Latest On Tom Thibodeau, Bulls, Magic
MONDAY, 8:32am: Johnson finds it difficult to envision Thibodeau leaving the Bulls if the choice is up to the coach, given the other options he had when he arrived in Chicago and his fondness for living there, among other reasons. Thibodeau has said publicly that he’s OK with merely having a say in personnel matters rather than full control, and he was a significant advocate of the draft-night trade for Doug McDermott last year, Johnson hears. As for the Magic, Hennigan will strongly consider Skiles and Mark Jackson for his coaching vacancy in Orlando, league sources tell Johnson.
FRIDAY, 2:58pm: Third parties connected to Tom Thibodeau have been exploring what his options would be if he and the Bulls were to part ways in the offseason, and the Magic are one of the teams they’ve investigated, Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher says in a video report (hat tip to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune). Still, the Magic reportedly plan to seek an extension for GM Rob Hennigan, and CEO Alex Martins has spoken in glowing terms about the GM, raising questions about whether Thibodeau would want to head to Orlando, Bucher adds. The feeling around the league is that the Magic’s desire to extend Hennigan’s deal is a signal to candidates for its coaching position that they won’t get front-office control, according to Bucher.
Thibodeau’s rocky relationship with the Bulls front office is well-documented, and Johnson wrote earlier this season that it was “beyond repair,” though GM Gar Forman denies that kind of tension exists. Many people around the league wouldn’t be surprised to see Thibodeau, who’s under contract through 2016/17, and the Bulls mutually part ways this summer, Johnson wrote. Several league sources told Chris Mannix of SI.com in February, shortly after the team fired Jacque Vaughn, that they thought the Magic might pursue Thibodeau.
Interim coach James Borrego is one of several potential candidates for the Orlando job, though the team wants to hire an experienced hand, notes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Scott Skiles, whom Kennedy reported the Magic would consider, remains in the mix, Johnson hears (Twitter link). Fellow Basketball Insiders scribe Steve Kyler heard from sources who suggested Skiles wouldn’t take the Magic job without personnel control, though Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel wrote that Skiles is indeed interested in the opening.
Kevin Garnett Leans Toward Playing Next Season
There’s no indication that Kevin Garnett has made any final decision about playing in 2015/16, but he’s still leaning toward doing so, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Garnett, who’s on an expiring contract, wouldn’t commit to another season during the press conference that followed his deadline trade to the Timberwolves. However, Minnesota is planning to make the 20th-year veteran a two-year offer this summer, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reported at the deadline, and Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune reported shortly thereafter that Garnett was expected to sign such an offer.
Garnett’s return to Minnesota has not gone according to script so far. He’s played in only five games because of a troublesome left knee. Still, the Wolves acquired him in large measure for his influence on the locker room. He turns 39 in May, and another NBA season would tie him with Robert Parish and Kevin Willis for the most seasons played of all time. The Andy Miller client makes $12MM this season, but his market value is difficult to peg given the juxtaposition of his declining on-court productivity and the priority the Wolves have placed on his mere presence around the franchise. Minnesota has about $51MM committed to nine players for next season, not including a $5MM player option for Chase Budinger that he seems sure to pick up.
Garnett has acknowledged an interest in buying the Wolves at some point, and owner Glen Taylor has said that his return as a player enhances his chances of becoming a part-owner. He and coach/executive Flip Saunders, who already owns a minority stake in the team, are expected to put together a group to buy the majority of the franchise from Taylor over the next two years, but Taylor has made it clear the franchise isn’t currently on the market.
Nuggets Waive Shavlik Randolph
SUNDAY, 11:59pm: The move has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log.
THURSDAY, 4:11pm: The Nuggets are expected to release Shavlik Randolph, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post reports. The forward had been recently acquired by Denver via a waiver claim from the Celtics. The 31-year-old had been waived by Boston to accommodate the signing of Chris Babb to a multiyear deal.
Denver currently has the league maximum of 15 players on its roster, and releasing Randolph would give the team some level of roster flexibility for its remaining four contests. The team could use the roster spot for another player whom the Nuggets would retain on their roster for the summer and into training camp in order to get a good look at him, Dempsey speculates.
Randolph wasn’t plucked off of waivers by the Nuggets to help them on the court. Instead, the veteran’s $1,227,985 salary was desired to help bring the franchise closer to the league mandated salary floor. Adding Randolph decreases the amount of shortfall the franchise would need to distribute amongst its players. This could mean a savings of roughly $1MM for the organization, provided another team doesn’t submit its own waiver claim on Randolph.
The 6’10” forward has appeared in a total of 21 games this season for the Suns and Celtics. His career averages through 146 appearances are 2.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.2 assists. Randolph’s career slash line is .449/.167/.544.
