The Louis Williams/Lucas Nogueira Trade
June 28th, 2014
(originally published elsewhere) In a trade agreed to last night, and perhaps already to have been made official by the time this sentence is finished, the Toronto Raptors agreed to trade John Salmons and his partially guaranteed contract to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Louis Williams and the draft rights to Lucas Nogueira. Toronto were previously on the cusp of trading Salmons to Memphis on draft night, along with the #37 pick, in exchange for Tayshaun Prince and the #22, the theory being that they intended to draft Canadian guard Tyler Ennis with their #20 pick and then taking young project Bruno Caboclo at #22. But when Ennis was taken 18th by Phoenix, the plan was scuppered, and the deal pulled. The Raptors would instead choose to wait for a better spot in which to use Salmons’s valuable unguaranteed contract. And they have now found it. Nogueira, the #16 pick in the 2013 draft, had been shopped by Atlanta in recent times. Despite averaging a very solid 6.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in only 16 minutes per game of Spanish ACB league option last season, the Hawks seemed to have other priorities, and have used those once-valued rights merely to dump some salary. Perhaps prompted to by Nogueira’s ongoing tendinitis problems – which are worryingly recurrent and severe for a 21 year old center whose game is largely based on his athleticism – Atlanta soured on this potential piece for the future in order to prioritise their present. They are not trading for John Salmons the player under any circumstance. Salmons has declined significantly, and despite a big minutes yield for the Raptors last season, he was mostly ineffective, shooting 36% on his way to a 7.6 PER. Nevertheless, his contract, which calls for a $7 million […]
The amount of cap room teams actually have, updated
July 25th, 2013
The previous post attempted to explain how much cap room all NBA teams would (or wouldn’t) actually have in this upcoming free agency period. It was a bit presumptuous. It had to be. Now, we can be reflective. Here’s what’s left. All salary information is taken from this website’s own salary pages. All figures taken from the day of publication – if subsequent trades/signings are made, then adjust accordingly. No trades are assumed to be taking place here. Guesswork and speculation aren’t helpful. It is vital – VITAL – that you understand what a “cap hold” is before you read this. An explanation can be found here. Atlanta Hawks Committed salary for 2013/14: $53,314,578 (view full forecast) Possible cap space: $6,878,477. Committed salaries: Al Horford: $12,000,000 Paul Millsap: $9,500,000 Jeff Teague: $8,000,000 Kyle Korver: $6,760,563 Lou Williams: $5,225,000 Elton Brand: $4,000,000 DeShawn Stevenson: $2,240,450 Dennis Schroder: $1,348,200 John Jenkins: $1,258,800 Jared Cunningham: $1,208,400 Shelvin Mack: $884,293 Mike Scott: $788,872 Jeremy Tyler: $100,000 Cap holds: Lucas Nogeira: $1,419,200 Ivan Johnson: $1,250,854 Anthony Tolliver: $884,293 Total: $56,868,925 = $1,810,075 in cap room. This amount can be increased. Stevenson is unguaranteed with no guarantee date, as is Mack, and Scott can be waived for no cost before August 15th. Waive them three, renounce Johnson and Tolliver, and, after adding two roster charges, Atlanta now has cap space of $6,878,477. With a cap room MLE to spend after that. Note, however, that DeMarre Carroll is to be factored in. His signing is agreed upon but not yet finalised, and when it happens, figures are to be adjusted accordingly. Charlotte Bobcats Committed salary for 2013/14: $52,392,131 (view full forecast) Possible cap space: $6,222,408 Committed salary: Al Jefferson: $13,500,000 Ben Gordon: $13,200,000 Ramon Sessions: $5,000,000 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: $4,809,840 Cody Zeller: $3,857,040 Bismack Biyombo: $3,049,920 Josh McRoberts: […]
Anthony Tolliver earned $273,697 and counting for one day of work, and it’s all thanks to Sasha Pavlovic
June 11th, 2013
After going undrafted out of Creighton in 2007, Anthony Tolliver played in summer league for the Miami Heat, and was granted the honour of being the 16th overall pick in the 2007 Continental Basketball Association draft. These things eventually parlayed themselves into a training camp contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tolliver’s contract with Cleveland was a typical ‘summer’ (read as ‘training camp’) contract. It was a fully unguaranteed rookie minimum salary contract, which, in the 2007/08 season, was worth $427,163. Tolliver was one of several camp signings for the Cavaliers that season – alongside Noel Felix, Chet Mason, Hassan Adams, Darius Rice, and a re-signed Dwayne Jones – and was an outside shot to make the roster based purely on the numbers game alone. Concurrent with these moves, Cleveland was embroiled in the long-since-forgotten-about