Rockets Make Jeff Van Gundy Top Target
Jeff Van Gundy tops the list of potential candidates for the Rockets head coaching job, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski and Chris Mannix of The Vertical. Still, it’s not entirely clear whether Houston will have an opening, since interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff remains in place as the Rockets compete in the first round of the playoffs against the Warriors. The team won’t begin its search until it’s finished with the playoffs, according to Wojnarowski and Mannix. Bickerstaff reportedly enhanced his chances of keeping the job significantly when he guided the Rockets into the playoffs. The team is also interested in Scott Brooks and Tom Thibodeau, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported previously.
Van Gundy lives in Houston, as Wojnarowski and Mannix point out. He coached the Rockets from 2003-2007 before he and the team parted ways at the end of the 2006/07 season. The job was his last as an NBA head coach, but he’s remained a prominent candidate for openings around the league. He’s reportedly scheduled to interview for the Timberwolves vacancy today and, along with Thibodeau, is one of two front-runners for that gig. The Nets apparently had interest as well before they hired Kenny Atkinson.
Thibodeau appears keener than Van Gundy is on the idea of the coach/executive role that Minnesota is considering, as Wojnarowski and Mannix detail, while the Wizards are reportedly the favorites to land Scott Brooks, so it makes sense that Van Gundy has taken the lead for Houston. The heavily favored Warriors blew out the Rockets in Game 1 of their series on Saturday, and Houston’s season could end as early as Sunday in the event of a sweep.
The failure to advance past the first round was perhaps Van Gundy’s chief shortcoming when he was coach of the Rockets. The team made the playoffs in three of his four seasons but never won a series. He finished 182-146 in the regular season and 7-12 in the postseason with Houston.
Would Van Gundy be the right choice for the Rockets? Leave a comment to have your say.
French Guard Isaia Cordinier To Enter Draft
Shooting guard Isaia Cordinier will enter the draft, his agent told Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Givony views the French native as a high second-round prospect, ranking him No. 37 on his Top 100 Prospects list. Cordinier is slotted No. 57 on ESPN Insider Chad Ford’s Big Board.
The 19-year-old French native, who has typical size for his position at 6’5”, averaged 10.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists for Denain International this past season.
In his evaluation of Cordinier at the recent Nike Hoops Summit, Mike Schmitz of DraftExpress saw an exceptional athlete who can both play above the rim and make spot up 3-pointers. Schmitz also noted Cordinier for his potential as a slasher who makes strong cuts, shows good vision and doesn’t shy away from contact. However, his catch-and-shoot jumper is streaky, he’s turnover prone and needs to work on his body, Schmitz adds.
Ford considers Cordinier’s defense, athleticism, explosiveness and aggressiveness as his best attributes, while downgrading him for his spotty jump shot and basketball IQ.
French Forward Guerschon Yabusele To Enter Draft
Power forward Guerschon Yabusele will enter the draft, agent Andrew Morrison told Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 6’8” French native is considered a second-round prospect by ESPN Insider Chad Ford’s Big Board, which has him at No. 45 overall. Givony currently tabs Yabusele at No. 76 among his Top 100 Prospects.
The 20-year-old Yabusele averaged 10.2 points and 6.8 rebounds for Rouen International this past season. According to his DraftExpress profile, Yobusele is a chiseled big man with long arms and excellent athleticism. He also possesses a soft touch around the rim, can finish strong on the interior and has flashed some ability to create off the dribble. His jump-shooting mechanics are a work in progress, Givony adds.
Ford notes similar characteristics, adding that Yabusele uses his body to create space and contact in the paint while also having shooting range out to the 3-point line. Yabusele is also considered a solid rebounder and shot-blocker but is undersized for his position, Ford adds.
In a recent ESPN update, several scouts singled out Yabusele as a possible late first-round sleeper who could go anywhere in the 20 to 45 range.
Spanish PF Juan Hernangomez Enters Draft
Spanish prospect Juan Hernangomez has declared for this year’s draft, agent Igor Crespo tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). A wide gap exists in the projections for the 6’9″ 20-year-old, with Givony pegging him a late first-round pick at No. 29 in his prospect rankings while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him outside draft range at No. 71. Givony lists Hernangomez as a combo forward in his profile but refers to him as a power forward in his tweet, while Ford’s profile shows him as a power forward.
