Cliff Hammonds Former Clemson guard Hammonds is an unusual find on the Thunder roster, because he’s already signed for next year. He spent last year in Greece with Peristeri, averaging 12.9ppg, 3.1rpg, 3.7apg, 1.5spg and 2tpps (timely paychecks per season), shooting 48% from the field and 42% from three. He even up his usually dreadful free throw percentage to a vaguely tolerable 71% (still sub-par for a point guard, but no longer sub-50%). Hammonds has signed in France to join ASVEL Villerbanne, a normally elite French team (with 18 championships in 61 season) coming off an unusually dreadful sub-.500 season. It seems strange that ASVEL would let him play here as well. Nevertheless, it’s all good for Hammonds, who gets a decent chance at free exposure before beginning his decent new French gig. James Harden QUESTION: If the Bulls manage to sign Dwyane Wade, they are then left with the awkward pairing of he and Derrick Rose in the backcourt. Talent wise, it’s the best backcourt in the league; fit wise, however, it’s far from ideal. Therefore, how far away is a trade that sees Rose traded to Oklahoma City in exchange for Harden, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green? (Westbrook isn’t a great fit with Wade, either. And he’s not an insignificant downgrade. However, it may be an acceptable one considering the other parts of the package. Westbrook has significant value and talent, not as much as Rose, but enough to either make it work alongside Wade or land something awesome via trade. Just thinking out loud.) (And yes, Derrick Rose is quite a lot better than Westbrook. Westbrook is very good, and Derrick most definitely has his flaws, but Rose’s consistent ability to score in the halfcourt is bettered only by the game’s very elite. How much is that […]
Simple question: Did the tough economic climate affect NBA team’s spending plans as much as MSM scaremongers would have you believe? Not-so-simple answer: Kind of. This summer saw a team that could have had nearly eight figures of cap room opt not to use any of it. The Oklahoma City Thunder did pretty much nothing with their offseason once draft day was completed, and having won a total of 23 games last year, it’s justifiable to ask why that was. There follows some exploratory maths, which get a bit dull and confusing. If the Thunder had completed their buyout of Earl Watson (saving them $3.125 million; for argument’s sake, let’s assume that it could have been done earlier than July 17th), not signed James Harden, B.J. Mullens and Serge Ibaka until their cap space had been used, renounced all these guys that they don’t want, not bothered to trade for Etan Thomas, and kept Chucky Atkins and waived him, they would have had the following payroll: Nick Collison – $6,250,000 Nenad Krstic – $5,160,832 Kevin Durant – $4,796,880 Russell Westbrook – $3,755,640 Jeff Green – $3,516,960 Earl Watson (waived) – $3,475,000 Damien Wilkins – $3,300,000 Thabo Sefolosha – $2,759,628 D.J. White – $1,036,440 Shaun Livingston – $959,111 Kyle Weaver – $870,968 Chucky Atkins (waived) – $760,000 Total = $36,641,459 for ten players. To that total, add the cap holds of $3,336,800 for Harden and $933,500 for both Mullens and Ibaka, take away all the cap holds linked to above (which at the start of the offseason also included cap holds for unwanted players such as Desmond Mason and Mickael Gelabale) and the Thunder would have had themselves a total team salary of $41,845,259. Against a salary cap of $57,700,000, that would have meant cap room of $15,854,741. And that’s pretty […]
There follows a list of the remaining unsigned NBA free agents, and what they’re currently rumoured to be doing about their jobless selves. Most of these players are marginal, because we’re over a month into free agency now. Yet this list may still serve as a useful resource if you’re sifting through the remaining chunks of free agency vomit, looking for gold dust and/or your brand new watch, relentlessly apologising for ruining the whole party and vowing never to mix Bourbon and Gaymers again. Maybe. NOTE – decent free agents from other leagues not listed partly because this is an NBA website, and partly because I don’t want to. Point guards: – Kevin Ollie: Recently anointed a role model for reasons other than just the moustache, that video is possibly the only thing on the internet that suggests that some teams want to sign Ollie. By the way, did you know that that’s how he spoke? I didn’t. I thought it’d be deeper than that. Ho hum. – Shaun Livingston: Still not cleared to play basketball. In spite of this, the Clippers have talked to him about re-signing anyway, and Miami and Phoenix both also showed an interest. And why wouldn’t they? – Sam Cassell: Said he intends to play one more year before becoming an assistant coach. “Expects” to stay with the Celtics, who don’t seem to be reciprocating quite as much. Cassell also recently either was or wasn’t a judge at a pole dancing competition, depending on whether you believe the Boston Globe or Sam himself. – Jannero Pargo: Apparently on the cusp of signing with the San Antonio Spurs, which seems like an odd decision. Firstly, they don’t have much money to give him, which is the reason why Jannero has opted out of contracts two […]
