Clippers/Donald Sterling Rumors: Monday
NBA owners reportedly want Donald Sterling out, but USA Today’s Sam Amick casts the notion that the NBA will force Donald Sterling to sell the team as unlikely, given that the league’s constitution and bylaws don’t provide a mechanism for that to happen. A lengthy suspension is the most serious punishment rules allow commissioner Adam Silver to dole out, at least for now, with a $1MM fine also likely to come, as Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com detail. Still the member of the NBA’s Board of Governors who spoke to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports for the story we passed along earlier indicated that he’d be in favor of changing those rules to allow the league to get rid of Sterling. Here’s more on the Sterling saga, with the NBA set to address the matter in a press conference on Tuesday:
- There are some who believe that Sterling will attempt to pass ownership along to his wife and son-in-law, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. That wouldn’t be drastic enough change to assuage the anger of Doc Rivers and the Clippers players, Stein and Shelburne hear.
- Rivers has raised the idea that he might leave the Clippers after the season if Sterling is still in place, but since he’s under contract, it wouldn’t be easy for him to do so, Kyler asserts, suggesting that Chris Paul and Blake Griffin would have similar problems exiting the team.
- One agent tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that Sterling’s remarks will have a “gigantic impact” on the willingness of free agents to sign with the Clippers, though another says it’s too early to judge the effect, and that it could be a “non-issue.”
- Still, the NBA knows many coaches and players would be hesitant to work for the Clippers in light of this weekend’s revelations, and that’s one reason why the league is indeed trying to push Sterling out, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group asserts (All Twitter links). The idea would be to mount enough pressure on Sterling to prompt him to sell voluntarily, rather than forcing him out, Kawakami adds (on Twitter). There are “less than 1 in 100 million odds” that the league will attempt to force Sterling to sell, a source tells Stein and Shelburne.
Latest On Jazz Coaching Search
APRIL 28TH: Genessy has received further indication that Boylen is the lead candidate for the job (Twitter link). That’s in spite of a comment from Jazz president Randy Rigby last week asserting that the club had yet to identify any potential replacements for Corbin.
APRIL 23RD, 4:21pm: Hawks assistant Quin Snyder is also a candidate, Stein hears (Twitter link). Snyder worked with Lindsey in San Antonio, as Stein points out via Twitter, noting that he also spent time in Russia as an assistant under Messina.
TUESDAY, 1:59pm: Current Jazz assistant Brad Jones has also drawn mention as a potential candidate, Stein writes, though the ESPN scribe casts Boylen and Messina as the favorites. Still, neither Boylen nor Messina is likely to become available until June as their respective teams play on in the postseason. If Lindsey decides Boylen is the right choice, he wouldn’t allow the sentiment of locals turned off by Boylen’s poor performance at the University of Utah to dissuade him, according to Stein.
9:30am: Rumored candidate Jim Boylen is indeed in the running for the Jazz head coaching job, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune, and the Spurs assistant is at the top of the list, a source tells Mike Monroe of the San Antonio-Express News. The Jazz will also consider longtime European coach and former Lakers assistant Ettore Messina, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Jazz are perhaps more open to hiring a European coach than any other NBA team, a source tells Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link). The name of Bulls lead assistant coach Adrian Griffin has come up in regard to the Jazz as well as other teams of late, Genessy tweets. Griffin was a candidate for the Sixers and Pistons last year and the Blazers in 2012.
Utah GM Dennis Lindsey and assistant GM Justin Zanik are well-known fans of Messina, who’s apparently itching to come to the NBA, Stein says in a pair of tweets. Messina is the coach of CSKA Moscow, though his roots are in Italy, where he coached for more than a decade and a half and established himself as one of Europe’s top sideline bosses. Critics say he’s too tough on players to succeed as an NBA coach, though proponents point to his year of experience as an assistant in the NBA with the Lakers 2011/12, when the team had plenty of title-winning veterans, to suggest that he can succeed, Stein tweets. Messina was a candidate for the Hawks head coaching job last year.
