Rafael Stone Talks Upcoming Draft, Scouting, John Wall, More
Rockets general manager Rafael Stone sat down for an extended conversation with Kelly Iko of The Athletic as the team heads into a major offseason, looking to continue a massive roster overhaul.
After being compelled into trading All-Star guard James Harden to Brooklyn, an injury-plagued Houston team finished with a 17-55 record during its inaugural season under new head coach Stephen Silas.
In the interview, Stone discusses a variety of topics, including how he and his front office team are prepping for what could be a loaded 2021 draft, the way he and his staff evaluate talent in an effort to land under-the-radar depth, and what he projects as the futures of two of the team’s priciest veteran players.
The full story is well worth a read, as Stone also touches on his relationship with team owner Tilman Fertitta, how the team dealt with COVID-19-related challenges during the 2020/21 season, his chemistry with Silas, and more.
Here are some highlights:
On taking an open-minded approach to talent in the upcoming 2021 draft:
“I’m definitely not geared towards any one type of player; we’re just going to try and find the player or players that we think have the potential to be the best. We’re not a team in our iteration that should be focused on this position versus that position, A. But B, I don’t know that any team is generally doing that in the draft. I think the draft is where you’re trying to find just good talented basketball players, I think, where you start thinking about real positionality and holes is more free agency.”
On Houston’s scouting process:
“It’s definitely a collective effort. It’s not just me, I’d say I do my best to use as many different sources of information as I can… I watch a ton. I try to watch them in different situations, I try to envision how they’ll look in our system, both offensively and defensively… My way of thinking about it is you try to funnel. If you can get people who think about basketball differently excited about the same guy, then maybe that’s an interesting guy. When you get to undrafted free agents, or the end of the second round in some respects, you can take a little bit more risk.”
On pricey point guard John Wall‘s long-term fit with Houston:
“John was great… Highly competitive guy who’s nice, super high basketball IQ. We were talking to our young guys the other day, and they were laughing about how John looks like he’s half-listening, and then they’ve got questions and he’s walking them through A, B, C through quadruple Z. He’s been around long enough now. He understands his position, he understands his teammates’ positions, he understands what the defense is doing. Having guys around like that, that’s just about what a pro is supposed to do; you’re supposed to get the whole thing… It’s great for young guys to see that because that’s the level of knowledge that you should attain. You’re not going to have that as a rookie.”
On talented swingman Kevin Porter Jr.:
“His ballhandling is exceptional. That’s not a secret. His passing is really good, too. It did seem like he was miscast playing off the ball. So maybe we were a little more excited about him because we thought that we could maybe unlock a higher upside by moving him onto the ball. We might have been more excited about him than other teams. I’m not in their room, I don’t know what other teams were doing, so I have no idea. But we really liked him.”
Rick Carlisle Steps Down As Mavericks Head Coach
3:50pm: The Mavericks have confirmed Carlisle’s departure in a press release (Twitter link).
3:10pm: Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle is stepping down from his post after 13 years in Dallas, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. He had two years left on his current deal with the club.
Carlisle’s crowning achievement in Dallas was leading the club to its only NBA title in 2011 with superstar power forward Dirk Nowitzki.
It appeared that, with the recent ascent of young First Team All-NBA guard Luka Doncic, Carlisle would be well-positioned to lead the club to many future deep playoff runs. During the last two seasons, Carlisle and Doncic led the Mavericks back to the playoffs, where they lost two consecutive hard-fought first-round battles against the Clippers.
In head coaching tenures with the Pistons, Pacers, and Mavericks, Carlisle, 61, has accrued a regular season head coaching win/loss record of 836-689. He was voted the 2001/02 Coach of the Year while with Detroit. His teams have made the playoffs in 14 of his 19 seasons as a head coach.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), Carlisle had been the third-longest-tenured current NBA head coach, behind only five-time champion Gregg Popovich with the Spurs and three-time champion (twice as the head coach, once as an assistant) Erik Spoelstra with the Heat.
For an organization with the level of relative infrastructural stability the Mavericks had demonstrated for over a decade, this has been an unprecedented few days.
