Inside Hoops – Page 1316 – NBA Blog

Timberwolves in search of shooting guards

The Minnesota Timberwolves can us a lot of things. Better shooting from point guard Ricky Rubio. That plus health from Kevin Love. And some more talent would help as well, especially at the shooting guard and small forward positions.

The NBA’s free-agency negotiating period began at 11:01 p.m. Sunday and Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders was in Los Angeles with $7 million or more in his pocket to spend on a starting shooting guard.

Agents for unrestricted free agents O.J. Mayo, J.J. Redick, Kevin Martin and Mike Dunleavy are all based there.

Wolves unrestricted free agent Chase Budinger — who along with restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic is one of the team’s top two priorities, according to Saunders — also lives just down the freeway in San Diego.

Teams can strike deals with free agents as soon as the clock struck midnight July 1 in New York City — or 9 p.m. in California — but no contracts can officially be signed until a moratorium period ends July 10, after the NBA’s salary cap for next season is set.

Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

NBA free agency: Pelicans meet with Tyreke Evans

NBA free agency began today, with negotiations now, and signings starting in nine days. And the Hornets — excuse me — the New Orleans Pelicans — immediately expressed interest in Tyreke Evans.

Kings guard Tyreke Evans, a restricted free agent, met with the New Orleans Pelicans in Los Angeles on Sunday night, shortly after the free-agency period opened at 9:01 p.m. PDT, The Bee has learned.

Evans’ agent, Arn Tellum, is based in Southern California.

The Kings extended a qualifying offer to Evans last week, worth $6.9 million for the upcoming season. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard can negotiate with other teams and sign an offer sheet, and the Kings have until July 10 to match an offer or negotiate a sign-and-trade deal. The Pelicans could send point guard Greivis Vasquez or shooting guard Eric Gordon.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/01/5536297/kings-notes-evans-meets-with-pelicans.html#mi_rss=Kings/NBA#storylink=cpy

Reported by Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee

Rockets meet with Dwight Howard as NBA free agency opens

Rockets meet with Howard as NBA free agency opens

The Houston Rockets have met with Dwight Howard to begin the NBA’s free agency period.

With Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler joining them, the Rockets pitched Howard on leaving Los Angeles and joining All-Star James Harden in Houston.

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey wrote on Twitter early Monday that it great meeting with Howard and that having Olajuwon and Drexler there ”made it obvious how (Howard and Harden) could be the next (great) big/wing combo.”

Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Chris Paul will re-sign with Clippers

NBA free agent negotiations begin tomorrow, and the biggest name on the market is a little point guard. And as expected, even before his team managed to land coach Doc Rivers, CP3 is expected to stick with his squad and re-sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Chris Paul got off the NBA’s free-agent board about as quickly as he gets down the lane for the L.A. Clippers.

To no one’s surprise, Paul has decided to stay with the Clippers, where he’s running the show and can sign on July 10 for a maximum contract worth $107.3 million over five seasons.

Once the Clippers had obtained Doc Rivers in a trade with the Celtics last week, Paul’s future in Los Angeles was cemented. Paul’s representatives sent out word on Saturday night, more 24 hours before the start of free agency, that he would not entertain any offers from other teams.

With Paul off the board, the biggest name to hit the open market will be Dwight Howard, who was scheduled to meet with the Houston Rockets at 12:01 Monday morning. Howard doesn’t want to stay in L.A. and is expected to become a Rocket. He will meet over the next few days with the Mavs, Hawks, Warriors and Lakers.

Reported by Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News

Dwight Howard offered free chicken fingers for life if he signs with Mavs

Each NBA free agency period, some local businesses around the country come up with some fun offers to make at players in the hope of luring them to sign with the local team. Whether these offers actually ever get fulfilled, nobody knows. But they’re fun. Here’s the latest example:

A Dallas fried chicken joint is really trying to give Dwight Howard the finger, or in this case, fingers.

Raising Cane’s, a chicken finger chain, is offering a lifetime of free chicken fingers to Howard in exchange for his signature on a contract with the Mavericks.

