Western Notes: Malone, Howard, Clippers
Former Kings coach Michael Malone made a second visit to Minnesota to speak with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor after Flip Saunders invited Malone to observe the team for a while last month, as TNT’s David Aldridge reports amid his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Aldridge speculates that Saunders, serving in a dual role as coach and president of basketball operations, is eyeing Malone as a potential replacement as coach for whenever Saunders decides to concentrate on his executive role. Malone is also a rumored candidate for the Magic’s head coaching job. Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Dwight Howard says he was given a timetable of six to eight weeks for recovery from the right knee swelling that’s kept him out of action since January 23rd, according to Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. The Rockets announced this past Wednesday that he’d miss at least a month, though team doctor Walt Lowe says there isn’t a specific time frame for his return, other than that he’ll be back this season, Creech writes.
- The Clippers are unlikely to make a 10-day signing before the All-Star break, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register hears (Twitter link). The team has reportedly spoken with Sebastian Telfair about a potential deal.
- The Rockets have recalled rookies Clint Capela and Nick Johnson from the D-League, the team announced (on Twitter). It was assignment No. 4 for Capela and the third D-League stint for Johnson, as our assignments/recalls log shows. Johnson is averaging 10.7 minutes per game in 17 NBA appearances, while Capela has seen only 18 total minutes with the big club.
- Al-Farouq Aminu has given the Mavericks the best dollar-for-dollar production of any player on the roster, opines Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, arguing that the minimum-salary signee has excelled doing many of the same duties Shawn Marion did last year.
Timberwolves Open To Trading Mo Williams
3:07pm: Charlotte and Minnesota talked about a deal that would send Williams and Troy Daniels to the Hornets, but that conversation stalled within the past few days, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
FEBRUARY 9TH, 1:10pm: The Hornets are also a likely suitor for Williams, Wolfson tweets, adding that while he believes the Wolves will trade Williams, no deal is close.
JANUARY 30TH, 3:18pm: The Cavs, Clippers and Heat are among the teams to watch regarding Williams, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 Twin Cities, adding that there’s a “small chance” that the Pistons become involved (Twitter link). The return Minnesota would receive for Williams would be “minimal,” Wolfson also says.
11:49am: Rival teams believe the Wolves are making Mo Williams available to potential trade partners willing to relinquish a draft pick, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Williams is indeed available, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (on Twitter). Still, a source told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that there’s “almost zero chance” that Minnesota makes any deal this season, given the limited market for its veterans, as Deveney wrote earlier this morning.
The source who spoke with Deveney referred to the long-term financial commitments to some of those vets as stumbling blocks, but Williams is on a $3.75MM deal that only covers this season. Many executives and scouts who spoke with Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck for a December report identified Williams and teammate Thaddeus Young as likely trade candidates. Young has a player option worth almost $9.972MM for next season, and Krawczynski doesn’t get the sense that the Timberwolves want to trade Kevin Martin, Nikola Pekovic or perhaps Young, as the AP scribe wrote in his tweet.
Williams, a 12th-year veteran, has been starting in place of the injured Ricky Rubio, though the team does have lottery pick Zach LaVine and 10-day signee Lorenzo Brown in reserve. Williams’ 6.4 assists per game are his most since the 2010/11 season, and his 12.5 points per game represent a bounceback from his 9.7 PPG scoring average for the Blazers last season, the first time he hadn’t averaged double figures in points since his rookie year. Still, the now 32-year-old Williams wanted to return to Portland this past summer, and there was reportedly mutual interest in a deal with the Mavs before they signed Jameer Nelson instead.
Kings, Quincy Miller To Talk Rest-Of-Season Deal
The Kings and Quincy Miller plan to engage in negotiations after the All-Star break about a deal that covers the rest of the season, league sources told Shams Charania of RealGM. The forward’s second 10-day deal expired Sunday, so the Kings will either have to agree to a contract for the balance of the season or leave him in free agency.
Sacramento has 14 players already signed through season’s end, as our roster counts show, so a new deal with Miller would limit the team’s flexibility. The Kings are one of the most active teams in trade talks, with rumors surrounding Nik Stauskas, Derrick Williams, Jason Thompson, Ramon Sessions, so it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see the club wait until after the trade deadline to strike any deal with Miller, though that’s just my speculation. The team is also reportedly in talks with George Karl, who coached Miller in Denver, about taking over the head coaching job.
