NBA Owners Want To Oust Donald Sterling
10:58am: A source close to Johnson says he has had no conversations about buying the Clippers, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Shelburne adds in a second tweet that the Clippers aren’t for sale, pointing out the difficulty the NBA faces in forcing Sterling to give up the team.
8:21am: Owners across the NBA want Donald Sterling out, and the consortium of Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners is eager to purchase Sterling’s Clippers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The sale price could be in excess of $1 billion, according to Wojnarowski. One member of the NBA’s Board of Governors tells Wojnarowski that a fine and a suspension for Sterling would be “meaningless” and would be interpreted as a failure of the league to accept responsibility for the problems set off by Sterling’s alleged racist comments.
The Guggenheim Partners, a financial services firm, and Johnson are the owners of baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, and they recently bought the WNBA’s financially troubled Los Angeles Sparks. They saw purchase of the Sparks as a strategic move that would draw themselves closer to the NBA, according to Wojnarowski. They’ve wanted to purchase the Lakers, and, as Wojnarowski reports, they recently make an aggressive push to do so before the Buss family made it clear that they’re not selling.
NBA owners are pushing commissioner Adam Silver to find a way to force Sterling out of the league, cognizant of the negative perception that will persist if they don’t, Wojnarowski writes. The sale of the team to Johnson, the target of one of the racist barbs Sterling is alleged to have made, would help the league repair its image problem. It would also smooth relations with the players union, which is seeking the maximum punishment for Sterling, as fellow Yahoo! scribe Marc J. Spears writes.
Porzingis, Eriksson, Van Oostrum Enter Draft
Three Spanish league prospects officially declared for this year’s draft before Sunday night’s deadline, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. Big man Kristaps Porzingis reversed course from his earlier decision to stay out of the draft, while You First Sports agent Pere Gallego told Givony that clients Marcus Eriksson and Devon Van Oostrum are in the 2014 draft, too (Twitter links).
Porzingis is the best prospect of the bunch, checking in at No. 23 in Givony’s rankings. Chad Ford of ESPN.com still has him in his 2015 class, ranked No. 15, though Ford had him as only the 65th-best prospect for this year as of last week. Eriksson, a shooting guard, is No. 78 in Givony’s rankings for this year, while Van Oostrum, a point guard, isn’t in Givony’s top 100 but checks in as his sixth-best prospect among overseas players born in 1993. Neither Eriksson nor Van Oostrum is in Ford’s rankings.
Porzingis, who turned 19 earlier this month, has averaged 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game this season for Cajasol Banca Civica. The 20-year-old Eriksson has put up 11.4 PPG in 23.5 MPG, with 37.7% three-point shooting for La Bruixa d’Or Manresa. Van Oostrum sees just 7.6 MPG for Laboral Kuxta, and he manages 1.2 PPG and 0.9 APG. All three from Spain’s top-flight league can withdraw from the draft anytime between now and June 16th. For now, they appear on the list of early entrants for this year.
Mario Hezonja Declines To Enter Draft
Spanish league swingman Mario Hezonja decided against entering the 2014 draft, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Sunday was the deadline for players to declare. Chad Ford of ESPN.com has Hezonja as the 27th-best prospect for this year, while Givony has already moved him into next year’s category, putting him sixth in his 2015 mock draft.
Hezonja, who turned 19 in February, has seen limited time for FC Barcelona Regal in his first season at the top level of Spanish basketball, scoring just 3.8 points in 9.3 minutes per game. Still, his combination of shooting and athleticism makes him a top prospect. He shot 39% on 1.3 three-point attempts per contest this season.
The native of Croatia might have ranked fourth or fifth among shooting guards in this year’s draft, but he appears to have a chance to become one of next year’s top five overall picks. He won’t be automatically draft-eligible until 2017, so he has plenty of time to develop and further refine his game for NBA scouts.
Jordan Adams To Enter Draft
APRIL 27TH: UCLA coach Steve Alford has confirmed that Adams informed him that he will enter this year’s NBA draft, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
APRIL 26TH: Adams has had a change of heart and will enter this year’s draft, as he tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports heard from a source earlier this evening that Adams had altered course and had decided to turn pro. Wojnarowski speculates that the decision of Kentucky guards Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison to stay in school helped sway Adams, since the absence of the twins thinned the crop of shooting guards in the draft.
APRIL 17TH: UCLA sophomore Jordan Adams will return to school for his junior year instead of entering the 2014 NBA draft, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com confirms the news. There’s wide disparity on Adams, the No. 27 prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him 51st.