Hernangomez, who is the younger brother of Knicks draft-and-stash prospect Guillermo (Willy) Hernangomez, has offensive versatility and is a competitive rebounder, but his decision-making and youthful mistakes on defense are his shortcomings, according to Givony. Ford points to his standout midrange game as well as his lack of strength and underdeveloped post-up game.
He averaged 9.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 23.7 minutes per game with 33.8% 3-point shooting across 28 appearances this year for Movistar Estudiantes of Spain. The club gave him a starting role for the majority of the season, a breakout campaign for him after he saw just 10.0 per contest last year.
Wizards Plan To Contact Scott Brooks, Thibodeau
MONDAY, 11:19am: Washington is the front-runner to land Brooks, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Stein suggests the Rockets are Brooks’ top alternative but are at a disadvantage because they’re in the playoffs and their focus is on that.
5:18pm: The Wizards have made Brooks their top priority, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical relays.
FRIDAY, 9:59am: The Wizards plan to meet with Scott Brooks and Tom Thibodeau as they conduct their coaching search, a source tells Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. John Wall has said in the past that he would want the team to hire Brooks if the coaching job were to come open as it did Thursday, Castillo also hears. The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski first identified Brooks as a strong candidate for the position in the wake of the news that the team was firing Randy Wittman, though reports conflicted on Thibodeau’s candidacy. Team president Ernie Grunfeld said that he’ll head up the search to replace Wittman, whom the Wizards formally dismissed earlier Thursday.
Brooks’ most obvious attractive quality is his relationship with Kevin Durant, the Washington, D.C. native whom the Wizards have long planned to pursue when he becomes a free agent in July. Durant made a point Thursday of praising the job Brooks did as his coach from 2008 to 2015, as The Oklahoman’s Erik Horne relays. Still, the prevailing sentiment is that Brooks alone wouldn’t be enough to woo Durant to his hometown team, Castillo writes. Brooks is also reportedly believed to be waiting to see if the Lakers job opens.
A Wizards player who spoke to Castillo expressed concerns about the heavy workload Thibodeau is known for demanding from his players, and the former Bulls coach figures to command a high salary. Strong indications exist that Thibodeau is seeking player personnel power, as Chris Mannix of The Vertical reported earlier this week, and that would be tough to come by in Washington, where Grunfeld is apparently staying in charge of the front office. Still, the Wizards are prioritizing defensive acumen and NBA head coaching experience as they sort through candidates, as both Castillo and J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic hear, and Thibodeau checks both boxes.
Thibodeau won Coach of the Year honors in 2011, a year after Brooks took home the same award. Grunfeld has a history with both Brooks and Thibodeau, who served as a Knicks assistant coach for three of the years that Grunfeld was in charge of New York’s basketball operations, Castillo notes. Grunfeld agreed to hire Thibodeau as an assistant for then-Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan in 2007, but Thibodeau backed out of the deal before signing a contract, as Castillo also points out. Grunfeld acquired Brooks as a player for the Knicks in 1996 and traded him away a year later, Castillo recalls.
The Wizards also want their next coach to command accountability, as Wittman irritated players with his selective accountability, according to Castillo, who also mentions Jeff Hornacek, Mike D’Antoni, Sam Cassell, Mark Jackson, Kevin McHale, Nate McMillan, and Jay Wright as potential candidates. The team is indeed interested in Hornacek and D’Antoni, as previous reports have indicated.
Which coach do you think is the right fit for the Wizards? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Eastern Notes: Lin, Novak, Mayo, Vasquez, Jefferson
Jeremy Lin was convinced he would sign with the Mavericks for the room exception this past summer, as he told Dan Feldman of ProBasketballTalk, but Dallas turned away when DeAndre Jordan reneged on his commitment to the Mavs, leading the point guard to turn to the Hornets instead. “Charlotte came out of nowhere,” Lin said. “Had I known it was going to go down the way it went down, I would’ve definitely planned things a little differently.”
Lin enjoys his Hornets teammates, but no guarantee exists that he’ll be back with them next season, since he can opt out of his contract. No team gave a higher percentage of its minutes after the trade deadline to players who can hit free agency this summer, Feldman points out, but Charlotte has been successful because of an unusual bond between the players, as Feldman details. Al Jefferson conceded that he probably wouldn’t have accepted a reduced role during a contract year if he were younger but said he’s never been on a team quite like this one in Charlotte.
