And-Ones: LeBron, Wittman, Levien, Dunleavy Sr.
LeBron James didn’t have much to say about the Cavaliers’ recent NBA Draft lottery coup or the speculation that he could decide to return to Cleveland if he opts out this summer, telling Charlie McCarthy of FOX Sports Florida, “I heard about it but I don’t really have thoughts about it. … I’m in the middle of the conference finals, I’m not worried about draft lotteries, draft conversations. That’s the last thing on my mind.
Interestingly enough, LeBron added, “(The Heat aren’t) the most talented team, I don’t think, in the NBA. ... There are other talented teams. We have some very, very high IQ basketball players. I think IQ is more important than talent.”
With that aside, here’s more of this evening’s miscellaneous news and notes:
- The Wizards haven’t been in a rush to make a decision on Randy Wittman‘s future, and a source tells Michael Lee of the Washington Post that there is no current timetable to get something done. Wittman, who led the team to its first playoff series win since 2004/05, was given strong endorsements from John Wall, Bradley Beal, Andre Miller, and several other team veterans after the season had ended.
- Although former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien’s recent resignation sent shockwaves around the league, sources tell Sean Deveney of the Sporting News that tension between Levien and team owner Robert Pera had actually been building for months.
- On ESPN Radio’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” Mike Dunleavy Sr. said that he hopes he has a shot at the Knicks head coaching job, adding that he’s very familiar with the triangle offense: “I played in the triangle system down in Houston, it was kind of left over from when Tex Winter coached there. All my teams, I’ve run it as a transition set. … Maybe I’m the outside guy from the other guys that [Phil Jackson will] talk to, former players who played in the system and other guys who coached under him in the system. But at least I do know the system. I have run it” (H/T to Al Iannazzone of Newsday).
- Timberwolves star Kevin Love may be the NBA’s most valuable player available for trade since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar requested out of Milwaukee in 1974, explains Kevin Pelton of ESPN (Insiders only).
Kevin Ollie Signs New Deal With UConn
THURSDAY, 4:59pm: The coach has signed a deal that runs through 2018/19 and calls for average annual salaries of $3MM, the school announced. He’d have to pay the university $5MM to jump to the NBA for next season, $4MM in 2015/16, and $1MM in each subsequent season covered under the contract.
TUESDAY, 11:23am: Ollie and UConn are close to a deal but have yet to reach agreement, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News hears, tapping the brakes on Wojnarowski’s report from Monday (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 4:44pm: Coach Kevin Ollie has committed to stay with the UConn Huskies, agreeing to a contract extension that will pay him $3MM per year, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (on Twitter) first reported that the two sides appeared to be nearing agreement.
Ollie was reportedly in the mix for multiple NBA openings and UConn knew that they’d have to pay big bucks to keep the man who led them to the 2014 National Championship. The Lakers, however, never made a formal inquiry regarding Ollie, Wojnarowski writes, adding that the Cavs were the team most aggressive in pursuing Ollie.
Aside from Ollie’s success in a short time at UConn, the coach appealed to some teams based on his relationship with Kevin Durant. Durant will be the most highly sought after free agent in a couple years, and some thought that a team might preemptively hire Ollie as a draw for the MVP. Ollie, who was reportedly looking for a contract greater than Steve Kerr‘s five-year, $25MM deal from interested NBA teams, maintained that it wouldn’t be easy to lure him away from Connecticut, and that turned out to be the case.
Cray Allred contributed to this post.
And-Ones: LeBron, Love, Garnett, Donovan
People around the league told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal that didn’t think the Cavs had any shot at re-signing LeBron James going into Tuesday’s draft lottery, but Cleveland’s third lottery victory in four years casts the idea in a new light, Lloyd figures. The Cavs have long believed that acquiring Kevin Love would be central to the team’s pursuit of the four-time MVP, and they thought all season that the Wolves would eventually trade their power forward. Still, Lloyd has heard from no one who believes that Love would stay in Cleveland long-term if the team can’t land James, so trading for Love before knowing what James wants to do would be a supreme gamble. There’s more on the Love sweepstakes amid the latest from around the NBA:
- The Warriors are confident they can wind up with Love, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle hears. Love is reportedly high on Golden State, and the team has been resourceful in acquiring players in spite of a lack of cap flexibility, Simmons notes.
- Next season’s $12MM salary and a productive stretch run lead Tim Bontemps of the New York Post to believe that Kevin Garnett will return next season for the Nets, even though he hasn’t dismissed talk of retirement.
