Timberwolves Notes: Rosas, Saunders, Layden
With the Timberwolves set to hire Gersson Rosas as their new president of basketball operations, the next issue to address will be determining who will coach the team next season.
Patrick Reusse of The Star Tribune contends that Ryan Saunders didn’t show enough during his stretch as the Wolves’ interim head coach to lock him into the job going forward, arguing that Saunders should instead be offered the head coaching position for Minnesota’s G League affiliate in Des Moines. That would give him the opportunity to show his potential to lead an NBA team, while allowing Rosas to hand-pick his own coach to lead the Timberwolves.
However, that doesn’t appear to be a likely scenario at this point. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes that Rosas has a “long-standing connection” with Saunders, and while nothing has been finalized in regard to his future, Saunders is widely expected to be named the Wolves’ permanent head coach. Virtually all of Minnesota’s players – including star Karl-Anthony Towns – would be on board with that move, per Krawczynski.
As we wait to see what happens with Saunders, here are a few more notes out of Minnesota:
- The Wolves’ initial plan after interviewing four candidates for their president of basketball operations vacancy had been to trim the field to two finalists before making a decision, according to Krawczynski. However, Rosas stood out to such a degree that the team ultimately decided to simply go with him.
- Minnesota liked Rosas’ polished presentation and the success he had in Houston, and believes he’s someone who is capable of uniting all levels of the organization, sources tell Krawczynski. Rosas also received some strong recommendations during the vetting process, including a glowing review from former Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale, who worked with the veteran exec in Houston.
- Rosas briefly left the Rockets in 2013 to become the Mavericks’ GM, but returned to Houston after just three months when both sides decided the fit wasn’t right. According to Krawczynski, Rosas didn’t have the level of control he expected in Dallas, with Donnie Nelson and Mark Cuban still calling the shots. That shouldn’t be an issue in Minnesota, where he’ll be unquestionably be running the show.
- It’s not clear yet whether GM Scott Layden will be retained, per Krawczynski. Layden still has two years and $4MM left on his contract and has a reputation for being team-oriented, so Krawczynski believes he may stick with the Wolves in some capacity.
2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Charlotte Hornets
Despite having had Kemba Walker under contract at a rate of $12MM annually for the last four years, the Hornets were unable to build a legit contender around him, loading their cap with long-term, oversized contracts for role players. Now, after another season in the lottery, the Hornets enter the summer with many of those pricey contracts still on their books and Walker headed for unrestricted free agency.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Hornets financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
- Nicolas Batum ($25,565,217)
- Bismack Biyombo ($17,000,000): Exercised player option
- Cody Zeller ($14,471,910)
- Malik Monk ($4,028,400)
- Miles Bridges ($3,755,400)
- Devonte’ Graham ($1,416,852)
- Total: $66,237,779
Player Options
- Marvin Williams ($15,006,250): Plans to exercise player option
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ($13,000,000)
- Total: $28,006,250
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Tony Parker ($5,250,000) 1
- Willy Hernangomez ($1,676,735) 2
- Dwayne Bacon ($1,618,520) 3
- Total: $8,545,255
Restricted Free Agents
- Frank Kaminsky ($4,485,665 qualifying offer / $10,883,526 cap hold): Bird rights
- Total: $10,883,526
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Kemba Walker ($18,000,000): Bird rights
- Jeremy Lamb ($14,227,907): Bird rights
- No. 13 overall pick ($3,826,920)
- Shelvin Mack ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights
- Brian Roberts ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights 4
- Joe Chealey ($1,443,842): Non-Bird rights
- J.P. Macura ($1,443,842): Non-Bird rights
- Marcus Paige ($1,443,842): Non-Bird rights 4
- Total: $43,623,325
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistic cap room projection: $0
- If Williams or Kidd-Gilchrist unexpectedly opt out, perhaps the Hornets could carve out a little cap room. But assuming both players return, Charlotte would only be able to get up to about $8.2MM in cap room by renouncing all their free agents and waiving all their players on non-guaranteed contracts. The mid-level exception will be worth more than that, so the Hornets figure to just remain over the cap.