Miller, whom Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro drafted 38th overall when he was Nuggets GM in 2012, has seen 10.2 minutes per game in six appearances for Sacramento. He’ll represent the affiliate of the Kings in the forthcoming D-League All-Star Game.
Pacific Notes: Allen, Warriors, Thomas, Corbin
The Warriors are among a group of several teams that have remained in contact with Ray Allen, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Golden State appeared to have dropped out of the Allen sweepstakes after GM Bob Myers said in December that they had reached out to him, but the Warriors are still in the mix, according to Windhorst, who adds that they felt they were close to a deal with him earlier this season. The Wizards, Cavs, Spurs, Heat and Hawks are others who’ve kept in touch with the all-time leading three-point shot-maker, Windhorst writes, adding that Allen plans to make a decision on his future after All-Star Weekend. There’s more on the Warriors amid the latest from around the Pacific Division:
- Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk indicated that the team is hesitant to make even the slightest of moves between now and the trade deadline, as Matt Steinmetz of 95.7 The Game observes after Schlenk spoke with Steinmetz and John Dickinson on “The NBA Show.” “We’ve been good for the past couple years,” Schlenk said. Maybe not championship quality but we’ve been playoff caliber. I tell [GM] Bob [Myers] all the time ‘Our job now is not to screw it up.’ When you’re sitting with the record we have, and the year we’ve had, you’d like to tinker but you don’t want to mess it up. Chemistry is such a big thing, and our group of guys has such great chemistry. We’d hate to do a move just to do a move and have it mess up our chemistry. I don’t know we’ll do anything. We’re certainly active. … But at the same time, we’ve got to be cautious as well.”
- Isaiah Thomas has chosen Excel Sports Management’s Sam Goldfeder as his new agent, reports Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal (on Twitter). The Suns guard dropped Andy Miller of ASM Sports earlier this season.
- Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports and Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee share the sentiment that the Kings should show Tyrone Corbin respect by coming to a speedy resolution on his future (Twitter links). Sacramento is deep into talks with George Karl after GM Pete D’Alessandro earlier said that Corbin would remain the team’s head coach until season’s end.
Atlantic Notes: Nets, Grant, Stoudemire
Andrea Bargnani is available to play tonight for the Knicks, as Newsday’s Al Iannazzone notes (Twitter link), and if the former No. 1 overall pick whom the Knicks are reportedly trying to trade makes it into the game, it’ll be just his third appearance all season. New York is also considering a buyout deal with Bargnani, though it seems such a move wouldn’t happen unless he’s still a Knick once the trade deadline passes. Still, it’ll be difficult for the Knicks to find a taker, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors wrote when he examined the big man’s trade candidacy last month. Here’s more from the Atlantic:
- The NBA is mandating that Mikhail Prokhorov sell his 45% stake in the Barclays Center if he’s to sell his 80% share of the Nets, as Daniel Kaplan and John Lombardo of SportsBusiness Journal report in a subscription-only piece. A source close to the owner told Kaplan and Lombardo that the requirement will complicate the sale, which Prokhorov reportedly intended to encompass only his majority ownership of the team. The league reasons that the team’s lease at the arena is burdensome and a drain on the club’s finances, as the Barclays Center makes a profit while the team loses money, as Robert Windrem of NetsDaily explains.
- Jerami Grant tumbled in last year’s draft because teams were concerned about his offensive abilities, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, but the 39th overall pick has revamped his shot and turned into a rotation player for the Sixers, as Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers examines.
- The Knicks would gain roster flexibility and Amar’e Stoudemire would have a chance to play for a contender, so a buyout deal would make sense for both parties, argues Marc Berman of the New York Post.
2014/15 NBA Reverse Standings
The 2014/15 season is more than halfway done, and as the trade deadline approaches, many scouts and executives around the league are already drawing a sharp focus on the 2015 NBA draft. They’re no doubt cognizant of the place in the order where their respective teams are slated to pick, and with the Hoops Rumors Reverse Standings, which list the NBA’s 30 teams from worst to first, you can easily follow along, too. We update these standings daily to reflect the outcomes of the games that took place the night before.
The Reverse Standings take into account playoff teams in each conference, so they’re essentially a reflection of what the 2015 first-round order would look like with no changes to lottery position. Traded picks are also included via footnotes. For instance, the notes next to the Kings’ pick indicates that they’ll send it to Chicago if it falls outside the top 10 selections. Whether that happens is anyone’s guess at this point, since the Kings are in seventh place in the lottery order with just one game separating them from the Pacers and Pistons, who are tied for 10th and 11th place.
