Atlantic Links: Nets, DiLeo, Knicks
Mikhail Prokhorov had plenty to say about the Nets at today's ribbon-cutting ceremony for Barclays Center, the team's new arena in Brooklyn. We passed along his praise of GM Billy King and coach Avery Johnson earlier, and he also made it clear that he won't let the luxury tax stop him from the pursuit of a championship, as Stefan Bondy tweeted. The Nets are already well above the tax line for this season, but in coming years, when the tax penalties grow more severe under the terms of the CBA, we'll see just how far Prokhorov is willing to reach into his deep pockets to enhance his team. The Atlantic Division is full of big spenders, and we've got more on the Nets' rivals here:
- Tony DiLeo's experience and contributions to the deals that have shaped the Sixers, including the trade that brought Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia, make his promotion to GM a shrewd move for the team, argues Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com.
- HoopsWorld's Derek Page examines whether the moves the Knicks made this offseason are enough for them to show significant improvement this year.
- Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy also weighed in on the Knicks, expressing doubts about the team's backcourt and the ability of its frontcourt pieces to mesh to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. He also lauded the Heat's acquisitions of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, and picks Miami to repeat.
Glen Taylor On Sale, Darko, CBA, Kahn, Adelman
This week we passed along a couple of updates on Glen Taylor's search for a buyer who would eventually succeed him as majority owner of the Timberwolves. Taylor, who said he won't sell the team to anyone who would move it out of Minnesota, spoke in greater detail about his plans and about the team's rebuilding process to Britt Robson of Twin Cities Business. Taylor told Robson he received "seven serious inquiries" about the team, and while most of them were rejected because they wouldn't guarantee the team wouldn't move, Taylor is confident he'll be able to announce the buyer before the Wolves' first game of the 2012/13 season, on November 2nd. It would be about six years before the new partner assumed the majority stake, Taylor said.
Taylor is also the chair of the league's board of governors, and he opened up to Robson about the new CBA and its effect on the Wolves, as well as other matters. Here are a few of his noteworthy comments:
On the decision-making process and how the team moved on from Darko Milicic:
“Most of the moves [GM] David [Kahn] is making are heavily influenced by what [coach] Rick [Adelman] has asked of us. But when it comes to finances, David will tell Rick no. At the end of the year, Rick gives me a report of what he thinks of each player. He tells me it’s the same one he gave David and that David knows he is giving it to me. Then he goes through the list. He says, ‘This is the first one I want gone’—that was Darko. ‘This is the second one I want gone. This is what I think of this player.’"
Regarding the CBA and its effect on the Wolves:
"The new deal really helps us. As bad as we’ve played and as bad as the economy has been, we were still in the middle of about 22 or 23 teams that were losing money. If we were losing $15 million or $18 million, some others were losing $40 million. [The new revenue-sharing fund] will step up over three years. Next year there is a possibility of $10 million—now, if we do well it will be less. But I would say that between $5 million and $12 million will come to us.”
About GM David Kahn:
"The person who convinced me about Kahn was Donnie Walsh, who was David’s mentor in Indiana and a guy I really like and respect. Donnie told me, ‘I’d take a risk on him. He’s very smart. He doesn’t know all the basketball stuff, but he’ll know how to run your team.’"
On coach Rick Adelman:
"We were going to build slowly with a young coach [Kurt Rambis] and young players. It was a good plan, but there was a misstep. Now we have a seasoned coach who has said ‘This is my last job.’ He is going to push faster because he wants to win sooner. But his [style of communication] is one I understand and can relate to."
Jazz Expected To Sign Darnell Jackson
The Jazz are expected to bring Darnell Jackson to training camp, tweets Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune. The 6'9" Kansas product has spent parts of three seasons in the NBA, and last made an appearance with the Kings in 2010/11. He's likely to get a non-guaranteed deal at the minimum salary.
Jackson was taken 52nd overall in the 2008 draft by the Heat and traded to the Cavs on draft night. He signed a three-year deal with Cleveland, but was sent to the D-League four times during his abbreviated stint there before the team waived him in 2010. The Bucks claimed him off waivers, trading him a few months later to the Kings. He played in a career-high 59 games for Sacramento in 2010/11, but saw only 8.2 minutes per contest, averaging 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds. He spent last season with the Ukrainian club BC Donetsk.
