Southwest Notes: Ferry, D’Antoni, Van Exel, Mavs
Danny Ferry is meeting with the Pelicans today about the team’s permanent general manager position, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Ferry, who has been serving as the franchise’s interim GM since Dell Demps was dismissed, will have the final interview for New Orleans, according to Wojnarowski.
The Pelicans have already interviewed several candidates, including former Cavs GM David Griffin, Warriors assistant GM Larry Harris, Nets assistant GM Trajan Langdon, Rockets VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, and Wizards interim GM Tommy Sheppard.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni, who had been hospitalized since Friday, has shown improvement and was released today, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. However, he will not coach the team tonight.
- Grizzlies assistant coach Nick Van Exel has interest in the University of Cincinnati coaching gig, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter). Van Exel, who played at the university, will be looking to follow in the footsteps of fellow Grizzlies assistant Jerry Stackhouse, who transitioned from Memphis’ bench to Vanderbilt’s head coaching job last week.
- Sean Deveney of Sporting News has previewed the offseason for a pair of Southwest teams this week, exploring what lies ahead for the Pelicans and for the Mavericks.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Wolves Sign Mitch Creek For Remainder Of Season
3:11pm: The Timberwolves have officially re-signed Creek, per NBA.com’s transactions log. The team continues to carry 16 players via the league’s hardship provision.
10:32am: Minnesota will sign Mitch Creek for the remainder of the season, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Creek signed a 10-day deal with the team during the last week in March, though he has not yet played in a game for the Timberwolves. The shooting guard had two 10-day contracts earlier this season with the Nets, seeing action in four games.
The Wolves have two games remaining this season. They take on the Raptors tonight before clashing with the Nuggets on Wednesday.
Wizards Sign Tarik Phillip, Jordan McRae
The Wizards have signed Tarik Phillip, according to The Athletic’s Fred Katz (Twitter link). Hoops Rumors’ own JD Shaw (Twitter link) has confirmed the report.
The team also promoted and extended two-way player Jordan McRae, as Candace Buckner of The Washington Post tweets. His new standard NBA contract is non-guaranteed for next season.
McRae excelled in the G League this season, splitting time between the Capital City Go-Go and the Wizards and earning first-team All-NBAGL honors. Phillip also shined in the G League this season, playing for the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate.
Washington’s final game is tonight against the Celtics, meaning today is the last day the team can sign a player. The franchise entered the day with 13 traditional players under contract in addition to its pair of two-way deals. Those figures are now 15 and one, respectively.
Jeanie Buss Has Faith In Lakers’ Front Office Despite Lost Season
The Lakers failed to put the right pieces around LeBron James during year one of The King’s reign in Los Angeles. Despite the disappointment, owner Jeanie Buss still has complete faith in both team president Magic Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka, a source close to the situation tells Bill Oram of The Athletic.
The two executives have had their share of missteps during their time with the team. For instance, as Oram details, when the Lakers signed James, neither Pelinka or Johnson put in the kind of research that rival organizations typically do when landing a top star.
When the Celtics traded for Kyrie Irving, the team made calls to former coaches and those around him in pursuit of intel on the point guard. Had the Lakers put in that type of work, they may have known, for example, that LBJ playing off the ball wasn’t going to be something they should plan around even if the four-time MVP had signed off on the strategy during July 2018 discussions.
The team will chase stars like Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson this summer, though the Lakers don’t appear to be atop any of those players’ lists, per Oram’s piece, which Shams Charania, Joe Vardon, Sam Amick, and Frank Isola also contributed to.
The thinking process may be shifting behind the scenes in Los Angeles as a result of the lack of interest in the Lakers. “You don’t need names, you need games,” a source close to James tells Oram. That differs from Johnson declaring last year that this summer would bring another superstar.
Regardless of which players the Lakers roster, Luke Walton is unlikely to coach them. Johnson clashed with Walton throughout the season with tension rising during an early-season meeting. Oram writes that Johnson delivered Walton with a “closed-door tongue lashing.” From that point on, Walton had reason to be concerned about his job security.
According to Isola, the Lakers reached out to former Bucks coach Jason Kidd during the season. However, a high-ranking official within the organization refutes the claim.
Oram shares more details from a lost season in the extensive piece, which is worth a read on its own. Here are some more of the highlights:
- Kyle Kuzma was told prior to his trip to Charlotte for All-Star weekend that he would be a key part of the Lakers and that unless the team was acquiring one of the league’s best three players, it wasn’t trading him. Pelinka delivered a similar message to Larry Nance Jr. prior to the deadline last season. According to Oram’s source, Pelinka reassured Nance of the team’s plan for him and told the big man to buy the house he was pursuing in Los Angeles — Nance luckily was unable to complete all the necessary steps to buying the home before the team traded him to Cleveland.
