Lakers Rumors: D’Antoni, Kupchak, Jeanie Buss
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has as much job security as anyone with a fresh extension in hand, but the same can’t be said for coach Mike D’Antoni. We have more on both members of the Lakers braintrust, as we detail:
- Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com hears the Lakers aren’t leaning toward keeping D’Antoni for next season (video link), which conflicts with last week’s dispatch from Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. If anything, the Lakers are leaning toward firing him, McMenamin says, but Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News seconds Ding’s original report, tweeting that the Lakers are indeed leaning toward keeping their coach.
- D’Antoni “probably” won’t be around next season, writes Sam Amick of USA Today, adding that the coach nonetheless has Kupchak’s respect.
- Late Lakers owner Jerry Buss had Byron Scott on a shortlist of coaching candidates, Amick notes in the same piece, though it’s unclear if the Buss family would want to pursue him.
- D’Antoni is weary from a losing season and heaps of criticism, but he still wants to coach the Lakers, as Amick observes. “Hey look, this is a great place,” D’Antoni said. “Any player who has a destination of L.A. — it’s pretty good. I’ve been lucky to be here. I don’t want to say, ‘Oh yeah [I’ll be back],’ but I don’t know. And I’m sure that everybody is going to have to sit down and figure it out. I think the franchise will have a way that they want to get to the best, to the top, and you go with it. And if I’m included in that, great. That’s how it goes.”
- Part of the reason the Lakers extended Kupchak is so he wouldn’t enter next season on an expiring contract, Medina tweets.
- This season “isn’t how we roll,” Lakers owner Jeanie Buss tells Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times, but Buss nonetheless sees bright spots and is optimistic the team is on the right path for the future. Buss also touches on fiancee and Knicks president Phil Jackson and her working relationship with brother and co-owner Jim Buss.
Celtics, Kris Humphries Negotiating New Deal
The Celtics and agent Arn Tellem, who represents Kris Humphries, have had preliminary conversations about a new contract for Humphries in the offseason, reports Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge said last week that he’d spoken to Humphries directly about a return for next season. The two sides can’t sign an extension, since the power forward is only on a two-year contract, and Ainge said he can’t make promises at this point, given the uncertainty surrounding the rest of the team. Tellem understands Ainge’s position, Murphy writes, but the Celtics boss is a fan of Humphries, who reiterated his desire to remain in Boston.
“Look at the direction we’re heading in,” Humphries said. “Obviously this year there was disappointment. But [coach] Brad [Stevens is] a winner, Ainge has proven to be a winner on multiple levels. The organization and fans are great. The chance to be part of a playoff team here will be great. I think it’s possible. Ultimately it comes down to what the players do, but it’s one of those things where you get comfortable somewhere, and hopefully you can be there for a while and have success.”
The Celtics were reportedly eyeing a sign-and-trade of Humphries this summer shortly after the trade deadline, and he’s recently been identified on a list of players likely to change teams in the offseason. He was open to a trade away from Boston early this season, his first with the Celtics after they acquired him in last summer’s Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce blockbuster, but he’s clearly warmed to the idea of sticking around.
Humphries is in the final season of a two-year, $24MM deal he signed with the Nets in 2012. He clearly won’t see nearly as much this time around, given his decline in playing time the past couple of seasons, but the 29-year-old’s size and efficient play should have multiple teams at his door, as our Zach Links wrote when he examined Humphries’ free agent stock.
Kupchak On Kobe, D’Antoni, Jackson, Future
A GM usually isn’t on solid footing near the end of his team’s third straight season with a record worse than the year before. Mitch Kupchak breaks the mold, having just signed an extension that will keep him under contract with the Lakers for at least three more seasons. Kupchak isn’t the only one who makes basketball decisions for the team, with co-owner and executive vice president Jim Buss having final authority in that realm. Kobe Bryant, who signed his own extension through 2015/16 this past autumn, has seemed to have plenty of influence, and while the superstar reportedly wants to see the team make a coaching change, it doesn’t appear as though Kupchak is listening. The GM spoke to Sam Amick of USA Today shortly after the team announced the extension, and we’ll share a few highlights of Amick’s must-read piece for Lakers fans here:
On Bryant and his frustration with the team’s approach:
He had that one outburst, but I think he got caught up in all the sensation of the moment — is Phil [Jackson] going to stay or is he going to go? He wants the same thing we want, which is to win as much as possible as soon as possible. I meet with him. [It’s] not on a regular basis, but in the last two or three months we have met several times, and he gets it.