Boylen’s connection to Lindsey dates back to their time together in the Rockets organization. They share the same agent and have a close relationship, Jones tweets, though Boylen’s time as coach of the University of Utah, a tenure marked by back-to-back losing seasons in his final two years, would be viewed as a negative, according to Jones, as well as Stein (Twitter link).
It’s unlikely that the Jazz’s next coach will be a retread, Jones says via Twitter. Lindsey insisted that the team hadn’t considered any candidates before announcing Monday that Tyrone Corbin wouldn’t be back, as fellow Tribune scribe Aaron Falk observes. Lindsey didn’t rule out the idea of Corbin remaining with the organization in a different capacity, Jones tweets.
NBA Owners Want To Oust Donald Sterling
10:58am: A source close to Johnson says he has had no conversations about buying the Clippers, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Shelburne adds in a second tweet that the Clippers aren’t for sale, pointing out the difficulty the NBA faces in forcing Sterling to give up the team.
8:21am: Owners across the NBA want Donald Sterling out, and the consortium of Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners is eager to purchase Sterling’s Clippers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The sale price could be in excess of $1 billion, according to Wojnarowski. One member of the NBA’s Board of Governors tells Wojnarowski that a fine and a suspension for Sterling would be “meaningless” and would be interpreted as a failure of the league to accept responsibility for the problems set off by Sterling’s alleged racist comments.
The Guggenheim Partners, a financial services firm, and Johnson are the owners of baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, and they recently bought the WNBA’s financially troubled Los Angeles Sparks. They saw purchase of the Sparks as a strategic move that would draw themselves closer to the NBA, according to Wojnarowski. They’ve wanted to purchase the Lakers, and, as Wojnarowski reports, they recently make an aggressive push to do so before the Buss family made it clear that they’re not selling.
NBA owners are pushing commissioner Adam Silver to find a way to force Sterling out of the league, cognizant of the negative perception that will persist if they don’t, Wojnarowski writes. The sale of the team to Johnson, the target of one of the racist barbs Sterling is alleged to have made, would help the league repair its image problem. It would also smooth relations with the players union, which is seeking the maximum punishment for Sterling, as fellow Yahoo! scribe Marc J. Spears writes.
Porzingis, Eriksson, Van Oostrum Enter Draft
Three Spanish league prospects officially declared for this year’s draft before Sunday night’s deadline, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. Big man Kristaps Porzingis reversed course from his earlier decision to stay out of the draft, while You First Sports agent Pere Gallego told Givony that clients Marcus Eriksson and Devon Van Oostrum are in the 2014 draft, too (Twitter links).
Porzingis is the best prospect of the bunch, checking in at No. 23 in Givony’s rankings. Chad Ford of ESPN.com still has him in his 2015 class, ranked No. 15, though Ford had him as only the 65th-best prospect for this year as of last week. Eriksson, a shooting guard, is No. 78 in Givony’s rankings for this year, while Van Oostrum, a point guard, isn’t in Givony’s top 100 but checks in as his sixth-best prospect among overseas players born in 1993. Neither Eriksson nor Van Oostrum is in Ford’s rankings.
Porzingis, who turned 19 earlier this month, has averaged 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game this season for Cajasol Banca Civica. The 20-year-old Eriksson has put up 11.4 PPG in 23.5 MPG, with 37.7% three-point shooting for La Bruixa d’Or Manresa. Van Oostrum sees just 7.6 MPG for Laboral Kuxta, and he manages 1.2 PPG and 0.9 APG. All three from Spain’s top-flight league can withdraw from the draft anytime between now and June 16th. For now, they appear on the list of early entrants for this year.
