Nuggets Promoting Tommy Balcetis To Assistant GM
The Nuggets are promoting Tommy Balcetis to an assistant general manager position, according to Lithuanian journalist Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link).
Balcetis, who was initially hired by the Nuggets in 2013 as the team’s basketball analytics manager, served as Denver’s VP of basketball strategy and analytics this past season.
A native of Lithuania who went to school at Harvard, Balcetis built up a Nuggets analytics department that was “practically non-existent” when he joined the organization, as Kendra Andrews of The Athletic detailed in June.
When Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas opted to leave the organization for the Bulls’ head of basketball operations earlier this year, assistant general manager Calvin Booth was promoted to fill the GM vacancy. Based on Urbonas’ report, it sounds like Balcetis will, in turn, be elevated to fill the position opened by Booth’s promotion.
Pacers Identify 14 Head Coaching Candidates
The Pacers are set to begin a wide-ranging search for a head coach that will include more than a dozen candidates, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. As Wojnarowski details, Indiana is looking to interview the following candidates as the team seeks a replacement for Nate McMillan:
- Former Kings and Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger
- Timberwolves associate head coach David Vanterpool
- Nets associate head coach Jacque Vaughn
- Trail Blazers associate head coach Nate Tibbetts
- Spurs assistants Becky Hammon and Will Hardy
- Heat assistants Dan Craig and Chris Quinn
- Mavericks assistants Jamahl Mosley and Stephen Silas
- Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee
- Sixers assistant Ime Udoka
- Magic assistant Pat Delany
It remains to be seen whether the Pacers will be granted permission to speak with all of their potential targets. If they do, the team’s first round of virtual meetings would feature at least 14 interviews.
Many of the Pacers’ coaching candidates identified by Wojnarowski have been linked to other vacancies around the league. Vanterpool, Craig, Mosley, Silas, Ham, and Udoka, for example, are all believed to be interviewing for the Bulls’ job. Udoka and Ham have also been mentioned as potential 76ers candidates, as has Joerger. Vaughn was seriously considered for the Nets job before the team hired Steve Nash, while Hardy and Delany interviewed with the Knicks before they hired Tom Thibodeau.
[RELATED: 2020 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker]
Others on Indiana’s list, such as Tibbetts and Hammon, have interviewed in past years for various NBA head coaching openings. Only a couple candidates – Quinn and Lee – haven’t received head coaching consideration in the past, as far as I can tell. Meanwhile, Joerger and Vaughn are the only names on the list with previous head coaching experience.
Mike D’Antoni has also been mentioned as a potential target for the Pacers, but he remains active in the postseason with the Rockets and there’s no guarantee he’ll leave Houston when his contract expires.
Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard has spoken about wanting to hire a head coach who takes a “modern approach” to the game and has the ability to connect with younger players. McMillan’s old-school approach to offense was believed to be one reason why Indiana made a change.
Pelicans’ Langdon Withdraws From Kings’ GM Search
Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon has informed the Kings that he won’t be involved in their search for a new head of basketball operations, reports Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Langdon was one of six potential candidates identified on Tuesday in a report on Sacramento launching its search for a replacement for Vlade Divac. That report indicated that the Kings had requested permission to interview Langdon, but it sounds like he prefers to remain in New Orleans rather than being considered for the job.
[RELATED: 2020 NBA Offseason Preview: Sacramento Kings]
A former assistant GM in Brooklyn, Langdon left the Nets in 2019 to become the Pelicans’ GM under newly-hired executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin. He previously worked under Griffin as the Cavaliers’ director of player administration and basketball operations during the 2015/16 season.
The Kings’ list of general manager candidates is down to five known names — Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth, Timberwolves executive VP Sachin Gupta, Heat assistant GM Adam Simon, Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair, and former Hawks executive Wes Wilcox. We’ll have to wait to see if any others pull out of the search or if Sacramento adds new candidates to its list in the coming days.
Community Shootaround: All-Defensive Snubs
The NBA announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2019/20 season on Tuesday, and there weren’t many surprises among the 10 players who made the cut.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, and Rudy Gobert – the three finalists for Defensive Player of the Year – headlined the First Team along with guards Ben Simmons and Marcus Smart. Former two-time DPOY Kawhi Leonard led the way on the Second Team, joined by teammate Patrick Beverley, as well as Brook Lopez, Eric Bledsoe, and Bam Adebayo.
While none of the inclusions on this year’s All-Defensive teams were particularly egregious, the announcement still drew the ire of some players and observers who felt that certain defenders were overlooked.
