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The Golden State Warriors have confirmed the deal struck earlier this week with free agent Marreese Speights.
The announcement Friday gives Golden State another versatile power forward off the bench whom they hope can fill the void left by Carl Landry, who agreed to a four-year, $26 million contract with the Sacramento Kings last Saturday…
Speights’ deal is for three years and about $11 million. The third year is a team option.
Reported by the Associated Press
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Kobe Bryant told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Wednesday that he fully intends to retire as a Laker someday and doesn’t believe there will be any problem securing an extension for as long as he can play at an elite level.
There have yet to be any discussions between Bryant’s camp and the Lakers about an extension, he said, so neither side has any idea yet what type of salary he will command. Bryant is currently the highest-paid player in the league at $30.5 million this season.
“As a businessman the goal is always to not take a pay cut,” Bryant said. “But …”
Reported by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles
For now, the prospects of paying a big luxury-tax bill next year is not enough to dissuade the Miami Heat from its plan to keep the its current championship core intact.
Heat president Pat Riley said Friday that the team does not currently plan to use its one-time amnesty option as a way of lightening its looming tax load, with the team’s focus instead being on simply finding ways to get better.
“Right now, we’re not using amnesty, no,” Riley said.
Amnesty would allow the Heat to essentially cut one player and pay whatever is left on his contract, but without that salary counting against the team’s cap space or add to future luxury-tax bills. Miami is currently in line to pay more than $30 million in tax for the coming season, though could shave off at least one-quarter of that by parting with someone like Joel Anthony or Mike Miller.
Reported by the Associated Press
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The Brooklyn Nets have signed free agent forward Andrei Kirilenko, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today.
According to ESPN.com, “The Nets will use their taxpayer mini midlevel exception to bring Kirilenko aboard. It’s a two-year contract with a player option for the second year, a source said. Kirilenko will make $3.1 million in the first year of the deal. Kirilenko, 32, signed a two-year contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves worth $20 million last offseason, but opted out of the final year worth $10 million to become a free agent again this summer.”
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Andrei to the Nets,” said Nets Principal Owner Mikhail Prokhorov. “He is a true talent with tremendous versatility. As a fellow countryman, I am especially proud that the best Russian player in the history of the NBA will be wearing a Nets jersey.”
“We are very pleased to add Andrei to our roster,” said King. “He is a proven NBA veteran with a unique skill set, and his addition provides our team with increased frontcourt flexibility.”
In an 11-year NBA career with the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves, the 2004 NBA All-Star owns averages of 12.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.4 steals. Last season, his lone with the Timberwolves, the Russian native averaged 12.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks. The 6’9’’ Kirilenko is a three-time All-Defensive selection (First Team in 2005-06; Second Team in 2003-04 and 2004-05) and was selected Player of the Week twice during the 2003-04 campaign. Kirilenko led the NBA in blocks per game (3.3) in 2004-05 and in total blocks in 2005-06 (220), and currently ranks 24th in NBA history in blocks per game (1.9), fifth among active players. Voted First Team All-Rookie in 2001-02 as a 20-year-old, he went on to appear in the playoffs in six of his first nine seasons, averaging 10.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.2 steals in 45 games (36 starts).
Selected by Utah with the 24th pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, Kirilenko did not join the Jazz until the 2001-02 season. Prior to coming to the NBA, he became the youngest player to appear in the Russian Superleague as a 17-year-old with Spartak St. Petersburg during the 1997-98 season. Kirilenko spent the next three years with CSKA Moscow, where he led CSKA to the Superleague Championship and was selected an All-Star in his first season before winning the Russian League MVP in 2000. Kirilenko decided to leave the NBA and play domestically in 2011-12, returning to CSKA and leading his team to the Euroleague Final while garnering Euroleague MVP, All-Euroleague First Team and Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year accolades.
