Does anybody really think Monta Ellis will get a max-contract on the open market, except Monta himself?
Monta must be the only one thinking that, because he rejected Milwaukee’s large contract extension of $36 million. The yearly salary in Ellis’ new deal with the Bucks would have come out to $12 million a year.
Milwaukee offered Ellis the option of opting-in through the 2015-2016 season, or rejecting it to become an unrestricted free agent. Ellis chose the latter, and the Bucks now have three players from their backcourt available on the open market when free agency begins, as Brandon Jennings and J.J. Redick are also upcoming free agents.
With the recent hiring of former Bucks’ assistant, Mike Malone to be the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings, that could lead to a reunion this off-season for the two of them. As Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News reports, new Kings owner, Vivek Ranadive was a fan of Ellis during his days with the Golden State Warriors.
Here is more of the latest news from around the league:
In breaking news late Friday night, Sports Business Journal’s Liz Mullen is reporting that Kevin Durant has left his agent, Rob Pelinka, for Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports. This would be the third time Durant has changed agents during his career. This change, though, obviously makes the biggest noise. Roc Nation Sports is scaring agents to death with Jay-Z’s ability to persuade athletes. Roc Nation Sports now has Durant to join Geno Smith and Skylar Diggins as their main clients, as of now. Here is what Durant’s former agent said after the news broke: “We are honored and blessed to have worked on behalf of Kevin, for a brief period of time. He is an amazing person and athlete, and we are proud of our work and service towards advancing his brand in a manner that reflects the mutual qualities we share with Kevin. We wish him nothing but success with his future endeavors.” This move by Durant will have a massive ripple effect. Roc Nation Sports is a force to be reckoned with. Expect some more stars from the NBA, NFL, and more to join Durant in making Jay-Z’s agency a sports empire.
At Southern Methodist University, a study of flopping using biomechanics is taking place. Just being a few miles down the road at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Mark Cuban has decided to fund the study. Cuban has decided to donate $100,000 to further expand SMU’s study of flopping in the NBA. The 18-month study of one of the most hated things in basketball will help determine if video review can tell if contact can be determined a flop on the court. The NBA is trying to crack down hard with flopping, but could this study lead to even more penalties for floppers next season? More here in Tweet of the Day.
- Minnesota has locked in on one target in the upcoming draft: Victor Oladipo of Indiana. The Timberwolves are willing to part with Derrick Williams and the 9th overall pick to get into the top 4. Oladipo is expected to end up in a Cavaliers, Magic, Bobcats, or Suns uniform after the draft due to them all being logical fits in the top 5 of the draft. Our own Joe Kotoch released his Mock 4.0 and has Oladipo at number 2 to the Magic. Oladipo is being compared to Tony Allen, due to his ability to change a team’s defense all-around. He has the ability to lockdown star-quality players on the next level. Minnesota needs an explosive guard who can bring a tough, defensive mindset. Oladipo could surely provide that for the Timberwolves.
Please, I am beging you, get someone to edit these articles. I am by no means a copy editor and am not a huge stickler about grammer but this is hard to read. If the kid who wrote this read it out loud one time he would have noticed this. Evan is not the only contributor to this site with this problem, one glance through the comments pages and you will find this is a common complaint. I like this site but this is a simple problem that is clearly ignored. I have no doubt you can find someone with some ability to be copy editor willing to contribute to sheridan hoops. Please for the betterment of the site and the sanity of its readers find someone to do this.