The Atlanta Journal Constitution's Sekou Smith has a piece up now about the Josh Smith offer sheet that pushes the story along a little bit, filling in two elements that were unclear from the Commercial Appeal story.
The AJC reports that the offer sheet has indeed been signed and that the $58 million dollar offer covers five years.
With Smith signing the offer sheet, the seven-day clock for the Hawks to match is set in motion.
At this point there seem to be three potential outcomes:
1. The Hawks can match the Grizzlies offer and retain Smith for the $58 million number. This is significantly more than the five-year, $45 million offer the Hawks had previously made to Smith, but is still well in line with his market value. I don't think anyone would be surprised to see Atlanta match this offer.
2. The Hawks could decline to match the offer and allow Smith to sign with the Grizzlies for that amount. I find this outcome unlikely, but given the disarray in Atlanta, it is at least possible.
3. The Grizzlies could rescind the offer (on the agreement of all three parties) and enter into sign-and-trade negotiations with the Hawks, something that would probably make a lot of sense for both teams.
Whichever way this goes, don't expect anything to be resolved until next week.
In an interesting and unexpected development, the Commercial Appeal's Ron Tillery is reporting this morning that the Grizzlies have sent Atlanta Hawks restricted free-agent forward Josh Smith an offer sheet for $58 million.
JSmoov on the Move?
The CA piece doesn't specify the number of years the offer sheet is for, though I assume it's for 5 years. It also pointedly doesn't say that Smith has — or will — sign the offer sheet.
Even with the disarray in Hawks land, I can't imagine Atlanta would just let Smith walk for that amount. I suspect the offer sheet will be leverage for Smith to work out a deal with Atlanta.
However, if the Hawks really don't want to pay Smith, then I wouldn't be surprised to see a sign-and-trade deal emerge, possibly involving Javaris Crittenton and Hakim Warrick. That might make a lot of sense for both teams. This is only my own conjecture; calls to team sources this morning have not yet been returned.
I'm not convinced Smith is a great fit with the Grizzlies, but he is a great talent, so if the team could get him for this price, I would endorse that move.
Even if nothing comes of this, the Grizzlies extending the offer sheet should have some positive impact on fan and media criticism that the team is only interested in keeping down payroll.
The other interesting nugget in Tillery's story today is that the team is targeting international free agent Hamed Ehadadi, a 23-year-old Iranian center currently getting set to represent his country in the Olympics.
Ehadadi has been performing very well in international play lately and has started to pop up as a NBA prospect, including a mention in this recent Chad Ford piece. With only two centers on the roster for next season and with Darko Milicic recently suffering an achilles injury while working with the Serbian national team, the Grizzlies need more depth in the middle. So, interest in Ehadadi makes sense.
I think there’s a lot of good material in Kyler’s latest piece, including rational things about the future of the franchise that a lot of fans don't want to hear, but I have to take issue with a few things.
In making several direct references to my earlier blog post without ever specifying the work he’s referring to, Mr. Kyler shows the same stellar attribution skills as in his initial report, where he claimed the Grizzlies were discussing a trade with Orlando for Fran Vasquez while providing no sourcing whatsoever for the report.
Maybe standard Internet reporting etiquette hasn’t reached the offices(?) of Hoops World, but it is good form to source someone else’s work when you quote it (instead of just citing "others"), as well as to provide a link to that work, as I did to Mr. Kyler’s initial report when I referenced it this morning and as I am to his newer piece here. Perhaps the HTML work is too difficult.
I find Mr. Kyler’s refusal to directly acknowledge my work while repeatedly referencing it to be oddly juvenile.
Let me be clear: I am not a fan blogger. I’m a credentialed media person who covers the Grizzlies, with full access to games, practices, and other team events and with multiple sources with the team. It is true that covering the team is only a portion of my job and is not something to which I can devote as much time as I’d like, but it is something I do professionally. It would be nice if Mr. Kyler had accorded my work the same respect I accorded his.
Mr. Kyler complains about my attributing words such as “ridiculous” and “absurd” to Chris Wallace “out of context.” Okay, then let me offer some context.
When I spoke to Wallace this morning, I asked if he’d read the Hoops World piece. His immediate response was, “Yes and it’s ridiculous. You can quote me on that.”