Earlier this week, a report by The Athletic detailed major front office conflict surrounding sports gambler-turned-director of quantitative research and development Haralabos Voulgaris. Yesterday, news became public that the team had parted company with GM Donnie Nelson, who had worked in the Dallas front office for 24 seasons and had held the GM position for 16 years. The decision had actually been reached on Sunday, a day before The Athletic’s scathing story was published.
The Mavericks are now the seventh team to lose a head coach following the 2020/21 season. The Wizards, Trail Blazers, Celtics (the team that drafted Carlisle in 1984), Pacers (the team for which Carlisle served as a head coach from 2003-2007), Pelicans, and Magic also have head coaching vacancies. Should Carlisle want to continue coaching, there are several playoff-caliber rosters among these, sporting six 2021 All-Stars, available as of this writing.
Carlisle released a statement addressing his departure to ESPN (Twitter link via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski):
“After a number of in-person conversations with Mark Cuban over the last week, today I informed him that I will not be returning as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. This was solely my decision. My family and I have had an amazing 13-year experience working with great people in a great city. It has been an honor to work along [with] Mark, [Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall], Donnie, [vice president of basketball operations Michael Finley], [assistant GM Keith Grant], Dirk, [former Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd] and every player and assistant coach I’ve had here. Dallas will always be home, but I am excited about the next chapter of my coaching career.”
Cuban has also weighed in on the news.
“I truly love Rick Carlisle,” he said in a statement to ESPN (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN). “He was not only a good coach but also a friend and confidant. Our relationship was so much more than basketball. And I know that won’t ever change.”
As for Dallas’ fresh vacancy, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets that star Doncic is a big fan of assistant coach Jamahl Mosley. “He’s got the things needed for a head coach,” Doncic noted after Mosley subbed in for Carlisle during a 99-86 win over the Knicks this spring.
Mosley has been a Mavericks assistant since 2014. John Hollinger of The Athletic concurred (Twitter link) that Mosley would get significant consideration.
Doncic had still been expected to ink a super-max contract extension once he became eligible later this summer after the news broke of Nelson’s departure, despite a strained relationship with Voulgaris. MacMahon tweets that the relationship between Carlisle and Doncic had also been tense, and that Carlisle may have been coaching for his job during the 2021/22 season.
Cuban informs Marc Stein of the New York Times (via Twitter) that he will look to replace Nelson as the new head of basketball operations before finding a replacement for Carlisle.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
James Harden Doubtful For Game 5
[UPDATE: Harden Upgraded To Questionable For Game 5, Plans To Play]
JUNE 15, 8:49am: Harden has been upgraded from “out” to “doubtful” for Game 5, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The Nets’ star still seems unlikely to play on Tuesday, but the team is now at least leaving the door open to the possibility.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter), Harden intends to test his hamstring during today’s shootaround in the hopes of receiving medical clearance.
JUNE 14, 4:19pm: All-Star Nets guard James Harden will join Kyrie Irving on the sidelines for Game 5 of Brooklyn’s second-round series against the Bucks, writes Malika Andrews of ESPN. Harden has missed all but 43 seconds of the series with a right hamstring strain, which he initially suffered late in the regular season. Head coach Steve Nash had told reporters earlier today that Harden was “working out.”
Irving sprained his right ankle in the Nets’ Game 4 loss on Sunday, and will miss at least Game 5. Though the point guard underwent an MRI today, the club didn’t provide an estimate for his recovery or return.
As Andrews notes, this will leave just forward Kevin Durant available among the Nets’ three All-Stars when the series returns to Brooklyn on Tuesday. The Bucks have rallied back to tie up the series at 2-2.
With both Harden and Irving out to start the second half of Game 4 on Sunday, Nash started point guard Mike James and forward Jeff Green alongside incumbent starters Durant, Joe Harris and Blake Griffin.
Across the six playoff games he was available for Brooklyn this season, Harden averaged 23.2 PPG, 8.8 APG, 6.2 RPG, 1.7 SPG and 0.8 BPG, while sporting a slash line of .556/.475/.909.
Pistons To Renounce Rights To Jaylen Hands
The Pistons are set to renounce their rights to guard Jaylen Hands, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), who reports that the team and player have agreed to part ways.