“These next few days, Dwight Howard will be making arguably the most important career decision of his life,” Adam Reed the marketing manager at Raising Cane’s said in a press release obtained by the Dallas Morning News. “So we thought we’d make Dwight an offer he couldn’t refuse to up the ante for a Dallas-bound decision.”

Reported by Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News

Spurs officially make Splitter, Neal restricted free agents

Like all NBA teams, the Spurs have some difficult free agent decisions to make, mostly centered around aging former star Manu Ginobili. But they took care of some relatively simple business today.

The Spurs on Sunday submitted qualifying offers for center Tiago Splitter and reserve guard Gary Neal, making both restricted free agents upon expiration of their current contracts at 11 p.m. tonight, central time.

By doing so, the Spurs retain the right to match any offer either player receives during free agency.

Splitter’s offer, as prescribed by the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, is for $4.93 million.

A solid starting big man in a league in which size matters, Splitter could draw higher offers than that once the bidding opens tonight, forcing the Spurs to make a decision.

Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News

Kobe Bryant says his health is rapidly improving

The Los Angeles will go as far as Kobe Bryant will take them. Even if he’s past his prime, free agency of Dwight Howard aside, Kobe is the guy that can put the team on his shoulders.

Kobe Bryant still has a long rehab ahead after tearing his Achilles’ tendon, but he’s rapidly improving over the off-season.

“It’s feeling really strong,” said Bryant on Friday in a video interview with Mike Trudell of Lakers.com.

“I can walk without a limp … I can go up the stairs and just stand on my toe, which shows a lot of strength in the tendon.” Bryant was injured on April 12 in a win over the Golden State Warriors. He had surgery the following day, sidelining him for approximately six to nine months.

While the Lakers guard has said he’d like to return by opening night at the end of October, it could be November or December before he’s ready to play.

Reported by Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Blog)

Jerryd Bayless exercises option to stay with Memphis Grizzlies

Grizzlies guard Jerryd Bayless has exercised his player option and will return to Memphis for the 2013-14 season, the team announced today.

The scoring guard is able to provide explosiveness and points off the bench.

Bayless (6-3, 210) recorded 8.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists on .419 shooting in 22.1 minutes, playing in a career-high 80 contests (four starts) for Memphis last season. The 24-year-old averaged 9.3 points in 15 appearances during the 2013 NBA Playoffs, scoring a postseason career-high 19 points on April 20 at LA Clippers in Game 1 of the first round.

The five-year veteran owns career averages of 8.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists on .414 shooting in 19.2 minutes in 309 games (40 starts) with the Portland Trail Blazers, New Orleans Hornets, Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies. After his freshman season at the University of Arizona, the Phoenix native was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in the first round (11th overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft and traded to Portland on draft night. He signed with Memphis as a free agent on July 13, 2012.

Marreese Speights declines player option with Cavaliers

Marreese Speights has decided that diving into free agency is a better option for him than playing out his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Speights today declined his player option on the final year of his contract with the Cavs, the team announced today. Speights had until June 29th to exercise the option. The five-year NBA veteran is now an unrestricted free agent.

Speights was acquired by the Cavaliers via trade with the Memphis Grizzlies on January 22nd, 2013. The 6-10, 255-pound forward/center appeared in 39 games (one start) for the Cavs where he averaged 10.2 points on .457 shooting, and 5.1 rebounds in 18.4 minutes. Speights has played in 344 games (61 starts) over his NBA career with averages of 7.8 points, on .472 shooting, and 4.4 rebounds in 16.4 minutes.

Houston Rockets waive Aaron Brooks and Carlos Delfino

With NBA free agent negotiations starting tomorrow, the Houston Rockets are parting ways with a pair of players.

Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has waived guard Aaron Brooks and guard/forward Carlos Delfino.

Brooks (6-0, 161, Oregon) returned for his fifth season with the Rockets in 2012-13, averaging 1.4 points and 0.9 assists in seven games with Houston.

Delfino (6-6, 230, Argentina) averaged 10.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.01 steals in 67 games (five starts) in his lone season with the Rockets.