Mario Hezonja Declines To Enter Draft
Spanish league swingman Mario Hezonja decided against entering the 2014 draft, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Sunday was the deadline for players to declare. Chad Ford of ESPN.com has Hezonja as the 27th-best prospect for this year, while Givony has already moved him into next year’s category, putting him sixth in his 2015 mock draft.
Hezonja, who turned 19 in February, has seen limited time for FC Barcelona Regal in his first season at the top level of Spanish basketball, scoring just 3.8 points in 9.3 minutes per game. Still, his combination of shooting and athleticism makes him a top prospect. He shot 39% on 1.3 three-point attempts per contest this season.
The native of Croatia might have ranked fourth or fifth among shooting guards in this year’s draft, but he appears to have a chance to become one of next year’s top five overall picks. He won’t be automatically draft-eligible until 2017, so he has plenty of time to develop and further refine his game for NBA scouts.
New York Notes: Knicks, Jackson, Kerr, Johnson
Longtime Phil Jackson assistant Frank Hambien says he would gladly work for the Zen Master again, writes Al Iannazzone of Newsday. “Absolutely,” Hamblen said when asked of the possibility. “I’m bored to death..Opportunity is an amazing thing. I know Phil was sitting in Playa Del Rey bored to death, itching to get back in. I don’t know if he’ll even call. I don’t know what’s going through his mind. But he has my number.” Hambien also gave a strong endorsement for Kerr as a possible coach of the Knicks. More from NYC..
- Steve Kerr says that he met with Jackson on Friday to discuss the Knicks‘ head coaching vacancy and publicly stated his interest in the job, tweets Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. Kerr went on to say that there will be future meetings between himself and his former coach. The former guard turned TNT analyst has long been believed to be the frontrunner for the Knicks’ job.
- “We share a lot of the same philosophies,” Kerr said when asked about Jackson’s triangle, according to Barbara Barker of Newsday. “I learned a lot of my basketball from him and Tex Winter. It is safe to say that we have a lot of the same ideas . . . Obviously, there’s a strong connection between us and our beliefs.“
- Joe Johnson‘s contract was an albatross with the Hawks but he has transformed himself to the Nets‘ most consistent player, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Tonight wasn’t a shining example of that, however, as Johnson went 2-7 for 7 points across 42 minutes of play.
Hoops Links: Azubuike, Jefferson, Bulls
On this date in 1984, Isiah Thomas and Bernard King engaged in a great playoff shoot-out in Game 5 of the first round matchup between the Knicks and Pistons. King scored 12 of his game-high 44 points in the final five minutes and change in the fourth quarter but Thomas stole his thunder by tallying Detroit’s final 14 points in a span of just 1:34 to send the game into overtime where each star had four points. Ultimately, New York went on to win 127-123.
Do you have a great basketball blog post that you want featured on Hoops Rumors? Send it to me at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. This week’s look around the basketball blogosphere..
- Sheridan Hoops previews tomorrow’s stars, including 14-year-old Udoka Azubuike.
- Sports Injury Alert looks at the Bobcats with and without Al Jefferson.
- The Daily Dribble says the Bulls are just one player away.
- All Sports discussed the first round.
You can send your submissions for Hoops Links to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.
Hoops Rumors Originals
A look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this week..
- Chuck Myron thinks that Rudy Gay will opt out of his deal and sign a new, long-term deal with the Kings.
- Cray Allred checked in on the free agent stock of Heat veteran Dwyane Wade.
- Eddie Scarito profiled Kentucky standout James Young.
- Alex Lee looked at late first-round possibility Cleanthony Early.
- I profiled Michigan big man Mitch McGary.
- Keeping with the Wolverines theme, I also profiled guard Nik Stauskas.
- Here’s a look at 10-day contract trends, courtesy of Chuck.
- Charlie Adams examined Shabazz Napier, whose draft stock is pretty hard to nail down.
- With the offseason underway for most of the NBA, Chuck gave us a refresher on Bird Rights.
- If you missed this week’s chat, you can get caught up with the transcript here.
