Chris Andersen To Opt Out, Hit Free Agency
Chris Andersen will opt out of his minimum-salary contract and become a free agent this summer, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The Birdman re-signed with the Heat in 2013 to a two-year deal that included a player option for the second season. Today’s news doesn’t necessarily mean that Andersen will leave the Heat, or even that he’ll wind up with a higher salary, since he took less than market value to stay with Miami last summer. Still, it appears as though the client of Mark Bryant will explore his options as the future of the Heat’s roster is in flux.
Andersen, who’ll turn 36 next month, scored 6.6 points per game this past season, the second-highest total of his 12-year career. He also averaged 5.3 rebounds in 19.4 minutes per contest with an 18.5 PER as Miami’s first big man off the bench.
The Heat have his Early Bird rights, meaning they can sign him for a starting salary of up to 104.5% of the league average salary, which will likely come in around $6MM. It’s unlikely he’ll merit that much, but he’s probably earned a raise on the minimum. Taking another minimum-salary deal would help Miami keep its team together, but given Andersen’s advanced age, I’m not so sure he’ll be willing to pass up another opportunity to cash in. Still, his decision to opt out does the Heat a small favor, since his cap hold will be $915,243, compared to the $1,448,490 he’d take up on Miami’s balance sheet were he to opt in.
Bulls Willing To Trade Joakim Noah
Derrick Rose is the only “untouchable” player as the Bulls actively seek improvements to their starting lineup, several sources tell Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. That would mean First-Team All-NBA center Joakim Noah and others are available, though Cowley doesn’t specify whether the Bulls are dangling anyone in particular in ongoing talks. Carmelo Anthony remains Chicago’s No. 1 target, but the team is making a hard push to trade for Kevin Love, too, Cowley writes, suggesting the team will also make a serious run at LeBron James should he hit free agency this summer.
Noah, 29, is coming off a career year, and he’s set to make $12.7MM next season on a contract that runs through 2015/16, so his value is probably at an all-time high. Still, he’d seemingly be the last player other than Rose whom the Bulls would be willing to give up, with Taj Gibson not far behind. Noah has tried to recruit Anthony to Chicago, but the center doesn’t want to sacrifice Gibson to obtain the Knicks star forward, according to Cowley. Bulls executives have also been reluctant to part with Gibson, but it seems the hesitancy of Chicago’s brass is loosening if it would mean landing an All-Star caliber player in return, as Cowley observes.
It’s “not by choice” that the Bulls are making Rose the only player off-limits, Cowley writes, and that appears to indicate that other teams have signaled to Chicago that they’re wary of the point guard’s health. Rose has been unavailable for all but one game in the last three postseasons because of injury, and he’s missed most of the past two regular seasons.
The Bulls are open to just about any scenario, but it’s doubtful the team would part ways with Tom Thibodeau, Cowley hears. Chicago could extract valuable draft choices for the former Coach of the Year, who remains under contract, but in spite of rumors, it’s almost always seemed a long shot that he wouldn’t return to coach the Bulls next season.
Pacers, Raps, Jazz, Cavs Monitor Damjan Rudez
SUNDAY, 9:30am: The Cavs are working on a deal to sign Rudez, writes David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 3:44pm: The Pacers, Raptors, Jazz and Cavs are among several NBA teams considering Spanish league power forward Damjan Rudez as a free agent addition this summer, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Rudez has been working out with the Cavs this week, and while many teams audition free agents this year with only summer league in mind, it appears there’s a higher level of interest in Rudez.
The 27-year-old Rudez averaged 10.7 points in 24.7 minutes per game for CAI Zaragoza in Spain this year, but what has NBA types intrigued is the 47.3% three-point shooting stroke he displayed this year, as Wojnarowski details. He’s 6’8″, somewhat undersized for a power forward, but his outside shooting stretches the floor.
Wojnarowski identifies him as a low-cost option for NBA clubs, though the widespread interest suggests he’d be in line for more than the minimum salary. He’s under contract in Spain for next season, and while he has an NBA escape clause in his deal, it’s unclear just how much it would take to buy him out.
Pelicans, Andray Blatche Have Mutual Interest?
SATURDAY, 11:34pm: Sources tell John Reid of The Times-Picayune that the Pelicans aren’t interested in signing Blatche (Twitter link), contradicting the earlier report.
