Pistons general manager Troy Weaver is expected to talk to two former Thunder assistant coaches he worked with in Oklahoma City — the Bulls’ Josh Longstaff and the Nets’ Brian Keefe — for Detroit’s head coaching job, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
Dwane Casey announced after the Pistons’ season finale that he would be moving to the front office.
Bucks assistant Charles Lee, former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin, Heat assistant Chris Quinn and Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse have already been mentioned as potential targets for the Pistons’ job.
Former Overtime Elite coach Kevin Ollie, Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney, Pistons assistant Rex Kalamian and former Villanova coach Jay Wright are some other potential candidates that may intrigue Weaver, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic speculates.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Bulls big men Patrick Williams and Nikola Vucevic did something that has become an increasing rarity in the league. They appeared in all 82 regular season contests. Williams, who was injured most of last season, said he takes pride in being available, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes. “It’s a blessing to play all 82,” Williams said. “It was something that I definitely wanted to do and something I want to continue to do throughout the course of my career.”
- Bucks guard Jrue Holiday achieved all of his regular season bonuses, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. He earned a total of $1.65MM for reaching incentives in minutes played, games played, rebounds and assists, as well as making the All-Star team. He still has a chance make an additional $4.1MM in bonuses, ranging from making the All-Defensive team to postseason team success, Marks adds.
- While team goals means more to him, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo believes he deserves the Most Valuable Player award, he told Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report. “Look, I will never try to create a narrative about the work I put in and maybe that might hurt me because I believe the last five years I’ve been the MVP,” he said. “Do I want a third MVP? Hell (bleeping) yeah I want a third one. I am extremely competitive. I try to make my team successful. …. I’m never going to be one who discredits anybody else’s work. That’s not who I am as a person. And I will never beg for an MVP award that I believe I deserve.”
Celtics aren’t in the central
Much respect for the players who appear on all 82 games. Shame on the ones sitting down. Russell is disappointed
“I’m not saying I deserve the MVP award but I’ve earned it the past five years. You won’t see me begging for it, but I really want a third MVP. I don’t like to make any noise about how much work I do on my game, but I have been grinding so hard you wouldn’t believe. The point is I’m a very humble guy who doesn’t try to market himself or draw attention to himself. I’m all about team success, not individual awards. Can you read my lips? I’m not one to manufacture the narrative about myself. You can read between the lines, my guy. I am the MVP and nobody needs to hear that from humble hard-working me.”
I think highly of Giannis, but he’s got to sit down and work out the logic of the messages he wants to give to media.
He was asked a direct question of “if he deserves to win the MVP this season” so he provided a candid answer. He’s never been one to provide calculated or coach speak answers. It’s just not who he is to me his response says he thinks he’s the best player on the planet but also that he respects his fellow players enough to not get into a debate about semantics. If providing his opinion when asked but not touting his own horn on social media or without being prompted is providing mixed signals then I don’t know what to tell you. To me, he’s answering honestly but not boasting about how amazing he’s been all year long.
Didn’t Dame miss multiple all star games until he called everyone out for ignoring him ? Then Draymond joked about no talents trying to politic their way in over deserving Warrior bench players.