Wallace used the words “absurd” and “preposterous” later in the conversation in direct reference to the claim that the Grizzlies would trade for Vasquez and would do so in a scheme to get team payroll down to the league minimum. Is that clear enough?
I will say that I never got the sense that Wallace was trying to denigrate the writer of the story, only responding strongly to the content.
Mr. Kyler’s references to my earlier post are quite snide, so I’m returning the favor here. However, my earlier post was not meant to be an attack on Mr. Kyler’s work. His story was something that Grizzlies fans were talking about. It seemed worthy of seeking a response from a team-decision maker, which is what I did.
Chris Wallace may have refuted the veracity of Mr. Kyler’s claims, but I did not. I did raise a few questions about relevant details either ignored or not fully explained in Mr. Kyler’s report. Perhaps Mr. Kyler should take his own advice and refrain from shooting the messenger.
To wit:
In his initial post, Mr. Kyler makes the following claim:
Quote:
The Grizzlies have been exploring ways to get even further below the minimum salary number; such as trading Javaris Crittenton to Orlando for Fran Vasquez's rights and a future draft pick. Vasquez counts against the cap and the NBA minimum, but no dollars have to be paid out.
In his update, he says this:
Quote:
As clarified this morning to me, by an informed NBA source, NBA teams are required to "spend" $44.1 million this year as a minimum, if that is not spent there is a penalty assessed to the team. The Grizzlies cannot consume space, through obtaining rights, unless those rights have contracts assigned to them. Rights do consume cap space, but do not count against the NBA minimum, any more than rights count towards Luxury Tax.
Essentially, Mr. Kyler is refuting his own earlier report, but declines to admit that. If obtaining the rights the Vasquez but not signing him to a contract would not help the Grizzlies get “even further below the minimum salary number,” then doesn’t this undercut the entire point of the initial post?
Mr. Kyler also still neglects to address that the Grizzlies currently have 12 players on the roster, with a minimum of 13 required by the league. Trading a player currently under contract and not getting such a player in return would require the Grizzlies to sign two additional players to get up to 13, which would significantly cut into any “savings” from trading Crittenton or Lowry, especially since both of those players have relatively small contracts.
After providing no sourcing for his Vasquez rumor this morning, Mr. Kyler updates with this:
Quote:
An informed source said this morning that Memphis' stance was a Javaris Crittenton trade was "squarely in Orlando's court"; another source indicated Vasquez was the latest package being discussed, apparently not with Chris Wallace.
Well, I guess that’s a little better, but still awfully vague. “Another source”? How do we know this isn’t just another media person talking? Is it a source within the Magic’s basketball operations organization? Is it an agent? A player? Good lord, man, give us something better than “another source.”
Finally, next time you quote me, don’t refer to me as “others.” I’m only one person. My name is Chris Herrington. My employer is The Memphis Flyer. This blog is called Beyond the Arc. I’m not “another source.” I’m on the record.
Using the words “absurd,” “ridiculous,” and “preposterous,” Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace refuted an assertion on HoopsWorld.com today that the Grizzlies are interested in trading Javaris Crittenton to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Spanish forward Fran Vasquez in what would essentially be a cost-cutting move.
Wallace talked to Beyond the Arc via cell phone from the Athens airport, where he landed today for a vacation, and characterized the HoopsWorld report as “reaching for straws.”
“We’ve never had a conversation with Orlando about Fran Vasquez and we have no interest in Fran Vasquez,” Wallace said.
The Hoops World piece read, in part:
Quote:
The Grizzlies have been exploring ways to get even further below the minimum salary number; such as trading Javaris Crittenton to Orlando for Fran Vasquez's rights and a future draft pick. Vasquez counts against the cap and the NBA minimum, but no dollars have to be paid out. The Grizz were also said to be exploring ways to get a hold of Nenad Krstic before he opted for Europe in a similar cost cutting move, get his rights let him walk to Europe, get an additional $2 million off the books.
Wallace also denied the core allegation of the piece, that the Grizzlies are seeking a way to bring their salary obligations for the coming season to the league minimum.
“That is not a concept for us,” Wallace said. “We don’t have a goal to be at the minimum.”