Once he gets to camp, he'll probably compete for the last roster spot with Trey Gilder, another 6'9" forward who received an invite from the team. The Jazz have 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster, but one of those belongs to Raja Bell, who is attempting to negotiate a buyout.
Extension Candidate: Al Jefferson
After Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum, Al Jefferson figures to be the most prominent center on next summer's free agent market. He's never made an All-Star team, but he's been a consistent performer over the life of a five-year, $65MM extension that kicked in for 2008/09. He's averaged 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds with a 21.0 PER over the first four years of the deal that will pay him $15MM in 2012/13, its final season. He's played in 86% of his team's games the last four seasons after playing all 82 the year before the contract took effect, and is just 27 years old. There's no reason to expect he won't command the maximum amount in his next deal. The question is whether that deal is a new contract or another extension.
Typically, it wouldn't be worthwhile for a veteran to extend his contract under the current CBA. Extensions are limited to three seasons, while a player can get a five-year contract if he waits until free agency to re-sign with his team. Even if he jumps to another team as a free agent, he can sign a four-year deal, and more seasons usually means more guaranteed money.
For Jefferson, there are mitigating factors at play, many of which also apply to Bynum, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors wrote. If Jefferson signs a five-year deal next offseason, he'll be 33 years old when it ends. He would be subject to the over-36 rule if he wanted to sign a long-term deal, and it's questionable whether he'd still be playing well enough to merit another lengthy commitment anyway. He would also be signing his next deal in 2018, after the league and the union will have had the chance to opt out of the current CBA in 2017 and negotiate new terms that might be less friendly to veteran players. If Jefferson signed an extension now, he'd be 31 when it ended, still young enough to sign a four-year deal without running afoul of the over-36 rule, which removes the incentives for teams to sign players to long-term contracts. Jefferson could even include a player option for the final season of his extension. That would allow him to become a free agent at age 30 in 2015, when could sign a full five-year deal. He would have more than 10 years of service at that point, making him eligible for 35% of the salary cap, instead of the 30% he could get as a nine-year veteran next summer.
In Jefferson's case, it might be the team that's more skittish to do the deal. As solid as Jefferson has been, the Jazz have a wealth of big men, from Paul Millsap to promising youngsters Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, both of whom were third overall picks in their respective drafts. The Jazz may not want to commit maximum money to Jefferson when his presence in the lineup would prevent Favors or Kanter from getting the minutes they need to blossom. Millsap's contract is up after this season, too, and his $8.604MM salary this season means the Jazz could give him a significant raise that would still make him cheaper than Jefferson.
Jefferson has indicated a willingness to remain in Utah, so perhaps the Jazz could extract a hometown discount of sorts from him. Jefferson might argue that signing a maximum extension, which would represent less guaranteed money than a new maximum contract next summer, could qualify as a discount, but I don't think the Jazz would bite. If they wanted to keep Jefferson around, I think they'd want to do so long-term, given the team's focus on the future. I'm not so sure that new GM Dennis Lindsey wouldn't want to go in a different direction anyway, extending or re-signing Millsap and letting Jefferson walk next summer unless he agreed to less of an annual salary than his market value would dictate.
Offseason Coaching Deals
Three teams will have new coaches to start the 2012/13 season, as Jacque Vaughn will take over the Magic, Mike Dunlap is the new man for the Bobcats, and Terry Stotts got the Blazers job. A handful of other teams either gave their coaches new deals or picked up their options. Put together, these coaches are the least likely to be replaced at any point this season. It's not without precedent that a new or recently extended coach would quickly lose his job, but it's safe to say they all have a pretty long leash.
The process of hiring a new coach gets a lot of attention, but contracts for existing coaches often slip under the radar. Here are the coaches already in place who got new deals in the offseason.
- July 2: Scott Brooks signs a four-year, $18MM extension with the Thunder — The summer's most contentious coaching negotation wrapped up weeks after Brooks took the team to the NBA Finals. The deal, which resembles the one Rick Carlisle got from the Mavericks in May, puts Brooks amongst the league's highest-paid coaches, more than doubling his $2.1MM salary from 2011/12. The Thunder had been holding out for a shorter deal, and reportedly began having internal discussions about possible replacements for Brooks, including Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy.
- June 4: Randy Wittman signs a two-year deal to remain as coach of the Wizards — GM Ernie Grunfeld, who had just received his own new deal in April, removed the interim tag from Wittman's title. The value of Wittman's deal was not released, but Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports heard that the team was unwilling to make a "significant financial commitment," and locked up Wittman instead of pursuing more prominent coaching candidates. Wittman had been an assistant to Flip Saunders, but took over the head job when Saunders was fired following a 2-15 start.
