Italian Team Interested In Mavericks’ Scotty Hopson
Mavericks forward Scotty Hopson has an offer waiting in Italy if things don’t work out in Dallas, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
Hopson’s 10-day contract with the Mavs expired overnight, and the team is planning to sign Jameel Warney, so it doesn’t look like he will get another one. Italian club Virtus Bologna has already contacted his agent about a potential deal.
“We are interested in Scotty Hopson,” said Valeriano D’Orta, sports director for Virtus Bologna. “He is one of the three players we are following and we have already talked with his agent. He has been proposed [by] us and he is interested in returning to Europe. We are waiting to know if his contract will be extended for 10 more days.”
Hopson, who signed with the Mavericks on February 26, has appeared in just one game with eight minutes of playing time. The 28-year-old spent most of this season with Galatasaray in the Turkish League and has extensive overseas experience. His career has also taken him to Greece, Israel, Spain and China.
Mavericks Notes: Cuban, Front Office, Warney, Draft
The Mavericks don’t believe there’s any truth behind the sexual misconduct allegations against owner Mark Cuban, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. A team source told Sefko the organization spent a lot of time on the matter today before determining the charges are unfounded.
A report Tuesday night said police in Portland investigated a complaint against Cuban in 2011 that was filed by a woman who claimed inappropriate physical contact. No charges were filed in the case and Cuban has denied the allegation. The team is concerned that more stories of this type will be unearthed as the investigation continues into sexual misconduct at team headquarters, Sefko adds.
There’s more tonight out of Dallas:
- Sexual misconduct allegations against former Mavericks CEO Terdema Ussery are still being investigated, and the process could continue into the the summer, Sefko notes in the same story. Ussery was a prominent figure in the Sports Illustrated story on the Mavs’ front office that resulted in the current investigation. Sefko also learned that Roger Caneda, GM of Mavs Gaming, was suspended after a racist tweet from 2016 was discovered. There are unconfirmed reports of similar Twitter comments in 2017, but it’s possible Caneda’s account had been hacked, and the team is continuing to investigate.
- Jameel Warney will make history as the first Stony Brook University alumnus ever to reach the NBA, relays Greg Logan of Newsday. The 24-year-old confirmed that he will sign a 10-day contract with the Mavericks on Sunday, allowing him to return to New York next week for road games against the Knicks and Nets. Warney is the university’s all-time scoring leader and a three-time American East Conference Player of the Year.
- The Mavericks will have to get better at using their draft choices before they can think about becoming a contender again, writes Shane Rhodes of Basketball Insiders. He notes that last year’s selection of Dennis Smith Jr. marked the team’s best pick since obtaining Dirk Nowitzki in 1998. The most pressing need is in the frontcourt, where DeAndre Ayton, Mo Bamba and Marvin Bagley would all be welcome additions, but the Mavs also need to find a partner for Smith in the backcourt.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 3/7/18
Here are Wednesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Thunder have recalled rookie center Dakari Johnson from their Oklahoma City Blue affiliate, the team announced in an email. Johnson has appeared in 26 games for the Thunder this season, averaging 1.9 points, 1.2 rebounds and 5.6 minutes of playing time per night.
Michael Porter Jr. To Play In SEC Tournament
Fans and scouts who have waited all season to see Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr. in action will get their wish in the SEC Tournament, tweets Paul Finebaum of ESPN. Tigers coach Cuonzo Martin confirmed today that the potential top-five pick in this year’s draft will see some playing time during the tourney.
“He said ‘Coach, I want to help the team,'” Martin said. “… for me it was always Mike’s decision to play or not play.”
Porter won’t start and won’t see a lot of action, Martin added. Porter suffered a back injury in November that required surgery and limited him to just two minutes in the season opener. He was medically cleared for basketball activities February 22. Missouri, the fifth seed in the SEC, will open the tournament Thursday against Georgia or Vanderbilt.
Porter is the sixth selection in the latest mock draft compiled by Jonathan Givony of ESPN, but he could move up the board with a strong showing in the conference and NCAA tournaments.
Eddy Curry Joins BIG3 Draft Pool
Eddy Curry is the latest former NBA star to join the BIG3 draft combine, the league announced today (Twitter link).
Curry, 35, played 12 seasons in the NBA, mainly for the Bulls and Knicks. The seven-footer’s last appearance in the league came early in the 2012/13 season when he played two games for the Mavericks. He owns a championship ring as a member of the Heat team that won the title in 2011/2012.
The fourth player taken in the 2001 draft, Curry had a brief stint in China after his NBA career ended but hasn’t played competitively since 2013.
The combine will be held this spring, giving the eight teams in the BIG3 a chance to evaluate the available talent ahead of the draft. Curry will have to be selected by one of the teams before he can join the three-on-three league.
The BIG3 began play last June with a variety of former NBA stars involved. It has received another infusion of talent for its second season, with ex-players such as Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Glen Davis, Baron Davis, Metta World Peace, Drew Gooden, Greg Oden and others declaring their intentions to join the league.