Wallace further commented on the possibility of exercising a trade for Crittenton or Kyle Lowry this summer. “If we make a trade for one of these guards, people may disagree with what we do, but we would want [basketball] value back,” Wallace said.
As for me, I'm still trying to figure out if all of the assertions in this HoopsWorld piece are at least theoretically solid in regards to the league’s collective bargaining agreement and will try to post more in the near future on this subject and on the general discussion about the very real tension between the team’s competitive and financial goals.
But, there are at least a couple of relevant points about this alleged potential trade that the HoopsWorld writer doesn’t address:
1. Orlando is over the cap and could not trade Vasquez and a pick for Crittenton without a trade exception of some kind to fit Crittenton’s salary into. Does Orlando have an exception? I’m not sure. But, barring that, a player under contract — like the widely mentioned Keith Bogans or J.J. Reddick — would have to be included.
2. The Grizzlies currently have 12 players on their roster (including Antoine Walker) with the league minimum set at 13. Trading Crittenton (or Kyle Lowry) for a player that wouldn’t be part of next year’s team would necessitate signing an additional player to fill the roster spot. Even if that’s just a minimum-salary free agent, it still cuts into the savings this article alleges would be the goal of the trade.
A quick response to reader Ethan's recent comment about whether the Grizzlies should pursue Emeka Okafor:
I didn't mean to imply that the team SHOULDN'T go after Okafor. I meant that using the cap space right now didn't HAVE to be just a matter of a major free-agent target.
On Okafor -- he would add some much-needed defense, rebounding, and experience to the frontline. But, I think there are a couple of problems:
1. Fit: Is he a center or power forward. If he's a center then you're probably already in decent shape there with Darko/Gasol and certainly already have money tied up at that position.
If he's a power forward, then he's a bad fit with Darko (no offense). He's a better fit with Gasol is Gasol can be an immediate scoring threat, but that's a pretty slow frontcourt. Is that a problem? Not sure.
If there were some way to include Darko in a sign-and-trade for Okafor, I think that would be a good fit, but with Larry Brown in Charlotte, I don't see that happening.
2. Cost: Okafor would be a good get for the right price, but he's restricted, so you probably can't get him for the right price. If it takes a max-type deal to get him, is that really worth it for an injury-prone big man with limited scoring ability? I like Okafor, but I tend to think he's a little overrated.
Some of the same concerns, in terms of fit (dupicating Rudy) and cost would apply to Josh Smith as well.
I'd continue to explore potential trade targets, such as Anderson Varejao, Josh Boone/Sean Williams, and David Lee, though I think the market for those players is less than what it used to be since all three teams have somewhat addressed their backcourts recently.
I've had a few questions — both on the site and out in the real world — lately about the lack of new posts over the past week or so.
I've been waylaid recently by the perfect storm of epic Dark Knight review, cover story on the new Craig Brewer project, and, of more relevance to this forum, a deadline yesterday for the Grizzlies story in the Lindy's NBA preview magazine.
So, in the absence of major team news to deal with, what little time I've had recently to do Grizzlies-related work has had to be devoted to working on the Lindy's piece.
Anyway: I'm clawing out of the muck now and hope to get back to regular Griz-blogging this weekend.
Like Bull Durham's great Nuke LaLoosh, O.J. Mayo announced his presence with authority in his pro debut earlier tonight.
Mayo had 15 points, 5 assists, 3 steals and a monster dunk, while fellow rookie Darrell Arthur scored a game-high 18 points with silky outside shooting as the Grizzlies beat the Hornets 88-75 in the team’s first game at the Las Vegas Summer League.
The game was shown only via a live stream on NBA.com. (No, I didn’t get a chance to watch.)
The Memphis Grizzlies held a press conference in the lobby of FedExForum today to introduce the newest player to don Beale Street Blue: Spanish center Marc Gasol, who signed what is reportedly a three-year, $10 million contract to play for the Grizzlies.
Acquired, in a perhaps unprecedented moment of hoops irony, in last season’s trade of older brother Pau to the Los Angeles Lakers, Gasol should be plenty familiar to local hoops fans already: In addition to being the equally cavemanish younger brother of the franchise’s scoring leader, Marc also prepped at Lausanne Collegiate School here before heading back home to Spain to play for his hometown pro team, FC Barcelona.
