The Beat: Dan Woike On The Clippers
Nobody knows NBA teams better than beat writers, save for those who draw paychecks with an NBA owner’s signature on them. The reporters who are with the teams they cover every day gain an intimate knowledge of the players, coaches and executives they write about and develop sources who help them break news and stay on top of rumors.
We at Hoops Rumors will be chatting with beat writers from around the league and sharing their responses to give you a better perspective on how and why teams make some of their most significant moves. We’ll tip off the series with Dan Woike of the Orange County Register, who covers the Clippers. You can follow Dan on Twitter at @DanWoikeSports and click here to check out his stories for the Register.
Hoops Rumors: How is Doc Rivers handling the dual role of coach and executive? How heavily does he lean on the other basketball operations execs, and has the dynamic evolved during his time there?
- Dan Woike: I think he still views himself as a coach first. He’s not taking time from his daily coaching duties to review scouting reports from D-League games or draft candidates. His priority is the team he has today. I think he leans on guys like [GM] Dave Wohl to handle that stuff for him. Like any job, I think he’ll get better handling the two roles. What’s interesting to me is how, at times, they should pull him in different directions. As a coach, his priority has to be to win now. But as an executive, you have to be trying to figure out how to win in five years. The great ones figure out ways to accomplish both, and I think that’s what he’s trying to do.
Hoops Rumors: What’s been the most substantial change around the organization since Steve Ballmer replaced Donald Sterling as owner?
- Dan Woike: There was always a sense that another shoe would drop with Donald Sterling, that he’d do or say something that would embarrass the organization. Now that he’s gone, there isn’t that worry. They show the owner on the scoreboard now and people cheer. They didn’t put Sterling up there because they knew how people would react. They’ve invested in things like 3-D court displays, analytics stuff for fans and better in-game promotions to better the fan experience. There’s still room to grow on that end, but people seem happier.
Hoops Rumors: It’s been really quiet on the Sterling front since Ballmer officially took over. Do you get the sense that everyone there, players included, has put Sterling behind them?
- Dan Woike: Players were ready to move on as soon as he was banned for life. The sale cemented that. They don’t spend a lot of time thinking about him, I can promise.
Hoops Rumors: Was there any hesitancy at all among the players when it became clear the team was in talks to trade for Austin Rivers? How has Doc’s son been received by his teammates?
- Dan Woike: I talked to some former Clipper players at that time, and they expressed some concerns about how a team would handle something like this. Would players still be free to vent their frustrations? Would they need to watch what they said? I think everyone involved worked hard to make it clear that it wouldn’t be an issue, and the fact Austin has come in with a good attitude and a willingness to play defense, I think it’s helped. The fact that they’re winning certainly doesn’t hurt, either.
Hoops Rumors: DeAndre Jordan spoke about this summer’s free agency recently and has done so from time to time. Is there any sense of anxiety around the rest of the team when he brings that up?
- Dan Woike: I think it’s on DJ to decide what he wants to do. The Clippers have been open and clear about their intents. Doc Rivers has said they’ll do anything they can to keep him. The question becomes, does DJ want to stay? I think they know there’s not much more they can do to convince him than what they’ve already done.
Hoops Rumors: Do you think that Doc would still make the Eric Bledsoe/J.J. Redick deal if he had a chance to do that 2013 offseason over again?
- Dan Woike: This is a great question. At the time, people really liked that trade because it seemed like they were adding two starters. Injuries kept Jared Dudley from becoming the player the Clippers hoped, but Redick has been such a key for their offense. Could the Clippers have just signed Redick outright without trading Bledsoe? I don’t know. Could they have maybe gotten a little more? They certainly could’ve used a young asset back in that deal to help them improve down the road. I think if they were faced with the exact same offer today, knowing how good Redick has been, they’d make the deal. Maybe. Haha.
