Basketball Blog

The Phoenix Suns are still looking to add pieces to the puzzle. The Arizona Republic reports that the Phoenix Suns are “Looking to fill the frontcourt void created when they traded Kurt Thomas and his $8 million contract to Seattle, the Suns held workouts this week with free agents Elton Brown, Vitaly Potapenko and Michael Ruffin.

Phoenix hopes to bring in Brian Skinner next week and has scouted Esteban Batista. Mike Sweetney appears out of the picture.

The Suns have 12 guaranteed contracts but must carry 13 players. Any player they sign will cost double his salary due to the luxury tax.

“That’s our weakness,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said of his team’s size. “I don’t think people understand that because we have a weakness there, we’re able to keep our nucleus and perimeters together. Otherwise, you would not have a Raja Bell or you wouldn’t have a Leandro Barbosa. You wouldn’t have a Boris Diaw. Something’s got to give.”
Brown, Ruffin, Skinner and Batista are 6 feet 8 or 6-9, rugged rebounders and decent defenders with limited offensive skills.

Potapenko, 32, is a 6-10 veteran who played three games last season in Sacramento. He blamed his conditioning for his lack of playing time but said he has lost 25 pounds since then to get to 285. He impressed the Suns staff in his first workout Thursday.”

Nellie will be back with the Golden State Warriors for at least one more season. The San Jose Mercury News reports that “Don Nelson said Thursday that he has reached an agreement in principle with the team on a reworked deal that will bring him back for at least one more season.

Nelson, who originally signed a three-year deal in August 2006, relented and accepted the team’s initial offer made several weeks ago. His base salary for each of the remaining two years will jump to $5.1 million from $3.1 million, but the final season is now a team option rather than guaranteed cash.”

Derek Anderson to return to the Bobcats? Well if Bobcats’ coach Sam Vincent has his way, he will surely be back. The Charlotte Observer reports that “Bobcats’ head coach Sam Vincent said he favors re-signing guard Derek Anderson if it makes sense from a salary cap- and roster-management perspective. Anderson could serve as an emergency third point guard. Otherwise, the Bobcats would go to camp counting on two point guards (Raymond Felton and Jeff McInnis), with the option to sign a third point guard out of the developmental league during the season.”

Hornets make Ely’s signing official. The Times Picayune reports that “On Thursday, the Hornets signed veteran forward/center Melvin Ely to a two-year contract to improve their frontcourt, which includes inexperienced second-year players Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons. Financial terms were not released.”

Raptors are working on their player-coach of the past couple of seasons to be back with the team (aka Darrick Martin). The Toronto Star reports that ” Veteran Raptors point guard Darrick Martin, whose negotiations on a new deal with Toronto are progressing smoothly, has been on loan to Euroleague giant CSKA Moscow for about the last three weeks. Martin has lent them his playing expertise and it has allowed him a chance to get in top shape before NBA camp begins later this month.

Martin, a free agent looking at another one-year deal in Toronto, was farmed out to CSKA Moscow because four of its top guards are playing for Russia in the European championship and the team needs to get ready for the domestic season, which begins in October.

Raptors president and GM Bryan Colangelo said the team had no problem with Martin working out with another team and that the Raptors are still seriously interested in having the 6-foot-1 guard back for another season. However, to keep some flexibility on the roster – Toronto already has 14 players with fully guaranteed deals, not including Martin – the Raptors are looking at a new one-year pact that wouldn’t be fully guaranteed”