On whether Bryant will have input on the decision whether to retain Mike D’Antoni:
We won’t consult with him. Our decisions going forward — we’re not going to do knee-jerk stuff. We’ll let the season end, and take some time. We’ve got a lot of injuries and surgeries to sort through. That’s a lot to accomplish.
On whether the team has made its decision on D’Antoni, and the summer ahead:
No. No. In fact, I told Jimmy [Buss] let’s get to the end season, take some time off … then review the season. Look at our roster. I mean we have a plan. We’ve aligned our contracts in such a way where we’re at a position where we’re not financially stuck. But there’s a lot we don’t know. We don’t know where we’re going to get our pick. Are we going to be sixth, are we going to be eighth, are we going to be two or three? We don’t know. We know who may be a free agent, but we don’t know for sure until June 30.
On internal discussions about bringing Phil Jackson back to the Lakers:
Well I don’t know when the most recent one was. We discussed a year or two ago about how could we — and this was Jimmy and I and I know he may have discussed it with his family — and it was open for discussion. And it was kind of a standing understanding, but I think Jeanie [Buss] said it best two weeks ago. At the end of the day, there was no position for a person of his stature.
On rebuilding the Lakers:
Our goal is not to go 41-41. That’s not our goal. Our goal is to be considerably better than that. And maybe we can do it in a year, or maybe it takes two or three years, OK? Any of those scenarios would be wonderful scenarios. I mean there have been teams — seven or eight teams in the NBA who have never even been to the Finals of the NBA and they’ve been around 30 or 40 years.
Lakers Sign GM Mitch Kupchak To Extension
The Lakers have extended their contract with GM Mitch Kupchak, tweets Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, confirming a report from Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. Kupchak’s contract was set to expire after 2014/15, but it’s a multiyear extension, according to Shelburne, which indicates that it will run through at least 2016/17. The terms and the precise length of the extension are unclear, though Shelburne notes that Kupchak has long been one of the highest-paid executives in the NBA (Twitter link).
The timing of the deal is odd, considering the Lakers have clinched their worst record since moving to Los Angeles, and they come off a summer in which Dwight Howard left the Lakers to sign with the Rockets in a rare case of a superstar spurning the purple-and-gold. That the Lakers made the move now shows the regard the Buss family, which owns the Lakers, has for Kupchak, and it’s essentially a vote of confidence in him, Shelburne writes. Kupchak first joined the Lakers front office in 1986 after spending the last five years of his playing career with the team.
Kupchak, one of the NBA’s longest-tenured GMs, has held his current job since the summer of 2000. That was the same offseason that Joe Dumars took over the Pistons front office, and a report Tuesday indicated that Dumars plans to resign soon. The Lakers have won four championships on Kupchak’s watch. Kupchak works in tandem with co-owner and executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss, who has authority over the team’s basketball decisions.
T.J. Warren Declares For Draft
Tuesday, April 8, 10:49pm: Warren’s decision was announced in an official statement from the school today, per Aaron Beard of The Associated Press.
March 24, 1:11pm: North Carolina State forward T.J. Warren has decided to enter the draft, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The sophomore will make a formal announcement in the next few days, according to Wojnarowski. Warren is rated 18th on Jonathan Givony’s list for DraftExpress, while he checks in 20th on Chad Ford’s Insider-only ESPN.com rankings.