FRIDAY, 4:57pm: The Pelicans and big man Andray Blatche have mutual interest in a deal next month, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Blatche reportedly intends to decline his nearly $1.438MM player option for next season with Brooklyn and become a free agent.
Blatche has revived his career the past two seasons with the Nets after the Wizards used the amnesty clause to waive him in 2012. The 27-year-old is still set to collect more than $8MM from Washington next season, but 2014/15 is the last year his Wizards contract was to have covered. The Andy Miller client signed with the Nets for the minimum salary in 2012 and used his Non-Bird rights with the team to ink a deal for slightly more this season, but it seems reasonable to suspect he’ll command more this summer.
The Nets have Blatche’s Early Bird rights this time around, enabling them to re-sign him to a much higher salary, likely around $6MM. New Orleans has about $54MM in commitments for next season, which doesn’t leave a significant amount of wiggle room under the cap, projected to come in at $63.2MM. It’d probably be enough to snag Blatche, though the Nets will likely have the power to submit a bid equal to more than half the amount of cap space the Pelicans could open up. Brooklyn has shown a willingness to spend as much as it’s allowed, and I’m not sure New Orleans would want to commit so much to a player who’s started just 15 regular season games the past two years.
Blatche has nonetheless proven a key reserve for the Nets, putting up 11.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game with an 18.8 PER this past season. His role shrank in the playoffs, as he saw just 14.3 MPG with the Nets, who went with a small-ball attack. The emergence of rookie Mason Plumlee also helped curb his playing time.
Rod Higgins Resigns From Hornets
SATURDAY, 8:29am: Jordan tells Bonnell that his contract offer to Higgins was not technically a demotion, but that he did propose moving some of Higgins’ responsibilities over to Cho. Higgins viewed the arrangement as a practical demotion, and was given the choice of immediately stepping down or waiting until after the draft to do so, and he chose the latter.
“Rod’s strong points are working with the coaches and the trainers, traveling with the team,” Jordan said. “He was my buffer zone with the coaches. I didn’t want to overwhelm them with ideas, so I’d work with Rod on that. One of (Higgins’) strong points is not negotiating, leveraging teams. Sometimes when teams would call [proposing trades], they’d bypass Rod to get to Rich… [That arrangement caused] confusion over who reported to whom. It created a contentious environment where I had to step in.”
Jordan said that Cho will step into running basketball operations in place of Higgins, and that the Hornets will hire an assistant GM moving forward.
FRIDAY, 10:56am: Higgins turned down a new contract from the Hornets that would have kept him with the organization, a source tells Bonnell. It’s not clear whether the deal would have kept him as president of basketball ops or shifted him to a different role.
8:51am: Hornets president of basketball operations Rod Higgins has stepped down from his post, the team announced. The move puts GM Rich Cho exclusively in charge of the team’s player personnel. He’ll report to owner Michael Jordan and vice chairman Curtis Polk, who handles the team’s business affairs.
“I would like to thank Rod for his seven years of dedication to this organization,” Jordan said in the team’s statement. “Rod has been a consummate professional throughout his time with the team. Thanks to his hard work and commitment, we have an improved roster and we are poised for success in the future. Rod was of great help to me as I navigated my first four years as majority owner of this franchise. I wish him all the best.”
The announcement, which came shortly after midnight Charlotte time, is oddly timed, and not just because of the overnight hour. The draft is 13 days away, and free agency starts in less than three weeks. The Hornets hold the ninth, 24th and 45th picks in the draft, and they’re poised to be one of the most active teams on the free agent market, with only about $41MM in commitments, not counting their pair of first-rounders. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer called the timing of Higgins’ departure “bizarre” and took the Hornets to task for what he deems a “dysfunctional” move (Twitter links). Still, it’s unclear whether Higgins left entirely of his own volition or whether the team had any influence on his decision.
The amount of control Higgins asserted in the front office following the hiring of Cho in 2011 has also been difficult to ascertain. Higgins had held the GM title for the club prior to that move, having assumed that role in 2007, before Jordan bought the majority stake in the team. Still, Higgins was one of the team’s first hires after Jordan purchased a minority share in 2006, having worked under Jordan when he owned part of the Wizards and having been a teammate of Jordan’s on the Bulls. Higgins played a key role in the signing of Al Jefferson last summer, Bonnell writes.