The existence of the lottery means there’s no guarantee that teams atop the Reverse Standings will draft in the order in which they finish, but the worse a club’s record, the better shot it has at landing the cream of the 2015 draft class. This year’s group of prospects, which includes Jahlil Okafor, D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay, isn’t as highly touted as the 2014 draftees were, but there’s still plenty of star potential.
Our Reverse Standings feature can be found at anytime on our right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” It’s a great resource not just for monitoring a team’s draft position, but also for keeping an eye on whether or not traded picks with protection will be changing hands in 2015. Be sure to check back often!
Kings Intensify Coaching Search, Eye Karl
10:56pm: Cousins didn’t confirm or deny his behind-the-scenes role in the Karl situation after Saturday’s loss to the Jazz, Bruski reports. (Twitter link). “I’m waiting just like you guys,” Cousins told reporters. “There’s gonna always be allegations, there’s always going to be he said/she said.” The Sacramento center wasn’t surprised to be the target of rumors, saying, “Of course my name is being thrown into it. (I’m) franchise center piece…” (Twitter link).
10:22pm: There is opposition to Karl inside the Kings organization from minority owners, Amick reports (Twitter link). There was hope that Karl could talk to Cousins on Sunday — either in person or by telephone — but it’s uncertain now if that will occur (Twitter link).
9:34pm: The resistance from Cousins’ camp has slowed negotiations between Karl and the Kings, Wojnarowski confirms (Twitter link). He adds that the two sides were closing the gap on money and contract length this afternoon (Twitter link).
9:12pm: It seems less and less likely that Karl will be the Kings’ next coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link), who says representatives of the team, Karl and Cousins all share that belief. He adds that a resolution is expected Sunday, and the Kings are willing to finish the season with Corbin behind the bench. (Twitter link).
5:27pm: There is a significant gap between the two sides when it comes to salary and length of contract, reports Sam Amick of USA Today. D’Alessandro, who’s pushing for the team to bring on his former Nuggets colleague, has traveled to Denver to talk about the job with Karl, Amick also writes. The two agents for Cousins have opposed a Karl hiring, Amick hears, pointing out that Karl reassigned Jarinn Akana, one of those agents, from the coaching staff to a scouting position when Akana worked for the Nuggets. Karl’s son, former NBA player Coby Karl, once was a client of Dan Fegan, the lead agent for Cousins, before replacing him with another representative, according to Amick. D’Alessandro is prepared to forge ahead without the support of those agents, but there’s concern within the Kings organization about the conflict that would engender, and the GM would prefer to convince them Karl is the man for the job, as Amick explains. Karl has told the Kings that he likes Cousins quite a bit, Spears tweets.
2:10pm: The Kings are in “serious back-and-forth” discussions with Karl, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! sports.
SATURDAY, 11:22am: Talks between the Kings and Karl have intensified, Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee reports. The combination of Karl’s innovative coaching and immediate availability has won over team officials, Voisin notes. While it was previously reported that Sacramento wished to wait until after the season to make a change, the Kings’ ongoing slump and “jarring absence of competitiveness” has prompted principal owner Vivek Ranadive and D’Alessandro to move the search along more rapidly, Voisin adds.
3:57pm: Kings officials want to see whether Tom Thibodeau or other desirable coaches become available this summer, giving them further motivation to stand pat for now, Jones tweets.
3:47pm: Sacramento’s front office is not pleased with the play of the team but is nonetheless concerned about firing another coach during the season, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee reports (Twitter links). In addition to Karl, Alvin Gentry and Nate McMillan will also be candidates for the Kings’ coaching slot, Jones adds.
FRIDAY, 2:37pm: The Kings are picking up steam in their search for a long-term solution at head coach, as Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com hears (Twitter link). There’s a decent chance that the team will make a hire at the All-Star break, Bruski adds, cautioning that Sacramento has no definitive timetable to make a move. Bruski suggests that the Magic’s coaching search has spurred the Kings into action, and George Karl, who’s openly campaigning for the Orlando job, remains a candidate, according to Bruski (Twitter links). Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro has said that Tyrone Corbin, who took over for the Kings when they fired Michael Malone in December, would remain in charge of the team until season’s end. Still, another report indicated that owner Vivek Ranadive wanted to bring in someone else in the immediate wake of Malone’s dismissal before the team’s front office talked him into keeping Corbin.