- Billy Donovan admitted contact with a couple of NBA teams, but he said he’s content as the coach at the University of Florida and “all but guaranteed” he’ll remain there for next season, observes Mark Long of The Associated Press (Twitter links; hat tip to Marc Stein of ESPN.com). The Wolves reportedly sought him for their vacancy earlier this spring.
- The Warriors were one of five teams that reached out to Steve Kerr about their coaching vacancies, as Kerr said on ESPN Radio’s The Dan Le Batard show, tweets Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. The Knicks and Jazz were his other known suitors.
- Draft hopeful Andre Dawkins will work out for the Bulls, Suns, Hornets, Pacers, Pistons and Mavericks, his agent tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Dawkins is No. 92 in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, but Chad Ford of ESPN.com doesn’t have him among his top prospects.
Michael Carter-Williams Leads All-Rookie Team
Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams headlines the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team, which also features Victor Oladipo, Trey Burke, Mason Plumlee and Tim Hardaway Jr. The Second Team is composed of Kelly Olynyk, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Gorgui Dieng, Cody Zeller and Steven Adams. Carter-Williams was a unanimous first-team selection among the media members who voted for the award. Had Kevin Calabro of ESPN Radio not left Oladipo off his ballot entirely, the Magic guard would have been a unanimous first-teamer, too.
Still, the first team is made up of the only five players who received first-place votes for Rookie of the Year. Ben McLemore was the player with the most All-Rookie votes not to make either the first or the second team, and 29 players received at least one vote for one of the teams. That includes 2013 No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, who drew a single second-team vote.
Only three of the top 10 picks from the 2013 draft appear on either All-Rookie Team. Still, all 10 players selected to the team were first-round picks, with Hardaway, the 24th overall selection, the last to come off the board on draft night a year ago.
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Lakers Interview Byron Scott
THURSDAY, 12:01pm: Scott confirmed that the interview took place, as he said this morning on SiriusXM NBA Radio with Frank Isola and Malik Rose, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Scott spoke with co-owner Jim Buss as well as GM Mitch Kupchak, while rival Lakers coaching candidate Mike Dunleavy interviewed only with Kupchak, Medina points out.
“I had a great time talking with those guys,” Scott said. “Obviously I go way back with Mitch. We were teammates for a while and won a couple of championships together, so it was good. That’s basically all I can tell you. It was good, I had a lot of fun talking to them. Hopefully we’ll be talking again soon and we’ll see what happens.”
WEDNESDAY, 8:14am: The Lakers interviewed Byron Scott for their head coaching position on Tuesday, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Scott is one of the many candidates being considered to replace former coach Mike D’Antoni.
In 13 seasons as a head coach, Scott has a record of 416-521. He last coached the Cavaliers during the 2012/13 season, leading the team to a 24-58 record before being fired.
It’s likely that Jerry Buss would have hired Scott as the Lakers head coach instead of Mike Brown when Phil Jackson retired in 2011, writes Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. But Scott was coaching the Cavs at the time.
Mike Dunleavy, who is also a candidate, interviewed with GM Mitch Kupchak as well, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPN.com.
Kyler’s Latest: Lee, Magic, Cavs, Bucks, Sixers
The Magic aren’t quite as high on David Lee as a report earlier this week made it appear, sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who suggests trading for him is one of a number of options the team is considering. Kyler concentrates most of the rest of his NBA AM piece on the draft, and we’ll round up some of the highlights here:
- The Cavs regard Jabari Parker as a notch below Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins, Kyler hears.
- Parker and Dante Exum are the top two prospects in the eyes of the Bucks, according to Kyler. That conflicts with Wednesday’s report from Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who identified Embiid, Wiggins and Exum as the first three on Milwaukee’s list.
- The Sixers are “lukewarm” on Embiid, sources tell Kyler, who notes that Philadelphia is high on Wiggins and Exum. Noah Vonleh and Aaron Gordon are players who intrigue the team, too, Kyler writes, though the Sixers would probably have to trade up from No. 10 or down from No. 3 if they were to draft either of those two.
- Wiggins, Parker and Exum seem like the Magic‘s top three targets, as Kyler indicates.
- The Jazz appear to be among the most flexible teams, willing to trade up, down or out of the draft altogether, according to Kyler.
Knicks Maintain Hope Of Landing Brian Shaw
Brian Shaw would be Knicks president Phil Jackson‘s first choice to coach the team if he could somehow find a way to shake him loose from the Nuggets job, and Jackson hasn’t given up hope of managing to do so, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. Shaw nonetheless reiterated his commitment to Denver on Tuesday, and a report from earlier this week indicated that the Knicks worry they won’t be able to meet the Nuggets’ demands for compensation if they were to let Shaw out of his contract, which runs two more years.