- Some within Walton’s circle felt that agent Rich Paul was attempting to use the Anthony Davis saga to get the team to fire Walton. If the team acquired Davis, the franchise would need a more decorated coach. However, the Lakers heard through back channels that Davis liked Walton and that bought the coach more time.
- Members of the Lakers’ coaching staff had hoped that management would bring back the Julius Randle–Brook Lopez pairing last offseason. The team allowed both to walk in free agency. Sources tell Oram that Walton and his staff were not consulted about potential free agent targets last year until late in the process.
- Oram writes that Johnson is seen as an “absentee executive,” as evidenced by Johnson’s lack of response when LaVar Ball made allegations that Walton was losing control of the locker room last season. Johnson was in Hawaii at the time and didn’t publicly back his coach.
- Pelinka has been active in his involvement with the Lakers. He’s hands-on with scouting and coaches’ meetings, though his level of micromanagement has drawn criticism.
- Johnson caught the attention of James for his comments during an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio. Johnson said the team needed to get the ball out of James’ hands because otherwise, the situation would be “Cleveland all over again and we don’t want that.” LBJ publicly said he wasn’t sure what Johnson meant.
Details On The Failed KCP-Jabari Parker Swap
The Lakers had a tentative deal in place earlier this season to acquire Jabari Parker and send Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Beasley to the Bulls, a source tell Bill Oram of The Athletic. ESPN previously reported that the two teams discussed swapping Parker and KCP.
Caldwell-Pope would have had to agree to the deal, since he re-signed with the Lakers on a one-year contract, giving him the right to veto any trade. The deal was not signed off over the weekend leading up to Anthony Davis‘ public trade request and the Bulls were stuck in limbo for several days. Many within the league viewed Davis’ request as a call for the Lakers to trade for him. The Bulls subscribed to that notion and moved onto other trade discussions.
Parker was eventually sent to the Wizards in the Otto Porter Jr. deal, while KCP remains on the Lakers’ roster. Beasley was dealt to the Clippers along with Ivica Zubac and ultimately waived.
In Beasley’s case, the deal can partially be attributed to a locker room flair-up with coach Luke Walton. Walton wanted Beasley to play more unselfishly; Beasley, along with teammate JaVale McGee, challenged the request.
The Lakers ended up netting Mike Muscala in the Beasley-Zubac trade. Team president Magic Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka had watched Muscala score 17 points during a spirited Sixers win over the Lakers just days prior and some within the league believe that single performance inspired the front office to make the deal.
Raptors Sign Eric Moreland
The Raptors have signed Eric Moreland, according to a team press release.
Toronto will play its final game of the regular season tonight, meaning today was the final day for the team to sign a player. The Raptors entered the day with 14 players under traditional contracts and two players under two-way deals, so the team will not need to make a corresponding move in order to accommodate Moreland’s signing.
Moreland inked a 10-day deal with Toronto earlier this season, playing three games with the club. The franchise opted to not offer him an additional 10-day contract when his deal expired.
Moreland will be eligible to play in the postseason, since he has not been released by an NBA team since March 1. However, he’s unlikely to see any real action in the playoffs unless one of Toronto’s two centers – Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka – goes down with an injury.
Eastern Notes: Ellington, Wizards, Cavs
Detroit remains in the playoff race in large part due to the addition of Wayne Ellington. The shooting guard has made 38.1% of his looks from behind the arc on 7.8 attempts per game since coming to the franchise. Coach Dwane Casey sees Ellington’s use of his speed as a major reason why he’s able to succeed from 3-point land.
“If he was slow coming off, teams would chase him over and get there. He really comes off with speed and he knows how to change speeds to get open. [Luke Kennard] could really learn from him as far as watching him work out. It’s not just for games. He does it every day in practice,” Casey said (via Keith Langlois of NBA.com).
The Pistons were in need of outside shooting after shipping Reggie Bullock to the Lakers at the trade deadline and the team is glad it was able to nab Ellington after the veteran agreed to a buyout with the Suns. The sharpshooter will again be a free agent at the end of the season.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Wizards are working with prominent sports executive Mike Forde as the team looks to reset its front office, a source tells Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Forde is the CEO of Sportsology and was previously the director of football operations for Chelsea in the Premier League.