Southeast Notes: Harris, Jefferson, Heat, Wittman
The Lakers, Knicks, Sixers and Hawks have been linked to soon-to-be restricted free agent Tobias Harris, but the belief is that the Magic would match just about any offer of less than $13MM a year, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who looks at Harris and other top free agents. It’s unclear whether those four non-Orlando teams are interested, Harris is interested in them, or both, though the Knicks are reportedly planning a pursuit amid conflicting reports about whether he’s eager to play for them. Kyler wrote earlier this month that there’s a sense that the Sixers will make a play for Harris, too. Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:
- It’s likely that Al Jefferson will turn down his $13.5MM player option for next season, Kyler writes in the same piece, adding that while the belief is that he’d like to remain with the Hornets, there’s also a sense that the 30-year-old will go to the highest bidder in free agency.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel wonders whether the Heat will sign a big man to help a thin frontcourt rotation in the wake of Hassan Whiteside‘s injury. Whiteside is out at least a few more days with a hand laceration that will probably take two weeks to heal completely, as Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post relays. The Heat were reportedly among the teams with interest in signing JaVale McGee earlier this month.
- Coaches rarely last in the NBA, but SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues that the Wizards have been too patient with Randy Wittman.
Jazz Sign Jack Cooley To Multiyear Deal
The Jazz have signed big man Jack Cooley to a deal that covers the rest of the season and beyond, the team announced. Cooley’s second 10-day contract with the team expired overnight. It’s not immediately clear whether the former Notre Dame standout’s latest deal includes any guaranteed salary beyond this season, or just how many years it covers.
Cooley has seen a total of just 26 minutes with the Jazz across six games this season, though he also spent time with the team during the preseason, with the Jazz floating him a $65K partial guarantee that he took with him even though Utah cut him before opening night. The 23-year-old, who turns 24 next month, spent most of 2014/15 with Utah’s D-League affiliate. The Jazz waited a while to sign him to his second 10-day deal after his first one expired, using the roster spot to sign Jerrelle Benimon to a 10-day pact of his own in between, as I noted Wednesday.
The new deal with Cooley, an Adam Pensack client, gives Utah 15 players signed through at least the end of the season, which limits the team’s flexibility to make another move in the season’s final three weeks. He’s the third Jazz player this year to go from a 10-day contract to a longer-term arrangement, as our 10-Day Contract Tracker shows.
Mavs Want New Deal With Amar’e Stoudemire
Mark Cuban signaled that he’d like to keep Amar’e Stoudemire beyond the rest-of-season deal he signed with the team following his buyout with the Knicks, as Cuban told reporters, including Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News and Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Stoudemire’s choice of the Mavs over the Suns, a team in which he had an “extremely high” level of interest in joining, and other suitors indicates that he’ll again consider signing with Dallas this summer, MacMahon figures, though it doesn’t appear an open-and-shut case. Stoudemire called the summer ahead a chance for him to choose a team that has confidence in him and understands that he’s eager to play at a high level for years to come, as Sefko relays, and MacMahon believes he’ll prioritize winning, playing time, and money.
“I love Amar’e — love, love, love the guy,” Cuban said. “There’s not enough superlatives. He’s just a great guy on the court and off. I just love his physicality. He just wants to win and is a great guy.”
Cuban makes a habit of saying he wants to keep his teams intact only to shuffle the roster, Sefko points out. Still, the owner isn’t upset about Stoudemire’s criticism of his new teammates, citing the 13-year veteran’s experience as reason to let him speak his mind, Sefko notes. Dallas will probably offer Stoudemire a “significant” portion of the mid-level exception this summer, MacMahon believes. The non-taxpayer’s mid-level will be $5.464MM and the taxpayer’s amount will be $3.376MM, though if the Mavs dip below the cap, they’ll instead have the $2.814MM room exception.
MacMahon envisions Stoudemire asking for a multiyear deal, which jibes with the 32-year-old’s intent to maintain his performance well into the future. Stoudemire said he believes he can play another five or six years if he keeps his body in tune, as Sefko and MacMahon relay. The strong reputation of Mavs athletic trainer Casey Smith helped persuade the big man to sign with Dallas, as MacMahon wrote last month, but Phoenix’s training staff is as well-regarded as any in sports, and Stoudemire would reportedly welcome a return to the Suns this summer. In any case, Stoudemire said “there’s no way” he’s retiring this summer, according to Sefko.
