NBA Declares Thon Maker Eligible For Draft
The NBA has ruled international prep star Thon Maker eligible for this year’s draft, reports Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Maker will hire an agent, thus forgoing his college eligibility, and formally enter the draft, Ford adds.
The 19-year-old Maker attends Orangeville District Secondary School in Ontario, Canada, but he graduated from high school last June. The NBA rule for American players stipulates they must turn 19 the year they enter the draft and be one year removed from the graduation of their high school class to meet the minimum standards for draft eligibility. Maker could also make a case that he qualifies as an international player and is thus exempt from rules regarding his high school graduation, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pointed out. It’s unclear what basis the NBA used to clear him from the draft, but he’ll be a part of it nonetheless.
Originally from Sudan, Maker previously played at two high schools in Louisiana and one in Virginia. He’s impressed along the way, but his stock has been falling of late, as Givony and The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski noted. Maker is No. 41 in Givony’s prospect rankings, while Ford lists him 20th, a wide split that demonstrates the difficulty NBA types are having as they try to assess his value. So, workouts with NBA teams, which begin later this month, and the combine in May figure to be key.
Kings Eye McMillan, Ewing, McHale, Blatt, Others
1:27pm: McHale appears unlikely to take the Kings job, and Del Negro is the most realistic candidate, Mannix suggests.
THURSDAY, 1:02pm: Nate McMillan is also in the mix, sources told Stein (Twitter link).
10:15pm: The possibility of hiring McHale is gaining traction within the Kings organization, Chris Mannix of The Vertical tweets. Sacramento is intrigued by the possibility of McHale working with DeMarcus Cousins, Mannix adds.
3:09pm: The Kings are also considering Patrick Ewing, league sources tell Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
12:40pm: Kevin McHale and Mark Jackson are also under consideration, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Kings do have strong interest in Thibodeau and Brooks but acknowledge they’ll be tough gets, Stein adds. McHale is just a few months removed from having been fired by the Rockets, while Jackson last coached in 2013/14 with the Warriors.
WEDNESDAY, 11:53am: The Kings, poised to fire George Karl, will consider a group of candidates that includes David Blatt, Vinny Del Negro, Jeff Hornacek, Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga and Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Jeff Van Gundy, Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks, who frequently draw mention as top NBA coaching candidates, are uninterested in the job, as Wojnarowski hears from league sources.
Blatt, whom the Cavs fired as their head coach in January, is also reportedly under consideration from the Knicks, though he’s reportedly a long shot for that job. The Nets have reportedly been eyeing him as well, and he has ties to the Brooklyn organization, having coached the Russian national team, which received significant financial backing from Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
Sacramento reportedly contacted Del Negro about its head coaching job in December 2014, when the team fired Michael Malone. Del Negro, a former Kings player, hasn’t coached in the NBA since the 2012/13 season with the Clippers, but Wojnarowski reported that he interviewed for the Pelicans job last summer.
Chatter about Hornacek has been quiet since the Suns fired him in February, though he earned respect around the league when he led Phoenix to a 48-34 record in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season during his first year as an NBA head coach. The Suns have regressed since then, and Hornacek wound up 101-112 overall in Phoenix. He was an assistant under former Kings coach Tyrone Corbin on the Jazz.
Wojnarowski wrote in February that Larranaga and Atkinson weren’t particularly eager to land the Kings job if it were to open. The assistants both reportedly interviewed for the Sixers job three years ago and have drawn frequent mention as a possible NBA head coaching candidate since. Larranaga was reportedly a contender for the recent opening at Georgia Tech that Josh Pastner ultimately filled.
Kings Fire George Karl
THURSDAY, 12:41pm: The Kings have fired Karl, the team announced.
“After evaluating the team’s performance this season, I determined it was necessary to move forward with a new voice from the head coaching position,” Divac said in the team’s statement. “I have a great deal of respect and admiration for George and his accomplishments throughout his nearly 30 years in the NBA. On behalf of everyone in the Kings organization, I thank him for the contributions made during his time in Sacramento and wish him good fortune in the future.”
Karl released a statement wishing the organization well, as James Ham of CSNCalifornia.com relays (Twitter link).
11:43am: Karl, who’ll coach the team against Houston tonight, is aware of the team’s plan to fire him Thursday, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, who adds that Divac and ownership came to the decision jointly.
