Lawrence On Riley, Shaq, Bulls, Knicks
Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News has a new column focusing on Miami Heat president Pat Riley, who is attempting to build a new dynasty in Miami following the team's NBA Finals victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. Here are the highlights of the column:
Howard-Cooper On Harkless, Centers, Warriors
We're tracking most of today's draft updates here, but Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com has a piece that deserves some extra attention. Howard-Cooper also wrote about the pressure on new Warriors GM Bob Myers today, as we noted, and he has more here on potential choices for Golden State at No. 7 and a player whose stock is on the rise.
Mavs To Retain Brandan Wright
The Mavs will bring back center Brandan Wright next season, reports Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com. Donnie Nelson, the team's president of basketball operations, described the move as a "formality." Wright is slated to make the minimum salary of $992,680.
Northwest Rumors: Harden, Mohammed, Jazz
Thunder coach Scott Brooks will sit down with the team in the next few days to discuss his return, as we heard earlier. Though a dozen Thunder players already have guaranteed contracts for next season, re-signing the coach isn't the only item on GM Sam Presti's offseason agenda. There are possible extensions to negotiate with James Harden and Serge Ibaka, and the team must decide what it wants to do with backup center Nazr Mohammed, who fell out of the rotation in the playoffs and is now an unrestricted free agent. Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor has plenty of work to do as well, and we have news about both teams.
Steve Nash Will “Definitely Consider” Knicks
SATURDAY, 2:38pm: Nash re-iterates that he is considering the Knicks to Ben Sin of SLAMOnline.com, saying that he and Amare Stoudemire spoke recently about "how nice it’d be to play together again." Nash adds that the ability to win a championship won't be the only factor in where he signs, with "salary, family, playing time, and opportunity for team success" all playing a part.
THURSDAY, 8:02am: Marc Berman of the New York Post hears from a source close to Nash that, despite his public comments, the longtime Sun is unlikely to seriously consider the Knicks, even if they have their $5MM mid-level exception available. According to Berman, Nash will receive offers larger than $5MM annually, and wouldn't take less money to play in New York unless he thought the Knicks were closer to winning a title.
Latest On Clippers GM Search
While the Magic hired Rob Hennigan as their new GM this week, it appears the Clippers will head into the draft without someone to replace Neil Olshey, who jumped to fill the Blazers GM vacancy earlier this month. Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times says no hire is imminent and no candidate has gone before owner Donald Sterling. Team president Andy Roeser, coach Vinny Del Negro and director of player personnel Gary Sacks are jointly handling the draft and free agency until a GM is found. Roeser and Del Negro have had discussions about possible candidates, and Sacks is one of many names the Clippers are considering, according to three league executives who spoke with Turner. Let's break down the rest of the list:
Odds & Ends: Raptors, Melo, Brooks, Heat
We're less than a week away from the NBA Draft, and the Raptors big board doesn't seem to be getting any clearer, writes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. However, multiple team sources say that the club was impressed with North Carolina power forward John Henson’s workout on Thursday. More draft news and other odds and ends on this Sunday afternoon..
Prospect Profile: Kevin Jones
You won't find Kevin Jones' name in the first round of Alex Lee's Hoops Rumors mock draft, or anyone else's mock draft for that matter. However, if agent Bill Neff is to be believed, the power forward out of West Virginia will be off the board before pick No. 31 rolls around.
“A team in the first round has committed to him,” Neff told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog. “The question is, what does that mean? I never trust anything other than what happens on draft night…He’ll get drafted,” Neff added. “It’s either them in the first or early second.”
Kennedy On Heat, Nash, Kaman, Roy, Lewis
Even though the Heat captured the 2012 NBA championship on Thursday night, their roster may look very different entering next season, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. The team’s core obviously stay, but they’ll have to re-sign or replace a number of players who were key during their title run. Here's Kennedy on what's next for Miami and more..
Hoops Links: Dalembert, Dunlap, Bucks, Wizards
One of the most lopsided trades in NBA history was completed on this date in 1972. The Rockets traded future Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes to the Baltimore Bullets for forward Jack Marin and future considerations. Hayes would go on to score 15,551 of his 27,313 career points in a Bullets uniform, averaging 21.2 PPG and 12.7 RPG over nine seasons with the Bullets. Marin, meanwhile, lasted just a year and change with Houston before being shipped to the Buffalo Braves in 1974.
If you have a great piece that you think we should feature in next week's edition of Hoops Links, send me an email at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here's this week's look around the basketball blogosphere..