Cho is familiar with oddly timed front office changes from his time in Portland. He became Blazers GM in July 2010, replacing Kevin Pritchard, whom the team had fired on draft night that year. Portland dismissed Cho less than a year later, in May 2011.
NBA Poised To Countersue Donald Sterling
8:40pm: A confidant of Donald Sterling claims the investigative firms already have uncovered allegations of racial discrimination by NBA officials that are as bad as comments Sterling made suggesting he did not want to see blacks at Clippers games, reports James Rainey of The Los Angeles Times.
11:58am: There’s a “good chance” that the NBA will file a countersuit against Donald Sterling, who’s pushing forward with a $1 billion lawsuit against the league, sources tell Michael McCann of SI.com. The league is set to respond to Sterling on June 23rd, according to McCann. It’s unclear precisely what the league would seek from Sterling in the suit.
Donald Sterling has hired four private investigation firms to try to uncover evidence of misconduct among the NBA and owners of the other 29 clubs, as Tami Abdollah of The Associated Press and Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com report. The firms received budgets in excess of $100K to pore over the league’s finances and its compensation for David Stern and Adam Silver, examine previous allegations of discrimination, and look into whether any other owners have made insensitive remarks, Abdollah writes. The league is prepared to argue that it has a strong record of promoting diversity in the workplace, a source tells McCann.
Sterling’s lawsuit against the NBA seeks only monetary relief, and it’s not directly aimed at allowing him to remain as owner, as McCann points out. Sterling’s attempt to continue to control the Clippers centers on a probate court hearing next month that will determine whether his wife acted within her rights to unilaterally agree to sell the Clippers to Steve Ballmer via the Sterling family trust, as previous reports have detailed.
If the court rules that Shelly Sterling did not have that right, the NBA will seek to strip control of the Clippers from the Sterlings, as McCann details. The league would likely invoke a clause in its constitution that would allow the NBA to take over the franchise itself if three-quarters of the league’s other owners vote to take the team away from the Sterlings, according to McCann. The league would then look to sell the team to new ownership, and sources tell McCann that the NBA might invite other bids rather than simply turn the team over to Ballmer. The proceeds from the sale, minus expenses the NBA incurred as it conducted the bidding, would still eventually wind up going to the Sterlings, McCann writes.
And-Ones: Lakers, Thibodeau, Duncan, Embiid
The Lakers never asked the Bulls for permission to interview Tom Thibodeau, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com, who reported last month that they would. The L.A. brass is “all but sure” the Bulls would have asked for this month’s No. 7 overall pick, which the Lakers would be unwilling to give up, according to McMenamin. The ESPN scribe also believes that L.A.’s concerns about paying Thibodeau a lavish salary to coach a mediocre roster next season played a role, and suggests the Lakers are wary of the way their fans might react if Thibodeau rejected the team’s pursuit. Here’s more from around the league:
- The deadline for Tim Duncan to decide on his $10MM player option for next season is June 24th, but the Spurs are operating under the assumption that Duncan and coach Gregg Popovich will return, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Most option clauses give players until June 30th to decide, though Duncan’s date can be pushed back if he and the team decide to do so, Stein notes, adding that Popovich’s contract runs through next season.
- A source tells Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio that Joel Embiid checked out fine when he took a physical this week for the Cavs, contradicting an earlier report from Tony Rizzo of ESPN Cleveland, who hears that the exam raised serious concerns (Twitter links).
- It appears as though the Bucks will work out Andrew Wiggins twice, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com hears that he’s auditioning for the team today in California and again next week in Milwaukee (Twitter link).
- A handful of top European teams have interest in soon-to-be free agent Nando De Colo, and it seems like they’re willing to give the Raptors guard a raise on the $1.463MM he made in the NBA this season, reports Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net.
- The Timberwolves have hired Sidney Lowe as an assistant coach, the team formally announced (Twitter link), confirming an earlier report. He spent last season as an assistant with the Jazz.