Atlantic Notes: ‘Melo, Knicks, Perkins, Kidd
The Knicks are guaranteed to have a record that’s among the worst three in the NBA this season, but Bucks coach Jason Kidd thinks Carmelo Anthony’s presence on New York’s roster could help lure free agents to the Big Apple this summer, relays Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Knicks will have about $32.4MM in commitments next season, and they’ll surely be looking for an upgrade at almost every position on their roster going forward. We’ve got more from Begley on the Knicks in tonight’s look at the latest from the Atlantic:
- Pacers executive and former Knicks president Donnie Walsh believes Phil Jackson’s influence will eventually turn New York into a winning club, as Begley writes in the same piece. Still, Walsh cautions that Jackson’s approach will likely require patience, and free agents won’t just flock to the Knicks simply because they play in a big market.
- Kendrick Perkins spoke fondly of the Celtics and told Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com that he thinks the C’s are on the right track moving forward. Perkins, a free agent at season’s end, added that he’s proud of the progress his former team has made this season and complimented the play of Avery Bradley.
- Tim Bontemps of the New York Post explores Kidd’s transition from coaching the Nets to coaching the Bucks.
Western Notes: Hill, Buycks, Wolves
Lakers coach Byron Scott believes Jordan Hill, who will enter the final year of his contract with the team next season, needs to change his offseason preparation to avoid crashing at the end of the season like he did this year, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. Hill, 27, is averaging career-bests in points per game (11.9), rebounds per game (eight) and minutes played per game (26.8) in his sixth NBA season. But Hill’s statistics have declined since February and he has averaged only four PPG in April.
“I don’t know what he does in the summer time to get ready for the season,” Scott said. “But whatever it is, you have to up it. He’s got to up it. Then you have to look at what he’s eating and change eating habits as well. There’s a lot that goes into it when you’re trying to get ready for the NBA season.”
Here’s more from the Lakers and the Western Conference:
- Scott said he expects the Lakers to bring back Dwight Buycks for the team’s final two games, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Buycks’ 10-day deal expires after tonight’s game against the Mavericks. The team can keep Buycks for the rest of the season without waiving anyone, Pincus adds (on Twitter). Buycks has made seven of nine three-pointers in five games with the Lakers.
- The Timberwolves got a glimpse of how bright the future could be when rookies Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins each had big games Saturday as the dreadful season, from Minnesota’s perspective, comes to an end, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune writes. LaVine had 37 points and nine rebounds, both career-bests, and Wiggins added a career-high nine assists in Saturday’s loss against the Warriors.
Southeast Notes: Hawks, Harris, Dragic
Hawks coach and head of basketball operations Mike Budenholzer credited Atlanta GM Danny Ferry as the primary creator of the Eastern Conference’s only 60-win team, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com writes. Budenholzer — instead of Ferry — was nominated by the Hawks for the Executive of the Year award.
“Anyone who has followed the Hawks for the last two or three years knows that Danny Ferry is the executive that’s most responsible for the makeup of our team,” Budenholzer said.
Ferry, who pulled the trigger on most of the moves that set up the Hawks’ current roster, took an indefinite leave of absence in September, shortly after his insensitive remarks about Luol Deng became public. Since then, Budenholzer has handled the day-to-day management of the team with with assistant GM Wes Wilcox and others.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Magic GM Rob Hennigan says the team “intends” to re-sign Tobias Harris, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, regardless of the cost, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel writes. Last week, Harris said he and his representatives haven’t spoken about the idea of accepting a qualifying offer worth nearly $4.434MM this summer. The forward, who played high school basketball on Long Island, has been linked to the Knicks in rumors. Before the season, Schmitz adds, Hennigan wouldn’t pay Harris near max money, but Hennigan is now telling the league he’ll essentially match any offer.
- Goran Dragic, who has a player option for 2015/16, says he will start to weigh his options once the Heat’s season ends, Shandel Richardson of the Sun Sentinel writes. Dragic previously said he planned to hit free agency this summer. “The last three, four weeks were so crazy,” Dragic said. “Everything was important for us. I tried to get my body right. I didn’t have time to think about [free agency]. That’s not fair to my teammates to think about the future. Right now, I’m part of this team. I give everything what I got on the court. We still got two games left. I’m still not thinking about that.” Dragic hinted that staying in Miami would seem to be the best option. “I’m a free agent,” Dragic said. “I like this organization. Hopefully, I can stay here and try to have a good season next year.”
Team Facebook/Twitter/RSS
If you want to keep tabs on all the stories and updates at Hoops Rumors, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed through your RSS reader of choice. If you prefer to receive only news about your favorite NBA team, we still have you covered. You can even get updates only when teams make a move with our Transactions-only Twitter and RSS feed. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 30 teams.
Atlantic
- 76ers: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Celtics: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Knicks: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Nets: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Raptors: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
Central
- Bucks: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Bulls: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Cavaliers: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Pacers: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Pistons: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
Southeast
- Hawks: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Heat: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Hornets: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Magic: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Wizards: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
Southwest
- Grizzlies: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Mavericks: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Pelicans: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Rockets: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Spurs: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
Northwest
- Jazz: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Nuggets: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Thunder: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Timberwolves: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
- Trail Blazers: Facebook / Twitter / RSS
Pacific
Central Notes: Butler, Monroe, Wiggins
Caron Butler, whose salary ($4.5MM) for the next season is non-guaranteed, would like to remain with the Pistons next season, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. Butler adds that if he is released, he would only consider signing with true contenders.