See more from the Eastern Conference:
- Steve Novak wants to re-sign with the Bucks after a brief, injury-shortened time in Milwaukee this season, and coach Jason Kidd indicated that the feeling is mutual as the team seeks to improve its shooting, notes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Novak is a guy we thought was going to help in that [shooting] department,” Kidd said. “Hopefully we can re-sign him. We liked what he did briefly on the floor, but we also enjoyed what he did for us off the floor, even being hurt. That’s what a vet does. We would all love to have him back. That kind of threat is what we need as a team to have any kind of success.”
- Gardner suggests in the same piece that the Bucks want to move on from O.J. Mayo and Greivis Vasquez but have better regard for Jerryd Bayless. All three will hit free agency in July.
- Richard Jefferson‘s contribution in Game 1 was subtle but important and showed the value of his signing this past offseason for the Cavaliers, observe Michael Beaven and George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal.
Atlantic Notes: Walton, Carmelo, Brown
Knicks team president Phil Jackson took to Twitter this morning to address reports regarding Luke Walton and the Knicks coaching job, writing, “Press accounts of coaching actions are untrue. Nobody has been asked nobody said no.” Marc Berman of the New York Post reported Sunday that the Knicks had interviewed Walton, and while Frank Isola of the New York Daily News confirmed that Jackson and Walton spoke by phone, it would be a stretch to call it an interview, Isola said (Twitter links). Walton told Jackson that he isn’t interested in the job as of now, according to a league source who talked to Isola (Twitter link), but Berman hears the Warriors assistant hasn’t completely ruled out the idea of taking the New York gig. Still, Berman calls Walton “a big long shot” to take the job.
See more on the sought-after Walton amid news from the Atlantic Division:
- Walton interviewed for the Nets job and pulled out of the running for that before Brooklyn hired Kenny Atkinson on Sunday, league sources told Berman. Walton appears to be leaning toward staying with the Warriors for next season but is nowhere near a decision, one league source said to Berman.
- Carmelo Anthony is concerned that the Knicks front office and ownership are more focused on simply making the playoffs rather than building a championship-caliber squad, Berman writes in a separate piece. “What’s successful for us?’’ Anthony said. “That’s the question you have to ask ourselves as a whole organization. Not just winning another 15 games like we did this year and playing for the eighth seed. Is that success? Or is being a top seed in the Eastern Conference, a top team in the NBA? Winning a championship is always the ultimate success. We have to put things in perspective. What’s success mean to this organization? A championship for me is always the ultimate success — not us slotting in and barely getting into the eighth seed. That’s not success for me. Having prominence in the postseason. That’s success.’’
- Sixers coach Brett Brown is a major fan of Nicolas Batum and would also like to see Philadelphia acquire a stretch four, according to Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News, who looks at ways the team with the league’s worst record can improve.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Kawhi Leonard Named Defensive Player Of Year
For the second consecutive season, the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard has been named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced via press release. Leonard, a 6’7″ small forward, becomes the first noncenter to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons since Dennis Rodman did so in 1989/90 and 1990/91. The 24-year-old Leonard received 84 first-place votes and 547 total points from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters. He beat out the Warriors’ Draymond Green, who notched 44 first-place votes and 421 points to finish as runner-up for the second season in a row. The Heat’s Hassan Whiteside came in third with 83 points, garnering two first-place votes. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote, according to the release.
Leonard, a first-time NBA All-Star this season, anchored a Spurs defense that led the NBA in points allowed (92.9 ppg) and defensive rating (96.6 points per 100 possessions). The Spurs, who were a franchise-record 67-15 this season, were significantly tougher on defense with Leonard in the game. According to NBA.com, they had a defensive rating of 94.9 when the five-year veteran was on the court and 99.2 when he wasn’t — a difference of 4.3 points per 100 possessions. Leonard also averaged 1.78 steals, which was good for 12th in the NBA, 5.5 defensive rebounds and a career-high 0.99 blocks to go with career highs of 21.2 points and 2.6 assists on the offensive end.