- Should the Hornets re-sign Walker to a maximum salary contract, they’ll likely have to shed a little salary to stay out of tax territory.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Trade exception: $7,819,725 (expires 7/6/19)
- Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 5
- Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 5
Footnotes
- Parker’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 4.
- Hernangomez’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 28.
- Bacon’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after August 1.
- Roberts’ and Paige’s cap holds remain on the Hornets’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- These are projected values. If the Hornets are at risk of going into tax territory, they may forfeit the bi-annual exception and have to use the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,711,000) rather than the full mid-level exception.
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Suns’, Cavs’ Head Coaching Searches
The Suns met with Monty Williams for a second time on Wednesday night, with team owner Robert Sarver in attendance for the interview, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). According to Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter), league sources say the Suns’ job will be Williams’ if he wants it, and the possibility of a union between the two sides is one that’s gaining real momentum.
However, Williams is in high demand this spring, having also interviewed with the Lakers. Plus, he’d likely be a strong candidate to replace Brett Brown in Philadelphia if the Sixers bow out in the second round and the team decides to make a change on the sidelines. In other words, Williams can afford to be deliberate about his next move.
For what it’s worth, the Suns have yet to formally put an offer on the table to Williams, according to Wojnarowski. Stein and Woj both confirm that Williams is Phoenix’s top target, so the club may be waiting to see if the Lakers make him an offer that can be countered, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic hypothesized earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers – one of the other four teams in the market for a new head coach – continued their search this week by interviewing former Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Tuesday, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Vardon also reported that Jazz assistant Alex Jensen would be interviewing with the Cavaliers later in the week — that meeting will take place on Friday, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
The Cavs are being patient as they go through the interview process, and appear likely to meet with their finalists for a second round of interviews once they’ve talked to all the candidates once. Stein reports (via Twitter) that Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley, who met with Cleveland earlier in the process, is expected to advance to the next round.
Community Shootaround: NBA Finals Match-Up
The NBA’s conference semifinals are underway and that means we’re down to eight teams as the Warriors, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Rockets, Bucks, Raptors, Sixers, and Celtics each won their first-round series. The Warriors have taken control of their series with a 2-0 lead but the remaining series are all tied up at 1-1 and the Rockets are heading home for games 3 and 4. As such, every club still has a realistic shot of moving forward to the conference finals.
As everyone is well aware, the Warriors are the two-time defending NBA champions and winners of three of the last four. They are also the prohibitive favorites again this season and perhaps the one team that could be classified as league villains, while the other three Western Conference teams haven’t been to an NBA Finals since the Rockets in 1995.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers and Heat (via LeBron James) have controlled the Eastern Conference playoffs for the last decade or so, with Milwaukee and Toronto never having won the East and Philadelphia and Boston not having been conference champions since 2001 and 2010, respectively.
With that all said, there are certain to be a bevy of opinions on what would be the best finals match-up, so we’re asking you that very question. Which NBA Finals match-up do you want to see? Is that the match-up you expect as well? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Pistons’ Players Give Dwane Casey Rave Review
Despite a sweep at the hands of the NBA-best Bucks, the Pistons’ first season under first-year head coach Dwane Casey was a relative success, as Detroit made the postseason for the first time since the 2015/16 season and posted a 41-41 regular season mark, the franchise’s third-best record in the last 12 seasons.
And according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, Pistons’ players were largely happy with their first season under Casey as well, as he received rave reviews from his roster after his stellar reputation around the league was found to be well-deserved.
“Talking to people (last) summer, you hear the same thing – that’s a really positive thing,” All-Star forward Blake Griffin said. “Consistency. One thing everybody talks about with coach Casey is the type of person he is: great guy, very disciplined and cares about his players. I saw that through the course of the season.”
Casey was also given high marks by his players for being able to hold them accountable for lack of effort and execution while simultaneously refraining from being so intense to the point of pushing guys away, no small task for a head coach in the NBA.
“Coach Case has this calm under pressure that is pretty cool,” reserve point guard Ish Smith said. “He had his moments, like any coach, when the players are not giving you what you expected out of them. But we dealt with a lot of adversity. He never got down, he never was frustrated, he never got mad. The end result was the playoffs and that’s a huge tribute to his personality.”