Central Notes: R. Jackson, Dunn, LaVine, Love
Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson hasn’t given up on playing again before the end of the season, writes Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Jackson, who has missed the past 10 weeks with a severely sprained right ankle, was able to perform some quick movements in a workout today and step into his shot without discomfort.
“In a lot of ways, it’s been tough,” Jackson said. “It’s [past 30 games missed] now and I never envisioned a sprain lasting this long. Usually, you bounce back and play within a few hours or a few days or a week’s time. I never envisioned being out this long. The season’s been up and down and I just really want to go out there and play.”
Coach Stan Van Gundy recently suggested that Jackson may be ready for a full-contact practice by next week, but Beard cautions that’s unlikely without significant progress in the next few days.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- The young Bulls stars are showing respect to one another now, but conflict will come when someone has to emerge as the team leader, predicts Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago. Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn are both aware that possibility is coming, but they are focused on more immediate goals. “I don’t worry about that. I don’t get into that — who’s the best player and all that,” Dunn said. “We all have to be leaders for this team. We have to be leaders in different ways. It’s a matter of time to see how we jell out. Right now we just keep playing.”
- After sitting out seven games as the Bulls opted for a youth movement, center Robin Lopez will return to the starting lineup Friday in the wake of a warning from the NBA about resting healthy players. “It’s a little bit of a crazy situation,” Lopez told K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). “I’m always excited to get out there and play with the guys.”
- Cavaliers forward Kevin Love, who is getting a positive response throughout the league over a piece he posted on The Players Tribune about panic attacks, said he was motivated to write it after the issue came up at a team meeting in January. “One of the things that was brought up was [coach] Ty Lue had mentioned the panic attack [from] early in the season,” Love told Michael Singer of USA Today. “And I wasn’t aware how many people knew. I kind of buried it and put it off to the side. And that kind of started a big push in the back to why I wanted to write this article.”
Southwest Notes: Davis, Cousins, Gasol, Rockets
Anthony Davis isn’t concerned about losing his All-Star partner on the Pelicans‘ front line this offseason, relays William Guillory of The Times-Picayune. Davis believes free agent DeMarcus Cousins will re-sign in New Orleans, although a season-ending Achilles injury may have clouded his future somewhat.
“I hope so. That’s a decision he has to make. I’m pretty confident that he’ll stay,” Davis said. “From what I hear, he plans on it. But I’m going to keep selling the dream here. I’ll be very involved — I want him here.”
Davis and Cousins formed the league’s most productive duo of big men before the injury, with each averaging better than 25 points and 10 rebounds per game. The Pelicans faltered immediately after losing Cousins, but have won nine in a row to rise to fourth place in the West. Cousins, who still doesn’t have a timetable to start playing again, is eligible for an offer of up to five years and $175MM from the Pelicans this summer.
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Pau Gasol advised his younger brother to remain professional and mentally tough as the Grizzlies suffer through a long losing streak, writes Ronald Tillery of USA Today. The frustration in Memphis is something new for Marc Gasol, who has been to the playoffs the past seven years. “What I told him is, ‘Do your best. Keep competing.’ That’s the only thing you can control,” Pau said. “You can’t control that one of your best players, Mike Conley, is out for the year. You can’t control that [Chandler] Parsons, one of your biggest signings, has an [injury] issue and so forth. All you can control is your effort, your work ethic, your mindset going into games.”
- The Grizzlies should make trading Gasol a priority for the offseason, contends Spencer Davies of Basketball Insiders. Moving Gasol would not only bring a nice package of players and draft picks, Davies argues, it would also get rid of an unhappy star and shed one of the three huge contracts that are clogging the team’s salary cap.
- Lost amid the Rockets‘ 16-game winning streak is the fact that the team has been dealing with a series of injuries and illnesses, notes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. The two most pressing concerns are a left hip injury to Ryan Anderson, who hopes to return this week, and knee soreness bothering newly signed center Brandan Wright.
Suns Notes: Jackson, Warren, Len, Draft
So far this week, we’ve relayed comments from Suns general manager Ryan McDonough and owner Robert Sarver about the state of the franchise, the upcoming search for a new head coach, and potential roster moves. We’ve got a few more Suns-related notes to pass along this afternoon, so let’s dive right in and round them up…
- With Josh Jackson showing the potential to emerge as the Suns’ starting small forward for years to come, Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic suggests that T.J. Warren, whose four-year contract extension will begin in July, could become an “ideal sixth man” for the team.
- Within the same article, Bordow says it’s unlikely that the Suns attempt to re-sign Alex Len this offseason, despite the big man’s solid numbers as a starter (10.0 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.0 BPG). Having signed his qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in 2017, Len will be an unrestricted free agent this July.
