Coaching Rumors: Nuggets, Donovan, Cheeks
Michael Malone‘s candidacy for the Nuggets head coaching job is gathering momentum, but an increasing number of coaches around the league envision interim coach Melvin Hunt getting the position, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. In any case, it appears that Denver is drawing closer to a hire, as it’s believed that the team would like to have its new coach help with draft prep, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Here’s more coaching news from around the NBA:
- Mike Miller lauded Billy Donovan‘s demeanor, preparation and communication when Kevin Durant asked him about the incoming Thunder head coach, as Miller tells Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. Miller makes it clear he harbors no shortage of affection for his college coach, saying to Slater that it will be “very weird” to go against Donovan in the NBA. Miller wouldn’t necessarily have to do so if he declines his player option, worth nearly $2.855MM, and signs with the Thunder this summer, of course, but the Cavs reserve didn’t suggest that such a scenario was on his mind.
- The Thunder are increasingly serious about rehiring Maurice Cheeks as an assistant coach, according to Stein, who notes the strong relationship between Cheeks and Russell Westbrook (Twitter links). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first identified Cheeks as a possible candidate for an assistant’s job in Oklahoma City, a role that would reprise the one he filled from 2009/10 to 2012/13.
- Remaining with the Magic to serve as an assistant under Scott Skiles remains a “strong option” for James Borrego, Stein also reports (Twitter link). Borrego, who was Orlando’s interim coach and a candidate to remain in the head coaching position on a long-term basis before the Skiles hire, has drawn interest from the Pelicans and had talks with the Thunder about assistant coaching jobs, as Stein previously reported.
And-Ones: Okafor, Mickey, Stiggers, Lottery
The Lakers will work out Jahlil Okafor on Tuesday, the team announced (Twitter link), in what will be the first predraft workout that the center from Duke will have with an NBA team. Okafor recently dismissed rumors that he preferred to play for the Lakers, who draft No. 2 overall, instead of the Timberwolves, who have the top pick, but it seems he’s no certainty for either the first or second picks, so Tuesday’s audition carries no small consequence. Okafor won’t have to travel far, as he’s been working out independently in Southern California of late, as he tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors recently broke down the big man’s game as part of our Prospect Profile Series. Here’s more from around the NBA:
- The Pacers, Hawks and Thunder will work out LSU power forward Jordan Mickey, as he told reporters, including Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- University of Houston guard Jherrod Stiggers will work out this week for the Hawks and Nets, his agent tells Shlomo Sprung of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Dan Curtin is the representative for Stiggers, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
- Serbian point guard Nikola Radicevic will have predraft workouts with the Wizards and Thunder, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (on Twitter).
- Commissioner Adam Silver made it clear last week that while he supports lottery reform, he’d like to wait to see the league’s economics after the salary cap jumps next summer before making a renewed push for change, as RealGM transcribes.
Celtics Not As Keen On Pursuit Of Kevin Love
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge no longer has a “borderline obsession” with acquiring Kevin Love even as Ainge remains interested, sources tell Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. The Celtics will be more careful than they were last year about offering picks and players in trade proposals for Love, should he opt in, and about offering Love a lucrative long-term deal, Bulpett hears.
Love has a degree of interest in Boston, a source tells Bulpett, advancing an earlier report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that suggested the C’s had made gains on the Lakers as Love’s favored non-Cavs destination. Still, the power forward has repeatedly insisted that he plans to remain in Cleveland. A league executive who isn’t Ainge spoke to Bulpett and predicted that Love will stick with the Cavs, and the exec believes that the 26-year-old is concerned about his health and wants to sign a long-term deal. Love told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group in January that he planned to pick up his player option worth more than $16.744MM for next season.
Bulpett cites knee issues for Love, though the forward is out for the playoffs because of a shoulder injury. In any case, a Celtics roster that no longer includes a star is helping tamp down Ainge’s enthusiasm to pursue Love, whom Ainge eyed last year as a complement to Rajon Rondo, who was then still considered a marquee player, as Bulpett explains. Still, significant changes to the roster are a near certainty for Boston, so there’s a decent chance that Ainge becomes re-energized about going after Love, Bulpett cautions.
