And-Ones: Williams, Carmelo, Leonard, Isiah
Jazz forward Marvin Williams hasn’t had any discussions with management about his future, writes Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. However, Falk reminds that Utah rejected a deadline deal that would have sent Williams out in an exchange for a first round pick, hoping that the 6’9 forward would eventually re-sign this summer. Williams is finishing up the final year of a deal that will pay him $7.5MM this season, and based on glowing approbation from his teammates and coaches recently, it’d appear that Utah remains strongly interested in keeping him for the long-term.
Here are more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes:
- Carmelo Anthony finally had his first conversation with Phil Jackson before the Knicks‘ loss to the Lakers on Tuesday, though the 29-year-old forward tells Newsday’s Al Iannazzone that it was nothing more than small talk: “He told me to get ready, go out there and play, try to finish the season off strong, that’s it…We didn’t really talk about too much. Talked about him being in New York, him coming back out to L.A., the weather. Just generic. We really didn’t talk about nothing.”
- There’s an argument to be made that Kawhi Leonard is the most valuable player on the league’s best team, writes Sam Amick of USA today, who also thinks it’s safe to assume that securing Leonard’s services will be a top priority for the Spurs this summer. The 6’7 forward will be eligible for a contract extension in July.
- Isiah Thomas neither confirmed nor denied an interest in taking a job with the Pistons in the near future, but he did intimate his strong loyalty to the franchise: “My heart has never left this organization…I don’t think you will find a person on this earth that loves the Pistons more than I do” (Eric Lacy of MLive.com reports).
- Bill Laimbeer was also asked about a potential role with the Pistons but declined comment.
- At the recommendation of a Los Angeles-based ankle specialist, Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova will sit out the remainder of the 2013/14 season (Twitter links via the team’s official Twitter account).
- Some may contend that Taj Gibson is a strong candidate to win the Sixth Man of the Year title, but Sam Smith of Bulls.com argues that the Bulls forward exemplifies the NBA’s Most Improved award.
- Former 76ers swingman Rodney Carney is headed to Lebanon to play for Al Riyadi Beirut, reports Enea Trapani of Sportando.
Mark Jackson Not Worried About Extension
Over the past few days, there’s been some of speculation about an “increasingly dysfunctional atmosphere” brewing between Mark Jackson and the Warriors’ front office. Despite that, Jackson isn’t concerned about not having a contract extension beyond next season and spoke about it on his weekly radio show on KNBR (Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group transcribes):
“There is not a piece of me that’s bothered that an extension has not been agreed upon or anything of that nature…We move forward. I had the deal. They picked up my option for next year, and I think that obviously speaks volumes even though for some folks it doesn’t say anything.”
Several Warriors players have come forward to offer public support for their head coach, including Stephen Curry, who has made it known that he’d like to be consulted by management if a decision were to be made on Jackson’s future. According to Leung, the 26-year-old All-Star also said that he and the rest of the team are behind Jackson “100%”. Jackson was appreciative of their vote of confidence, but acknowledged that he isn’t sure how much the players’ endorsements will influence the front office:
“It depends on who’s making the decision…To some ownership groups or management groups, it means a lot. To some, it doesn’t matter what franchise players or players feel, it’s business as usual. I don’t know…I’m thankful and grateful (for the support), and it says that we’ve got a tied-together group, but with that being said, I’m not even concentrating on that, to be quite honest. It doesn’t matter. That will take care of itself. This is an ownership group that believes in me, pulled the trigger when nobody else decided to make me a head coach, so that will play itself out.”
Coaching Rumors: Jackson, T’Wolves, Adelman
The topic of Mark Jackson’s job security with the Warriors is riddled with complexity, and ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez and J.A. Adande discuss how this year’s struggles may affect the third-year head coach’s future in Oakland. Gutierrez suggests that Jackson bears some responsibility for Golden State’s frustrating play at times this year, while Adande surmises that Jackson will be in big trouble if the Warriors fail to improve on their six playoff wins from last season. Adande adds that ownership has spent nearly half of a billion dollars to purchase the team and upgrade the arena, and doesn’t think that patience accompanies those types of expenditures.