Coach Casey was also able to cultivate a positive relationship with Griffin, the team’s consensus best player, which is yet another important aspect for any NBA head coach.
“We are very, very lucky to have a coach like him,” said Griffin. “A coach who stands for and represents the things he does. He was great this season. I really enjoyed playing for him.”
Grizzlies Interested In Sarunas Jasikevicius
After Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen interviewed on Tuesday for the team’s vacant head coaching position, another name has now emerged as a candidate to be the Grizzlies’ next head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
The Grizzlies, who fired coach J.B. Bickerstaff following a record of 33-49 during the 2018/19 season, reportedly plan to soon meet with Lithuania’s Sarunas Jasikevicius, currently the head coach of Zalgiris Kaunas and one of the EuroLeague’s rising coaching stars, as the team continues to go through the early stages of its coaching search.
Jasikevicius, 43, is known for his strong-willed leadership style and coaching teams that exhibit elite ball movement and offensive execution, skills that have become synonymous with success at the NBA level.
As we detailed last summer, the Raptors interviewed Jasikevicius before hiring Nick Nurse and even offered him a job as an assistant coach on Nurse’s staff before he opted to remain in Lithuania. Since that time, his name continues to come up with front offices around the league as a possible NBA coaching candidate.
Jasikevicius, once a decorated EuroLeague player, also played two seasons in the NBA with the Pacers and Warriors from 2005 to 2007, where he held career averages of 6.8 PPG and 2.9 APG while shooting 35.5% from long range and over 90% from the foul line.
Drive Look To Remain In Grand Rapids
As we relayed this afternoon, the Pistons plan to relocate their G League affiliate to Detroit after the Wayne State University Board of Governors approved a plan to build a new $25MM athletic facility with a 3,000-seat arena for its basketball teams.
But, according to James Hawkins of The Detroit News, it appears as though the Pistons are going to need to a new affiliate, as the Grand Rapids Drive, the Pistons’ current NBAGL affiliate, have no plans to leave Grand Rapids.
“We are deeply committed to our fans and love being part of the sports landscape in the community that we’ve called home since 2014,” per an official statement from the Drive. “This team has been community-built and supported for five seasons, and we are looking forward to continuing the growth of the franchise here in West Michigan.”
“We have no plans on relocating to Detroit but continue to have great communication and a positive relationship with the Pistons organization,” the statement continued. “We are solely focused on our sixth season this upcoming fall, in partnership with the Detroit Pistons and the NBA.”
The Pistons currently have an agreement with the Drive for a NBA/G League affiliation that runs through the 2020/21 season, and any change in affiliation would require approval from the NBA. For what it’s worth, Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem says it is still unclear whether the Drive or an expansion franchise will be joining the Pistons in Detroit.
“We’re (Pistons and Drive) in discussions right now and I don’t know,” Tellem said. “We have a commitment that we can get an expansion team, and it may be an expansion team. We’ll see how our discussions are resolved as we talk with the NBA and the Grand Rapids team… All we know is we’re going to be bringing a team here for the 2021 season and we’re in discussions now. I’m not sure what team it will be. All I know is there will be a team here.”
Draft Notes: FAQ, Hommes, Fernando
While most NBA fans are currently glued to their televisions every night watching playoff basketball, the 2019 NBA Draft is now less than two months away, meaning it’s also time for fans to begin thinking about what their favorite team is going to do on June 20.
Fortunately, Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated has put together a constructive FAQ piece to help the average fan with some common questions related to the NBA Draft process. From whether Zion Williamson is a lock for the No. 1 overall pick to the new rules regarding agents, Woo does a nice job giving an overview of this year’s hot topics.
One of those topics is how the NBA continues to attempt to improve its pre-draft process with the addition of the inaugural G League Elite Camp set to take place from May 12–14 (the night of the NBA lottery), followed by the combine from May 15–19. Part of the camp includes testing of fringe-combine prospects who, if they perform well during the camp, will earn combine invitations.
There are some more draft-related notes to pass along this evening:
- Daulton Hommes, the 2018/19 Division II Men’s National Player of the Year, will reportedly keep in his name in the 2019 NBA Draft and forego his final season of college basketball, per Mark Zeigler of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Hommes, 22, played his college ball at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and is one of the only D-II players to crack ESPN’s big board, currently coming in at No. 93.
