Boston Celtics

 

4/4    Sign Kevinn Pinkney to a 10-day contract

 

Yes that's Kevinn with two "Ns."  Pinkney is out of Nevada and had been playing okay as a forward in the NBDL (18 ppg and 7 rpg).  He'll actually could play with the Celts going nowhere (and hoping to go backwards).  Pinkney had a nice debut (15 pts in 21 mpg) and he's big enough that someone might remember him for next year.

 

Dallas Mavericks

 

4/2    Sign Kevin Willis to a 10-day contract

4/12  Sign Kevin Willis for the remainder of the season

 

Usually, signing an older player who is well past his peak is not a recipe for success.  In this case, however, Willis makes some sense.  Yeah, he has no upside but his role is quite clear: sit tight and be around to be the third center when the Mavs play Tim Duncan and, possibly, Shaquille O'Neal.  Willis is in great shape and has ably handled such a role for several years.  It's not a huge role for most teams but for the Mavs Willis could really help.

 

The obvious side note to this move is that Willis now becomes the oldest NBA player ever, replacing the 43-year old Robert Parish, who played for the 1996-97 Bulls title team.  Parish barely played in that playoff run (In two games, he had 9 mpg, 1.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, and shot 1-7 from the field).  Willis might actually even play a little more than that this year.  Willis also has the advantage of sitting out the whole year before the playoff run, while The Chief played in 43 games and logged 406 regular season minutes.

 

Denver Nuggets

 

4/13    Sign Anthony Carter and Von Wafer for the remainder of the season

 

Carter's clearly a resilient guy.  He seemed like he was done back in 2003-04 when his agent accidentally failed to exercise his option with the Hea and he then hurt his knee.  Still, Carter was then was able to find a two-year gig with the T-Wolves.  Now he's missed the whole season and the Nuggets pop up have given a cameo at the end of the year to keep AC's name in the transaction reports.  At this point, Carter is almost 32 and still can't shoot.  Denver is one of the few teams where he makes sense as a defensive role player, kind of like T.R. Dunn did with the old run-n-gun Nuggets (just to a lesser extent).  In any event, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony will easily carry Carter offensively for the 10 minutes a night he might play Tony Parker or Steve Nash in the playoffs.

 

Los Angeles Clippers

 

3/5    Sign Jason Hart and release Will Conroy

 

Conroy was an interesting experiment but Hart, while not a star, is a bona fide NBA point guard right now.  Hart's stepped in and has played pretty solid in replacing the injured Sam Cassell and Shaun Livingston (31.7 mpg, 9.6 ppg, 3.9 apg).  Hart had been buried in Sacramento but the move to the Clippers has put him close to his solid 2004-05 numbers in Charlotte.

 

Memphis Grizzlies

 

4/4    Waive Scott Padgett

 

It's been a rough two years for Padgett, who hasn't been able to demonstrate the shooting touch he had in Utah or his first run with Houston.  I know Padgett's playing time has been a bit too sporadic to draw any inferences as to whether he can still shoot.  Still, he's going to really have to fight to find a guaranteed contract this summer at age-31 and several years bad shooting stats. 

 

New York Knicks

 

3/23    Sign free agent Randolph Morris for the remainder of the season

 

Interesting...Isiah Thomas definitely has some good ideas sometimes, if not all the time.  In this case, Morris declared for the draft last year and went undrafted.  Because he didn't sign with an agent, Morris was allowed to play for Kentucky again this year.  Since Morris went undrafted last year, he was a free agent and no longer eligible to re-enter the draft.  Thomas realized that absent draft eligibility,  Morris didn't even have to wait for the end of the 2006-07 season to go to the NBA, and gave Morris a two-year deal, effective immediately.

 

The move hurts Kentucky on several levels, as the Cats lose their starting center and, since Morris bolted town ASAP, he'll flunk his courses and wreak havoc on the teams grade point average (which could affect the number of scholarships available).  But it's hard to feel too bad to a major college program that makes a ton of cash on its student-athletes.

 

As an NBA prospect, Morris, a 6'11 center, had a solid year (16.1 ppg, .592 FG%, 7.8 rpg, 2.1 bpg).  Morris was a poor rebounder last year and he improved that number slightly on a per-minute basis.  The most notable improvement in Morris' game is in shot blocking, which doubled to 2.1 ppg in only three more minutes per game.  Morris is not star but a young big man is always worth a flier, especially for only $800,000 per year.  It's similar to the shot that Isiah took on Jackie Butler two years ago.  You find enough big men, eventually you may hit on a good power forward/center.

 

In terms of the larger implications of Morris' move, it is pretty clear that current rule on undrafted players encourages freshman with no shot of being drafted of declaring.  So long as the frosh doesn't sign with an agent and isn't drafted, the player can return to school.  If the player ever develops any NBA buzz at some point thereafter, he can sign with any NBA team he wants at any time.  If he doesn't ever develop into a pro, then he hasn't lost anything.  Of course, the player would have to have no shot of being drafted and have the prescience or confidence to believe that he might later become an NBA-quality pro.

 

By way of random example, Kenyon Martin, as a freshmen put up 2.8 ppg and 3.4 rpg in 10 mpg.  Had he declared for the draft at that point, there is no way he had been drafted.  He could've then returned to school and three years later, he happened to become the best player in college basketball and a free agent for NBA purposes.  I assume such a strategy would cause the "return to school rule" to be rescinded but some one else may as well take advantage of it while the loophole is still open.

 

Philadelphia 76ers

 

3/9    Sign Louis Amundson to a 10-day contract

3/28  Sign Louis Amundson for the remainder of the season

4/3    Re-sign Alan Henderson

 

For some reason the Sixers' reacquisition of Henderson feels a lot less dirty than when the Mavs traded Henderson to the Bucks back in 2004-05, only to be cut by Milwaukee and be immediately re-signed by the Mavs.  This is probably because, unlike Dallas, the Sixers aren't going to the playoffs and, in fact, should be tanking it now to improve draft position.  In either case, Henderson has shot a robust 65% in 10 mpg and somebody should want him next year.

 

Portland Trailblazers

 

3/25  Sign Luke Schenscher to a second 10-day contract

4/4    Sign Luke Schenscher for the remainder of the season

 

Schenscher is tall and ambulatory, which is actually a recipe for a decent NBA career.  Schenscher hasn't done much yet but could find a place with a few well played spurts this last week or so of the season.

 

Seattle SuperSonics

 

4/11    Sign Randy Livingston for the remainder of the season

 

Livingston must be a good guy because he keeps getting NBA gigs every year, usually near the end of the season.  Livingston has played 43 NBA games from 2000-01 through 2005-06, yet he hasn't missed an NBA season since coming up with the Rockets in 1996-97.  I'm sure Livingston would prefer more NBA time than roster filler roles at the end of seasons (he hasn't played regularly in the NBA since 1999-00 when he played 79 games for the Suns).  Still, getting some time in the NBA for ten straight years is not the worst fate.

 

Toronto Raptors

 

3/24  Release P.J. Tucker

3/25  Sign Luke Jackson to a 10-day contract

4/4    Sign Luke Jackson to a second 10-day contract

 

Jackson was brought in because of Jorge Garbajosa's leg injury but he'll be near the back of rotation.  The bulk of the playing time will be gobbled up by Morris Peterson and Andrea Bargnani but Jackson will be available if they need someone to hit some threes for brief stretches.

 

Washington Wizards

 

3/21    Sign Mike Hall for the remainder of the season

 

The only winner of the Wiz's recent injury woes is Hall, who has gotten to stick around for the rest of the season.  He'll play a little bit if Caron Butler isn't ready to go in the playoffs.