You can find additional coaching-related links below, including more from the above piece:
- Adande believes that a contract extension for Jackson would imply a significant vouch of support from management; however, the fact that there hasn’t been one yet makes him wonder if anyone within the organization’s hierarchy has Jackson’s back.
- Gutierrez thinks the Warriors are hastily trying to figure out Jackson’s potential as a head coach, and that Jackson could be heading into the postseason with his future in Golden State on the line.
- Timberwolves executive Flip Saunders is close to college coaches Fred Hoiberg and Tom Izzo, both of whom owner Glen Taylor admires, notes Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Walters senses that the chances of Rick Adelman returning to coach the Wolves are “remote” and points to the team’s coaching search from six years ago, when the team was willing to give the job to Izzo. Still, Izzo was strident in saying this week that he has no interest in coaching the Pistons. Saunders will be in New York to watch both Hoiberg and Izzo coach in the NCAA tournament this week, Walters adds via Twitter.
- Aside from Mark Jackson, there are many other coaches are in worse situations, notes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Toronto’s Dwane Casey, Washington’s Randy Wittman , Portland’s Terry Stotts, and Utah’s Tyrone Corbin are all finishing up their contracts this year and have yet to receive extensions.
- Deveney also groups Knicks coach Mike Woodson with Corbin as two contract-year coaches who are on “ice that is thin as ice can get”, though it’s worth mentioning that Woodson actually had his 2014/15 contract option picked up last September.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Kings Hold Off On Re-Signing Royce White
The Kings have no immediate plans to re-sign Royce White for the rest of season, notes Jonathan Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom (hat tip to James Ham of Cowbell Kingdom). Earlier today, we noted that the team had been debating on whether or not to give the 6’8 forward a new contract once his second 10-day deal expired today. With that being said, head coach Michael Malone wouldn’t rule out an eventual return for White in the future:
“The door is not closed…The 10-day has ended, but that doesn’t mean that the relationship has ended for good…I think for him and his future and his career, he has to start amending some of the things that have happened in the past…Everybody here can only speak positively about our time with Royce and as we just mentioned, it doesn’t mean that his time here is over. For right now it is, but I appreciate his hard work.”
Santiago adds that White’s potential future in Sacramento will be up to GM Pete D’Alessandro, who is currently in New York attending personal matters. Malone – who continued to be complimentary in describing White’s stay in Sacramento when speaking with the media – expects D’Alessandro to meet with White and his representation once he returns from that trip.
Though originally drafted by the Rockets in 2012, White hadn’t appeared in an official NBA game until this year with the Kings. The 22-year-old Minneapolis native is yet to register his first career basket as a pro and logged a total of nine minutes over his twenty-day stint in Sacramento.
Atlantic Links: Sixers, Knicks, J.R. Smith, Celtics
The Sixers went most of last summer without signing a free agent, and that’s the plan again this time around, coach Brett Brown told reporters, including Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“No free agent is going to want to come to Philadelphia at this stage,” Brown said, explaining that the team is instead focused on developing young talent. “Why would a good free agent want to come in and be a part of a rebuild?”
The Sixers plan to wait another couple of years before attempting to make a splash on the market, Brown added, so it seems like they’ll be looking up at their Atlantic Division rivals for a while longer. Here’s the latest on a couple of them:
- James Dolan and Steve Mills have already concluded that the Knicks roster requires a shakeup, despite the team’s run at a playoff spot, observes Marc Berman of the New York Post, who believes Phil Jackson‘s recent comments suggest the Zen Master agrees.
- The desire for changes in New York doesn’t necessarily mean the Knicks will look to unload J.R. Smith, Berman writes in a separate piece.
- With the Celtics in line for the fifth overall pick, as our Reverse Standings show, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge shares insight on how he scouts prospects, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald details.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Greg Monroe
Most restricted free agents as valuable as Greg Monroe is are virtual shoo-ins to return to their teams. That’s not the case with the 6’11” former Georgetown Hoya whose departure would appear to offer the Pistons the easiest way to dismantle their clumsy, super-sized frontcourt. Much hinges on just who the Pistons will have running their basketball operations this summer, with the job security of Joe Dumars in doubt. Most would probably conclude that the teaming of Monroe, Andre Drummond and Josh Smith has been a failed experiment, but even if Smith and Drummond continue to be unmovable assets, for completely different reasons, it doesn’t necessarily mean Monroe is a goner.