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has put out his latest mock draft, and he’s shared some interesting information he obtained from one high-level NBA front office representative. Per that individual, there’s no such thing as a “bad” draft from an NBA scouting perspective, as each team is generally only looking for one player who exceeds the value of where their team’s draft slot is located. Therefore, the league’s premier front offices have confidence they can come away with a player they like relative to their draft position.
- Maryland sophomore forward Bruno Fernando, ESPN’s No. 34 prospect, will remain in the draft, per a message posted on his Twitter account. In the post, Fernando thanks God and everyone who helped him at Maryland along his journey, including his teammates, professors, coaching staff, and head coach Mark Turgeon. Fernando had until May 29 to officially remain the the draft.
Harden: I Could “Barely See” After Eye Injury
5:50pm: Per Tim MacMahon of ESPN, Harden went straight to an eye doctor after the Rockets’ plane landed in Houston this afternoon and the team is optimistic he won’t have issues with his vision in Game 3 and beyond.
8:22am: After getting hit in the face by Draymond Green while fighting for a rebound in the first quarter of Tuesday’s game, Rockets star James Harden suffered an eye injury and left the game until midway through the second quarter. Harden was able to finish the game, but speaking later to reporters, including Janie McCauley of The Associated Press, he admitted that the eye drops he received to alleviate the discomfort only helped so much.
“I can barely see. Just tried to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates,” Harden said. “It’s pretty blurry right now. Hopefully it gets better day by day.”
Despite playing with blurred vision and stinging eyes, Harden still managed to put up 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting in 34 minutes, though he did turn the ball over six times and finished with a -9 plus-minus in Houston’s second loss of the series.
“He fought through some stuff. The guy looked like he was not in great shape the first half, I think it might have cleared up a little bit,” head coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But he got raked pretty good in the eyes. But that’s him. I didn’t have a doubt he was coming back unless it was something catastrophic. I’m sure he would have loved to have played better. Under the circumstances, I thought he played great.”
The good news for Harden and the Rockets is that there will be an unusually long three-day gap between Games 2 and 3, so the reigning MVP will have until Saturday to recover. As D’Antoni noted, Harden is extremely unlikely to miss any time due to the ailment, but the Rockets – already in a 2-0 hole – will be in trouble if he’s not at full strength going forward, so this will be something to watch closely for the rest of the series.
Wolves To Hire Gersson Rosas As President Of Basketball Operations
The Timberwolves are moving forward with plans to hire Rockets executive Gersson Rosas as their new president of basketball operations, league sources tell Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms as much, tweeting that Rosas will assume control of Minnesota’s front office.
Rosas has spent the better part of two decades with the Rockets, most recently serving as the team’s executive vice president of basketball ops. A close associate of general manager Daryl Morey, Rosas had a brief stint as the Mavericks’ general manager in 2013 but returned to Houston shortly thereafter when things didn’t pan out in Dallas.
Rosas has been a popular target in recent years for teams with openings in their front office. He was reportedly considered for top jobs in Charlotte, Detroit, and Philadelphia in 2018. This spring, he interviewed with the Pelicans and Wizards in addition to the Wolves. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Rosas met with Minnesota for a second time today in an interview that included owner Glen Taylor.
Heading into 2018/19, head coach Tom Thibodeau held the president of basketball operations title for the Wolves, but general manager Scott Layden assumed control of the front office when Thibodeau was fired during the season.
Now that he’s being hired to lead Minnesota’s front office, Rosas will have a hand in determining Layden’s future, as well as that of head coach Ryan Saunders. The Wolves reportedly prefer to bring back both men.
Once he sorts out the Wolves’ front office and coaching staff, Rosas will turn his attention to what figures to be a challenging offseason. Minnesota doesn’t project to have cap room this summer after missing the playoffs in 2018/19, and big contracts for Andrew Wiggins ($27.5MM), Jeff Teague ($19MM), and Gorgui Dieng ($16.2MM) remain on the club’s books.
The Timberwolves also interviewed ESPN analyst Chauncey Billups, Nuggets assistant GM Calvin Booth, and Nets assistant GM Trajan Langdon for their president of basketball operations vacancy.