary Links

The Spurs today announced that they have waived forward Josh Howard. Howard barely had a chance to unpack his bags as he was signed by the club just yesterday.

Howard was originally drafted 29th overall in the first round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Mavericks where he played for seven seasons. Over the course of his career with the Mavs, Wizards, Jazz, and Timberwolves the Wake Forest University product has averaged 14.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 30.3 minutes.

According to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio News-Express (via Twitter), the gameplan is to wait for Howard to clear waivers so that they can send him to the D-League’s Austin Toros. There, Howard can continue to ramp back up towards being in game shape.

Spurs Sign Josh Howard

October 25th, 2013 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

1:17pm: The Spurs have officially signed Howard, the team announced in a press release.

12:34pm: While most NBA teams are spending the day shedding players from their rosters, the Spurs will increase their roster count by one. According to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News, the club has reached an agreement to sign Josh Howard to a non-guaranteed contract.

McDonald writes that the deal is expected to be finalized later today, but Howard’s stint on the Spurs’ roster may not last long. According to the Express-News report, it looks as if Howard may be released in order to sign a D-League contract. The Spurs would then hold his D-League rights, allowing them to monitor the veteran forward’s progress with the Austin Toros as he recovers from a knee injury. It’s not clear yet whether Howard has agreed to such a plan, but if he’s quickly cut by the Spurs, he’d still be free to sign with any NBA team, even if he’s playing for the Toros.

The Timberwolves signed Howard a couple weeks into the 2012/13 season in order to provide depth on an injury-ravaged roster. However, the 33-year-old fell victim to that injury bug himself about a month later, suffering a torn ACL which required season-ending surgery. Prior to going down, Howard averaged 6.7 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 11 contests for Minnesota.

San Antonio had been carrying 14 players on its roster, so the club won’t have to waive anyone to clear room for Howard.

Odds & Ends: Heat, Smith, Kidd, Wiggins

October 22nd, 2013 at 12:39pm CST by Zachary Links

The Heat were picked as the clear favorite to win the 2013/14 title in this year’s GM survey, writes John Schuhmann of NBA.com. There were a few dissenters with the Spurs and Pacers receiving 6.9% of the vote and the Bulls, Clippers, and Thunder also getting nods. LeBron James was the overwhelming pick to win the MVP trophy and Pelicans big man Anthony Davis was pegged as the breakout player of the year. Magic guard Victor Oladipo was picked to win the Rookie of the Year award and GMs feel that he’ll be the best player out of this class five years from now. Here’s more from around the Association..

Pistons forward Josh Smith spoke to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld about his decision to leave the Hawks this summer. “It wasn’t as hard as other people saw it,” Smith said. “It was time for me to experience a different thing in my life, a new situation, new opportunity and I’m happy where I’m at.” It also didn’t hurt that Detroit gave him a four-year, $54MM deal.
David Aldridge of NBA.com sat down with new Nets head coach Jason Kidd for a Q&A. The discussion covered his learning curve and former coaches that the point guard has apologized to now that he has discovered the difficulty of the job.
Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Dante Exum, Jabari Parker, and Aaron Gordon are all candidates to go No. 1 overall in next June’s draft, in Kyler’s view (Twitter link). Not everyone would agree with that assessment as Wiggins has long been viewed as the top talent in the 2014 class.

Odds & Ends: Clippers, Favors, Pacers, Spurs

October 21st, 2013 at 7:52pm CST by Zachary Links

The talk of L.A. this week has been Doc Rivers‘ decision to cover up the Lakers’ championship banners with posters of seven Clippers players, including stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. For his part, the Clips coach says that it’s nothing personal. “The culture is changing and we want to be a winner,” Rivers told news reporters, including Sam Amick of USA Today. “And to do that, I think we have to make changes. (The change) at Staples Center is one that I thought we needed to make. We don’t leave a Lakers (playing) floor down, do we? And they don’t play on the Clippers floor. They take it up. That’s all we’re saying. It’s no disrespect and all that stuff. I have an amazing amount of respect for the Lakers. Having said that, I work for the Clippers. When we play it should be the Clippers’ arena.” More from around the Association..

In examining Derrick Favors‘ new long-term deal with the Jazz, Grantland’s Zach Lowe and Tom Ziller of SBNation.com both point to Favors’ defense and age (22) as key factors in the team’s decision.
Two members of the Pacers, center Hilton Armstrong and small forward Rasual Butler, know that the end is nigh as the regular season approaches, writes Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. Indiana is currently carrying 15 players on the roster, the max allowed, but they’ve made it known that they’ll only carry 13 and Armstrong and Butler are all but guaranteed to be the ones to go.
After releasing six camp invitees this month, the Spurs are down to 14 players, and don’t plan to add anyone before the season starts, coach Gregg Popovich tells Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Spurs Waive Courtney Fells And Dan Nwaelele

October 20th, 2013 at 4:53pm CST by Zachary Links

The Spurs announced this afternoon that they have waived guard/forward Courtney Fells and guard Dan Nwaelele. Neither player was on a guaranteed contract for San Antonio.

