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Spurs Notes: Ginobili, Splitter, Diaw, Draft

June 26th, 2013 at 12:20pm CST by Luke Adams

Six days after the Spurs lost Game 7 in Miami, San Antonio GM R.C. Buford publicly discussed the team's offseason today, addressing free-agents-to-be, option decisions, and the next steps for the club. Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News has the details and the quotes from Buford, so let's round up the best of his piece:

  • Manu Ginobili has indicated that he has no desire to play for another NBA team, and that feeling appears to be mutual. "I think all of our hopes are that Manu finishes his career in San Antonio," Buford said.
  • Buford appeared less certain about restricted free agent Tiago Splitter, who the Spurs would like to bring back, but who figures to draw more interest on the open market. "Until we know what the market says, and how that impacts our planning for the future," Buford said. "You can’t answer with incomplete information."
  • The team has yet to receive word from Boris Diaw on whether he'll exercise his $4.7MM player option, though I'd expect him to pick that up at some point this week.
  • Until the Spurs resolve the situations with their own free agents, Buford isn't prepared to say whether or not the team will have the opportunity to pursue outside free agents. "There’s a lot of guys (we like)," Buford said. "You just don’t know if you can afford them."
  • With the 28th and 58th picks in the draft, Buford suggested that the team isn't going into Thursday night with a specific plan on whether to draft for immediate impact or long-term potential. "You don’t know until you get to your pick what’s available," Buford said.
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Odds & Ends: Bynum, Ginobili, Heat, Joerger

June 25th, 2013 at 12:18pm CST by Luke Adams

It's already been a busy day of news and rumors, and things don't figure to slow down anytime soon. With the draft fast approaching and free agency to follow shortly thereafter, the NBA's roster-movement season is in full swing. As we try not to let anything slip through the cracks, let's round up a few Tuesday odds and ends from around the Association:

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Northwest Notes: Shaw, Nuggets, Blazers

June 24th, 2013 at 7:54pm CST by Zachary Links

Here's a look at the latest out of the Northwest Division..

  • New Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw told Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post (on Twitter) that he likely won't run the triangle offense in Denver.  As a former Phil Jackson pupil, many expected Shaw to implement the Zen Master's patented gameplan where ever he went.  Most recently, Shaw worked under Pacers coach Frank Vogel and helped take the Pacers to the Eastern Conference finals.
  • The Trail Blazers have interest in restricted free agents Tiago Splitter (Spurs) and Nikola Pekovic (Wolves), according to John Canzano of 750 The Game (on Twitter).  Canzano warns, however, that the Blazers should be very reluctant to get involved in a free agent offer sheet that will be matched.
  • Wolves president Flip Saunders doesn't sound as though he's looking to move up in Thursday's draft, writes Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune.  The Wolves have the No. 9 and No. 26 picks in the draft but Saunders sees this class as being full of players who are good, not great.
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Atlantic Notes: Brown, Shaw, Celtics, Knicks

June 24th, 2013 at 6:38pm CST by Zachary Links

After a strong interview with the Nuggets, Spurs assistant Brett Brown has drawn the interest of the Sixers and led them to ask for – and receive permission – to interview him, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.  Brown met with Nuggets officials on Sunday and emerged as a significant candidate in the search process, according to league sources, making him a hot commodity this summer.  Here's more out of the Atlantic Division..

  • Brian Shaw's agent told A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com (on Twitter) that his client has yet to hear from the Celtics.  However, he added that "there would be interest" if the C's called.
  • The Knicks are seeking cheaper alternatives with Jason Kidd gone and Rasheed Wallace retired, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.  Quincy Douby will be brought in for a workout tomorrow following Shawne Williams' audition today.  Douby, who has spent a good amount of time overseas, is no stranger to the New York area thanks to his starring role at Rutgers.
  • Brazilian prospect Alexandre Paranhos is working out for the Nets today, the Sixers tomorrow, and the Knicks on Wednesday, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
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Patty Mills Exercises 2013/14 Player Option

June 24th, 2013 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Patty Mills has picked up his player option for 2013/14, and will remain under contract for one more season, the Spurs announced today in a press release.. By exercising the option, Mills is guaranteed a salary of $1,133,950 for next year.