Western Notes: Wolves, Lakers, Kings, Nuggets
Coach/executive Flip Saunders didn’t give too many hints about whom the Timberwolves are leaning toward drafting with the No. 1 overall pick, telling Chris Mannix of SI.com that they haven’t made up their minds yet. Saunders did insist that he’d draft for talent rather than positional fit and that he’s not worried that top prospects will try to dissuade the team from picking them so that the Lakers can snap them up with the second pick instead.
“I have had contact with most of the top players and all they talk about is wanting to be the No. 1 pick and basically explaining why they should,” Saunders said. “We have an enticing situation. The enticing situation that we have is that we have got some great youth, as I said with [Andrew] Wiggins, a potential top-five player in this league, we have a great point guard in [Ricky] Rubio, we’ll get him back healthy, we have got a great mentor and still a pretty good player in [Kevin] Garnett that we hope to sign in July. We have a lot of things moving in the right direction. We just opened up a $29MM practice facility. We have a $160MM renovation of our arena starting in about a year. We have a lot of positive things. When we get people here and they can see what we have going on a little bit, it will sell the situation even more.”
Notable among the core players that Saunders mentioned is Rubio, a rumored trade candidate, lending further credence to the notion that the point guard will stick in Minnesota this summer, an outcome Rubio has made clear that he’d prefer. There’s more from Saunders amid the latest from around the Western Conference:
- Saunders confirmed that the Wolves expect to re-sign Garnett in free agency this summer and said that while he’s evaluating head coaching candidates, he has no intention of relinquishing his bench duties for now, as Mannix also relays.
- The Lakers are working out UMass big man Cady LaLanne today, as league sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops and as the Lakers confirmed (Twitter links). Boston College combo guard Olivier Hanlan, Kentucky shooting guard Aaron Harrison, Arizona small forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Texas combo forward Jonathan Holmes and LSU power forward Jordan Mickey are also showing off for the Lakers in the group audition, according to the team.
- Willie Cauley-Stein and Cameron Payne will work out Thursday for the Kings, the team announced. Payne had been expected to work out with Sacramento, which at pick No. 6 appears to be his ceiling. The Kings, along with the Pacers, are reportedly the teams with the most interest in Cauley-Stein.
- The Nuggets are expected to work out Justise Winslow on Wednesday, tweets Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post.
Draft Notes: Payne, Mudiay, Wood, Upshaw
The Knicks are giving serious thought to drafting Murray State point guard Cameron Payne, league sources tell Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. That’s sign that the team is also strongly considering trading down from the fourth pick, since Payne isn’t widely considered a top-four prospect, Begley surmises. The notion that Payne has a promise from a team late in the lottery doesn’t hold too much water, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in an Insider-only piece, suggesting that Payne has a decent chance to rise all the way to the Kings at the No. 6 spot. That would exceed Payne’s goal of going as high as seventh that the point guard told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors that he’d set for himself. Here’s more from around the draft:
- It appears that No. 6 is the floor for Emmanuel Mudiay, as a source tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that the Kings would snap him up if he were still available when they pick.
- UNLV power forward Christian Wood‘s stock is taking a beating, as Ford writes in the above-linked piece, suggesting that Wood is in danger of falling out of the first round. Ford also speculates that the back injury that is to keep Tyus Jones from working out for a while is cover for a promise from the Rockets at pick No. 18.
- Former University of Washington center Robert Upshaw is optimistic that a heart issue that prompted him to stop workouts last week isn’t serious, citing similar scares in the past, according to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Upshaw is expected to be cleared to resume predraft prep this week, Howard-Cooper adds (Twitter links).
- The Mavericks, Spurs, Rockets, Celtics and Kings are among the teams interested in Indian-born center Satnam Singh, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. Boston had him in for a workout, but it’s unclear if the other teams have or plan to do so.
