Draft Updates: Ferrell, Ndiaye, Moore, Hawks
A major draft-related event takes place this week, as scouts, executives and these prospects will gather for the NBA combine in Chicago from Wednesday through Sunday. Teams will start working out players in earnest after that, though some auditions have already taken place. Here’s the latest on that front with the June 23rd draft little more than six weeks away:
- The workouts that former Indiana University point guard Yogi Ferrell has with the Lakers and Clippers are slated for May 16th and 18th, respectively, tweets Jonathan Goodman of ESPN.com, advancing an earlier report from Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Ferrell will also work out for the Suns on the 20th, Jazz on the 22nd, Bulls on the 23rd, Hawks on the 25th, Mavericks on the 26th, Pistons on the 31st, Wizards on June 2nd, Nets on June 8th, and Knicks on June 10th, Goodman reveals. Ferrell is trying to work his way into the second round, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranking him No. 66 while Chad Ford of ESPN.com rates him only 99th.
- Massive UC Irvine center Mamadou Ndiaye will work out for the Rockets and Lakers, Goodman tweets. Givony, who ranks him the 30th-best prospect among juniors, lists Ndiaye at 7’6″, while Goodman says he’s 7’5″. Ford, who also lists him at 7’6″, ranks him the 136th-best prospect overall.
- Utah State small forward Jalen Moore will work out with the Grizzlies on May 16th, the Timberwolves on the 18th and the Nets on the 23rd, as he tells Goodman (Twitter link). Moore is Givony‘s 69th-best junior and Ford‘s 190th prospect overall.
- The Hawks worked out Taurean Prince, Justin Jackson, Nigel Hayes, Pascal Siakam, Alex Hamilton and Wes Washpun on Saturday, a source told Jake Fischer of SI Now (Twitter link).
Kings Hire Dave Joerger As Coach
3:30pm: The hiring is official, the team announced.
“I am thrilled to welcome Dave to the Sacramento Kings,” Divac said. “He is a strong and passionate leader with a proven track record of producing results. Dave shares our focus on creating a long-term culture of winning and I look forward to a bright future ahead for the Kings with his leadership on the court.”
1:22pm: The Kings and Dave Joerger have struck agreement on a four-year deal worth $16MM that will make him the team’s head coach, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter links). The fourth season will be a team option, Wojnarowski adds. Sacramento had hoped to come to terms today on that very contract structure, as Wojnarowski reported just minutes ago. Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported the framework of a four-year arrangement with a team option, and Wojnarowski first reported that Sacramento had Joerger atop its wish list in the wake of the Grizzlies’ decision to fire him Saturday.
Joerger and the Kings moved quickly, as the coach met with GM Vlade Divac on Sunday and did the same with owner Vivek Ranadive today, Wojnarowski notes. The Kings had reportedly been telling other candidates that they’d wait to speak again with three finalists in the coming days, but apparently the prospect of securing Joerger proved too tempting. The ex-Memphis coach had planned to wait to hear from the Rockets, with whom he reportedly held mutual interest, but it’s unclear if Joerger and Houston ever touched base.
The 42-year-old Joerger is expected to bring Grizzlies assistant Elston Turner with him to Sacramento and is likely to hire veteran NBA and college assistant Bill Bayno for the staff, too, according to Wojnarowski. Turner is one of a lengthy list of names attached to the Kings job over the past few weeks, though it wasn’t clear whether he was indeed a head coaching candidate or merely an assistant coaching option all along.
Sacramento conducted by far the most wide-ranging coaching search in the league this year with Kevin McHale, Frank Vogel, Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks, Kenny Atkinson, Luke Walton, Sam Mitchell, Vinny Del Negro, Mike Woodson, David Blatt, Mark Jackson, Ettore Messina, James Borrego, Henry Bibby, Patrick Ewing, Mark Jackson, Nate McMillan, Jeff Hornacek, Corliss Williamson, Jay Larranaga, Brian Shaw, Ime Udoka, Jeff Van Gundy and Monty Williams all drawing Sacramento’s eye at one point or another, according to previous reports.
Joerger carries a 147-99 regular season record and a 9-13 postseason mark to Sacramento from his time with Memphis, but he’ll be hard-pressed to duplicate that sort of success for the Kings, who haven’t made the postseason since 2006. He’ll be Sacramento’s ninth coach since the team fired Rick Adelman after that playoff run, and the sixth who’ll try to get the most out of talented but fiery superstar DeMarcus Cousins, assuming the Kings don’t trade the big man this summer. Divac is reportedly willing to gauge the market for Cousins in the months ahead.