Pelicans guard J.J. Redick, for instance, argued (via Twitter) that teammate Jrue Holiday is the best defensive guard in the league and was snubbed in this year’s voting. Holiday received a pair of First Team votes and 14 Second Team votes, placing him third among guards who didn’t make the cut, behind Kris Dunn and Kyle Lowry.
Speaking of Lowry, former NBA swingman Mario Elie took exception to the fact that the Raptors guard didn’t make an All-Defensive squad this season, and singled out Rockets forward P.J. Tucker as another player who shouldn’t have been omitted. Tucker’s 29 Second Team votes placed him atop the list of forwards who missed the cut, just ahead of Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum, and Pascal Siakam.
It’s worth noting that when Jon Krawczynski and Josh Robbins of The Athletic conducted an anonymous coaches poll on the All-Defensive teams earlier this summer, Tucker was the one player in the coaches’ 10-player group who didn’t eventually earn a spot on the official All-Defensive teams — those anonymous coaches voted Tucker in over Lopez.
What do you think? Do Holiday, Lowry, Tucker, or any other players have legitimate gripes, or did voters get it pretty much right? Were there any players on either of this year’s All-Defensive teams who you felt didn’t deserve their spot?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Rockets Notes: Covington, House, D’Antoni
Rockets forward Robert Covington was checked for a concussion after a fourth-quarter collision with Lakers star Anthony Davis on Tuesday night, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. However, Covington passed the concussion protocol test and is expected to be available for Game 4 on Thursday, a source tells MacMahon.
Covington took an inadvertent Davis elbow to the face during the collision and was “bleeding pretty good,” as head coach Mike D’Antoni said after the game, but he doesn’t have a broken nose, per MacMahon.
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- The Rockets are uncertain about Danuel House‘s status for Game 4, but are hoping he’ll be available, a source tells MacMahon (Twitter link). House, who would provide added depth in Houston’s frontcourt, missed Game 3 on Tuesday for personal reasons.
- Rockets general manager Daryl Morey recently told USA Today that locking up head coach Mike D’Antoni to a new contract this offseason will be a top priority for the club. A source close to D’Antoni tells Jared Greenberg of TNT (video link) that the veteran coach is pleased Morey feels that way, but that it will be up to D’Antoni to decide whether or not he returns. While it still appears very possible that D’Antoni could be coaching the Rockets in 2020/21, it will be interesting to see if the two sides follow the lead of Billy Donovan and the Thunder and end up mutually agreeing to part ways after the season.
- In case you missed it, Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair is one of six candidates reportedly being considered by the Kings for their head of basketball operations opening.
Bucks Notes: Giannis, Budenholzer, Offseason, Korver
Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo badly wanted to play in Game 5 on Tuesday night despite his right ankle sprain, expressing a willingness to play on one leg. However, as Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, the Bucks prioritized Antetokounmpo’s health over any potential short-term gain, and the reigning MVP appreciates the decision to protect him.
“We have people in the team sometimes that have a bigger say than you and they have to protect you,” Antetokounmpo said. “They have to protect your health no matter what and it’s good. There’s a lot of cases, previous cases in the past that put the team over the player’s health and I love my organization for that, I appreciate that they protected me.
“… I wanted to play. Everybody – you know I wanted to play, I know I wanted to play, my coach knows I wanted to play, but at the end of the day, our organization put my health over Game 5 and that’s big for me.”
With the Bucks’ season now over, all eyes will be on Antetokounmpo’s future. As we detailed late on Tuesday night, Giannis has already said he won’t ask to be traded, but we still don’t know whether or not he’ll sign a super-max extension when the club offers it this fall.
Passing on that extension would result in all sorts of Giannis-related trade speculation, writes Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. However, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) outlines, it’s possible Antetokounmpo may prefer to wait on finalizing an extension even if he wants to remain with the Bucks. The same deal – a five-year max with the Bucks worth 35% of the cap and beginning in 2021/22 – would be available for Giannis during the 2021 offseason.
For now, teams are projecting no salary cap increase for the next couple years, per Marks. But by the ’21 offseason, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks would have a better idea of the cap outlook going forward. It’s possible at that time that the Defensive Player of the Year would want to sign a shorter-term contract to maintain flexibility and to potentially capitalize on a cap increase down the road by waiting to lock in a longer-term contract.