The final voting results for 2015/16 NBA Defensive Player of the Year:
- Kawhi Leonard (Spurs)
- Draymond Green (Warriors)
- Hassan Whiteside (Heat)
- DeAndre Jordan (Clippers)
- Paul Millsap (Hawks)
- Avery Bradley (Celtics)
- Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
- Tony Allen (Grizzlies)
- Anthony Davis (Pelicans)
- Andre Drummond (Pistons)
- Jimmy Butler (Bulls)
- LeBron James (Cavaliers)
- Trevor Ariza (Rockets)
- Jae Crowder (Celtics)
- Al Horford (Hawks)
- Kyle Lowry (Raptors)
- Chris Paul (Clippers)
To see each voter’s ballot, click here.
Community Shootaround: Kenny Atkinson
The Nets filled their head coaching vacancy this afternoon, hiring Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson to lead the team. Atkinson has been the top assistant to Mike Budenholzer for the past two seasons, and Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical writes that league executives consider Atkinson most ready to become a head coach among current assistants.
Atkinson is in his fourth year with the Hawks. Prior to that, he served as an assistant with the Knicks from 2008-2012 and spent 2007/08 as director of player development for the Rockets. Beyond his experience, he is known for a positive, optimistic personality that should serve him well as he starts the rebuilding job in Brooklyn.
The Nets had been negotiating with Atkinson for several days, but they also talked to other high-profile candidates. Former NBA coaches Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Vinny Del Negro were all rumored candidates for the job, along with Warriors assistant Luke Walton, Bucks assistant Sean Sweeney and Spurs assistant Ime Udoka. Also reportedly in the mix was current Sixers head coach Brett Brown, who may not be brought back to Philadelphia next season. It’s not known how much consideration was given to interim coach Tony Brown or what his future in Brooklyn might be.
The Nets’ road back to contention might be more daunting than any other team’s. Brooklyn finished 21-61 this season, a drop of 17 wins from last year. Trades have left the Nets low on draft picks, as the franchise won’t have a first-rounder this year or in 2018 and will probably have to swap picks with the Celtics next season. Brooklyn has about $56.66MM committed in salary for 2016/17, meaning the Nets will have a little more than $35MM to offer free agents if the salary cap is set at $92MM as expected. That number could be higher if Wayne Ellington, Thomas Robinson and Shane Larkin decide to opt out of their current deals.
That brings us to tonight’s question: Considering the state of the franchise, did the Nets hire the right coach? Was picking a top assistant the best strategy, or would Brooklyn have benefited from the instant credibility of someone with head coaching experience? Also, do you expect ownership to be patient with the 48-year-old Atkinson and 40-year-old general manager Sean Marks, or is Mikhail Prokhorov going to panic if his team keeps losing?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
Western Notes: Morey, McHale, Howard, Mavericks
Early losses to nonplayoff teams doomed coach Kevin McHale in Houston, Rockets GM Daryl Morey explained in a Quora post. Morey said lopsided defeats at home influenced the decision to get rid of McHale. The GM didn’t cite the exact games, but he is probably referring to a 20-point loss to the Nuggets on opening night and an eight-point loss to the Nets on November 11th, both at the Toyota Center. “I believed that if we waited until what would be considered a normal timetable to make a change that it would likely be too late,” Morey wrote. “Our only focus is on winning and I felt a material change was necessary.” McHale led the Rockets to a division title and a spot in the Western Conference finals last season, but was dismissed on November 18th with a 4-7 record.
There’s more tonight from the Western Conference:
- Rockets center Dwight Howard doesn’t plan to demand the ball more in Game 2 of the series with the Warriors, writes Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. Frustration over his declining role in the offense is one of the reasons that Howard is expected to opt out of his contract this summer. Howard had 14 points on 10 shots in the Game 1 loss, and Watkins notes that he hasn’t registered double-digit shot attempts in back-to-back games since early March. “As a competitor, I’m going to get the job done, no matter what it takes,” Howard said. “If I get the ball, if I don’t get the ball, if I score two points or I score 30 points. I got to go out there and play as hard as I can as long as I’m on the floor. That’s all that really matters.”
- The Mavericks have problems that reach far beyond their Game 1 embarrassment against the Thunder, contends Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. He says the team is looking at a “dismal future” that includes no first-round pick this June, hardly any young talent to build around and a desire to commit $96MM over four years to Chandler Parsons, who has finished the last two seasons needing knee surgery.
- Thunder coach Billy Donovan noticed the difference in intensity during his first playoff game, relays Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Donovan won two NCAA titles at Florida but is in his first NBA season. “There was a different vibe when you walked in there in terms of the enthusiasm, the excitement and energy,” he said. “I really thought our environment was terrific last night.”