Offseason Outlook: Phoenix Suns
Guaranteed Contracts
- Goran Dragic ($7,500,000)
- Alex Len ($3,649,920)
- Gerald Green ($3,500,000)
- Markieff Morris ($2,989,239)
- Marcus Morris ($2,943,221)
- Miles Plumlee ($1,169,880)
- Archie Goodwin ($1,112,280)
- (Michael Beasley $777,778)*
Options
- Channing Frye ($6,800,000, Player)
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- Shavlik Randolph ($1,227,985)
- Ish Smith ($992,435)**
- Dionte Christmas ($816,482)***
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- Emeka Okafor ($19,181,750)****
- Eric Bledsoe ($6,566,183)
- P.J. Tucker ($2,875,131 – QO)*****
- No. 14 pick ($1,627,600)
- No. 18 pick ($1,325,600)
- No. 27 pick ($930,500)
- Leandro Barbosa ($915,243)
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (14th overall)
- 1st Round (18th overall)
- 1st Round (27th overall)
- 2nd Round (50th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $23,642,318
- Options: $6,800,000
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $3,036,902
- Cap Holds: $33,997,032
- Total: $67,476,252
The Suns entered the 2013/14 season as a sleeping giant of sorts, with a wealth of draft picks and future cap flexibility and a warm climate to attract free agents but without a roster necessary to compete in the near term. That giant quickly awoke once the season began, and though Phoenix came up short of a playoff berth, the Suns are positioned to be a team to reckon with for years to come.
The next step in the resurgence of the Suns will almost assuredly come at this year’s draft, as the Suns clutch three first-round picks. GM Ryan McDonough months ago expressed a willingness to package those picks in a trade for a star, and it seems unlikely that Phoenix wants to end up with a logjam of rookies on next year’s roster. The Suns couldn’t find a suitable trade partner for any of their first-rounders at the deadline this year, but draft night will offer ample opportunity. Phoenix also has another pair of extra first-round picks coming its way as soon as next year, giving McDonough plenty of ammunition in his bid to land Kevin Love.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports identified the Suns as a strong candidate to trade for the Second-Team All-NBA power forward, and multiple reports have confirmed Phoenix’s pursuit. The Wolves are apparently more likely to target veterans than draft picks in a deal for Love, but first-rounders are as coveted as they’ve ever been around the league, so perhaps the Suns could involve a third or fourth team in a deal to bring Love to the desert. As tempting as a package built entirely with first-round picks would be to many teams, the Suns would probably have to include a little more to reel in a superstar like Love, even in a multiteam swap. Alex Len, last year’s No. 5 overall pick, would no doubt be intriguing to several potential trade partners, but his appeal is probably too similar to that of the future first-round picks.
McDonough may ultimately be forced to consider including Goran Dragic in a trade for Love or any other superstar. Dragic is coming off a career year, so there’s reason to think that trading him this summer would be a wise choice. Still, the way he thrived and carried the team in Eric Bledsoe‘s absence this past season suggests that his performance had much to do with a proper fit, and that he may have more value as a member of the Suns than he would with any other team. Minnesota, in particular, would probably have reservations about acquiring Dragic because of the presence of Ricky Rubio. Dragic thrived in the same backcourt with Bledsoe this past season, but such a dual point guard attack might not be so successful in a different context. Plus, the Wolves would risk losing both after next season, when Rubio can become a restricted free agent and Dragic can opt out of his contract.
Still, Love isn’t the only superstar whose name has been in trade chatter of late. McDonough is probably more familiar with the Celtics’ thinking about Rajon Rondo than any other rival GM in the NBA, with the possible exception of fellow former Boston executive Daryl Morey. McDonough is only 13 months removed from having been the assistant GM of the Celtics. Much has changed for Boston in that time, since McDonough’s departure for Phoenix predates the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett trade. Yet if anyone knows whether Danny Ainge is telling the truth when he denies the countless reports suggesting Rondo is on the trade block, it’s probably McDonough, who spent a decade working under Ainge in the Celtics front office.
These days, McDonough has a star point guard of his own with a pending contract situation. Eric Bledsoe didn’t take long this season to prove his value as a top-of-the-line talent. He’d played only 24 games for the Suns when owner Robert Sarver made it clear that the team would match any offer for him in restricted free agency this summer, presumably up to the maximum salary. Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby seconded that stance not soon after, even as Bledsoe was sidelined with a torn meniscus in his knee that limited him to 43 games this season, his first as a full-time starter after coming in via trade from the Clippers. The Mavs and Lakers are eyeing runs at the 24-year-old, with the report about the Lakers suggesting that the purple-and-gold are thinking of overpaying for Bledsoe in an effort to pry him from the Suns. It seems like he’s in line for the maximum salary this summer, and perhaps a max offer sheet would test the resolve of the Suns, who might have sent out repeated warnings that they intend to match all offers to try to soften the market for the Rich Paul client. We’ll take Sarver and Babby at their word and presume that Bledsoe ends up back in Phoenix next season, and if he’s not on a max contract, it’ll more than likely be a deal that’s mighty close to it.