Mavs Plan To Shop Raymond Felton
The Mavericks will look at avenues of ridding themselves of Raymond Felton‘s salary of more than $3.95MM for next season in an effort to clear flexibility to re-sign Al-Farouq Aminu, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. The point guard has a player option for next season, but he’s reportedly opting in. It’s no surprise that the Mavs would seek to offload Felton, who turns 31 later this month, after a season in which he put up career lows across the board and appeared in only 29 games. Members of the Mavs front office recently tossed around the idea of including Felton in a would-be sign-and-trade proposal to the Clippers involving Tyson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan, as MacMahon previously reported.
Aminu also has a player option for next season, but he’s turning it down, creating a financial jam for the Mavs, who want to keep him. Dallas has only Non-Bird rights with Aminu, so the team can’t give him a new deal with a starting salary of better than 20% of the minimum salary without using cap space or another exception. The Mavs, who appear poised to clear cap room to go after marquee free agents, would have only the $2.814MM room exception to offer Aminu as an alternative to cap space in that scenario, as MacMahon points out. Aminu is in line for a deal with annual salaries around $4MM, as league sources who spoke with MacMahon estimated, so cap space would likely be the only avenue for the Mavs to keep the versatile forward.
Felton’s opt-in would give the Mavs about $32MM in guaranteed salary for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, not counting an $8.72MM player option for Monta Ellis that he’s expected to opt out of or a more than $1.2MM cap hold for the No. 21 pick in this month’s draft. It would be a tight squeeze under the cap for the Mavs to re-sign Chandler and Ellis, find a starter at point guard and bring in a star target like Jordan or LaMarcus Aldridge, never mind the task of re-signing Aminu.
The stretch provision would give Dallas another avenue of clearing Felton’s salary, or two-thirds of it anyway, MacMahon notes. The Mavs can waive Felton and spread his salary out over the next three seasons.
MacMahon suggests that Aminu might be willing to re-sign at a discount, perhaps on a two-year deal with a player option, but that it would require that the Mavs promise to “negotiate in good faith” next summer when Aminu would be able to opt out with Early Bird rights. Those would give Dallas much more latitude to exceed the cap to re-sign Aminu in 2016, but any specific promises that the Mavs might make about a future deal would violate collective bargaining agreement rules.
Central Notes: Prigioni, Bucks Arena, Draft
The Cavaliers made an aggressive play at trading for Pablo Prigioni at the deadline, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. Instead, the Knicks sent him to the Rockets instead, leaving Cleveland’s backup point guard duties to Matthew Dellavedova. That worked out just fine for the Cavs on Sunday, when Dellavedova, set for restricted free agency this summer, started in place of the injured Kyrie Irving and hit the game-winning free throws. There’s more on the Cavs, who’ll look to take the lead in the Finals on Tuesday, amid the latest from the Central Division:
- The deal that state, county and city leaders struck last week for a new Bucks arena must still meet Wisconsin Legislature and Milwaukee Common Council approval, so construction remains far from assured, as Tom Daykin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out. Still, the Bucks have promised to pay for operating and maintenance costs by selling naming rights, as Daykin examines. The NBA is pressuring the sides to ensure a new building, lest the league exercise its right to buy the team and move it to another city.
- UNLV power forward Christian Wood will be among those working out for the Cavs today, league sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link).
- Scotto also hears that Syracuse big man Rakeem Christmas will show off for the Pistons today (Twitter link). North Carolina shooting guard J.P. Tokoto, Virginia power forward Darion Atkins, Georgetown small forward Greg Whittington, and point guards Marcus Thornton from William & Mary and Pierria Henry of Charlotte will be in Detroit’s workout, too, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com (Twitter links).