Born in Izhevsk, Kirilenko has represented his country at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal in 2012 in London and being honored as his country’s flag bearer in 2008 in Beijing. He has also been a member of five Russian EuroBasket entries, highlighted by his 2007 campaign that saw Russia win the gold medal and culminating with his selection as MVP of the tournament.
In Brooklyn, Kirilenko reunites with point guard Deron Williams. The two were teammates with the Jazz for five-and-a-half seasons in Utah between 2005-06 and 2010-11, before Williams was acquired midseason by the Nets. In 2006-07, the duo led the Jazz to a Western Conference Finals appearance.
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The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent center Chris Kaman, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
Kaman, a 10-year NBA veteran out of Central Michigan University, has averaged 11.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.38 blocks in 606 career games (510 starts) with the Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks.
“We’re pleased to be able to add a big man of Chris’ caliber to the roster for the upcoming season,” said Kupchak. “He’s a versatile center who defends well, goes hard to the glass and can score both in the paint and from mid-range while also being a high character guy and solid locker room presence.”
Originally selected by the Clippers with the sixth overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, the 7-foot, 265-pound center has scored better than 10 points per game in each of his last eight NBA seasons and is one of only 13 players since entering the league to record at least 7,000 points, 4,000 rebounds and 800 blocked shots.
Named to the 2010 Western Conference All-Star team in a season in which he ranked 25th among league leaders in scoring, 14th in rebounding and 23rd in blocked shots, Kaman, a dual citizen of the United States and Germany, was also a member of the German National Team that competed at Eurobasket 2011 and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Appearing in 66 games (52 starts) with the Mavericks last season, Kaman averaged 10.5 points and 5.6 rebounds in a career-low 20.7 minutes while shooting above .500 from the field (.507) for the third time in his career.
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The Wizards don’t have much time to wait for Jan Vesely, a 6-11 lottery pick entering this third season and has contributed little.
It all starts with the NBA summer league in Las Vegas, with the Wizards opening play Saturday vs. the Golden State Warriors (CSN, 4 p.m. ET; replay, 7).
Vesely averaged 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds last season when the Wizards won just 29 games. He has yet to showcase any sort of versatility outside the paint even though he was referred to as a swingman when the Wizards drafted him sixth overall in 2011.
Reported by J. Michael of CSN Washington
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The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed free agent guard/forward Corey Brewer.
“We are excited to bring Corey Brewer back to the Timberwolves,” said Flip Saunders, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. “Corey is a quality defender and has improved his all-around game during his six years in the NBA. We believe he will fit our system really well and we look forward to watching him in a Wolves uniform again. ”
In 2012-13, Brewer, 27, averaged 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 82 games for Denver. He tallied 20+ points 11 times, including a career-high 29 points in a win vs. Philadelphia on March 21. In six playoff games with the Nuggets, Brewer averaged 10.8 points and 1.8 rebounds.
Brewer was drafted by the Timberwolves in the first round (7th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft. In his six seasons in the NBA with Minnesota (2007-11), Dallas (2011) and Denver (2011-13), Brewer has averaged 9.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 386 games (168 starts). In his rookie season with the Wolves in 2005-06, Brewer appeared in 79 games and averaged 5.8 points and a career-high 3.7 rebounds. He only played in 15 games in 2008-09 due to a knee injury. Brewer came back in 2009-10 to have one of his best seasons, averaging a career-high 13.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He was traded by the Wolves to New York on Feb. 22, 2011 as part of a three-team trade. He was waived by the Knicks and signed with Dallas on March 3 for the remainder of the season. Dallas traded Brewer to Denver prior to the 2011-12 season.
Brewer will wear uniform No. 13 with the Wolves.
Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has signed center Steven Adams and guard/forward Andre Roberson.
Adams, the #12 overall selection by the Thunder in last month’s NBA Draft appeared in 32 games during his freshman season at the University of Pittsburgh where he averaged 7.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 23.4 minutes per game.
Adams was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team after ranking first all-time in school history for field goal percentage (.571), second in blocked shots (63) and sixth in rebounds (192) for freshman seasons. After being selected by the Thunder, Adams became the first player from New Zealand to be taken in the first round of the NBA Draft.