Jackson would prefer Shaw to Derek Fisher, but the executive would be even more motivated to find a way to land Shaw if he can’t lure Fisher, Berman suggests. Fisher won’t speak with the Knicks until he’s done playing for the Thunder this season, and Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks says the 39-year-old hasn’t ruled out continuing to play next season, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News wrote this weekend. That jibes with Wednesday’s report that there’s a legitimate possibility that Fisher will re-sign with the Thunder as a player and serve as a de facto assistant coach as he sits on the bench. Fisher is also a Lakers coaching candidate, and Berman, who’s pointed to concern about a bidding war between the Knicks and Lakers over the longtime Kobe Bryant teammate, raises the notion that the Lakers would give Fisher a front office role rather than the coaching job.
Berman also mentions previously reported candidate Tyronn Lue as a fallback option for the Knicks, noting that Lue is friends with Carmelo Anthony, who intends to opt out of his contract and become a free agent this summer. Mark Jackson, Mike Dunleavy, Kurt Rambis, Jim Cleamons, Nate McMillan, Fred Hoiberg and Luke Walton are other candidates rumored to be on the Knicks radar in the aftermath of Golden State’s hiring of Steve Kerr.
The Knicks are light on draft picks and can’t give up more than $3.2MM in cash in trades between now and June 30th, and the NBA doesn’t allow teams to give up players as compensation for hiring coaches under contract with other teams. Jackson has planned to trade cash for a draft pick, so that would further reduce the Knicks’ flexibility in prying Shaw from the Nuggets, unless they intend to wait to do so until July, when teams will have a fresh pot of $3.3MM in cash to use in trades.
Lakers Interview Mike Dunleavy
THURSDAY, 7:52am: Dunleavy tells ESPN LA 710 radio that he did indeed interview with Kupchak, but he says the sitdown didn’t take place Wednesday, notes Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 12:01pm: Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak interviewed Mike Dunleavy for the team’s coaching vacancy this morning, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Dunleavy expressed interest in the job a few weeks ago after appearing on the team’s initial list of candidates, but he’s also met with Knicks president Phil Jackson about New York’s opening.
Dunleavy touted his relationship with Kobe Bryant when he spoke of his desire to coach the Lakers for a second time, referencing his recruitment of Bryant as a Clippers executive several years ago. Dunleavy, now 60 years old, succeeded Pat Riley as Lakers coach in the early 1990s, and since then he’s served as a head coach for the Bucks, Blazers and Clippers and was GM in Milwaukee in addition to his stint as Clippers GM. He was the NBA’s Coach of the Year with Portland in 1999, but he’s just 613-716 in parts of 17 seasons as a head coach in the league, the last of which came in 2009/10.
He isn’t the leading candidate for the Knicks job, but he and Jackson have had casual meetings regularly in recent years. Their latest encounter was more than just a friendly encounter and amounted to an interview. The notion of a tug-of-war between Jackson and the Lakers over a coaching candidate would spark fireworks, given Jackson’s deep-rooted connections to the Lakers franchise, but Dunleavy isn’t necessarily the favorite for the Lakers job, either. George Karl, Jeff Van Gundy, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, Kevin Ollie and John Calipari are all candidates the Lakers have reportedly planned to interview.
And-Ones: Hunter, Draft, Hairston
Ousted players union executive director Billy Hunter has dropped his appeal of a civil ruling in a suit Hunter had brought against former union president Derek Fisher and Jamie Wior, Fisher’s business manager. Hunter must pay more than $200K to cover the legal fees for Fisher and Wior. A case in which Hunter alleges the union owes him $10.5MM remains active. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has the details in three separate tweets.
More from around the league:
- There has been some speculation that Fisher is the favorite to land the Knicks head coaching position if he retires after this season. Another possibility being mentioned for Fisher is him being both a player and assistant coach for the Thunder next season, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). The collective bargaining agreement bars players from actively serving as a player and coach at the same time, but Fisher could perform the duties of an assistant coach while remaining on the active roster as a player.
- P.J. Hairston is drawing interest from the Lakers, Clippers, and Jazz, writes Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. Hairston signed with the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League back on January 14th and averaged 21.8 PPG and 3.5 RPG.
- Chris Mannix of SI.com released his latest mock draft.
- A number of lottery teams have expressed a willingness to trade their picks, reports Mannix (Twitter link).
- Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.com released his initial mock draft of the year.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.