Update On Player Option Decisions
The NBA Finals are going strong, but offseason business looms. The deadline for most option decisions is June 29th, but some players have earlier deadlines, and a few of those come up in a couple of weeks. Most of the players who have player options haven’t decided what to do yet, so we’ll look at where everyone with a player option stands as the end of the 2014/15 season closes in, with the most lucrative options first and the values of the options rounded to the nearest $1K:
- LeBron James, Cavaliers ($21.573MM) — James is widely expected to opt out and re-sign another two-year max deal with the Cavs, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote in February.
- Brook Lopez, Nets ($16.744MM) — One GM told Fred Kerber of the New York Post more than a month ago that the prevailing belief was that Lopez would opt out and re-sign with the Nets, though Sean Deveney of The Sporting News later pointed to “genuine uncertainty” about the option.
- Kevin Love, Cavaliers ($16.744MM) — Love told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group in January that he planned to opt in, though rumors to the contrary have persisted.
- Dwyane Wade, Heat ($16.125MM) — Wade prefers to opt out and seek more financial security and has hinted that he intends to do so, though it appears to remain a matter of negotiation between him and the team.
- Eric Gordon, Pelicans ($15.514MM) — Gordon has signaled that he plans to opt in, but the decision isn’t final.
- Roy Hibbert, Pacers ($15.514MM) — Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird in April seemed to encourage Hibbert to opt out, though Bird said that he had “no clue” about Hibbert’s plans.
- Al Jefferson, Hornets ($13.5MM) — Jefferson has said it’s highly unlikely that he’d opt out.
- David West, Pacers ($12.6MM) — Bird said he had a gut feeling that West will opt in but also said he’s not sure what the power forward will do.
- Thaddeus Young, Nets ($10.222MM, early termination) — Young is believed to be leaning toward opting out, as Marc Stein and Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com recently reported.
- Luol Deng, Heat ($10.152MM) — Deng has said that he’s undecided.
- Jeff Green, Grizzlies ($9.2MM) — The working assumption is that Green will opt in, but that’s not a certainty, as Stein recently wrote.
- Monta Ellis, Mavericks ($8.72MM) — The general expectation is that Ellis will opt out, but the Mavs haven’t received any paperwork from the shooting guard, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com said last week.
- Arron Afflalo, Nuggets ($7.75MM) — Stein reported last month that Afflalo intended to opt out, but sources told The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman shortly thereafter that it was still too early to say for sure.
- Goran Dragic, Heat ($7.5MM) — Dragic in April confirmed that he plans to opt out, as he indicated in an interview before the season.
- J.R. Smith, Cavaliers ($6.4MM) — Various reports suggest that Smith remains undecided.
- Gerald Henderson, Hornets ($6MM) — Henderson has indicated that he’s undecided.
- Paul Pierce, Wizards ($5.544MM) — Many around the league believe that Pierce will opt out and sign with the Clippers, as TNT’s David Aldridge reported, though Pierce, in his most recent comments on the matter, said he hadn’t thought about the option.
- Chase Budinger, Timberwolves ($5MM) — Budinger has already opted in.
- Corey Brewer, Rockets ($4.905MM) — Brewer opted out as part of the deal that sent him from Minnesota to Houston.
- Jared Dudley, Bucks ($4.25MM, early termination) — Dudley said he’s undecided about the option but added that he’d like a long-term deal with the Bucks sooner or later.
- Raymond Felton, Mavericks ($3.95MM) — Reportedly opting in.
- Kirk Hinrich, Bulls ($2.855MM) — No reports have given indication about his plans.
- Mike Miller, Cavaliers ($2.855MM) — Miller told Haynes in February that as of that point, he would opt in, though he indicated that he’d made no final decision.
- Jameer Nelson, Nuggets ($2.855MM) — Nelson plans to opt out, as Shams Charania of RealGM reported last week.
- Steve Blake, Trail Blazers ($2.17MM) — Blake told Jabari Young of CSNNW.com in February that he planned to opt in.
- Danny Granger, Suns ($2.17MM) — Granger is reportedly undecided.