WEDNESDAY, 10:53am: The Kings plan to fire George Karl on Thursday, multiple league sources indicated to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, who relays the news in the middle of a blog entry. The news comes as no shock, as The Bee’s Ailene Voisin wrote in March that the overwhelming sense in the Kings organization was that Karl would soon be gone, shortly after The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski said the Kings didn’t appear to want the coach beyond season’s end. Karl nearly lost his job in February before the team apparently changed course. Questions surrounding the coach’s job security emerged as early as last June, just four months after the team hired him, and his tumultuous relationship with DeMarcus Cousins has been a matter of close scrutiny.
The front office failed to tell Karl the team’s top players wouldn’t be going on the team’s season-ending road trip, according to Jones. That’s the latest example of a disconnect between the coach and the team. Karl and GM Vlade Divac‘s front office have struggled to communicate, as Jones details, pointing to Divac’s dismissal of assistant coach Vance Walberg in February and the GM’s refusal to suspend Cousins for his tirade against the coach in November. The team later suspended Cousins for one game after another tirade in March. Players didn’t trust Karl’s defensive game-planning and lacked direction on offense while privately complaining that Karl didn’t hold the team’s stars accountable, Jones writes.
Sacramento has a record of 33-48 this season heading into tonight’s final regular season game and 44-67 overall since Karl took the coaching reigns in February 2015. The team entered this season with playoff aspirations after a summer in which it acquired several veterans, including Rajon Rondo, but Karl is the eighth consecutive Kings coach to have failed to take the team to the postseason.
Karl’s up-tempo game bothered management and players alike, USA Today’s Sam Amick wrote earlier this season, also relaying concerns about the coach’s ability to perform given his health issues. A survivor of neck and throat cancer, Karl’s voice is sometimes difficult for players to hear in loud arenas, Amick wrote. Karl missed practice in March to undergo a minor cancer-related procedure.
Sacramento will be on the hook for the $6.5MM that remains on Karl’s contract. His salary for this season is $3.25MM, and it appeared as though that was a stumbling block to a dismissal earlier this season, with Kings minority-share owners reluctant to shell out money for a coach who would no longer be with the team.
The most significant controversies surrounding Karl had to do with Cousins. The coach reportedly negotiated potential trades involving Cousins this past summer behind the back of Divac, whom the Kings hired shortly after Karl arrived. That prompted Cousins to express his displeasure via social media, and while the sides appeared to patch up their differences heading into the season, Cousins continued to appear distrustful of the coach.
What was Karl’s worst mistake as Kings coach? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Rockets To Retain Daryl Morey
Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said that no uncertainty exists regarding the future of GM Daryl Morey in spite of a recent report that cast doubt on the matter, according to Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (Twitter link). Alexander wasn’t 100% definitive in his remarks, but he appears to have given every indication that Morey’s job is safe.
“There is no uncertainty. Daryl is with the team,” Alexander said. “We evaluate everybody, but right now things aren’t changing.”
Marc Stein and Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com reported this past weekend that the team would take a hard look at Morey’s performance after the season. The GM is on a contract that runs until 2018, having signed an extension in 2013, but Houston slumped this year, qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the regular season after making the Western Conference finals last year. The roster largely went unchanged over the summer, save for the ill-fated acquisition of point guard Ty Lawson, so the team’s poor performance has been baffling. A 4-7 start brought a sudden end to coach Kevin McHale‘s tenure less than a year after the Rockets signed McHale to an extension, but the team didn’t fare much better under interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, compiling a 41-41 record overall.
Rumors of discord surrounded James Harden and Dwight Howard on multiple occasions this season, and the front office reportedly engaged other teams in trade talk about Howard. The Mavericks, Bulls, Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Heat, Bucks and Raptors were among the teams with which Morey and company spoke, but Howard stayed put. The Rockets expect Howard to opt out this summer, though some doubt has arisen on that front.
Atlantic Notes: Prokhorov, Crowder, Casey
Russian law enforcement and tax officials are searching the Moscow offices of Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s company, ONEXIM, reports Yuliya Fedorinova of Bloomberg.com. It’s not entirely clear why the search is taking place, though the Russian wire service Interfax reports the search has to do with offshore investment and tax payments and is part of a criminal proceeding, according to NetsDaily (Twitter link). Prokhorov ran against Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2012, and Putin is applying political pressure on offshore investors, as Fedorinova details. The ONEXIM under investigation isn’t the same as the holding company that controls the Nets, as NetsDaily points out.
While we wait to find out the implications of the Brooklyn-related news, see more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Magic insisted that the Celtics include Jae Crowder in a would-be deal when the sides discussed potential Tobias Harris trades before the deadline, and Orlando’s insistence on Crowder stopped the talks from going further, a league source told A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Crowder isn’t untouchable, but he’s close, a league executive whose team negotiated with the Celtics told Blakely.
