Celtics Want New Deal With Jae Crowder
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge made it clear that he’d like to have soon-to-be restricted free agent Jae Crowder back with the team next year in comments the executive made in his weekly appearance on the Toucher & Rich show on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston (audio link). Ainge has spoken highly of Crowder in the past, but his latest remark seemingly demonstrates a desire to continue the partnership that began when Boston acquired the former 34th overall pick this past December in the Rajon Rondo trade.
“We really did like Jae Crowder, and we feel like he’s a big part of our team going forward,” Ainge said to the 98.5 hosts, according to Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com (Twitter link).
The C’s can match any competing offers for the swingman who turns 25 in July as long as they tender a qualifying offer worth just $1,181,348. Crowder has expressed a contentment in Boston, where he’s seen a more significant role than he had during his two and a half seasons with the Mavericks. He’s averaged 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in 24.2 minutes for the Celtics, making 17 starts in 57 regular season appearances, and those averages are all slightly higher in two postseason games for Boston so far. Crowder has come off the bench in both playoff contests, but he’s fourth on the team in postseason minutes per game.
Little is certain for the Celtics, who have a vast supply of trade exceptions and only about $40MM in guaranteed salary for next season after having made a surprise playoff run this year. The C’s can’t sign Crowder to an extension or trade him before the end of June, so if they want to use one of the exceptions around draft time and open cap space in July, they couldn’t swap Crowder to accommodate such a move. Boston can sign-and-trade Crowder once the July Moratorium is over or let him simply sign with another team, but it appears as though the Celtics and the Glenn Schwartzman client both have motivation to stick together into 2015/16. The C’s have his Bird Rights, and a deal for at least the value of the $3.376MM taxpayer’s midlevel exception sounds as if it’s in order, though that’s just my speculation.
Kawhi Leonard Wins Defensive Player Of Year
Kawhi Leonard has won the Defensive Player of the Year award, the league announced via press release. He nipped fellow soon-to-be restricted free agent Draymond Green by just 16 points in the tally that gives five points for first-place votes, three points for second-place votes and one point for third-place votes. Green earned eight more first-place votes from the media members who cast the ballots, but he fell just shy of the honor. DeAndre Jordan wasn’t far behind, finishing third, and he’s about to go into free agency, too.
Leonard only played in 64 games thanks in large measure to an injury to his right hand, but he made up for lost time in the second half of the season, furthering his case as a future star worthy of a max deal this summer. He led the league with 2.3 steals per game, even with the ailing hand, and the Spurs were 5.1 points per 100 possessions better when Leonard was on the floor compared when he wasn’t this season, according to NBA.com. The 23-year-old trailed only Andrew Bogut, who finished sixth in the voting, in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus metric, though he was just ninth in Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus/Minus.
Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich has referred to Leonard as a “coach’s dream,” and the team would be expected to match any offer sheet he might sign this summer. The failure of the sides to come to terms on an extension this past fall seemingly had more to do with San Antonio’s desire to preserve cap flexibility to go after marquee names like LaMarcus Aldridge or Marc Gasol as I explained earlier.
Fourth-place finisher Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, Tony Allen and Tim Duncan were the others to receive first-place votes. The full listing of each media ballot is available right here.
Christian Wood To Enter NBA Draft
9:40pm: Wood has evidently changed his mind and will enter this year’s draft after all, as he revealed in a YouTube video and on Twitter (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com via Twitter).
3:12pm: First-round prospect Christian Wood has decided to return to UNLV rather than enter this year’s draft, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The sophomore power forward was the 23rd-best prospect for this year according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com listed him at No. 27.
In what is a crowded field for big men, returning to college for another campaign could serve to boost the 19-year-old’s stock. The 2016 NBA draft is currently projected to be a weaker one than this year’s event. A strong, injury free junior season could bump Wood into being a top-20 selection come next June.
The 6’11” Wood appeared in 33 contests for UNLV last season, averaging 15.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks in 32.7 minutes per game. His career numbers are 10.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.9 BPG. Wood’s career shooting numbers are .477/.261/.747.
Tony Ressler Finalizes Deal To Buy Hawks
7:04pm: The Hawks announced in a press release that a definitive agreement has been signed for the purchase of the team by the group fronted by Ressler. “We are honored and thrilled to have been chosen to become the new stewards of the Hawks,” said Ressler. “We respect the NBA’s approval process and, accordingly, can say no more other than we are incredibly excited by the Hawks’ success and wish them luck in the playoffs.” The sale, which also includes operation of Philips Arena, requires the approval of the NBA Board of Governors before it can be finalized.