The Pistons could sign Monroe this summer and trade him at the deadline, although his statistical decline this season suggests that his value would take a hit if Detroit continues to play him with its current set of misfit parts. His points, rebounds and assists per game — and per minute — are all down, and his PER is at a career-low 17.9. Monroe no doubt bears some responsibility for his own declining numbers, but it seems most logical to suggest that playing out of position and amid tight offensive spacing has been the primary reason behind his regression. He might not be all that enthusiastic about playing under these conditions for another year, but the Pistons wield the power to match any offer Monroe takes from another club.
Still, part of what makes Monroe such an intriguing case is the strong possibility that other clubs find him significantly more valuable than whoever will be making basketball decisions for Detroit does. Agent David Falk is averse to extensions for less than the maximum salary, and it never appeared as though the Pistons were willing to go that high. Still, Monroe is only 23 years old, and with averages of 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game with a 19.8 PER over the past three seasons, there’s plenty of reason to believe that at least one team would be willing to give him the max. That’s especially true since Monroe qualifies for a max that’s equivalent to only 25% of the salary cap, significantly less than the max salaries that more experienced players can make. The precise amount won’t be clear until after the July Moratorium, but it will likely entail a starting salary close to $14MM a year.
Falk has mastered the art of linking a client with the team that holds him in higher regard than most, having done so most recently with Roy Hibbert of the Pacers. Hibbert, who like Monroe is a former Georgetown big man, wasn’t widely considered worthy of a max deal when the Blazers agreed to sign him to an offer sheet for that amount in 2012, forcing the Pacers to quickly swoop in with an identical offer to retain him.
Five Eastern Conference teams are reportedly already planning to pursue Monroe, and one of them is probably the Wizards, who would apparently like to bring him back to the same city where he played his college ball. The Bobcats and Warriors had interest in trading for Monroe at the deadline, an idea that Detroit resisted short of an extraordinary offer. The resistance to part with Monroe in advance of his free agency indicates that Dumars and company are by no means anxious to see him go. The Pistons are hoping to re-sign him to a contract similar to the four-year, $49MM deal the Thunder gave Serge Ibaka in 2012, as TNT’s David Aldridge wrote in February. Aldridge believes the team will settle for paying the max if another club makes him such an offer, but given Detroit’s inability to find a taker for Smith, it’s not unreasonable to believe otherwise. A max deal for Monroe would require a commitment of nearly half the salary cap to two parts of a three-man unit that simply hasn’t worked.
The possibility of a sign-and-trade is in play. The Pistons could use their ability to match offers as leverage to gain assets from Monroe suitors. Dumars was on the other end of such a transaction this summer, when he acquired Brandon Jennings for three players including Brandon Knight and Khris Middleton, a pair of inexpensive young talents with upside. Detroit can’t expect to receive a player of Monroe’s caliber in this sort of swap, but the big man’s status as a restricted free agent means the club could reap assets more valuable than the ones conveyed in many sign-and-trades.
Monroe is certainly no superstar, but a young, productive interior player who stands 6’11” needn’t be a marquee name to command a max deal. His down year this season raises legitimate concerns, but I think he’ll nonetheless be able to sign a max contract in the summer. Whether it’s the Pistons or another team that winds up shelling out the money depends on just who is running the front office in Detroit. If the new GM is a confident, aggressive sort who feels like there’d be an avenue to solve the team’s frontcourt mess even with Monroe on the books for max money, the big man will stay put. If owner Tom Gores installs someone who wants to play it safe and take the path of least resistance, Monroe will be wearing a different uniform.
Pacific Notes: Young, Meeks, Hornacek, Kings
It appears likely that Nick Young will opt out of his contract, writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, though there’s mutual interest in keeping him in purple-and-gold. The team also likes soon-to-be free agent Jodie Meeks, Bresnahan adds, and while Meeks has spoken of his desire to remain a Laker, the Times scribe believes the shooting guard will probably command a tidy raise from his $1.55MM salary this season. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Within a story noting that Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg must pay the school $500K if he accepts an NBA head coaching or GM job, Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register reveals that Jeff Hornacek is making $2MM as coach of the Suns this year. Hornacek reportedly has a four-year deal with a club option in the final season.