Here’s more on Giannis and the Bucks:
- Michael Scotto of HoopsHype spoke to a pair of GMs, two team executives, and a scout about the Bucks’ outlook, including Giannis’ future, Mike Budenholzer‘s status, and the rest of the club’s roster. The consensus among Scotto’s sources is that it’s hard to read too much into bubble results and that Milwaukee shouldn’t be in a rush to make major changes. “I think they’re good enough to win,” an Eastern Conference GM said. “We definitely overreact to certain things. They’re a contending championship team. It’s like OKC back in the day. Play it out. If Giannis leaves, he leaves. His brother is on the team, for crying out loud.”
- Another Eastern Conference executive who spoke to Scotto offered the following assessment: “If it were my decision, I think you run it back next year with the same squad. I think over the summer, Giannis will learn to extend past the 3-point line consistently. Then, if things aren’t looking good at the deadline next year, you see what you can get for (Khris) Middleton, (Eric) Bledsoe, (Donte) DiVincenzo.”
- John Hollinger of The Athletic isn’t convinced that Budenholzer’s coaching style is destined to fail in the postseason. Hollinger concedes that the Bucks head coach made some mistakes against Miami, but contends that a bad matchup and some bad luck largely contributed to the club’s early playoff exit.
- Veteran sharpshooter Kyle Korver, whose contract with the Bucks is expiring, told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link) that he’ll talk to his family before making a decision on his NBA future. His teammate Marvin Williams announced on Tuesday night that he has decided to retire, but it’s not clear if the 39-year-old Korver will follow suit.
Giannis Says He’s Not Looking To Leave Milwaukee
In the wake of the Bucks‘ second-round elimination at the hands of the Heat, speculation about Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s future in Milwaukee will begin to ramp up. However, the star forward tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he has no intention of asking to be traded as he prepares to enter the final year of his current contract.
“It’s not happening. That’s not happening,” Antetokounmpo said. “Some see a wall and go in (another direction). I plow through it. We just have to get better as a team, individually and get right back at it next season.”
While his comments to Haynes conveyed his commitment to Milwaukee in stronger terms, Antetokounmpo also hinted during his post-game media session on Tuesday night that he has no plans to leave the Bucks, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).
“Hopefully we can learn from this and get better as a team,” Giannis said. “… Hopefully we can build a culture in Milwaukee for many years that we can come out here and compete every single year for a championship.”
The Bucks have had the NBA’s best regular-season record in each of the last two seasons, but were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago by Toronto after taking a 2-0 lead in the series. This time around, the fifth-seeded Heat knocked them out in the Eastern Semifinals in a near-sweep, raising more questions about the Bucks’ ability to win in the postseason — and about whether Giannis might be looking for an exit ramp.
[RELATED: Heat, Raptors viewed as top suitors for Giannis Antetokounmpo]
Although he won’t be eligible for free agency until 2021, Antetokounmpo will be eligible this offseason for a super-max contract extension. The value of that five-year offer is in flux due to the uncertainty surrounding the NBA’s salary cap going forward, but the deal would be significantly more valuable than what any rival suitor can offer him as a free agent, and the Bucks plan to put it on the table as soon as they can.
Even if Antetokounmpo doesn’t immediately accept that offer, that doesn’t mean his days in Milwaukee will be numbered. Multiple sources are adamant that the Bucks wouldn’t trade Giannis even without an extension, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, who suggests the club would instead focus on convincing the reigning MVP to stay.
Whether or not Giannis re-ups with the Bucks when he becomes extension-eligible, general manager Jon Horst figures to exhaust every possibility when it comes to upgrading the roster this fall. Marc Stein of The New York Times tweets that some rival teams believe Milwaukee will look into trading for point guard Chris Paul if the Thunder make him available.
Antetokounmpo’s future will almost certainly be one of the hottest topics of the NBA offseason, but he’s not entertaining the speculation for now, telling Haynes that he’s focused on getting his sprained ankle healthy and getting back to work.
“If winning a championship was easy, everyone would have one,” Giannis said to Haynes. “We lost. Everyone saw that we lost. It’s disappointing, but what are we going to do? We’re going to keep working. I’ve got confidence in my teammates.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marvin Williams To Retire
Veteran NBA forward Marvin Williams has decided to call it a career, telling Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link) that he’s retiring as a player.
Williams, 34, was the second overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. He began his career by spending seven seasons with the Hawks before moving on to play for the Jazz, Hornets, and Bucks over the course of his 15-year career.
Although he never developed into the sort of star player Atlanta may have hoped for when drafting him ahead of Deron Williams and Chris Paul in 2005, Williams was an exemplary teammate and a reliable role player, averaging 10.2 PPG and 5.2 RPG on .443/.361/.808 shooting in 1,072 career regular season games (28.1 MPG).