The statement lists Hill, Itzler, and private equity investor Rick Schnall as members of the group, as well as clothing entrepreneur Sara Blakely, who is married to Itzler. Starker and Frankel aren’t listed.
2:50pm: Michael Gearon Jr., who currently owns a minority share of the team, will keep a small percentage of the Hawks, reports Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gearon reportedly pressed for Ferry’s dismissal this past June.
2:14pm: Shelburne, Soshnick and Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com all indicate that the Ressler group will assume debt as part of the deal (All Twitter links). Soshnick refers to it as about $120MM worth of arena debt, and Arnovitz says the total price, debt included, will come to approximately $850MM. So that seems to back up Soshnick’s original $730MM figure, which appears to represent the cost of the team itself.
1:35pm: The price will be somewhere between $750MM and $900MM, according to Wojnarowski, who writes in a full story.
1:32pm: A sale price of more than $800MM will be announced soon, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The new owners plan to keep CEO Steve Koonin and coach/acting GM Mike Budenholzer aboard, Shelburne adds. The disparity between the figures may be related to $112MM worth of bonds left over from the construction of Philips Arena, a point Mike Ozanian of Forbes.com made earlier when there was about $100MM difference between reported amounts of the preliminary bidding figures.
1:20pm: The Ressler group is paying $730MM for the team, reports Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com (Twitter link). That’s somewhat lower than the roughly $800MM figure previously reported for preliminary bids.
12:56pm: Private equity mogul Tony Ressler is finalizing a deal with Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson to buy the team for a price of less than $1 billion, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). Ressler’s bidding group reportedly includes Grant Hill. Brokerage firm founder Steven Starker and rapper-turned-entrepreneur Jesse Itzler have also been a part of the bid, as has Tampa Bay Rays part owner Randy Frankel. Ressler recently replaced investor and Lionsgate Entertainment chairman Mark Rachesky as the leader of the group that was pitted against a bid that involved baseball legend Hank Aaron as well as former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien and current Grizzlies minority owner Steve Kaplan.
Ressler was a late comer to the Hawks bidding, but he and Hill were part of a group that made a strong impression on the league when they put in a $1.2 billion bid for the Clippers, as TNT’s David Aldridge wrote in September, speculating then that Ressler and Hill could end up going after the Hawks. Hill reportedly left another group that included former Suns and Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo, former player Junior Bridgeman and neuropsychologist Richard Chaifetz to join the Ressler bid.
Levenson announced in September that he would sell his share of the team as he self-reported racially insensitive emails that he had sent in 2012. The rest of the owners later agreed to put 100% of the franchise on the block. GM Danny Ferry‘s fate also seems tied to the sale, as he’s been on indefinite leave of absence since his own racially charged remarks about Luol Deng surfaced.
Lakers ‘Inevitable’ Destination For Rajon Rondo?
4:50pm: During a press conference today, Carlisle was asked if he expected Rondo to wear a Mavericks uniform again, to which the coach responded, “No, I don’t,” Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tweets. The coach was also asked if he believed that he could coexist with Rondo in the future, to which Carlisle responded, “Absolutely. I like Rondo. My relationship with him was professional.”
8:59am: Rajon Rondo hasn’t given up on the Mavericks, but there’s strong momentum toward an “inevitable” departure for the Lakers in free agency this summer, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Rondo won’t return to Dallas as long as Rick Carlisle is the coach, sources told Wojnarowski, who suggests that the Mavs might not want the point guard back, anyway. In any case, no team is planning a maximum-salary offer for Rondo, whose value has been in decline since he suffered a torn ACL in January 2013, according to Wojnarowski.
Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com also uses the word “inevitable” to describe Rondo’s parting from the Mavericks. MacMahon reported earlier this month that the Bill Duffy client was expected to ask for more than the Mavs were willing to pay him, adding that the Mavs’ stance on the matter was subject to change if Rondo played well in the postseason. That hasn’t happened, as the Rockets outscored Dallas by 25 points with Rondo on the floor in Game 1, and Carlisle saw fit to have Rondo on the floor for fewer than 10 minutes in Game 2, as MacMahon points out. The Mavs played 11 men during the fourth quarter, but Rondo wasn’t one of them, notes Ben Golliver of SI.com (Twitter link). Chandler Parsons wasn’t one of them either, as he sat out with a knee injury from which he won’t return during the Rockets series, sources told Wojnarowski.