Hands, 22, was selected with the No. 56 pick in 2019 out of UCLA by the Clippers, who traded him to the Nets on draft night. A year later, during the 2020 offseason, Brooklyn traded Hands’ rights to the Pistons. Although Detroit has held his NBA rights since then, the 6’3″ guard has yet to sign an NBA contract.
Hands played for Brooklyn’s NBAGL affiliate, the Long Island Nets, during his first professional season in 2019/20, averaging 11.3 PPG, 3.5 APG, 2.9 RPG, and 1.0 SPG across 40 games (including 18 starts). He later signed a two-year deal with Serbian club KK FMP in January 2021.
Once Detroit formally renounces its rights to Hands, he’ll become an NBA free agent. That would allow the former five-star recruit to sign with any NBA team once his contract with FMP expires — or earlier, if that deal has an opt-out clause.
Luke Adams contributed to this report.
Suns Notes: Craig, Crowder, CP3-Williams, Defense
Athletic Suns reserve swingman Torrey Craig is finding his form in the playoffs with his new club, writes Gina Mizell of Suns.com. Mizell notes that Craig as a defender has proven his value by guarding multiple positions. With Phoenix, Craig has also been able to showcase his game as a shooter and rim roller.
“We would be in a different place if we didn’t have Torrey Craig on our team,” Suns head coach Monty Williams said. “It was the right spot for Torrey. We needed him, and he needed us.”
“To me, it’s mental,” Craig said of his active brand of play with the Suns. “Even if I’m looking tired, I’m breathing hard, I’m still gonna go after the ball and do the extra dirty work. … If I’m gonna play 15 minutes this game, I’m gonna make sure I empty the tank in 15 minutes.”
Craig inked a veteran’s minimum one-year contract with the Bucks as a 2020 free agent. Craig found himself out of the rotation after being waylaid by a broken nose early in the 2020/21 season. He was relieved when he learned he was being traded to the Suns in March.
There’s more out of Phoenix:
- In comments to reporters Sunday, veteran Suns starting power forward Jae Crowder said that many associates questioned his decision to join the Suns during the 2020 offseason after a Finals run with the Heat, per Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Before this season, the Suns had not earned a playoff berth since 2010. Now they are headed to the Western Conference Finals, having swept the Nuggets in a second-round series. “I know I look like a genius a little bit with my decision,” Crowder said. “I felt like (the Suns) were hungry. They want to do some special things, and I just want to be a part of it.”
- Suns head coach Monty Williams and All-Star point guard Chris Paul are cherishing their shared journey to the Western Conference Finals after a decade-long friendship, per Royce Young of ESPN. Williams served as Paul’s head coach with the then-New Orleans Hornets during the 2010/11 season. “One of the highlights of my career, (Chris is) right there,” Williams said.
- The Suns have excelled on both sides of the ball to return to their first Western Conference Finals in 11 years, but their intense defense will prove crucial throughout the rest of their playoff run, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. The club’s 104.7 defensive rating is a significant improvement over their already-impressive 110.4 regular season defensive rating. “Shout-out to our coaches,” Paul said. “We’re prepared every game. Win or lose, one thing we won’t be is underprepared. And just attention to detail — we have slip-ups here and there, but the signs of a good team is when you can lock in defensively. And that’s where we try to hang our hat.”
Wizards Expected To Try To Extend Beal
It is anticipated that the Wizards will attempt to negotiate a new contract extension with All-Star guard Bradley Beal this offseason, a source tells Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Beal previously signed a two-year extension, worth nearly $72MM, in 2019 — it will take effect during the 2021/22 season.
As Hughes writes, should the two parties opt to get a deal done this season, the maximum value of such an agreement would be a projected $181.5MM over four years. If Beal decides to wait until the 2022 offseason, turning down his $36.4MM player option for ’22/23 and becoming a free agent, he could sign a new five-year contract with the Wizards worth a projected $235MM.
The heftier package would be available as a result of Beal having reached his 10th season of NBA play, and thus qualifying for a higher maximum salary. If he were to change teams at that point, he’d be eligible for a four-year deal worth a projected $174MM.
Beal enjoyed a stellar season in 2020/21, helping the Wizards return to their first playoffs since 2018. Across 60 regular season games, Beal averaged 31.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 4.4 APG, while sporting a shooting line of .485/.349/.889.