holdouts of Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic. Both restricted free agents out of contract that summer, both unhappy with Cleveland’s best offer, and yet both seemingly unable to get more on the market, the two held out of training camp, waiting for enormous deals that never came. From memory, Pavlovic wanted roughly six years and $40 million, while Varejao wanted $10 million per annum. The two held out all through the free agency period, all through training camp, all through preseason, and into the regular season. It is precisely because of this that Tolliver, as well as Demetris Nichols, made the Cavaliers roster that season. Pavlovic was the first to crack – he agreed to re-sign to a partially guaranteed three-year, $13,696,250 contract that he was waived after only two years of. He signed this contract on October 31st 2007, the second day of the regular season. And when he did so, Tolliver was waived to open up a roster spot. It seemed mostly innocuous that […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Atlanta Hawks
July 13th, 2010
Alade Aminu Aminu was covered in the Bobcats summer league round-up thing of last week. In 4 games for Charlotte, Aminu averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds. Additionally, Aminu has signed a contract to play for Chalon in France next season. So whatever chances he had of making the Hawks roster now look shot. James Augustine Augustine was previously covered on the Jazz summer league roster recap. Playing for Utah in the Orlando summer pro league, Augustine averaged 6.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3 fouls and 2 turnovers per game. Not great, although he did hit two 3 pointers. Jordan Crawford After his trade from New Jersey, Jordan Crawford now gets to (or has to) battle Jamal Crawford for backup guard minutes. The two are really quite similar; 6’4, athletic and with tons of flair, extremely capable of creating their own shot with the dribble and able to hit extremely tough ones, occasionally forgetful of where thae cutoff point between a good and a bad shot is. The difference is that Jordan hasn’t had to spend a few years pretending to be a point guard. And that Jamal is better. Jermareo Davidson Like Augustine, Davidson was previously covered on the Jazz summer league roster recap. Davidson averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the Jazz, all coming in less than 11 minutes per game. Pretty good. Trey Gilder Gilder, too, has been previously covered. He was playing with the Magic at the Orlando summer pro league, and was thus covered here. He played in only two games for them, however, totalling 2 points and 3 assists. Sergiy Gladyr Gladyr was the Hawks second-round pick in 2009, a Ukrainian shooting specialist. After being drafted, Gladyr went to Spain, where he became one of the youngest rotation players in the ACB […]
As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado
October 4th, 2009
Training camp. Love it. Ever since I grew up with a mild addiction to the Championship Manager series of computer games, I have nurtured a mild fascination for transactions in sports. I know it’s not healthy, but I also know I’m not alone. It might be harsh on the players involved, but it’s always fun to us hardened losers when players change teams. It gives us something to think about, something to analyse, and something to find important. Judging the people that are competing at the highest standard in a profession we could only dream of competing in is strangely fun, hence the existence of this website and the presence of your eyes on these words. We love it. Maybe we’re crazy. Oh well. – Atlanta have well and truly played the training camp game. Teams are allowed a maximum of 20 players under contract in the offseason, and as of last week, Atlanta had only 12. Yet now they have the full compliment of 20, re-signing two of their own free agents (Mario West and Othello Hunter) and bringing in six more (Aaron Miles, Mike Wilks, Juan Dixon, Frank Robinson, Garrett Siler and Courtney Sims), playing the game in the spirit it deserves. The first four of those latter six are guards, which isn’t a coincidence given the Hawks’ lack of depth there. Miles and Wilks are journeyman point guards with NBA experience, and Dixon can pretend to be one on occasion; in case you missed it, the Hawks are openly in the market for a third point guard. Robinson is an undersized shooting guard who was also with the Hawks in training camp last year, and Siler and Sims represent two decent offensive centre prospects. The eight are fighting for a maximum of three spots, but with […]
Your Mission, Since I Chose To Accept It
January 16th, 2009