Roberson, the #26 overall pick in the draft, joins the Thunder after spending three seasons at the University of Colorado where he saw action in 105 games and posted career averages of 9.6 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks in 28.3 minutes per game. Oklahoma City acquired the draft rights to Roberson from the Golden State Warriors on draft night.
After his junior season at Colorado, Roberson was named the Pac-12 Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year while receiving First-Team All-Conference honors. This past season, Roberson ranked second in the nation after averaging 11.2 rebounds per game.
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The Atlanta Hawks have signed veteran guard/forward Kyle Korver to a new contract, President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.
“Kyle was a key contributor for us last season, and we’re thrilled to retain him,” Ferry said. “He is a tremendous competitor and an important presence for our team both on and off the court.”
Last season, Korver appeared in 74 contests (60 starts), averaging 10.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.5 minutes (.461 FG%, .457 3FG%, .859 FT%). He finished second in the NBA in three-point percentage and fourth in three-pointers made (189). His 189 triples were the fourth-best single-season total in franchise history.
Korver made at least one three-pointer in his final 73 games of the regular season, the longest active streak in the NBA and the fourth-longest streak in league history (Dana Barros 89, Michael Adams 79, Dennis Scott 78). He scored in double-figures 42 times, including four 20-point outings. He scored 10-plus points in 13 straight games (1/16-2/11), the longest streak of his career.
Through 10 seasons, he has played in 738 games (170 starting assignments) with Philadelphia, Utah, Chicago and the Hawks, and holds career averages of 9.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 24.8 minutes (.434 FG%, .419 3FG%, .875 FT%). Korver ranks sixth among active players in 3FG% and 17th (29th in NBA/ABA history) with 1,323 3FGM. He’s also appeared in 60 playoff contests.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Jarrett Jack and forward Earl Clark to contracts, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.
“Earl and Jarrett are both tough, competitive, team-first players that have the ability to impact the game in multiple ways on both ends of the court. We think they are great fits for us that can help us grow and improve as a team and we’re looking forward to them joining our core,” said General Manager Chris Grant.”
Jack, 29, averaged 12.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists in 29.8 minutes in 79 games (four starts) for the Golden State Warriors last season. He scored a season-high 30 points and added 10 assists in 42 minutes off the bench against San Antonio on Feb. 22nd . Last season, he scored 25 or more points five times and dished out 10 or more assists on nine occasions. The 6-foot-3, 197-pound Jack was drafted out of Georgia Tech by the Denver Nuggets with the 22nd overall pick of the 2005 NBA Draft. The eight-year veteran has appeared in 611 total games (253 starts) with career averages of 11.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 27.9 minutes. Since he entered the league, he has played in the 7th most regular season games of any player in that time period and only once in his eight seasons has he played in fewer than 79 regular season games.
“Jarrett brings the kind of drive, determination and energy that will help us greatly with everything we do and I am excited to have him be a part of what we’re trying to accomplish. He’s a vet that knows what it takes to win and the kind of player that has the talent and approach to the game that helps make everyone that plays with him better,” said Cavs head coach Mike Brown.
Clark, 25, averaged 7.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 23.1 minutes in 59 games (36 starts) for the Los Angeles Lakers last season. He scored a career-high 22 points on 9-12 (.750) shooting and added 13 rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench at San Antonio on Jan. 9th . Last season, he also pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with 14 points against Boston on Feb. 20. The 6-foot-10, 225-pound Clark was drafted out of Louisville by the Phoenix Suns with the 14th overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft. He has spent time with Phoenix, Orlando and the Los Angeles Lakers during his four-years in the NBA and has appeared in 197 total games (37 starts) with career averages of 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.1 minutes.
“Earl is a young, talented and versatile player who has the ability to contribute to our growth right away. He’s a long and capable defender and also brings offensive skills that can help us play the style of ball we want to play,” said Brown.