Is Joerger the right choice for the Kings? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Longest-Tenured NBA Head Coaches
The coaching moves around the NBA have been plentiful in recent months, with 11 teams having made a change since we last ranked NBA head coaches by the length of their respective tenures this past August. Thus, Tyronn Lue, having just taken the Cavaliers job in January, is poised to start next season having been in his job longer than a third of his NBA colleagues.
Four of the top 10 longest-tenured coaches in August are no longer in their jobs, with Frank Vogel, who had been No. 4, the latest to become unemployed. Whispers surrounded current No. 4 Dwane Casey entering this year’s playoffs, but GM Masai Ujiri gave Dwane Casey a strong endorsement as the postseason dawned.
Here’s the current ranking of NBA head-coaching tenures:
- Gregg Popovich, Spurs: December 1996
- Erik Spoelstra, Heat: April 2008
- Rick Carlisle, Mavericks: May 2008
- Dwane Casey, Raptors: June 2011
- Terry Stotts, Trail Blazers: August 2012
- Mike Budenholzer, Hawks: May 2013
- Steve Clifford, Hornets: May 2013
- Doc Rivers, Clippers: June 2013
- Brad Stevens, Celtics: July 2013
- Brett Brown, Sixers: August 2013
- Stan Van Gundy, Pistons: May 2014
- Steve Kerr, Warriors: May 2014
- Quin Snyder, Jazz: June 2014
- Jason Kidd, Bucks: July 2014
- Billy Donovan, Thunder: April 30th, 2015
- Scott Skiles, Magic: May 29th, 2015
- Alvin Gentry, Pelicans: May 31st, 2015 (remained Warriors assistant through playoffs)
- Fred Hoiberg, Bulls: June 2nd, 2015
- Michael Malone, Nuggets: June 15th, 2015
- Tyronn Lue, Cavaliers: January 22nd, 2016
- Earl Watson, Suns: February 1st, 2016
- Kurt Rambis, Knicks: February 8th, 2016 (interim coach)
- Kenny Atkinson, Nets: April 17th, 2016 (Hawks assistant through Atlanta’s playoff run)
- Tom Thibodeau, Timberwolves: April 20th, 2016
- Scott Brooks, Wizards: April 26th, 2016
- Luke Walton, Lakers: April 29th, 2016 (Warriors assistant until end of Golden State’s season)
- Dave Joerger, Kings: Reportedly agreed to deal today
The Grizzlies, Pacers and Rockets jobs are vacant.
Rockets To Interview Kenny Smith, Eye Frank Vogel
2:31pm: The Rockets have spoken to at least seven coaching candidates thus far, but they haven’t gone to James Harden for his input on any of them yet, a source told Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). Still, Alexander said the team would consult with the star shooting guard and the general belief is that the Rockets will before they make a hire (ESPN Now link).
2:01pm: Houston has spoken with the representatives for Frank Vogel, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The Rockets have wanted to interview Vogel, as Stein reported last week. Feigen also pegs the timing of Hornacek’s interview, which he hears is scheduled for Tuesday, the same day as Smith’s.
1:20pm: The Rockets will interview Kenny Smith for their head coaching job Tuesday, sources tell Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported the candidacy of the TNT broadcaster last week. Smith shortly thereafter said he enjoys his television work but wouldn’t rule out taking the job. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and GM Daryl Morey will be in the interview, according to Berman.
Smith, 51, was the starting point guard for Houston’s championship teams in 1994 and 1995. He was linked in December 2014 to the Kings head coaching vacancy, and Smith confirmed that he had conversations with Sacramento in 2013 about a front office position.
The Rockets are reportedly interviewing former Cavs coach David Blatt today in the midst of a broad search. Jeff Van Gundy appears to be the favorite, but the team is reportedly set to interview ex-Suns coach Jeff Hornacek and Hornets assistant Stephen Silas. NBA head coaching veterans Lionel Hollins and Mike D’Antoni, Clippers assistant and former Rockets point guard Sam Cassell and Rockets assistant Chris Finch are other reported candidates, according to earlier reports. College coaches Shaka Smart and Bill Self also apparently intrigue the team. Houston reportedly had mutual interest in Dave Joerger before he struck a deal with the Kings.