Reports indicated that the Rockets pushed to trade for Rondo almost until the Celtics sent him to the Mavs instead, but Duffy never wanted Rondo in Houston, since his presence would hinder fellow Duffy client Patrick Beverley‘s value, as Wojnarowski details. Still, the Rockets went after Rondo in an attempt to drive up the price for the Mavs, according to Wojnarowski. Rondo planned to sign a max deal with the Lakers prior to the trade, but afterward he became open to re-signing with Dallas, Wojnarowski writes. However, it now appears as though there’s little chance the point guard will re-sign with the Mavs. Kobe Bryant has made no secret of his desire to recruit Rondo to the Lakers, who’ve reportedly been likely to make a summer pursuit of the point guard since at least the beginning of the season.
Latest On Thunder, Kevin Ollie, Billy Donovan
2:27pm: Either Ollie or Billy Donovan, another strong candidate for the now-vacant Thunder job, would quickly pull out if Oklahoma City contacted the other, Wojnarowski tweets.
1:58pm: Ollie has “significant interest” in the Thunder job in spite of his statement today, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com earlier expressed doubt about the idea that the statement put the kibosh on the idea that Ollie would coach the Thunder next season (Twitter link).
9:23am: A source told Zagoria on Tuesday night that Ollie was the Thunder’s top coaching target and that the Thunder were “fully committed” to their attempt to convince him to jump, regardless of the cost of his buyout from UConn. It’s unclear where the Thunder stand with Ollie in the wake of his statement this morning, but Zagoria’s source on Tuesday described Ollie as “torn.” The source also told Zagoria that the Thunder pursued Ollie last year, and that he turned them down then.
WEDNESDAY, 8:48am: Ollie will remain at UConn and has no plans to work elsewhere, the coach said in a statement today, according to The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater (on Twitter).
MONDAY, 2:27pm: The Thunder are seriously considering University of Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie as a successor for Scott Brooks, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Ollie, who’s close to Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti and also has strong ties to former teammate Kevin Durant, recommitted to the Huskies with a new deal last year that would require him to pay the school $4MM if he were to leave for the NBA.
People close to Brooks have their doubts about his job security, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported last week. The Thunder are expected to “spend time evaluating the partnership” between Brooks and the franchise before deciding whether to bring him back next season, though he’s under contract for 2015/16 with a team option for 2016/17, Wojnarowski wrote.
Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka have nonetheless all expressed support for Brooks in recent days, though the three were teammates of Ollie, who spent his final season playing in the NBA with the Thunder in 2009/10. Ollie guided Connecticut to the national championship in 2014 and was a hot commodity shortly thereafter. The Cavs were reportedly the most aggressive NBA team in pursuit, while some thought that a team might hire Ollie to try to lure Durant, who’s set for free agency in 2016. Ollie was reportedly seeking a contract worth more than $25MM over five years to make the jump to the NBA. His deal with Connecticut is a five-year, $15MM pact.
Kris Dunn Plans To Pass Up Draft
Providence sophomore point guard Kris Dunn is planning to pass up a strong chance to become a lottery pick this year to return to school, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranks him as the 13th best prospect for this year, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com pegs him 19th.
The 21-year-old would be well-advised to seek to improve his shot selection and cut down on turnovers, but with versatility, quickness and slashing ability, he’s already a strong prospect, as Ford’s scouting report indicates. He surged to the forefront for the Friars this season after missing all but four games in 2013/14 because of surgery on his right shoulder, averaging 15.6 points, 7.5 assists and 2.7 steals in 34.0 minutes per game. Those numbers in assists and steals were the best for anyone in the Big East, and his assists per game were third in the nation.
Still, the 6’4″ Dunn probably won’t end up any more highly rated among next year’s prospects, Givony tweets, pointing to the shoulder injury, which also limited him in 2012/13, as reason why Dunn’s apparent decision carries risk. Dunn was No. 20 on the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school in 2012, so while his stock has improved somewhat over the course of his time at Providence, it appears scouts feel more or less the same about his potential.
Thunder Fire Scott Brooks
The Thunder have parted ways with coach Scott Brooks, the team announced via press release. A league source told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports moments earlier that the team had fired the coach. GM Sam Presti gave Brooks the news today, Wojnarowski tweets. Brooks becomes a top candidate for the Magic and Nuggets coaching vacancies, the Yahoo! scribe adds (on Twitter). University of Florida coach Billy Donovan is a “natural favorite” to succeed Brooks, though the team’s top target as of Tuesday was reportedly University of Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, who issued a statement today that he had no interest in leaving the school. Donovan is expected to become a serious candidate, Wojnarowski hears, seconding Stein, and Donovan has done background research on Kevin Durant, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
“This is an extremely difficult decision on many levels. Scott helped establish the identity of the Thunder and has earned his rightful place in the history of our organization through his seven years as a valued leader and team member,” Presti said in the team’s statement. “As we all know, this past year we had unique and challenging circumstances and as I have conveyed, not many people could have accomplished what Scott and this team were able to. Therefore, it is very important to state that this decision is not a reflection of this past season, but rather an assessment of what we feel is necessary at this point in time in order to continually evolve, progress and sustain.