- Hoops Rumors readers believe that the Knicks will have to throw in an asset to move J.R. Smith.
- We featured the best of your comments in Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback.
- Here are the teams with the most 2014 picks.
- Most of you picked Warriors over Clippers as the most likely first-round upset.
- Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on Facebook, Twitter, and RSS.
Latest On Donald Sterling, Clippers
It has been a trying weekend for the Clippers players off the court and it hasn’t been much easier on the court thus far today. Here’s a look at the latest on owner Donald Sterling and the Clippers as they look to turn things around against the Warriors..
- Clippers coach Doc Rivers told reporters before today’s game, including Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com, that he has yet to talk to Sterling and has no desire to at this time. Rivers went on to say that he’s unsure of what he’d have to hear from the owner in order to work for him again next season. Meanwhile, in an act of silent protest today, the Clippers players turned their warm-up jerseys inside-out for today’s shootaround to conceal the team name on the front.
- The Clippers likely couldn’t afford Paul Pierce this summer anyway, but a reunion between Rivers and Pierce can be safely ruled out if Sterling is still involved in Los Angeles, tweets Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
- Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson met with commissioner Adam Silver today to discuss the Sterling situation, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Johnson has agreed to take on an expanded role with the union in order to help address the ongoing case (link).
- Johnson told reporters that the NBPA doesn’t want Sterling to attend any more playoff games this year and wants to know why sanctions haven’t been brought against him yet, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. The mayor added that the union wants to know what the possible range of punishments could be and wants to be involved in the process (link).
- Former commissioner David Stern and the NBA validated Sterling by helping to steer Chris Paul to the Clippers in December 2011, writes Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins. There has been evidence of Sterling’s racism in past court documents and the league should have taken an appropriate stance before this most recent incident.
Prospect Profile: Nik Stauskas
Raise your hands if you had high hopes for Michigan after they lost Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. to the NBA over the summer and Mitch McGary to injury in the winter. That’s what I thought. Nik Stauskas‘ dramatic and surprising step forward in 2013/14 helped make it all possible for the Wolverines and this year it’ll be his turn to shake the commissioner’s hand.
Stauskas exhibited some serious range in his freshman season but when he was charged with taking on a bigger role for his team, he transformed himself into a much more well-rounded scorer. No longer just content to fire away from downtown, the sophomore showed that he could create his own shots off the dribble and cut hard to the basket. It also helps that the guard has a quick release on his shot which allows him to take advantage of the smallest glimpse of daylight. In a draft that’s heavy on talent but light on solid shooters, the 6’6″ guard should find serious interest from several clubs. Stauskas led Michigan in scoring with 17.5 points per game this past season, posting over 20 points in 14 games.
He also helped create offense for others, racking up a team-high 118 assists. That ability to dish coupled with respectable ball handling could allow him to play a little bit of point guard at the next level, which only helps to boost his stock. His instant offense helped lead the Wolverines to the Big Ten championship and an Elite Eight birth, but his play on the other side of the floor isn’t quite as impressive.
Stauskas may have a tough time staying in front of defenders at the next level due to his lack of lateral quickness. Things tend to get even trickier for him when faced with a screen and it often seems like he looks to fight through picks rather than go around them and vice versa. He also doesn’t have the kind of big, physical frame that one might need to disrupt the NBA’s stronger backcourt players. However, it should be noted that Stauskas added significant muscle mass last offseason, packing on 16 pounds between his frosh and sophomore campaigns. If he can add even more mass over time, he might be better equipped to play tough defense. One NBA scout told Brendan F. Quinn of MLive.com earlier this month that, “As (Stauskas) gets bigger and stronger, he’ll be fine.” Not everyone will agree with that assessment.
If he can’t take a significant step forward as a defender, it’s hard to see him getting very far at the next level. However, if he can find a way to make some strides early in his career, he can be a very effective role player and make a team glad that they chose him in the late lottery or middle portion of the first round.