McDonough also has key negotiations with P.J. Tucker, Channing Frye and the Morris brothers on the docket. Tucker wants a raise, and indeed he’s merited a significant one from his minimum salary. He nonetheless feels a sense of indebtedness to the franchise that revived his NBA career, one that seemed long since over when he signed with Phoenix in 2012. The Suns wield the hammer of restricted free agency, but his combination of rebounding and outside shooting will no doubt have other clubs again trying the limits of Phoenix’s resolve to match offers. Tucker also makes for an intriguing sign-and-trade candidate if McDonough makes significant progress in his star search.
Frye is clamoring for an extension even as he possesses a player option next season for a higher salary than the market would probably bear on a new contract. McDonough has expressed interest in keeping the 31-year-old around, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Frye decides it’s worth capitalizing on his bounce-back year by adding seasons onto his deal at reduced salaries that guarantee him NBA paychecks for years to come.
Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris are both up for rookie scale extensions this summer, but even though they’re twins who were drafted with back-to-back selections, there’s a decent chance they’ll start down divergent paths this offseason. Markieff proved the more valuable of the pair this season, playing more minutes, scoring at a more efficient rate and recording an 18.4 PER that was significantly higher than the 14.8 mark that Marcus posted. Markieff finished fourth in the balloting for Sixth Man of the Year while Marcus didn’t receive a single vote. Rookie scale extensions usually end up going to players with greater chances of ending up as stars than either of the Morris twins have, but Markieff seems like a candidate to receive a deal akin to the four-year, $14MM extension that the Grizzlies gave Quincy Pondexter last fall. Marcus appears inextricably destined for restricted free agency in a year, whether or not his brother joins him.
The Suns have missed the playoffs four straight years and five out of the last six, and while it’ll be tough to leapfrog any of the Western Conference’s eight playoffs teams this year, the Suns needn’t improve much to make it back to the postseason. Of course, the point of the playoffs isn’t merely to qualify for them, and the months ahead will determine just how fast and how far Phoenix will go.
Cap footnotes
* — Beasley agreed to a buyout when the Suns waived him in September 2013 in which he gave up all but $7MM of the remaining $9MM in guaranteed salary on his contract, which was to run through 2015. The Suns paid off $4,666,667 of that $7MM this past season. The remaining guaranteed salary is spread evenly over the next three seasons via the stretch provision.
** — Smith’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he isn’t waived on or before July 15th.
*** — Christmas’ salary becomes fully guaranteed if he isn’t waived on or before July 31th.
**** — Okafor’s cap hold will be equal to the maximum salary for a veteran of 10 or more seasons. That figure won’t be determined until July. The figure in place here is last season’s maximum for a veteran of 10 or more years.
***** — Tucker’s cap hold would be $915,243 if the team declined to extend a qualifying offer.
ShamSports and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Draft Rumors: Bucks, Parker Exum, Randle
There’s no truth to the that idea Bucks GM John Hammond would be reluctant to draft Dante Exum because he’s concerned about losing his job, a source tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. It’s not clear whether Milwaukee, which picks second overall, is sold on taking the Australian guard, but the team won’t hesitate to do so if the front office determines he’s worthy, Deveney’s source adds. Here’s more chatter surrounding the draft:
- Jabari Parker will work out for the Cavs a week from today, the Plain Dealer reports (on Twitter). The tweet also makes note of Andrew Wiggins‘ audition for the team next week, echoing an earlier report that he was set to work out for the club close to draft time.
Earlier updates:
- Julius Randle said today that no NBA teams expressed a desire at last month’s draft combine for him to have surgery on his right foot even though they knew that he’d broken the foot as a high school senior, observes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com (on Twitter). Still, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com insists multiple clubs are worried about the foot becoming an issue in the future, believing that the foot didn’t heal correctly (Twitter link). However, the Jazz aren’t among the teams with worries, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.