- Bradley Beal has been a mentor to Troy Brown Jr. and the All-NBA candidate sees a bright future for the Wizards‘ rookie, as Zach Rosen of NBA.com relays. “I told him in the beginning of the year, you are going to see a lot of stuff throughout this year, and one thing I always tell him is, it is easy to just get caught up in the negativity but the more positive you stay and the more ready you stay, your name will eventually be called and sure enough, it was called and he performed,” Beal said. “He did excellent. He has been constantly growing. It is just a matter of him just getting more minutes.”
- The Cavaliers‘ home arena will see a name change from Quicken Loans Arena to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, according to Tom Withers of The Associated Press. The venue is also undergoing “major” renovations.
Celtics Sign Jonathan Gibson
The Celtics have signed Jonathan Gibson, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Gibson played in China earlier this season, averaging 33.1 points per game.
Several members of the Celtics have been ruled out vs. the Wizards tonight and the team needed available players for the contest. Kyrie Irving, Aron Baynes, Gordon Hayward, and Jayson Tatum are among those will be sidelined.
Gibson was on the Celtics’ roster at the end of last season via the Hardship Exception, as Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports tweets. Gibson has played in a total of 21 NBA games with Boston and Dallas.
Several Contenders Had Interest In Mario Hezonja At Trade Deadline
Mario Hezonja is showing off his play-making skills during the Knicks final games of the season. The team handed him starting point guard duties over the weekend and he has looked like a completely different player than the one who registered just a single 20-point game prior to his trial as New York’s floor general.
If the Knicks had allowed Hezonja more play-making responsibilities, perhaps the former No. 5 overall pick would be on a different team. Several contenders reached out to the Knicks about trading for Hezonja at the trade deadline, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. No deal materialized and it’s unclear what the Knicks wanted in return for the Croatia native. Had the point guard experiment occurred earlier this season, the interest in Super Mario may have been more intense.
Hezonja believes that he could have helped younger players such as Mitchell Robinson and Kevin Knox further develop if given more time at the one, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News relays.
“In terms of involving them and making them better, yes [I wish I played point guard more],” Hezonja said. “But then we have to understand if I get the ball, where is [Emmanuel Mudiay] going to be, where is [Dennis Smith] going to be? They have to play, too.”
The Knicks’ point guard situation will be a major storyline this season. The team reportedly plans to shop Frank Ntilikina. Coach David Fizdale hinted that Mudiay could be playing elsewhere and while Smith was the centerpiece of the Kristaps Porzingis deal, the team would have no problem shifting him to a different role if a top target such as Kyrie Irving or Kemba Walker signs with the franchise.
Hezonja, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, would welcome a return to the Knicks. a league executive tells Bondy that the 24-year-old is probably looking at a contract worth part of the mid-level exception on the open market. The 2019/20 MLEs are projected to come in at $9.246MM (standard), $5.711MM (taxpayer), and $4.76MM (room). Hezonja made $6.5MM this past season.
“I’m ready to talk to [owner James] Dolan,” Hezonja said. “If he gives me that call on July 1, we’re done.”
Jerry Stackhouse Turned Down NBA Interviews
Jerry Stackhouse turned down interviews with two unnamed NBA teams before taking the Vanderbilt head coaching job, he said during his introductory press conference, as relayed by Adam Sparks of the Nashville Tennessean.
Stackhouse served as an assistant coach with the Grizzlies this season.
“I can’t say there are too many college situations that I was looking to go to with my trajectory being what it was in the NBA,” Stackhouse said. “I was on pace to sit down and talk about a head coaching job in the NBA this offseason already with a couple of teams. I had those interviews lined up.”
Stackhouse replaced Bryce Drew, who was fired after the season. Vanderbilt went winless in 18 Southeastern Conference games.
Stackhouse had his share of interviews last summer for NBA head coaching openings. He was a candidate for the Charlotte, New York and Toronto jobs. He doesn’t have college coaching experience but has been in the professional ranks since retiring as a player after 18 years in the league. He was an assistant under Dwane Casey with the Raptors and coached their G League affiliate, Raptors 905, to two championship finals.
Vanderbilt’s athletic director Malcolm Turner, who like Stackhouse is a North Carolina alum, is the former president of the G League. Turner convinced him to take over the downtrodden program.
“I’m ready to anchor down,” Stackhouse said. “As a head coach, I want to teach. It doesn’t matter at what level that I got in. People felt like I was on a trajectory in the NBA. But when I had an opportunity to come here and meet with (Turner), it was an opportunity that I couldn’t resist.”