Those same local fans might not recognize the younger Gasol though: After five years playing pro ball in Spain, the heavyset teenager who once palled around FedExForum with high-school teammate Johnnie “Son of Jerry” West before Grizzlies games has transformed into a muscular, sturdy athlete — one who, in five seasons, evolved from a possible legacy signee to the best player in the world’s second-best league. Gasol won the MVP of Spain’s ACB league last season.
The previous four ACB MVPs (Juan Carlos Navarro, Luis Scola, Walter Herrmann, and Andres Nocioni) have all come to the NBA and held their own. Gasol is younger and bigger than any of them heading into the league and thus likely a higher-caliber prospect.
Gasol’s press conference wasn’t terribly interesting, as these canned photo-op events rarely are. Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace called Gasol “one of the most improved players I’ve ever seen,” while Gasol himself cited the 2006 World Championships as the turning point in his career, when he realized he could compete at the highest level.
After a photo-op in which Gasol held up his new #33 jersey (Mike Miller’s old number), he took some more informal questions. Asked about potentially taking less money to come to the NBA this season than he could have gotten in Spain, Gasol said his desire to play in the NBA won out. That may well be true, but I’ll add my own non-P.C. addendum: If he becomes the kind of player everyone seems to think he can, Gasol’s real NBA money will come on his second contract, so the sooner he can get his first NBA contract behind him the better off he’ll be in the long run.
I asked Gasol about an ESPN magazine story in which Pau said he was leaving his downtown Memphis condo (and custom-made bed) for his little brother. Gasol allowed that that was true, but maybe only in the short-term. “Once my girlfriend makes it over, she’ll decide if that’s an okay place to live,” Gasol said. “You know how that goes.”
Gasol flew into Memphis last night and is heading back out again tonight to return to his Spanish national team for Olympic preparation. He did have time to meet teammate Mike Conley, with whom he’s sure to work many, many high pick-and-roll plays next season, and Wallace was hopeful Gasol would get to meet with other future teammates today before heading to the airport.
Practice Notes:
Before the Gasol presser, I slipped onto the practice court to catch the end of this morning’s summer practice session. Media didn’t get to see quite as much live action today as yesterday, but it was interesting to see Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo matched up against each other on opposite scrimmage squads for a few possessions.
In these sequences, Mayo used his superior size to back Conley down and score in the paint. On the other end, however, Conley blew by Mayo (and anyone else in his way) to get into the paint on every possession I saw, usually dropping the ball off the teammates for point-blank looks. In these brief early flashes, Conley is looking terrific.
I had a chance to talk to Conley for a few minutes after practice. He talked about working with new assistant coach Kevin O’Neill, who traveled to work with Conley at Ohio State earlier this summer. Conley laughed when he described O’Neill as “very intense” and someone who “picks up on every mistake.” He did say that O’Neill is spearheading a more aggressive but more conventional defensive approach, picking up opponents full court and now forcing opponents to the baseline instead of to the middle, which was the approach last season. Conley allowed that this change in approach was probably more intuitive, because that’s the way he was coached dating back to high school.
Conley was sporting a blue “Let It Fly” wristband he said was given to him by Mike Miller after his shooting improved last season. “I’m keeping the memory of Mike alive,” he said.
Talking about his shooting, Conley said he was trying to build on his strong late-season play from his rookie year and had been corresponding with shooting coach Mark Price, with whom he hopes to meet in Atlanta before the season starts.
We talked a little bit about adjusting to the longer NBA three-point line last season, and Conley made an interesting point, saying that the adjustment helped his shooting by forcing him to use his legs more on his shot instead of relying on his upper-body the way he did with the shorter distances in high school and college.
Speaking of his upper body, Conley said that building up his body has gone along with defense and shooting as his off-season priorities, the difference in his build very apparent in these practice sessions. After a couple of injury issues last season, Conley said he felt it was important for him to add more muscle and strength to his upper body to absorb contact in the paint.