- Randle is nonetheless taking a cautious approach, telling reporters, including Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com, that he worked out solo for the Celtics instead of against competition to lessen the chance of injury. Gary Harris, Jordan Clarkson and Elfrid Payton are the previously unreported names taking part in today’s group audition for the Celtics, Forsberg tweets.
- Baylor big man Isaiah Austin was red-flagged with several medical issues at last month’s draft combine, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com reports in an Insider-only piece. Austin’s lack of sight in one eye is well-documented, but it appears as though that isn’t his only malady.
- Doug McDermott is the marquee name set to perform Saturday for the Hornets, who’ll also audition T.J. Warren, Travis Wear, Jermaine Marshall, Roberto Nelson and Brandon Young, the team announced in a press release.
- Zach LaVine is set to work out Saturday for the Nuggets, Blakely tweets.
- Shabazz Napier highlighted a Wolves audition today that also included LaQuinton Ross, Eric Moreland, Ronald Roberts Jr., Tim Frazier and Rion Brown, the team announced (via Twitter). Adreian Payne will show off for Minnesota on Saturday, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
Cavs Interview David Blatt
FRIDAY, 12:18pm: The Cavs and Warriors are the only teams left in the race for Blatt, a source tells Marc Stein of ESPN.com. That means the Timberwolves and Hawks are no longer in the mix.
THURSDAY, 1:22pm: Blatt will interview with the Cavs next week, a source tells the Plain Dealer (Twitter link). Blatt said he interviewed earlier by phone, so presumably next week’s interview will be the first face-to-face meeting. That probably doesn’t quite put him on equal footing with Lue and Gentry, both of whom are set for their second sit-downs with the Cavs.
12:35pm: Blatt says he hasn’t received an offer from the Cavs, Sinai tweets.
12:28pm: Blatt indeed announced that he’s leaving Maccabi Tel Aviv, and said that he’ll intensify talks with NBA teams, as Sinai relays via Twitter.
12:07pm: The Timberwolves are still contenders for Blatt, but he’s mostly focused on the Cavs and Warriors, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
11:32am: The Hawks are also vying for Blatt as an assistant coach, Sinai reports.
11:20am: Blatt will say that he’s headed to the NBA today, but he won’t say where, Pick hears, advancing Sinai’s report from earlier (Twitter link).
11:14am: The announcement that Blatt is set to make today doesn’t have to do with the Cavs, reports Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). That doesn’t necessarily rule him out as a head coaching candidate for Cleveland, as Sinai tweets that it’s unclear if Blatt will identify a specific job that he’s taking or merely state his intention to go to the NBA, but it seems to cast doubt on the idea he’ll end up with the Cavs.
11:02am: The Cavaliers have interviewed Israeli league coach David Blatt for their head coaching vacancy, as Blatt tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Blatt said he interviewed by phone and will speak with GM David Griffin again soon, according to Pick. The news comes in advance of a press conference today in which Blatt will announce that he’s leaving Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv for the NBA, as Allon Sinai of The Jerusalem Post tweets. It’s unclear whether Blatt is headed stateside for the Cavs job or for assistant coaching positions with the Warriors and Timberwolves, gigs for which he’s also rumored to be a candidate.
The Cavs had reportedly been in contact with Blatt as of last week, but it appeared then that the conversation hadn’t yet amount to an interview. Blatt says he’s received “real offers” from the NBA, Sinai reports (on Twitter), though it seems as though he may be in line for a consulting job, either on top of or instead of a coaching position, according to Pick (Twitter link). Pick dismisses the notion of Blatt heading to Minnesota (Twitter link), in spite of an earlier report that suggested he would be Flip Saunders‘ first choice as a head-coach-in-waiting who could take over the head coaching duties from Saunders in a year or two.
Blatt told Pick today that an earlier report suggesting that he’d only come to the NBA for a head coaching job was inaccurate (Twitter link), and the Warriors are “quietly confident” that they’ll end up with him, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Still, if he were to become an NBA head coach, it would represent a groundbreaking jump from European basketball. He’s one of several seemingly in the mix for the Cavs head coaching job. Mark Price, Alvin Gentry, Adrian Griffin, Tyronn Lue, Vinny Del Negro and Lionel Hollins have all reportedly garnered interviews. The Cavs have asked Lue and Gentry back for second interviews, while Nate McMillan and Mark Jackson have also apparently emerged as candidates, too.