Beal and his similarly expensive new backcourt mate Russell Westbrook guided the Wizards to a 34-38 record in the East, and qualified for the playoffs by winning one of their two play-in games. Washington would go on to fall 4-1 to the top-seeded Sixers in the first round.
NBA All-Defensive Teams Announced
The NBA has officially announced the voting results for its two 2020/21 All-Defensive teams.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert, the Defensive Player of the Year for the third time in four seasons, and Sixers guard Ben Simmons were unanimous selections for the All-Defensive First Team. Both players made the First Team lists of all 100 tallied ballots, for a perfect total of 200 points. Votes are given to 100 media members.
This marks Gobert’s fifth straight appearance on the All-Defensive First Team, and the second consecutive All-Defensive First Team honor for Simmons.
Warriors forward Draymond Green garnered 176 points (including 80 First Team votes). Green was named Defensive Player of the Year in the 2016/17 season. This year’s nod is his fourth First Team honor, and his sixth total All-Defensive team.
Two Bucks players rounded out the All-Defensive First Team this season. Guard Jrue Holiday netted 157 points (65 First Team) and All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year, earned 135 total points (43 First Team). Antetokounmpo has just made his third straight All-Defensive First Team, and his fourth All-Defensive team overall. This is Holiday’s second All-Defensive First Team appearance and his third overall All-Defensive team.
[RELATED: Rudy Gobert Named Defensive Player Of The Year]
Two All-Defensive First-Teamers have unlocked contract bonuses associated with the honor. Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets that Gobert will receive a $500K bonus for the inclusion this season. Marks adds (Twitter link) that Holiday will pocket a cool $100K for making All-Defensive First Team. Holiday has other contract incentives associated with his team’s further postseason advancement.
The All-Defensive Second Team honorees are led by Heat stars Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, who each netted 111 points (37 First Team votes) apiece. Adebayo makes his second All-Defensive Second Team with the nod today. This is Butler’s fifth such honor.
Simmons’s Sixers teammates Joel Embiid and Matisse Thybulle also make the cut. It is the third All-Defensive team nod for Embiid and the first appearance for Thybulle. Clippers All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard, a former two-time Defensive Player of the Year, rounds out the All-Defensive Second Team this season.
Here are the full voting results for the All-Defensive First and Second Teams, with each player’s point total noted in parentheses:
First Team:
- Ben Simmons, G, Sixers (200)
- Rudy Gobert, C, Jazz (200)
- Draymond Green, F, Warriors (176)
- Jrue Holiday, G, Bucks (157)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, F, Bucks (135)
Second Team:
- Bam Adebayo, F, Heat (111)
- Jimmy Butler, G, Heat (111)
- Joel Embiid, C, Sixers (87)
- Matisse Thybulle, G, Sixers (63)
- Kawhi Leonard, F, Clippers (43)
Suns guard/forward Mikal Bridges, Hawks center Clint Capela, and Pacers forward/center Myles Turner were among the highest vote-getters who missed the cut for the Second Team. You can find the full voting results right here.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kyrie Irving Suffers Right Ankle Sprain
4:57pm: The X-rays on Irving’s ankle came back negative, head coach Steve Nash said, as relayed by ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter link). He will undergo further treatment and testing for the injury. Rachel Nichols of ESPN reported that Irving left the arena in a walking boot and crutches.
3:53pm: Nets All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving severely rolled his right ankle when he landed on the foot of Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo during a floater attempt during the second quarter of Game 4 of their second-round series on Sunday.
Malika Andrews of ESPN tweets that Irving will miss the second half of a crucial contest in Milwaukee. The Nets lead the series 2-1, as of this writing.
Irving joins fellow All-Star ball handler James Harden among the growing list of injured Nets as these playoffs continue. Harden remains sidelined with a right hamstring strain that kept him out of 18 games during the regular season and has kept him out of all but 43 seconds of this Bucks series.
The recovery timelines for Irving and Harden are currently murky, though Nets head coach Steve Nash said ahead of today’s game that Harden was “progressing in the right direction,” per Malika Andrews of ESPN. Nash stated that Harden has moved on to on-court workouts and shooting drills.