Sacramento is just 6-18 under Corbin, and sits in 12th place in the Western Conference at 17-31 after a strong start under Malone that ended when an illness knocked DeMarcus Cousins out of 10 games. Cousins, who was a supporter of Malone, told reporters after Thursday’s blowout loss to the Mavs that this has been his most frustrating time as a King, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee notes (Twitter link).
Bruski wrote in December that Mark Jackson, another rumored candidate for the Magic job, had “no chance” of becoming the next Kings coach, in spite of his close ties to D’Alessandro and Kings adviser Chris Mullin. D’Alessandro denied that a meeting he had with Mullin and Jackson, as well as Cousins, had any connection to the team’s head coaching position. Ranadive became intrigued with the idea of Mullin coaching the team, but the Hall-of-Famer apparently has no desire to take over at midseason. Vinny Del Negro, whom multiple reports have connected to the Magic job, also heard from the Kings in December.
Latest On Magic Coaching Search
SATURDAY, 1:25pm: Despite the Kings reportedly intensifying their talks with Karl, the Magic aren’t going to rush to beat Sacramento to the punch and hire him, Sam Amick of USA Today reports. Orlando still wishes to take its time in considering multiple candidates over the next few days, Amico adds.
1:15pm: Karl made it clear via Twitter that he is indeed interested in the job (hat tip to Robbins). “Love and miss the NBA rodeo!” Karl wrote. “It’s no secret I would love the opportunity to coach one more time. Love the skills and speed of the Magic and the great young players throughout the league!”
FRIDAY, 10:38am: Several league sources think Orlando might pursue Tom Thibodeau if he shakes free from the Bulls at season’s end and if the Magic haven’t already made a long-term hire by then, as Chris Mannix of SI.com writes in his Open Floor column. Several league sources recently told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune that the relationship between Thibodeau and the Bulls is “beyond repair,” though the Bulls have denied that. The prevailing sense within coaching circles is that the Magic are prepared to ride with interim coach James Borrego for the time being, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
Three different people have suggested to Kyler that Skiles won’t take the Magic job without personnel control, while one source told Kyler that Magic ownership seemed to be the driving force behind the appearance of Skiles’ and Jackson’s names in connection with the opening (Twitter links). Still, Mannix seconds earlier reports indicating that Skiles is a leading candidate, and writes that Jackson, Malone and Del Negro figure to eventually receive interviews.
THURSDAY, 3:55pm: Sources have informed Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders that George Karl would be interested in coaching the Magic (Twitter links). In the past, Karl has stated his preference was to coach out west, but he finds the Orlando position an attractive one, Kennedy relays.
1:51pm: The Magic will consider Scott Skiles, Mark Jackson and Michael Malone to take over the head coaching job that came open today when the team fired Jacque Vaughn, a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Assistant coach James Borrego holds the job on an interim basis. Orlando had yet to make contact with any potential candidates or their representatives before today, and the team has just begun gathering information, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. It remains a “wide-open process,” Wojnarowski adds.
Several executives speculated to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com last week that Skiles would become a candidate, and Broussard also identified Jackson among the “names to watch.” Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports called Jackson a “serious candidate” earlier today, and suggested Malone could wind up in the running. Wojnarowski also mentioned Vinny Del Negro, though it’s not clear if that was just speculation.
In any case, the Magic are looking for a proven veteran for their next coach, Kennedy hears (Twitter link). Many believe that Vaughn still has the capacity to become a successful head coach but think he would have benefited from more time as an assistant with the Spurs, with whom he spent two seasons before taking the Magic job, Wojnarowski writes.
Vaughn released a statement today that was complimentary of the Magic, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel relays. The ex-coach drew praise from soon-to-be restricted free agent Tobias Harris, who took to Twitter after the firing (Twitter link; hat tip to Robbins). “I want to thank Coach Vaughn for being a first class individual not only to myself, but everyone associated with the Magic,” Harris wrote.
10-Day Contract Tracker
Teams have been allowed to sign players to 10-day contracts for only slightly more than a month, and 25 players have already become 10-day recipients, more than half of the total of 41 who were on 10-day deals last season. The Knicks have signed three players for the rest of the season after handing out sets of two 10-day contracts to each of them.