- May 29th: The Clippers exercise their option on Vinny Del Negro — Though the Clippers took a leap forward with the additions of Chris Paul and others last season, Del Negro was rarely credited with any of the team's newfound success, and was dogged by whispers he would be replaced almost right up until the Clippers exercised their option. There was internal discussion about letting him go when the team hit a rough patch last year, but Del Negro, a favorite of owner Donald Sterling, survived. Neil Olshey, who was the GM when Del Negro got the extension, is gone, but Del Negro was part of a three-man team to replace him before Gary Sacks got the job full-time earlier this month.
- May 25th: Mike Woodson signs a three-year extension with the Knicks — The deal gives Woodson about $4MM per season, an includes an option in the third year, according to Stephen A. Smith of ESPNNewYork.com. Presumably, that's a team option, but in either case it was a significant vote of confidence for Woodson, who replaced Mike D'Antoni in March. The specter of Phil Jackson was present until the deal got done, though Woodson had a major ally once the Knicks also decided to bring back GM Glen Grunwald.
- May 18th: The Hawks exercise their option on Larry Drew for 2012/13 — The move dispelled rumors that the Hawks would decline the option, and that Drew would be a candidate for the Blazers' job. The move was one of Rick Sund's last as GM of the team, and it remains to be seen whether new GM Danny Ferry will want to keep his inherited coach beyond this season.
- May 15th: The Bulls confirm they will pick up their option on Tom Thibodeau for 2012/13 — GM Gar Forman and Thibodeau downplayed a report that the coach was unhappy with his contract situation in April, but the two sides have reportedly been discussing a long-term extension off and on since before last season, without resolution. They resumed those talks this month, as other coaches have lobbied for Thibodeau to receive a lucrative extension. He's likely in line for one that resembles the deals that Brooks and Carlisle got.
- May 15th: The Mavericks give Rick Carlisle a four-year extension — One year removed from leading the Mavs to an NBA title, the team locked up its coach long-term, setting the market for Brooks' deal with the Thunder. TNT's David Aldridge, writing on NBA.com, later reported that the deal averages better than $4.5MM a season, and Ric Bucher of ESPN.com reported that the first year of the contract gives Carlisle $4.6MM.
Eastern Notes: Magic, Sixers, Nets, Celtics
The biggest NBA news of the day so far has come out of Philadelphia, where the 76ers are announced Tony DiLeo's promotion to general manger. SI.com's Sam Amick has a few additional details on the move, including some other names that the Sixers pursued. According to Amick, the Sixers were turned down when they asked permission to speak to Jazz executive Kevin O'Connor and Thunder exec Troy Weaver. Here are a few more Friday notes out of the Eastern Conference:
- Harkless' and Smith's injuries will not be healed in time for the regular season, keeping them out of the Magic lineup until mid-November, Schmitz writes, updating his earlier tweet (below).
Earlier updates:
- Amick adds that the 76ers may still hire a more analytically-inclined executive to work alongside DiLeo in the Philadelphia front office.
- Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov had praise for GM Billy King and coach Avery Johnson, whose contracts are set to expire at season's end. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News passes along Prokhorov's quotes in a pair of tweets.
- Al Harrington, Maurice Harkless, and Ish Smith, all recovering from offseason surgery, are expected to miss training camp, tweets Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. All three players were added by the Magic this summer.
- J.J. Redick understands that the Magic are in a transition year, but says he loves playing in Orlando and that he and GM Rob Hennigan are "on the same page" when it comes to his future (Twitterlinks via John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com).
- A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com looks into which Celtics on non-guaranteed contracts are the best bets to earn a roster spot, concluding that Dionte Christmas is a clear-cut favourite.
- Raja Bell tells Andy Slater of 640 AM Sports in Miami that the Heat would be his first choice in free agency if he can work out a buyout with the Jazz (Sulia link via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel).
- In his latest mailbag for the Sun Sentinel, Winderman debates whether the Heat or Celtics had the better offseason and examines where Miami's roster stands.
Blazers Sign Demonte Harper, Dallas Lauderdale
The Trail Blazers have added Demonte Harper and Dallas Lauderdale to their training camp roster, the team announced today (Twitter link). The Blazers also made their signing of Adam Morrison official, bring their roster count to 18 players.
