December 2011 – Page 30 – NBA Blog

Bulls meet with Caron Butler

In their search to find an upgrade at shooting guard, the Chicago Bulls met with free agent Caron Butler on Monday.

A league source termed the meetings with Butler as “positive.”

Butler, 31, has averaged almost 17 points a game throughout his career, but missed most of last season with the Dallas Mavericks after rupturing a tendon in his right knee on Jan. 1. The Mavs’ starting small forward at the beginning of last season, Butler was emerging as their second-leading scorer while splitting time with Shawn Marion.

“That went great,” Butler tweeted after his meeting with Bulls personnel. “Now headed to the west …”

— Reported by Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com

Pistons name Ken Catanella Director of Basketball Operations

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the team has named Ken Catanella as Director of Basketball Operations. Catanella joins the Pistons after spending several years with the NBA League Office.

In his role with the Pistons, Catanella will serve as the team’s salary cap specialist and direct Detroit’s analytics efforts.

Prior to his time with the league office, Catanella worked for the New Jersey Nets (2006-08) where he managed the Nets’ analytics and spearheaded the creation and implementation of their statistical scouting systems.

A graduate of Amherst College where he played collegiately, Catanella has worked on Wall Street providing analytics on stadium/arena financings for professional teams and valuing publicly traded companies. While earning his MBA at Duke University, Catanella served as a graduate assistant to the Blue Devils Men’s Basketball team from 2004-05. Catanella has also played professionally for the Bundesliga’s Cologne 99ers of the German League and later served as the assistant general manager of the 99ers.

Cavaliers announce coaching staff additions and promotions

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced two promotions and two additions to their coaching team today. While Paul Pressey will remain Head Coach Byron Scott’s lead assistant, Assistant Coaches Jamahl Mosley and Joe Prunty have been promoted and will now expand their roles and take on additional responsibilities. New to the coaching staff for this season will be Assistant Coach Nate Tibbetts and new player development assistant/video coach Aubrey McCreary, who will join returning player development assistant/video coach Jordi Fernandez. The announcement was made by Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant and Head Coach Byron Scott.

Tibbetts joins the Cavaliers from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, where he had served as head coach for the past two seasons. The 66ers are the exclusive affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Last season, he led Tulsa to its second consecutive trip to the NBA D-League playoffs, where they reached the semifinals, after compiling a franchise-best 33-17 record (.660). Under his leadership, Tulsa had three of its players earn Gatorade Call-Ups during the season, the most in the D-League, while finishing near the top of the league in several key defensive categories. Tibbetts also earned the honor of being selected to lead the Western Conference in the 2011 D-League All-Star Game and was selected this past fall as the head coach of the 2011 Pan American Games, which earned a bronze medal, the first medal for the United States since 1999.

“I feel great about the coaching group we have in place now. Paul Pressey will continue to be my lead assistant, while Jamahl and Joe have both worked very hard, done a good job and deserved these promotions,” said Head Coach Byron Scott. “Nate comes from an organization that has developed a young core and a similar belief system in creating success with a defense-first mentality and Aubrey is an accomplished and respected player development coach that is going to be a great fit with all our coaches and our players. I am very excited for our group to get started with our team soon.”

Prior to joining the 66ers, Tibbetts spent four seasons with Sioux Falls, also of the D-League. Tibbetts, the 30th D-League Coaching Call-up, served as head coach of the Skyforce from 2007-2009, recording a 53-47 (.530) record after spending the two previous seasons as an assistant coach. Tibbetts’ coaching career started at the University of Sioux Falls where he was an assistant coach for four seasons (2001-2005) following a successful collegiate career at the University of South Dakota, where he ranks second all-time in career assists (678) and steals (215).

McCreary brings over 35 years of basketball experience to the team, ranging from high school to the NBA with a focus on skill development. He has served as a personal player development coach for some of the NBA’s top talents, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ Derek Fisher, Utah’s Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap and New Jersey’s Deron Williams. In addition to his player development background, McCreary has served as an assistant coach on staff with the Reno Bighorns of D-League (2010-11) and Louisiana Tech University (2008-09). He has participated in various capacities with Adidas Nation since 2004, most recently serving as an assistant coach in 2011 for their Global Nations Championship, which is comprised of the world’s top 18 and under players.

Jason Kapono has interest in Knicks

Wasserman Media Group’s Greg Lawrence confirmed with ESPNNewYork.com that his client Jason Kapono is interested in the Knicks.

Lawrence said Kapono, an unrestricted free agent who played for the 76ers last season, would be “a great fit in coach [Mike] Dantoni’s system.”