Ford and Givony both acknowledge Warren, at 6’8″, is something of a tweener, but he’s had no trouble scoring this season, racking up 24.9 points in 35.4 minutes per game. He increased his ratio of three-point to two-point attempts after going 14 for 27 from behind the arc as a freshman, but that small sample size didn’t carry over to this season, when he shot an abysmal 26.7% on 3.3 three-point looks per contest.
Warren picked the hometown choice for college, so he’ll have to make an adjustment as he leaves the confines of North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham area to play in the NBA. The Wolfpack lost Thursday in the NCAA tournament, so his collegiate career appears to be over, unless he withdraws before the deadline. It doesn’t appear likely he’ll change his mind, as he’s already meeting with agents, Wojnarowski notes. A player may not return to college once he signs with an agent.
And-Ones: Reed, Pistons, Noel
While the names of former NBA head coaches Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Van Gundy pop up each year as rumored candidates for coaching vacancies, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders says that both brothers have promised their families they won’t move (via Twitter). Of course, that doesn’t rule out every opening, and restless coaches often return to the bench despite similar family vows. Here’s more from around the league:
- LaQuinton Ross plans to sign with agents Jeff Schwartz and Sean Kennedy of Excel Sports tomorrow, per a tweet from Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The small forward out of Ohio State announced his plans to enter the draft late last month, and is considered a second round talent.
- Daniel Orton reflects on his time with the Maine Red Claws this year, telling Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside that he chose to play in the D-League to give himself a better shot at finding an NBA roster spot. “The decision (to play in the D-League) was all about trying to get back into the NBA,” Orton said. “I’m trying to get a call-up. I had offers to go overseas and make some money, but I’m trying to get back into the NBA more so than anything.” The big man has only managed to play in 51 NBA games across his three-season career, and was waived by the Sixers earlier this year.
- Sixers coach Brett Brown says that Nerlens Noel has made major developmental gains despite sitting out all year. Brown tells Mark Narducci of Philly.com that he envisions Noel becoming polished offensively over a three to five year window. “How many opportunities do you have like this when you have a whole year where you can invest time with somebody?” Brown said. “I think it is a huge part of his development and I am thrilled he is with me and I am glad I am the guy who has the chance to help him.”
- The Kings have recalled Willie Reed from their D-League affiliate, per a team release.
- While the Pistons would never embrace the notion of tanking, interim coach John Loyer tells Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News that being out of contention does give him some flexibility to play and evaluate younger players. “Like I said the other day, you hope to play some of the younger guys,” Loyer said. “But you see how the game goes, how the matchups go.”
Eastern Notes: Hardaway, Noel, Sixers
It looks more and more likely that Nerlens Noel won’t play a minute in his first year with the Sixers, but the sixth pick from last year’s draft told reporters including Tom Moore of Calkins Media that he’s looking forward to playing over the summer. “It’s going to be a great summer, I feel,” he said. “I’m definitely gong to put a lot of work in this summer and bring my game along. I don’t know all the details to [the summer league], but obviously I’ll be able to play.” Here’s a roundup of the notes coming from the Atlantic:
- Daniel Friedberg of RealGM.com thinks that the Sixers roster, sorely lacking in lasting NBA talent, could contain some worthwhile bench players in Henry Sims and Hollis Thompson.
- Fred Kerber of The New York Post says Tim Hardaway Jr. has proven to be a draft-day steal, and league executives and scouts tell Kerber the Knicks should hang on to the young forward rather than wield him as a trade asset.
- Forward Andrew Nicholson hoped to improve upon his successful rookie campaign this year, but the Magic sophomore has struggled mightily with his shot. The 24-year-old tells John Denton of Magic.com that he is doing his best to keep his confidence. “We’re human, too. So naturally [confidence battles] will happen,” Nicholson said. “I’ve just got to get my rhythm back and go back to what I’m really, really good at. I’ve just got to get back to that, really.”