“I’m in a good situation,” Butler said. “So it’s a great opportunity to come back and continue the thing on. Or, if not, obviously the best thing for me is to contend. It’s either one or the other. But I won’t be looking for another situation to start over with some guys and stuff like that again. It’s either do this or contend for it all.”
While President of Basketball Operations and coach Stan Van Gundy has praised Butler for adjusting to his role on the Pistons, he was non-committal about whether the the team will bring back the 35-year-old next season. “A lot of things will determine that, where we think we’re going to be salary structure-wise and everything else,” Van Gundy said. The Pistons only have slightly more than $27.8MM in guaranteed salary on the book for the 2015/16 season, as our Salary Commitment page indicates.
Here’s more from Detroit
- President of Basketball Operations and coach Stan Van Gundy reiterated that he and Greg Monroe have stayed away from business discussions during the season, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. “Greg and I have not spent any time talking about that,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate, number one, to be focusing on anything beyond the rest of the season until the season’s over.”
- Monroe was slightly surprised he wasn’t able to sign an extension under Detroit’s old regime, Mayo writes in the same piece. “I thought I did enough and conducted myself in a way to at least get an offer. As people always say, it’s one thing if the player says no. But if I was never even offered anything, that says more to me than any explanation. I don’t really need an explanation once you get to that point where there wasn’t even an option for me,” Monroe said.
- Andrew Wiggins appears to be the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award and Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer reviews his season as well as the seasons for some of the players whom the Cavs have traded away this year.
Eastern Notes: Celtics, Monroe, Bass
The Celtics will rely on the reputation of the franchise and the current framework in place to build a contender as their selling points in free agency, as team owner Wyc Grousbeck tells Jared Weiss of SB Nation.
“This whole thing that we have to beg people and we have our hat in our hand and we’re telling people to please come; well if you don’t want to be a Boston Celtic, you’re not going to be a Boston Celtic. We’re not going to drag you here. We want you to be here and we want you to [choose] us. You’ve got a chance potentially to join a team that is on the way back, hopefully, to being a contender. Hopefully in not very long. We actually want people asking us to possibly consider them,” Grousbeck said.
Boston has surpassed expectations this season and currently owns the seventh seed in the conference. If the playoffs started today, the team would play the Cavs in the first round and the Celtics would welcome that matchup. “I would love to play [LeBron James] in the playoffs somehow and I would love to beat him,” Grousbeck added.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Greg Monroe says neither he or his agent, David Falk, has a deal in place with the Knicks, according to David Mayo of MLive.com (Twitter link). “Y’all have to go ask Frank Isola what he thinks he knows,” the Georgetown product said. Monroe was referring to the Saturday’s report in which a league executive told Isola that a deal between New York and the 24-year-old was “about as close to a done deal as you can get.”
- Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald believes Brandon Bass‘ consistency has been key to the Celtics’ success. Entering today’s game against the Cavs, Bass, who will become a free agent at the end of the season, has played in 276 straight games.
Nuggets Sign Jamaal Franklin
SUNDAY, 3:16pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s website.
FRIDAY, 12:17pm: The Nuggets plan to sign former Grizzlies shooting guard Jamaal Franklin, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Presumably, Denver will slide Franklin into the roster spot that they filled with Shavlik Randolph earlier this week, since they’re reportedly poised to waive Randolph. The 23-year-old Franklin has been playing for the D-League affiliate of the Lakers.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote a month ago that Franklin was likely to sign with some NBA team in the near future. He’s not far removed from having been the 41st overall pick in the 2013 draft, and while he saw just 7.7 minutes per game in 21 appearances for the Grizzlies last season, it’s not at all surprising to see him resurface in the NBA. He displayed an all-around game in 21 D-League contests this season, averaging 19.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 34.1 minutes per game, numbers that were significant improvements on his D-League performance while on assignment from Memphis last season.
The Grizzlies waived Franklin at the end of August so they could use the stretch provision to spread his guaranteed salary for this season over a five-year period. The resulting payment this year, which came to less than $200K, left the Brian Elfus client with plenty of financial incentive to seek a lucrative deal wherever he could find one, and he signed with China’s Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in early October after workouts with the Spurs and Wizards. He averaged 28.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 4.6 APG in 33.8 MPG in 26 Chinese Basketball Association games before returning stateside.
Charania indicates that it’s a rest-of-season deal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Nuggets include an extra year in the arrangement to give themselves a greater degree of control, perhaps with a partial guarantee or guarantee dates built in, though that’s just my speculation. Even if his deal covers only the final days of this season, the Nuggets would be able to dictate his next NBA destination, since he’d be eligible for restricted free agency.