- The Raptors have yet to pick up the team option on their contract with coach Dwane Casey for next season, but GM Masai Ujiri strongly signaled Wednesday that the team will, as expected, observes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link). “He’s been phenomenal I think, whether it’s reading games or adjustments, or just growth overall as a coach,” Ujiri said. “To be honest, everyone makes such a big deal like ‘OK, if we don’t make it past the first round, what will happen to Casey?’ Well Coach Casey deserves to be our coach, that’s 100% and I stand by that. He deserves to be our coach in the future because he has put in the work I think to bring winning to our program. The players have responded well I think, and it has translated a little bit and we hope it translates to the playoffs and I’m very hopeful it will because he’s a defensive minded coach but he’s been tremendous for us.”
- Owner James Dolan still trusts team president Phil Jackson and his triangle offense, sources tell Marc Berman of the New York Post, and it’s doubtful Jackson will opt out of his deal after next season, as he hopes to serve out his contract, which runs until March 2019, Berman writes. Some around the league think Dolan wants Jackson to think about deferring to GM Steve Mills for the decision on the team’s next head coach if the Zen Master does intend to opt out, and if that’s the case, Mark Jackson, Scott Brooks and Randy Wittman, along with David Blatt, would be candidates, according to Berman.
Ime Udoka Leading Candidate For Nets Job?
10:59am: Sources tell NetsDaily they believe Udoka is the leading candidate. It appears the team is poised to formally cut ties with Tony Brown and his assistant coaches as well as several long-time staffers as Marks plans to hire as many as 10 new staff members, NetsDaily also hears (All Twitter links).
8:25am: Brett Brown, who reportedly isn’t assured of keeping his job with the Sixers, along with Luke Walton, Mark Jackson, Vinny Del Negro and Bucks assistant Sean Sweeney are also in the mix for the Nets job, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The prospect of Brown having the interim tag removed and staying in the head coaching job is no more than a long shot, Lewis adds. Lewis also suggests the Nets still have Mike Conley atop their list of free agent targets.
4:01pm: Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson has been mentioned as a possibility for the Nets’ coaching vacancy, and he and Marks share the same agent, Mazzeo tweets.
3:00pm: The increasing belief in coaching circles is that neither Tom Thibodeau nor David Blatt will be a candidate for the job, but the search is only just beginning, writes Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com.
12:47pm: The Nets have interest in NBA coaching veteran Jeff Van Gundy and Spurs assistants Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka for their head coaching job, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Tony Brown is Brooklyn’s head coach on an interim basis, though it’s unclear whether he’ll have a legitimate shot to remain in the position for next season.
Van Gundy’s name frequently comes up in connection to NBA coaching jobs even though he hasn’t coached an NBA team since the 2006/07 season, his last with the Rockets. Frank Isola of the New York Daily News speculated shortly before the team hired GM Sean Marks in February that Messina would become a candidate if the team indeed brought aboard Marks, who was then serving as a Spurs executive. Marks’ tie to the Spurs also explains the interest in Udoka, who was key to the recruitment of former teammate LaMarcus Aldridge this past summer. Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has often talked about attracting stars to Brooklyn, and the team has no shortage of cap flexibility for the summer ahead.
Many New York fans still have fond memories of Van Gundy from his time as coach of the crosstown Knicks from 1996-2001, and he’s maintained a high profile as a broadcaster for ABC and ESPN. He reportedly interviewed for the Pelicans head coaching vacancy last year.
Messina has worked for Prokhorov before, when Prokhorov was the owner of CSKA Moscow and Messina was leading the team to two Euroleague championships as head coach. The Spurs hired Messina as an assistant two years ago, and he also served as a coaching consultant for the Lakers in 2011/12, but much of his reputation comes from overseas, where he was one of the most successful coaches in Euroleague history. The Thunder reportedly made him a candidate for their head coaching job a year ago.
Udoka is a veteran of eight NBA seasons as a player, and his last playing contract was with the Nets, who signed him in the 2011 preseason and cut him before opening night. The Spurs hired him as an assistant coach the following summer.