Reports linked Stoudemire to the Blazers, Grizzlies, Spurs, Clippers, Raptors and Warriors while he was considering where he would play following his Knicks buyout, and that suggests there will be plenty of teams in the mix for him again this summer. In any case, he assuredly won’t be making the salary of almost $20.911MM the Knicks are shelling out for him this year, an amount that was to have been even greater before he gave up $2.5MM in the buyout. His deal with the Mavs gives him a prorated minimum salary, and Dallas would have to use cap room or an exception to give him more than 120% of the minimum next season, since they have only Non-Bird rights to him. The Mavs have about $28MM in guaranteed salary for next season, but several members of the team are set to hit free agency.
Pacific Rumors: Cousins, Jordan, Stoudemire
Two coaching changes and more losing for the Kings have thrown DeMarcus Cousins for a loop this year, but he’s determined to learn from adversity, as Michael Lee of The Washington Post details.
“It’s been a circus, man. It’s been a complete circus,” Cousins said of this season. “We got off to a hot start. Unfortunately, I got sick, so it ruined the look of the team. I take some blame for that. I know for a fact, if I wouldn’t have gotten sick, things wouldn’t have happened the way it happened. It was no way it could. At the same time, a lot of it is not my fault and we all know why. But this has been a disappointing year.”
George Karl‘s up-tempo system doesn’t really fit Cousins but the center will keep an open mind about it, Lee writes. Cousins is in the first year of a four-year max extension. Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- DeAndre Jordan said he loves the city of New York but isn’t thinking about his free agency this summer, as he told reporters, including Marc Berman of the New York Post, after the Clippers beat the Knicks on Wednesday.
- Amar’e Stoudemire‘s said his interest in joining the Suns after his buyout with the Knicks was “extremely high,” according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “But I wanted to compete for a championship this year,” Stoudemire added. “That’s one reason why I didn’t choose the Spurs, because I knew it’d be a letdown for all my Phoenix Suns fans. I couldn’t do it. It was a tough decision, but I wanted to win this year.”
- Wesley Johnson is finds it frustrating to be hitting free agency for a third year in a row, observes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The Lakers have a general affection for him, and Johnson has been considering a new deal with the team this summer, in spite of L.A.’s hesitance to give him more than a one-year deal the past two offseasons, as Bresnahan also relays. “It’s one of those things where you definitely don’t want to jump ship when something’s going bad,” Johnson said of the Lakers. I actually want to be a part of it to see if we can get back on the right foot. We’ll see what happens this offseason, see what direction they’re going.”
Central Notes: Love, Jackson, Bucks, Mirotic
Several sources tell Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that LeBron James is frustrated with the failure of Kevin Love to mesh with the Cavs this season, but James isn’t upset that Love believes Russell Westbrook, and not James, has the edge for MVP, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. Love said Wednesday that he believed his comments, which he made on The Dan Patrick Show (video link), were widely taken out of context and that James “could very well be the MVP,” McMenamin adds. Many executives and players don’t think that Love can accept the limited role he’s played on this year’s Cavs team again, writes Michael Lee of The Washington Post, who nonetheless believes that it probably doesn’t matter much that James and Love aren’t the best of friends. As the Love story continues to take on a gossipy edge, here’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons plan an all-out push to re-sign Reggie Jackson this summer, and Jackson is hinting that he’s already planning to return to Detroit with comments about playing alongside Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the future, MLive’s Brendan Savage observes.
- The Bucks could have signaled to other players that they would reward those who developed in their system if they’d hung on to soon-to-be restricted free agent Brandon Knight and re-signed him, but trading him set the franchise back, opines Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. Still, coach Jason Kidd told reporters that it’s all part of a plan for the long term. “It’s something much bigger than that that you guys are going to have to wait and write about,” he said. “We’re here to build something, not to do something in six months. There’s a bigger picture. We feel we have a core here that will be around for a long time and have success.”