“We determined that, in order to stimulate progress and put ourselves in the best position next season and as we looked to the future, a transition of this kind was necessary for the program. We move forward with confidence in our foundation and embrace the persistence and responsibility that is required to construct an elite and enduring basketball organization capable of winning an NBA championship in Oklahoma City.”
Brooks was under contract with the Thunder through next season and with a team option for 2016/17. Wojnarowski reported last week that several people close to the coach had doubts about his security in the job that he’d held since early in the 2008/09 season. Presti didn’t consult with Thunder players before making the move to let go of Brooks, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka all expressed their support for Brooks in the wake of Wojnarowski’s story last week.
It’s no surprise to see Brooks linked to the Magic, given that Orlando GM Rob Hennigan was working with Brooks in the Thunder organization when the Magic hired him in 2012. There are strong links between Presti and Donovan, too, as Presti has made two hires for the Thunder from Donovan’s staff, notes Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Brooks went 338-207 in parts of seven seasons with the Thunder and helped the team to the Finals in 2012. Still, he endured frequent criticism of his lineups and in-game strategy. Injuries befell the Thunder in the last two postseasons, and prolonged absences for Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and others derailed another shot at contention this season for the Thunder, who finished 45-37 and out of the playoffs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Petr Cornelie Declines To Enter Draft
Projected second-round pick Petr Cornelie will pass on entering this year’s draft, agent Bouna Ndiaye tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The power forward who’s a native of France was the 47th-ranked prospect on Givony‘s list as well as the one that Chad Ford of ESPN.com compiles. Cornelie has a strong chance to become a first-round pick next year, according to Givony.
Cornelie, who turns 20 in July, combines shot blocking, outside shooting and mobility in a 6’11” frame, and he drew more attention from NBA scouts this year, Givony tweets. He saw only 16.4 minutes per game for the French club Le Mans Sarthe Basket this season, but his role with the club figures to expand in 2015/16, according to Givony. Cornelie averaged 3.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per contest, though his range didn’t consistently extend beyond the three-point line, as he hit just 30.0% of his shots from that territory. He put up 5.3 PPG and 2.7 RPG in close to 12 MPG during last year’s Adidas EuroCamp, a showcase of significance of overseas prospects.
It’s quite conceivable that Cornelie wouldn’t have been playing in the NBA next season even if he had entered the draft and been selected, since draft-and-stash maneuvers are common in the second round. There’s no guarantee Cornelie enters next year’s draft, either, since international players aren’t automatically eligible for the draft until the year they turn 22, which would be 2017 in Cornelie’s case, though the chance to become a first-round pick might be too tempting to pass up.
Rockets, Josh Smith Share Interest In New Deal
Josh Smith doesn’t want to leave Houston, and Rockets GM Daryl Morey doesn’t want him to go when he again becomes a free agent this summer, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The deal that Smith signed with Houston in December covers just the remainder of 2014/15, so the sides will have to agree to a new contract to continue their partnership. The Rockets have wanted the versatile frontcourt player since before he left the Hawks in 2013, according to Wojnarowski, and Smith showed why Tuesday, coming two rebounds and an assist shy of a triple-double while scoring 15 points in just 25 minutes in a Game 2 win.
The Rockets have only Non-Bird rights on Smith, meaning that they can’t exceed more than 20% of the $2.077MM they’re paying him this season, an amount that would come to $2,492,400, without using cap space or another exception. The Rockets have about $54.5MM on the books against a projected $67.1MM salary cap for next season, a figure that doesn’t include roster charges, other cap holds and non-guaranteed salary, all of which would make it difficult for Houston to give Smith a significant raise without using its mid-level exception. Smith is set to receive $5.4MM from Detroit each of the next five seasons via the stretch provision, and while a portion of that figures to be set off by the amount that Smith makes on his next deal, it gives him greater leeway to pass up more money elsewhere if he prefers to stay in Houston for less.
The client of Brian Dyke and Wallace Prather has played some center for Houston, and the Hawks and Pistons put him at small forward in the past, but he’s chiefly a power forward, and a renewed commitment to Smith would seemingly complicate the futures of Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas. Those two power forwards are up for rookie scale extensions this summer and would be set for restricted free agency in the summer of 2016 if they don’t get them.