And-Ones: Butler, Wallace, Adams, Hunter
Jimmy Butler has been increasingly wary of Bulls GM Gar Forman since their failed negotiations on a would-be extension in 2014, and remarks Forman made last month indicating that he wouldn’t rule out trading him struck a sour note with Butler, sources told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Still, the Bulls aren’t eager to deal the swingman they signed to a five-year contract last summer and would require at least one marquee player and a minimum of two first-round picks in any such deal, Johnson hears.
See more from around the NBA:
- Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace has acknowledged speaking with Kings GM Vlade Divac about a job in Sacramento’s front office, but he told Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal and others that the talk didn’t constitute an interview and that he didn’t pursue the gig. Conflicting reports have painted a confused picture of the Kings-Wallace connection, though Wallace appears to suggest it’s all a matter of semantics, as Herrington examines.
- Steven Adams, who’s eligible for an extension this summer, is displaying high value to the Thunder in their series against San Antonio and affirming GM Sam Presti‘s preseason assertion that he’s one of the team’s core players, as Zach Lowe of ESPN.com details.
- The Warriors would have drafted R.J. Hunter at No. 30 last June had the Celtics not snagged him at No. 28, sources told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. Golden State drafted Kevon Looney instead after the C’s took Hunter even though he canceled a workout in Boston because he wasn’t feeling 100%, as Bulpett details.
Latest On Kings, Dave Joerger
12:48pm: The deal would indeed be a four-year arrangement with a team option on the fourth season, sources tell Wojnarowski, so the reports on contract length now align (Twitter link).
11:29am: The Kings hope they’ll finalize a deal with Joerger today, Stein hears (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 7:56am: Joerger is just one of three finalists, Divac said, according to Voisin (Twitter link). The identity of the other finalists is unclear. The Kings plan to meet with each of the finalists in the coming days and hope to make a decision by the end of the week, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
The deal the Kings and Joerger are discussing involves a team option on the fourth season, Stein writes. That would seem to account for the difference between the three- and four-year offers Stein and Wojnarowski referred to earlier.
SUNDAY, 11:55pm: A meeting with owner Vivek Ranadive set for Monday is the last obstacle between Dave Joerger and a deal to become Kings coach, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The team flew Joerger and his family to Sacramento, and the sides have made significant progress toward a three-year deal worth about $4MM a year, Wojnarowski hears, though sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com that they’ve been discussing a four-year arrangement for the same annual salary (Twitter link).
Regardless, GM Vlade Divac still plans to compose a list of finalists, and that’s the message that the team has communicated to its candidates even since Joerger’s arrival for today’s face-to-face with Divac, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, (Twitter links). That suggests Sacramento hasn’t ruled out hiring someone other than Joerger just yet. Joerger, too, has held mutual interest with the Rockets, as USA Today’s Sam Amick noted earlier, and his plan was to wait to hear from Houston before making a decision, according to TNT’s David Aldridge, but whether the Rockets are still in the picture for him after today’s meeting with Divac is unknown.
Joerger spoke at length with Divac today and would have the authority to hire his own assistants, though doubt exists about whether he wants to bring his Grizzlies staff with him, as Wojnarowski details. Still, it’s expected that Joerger would hire Grizzlies assistant Elston Turner, and he’d also likely to bring aboard Bill Bayno, a longtime college and NBA assistant who wasn’t with the Grizzlies, according to Wojnarowski. Turner has already interviewed with the Kings, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee noted earlier, but it’s unclear if that was for an assistant job or the head coaching job.
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Rockets Interview David Blatt
MAY 9TH, 12:23pm: The interview is taking place today, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
MAY 2ND, 9:28am: The Rockets are expected to interview David Blatt, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post, who hears from a source who says Blatt is still in the mix for the Knicks head coaching position. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported late Sunday that Blatt has an interview scheduled with the Kings, the other NBA team looking for a head coach. The Lakers had reportedly planned to interview Blatt before they instead moved quickly to hire Luke Walton.
Jeff Van Gundy appears to be the favorite for the job in Houston, where the Rockets will also consider removing the interim tag from J.B. Bickerstaff‘s head coaching title. The Warriors granted the Rockets permission to interview Walton before he took the Lakers job. Houston was the only team among those currently seeking a head coach to make the postseason this year, though uncertainty surrounds Frank Vogel‘s status as Pacers coach after Indiana’s first-round playoff ouster Sunday.
The Knicks believe the 56-year-old Blatt will be a head coach somewhere next season, be it in the NBA or overseas, and they aren’t considering the 56-year-old Blatt for a job as an assistant to Kurt Rambis, as previous reports suggested they were, Berman hears. Blatt interviewed a week ago with Knicks team president Phil Jackson and GM Steve Mills, but Rambis remains the front-runner, according to Berman, who adds that if the Knicks pass on Rambis for the head coaching job, they’d likely offer to make him an assistant to Blatt.