- Chicago made Nikola Mirotic this season’s highest-paid rookie with a three-year deal worth more than $16.631MM, similar to what the Rockets are reportedly prepared to offer draft-and-stash prospect Sergio Llull. The move is paying off for the Bulls, as Mirotic is making a late push for Rookie of the Year, as ESPN’s Michael Wilbon examines.
Rockets Prep $17MM+ Offer For Sergio Llull
The Rockets are willing to give draft-and-stash point guard Sergio Llull a three-year deal worth a total of at least $17MM, according to Javier Maestro of Encestando.es (translation via HoopsHype). Such an offer would add up to the rough equivalent of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception. Presumably, the team’s interest in Llull is for next season, since Houston is limited to offering only the minimum salary for the balance of 2014/15. The 27-year-old is under contract with Real Madrid of Spain until 2019, as Mark Porcaro shows on our Draft Rights Held Players database, but apparently there are ways for him to get out of the deal via buyout.
Llull seemed disinterested in playing in the NBA as of a year ago, when Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote that Houston believed the mainstay of the powerful Spanish national team could become an NBA rotation player. The Rockets acquired Llull’s NBA rights on draft night in 2009, shortly after the Nuggets took him 34th overall. He said two years ago that he was thinking about heading to the NBA at some point but spoke of unfinished business with Real Madrid. He’s averaged 10.5 points, 4.0 assists and 1.0 turnovers in 25.4 minutes per game for the club this season.
The only point guard under contract for the Rockets next year is Pablo Prigioni, who has a partially guaranteed deal, as we noted Wednesday night. Houston has nearly $54.5MM in guaranteed salary for next season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows, against a salary cap that’s projected to come in at $67.4MM and an estimated $81MM tax threshold. Patrick Beverley, whose wrist injury has a decent chance of knocking him out for the rest of this season, is set to hit restricted free agency, and the Rockets have long been linked to soon-to-be free agent point guard Goran Dragic.
Staggered Deals For 10-Day Signees
There’s a familiar pattern that usually plays out whenever someone on a 10-day contract makes enough of an impression for his team to keep him around. The team signs him to a second 10-day contract within a few days of the expiration of the first, in most such cases. The same is true if a team decides to keep the player for the balance of the season, as a deal typically follows in quick succession. But, as we saw with the Pelicans and Toney Douglas, who wound up with a rest-of-season deal Tuesday after the team had seemingly moved on from him, that’s not always the case.
Douglas signed the first of his two 10-day contracts with the Pelicans on February 4th, and while the Pelicans took a few days after it expired to sign him to 10-day deal No. 2 on February 18th, that wasn’t really out of the ordinary. However, the Pelicans terminated that second 10-day deal the very next day as they swung a pair of trade deadline swaps. They emerged from deadline day with an open roster spot, but instead of re-signing Douglas, they picked up Elliot Williams on a 10-day contract, and signed him to another the day after the first expired. The day after that second 10-day deal for Williams expired, the Pelicans gave out a deal for the rest of the season — not to Williams, but to Douglas, who had been off the roster for more than a month.
The team has reportedly decided against signing Williams to a deal that covers the balance of 2014/15, even though the Pelicans still have an open roster spot following the Douglas deal. It’s unclear what led New Orleans to make such a move, but it’s not unprecedented. Holdups have stalled but not prevented deals involving a few other 10-day signees across the NBA this season. Hoops Rumors learned that a desire to retain flexibility for a possible trade kept the Heat from signing Tyler Johnson to a second 10-day contract for a week after his first one expired. There was no such delay when Miami re-signed him to a multiyear deal the day after his second 10-day pact was up. The specter of would-be trades appeared to hold sway when the Grizzlies waited to sign JaMychal Green for a week after his first 10-day contract with the team expired. He signed his second on February 19th, the day of the trade deadline, and inked a multiyear pact of his own shortly after the second 10-day expired. A similar dynamic was seemingly at play with James McAdoo, who signed his second 10-day contract with the Warriors on February 2nd, just a few days after his first had expired. He, like Green, signed his next contract, a multiyear deal, on the day of the deadline.