Mills, 24, signed a two-year contract last summer with the Spurs that started at about $1.09MM, the maximum the team could offer him using the Non-Bird exception. Since the second year of the deal was a player option, Mills could have opted out and attempted to renegotiate another new contract, but based on his modest production this past season (5.1 PPG, 1.1 APG, 11.3 MPG), he wouldn't have been able to make a particularly strong case for a raise.

As I noted earlier this afternoon in my preview of the Spurs' offseason, Mills represented one of a handful of option decisions to be resolved this week. Boris Diaw also has a player option he's likely to exercise, while the team will have to decide whether to fully guarantee Matt Bonner's 2013/14 salary.

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Offseason Outlook: San Antonio Spurs

June 24th, 2013 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Guaranteed Contracts

Options

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

Free Agents / Cap Holds

Draft Picks

  • 1st Round (28th overall)
  • 2nd Round (58th overall)

Cap Outlook

  • Guaranteed Salary: $32,884,578
  • Options: $5,836,450
  • Non-Guaranteed Salary: $2,945,000
  • Cap Holds: $41,960,5142
  • Total: $83,626,5422

After the Spurs came within a few baskets of the 2013 championship, it's becoming clear that the team's long-awaited drop-off may just not be coming. We've all assumed that core players like Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili would eventually slow down, resulting in at least one or two down years for a club that hasn't had a winning percentage below .610 since 1996/97.

And that process is starting to happen — Ginobili has had trouble staying on the court the last couple seasons, and his 11.8 PPG and .425 FG% marks in 2012/13 were both nearly career-lows. Duncan, meanwhile, remains productive, but isn't logging the same 35-40 minutes he was earlier in his career, having averaged 28.9 MPG over the last three seasons.

Nonetheless, the Spurs continue to rack up wins. Tony Parker only just turned 31 and should have a few good years left in him, while a wave of younger players are starting to make significant contributions, picking up some of the slack for San Antonio's veterans. The 21-year-old Kawhi Leonard looks like the player with the most star potential, but Danny Green, Tiago Splitter, and Cory Joseph also played key roles for the Western Conference champs.

Still, at some point Ginobili and Duncan will retire, and to extend the franchise's incredible run of success, the Spurs will have to find a way to not just keep their younger contributors locked up, but also to continue adding useful pieces to the core. With Ginobili, Splitter, and Gary Neal among the players headed for free agency next week, this summer represents an important one for the Spurs to begin putting those long-term pieces in place.

Assuming the Argentinian guard doesn't decide to retire, re-signing Ginobili figures to be a priority for the Spurs in July. Since he earned a $14MM+ salary in 2012/13, Ginobili will have a cap hold worth the max salary, but is likely in line for a significant pay cut. Agreeing to a new deal with him early on in the offseason will allow the Spurs to reduce that big cap hit to his new salary, potentially something below $5MM, giving the team room to pursue other players.

If we assume Boris Diaw and Patty Mills exercise their respective player options, and the Spurs decide to fully guarantee the final year of Matt Bonner's contract, a salary around $4-5MM for Ginobili would bring the overall team salary to about $46MM for 11 players. However, that would still leave the club with decisions to make on Splitter and Neal.

Grantland's Zach Lowe recently suggested that executives believe Splitter, a productive and fairly young big, will earn an annual salary in the neighborhood of $8-10MM. If Splitter gets such a deal from the Spurs, and Neal receives a modest raise to return, the team won't have any cap space, and will have to use its mid-level exception to add another rotation player.

On the other hand, if the team decides to renounce its rights to Splitter and Neal, and perhaps waives Bonner and signs Ginobili at an even more discounted rate, San Antonio could nearly have enough room to make a max-salary offer to a free agent. There has been some speculation that the team could be a dark horse suitor for Dwight Howard, but I have a hard time seeing it. The Spurs pride themselves on their chemistry, and Howard hasn't exactly blended in seamlessly on or off the court for the Magic or Lakers during the last couple seasons.

It's possible the Spurs could decide that pursuing a free agent veteran like Howard, Paul Millsap, or Al Jefferson makes more sense than bringing back Splitter, but I think the most likely scenario involves Ginobili, Splitter, and Neal returning to San Antonio. We typically don't see the Spurs too involved with major free agents — most of their rotation players were drafted or acquired by the team early in their respective careers, and have been developed and groomed by San Antonio for years. R.C. Buford and the team's front office have displayed a real knack for identifying diamonds in the rough, so even if the club uses its full MLE to bring in a veteran, I don't expect a major splash in San Antonio this offseason. It's possible that the Spurs' most impactful long-term addition this summer will be selected with the No. 28 pick this Thursday, given how well the team has drafted over the years.

