HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

The Cavs Update:  The Cleveland Cavaliers are still sitting on more cap space than any team in the NBA ($11.1 million) and while they have a few things in the hopper, it does not look like the Cavs will be making any major cash moves in the foreseeable future.

The Cavs are working on a multi-year deal with free agent swingman Alonzo Gee. Word is the deal is a three-year pact worth some $9 million. There is some debate on how much that figure will be guaranteed. Gee has been working relentlessly this summer on his game and while he has heard from other teams, the Cavs did issue a qualifying offer and made it clear that they would match a trivial offer. Gee never seriously entertained other offers because of the ideal situation for him in Cleveland and it looks like they will get a real deal done soon.

Reports surfaced yesterday suggesting that the Cavs were considering buying out Omri Casspi, however since that report went viral on Twitter both the Cavs and Casspi have denied that there have been any talks on the subject.

The Cavs currently have 17  players under contract including the non-guaranteed deals of Samardo Samuels, Donald Sloan, Jon Leuer and Michael Eric. The Cavs have also reportedly extended a camp invite contract to undrafted forward Kevin Jones.

NBA teams can bring up to 20 players to training camp. However, before the first regular season game they will have to trim the roster to at least 15 guys.

The Cavs have been linked to trade rumors involving the ending deal of Luke Walton and the partially guaranteed deal of Daniel Gibson, although nothing seems to be close on either player.

The Cavaliers will open training camp on October 1 and will play their first pre-season game against Italy’s Montepaschi Siena on October 8.

The GM Jobs:  There are still two open general manager spots in the NBA and while one of them is likely going to be filled, there does not appear to be a lot of urgency in filling the second one.

Then Philadelphia 76ers are looking for a replacement for team president Rod Thorn. The process has been ongoing for about two months and several names have been linked to the job. Thorn is planning to step down from running the day-to-day operations of the team in favor of a consulting relationship and the 76ers are looking to hire an experienced operator in his place.

There were rumors that former Portland executive Tom Penn was the front runner for the job, however, that seems to have fallen apart. The 76ers are expected to meet with Celtic’s executive Mike Zarren and former Hornets GM Jeff Bower this week.

Of the two, Zarren may have the most upside, but Bower is a proven executive that has actually run his own team.

There is no timetable for a hire. There is a sense that Philly would like to have this resolved before they open training camp at the end of September.

The L.A. Clippers have been passively looking for a replacement for Neil Olshey, who left the team for Portland’s GM job in June. The Clippers have talked with former Nets and Nuggets executive Kiki Vandeweghe, who most pegged as the guy for the job, however nothing serious has materialized on that front.

Team president Andy Roeser has handled the day-to-day decision making while director of player personnel Gary Sacks has managed most of the other details.

The Clippers GM job is more of a figure head role and it does not seem like the team is in any hurry to fill it, but that is not from a lack of looking. At different points the Clips have been linked to Cavs’ executive David Griffin, Knicks’ executive Mark Warkentien, Bucks’ executive Jeff Weltman, and former Blazers’ executive John Nash.

Extending Brandon Jennings?:  Milwaukee guard Brandon Jennings has never lived up to the expectations the Bucks have had for him. The team had hoped that he’d become the leader they desperately needed. They had hoped he’d become one of the top point guards in the game and more importantly they hoped he’d power the Bucks to the playoffs. None of those things has happened, but that might not be entirely Brandon’s fault.

As Brandon enters his fourth NBA season he understands what’s on the line, and while he’s hopeful the Bucks offer him a contract extension, he understands that a lot has to be done to justify it.

“It would be something I’d love to get done with and over with so I don’t have to worry about it,” Jennings said to Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. “But the main thing is just to come into training camp a better player, a better leader … just lead the team to the playoffs.

“To be honest, I think everybody is (feeling pressure). We’re all on the bubble right now, because we need to win. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on all of us, not just the coaching staff or the GM. We all know this could be it so we need to turn it around right now.

“A lot of teams are different and some teams got better. I still think the Sixers are going to be great. The Nets are going to be better for sure.

“With the team we have and the potential we have, we have a chance to be a top six seed in the Eastern Conference. That’s something I’m going to go into training camp talking about with the guys. Instead of saying we hope we make the playoffs, we just need to start saying, ‘We’re going to do it and we need to do it now.’”

The Bucks have just $46 million in guaranteed contracts on the books for next season, which includes the option year for guard Monta Ellis. Most of the staff in Milwaukee is on the final year of their deal including head coach Scott Skiles. So this is truly a make or break year for the Bucks as a team.

Jennings ended the season shooting 41.8 percent from the field while averaging 19.1 points and 5.5 assists.

His 365 assists last season ranked him 13th in the NBA, just below LeBron James’ 387 assists and just ahead of Russell Westbrook’s 362 assists and Greivis Vasquez’s 359 assists.

Jennings on his career is 39.3 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from NBA three

The Legend of The Bease:  At some point you have likely heard about the estate sale at Michael Bealsey’s former home in Minnesota. It became news this weekend because of all of the oddities in Beasley’s home that were for sale. From a series of screenplays from Ingmar Bergman to a closet full of leather purses, to random things like rabbit salt, and pepper shakers.

Beasley, who lives alone, rented the 5,000 square foot home in Minnesota and opted to leave his belongings behind and move on.

The contents of Beasley’s home aren’t exactly what you’d expect from a million dollar athlete. However, Beasley has never been what you’d call normal.

At every stop in Beasley’s basketball career strange stories followed. The Miami HEAT simply gave him away after selecting him with the second-overall pick in 2008 to create cap space to sign the Big Three. He is said to have been the most fined player in HEAT history, because he could not adapt to the their program. They hired staffers and mentors specifically to work with Bease and it didn’t work out.

There was his infamous run-in at the Rookie Orientation Program, where he was sent home for having girls and marijuana in his hotel room.

Beasley has always lived his life a little differently than the rest of his peers.

Beasley spent one semester at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida during one of his many high school stops. At one point they had to separate him from the other students in the dorm rooms because he was too disruptive to the other students. He ended up living with one of the coaches.

Beasley once showed up to practice wearing one white sock and one black sock. When asked why he’d shrugged his shoulders without an answer.

That’s Michael Beasley. He just does things.

So to see the contents of his home, it’s not overly surprising that it’s filled with oddities, because Michael himself is an impulsive and odd guy. He has been that way since high school.

Beasley signed an $18 million deal with the Phoenix Suns this summer, so when it’s time for him to move on it should be interesting to see what he amasses in Phoenix. The contents of that home will likely be as weird and quirky as his Minnesota digs, because that’s just who he is.

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NBA Chats: There are two NBA Chats scheduled for today starting with HOOPSWORLD’s Bill Ingram at 11am. Bill’s chats do fill up fast so getting in early is always wise. Stepeh Brotherston also hosts his weekly chat at 3 pm est. You can also checkout our entire upcoming chat schedule here.