“When he’s able to get up to full speed and do it for two or three days without recurrence or setback … then I think that’s kind of the marker,” he said of establishing a recovery timeline.
Reserve point guard Mike James started in the place of Irving during the game’s second half. Another second-half starting adjustment came from head coach Steve Nash in the form of forward Jeff Green getting the nod ahead of shooting guard Bruce Brown, to provide more two-way firepower around incumbent starters Joe Harris (now the nominal starting shooting guard) and Blake Griffin (center), plus lone remaining healthy Nets All-Star Kevin Durant.
Rachel Nichols of ESPN tweets that Nash suggested to his team during the halftime break that the club would need to compensate for Irving’s scoring “by committee.”
Clippers Notes: All-Star Duo, PG-13, Jackson, Jazz Series
Clippers All-Star forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are starting to exhibit their full potential as a tandem in these playoffs, writes Mark Medina of USA Today. The two stars made key contributions on both sides of the ball in the Clippers’ victory over the Jazz at the Staples Center yesterday to improve their second-round series record to just 2-1 in favor of Utah.
“They are two of the best in the league,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said last night of Leonard and George. “I don’t go to Mastro’s (an upscale L.A. restaurant) to order a ketchup. I go there to order a steak. And tonight, our guys want steak.”
Medina notes that both players have improved their scoring efficiency and remained healthier than they did last season. A lot is riding on how the Clippers fare in the playoffs this year. Leonard is anticipated to decline his $36MM player option for the 2021/22 season and sign a new long-term deal with the club this summer, while George inked a four-year, $190MM extension with L.A. during the 2020 offseason. Medina wonders if Leonard may reconsider or George may become a trade candidate should the Clippers flame out in the postseason for the second consecutive season.
There’s more out of Los Angeles:
- George’s terrific three-point shooting in the first half helped spark a crucial 132-106 Clippers victory over the Jazz on Saturday night, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. He connected on four triples in the first half and shot 6-of-10 from deep overall.
- Clippers starting point guard Reggie Jackson has evolved into a reliable third scoring option during this postseason, writes Royce Young of ESPN. The 31-year-old’s three-point shooting and ball handling have helped open up scoring options for stars George and Leonard. Across 10 playoff games thus far, Jackson is averaging 16.3 PPG (on 48.3% shooting from the floor), 2.8 RPG, and 2.7 APG in 29.3 MPG. Jackson appears to have outplayed the $1.6MM veteran’s minimum contract he inked with the club during the 2020 offseason, when he was slated to be a reserve behind original starting point guard Patrick Beverley, who is scheduled to earn $14.3MM in 2021/22, his age-33 season.
- With the Clippers securing a pivotal Game 3 win Saturday against the top-seeded Jazz, the team may have found a method for winning the whole series, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. L.A.’s switch-everything defense and impressively effective offensive shot diet made for one of the club’s best games this postseason, Jones writes.
Jeff Green Available For Nets
1:32pm: Green will be available to play for the Nets in Game 4 of their second-round matchup against the Bucks this afternoon, tweets Malika Andrews of ESPN. Andrews notes that Green will be suiting up for the first time since the second game in Brooklyn’s first-round contest against the Celtics on May 25.
1:22pm: Nets forward Jeff Green, still dealing with a left plantar fascia strain, will be a game-time decision for this afternoon’s crucial Game 4 contest against the Bucks, tweets Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. The Nets lead the series 2-1.
The 6’8″ tweener forward has been an effective role player for the Nets this season, averaging 11.0 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 1.6 APG during 27.0 MPG. He boasted a slash line of .492/.412/.776. Across the Nets’ first two games in the postseason, Green averaged 4.5 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 1.5 APG over 19.3 MPG.
Per Goodwill, Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash indicated that Green would need to successfully complete his pregame warmups and get a green light from team physicians before he’d be able to take the floor.
Brooklyn is of course still missing guards James Harden, out with a right hamstring strain for the third straight game, and Spencer Dinwiddie, recovering from a partially-torn ACL incurred during the first week of the 2020/21 regular season. Word recently surfaced that Dinwiddie still hopes to return to the floor for Brooklyn at some point during the playoffs, possibly during the NBA Finals.