- The Suns are currently on track to receive two additional first-round picks in the 2018 draft, in addition to their own lottery pick. Assuming the club keeps one or both of those picks, keep an eye on Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a potential target, tweets Bordow.
- With the Suns set to miss the postseason for an eighth consecutive season, David Yapkowitz of Basketball Insiders details the moves he’d look to make this offseason to turn things around for the franchise.
Community Shootaround: Coach Of The Year
After our Community Shootaround discussion on Tuesday focused on coaches who could be out of work this spring, it only seems fair to highlight the coaches on the opposite end of the spectrum today. There are several NBA head coaches who are not only safe to keep their jobs next season, but also deserve Coach of the Year consideration for the work they’ve done this season.
A handful of NBA.com analysts discussed the top Coach of the Year candidates today, and each of those five writers identified Raptors head coach Dwane Casey as a top contender for the award. Toronto had won at least 48 games for four consecutive years coming into 2017/18, so it’s not as if the team’s success has come out of nowhere. But after losing key players like P.J. Tucker, Cory Joseph, and Patrick Patterson in the offseason, the Raptors were considered likely to take a step back this year. Instead, an overhauled offensive system and a young, dangerous bench have the team on pace to win a franchise-record 60 games.
Casey isn’t the only coach who was named as a top candidate for Coach of the Year by multiple NBA.com writers. Steve Aschburner, Tas Melas, and Sekou Smith all praised the job Nate McMillan has done in Indiana this season — viewed by many as a probable lottery team or a borderline playoff club at best, the 37-27 Pacers are currently in position to claim home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Another coach of a top Eastern Conference club earned mentions from several NBA.com writers, including John Schuhmann: Celtics head coach Brad Stevens doesn’t necessarily have his team exceeding preseason expectations, but those expectations were adjusted significantly after Gordon Hayward went down with a season-ending ankle injury in his first game as a Celtic. The C’s have hardly missed a beat since that injury, posting a 45-20 record and contending for the No. 1 seed in the East.
Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, Clippers coach Doc Rivers, and Sixers coach Brett Brown were also named by NBA.com’s panel as Coach of the Year contenders.
Steve Kerr is worth mentioning too, since his Warriors may very well end up with the NBA’s best record again. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is a perennial candidate — San Antonio has struggled recently, but the team remains 10 games above .500 despite being without Kawhi Leonard for almost the entire season. And let’s not forget Terry Stotts, who has the 39-26 Trail Blazers holding the No. 3 seed in the West.
What do you think? Who’s your current pick for the NBA’s Coach of the Year award for the 2017/18 season? Jump into the comment section below to weigh in!
Suns Owner Discusses Coach, Offseason, Roster
Early in the 2017/18 season, the Suns made a coaching change, installing Jay Triano as the interim head coach in place of Earl Watson. Speaking to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic, team owner Robert Sarver praised the job that Triano has done with the club this season, suggesting that his interim role has been “a tough job that wasn’t what he signed up for.”
Despite his appreciation for Triano, Sarver doesn’t want to repeat a past mistake — in 2016, after Watson stepped in for Jeff Hornacek as the Suns’ interim coach, the team hired Watson to the full-time position at season’s end without interviewing other candidates. This time around, Sarver says, the club plans to “cast a much wider net.”
Sarver’s conversation with Bordow about the state of the franchise is worth checking out in full, particularly for Suns fans. The discussion includes a few more interesting comments from the club’s owner, so we’ll relay some of those highlights right here:
On the Suns’ offseason outlook as the 2017/18 season nears an end:
“We’re going to add another really good young player. I think we’re in a position where we can turn the corner, but if we don’t execute properly in terms of free agency and we don’t develop the players and we don’t execute in terms of our draft, then it’s going to be another tough year. So I think it’s a year of opportunity, but a year for us to step up and make some good decisions.”
On adding more veteran leadership without compromising the development of young players:
“Our younger players need confidence. I think there’s a fine line between coming in a game feeling confident you can win and not feeling confident you can win. I think maybe we can add a piece or two next season with some leadership and some experience and some winning and some grit that can help turn that confidence level with some of our younger players. So this offseason is going to be about adding some of that confidence and leadership, and at the same time to get some of our younger players to take a meaningful step forward.”
On what sort of player(s) the Suns will be targeting this summer:
“I think two things. Balance in terms of shooting. The league has been changing. What’s very important is the ability to shoot the three and defend the three. And getting back to this winning attitude that someone can bring to us. Someone who has won and someone who plays a meaningful role on our team. Someone who probably is a starter or first guy off the bench who can bring some swagger and a winning attitude. Obviously I’m biased, but I do think the talent on our roster is a little bit better than our win-loss record, and I think we need some of that winning attitude and swagger. I don’t think we have that right now.”
On expectations for 2018/19:
“I think with a piece or two and a solid year of development, I think we can flip the switch and end up being a team that can have a winning record. But looking at where we stand right now, there’s a long way to go to get to that.”