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NBA Rumors: Brooklyn Nets Expected To Sign Greivis Vasquez, Possibly Interested In Dion Waiters And Jared Sullinger Among Others

By Daniel Benjamin
Published on: 23:33 PST, Jul 10, 2016

The Brooklyn Nets had a disappointing Sunday as the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat matched the Nets’ offer sheets for Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson, respectively. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical first reported that the Nets missed out on two of their top targets.

While the news of losing both players had to be tough for Brooklyn, the Nets wasted little time wallowing in their sorrows as they have reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with Greivis Vasquez – per Wojnarowski.

Vasquez spoke with Marc J. Spears of ESPN after agreeing to his deal.

Vasquez joins free agent acquisition Jeremy Lin and second round draft pick Isaiah Whitehead in the Nets backcourt. The 6-foot-6, 29-year-old is a solid hard-nosed veteran, who can start or come off the bench. He is a good distributor but struggles to score inside the arc. Vasquez also is a weak individual defender and poor rebounder.

Vasquez was limited to just 23 appearances last year with the Milwaukee Bucks as he underwent surgery on his right ankle in December. Vasquez averaged 5.7 points and 4.0 assists along with 2.0 rebounds while shooting 32.6 percent from the field and 24.7 percent from beyond the arc in 2015-16.

Vasquez averages 9.0 points, 4.8 assists and 2.6 assists for his career. The six-year veteran has also played for Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento and Toronto.

With the addition of Vasquez and Whitehead, Brooklyn now has 10 players under contract and plenty of cap space still available per Basketball Insiders. The Nets had approximately $36 million in cap space available — prior to the Vasquez signing — and may use some of the money to woo Dion Waiters away from the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Wojnarowski stated that Brooklyn has not yet made an offer, but one may come in the next few days. The Thunder, who are still reeling from Kevin Durant’s departure, will have the right to match any offer as Waiters is a restricted free agent.

Waiters is a scorer, who takes a lot of awful shots. The 24-year-old also doesn’t finish well at the rim and tends to wander on the defensive end. In addition, he doesn’t rebound and is not a distributor.

Waiters is coming off a season where he averaged a career-low 9.8 points a contest while shooting 39.9 percent from the field though he did shoot 35.8 percent from beyond the arc. On a positive note, Waiters registered his second-highest shooting percentage of his career at 46 percent.

Waiters also had an up-and-down postseason, averaging 8.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 18 games. He shot 41.7 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. Waiters helped the Thunder defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs by reaching double-figures in each of the last three games of the five game series. He totaled eight double-figure performances though he also had six games where he was held to five points or less, which included a 0-for-4 shooting performance that resulted in 0 points in Game five against the Golden State Warriors.

Tim Bontempts of The Washington Post tweeted that Brooklyn may also go after Harkless and perhaps Sullinger while Tom Westerholm of Mass Live thinks Zeller makes sense for the Nets.

Harkless, a restricted free agent, is coming off a career season with the Portland Trail Blazers. The 23-year-old also has drawn interest from the Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks as well as the Blazers.

Sullinger is an unrestricted free agent after having his rights relinquished by the Boston Celtics after the C’s agreed to sign free agent Al Horford. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound power forward/center is an outstanding rebounder who can score inside and out. The 24-year-old averaged 10.3 points, 8.3 caroms and 2.8 assists last year for the Celtics.

Zeller is a high-energy player, who has a knack of knocking down mid-range jumpers. The 26-year-old averaged 6.1 points and 3.0 caroms while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor.

Mike Scotto of Sheridan Hoops is reporting that there is mutual interest between the Nets and Anthony Bennett. The 23-year-old has been a disappointment since being taken with the No. 1 overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2013.

Bennett appeared in 19 games with the Toronto Raptors last season, averaging 1.5 points along with 1.2 rebounds. He shot only 29.4 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from beyond the arc.

First round draft pick Caris LeVert remains unsigned.

[Photo by Aaron Gash/AP]

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