- The Kings are debating whether to re-sign Royce White for the season, and they’re enamored with his play, professionalism and the way he’s meshed with teammates, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. White’s second 10-day contract with Sacramento expires tonight.
- Sean Cunningham of News 10 Sacramento hears it was a failed physical that derailed Chris Johnson‘s deal with the Kings (Twitter link). The team is reportedly adding Willie Reed instead.
Tyler Ennis To Declare For Draft
Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis will enter this year’s NBA draft, sources tell Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The freshman will probably be a late lottery pick, with fellow ESPN.com scribe Chad Ford slotting him ninth in his prospect rankings and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pegging him 15th. The Orange’s upset loss to Dayton this past weekend in the NCAA tournament appears to have been his final college game.
Ennis is frequently mentioned along with Dante Exum and Marcus Smart as one of the top three point guards expected to be in this year’s draft, though it appears he trails both of them in the eyes of most teams for now. The 6’2″ Ennis averaged 12.9 points, 5.5 assists and 1.7 turnovers in 35.7 minutes per game this season, one in which Syracuse raced to a 25-0 start. The team won just three times in its final nine games, and perhaps that’s hurt the stock of the 19-year-old.
Still, Ennis made strides during the 2013/14 season. The Canadian native started the season just 45th in Givony’s rankings, and he wasn’t among the top 20 on Ford’s list, either. He was No. 27 on the Recruiting Services Consensus Index for the top 2013 high school prospects.
Warriors Rumors: Jackson, Barnes, O’Neal, Green
Impatience from the ownership suite is at the root of much of the tension surrounding the Warriors, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes in his NBA AM piece. The front office is under pressure, and that affects coach Mark Jackson and his coaching staff, according to Kyler, who says the owners often push for roster changes when the team isn’t performing well. The principal owners of the Warriors are Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, but Kyler doesn’t specify whether it’s one or both of them or someone else within the ownership group who is putting the squeeze on. Still, Kyler has other specifics about the uneasiness in Golden State, as we detail below amid our look at the latest from the Pacific Division:
- Harrison Barnes was the subject of trade rumors before the deadline, and Kyler hears that Warriors ownership started those talks in hope of flipping Barnes for a veteran big man who could help the team win in the short-term. For what it’s worth, Lacob said in February that he wasn’t anxious to move Barnes.
- Jackson previously denied that there’s dysfunction within the Warriors, and Wednesday he also tried to shoot down the idea that he sought head coaching jobs with the Clippers and Nets, among other teams. Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com has the details.
- Jackson is an ordained nondenominational Christian minister, and that’s a draw for many players, including Jermaine O’Neal, who said it was one of the primary reasons he signed with the Warriors, and Draymond Green, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News observes.
- The Warriors expected to contend for the Western Conference title this year, and if they reach the conference finals, Jackson will “almost certainly” return as coach, but if they lose in the first round, he’s a goner, Deveney believes.
Sixers Re-Sign James Nunnally To 10-Day Pact
THURSDAY, 12:08pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 11:44am: The Sixers are set to sign James Nunnally to a second 10-day contract, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The small forward’s first 10-day deal expires tonight. Nunnally also went through a pair of 10-day stints with the Hawks this year, and his goal at this point is presumably to convince Philadelphia to sign him for the season, which Atlanta decided not to do.
The 6’7″ Nunnally went undrafted out of UC Santa Barbara in 2012 and played last season in the D-League, but he was a sought-after camp invitee after a strong summer league performance with the Heat in 2013. He joined the Suns for the preseason but failed to make the opening-night roster and returned to the D-League, where he’s spent the bulk of this season aside from his brief time with the Hawks and Sixers. He’s averaging 12.4 minutes per game in five contests for Philadelphia, putting up 2.2 points and 1.0 rebounds a night.
The Sixers also have Casper Ware on a 10-day contract that runs until a week from tonight. A new deal with Nunnally would keep the team at the 15-man roster limit. Philadelphia has given 10-day contracts to five players this season, as our 10-Day Tracker shows.