Even when 10-day deals are less plentiful, the bulk of the signings that take place in the NBA between this point in the season and April are usually of the 10-day variety, and we’ll be keeping on top of all of them. Hoops Rumors has created a database that allows you to track every 10-day signing all season long. The 10-Day Contract Tracker includes information on all 10-day contracts signed from the 2006/07 season on, giving you a chance to identify trends regarding your favorite teams and players. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player and year. You can even see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract, and if the short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season.
For instance, if you want to see how many 10-day deals Lou Amundson has signed over the course of his career, you can find that information here. Similarly, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts the Bulls have signed in recent years, you can do so here.
A link to our 10-Day Contract Tracker can be found at any time in the Tools menu at the top of the page, or in the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” We’ll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings as they become official.
Amar’e Stoudemire Still Considering Buyout
5:44pm: Stoudemire reiterated that he will use the upcoming NBA All-Star break to decide whether or not to ask the Knicks to work out a buyout arrangement with him, Josh Newman of SNY.tv notes. “We’ll discuss that after the break,” Stoudemire said. “Right now, I’m focused on the rest of the season. We’ve got four games before the break, so I’m focused on that right now. I’ll keep you guys posted, man. Right now, we’ve got games in front of us today and tomorrow. We’ve got a lot going on, so I’ll keep you guys posted.”
9:32am: The Knicks have yet to speak with Stoudemire about a buyout, sources told Ian Begley of ESPN.com earlier this week.
12:54am: Amar’e Stoudemire‘s recent comments seemed to engender the belief that he wouldn’t ask the Knicks to agree to a buyout deal, but he tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that he plans to think about doing so over the upcoming All-Star break. The 32-year-old, who’s in the final year of a massive five-year contract worth nearly $99.744MM that pays him almost $23.411MM this season, nonetheless emphasized to Spears his strong affection for the Knicks organization and living in New York. Meanwhile, the Knicks are more focused on talking buyout with Andrea Bargnani, a league source tells Spears.
“All possibilities at this point are still open,” Stoudemire said of his own buyout possibility. “The door is still open for that. But at the same time, I am with the Knicks now. I got to stay optimistic about things and what we are doing here. I can’t really focus on the future because it’s not here. We still have a couple weeks left before it’s all said and done. It’s a decision I have to make with my family to figure out the best scenario for the near future.”
Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers has spoken of his intention to fill the team’s pair of open roster spots with players who come free during “buyout season,” as Spears points out, speculating that they could become candidates to sign Stoudemire if he hits the market. The Mavs and Blazers are also looking for big men, Spears notes. Marc Berman of the New York Post wrote that it’s “quite possible” that Stoudemire would return to the Suns this summer and speculated that the Magic would have interest in the central Florida native this summer. It’s not entirely clear whether any of those teams would have interest in Stoudemire later this season, but if the Happy Walters client is willing to accept the minimum salary, he’d surely have no shortage of teams in pursuit.
Stoudemire is averaging 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds in 24.9 minutes per game for the Knicks this season, and the rebounding average is by far his best since 2011/12. A 19.4 PER shows he’s still efficient in the playing time he sees, which persistent knee trouble and other ailments have limited in recent years. The Knicks have nonetheless been appreciative of his professionalism throughout his health struggles and the team’s woes on the court, Spears writes. Stoudemire tells Spears that he’s interested in playing several more years and said earlier this week that he expected to soon have a conversation with Knicks officials about a future with the team beyond this season.
“My heart always lies with the Knicks,” Stoudemire tells Spears. “My loyalty is with [Knicks owner] Mr. [Jim] Dolan. I feel like New York is my home now. I feel like I’m a New Yorker for sure.”
The Knicks reportedly engaged in internal discussions about a buyout for Stoudemire earlier this season. Team president Phil Jackson and company apparently spoke with the Sixers this summer about a trade, but it’ll be “virtually impossible” for the Knicks to find a taker for his bloated salary before the February 19th trade deadline, according to Spears. The Knicks have reportedly shopped Bargnani recently, though it has appeared as though the team was putting off buyout talks with him until after the deadline passes. The last day that either Stoudemire or Bargnani could hit waivers and still be eligible to appear in the postseason for another team is March 1st. That effectively sets the date as a buyout deadline, since there’d be little reason for either to give up salary if they couldn’t join another club for the postseason.