If you were Blatt, which head coaching job would appeal the most to you? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
R.C. Buford Named Executive Of The Year
Spurs GM R.C. Buford has won the Executive of the Year award, the NBA announced. It’s the second time in three years that Buford has come away with the honor, for which fellow team executives vote. Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey finished a close second, beating Buford in first-place votes 10-9 but falling short in the balloting system that gives five points for every first-place vote, three points for second-place votes and one point for third-place votes. Buford cast his first-place vote for Olshey, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link), but the Spurs GM held a 10-3 advantage in second-place votes, which proved the difference.
Buford’s most significant coup of the past year was signing LaMarcus Aldridge away from Olshey’s team in Portland. San Antonio made other key moves, including the addition of David West for just the minimum salary, that positioned the team for this season’s 67-15 record, the best in franchise history. It’s the culmination of a long planning process for Buford, who convinced Kawhi Leonard to wait on an extension in the fall of 2014, a move that helped the team create the cap space necessary to sign Aldridge. Other maneuvers also proved key, like Buford’s offloading of Tiago Splitter to Atlanta, where former Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer is in charge of the front office. Rookies Jonathon Simmons and Boban Marjanovic were useful finds as the Spurs and Buford furthered their reputation for uncovering talent in obscure places. Buford works in tandem with Gregg Popovich, who holds the titles of coach and president.
Olshey replaced four starters from last season’s Blazers, who finished with the sixth-best record in the Western Conference, and Portland astoundingly wound up with this season’s fifth-best Western Conference mark. The success came in large part because of former Olshey lottery pick CJ McCollum, this year’s Most Improved Player of the Year. Warriors GM Bob Myers, the 2015 Executive of the Year, finished third this time around. Raptors GM Masai Ujiri, Hornets GM Rich Cho, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and Thunder GM Sam Presti were the others who came away with first-place votes.
Below, see how each vote-getter ranked, with first-place votes noted where applicable.
1. R.C. Buford (Spurs) — 9
2. Neil Olshey (Trail Blazers) — 10
3. Bob Myers (Warriors) — 5
4. Masai Ujiri (Raptors) — 2
5. Rich Cho (Hornets) — 1
6. Danny Ainge (Celtics) — 1
7. David Griffin (Cavaliers)
8(tie). Stan Van Gundy (Pistons)
8(tie). Pat Riley (Heat)
10(tie). Sam Presti (Thunder) — 1
10(tie). Sam Hinkie (Sixers)
12(tie). Wes Wilcox (Hawks)
12(tie). John Hammond (Bucks)
12(tie). Dennis Lindsey (Jazz)
Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks face major uncertainty for the second offseason in a row, but the financial squeeze doesn’t appear quite as dire as it was last summer. Atlanta proved unable to afford to re-sign both Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll in large measure because the Hawks only had Early Bird rights on Carroll, but the Hawks should have the wherewithal to re-sign Al Horford and Kent Bazemore this summer despite Early Bird rights on Bazemore. That’s a product of Al Horford’s bargain $12MM salary this season, which creates only an $18MM cap hold, much lower than the roughly $26MM he’ll likely end up with on a max contract. The Hawks would have some $20MM available for Bazemore if they secure a quick commitment from Horford. Atlanta won’t need cap space to re-sign Horford, since he has full Bird rights, so the Hawks can refrain from officially signing him until they’ve used cap space on Bazemore. In other words, timing is key. See how Atlanta’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues itsoffseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Paul Millsap ($20,072,033)
- Tiago Splitter ($8,550,000)
- Jeff Teague ($8,000,000)
- Kyle Korver ($5,239,437)
- Thabo Sefolosha ($3,850,000)
- Dennis Schröder ($2,708,582)
- Tim Hardaway Jr. ($2,281,605)
- Edy Tavares ($1,000,000)
- Total: $51,701,657
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- Mike Muscala ($1,015,696) — salary non-guaranteed even if option picked up
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Mike Scott ($3,333,334)
- Lamar Patterson ($874,636)
- Total: $4,207,970
Restricted Free Agents
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Al Horford ($18,000,000)
- Kent Bazemore ($2,600,000)
- Kris Humphries ($1,200,000)
- Total: $21,800,000
Other Cap Holds
- No. 21 pick ($1,249,800)
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.