“Jason has interest from several teams and we are in the process of trying to figure out the best situation for him,” Lawrence said.

— Reported by Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com

Hot free agent market for Jamal Crawford

Teams can begin talking to their own players and free agents today. It’s quickly become clear that, as expected, Jamal will find a robust market for his services.

Indiana, New Jersey, Chicago, Orlando, Portland, New Orleans and Phoenix have expressed interest in him. Among those teams, at least Indiana, New Jersey, Chicago and Orlando have inquired about a sign-and-trade with the Hawks.

That suggests that the market for Jamal starts at more than the $5 million mid-level exception on a five-year contract. Indiana and New Jersey could just sign Jamal to a four-year deal using cap space, so if they are looking at a sign-and-trade it can only mean they want to offer him a five-year deal using his Bird rights. Chicago and Orlando are over the $58 million cap and so without a sign-and-trade are limited to offering Jamal the mid-level–in Orlando’s case, the new $3 million “mini” mid-level since the Magic are taxpayers.

— Reported by Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog

Greg Oden may re-sign with Trail Blazers

Restricted free-agent center Greg Oden is leaning strongly toward re-signing with the Portland Trail Blazers, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Oden would sign a one-year, $8.8 million qualifying offer with the Blazers and become an unrestricted free agent after this season. The No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft has played just 82 games over four seasons because of injuries. The Blazers made the qualifying offer in June to ensure Oden was a restricted free agent.

— Reported by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports

Kevin Love lost 25 pounds during NBA lockout

Kevin Love has used the extra offseason time created by the lockout to reshape his body, a grueling regimen that will have him reporting to training camp 25 pounds lighter than he was last season.

Entering the final year of his rookie contract, his bank account is poised to get a lot heavier.

Love worked out at the Minnesota Timberwolves facility on Sunday for the first time since NBA owners and players reached a tentative labor agreement, and he said he was encouraged by the changes the Wolves have made as he prepares to enter into talks on a contract extension.

“I love Minneapolis, I love the Twin Cities,” Love said when asked if he hoped to sign a deal that would keep him here for the long term. “Really this is all I know. It’s the first NBA city I fell in love with. This is all I know. Maybe we’ll keep it that way, maybe we won’t.”

— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press

Phoenix Suns likely to waive Vince Carter

Vince Carter isn’t a free agent yet, but sources close to the situation say the eight-time All-Star will be thrust onto the open market shortly after the end of the lockout.

Based on an amendment in his contract obtained by ESPN.com, Carter must be waived by the Phoenix Suns within 72 hours of the official start of free agency or his $18 million salary for the 2011-12 season becomes fully guaranteed.

The Suns, sources said, have already decided to waive Carter within that window.

The Suns and Carter amended the contract in June to delay the guaranteed-salary date in Carter’s final contract year until after the lockout ended.

— Reported by Marc Stein and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com

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76ers still limited by salary cap situation

The Sixers are over the cap with a current payroll of about $68 million. That figure includes what the league terms “holds” on the salaries of their two restricted free agents, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes, who were given qualifying offers that will increase their salaries by about 200 percent.

If Young and Hawes receive offers from other teams, the Sixers can decline to match them. But that would only put their total payroll down to $56 million, only $2 million under the $58 million cap figure and they wouldn’t be able to sign a marquee free agent with that.

The money they may commit to Young and Hawes, however, will put them dangerously close to the luxury-tax limit of $70 million. The Sixers can add a player under what the agreement calls a “midlevel exception,” at a salary of $5 million. But that $5 million would put them into the luxury-tax bracket, and my sources, who are familiar with Sixers ownership’s thinking, tell me that new Sixers owner Joshua Harris (and his cast of thousands) doesn’t want to pay tax.

— Reported by Mike Missanelli of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Pistons won’t use new amnesty clause just yet

By now you know the Pistons are going to pass on using the new collective bargaining agreement’s amnesty clause that allows teams to waive a cap-killing player.

I definitely understand some of the local reaction that the Pistons should have moved with haste to jettison Rip Hamilton (roughly $20 million over two years), Ben Gordon (around $35 million over three) or Charlie Villanueva ($22 million over three).

But the Pistons have the life of the new CBA to invoke the clause on a current contract, so it can be used in the next off-season if things don’t get better with those three players. The Pistons are confident in new coach Lawrence Frank, so it’s understandable to wait.

Retaining them also allows the Pistons to still entertain trade offers for them. But some insist that using the clause would allow the Pistons to free up money to go after a much-needed big man in this year’s free-agent class — such as the Nuggets’ Nene, the Mavs’ Tyson Chandler or Grizzlies restricted free agent Marc Gasol.

— Reported by Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press