Assuming this Spurs team returns relatively intact, with a few minor changes around the edges, we'll likely hear plenty of chatter in the fall about that long-awaited drop-off finally arriving in 2013/14. But with Leonard evolving into a potential star, Green claiming a bigger role, and Parker continuing to run the offense, I'm guessing San Antonio will be just fine.

Additional notes:

  • While I think there's a good chance Ginobili, Splitter, and Neal all re-sign with the Spurs, it's a virtual lock that DeJuan Blair will sign elsewhere. He and the team didn't exactly see eye-to-eye over the last year or two.
  • Considering the handful of overseas gems the Spurs have brought stateside over the years, it will be interesting to see if Nando De Colo and Aron Baynes take a step forward during their second year with the Spurs. Both players saw limited playing time in 2012/13, but remain under contract next season.
  • The Spurs' long-term cap flexibility is admirable — Green, Leonard, and Joseph will be in line to receive new contracts, and perhaps significant raises, in 2015/16. Currently, the Spurs have no money on their books for that season or beyond, meaning they shouldn't have any trouble re-signing all the players they want to keep.

Cap footnotes:

  1. If Bonner is not released on or before June 29th, his salary will become fully guaranteed.
  2. Ginobili's cap hold will be worth the maximum salary for a player with his experience (10+ years). That amount is not yet known — the number listed was 2012/13's max salary, so it figures to be a little higher than that.
  3. Splitter will be eligible for a qualifying offer worth $4,930,000.
  4. $1,116,099 is the amount of Neal's potential qualifying offer. If the Spurs don't extend a QO, Neal's cap hold will be reduced to $884,293.

Storytellers Contracts and Sham Sports were used in the creation of this post.

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Nuggets Considering Brett Brown As Head Coach

June 24th, 2013 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

After the Nuggets' bid to land Doc Rivers failed, the team will turn its attention to at least five other candidates for their head coaching opening. As Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports, the latest contender to emerge for the job is Spurs assistant Brett Brown, who met with Nuggets CEO Josh Kroenke and GM Tim Connelly on Sunday. Brown is being considered a "serious candidate" for the position, according to Wojnarowski.

Brown is the fifth potential head coach to receive an interview with the Nuggets. Former Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins, Pacers assistant Brian Shaw, ex-Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro, and Nuggets assistant Melvin Hunt have also met with the team about the opening.

One Spurs assistant, Mike Budenholzer, has already landed a head coaching job this offseason, having been hired by the Hawks. With Budenholzer in Atlanta, Brown, who has served as an assistant under Gregg Popovich for seven years, is expected to become the top assistant on Popovich's staff, unless he lands the Nuggets job. Brown also acted as the head coach for the Australian national team at the 2012 Olympics in London.

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Odds & Ends: Wizards, Splitter, Bosh, Nets, Bucks

June 21st, 2013 at 11:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the trade that sent Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza from New Orleans to the Wizards in exchange for Rashard Lewis and last year's No. 46 pick (Darius Miller). Lewis celebrated by picking up a championship with the Heat, who acquired him after the Pelicans bought him out. The date was notable for the Wizards, too, since it meant the expiration of a trade exception worth $1,853,491 that the team generated as part of the deal. Washington has until February to use its other trade exception, from the Jordan Crawford swap, as noted in our continuously updated database. Here's more from around the league:

  • Many NBA executives believe restricted Spurs free agent Tiago Splitter will draw offers in the $8-10MM range this summer, according to Grantland's Zach Lowe, who debates the merits of a Chris Bosh trade for the Heat as part of his piece on the aftermath of the Finals.
  • The agent for former Mavericks guard Dominique Jones has had discussions with the Nets, and Jones is set to take part in a three-day free agent mini-camp the Bucks are holding, reports Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. If he doesn't return to the NBA next season, Jones would prefer to play overseas rather than hit the D-League again.
  • Demetris Nichols hasn't played in the NBA since 2008/09, but he was a First Team All-D-League selection this year, and that's prompted the Spurs and Bucks to schedule workouts with the 28-year-old small forward, as Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets.
  • The Timberwolves reportedly believe Derrick Williams and the No. 9 pick could allow them to land a top-three selection next week. However, Wolves exec Flip Saunders told Dan Barreiro of KFAN radio that he doesn't think such a package, plus the No. 26 pick, could pry the No. 2 pick from the Magic, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune notes via Twitter.
  • Chandler Parsons says he talks to Dwight Howard every day as he attempts to recruit the Lakers center to the Rockets. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle has the details.
  • Former MSG Sports president Scott O'Neil is close to joining the Sixers in an executive role, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). 
  • Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com has the Sixers taking Steven Adams at No. 11 in his latest mock draft.
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Draft Workout Updates: Friday