An injury concern was apparent as the Clippers hesitated to re-sign Jordan Hamilton when his second 10-day deal was up, but the team ultimately gave him a multiyear deal after he languished for five days. There was a much larger gap between the first and second 10-day contracts Jack Cooley signed with the Jazz. Utah signed Jerrelle Benimon to a 10-day contract in between the time of Cooley’s deals, much as the Pelicans turned to Williams while Douglas was away. The day after Benimon’s deal expired, Cooley was back with the Jazz. Today’s the final day of Cooley’s second 10-day deal, so we’ll soon find out whether there’ll be another gap.
Southwest Notes: Williams, Gentile, Mills
Dwight Howard will start against the Pelicans tonight in his first game since January 23rd, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. That’ll be a boost for Houston as it looks to climb from the third seed in the Western Conference. Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Pelicans have decided against signing Elliot Williams for the remainder of the season, tweets John Reid of The Times-Picayune. New Orleans signaled that choice when it signed Toney Douglas to a deal for the balance of 2014/15 on Tuesday, the day after the team’s second 10-day contract with Williams expired.
- Rockets draft-and-stash prospect Alessandro Gentile doesn’t have an NBA escape clause for 2015 in his contract with Italy’s EA7 Milano, and the deal doesn’t include a buyout provision, either, a source tells HoopsHype. That runs counter to comments EA7 teammate Daniel Hackett made on SkySport television indicating that Gentile has decided to play for the Rockets next season, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia notes. Gentile said recently that he’s increasingly intrigued with the NBA and that the Rockets had been in close contact. The small forward is under contract through 2017, as Mark Porcaro shows on our Draft Rights Held Players database.
- Patty Mills had a shoulder injury that would sideline him for the first two months of the season when the Spurs re-signed him this summer to a three-year, $11MM deal, but Spurs president/coach Gregg Popovich had no reservations about the move. Alexander Wolff of Sports Illustrated has the details in a story that looks at Mills’ heritage and the homage the Spurs have paid to it. “It wasn’t even a question,” Popovich said of the deal. “Obviously he can shoot the basketball and has a lot of energy. But he’s beloved on this team for his enthusiasm, his kindness, his understated gravitas. As long as I’m here, he’s going to be here. Unless we can’t afford him.”
- The Spurs top ESPN Insider’s Front Office rankings for a second straight year. The synergy between Popovich, GM R.C. Buford and owner Peter Holt, balance between the future and the present, and structuring of player contracts that include salary declines instead of raises help the Spurs stand out, as Chad Ford and Amin Elhassan opine in a separate Insider story.
- We rounded up the latest on the Mavs earlier today.
Mavs Notes: Ellis, Parsons, Powell
The Mavericks helped themselves quite a bit in Tuesday’s win over the Spurs, which pulled them into a virtual tie with San Antonio for the sixth seed in the Western Conference. It also gave Dallas a six and a half game cushion for any sort of playoff spot, further distancing the team from the nightmare scenario of missing the playoffs and forking over a lottery pick to the Celtics thanks to the Rajon Rondo trade. The Mavs’ pick is protected as long as they make the playoffs, as our Reverse Standings show. Here’s more from the Big D:
- Various ailments have been an issue for Monta Ellis this year, as he said in an interview with TNT after Tuesday’s game, a point he’d refused to acknowledge earlier, observes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. People within the organization have been frustrated that he hasn’t taken any time off to heal, MacMahon hears. Ellis can elect free agency this summer if he declines an $8.72MM player option for next season.
- Coach Rick Carlisle clarified a comment that made it seem as though he didn’t think Chandler Parsons could create his own shot, insisting that he can, but Parsons’ low usage rate in the clutch shows the team has been going away from him, MacMahon notes in a separate piece. The Mavs erred in giving him a three-year near-max deal if they don’t feel they can use Parsons as a go-to option late in games, MacMahon opines, but it’s a role Parsons is eager to embrace.
- The Mavs have again assigned Dwight Powell to the D-League, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. It’s the 12th D-League trip for Powell this season, with the first five coming while he was a member of the Celtics prior to the Rondo trade, as our D-League Assignments/Recalls log shows.