Harper, 23, was part of the Nuggets' summer league roster in July, having gone undrafted out of Morehead State in 2011. In his senior year, the 6'4" guard averaged 15.5 PPG, shooting 37.3% from three-point range. Lauderdale, meanwhile, played his college ball at Ohio State and also went undrafted a year ago. The big man played for the Warriors' summer league squad in Vegas.
Harper, Lauderdale, and Morrison are all likely competing with Sasha Pavlovic to earn the final roster spot, since Portland's other 14 players are on guaranteed contracts.
Sixers Promote Tony DiLeo To GM
2:56pm: The Sixers have officially announced DiLeo's promotion to general manager, tweets Michael Preston, the team's director of public relations.
9:27am: The 76ers will officially name vice president of basketball operations Tony DiLeo as the team's new general manager, reports NBA.com's David Aldridge (via Twitter). According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link), Rod Thorn will remain as the Sixers' president for now, but will eventually be replaced by DiLeo. An official announcement for DiLeo's promotion is expected later today.
The Sixers had been searching for an eventual replacement for Thorn, who is expected to transition into a advisory role with the club, for much of the offseason. We heard last week that DiLeo had emerged as a leading candidate for the GM opening in Philadelphia. Former Trail Blazers assistant GM Tom Penn, Rockets exec Sam Hinkie, and former Hornets GM Jeff Bower were also believed to be in the running, with Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren having withdrawn his name from consideration last month. Philadelphia also reportedly made an unsuccessful run at Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri.
DiLeo has been a part of the Sixers' organization since the 1990/91 season, holding virtually every position with the team along the way, as Neil Hartman of CSNPhilly.com wrote last week. The longtime Philadelphia exec, who was considered for the Trail Blazers' and Clippers' GM openings this offseason, even briefly served as the Sixers' head coach in 2008/09. Of course, as ESPN.com's John Hollinger points out (via Twitter), the Sixers' current head coach, Doug Collins, essentially serves as the club's "de facto GM," and will remain heavily involved in basketball decisions.
Raptors Sign Chris Wright, Jerel McNeal
The Raptors have officially signed forward Chris Wright and guard Jerel McNeal, the team announced today in a press release. Terms of the deals weren't disclosed, but in all likelihood, both players' contracts are non-guaranteed, minimum-salary pacts.
Wright, who will turn 24 later this month, appeared in 24 games for the Warriors in his rookie season, recording an impressive 18.6 PER, albeit in a small sample size (186 total minutes). The 6'8" forward out of Dayton averaged 17.8 PPG and 8.8 RPG for the Maine Red Claws and Dakota Wizards in 13 D-League contests.
McNeal, meanwhile, has never appeared in an NBA game, despite inking a 10-day contract with the Hornets in 2011. In 47 games for the D-League's Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2010/11, the 25-year-old averaged 19.4 PPG. The 6'3" guard was particularly impressive in the D-League postseason, averaging 27.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 6.5 APG while leading the Valley Vipers to a Finals appearance.
The signings bring the Raptors' roster to a total of 18 players. 14 of those players have fully guaranteed deals, while Jamaal Magloire and Dominic McGuire have partial guarantees, meaning Wright and McNeal will face uphill battles in earning roster spots.
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star first reported that the Raptors were expected to invite Wright to training camp.
Latest On NBPA
FRIDAY, 12:56pm: The NBPA has informed players that the law firm selected to review the union's business practices requires more time to finish its report, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports. That subject was one of many discussed in a series of conference calls with the executive committee and player representatives, says Berger.
Among the other topics discussed was the competition's committee's recent talks about a handful of issues, including flopping. The competition committee has yet to formulate an official recommendation on flopping to take to the league's Board of Governors, according to Berger.
WEDNESDAY, 7:08pm: According to SI.com's Sam Amick, a conference call is scheduled to take place on Thursday regarding several pertinent union issues. From a recent memo: "We will provide an update of current union business and cover matters including the distribution of 2011-12 group license funds, implementation of the new annuity program, and proposed rules changes from the competition committee."
Hanging over the head of all these discussion topics is the status of the union's two most important figures: Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher, who have been at serious odds over the union's financial situation since shortly after last year's CBA resolution. Amick reports that no resolution is expected regarding Fisher and Hunter's issue, and Suns' representative Jared Dudley says the situation "smells funny." Fisher's contract is up in two seasons while Hunter's expires in 2016.