- Bucks small forward Chris Wright is desperate to prove himself as he plays out his second 10-day contract for Milwaukee, he tells Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel. “If I prepare myself well, whatever is thrown at me, I’ll be able to handle it,” said Wright, who has four games left to demonstrate his worth. “I trust they do have confidence in some of the things I can do. I wouldn’t say I count myself out. At the same time, anything can change. So I’m just ready for whatever happens.”
Western Notes: Deng, Lee, Gordon
Ryan Anderson underwent successful surgery today to repair his herniated disc per a Pelicans team announcement. Anderson sustained the injury in a scary collision in early January, and it cost him the remainder of his season. The hoops world is hoping for a full recovery for one of the game’s best stretch forwards. Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams doubts that Eric Gordon will play again this season, he tells Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com. Gordon’s ongoing health issues have made his contract one of the least movable deals in the league, with over $30MM left in salary over two years beyond this season, assuming the shooting guard picks up his player option in the final year.
- John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders takes a look at what it will take to fix the Pelicans next year, including questions surrounding Gordon and teammate Tyreke Evans.
- Concerns are growing around the Warriors that power forward David Lee will miss the remainder of the season, or even some or all of the playoffs, per Carl Stewart of The San Jose Mercury News. Draymond Green, Lee’s replacement in Golden State’s rotation, tells Stewart he’s embracing filling the void, however long it lasts. “I am trying to bring more of what I do at a higher rate and for a longer period of time,” says Green.
- The Lakers have Luol Deng on their radar as a potential free agent target this summer, Sam Amick of USA Today says in a video. Deng, who reportedly doesn’t have much interest in returning to the Cavs, has been linked to the Lakers before.
- Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News thinks the Mavs also have their eye on Deng.
Central Rumors: Stephens, Hawes
The Cavs and Pistons both had their sights on a playoff berth heading into this season, and their failure to reach the postseason is even more disappointing considering the Eastern Conference’s overall weakness this year. The Pacers are the latest team to disappoint out of the Central, playing .500 ball since the All-Star break, and dropping to the second seed could prove costly if and when they try to advance past the Heat and into the Finals. Here’s more from the struggling division:
- Former Bucks shooting guard D.J. Stephens will play with Turkey’s Anadolu Efes for the rest of the season, tweets Boston Globe correspondent Jake Fischer. Stephens joined Milwaukee on a 10-day contract last month.
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Spencer Hawes has been a bright spot for the Cavs since coming over at the trade deadline, and he tells Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer that he could see himself back with Cleveland next year. “I like it here, I think it’s a good fit,” said Hawes, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. “And when July comes you kind of see how the other side of the game, how that all fits together.”
- For his part, Cavs coach Mike Brown tells Bob Finnan of The News-Herald that he likes the intensity that Hawes brings to the team. “I’d like all the guys back,” Brown said. “You know how that process goes.”
Draft Rumors: Saric, McDaniels, Agents
Now that March Madness is over, buzz surrounding the 2014 NBA Draft will no longer be generated by recent performances in the spotlight, but by workouts, interviews, game film, and team needs. Here’s the latest on the draft:
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com updated his Insider-only Big Board today, noting that Dario Saric would be higher than No. 14 if there were more clarity on whether he intends to play in the NBA next season. Multiple sources tell Ford that he won’t, even though he’s reportedly leaning toward declaring for the draft. That seems to suggest that Saric may enter the draft, be selected, and still sign overseas.
- Several GMs tell Ford that K.J. McDaniels is the “real sleeper” in the draft, as Ford writes in the same piece.
- Cory Jefferson of Baylor has signed agents Mike Silverman and Brandon Grier to represent him heading into the draft, per Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). Jefferson is currently projected as a second round pick.
- Kentucky’s Julius Randle selected agent George Bass to represent him, and Washington’s C.J. Wilcox will be represented by Aaron Mintz of Creative Artists Agency, per a tweet from Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Randle is projected as a high lottery pick; Wilcox is projected to be taken in the second round.
- St. John’s Orlando Sanchez has signed with agent B.J. Bass of RBA Sports, per a tweet from Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.