Fells appeared in three preseason games, averaging 4.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 12.4 minutes of action. Nwaelele saw action in three preseason games, averaging 3.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 12.3 minutes. Coach Gregg Popovich gave both players minutes during crunch time in preseason action.

The Spurs have now cut five players in five days after axing Corey Maggette, Myck Kabongo, and Marcus Cousin on October 15th. San Antonio now has 14 players on the roster and they’re all on guaranteed deals. GM R.C. Buford & Co. are reportedly comfortable with starting the year one man shy of the maximum roster size.

Western Notes: Leonard, Hamilton, Blazers, Favors

October 19th, 2013 at 8:08pm CST by Spencer Lund

With Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili all carrying a lot of mileage on their legs after multiple years of long playoff runs, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has taken to resting his old stars during back-to-backs while also limiting their game-to-game regular season minutes.

After the excellent play of Kawhi Leonard in last season’s NBA Finals, it might mean an increased role for the “3 & D” wing entering his third year. The San Antonio Express-News’ Jeff MacDonald shares, in a couple different tweets, that Popovich will be increasing Leonard’s responsibility on offense. McDonald thinks his scoring should jump significantly as a result.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference tonight:

The Timberwolves have expressed interest in unsigned free agent Richard Hamilton, but Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets that there has been no further movement from GM Flip Saunders.
As noted earlier, the Blazers‘ starting five have yet to appear on the court together this preseason due to multiple injury issues. The lack of time playing together means they haven’t gotten a chance to “gel” as a team, writes the Oregonian’s Mike Tokito.
Grantland’s Zach Lowe spoke with Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey about the Derrick Favors extension, and mentions in a tweet that Lindsey repeatedly mentioned the Bulls as a model for the Jazz franchise.
After the Jazz officially confirmed the four-year, $49MM+ extension this morning, everyone’s pretty happy writes the Deseret News’ Mike Sorenson.
Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune says Favors earned his extension with his defensive prowess for the Jazz.

Roster Battles: Knicks, Kings, Cavs, Spurs

October 18th, 2013 at 8:55am CST by Luke Adams

Just 10 days from now, teams will have to finalize their rosters for the regular season, which means we can expect to see a flurry of cuts in the next week. While some clubs have likely already made their decisions about which players will and won’t make the cut, others continue to evaluate camp invitees as they work to figure out their regular-season rosters. Here’s the latest on a few NBA hopefuls:

Knicks coach Mike Woodson “tipped his hand” last night, suggesting that combo guard Toure Murry is close to securing a roster spot for the regular season, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post (Sulia link).
Undrafted rookie Trent Lockett is a perfect fit for Sacramento’s culture and has a chance to earn a place on the Kings, coach Michael Malone tells Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. Added Malone: “If he doesn’t make the team, obviously we would love for him to be in our D-League system so we could continue to monitor his progress as he continues to mature and get better.
Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio examines the Cavaliers‘ roster crunch, with coach Mike Brown noting that the upcoming cuts will be tough since “everybody’s showing their worth.”
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is enjoying giving crunch-time preseason minutes to bench players and camp invitees, such as Daniel Nwaelele and Courtney Fells. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has the details.

Spurs Waive Maggette, Kabongo, Cousin

October 15th, 2013 at 11:57am CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have reduced their preseason roster by three players, the team announced today in a press release. According to the club, Corey Maggette, Myck Kabongo, and Marcus Cousin have been waived.

Maggette’s release is particularly notable, since the veteran scorer suggested over the weekend that he’d be headed for retirement if he didn’t earn an NBA roster spot this season. There has been no official announcement from Maggette yet, but assuming he does retire, he’ll finish his 14-year NBA playing career with 13,198 points in 827 total contests, having played for the Magic, Clippers, Warriors, Bucks, Bobcats, and Pistons. The longtime Clipper is expected to transition into a front office role at some point.

Having waived three camp invitees, the Spurs are now carrying 16 players — 14 guaranteed contracts, plus Courtney Fells and Daniel Nwaelele. Fells and Nwaelele may both be cut before opening night, as at least one report has indicated San Antonio is likely to start the season with a 14-man roster.

As for Kabongo and Cousin, one or both of them could end up with the Spurs’ D-League affiliate in Austin. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported when San Antonio first added Kabongo to its camp roster that the undrafted rookie would likely land in the D-League with the Toros, and reiterated that point today (Twitter link).