Coaching Rumors: Scott, Thibodeau, Kidd, Brooks
A strong belief exists within the Lakers organization that the team will keep Byron Scott, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, nonetheless revealing that next season is a team option on Scott’s contract. Still, too much discord exists within Lakers ownership for a consensus to form on a coaching change, sources tell Wojnarowski. Primary owner Jeanie Buss is advocating for Scott behind the scenes, and Scott has a “major chance” to remain in his job, one source told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
See more coaching rumors around the NBA with the regular season having come to a close:
- Carmelo Anthony would prefer the Knicks hire Tom Thibodeau as coach, a source close to Anthony insisted to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Team president Phil Jackson doesn’t seem to have any interest in Thibodeau, as Isola points out, and strong indications exist that Thibodeau is looking for player personnel power as he seeks a coaching job, sources tell Chris Mannix of The Vertical (Twitter link).
- Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry publicly backed coach Jason Kidd on Wednesday in the wake of rumors that Kidd is on shaky ground with the team, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays. Lasry said it’s reasonable to assume the team will give Kidd an extension on the three-year, $15MM contract that expires after next season, Gardner notes. Lasry has long been close to Kidd, and it’s the other owners to whom Kidd hasn’t endeared himself, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times wrote this week, but Gardner indicates that fellow primary owners Wesley Edens and Jamie Dinan made it clear Wednesday that they also want Kidd to stay. “At the end of the day, Jason is our coach,” Lasry said. “I know there’s been a bunch of articles. We think he’s done a great job. He’s our guy. Everybody who keeps talking about it, it’s a non-issue. I never understand why in this league you have these issues.”
- Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Nets interim coach Tony Brown are unlikely to have their interim tags removed, barring unforeseen events, according to Berger. Rockets candidate Scott Brooks is wary of the uncertainty about whether Dwight Howard will opt out, Berger writes, which suggests that it’s not an open-and-shut case that Howard will opt out as he’s long been expected to do.
Brett Brown Not Assured Of Keeping Sixers Job?
New Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo threw his support behind coach Brett Brown this morning in response to rumors that Brown’s job isn’t secure. A source told Tom Moore of Calkins Media that only a 50% chance exists that Brown will be the coach of the team to start the season, with only a 20% chance that he finishes the 2016/17 campaign, but Colangelo made comments indicating otherwise on The Comcast Network’s “Breakfast on Broad” show this morning (video link), as Derek Bodner of Philadelphia magazine relays.
“I told the ownership Brett Brown is the coach of this basketball team going forward. I left no question [to that],” Colangelo said. “Brett Brown deserves the opportunity. He toed the company line for the last three years, he’s done everything this organization needs him to do, he’s been in the community, coaching clinics, coaching kids. He’s a lifer. He’s a basketball guy. I think Brett Brown is going to be a big driver in what we do.”
Brown signed an extension that carries through the 2018/19 season the same week in December the Sixers hired Jerry Colangelo, Bryan’s father, and it didn’t sit well with Jerry Colangelo that the deal with Brown was already in place, the source told Moore. The same source expects that top assistant coach Mike D’Antoni will ultimately succeed Brown.
Sources speculated to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that Bryan Colangelo might fire Brown and promote D’Antoni into the head coaching job in an effort to keep D’Antoni from leaving for head coaching jobs elsewhere. D’Antoni is reportedly a candidate for the Suns and Wizards vacancies, and Berger relays speculation that he’ll be up for the Nets job, too. Meanwhile, Brown is indeed in the mix for the Brooklyn vacancy, as Brian Lewis of the New York Post reported.
The Sixers added D’Antoni to the coaching staff a week after Brown signed his extension. Bryan Colangelo, in his television appearance, spoke highly of D’Antoni and acknowledged the possibility that the assistant will leave, as Bodner relays.
“I think Mike D’Antoni might even go away to another job opportunity,” Colangelo said. “There’s speculation on certain jobs in the league and I think Mike’s a perfect candidate for a couple of them, but I hope he’s here because I really think he’s a good basketball coach that can add a lot to what Brett is doing. Mike D’Antoni’s a great basketball mind. He’s really offensive-oriented, and I think Brett is more defensive-oriented. I think it’s a great combination and there’s good chemistry, from what I’ve seen so far.”
Wizards Fire Randy Wittman
THURSDAY, 8:04am: The firing is official, the Wizards announced.
“There were high internal and external expectations for this team coming into this season based on the momentum we had generated over the previous two years,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said in the team’s statement. “Unfortunately, the inconsistency of the team’s performance and effort, particularly on our home court, did not allow us to meet those expectations and we decided a coaching change was needed.”
Grunfeld nonetheless complimented Wittman on the way out, as the statement conveys.