June 21st, 2013 at 10:30pm CST by Luke Adams

With just six days left until the 2013 draft, NBA teams continue to bring in prospects to work them out and gather as much information as they can. Here are the latest updates on workouts taking place today, over the weekend, and early next week:

  • Allen Crabbe will work out Tuesday with the Bucks and Wednesday for the Nets, reports Scott Howard Cooper of NBA.com. Crabbe, widely projected as a late first-rounder at best, made it a priority to visit the Bucks, who have the No. 15 pick (Twitter links).
  • Mason Plumlee wasn't on the list the Pistons released of players with whom the team has met, but he was scheduled to work out for Detroit on Friday, according to MLive's David Mayo.
  • We heard about Vander Blue's workout with the Bucks today (below), and Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel notes that Blue has also auditioned for the Mavs, Spurs, Hawks, Sixers, Pistons and Magic, with another workout on tap for Monday with the Grizzlies.

Earlier updates:

  • Anthony Bennett will visit the Bobcats on Saturday, though his injured rotator cuff will prevent him from working out, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
  • Pelicans GM Dell Demps traveled Friday to get a close look at Victor Oladipo, sources confirmed to John Reid of The Times Picayune.
  • Keith Langlois of Pistons.com passed along a list of players who met with the Pistons this past week: Trey Burke, Michael Carter-Williams, C.J. McCollum, Cody Zeller, Derrick Nix, Dexter Strickland, Augusto Cesar Lima, Jared Berggren, Kenny Boynton and Karron Johnson (All Twitter links).
  • The Kings updated the workout schedule on their website, which shows Shabazz Muhammad, Doug Anderson, A.J. Davis, John Dickson, Mfon Udofia and Kwame Vaughn coming in Saturday. McCollum will be in for a workout on Monday, Cowbell Kingdom's James Ham tweets.
  • Today's workout for the Timberwolves is expected to be the last one for the team, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, adding that Mason Plumlee, Kelly Olynyk, Colton Iverson, and Christian Watford were in attendance.
  • Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution passes along a couple tweets from Gorgui Dieng, surmising that the big man appears to be in Atlanta for a workout with the Hawks.
  • The Suns' workout today is headlined by Glen Rice Jr., according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, who has the full list of participants in a pair of tweets.
  • Vander Blue, Grant Jerrett, Brock Motum, Dejan Musli, Nemanja Nedovic, and Andrew Smith are working out for the Bucks today, according to the team's PR Twitter feed.
  • Tim Hardaway Jr. and Erick Green will be among the prospects working out for the Nets on Monday, the team announced in a press release.
  • Hardaway Jr. was also among the prospects who worked out for the Clippers today, along with Tony Snell, Ricky Ledo, and Reggie Bullock (link via Eric Patten of Clippers.com).
  • The Pacers announced today that they'll work out a a handful of prospects tomorrow: Matt Dellavedova, Angel Sharpless, Jamaal Franklin, Zeke Marshall, and Jeff Withey.
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Western Links: Clippers, Kirilenko, Spurs, Nuggets

June 20th, 2013 at 3:25pm CST by Luke Adams

DeAndre Jordan told Yahoo! Sports Radio (link via WEEI.com) today that he'd be happy playing for either the Clippers or Celtics next season, and Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld took a detailed look at what L.A.'s cap situation would look like if the team were to acquire Kevin Garnett in exchange for Jordan. But the long-rumored deal that would send Garnett and Doc Rivers to the Clippers appears to be in trouble, as the latest reports suggest the NBA has serious misgivings about approving a move that wouldn't be in accordance with the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement.

As we wait to see whether the two teams will be able to come up with a solution that satisfies the NBA, let's check out a few more items from around the Western Conference:

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