The Grizzlies’ two-day summer camp started today on the practice court at FedExForum as the team prepares to settle on a contingent of players to send to the Las Vegas Summer League later this week. Four names certain to be on the summer roster are second-year guards Mike Conley and Javaris Crittenton and rookies O.J. Mayo and Darrell Arthur. The rest of the hopefuls in camp today — aside from Senegalese big man Malick Badiane, whose rights the Grizzlies own from a trade last season — were young free agents hoping to land on a roster, among them several former college stars with some NBA experience, including: Oregon’s Luke Jackson, Kentucky’s Randolph Morris, Texas’ P.J. Tucker, and Michigan State’s Alan Anderson.
At last season’s summer camp, the first thing I noticed was how much bigger and more muscular Rudy Gay looked, something that carried over into a breakout sophomore season. Today, Conley’s physical transformation was even more eye-popping. His arms and shoulders look twice as thick and muscular as they did when the season ended in April and he doesn’t seem to have lost an ounce of quickness on the court.
Media got to watch the last half hour of practice, which was a rotating scrimmage among three sets of players. The players rotating on the first team were the four players under contract, Badiane, and Anderson, with Conley, Crittenton, and Mayo all getting looks at point guard.
The play was far too disjointed to pick up much of interest, with Conley really the only player to make plays strong enough to make my notebook: Skying over a group of bigs for a defensive rebound and later knocking down a corner three. On the downside, Mayo and Crittenton were both turnover-prone in transition, underscoring my already held belief that neither player is ready for full-time point-guard duty at the NBA level.
Assistant coaches Kevin O’Neill and Johnny Davis ran the practice, with head coach Marc Iavaroni, GM Chris Wallace, player personnel director Tony Barone, and Mayo’s agent, Leon Rose, watching from the sideline.
A few notes gleaned from conversations with various team insiders:
*Mayo apparently signed his rookie deal with the team this morning, with Arthur set to follow this afternoon. The team’s other rookie acquisition, Marc Gasol, is flying into town later today and is set to sign tomorrow before heading back to Spain for work with his national team in preparation for the Olympics.
*Antoine Walker’s physical went well and he’s amenable to playing for the team next season, though no decision has been made.
*There’s a chance the team could sit Conley, Mayo, and/or Crittenton for some of the Vegas games in order to provide more minutes in individual games to get all three looks at the point guard.
*Things continue to move slowly on the free agent/trade front. Recent suggestions from the Denver media that the team is pursuing free agent small forward Yakhouba Diawara (which would be a very minor signing) were shrugged off (and I got the sense that there’s nothing pending there), while the ESPN.com report today of the team potentially acquiring former University of Memphis player and current Philadelphia 76er Rodney Carney was deemed unlikely.
I don't have time to read every post of every thread on the team's official message board, but I do try to keep tabs on it to see what die-hard fans are talking about. Perusing it tonight, I ran across a few issues I might be able to shed a little light on:
1. There a lot of outrage and umbrage on this thread about ESPN.com's Chad Ford's recent suggestion that Sixers unrestricted free-agent Andre Iguodala is "coveted" by Grizzlies.
I can say with some certainty that Iguodala was coveted by the Grizzlies. Back during the season, discussions with team decision-makers after the Pau Gasol trade gave me the strong impression that the restricted free-agent the team was most interested in was Iguodala, as opposed to other options such as Monta Ellis, Josh Smith, or Emeka Okafor. Even then, though, doubt was expressed over the ability to pry him from Philadelphia.
I think the acquisition of O.J. Mayo has changed all that. I haven't heard Iguodala's name or any other high-profile name mentioned since the draft. (One name I have heard mentioned as a subject of possible interest: Minnesota bruiser Craig Smith.) I suspect Ford's info is outdated, but perhaps he knows something I don't.
2.This thread asks whether the team's summer-league games will be televised locally (in addition to NBA-TV telecasts), as was the case last year.
According to a someone on the broadcast staff I corresponded with today, there is currently no plan for additional broadcasts. The team is, however, sending a videographer to Las Vegas and plans to provide daily video packages on the team's web site.
3.This thread weighs an optimistic Commercial Appeal story about post-draft ticket sales against a more tempered Chris Vernon report.
I spoke to a high-level team source Sunday and when I asked if the draft was having a big impact on ticket sales, he declined to characterize it as such, instead saying that the draft activity seemed to have "stopped the bleeding."