Hello droogs. A while ago, I wrote this: [I]t’s time for a new rule – no more Chris Crawford updates on this website. Not unless there’s ever anything to actually report, like if he commits a murder or becomes King of Poland or something. (from “Where Are They Now, 2009: part 11”) My reason for writing this flippant disregard was simple and self-explanatory – there really is no new Chris Crawford news to report. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Not a sausage. Bugger all. However, a man named Steve took offence to my off-handed dismissal of what he believes to be “the last basketball Jesus”. (Note: this is not an exact quote, despite the quotation marks.) Steve vowed to track down Chris Crawford, and to find out what he is doing now. Steve hasn’t yet succeeded in this quest, despite sending at least two emails (two! Count ’em!), but he’s suckered me in to help. And now I’m going to sucker you in too. Let us find Chris Crawford. Since his final season in professional basketball – the 2003/04 NBA season with the Atlanta Hawks, in which Crawford played the best games of his career – Crawford has disappeared off of the map. He wasn’t even really on it much before then, either, as he had only appeared in 12 games combined in the previous two seasons due to injury. Indeed, injuries are what most people think of when reminded about Chris Crawford; the man played only 256 games in seven years due to a constant list of injuries, surely much to the chagrin of Hawks fans, who felt cheated out of a roster spot by Crawford’s long-term contract that he wasn’t able to deliver on. Yet to think only of Chris Crawford’s injuries does the man a disservice. Chris Crawford […]
With apologies to Dwight Howard
January 6th, 2008
In my season preview of the Orlando Magic, written back in October and located here, I wrote something that looks a bit stupid in hindsight. At this point, I’d quite like to try and weasel my way out most of it. The following are some quotes that I stand by: It would be very difficult if not impossible to provide a commentary on the Rashard Lewis sign-and-trade while also managing to take an interesting or unique viewpoint, or to say anything that hasn’t already been said. So I won’t. But I will recommend that you look at the figure that he signed for (listed above), and think long and hard about whether he is worth it. And if you come up with any answer other than “no”, keep looking at it until you do. In 2013, a 33 year old Rashard Lewis is going to be being paid nearly $22.7 million. So now, ask yourselves whether the trio of Hill, Milicic and Diener (who should, without a doubt, have played over Carlos Arroyo all of last season, and who is now nicely lined up for a breakout season) is going to help any more than Rashard Lewis on his own. It’s a tough answer, but either way, the Magic’s player personnel did not improve much. If at all. Last season’s mediocre performance suggests that the good run to end the 2005/06 season was nothing more than an aberration. With better coaching and better performance this season, the Magic have the opportunity to show that it was last season that was the anomaly instead. If Orlando gets breakout performances from one or perhaps a couple of young players (specifically looking in the directions of Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick), they could contend for the open Southeast Division title. If you only read […]
30 teams in 36 or so days: Atlanta Hawks
September 12th, 2007
Atlanta Hawks Players acquired via free agency or trade: None Players acquired via draft: First round: Al Horford (3rd overall), Acie Law IV (11th overall) Players retained: None Players departed: Royal Ivey (unsigned), Slava Medvedenko (unsigned), Esteban Batista (unsigned) Bobbins: The Hawks got lucky, I think they would admit that. The Joe Johnson trade of 2005 left the Hawks owing two first-round picks to Phoenix. One of these had already been conveyed, and was used to select Rajon Rondo last year, whom Phoenix then stupidly sold to Boston. The other pick was still outstanding headed into this summer, and was only top three protected, meaning that Atlanta had to win a top three spot in the lottery. They did this, despite only having the fourth-worst record and thus only the fourth-most chances of moving up (I say “only”, but that’s enough to make it a statistical improbability). For that, they should be thankful – had they not done so, they would have had a mediocre roster, with only an MLE and the #11 pick to work with to improve it. And that would not have been fun. Ironically, the three teams with worse records than Atlanta – Milwaukee, Boston, Memphis – all failed to move up, thus proving the worthlessness of statistical probability in the face of blind luck. (Incidentally, the #11 pick itself was also subject to changes in the lottery – the pick was Indiana’s as a part of the Al Harrington deal last summer, and had top ten protection on it. Had Indiana moved up in the lottery, Atlanta would not have gotten it, and had Indiana moved up into Atlanta’s place moving Atlanta out of the top three, Atlanta would have had no first-rounder at all this year. Which would have […]