The former UNC standout appeared in another 59 playoff contests, including 10 with Milwaukee this summer. He played his last NBA game on Tuesday night, recording 11 points and eight rebounds in the Bucks’ season-ending loss to Miami.
At age 34, Williams would likely still be able to get a minimum-salary contract on an NBA team this offseason if he wanted to extend his career. However, he had spoken back in January about considering retiring at the end of this season. At the time, he said he was interested in pursuing a role in international basketball outreach once his playing days were over.
“I like the Junior NBA (program) where you are basically a camp counselor all around the world,” Williams told Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. “Basketball Without Borders, I’ve done a couple of those: I went to Africa and I went to Indonesia. … Any opportunity I get to travel and work with kids? That’s what I would love to do.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Billy Donovan, Thunder Part Ways
Thunder head coach Billy Donovan, whose contract with Oklahoma City expired after his team was eliminated in the playoffs this season, will not be returning to the club for the 2020/21 season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The team issued a press release confirming that the two sides have mutually agreed to part ways.
After Donovan and his representatives could not come to terms on a new deal with the Thunder, both sides opted to move on. As ESPN’s Royce Young tweets, the break-up is more about the two sides not aligning on a long-term fit than any strong desire to make a change.
“We had planned to sit down at the end of the season and discuss the best way to move forward for both of us,” general manager Sam Presti said in a statement on Donovan. “After those discussions, it became apparent that we couldn’t provide him the information on the future direction of the team over the next several seasons to give him the level of clarity that he understandably desires at this stage of his career. Therefore, we close this chapter and reflect fondly on all that he has given to the team, organization and community.”
The fact that the club’s front office, led by Presti, anticipates an eventual rebuild helped put a damper on contract talks, Wojnarowski tweets. The Oklahoma City roster features several veterans that the team could soon be looking to move for future assets, especially with league revenues suffering as the coronavirus pandemic continues, Woj notes (Twitter link).
When the Thunder traded All-Stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook in the summer of 2019, expectations for the team were lower than they had been at any point in Donovan’s tenure with the club, and there was a league-wide belief that an OKC rebuild was imminent.
However, Donovan and new additions Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to a 44-28 record in 2019/20, good for the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. The team eventually lost Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs to former Thunder MVP Westbrook and the Rockets.
Donovan sported a 243-157 (.608) record in his five seasons as Thunder head coach. The team made the postseason in each of those five years, though it only advanced beyond the first round once during that time, in 2016, prior to Kevin Durant‘s departure.
Donovan’s exit from Oklahoma City immediately makes him one of the more intriguing free agents on the head coaching market.
The Bulls, in the midst of finishing a first round of interviews with prospective candidates, are anticipated to be interested in Donovan’s services as a potential new head coach, according to Woj (Twitter link). The Sixers are also expected to pursue Donovan, per Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: Clippers Arena, Randle, McGee, Kawhi
The Clippers‘ forthcoming Inglewood arena has received the final approval necessary from the Inglewood City Council, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). The team, which announced a joint deal to buy the publicly-owned property on the arena site, now has the go-ahead to begin building its new arena in 2021.
In a press release on the club’s official site, the team notes that construction is scheduled to commence next summer. The Clippers are expected to move from the Staples Center, an arena they share with the Lakers, to their new home ahead of the 2024/25 season.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Suns coach Monty Williams has added Brian Randle to his staff as an assistant coach, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). Randle is a former player development coach for the Timberwolves.
- Lakers starting center JaVale McGee has been cleared to play in tonight’s pivotal Game 3 against the Rockets, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). McGee turned his left ankle in Game 2 of the Lakers’ series with the Rockets and was limited to just eight minutes of action. An MRI on the ankle came back negative. Mark Medina of USA Today tweets McGee will not have a minutes restriction tonight. Medina adds that bench guard Dion Waiters will not be available for Game 3.
- Meanwhile, Rockets forward Danuel House Jr. will be unavailable tonight for personal reasons, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Feigen adds (Twitter link) that Houston center Tyson Chandler will also miss tonight’s game for personal reasons, but that both players remain on the NBA’s Orlando campus.
- Clippers All-Star Kawhi Leonard‘s stellar Game 3 performance showcased just how valuable he is as a two-way player, and why he was the top priority for Los Angeles in free agency ahead of the season, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Leonard was named to the 2020 All-Defensive Second Team earlier this afternoon.