- Alan Anderson, Nets ($1.333MM) — Anderson intends to opt out, as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post reported.
- Cartier Martin, Pistons ($1.271MM) — Martin let the Pistons know he’s opting in, Charania reported.
- Brandon Rush, Warriors ($1.271MM) — No reports have given indication about his plans.
- Al-Farouq Aminu, Mavericks ($1.101MM) — Aminu said he’ll opt out.
- Ed Davis, Lakers ($1.101MM) — Davis told Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News in January that he’d opt out.
- Garrett Temple, Wizards ($1.101MM) — Temple said last month that he’s pretty sure he’ll opt in.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Northwest Notes: Harrell, Batum, Jokic, Ollie
Montrezl Harrell is a dangerous force around the basket, but it’s the former Louisville power forward’s improving midrange game that would make him attractive to the Jazz at pick No. 12, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News examines. He’d certainly already have been drafted by the time Utah’s other picks, at Nos. 42 and 54, come up, Genessy notes. Harrell worked out for the team Sunday. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:
- Nicolas Batum envisions someday returning to play in France to finish his career, mentioning Le Mans and Caen as preferred destinations to Alexandre Lacoste of BeBasket.fr (translation via HoopsHype). Of course, that probably won’t be for a while, since Batum is only 26 even as he’s set to enter the final season of his contract with the Trail Blazers.
- Draft-and-stash prospect Nikola Jokic has his sights set on joining the Nuggets, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. Pick reported last month that Jokic was holding out for a long-term deal from Denver, but it appears as though the center who plays for Mega Leks in his native Serbia is nonetheless enthusiastic about joining the NBA team that selected him 41st overall last year.
- The Thunder and Kevin Ollie never engaged in formal talks about the Connecticut coach taking the Oklahoma City job, as Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant writes. There nonetheless appeared to be some contact, as Ollie was reportedly the team’s No. 1 target and apparently listened to overtures before pulling out of the running.
Rockets To Pursue Sergio Llull
Kevin McHale made it clear this week that the Rockets want to sign draft-and-stash point guard Sergio Llull this summer, as the coach expressed to host Charlie Pallilo in an appearance on SportsTalk 790 in Houston (audio link), and as Max Croes of SB Nation’s The Dream Shake blog transcribes. McHale said that the Rockets “would love to bring over” the point guard who plays for Real Madrid of Spain, adding that “signing a Sergio Llull would be huge.”
Rockets GM Daryl Morey denied a report that the team was willing to give Llull a deal worth at least $17MM over three years, terms similar to what fellow draft-and-stash prospect Nikola Mirotic received from the Bulls last summer. Such a deal would be difficult for the Rockets to pull off if they elect to remain over the cap and retain Patrick Beverley and Josh Smith. Houston would like to keep both, but while the Rockets have full Bird Rights with Beverley, they only have Non-Bird rights with Smith, so it’s quite possible they’ll have to use the mid-level exception to keep him. That would remove any opportunity for the Rockets to sign Llull for more than the minimum if Houston indeed elects to operate above the cap,
Of course, it’s not a given that the Rockets won’t clear cap room, with about $55MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.1MM cap and Morey’s history of salary-clearing deals, as I wrote in my look at the offseason ahead for Houston. Croes suggests that Houston’s apparent desire for Llull is an ominous sign for Kostas Papanikolaou, on whom the Rockets have a team option worth nearly $4.8MM for next season. Still, even if Houston picks up that option, his salary wouldn’t be guaranteed until October 4th.
It’s unclear exactly what it would take for Houston to convince Llull to come stateside, though Llull didn’t seem too excited about the NBA when he said recently that the best place for him to win titles was with Real Madrid. David Pick of Eurobasket.com cast doubt a month ago on the idea of Llull leaving Europe, believing that the 27-year-old, who’ll turn 28 in November, wouldn’t be enthusiastic about coming over in a backup role. Llull is averaging 10.7 points, 4.3 assists and 0.9 turnovers in 25.8 minutes per game this season.