“Randy should be commended for the job he did in taking over as head coach during a very difficult time for our franchise and for helping to establish a culture and identity that led to success,” Grunfeld said. “This was a very tough decision on a personal level, and we wish Randy and his family the best moving forward.”
11:37pm: The team is prioritizing experience and defense, according to Michael, who casts doubt on D’Antoni’s candidacy (Twitter links). Michael initially referred to Brooks and Tom Thibodeau as the top candidates but followed up minutes later to say Thibodeau is not a serious candidate.
11:28pm: The Wizards are also interested in Sixers assistant Mike D’Antoni, Wojnarowski reports. The team thought about going after Brooks at midseason, and they plan to aggressively court him now, Wojnarowski hears. Brooks is fond of D.C., Zillgitt notes (Twitter link), though he’s a candidate for the Timberwolves and Rockets and is believed to be waiting to see what the Lakers do with Byron Scott, Wojnarowski adds.
11:18pm: The firing has taken place, sources tell Stein (Twitter link), and the Wizards have informed Wittman of his fate, a league source tells The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), though the team has yet to make any official announcement.
WEDNESDAY, 10:36pm: The Wizards will fire coach Randy Wittman, a source tells Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). Scott Brooks and Jeff Hornacek are strong candidates to replace him, as The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski hears. (Twitter links). Monty Williams is another name to watch, given his roots in the Washington, D.C. area and his ties to free agent target and D.C. native Kevin Durant, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
The news about Wittman comes as no shock, as reports throughout Wednesday signaled the move would happen. Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops reported earlier this month that Wittman wasn’t expected to remain. Washington will eat the partial guarantee, of an unknown amount, on the final season of Wittman’s contract, which paid him more than $3MM a year.
Washington finished 41-41 this season but missed the playoffs. Wittman guided the Wizards to back-to-back appearances in the second round of the playoffs the past two years, the first such accomplishment for the franchise since it made consecutive trips to the NBA finals in 1978 and 1979. However, a shift to a more perimeter-oriented attack this season fell flat, and multiple players publicly criticized the coach. It went both ways, as Marcin Gortat stewed for months after Wittman criticized his lack of rebounding after a game in November, according to J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic, who wrote recently that the coach’s relationship with the players had deteriorated this season.
Wittman will finish 178-199 as coach of the Wizards, a tenure that spanned parts of five seasons. He replaced Flip Saunders in the middle of the lockout-shortened 2011/12 campaign.
Eastern Rumors: Bulls, Celtics, Pistons, Sixers
Bulls GM Gar Forman wouldn’t rule out the idea of trading Jimmy Butler when asked Wednesday night, notes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Both Forman and Executive VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson made it clear no one on the roster is truly off-limits for a trade, Johnson writes, and changes are coming to coach Fred Hoiberg‘s coaching staff, sources tell Johnson. Still, Hoiberg will be sticking around, Paxson confirmed, according to Johnson, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf issued a statement backing Forman and Paxson. Paxson confirmed the Bulls would like to re-sign Joakim Noah, Johnson also notes.
See more from Chicago amid news from the Eastern Conference:
- The Celtics refused to give up Jae Crowder in trade talks with the Bulls before the deadline, scuttling any realistic possibility of a trade, league sources tell Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago. Jimmy Butler‘s name reportedly was the center of those discussions, though Goodwill hears they spoke with teams about Derrick Rose and confirms earlier reports that they had Pau Gasol trade talks, too.
- The Bulls were on board with a trade that would have involved Pau Gasol, Tony Snell and Kirk Hinrich going out and Kosta Koufos and Ben McLemore coming in from the Kings, but Sacramento withdrew from those talks when the Sixers, who were to be included as a third team, insisted the Kings relinquish a second-round pick, Goodwill hears. Sacramento was also reluctant to give into the Bulls’ desire to reduce the top-10 protection on the 2016 first-rounder the Kings owe them, according to Goodwill.
- The Cavaliers made it a priority to sign a perimeter defender like Dahntay Jones as insurance for Iman Shumpert instead of a point guard to offset the injury to Mo Williams because they envision LeBron James running the point in a pinch, accoriding to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. The Cavs inked Jones earlier today as Williams reportedly headed to New York for further examination on his sore left knee.
- Coach Brett Brown said the replacement of GM Sam Hinkie with new president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo won’t result in a change to the team’s playing style, and he called for the front office to focus on strong defenders and veteran big men as they seek offseason upgrades, observes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Brown also spoke highly of Elton Brand, Pompey notes. Brand is heading back into free agency and isn’t sure he’ll keep playing.