Adams entertained the idea of declaring for the draft, Goodman writes, but elected not to follow teammates Kyle Anderson and Zach LaVine to the NBA for now. Adams shared the perimeter with those two, improving from a subpar three-point shooter to a slightly above average one this season as he averaged 17.4 points and 5.3 rebounds. The talented Bruins advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
The 19-year-old compiled an impressive 2.6 steals per game, but his defense has otherwise been perhaps his greatest weakness during his college career, so teams will look for improvement in that area between now and the 2015 draft.
Dario Saric Declares For Draft
APRIL 26TH, 1:24pm: Raznatovic announced that Saric has officially declared for the 2014 draft (Twitter link, hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).
APRIL 16TH, 8:29am: Dario Saric‘s new agent, Misko Raznatovic, says his client will declare for the NBA draft, as he tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. Still, Raznatovic isn’t sure whether Saric will withdraw by the June 16th deadline, as he did last year, or remain in this year’s field of early entrants, suggesting that if he and Saric feel that the 6’10” forward will go within the top 10 to 14 picks, Saric won’t pull out. Saric nonetheless believes that he’ll sign with a European team and remain overseas for another year or two regardless of whether he’s drafted this year, though he hasn’t made a final decision about that, as Raznatovic explains.
Saric is No. 9 in Givony’s prospect rankings, and No. 14 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com, though Ford says he’d have Saric higher if it were clear that he’d play in the NBA next season. That seems to indicate that Saric will be drafted high enough to meet Raznatovic’s threshold for remaining in the draft, making him a likely “draft-and-stash” player. Some teams have been burned when they’ve used high draft picks on overseas players unwilling to immediately come stateside, most notably the Magic, who spent the 11th overall pick in 2005 on Fran Vazquez, who’s yet to play in the NBA. Raznatovic insists that Saric won’t go down that path.
“I really believe that after talking for five minutes with Dario, that doubt will be gone,” Raznatovic said. “He cannot wait to become a NBA player, and this is his ultimate goal. He will be in the league no later than 2016, and with good chances to start earlier.”
The agent, who announced that he’d signed with Saric last week, is the latest to dispute a report late last month that Saric had agreed to a deal with a team in Turkey that wouldn’t allow him to go to the NBA until 2016. Raznatovic suggests that his ties to Dusan Ivkovic, another client of his who’s rumored to become the next coach of the Turkish team, fueled erroneous speculation that Saric was headed to Turkey.
Saric’s professional future has been clouded with mystery in recent weeks, with back-and-forth fueled by his father and a former agent, among others. Raznatovic downplays the significance of comments from Saric’s father, who’s advocated that his son stay in Europe, saying that the elder Saric isn’t anti-NBA and is just looking out for his son’s well-being. Raznatovic promises that the instability surrounding his client is over, though I suspect there will continue to be speculation about Saric until he signs with an NBA team.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Rudy Gay
Rudy Gay was so torn about whether to exercise his $19.3MM+ player option for 2014/15 when the month began that he couldn’t so much as identify the criteria he’d use to come to his decision. He now has little more than two months to make a choice that seemed a certainty in the wake of his trade to the Kings in December, when he appeared ready to opt in. He spent the rest of the season reviving his game to the point that accepting a season of guaranteed maximum salary is no longer a slam dunk.
The former eighth overall pick hit a nadir in Toronto at the beginning of the season, becoming the epitome of the inefficient albatross so many of his analytically minded detractors had regarded him to be. He was shooting just 38.8%, a career low, and yet he was taking a career high 18.6 shots per game through 18 contests with the Raptors, 12 of which were losses. His PER was 14.7, a tick below the mark of an average NBA player.
Enter an NBA owner and advanced metrics devotee who had a different view of Gay. Vivek Ranadive has said repeatedly that his numbers suggested that Gay would perform much better with the Kings, for whom he could be a secondary option to the inside presence of DeMarcus Cousins. Gay was a 20.1 PPG scorer in a partial season in Sacramento, an average identical to the one he posted during 2007/08, his highest scoring season of his eight years in the NBA. He shot 48.2% with the Kings, which would have exceeded his all-time best mark. He also dished out 3.1 assists per game, a volume great enough to set a new career high of 2.9 for the season.
The advanced metrics tell a similar story. His PER spiked to 19.6 in Sacramento, 1.8 points better than his previous career best. He notched .114 win shares per 48 minutes on a team that finished with 28 wins. Tellingly, the average distance of his shot attempts decreased to 11.6, nearly a foot closer than his career average, according to Basketball Reference.
Ranadive had coveted him for months and reportedly was the catalyst behind the trade. There probably isn’t an owner who’s a greater fan of Gay’s, or more willing to open his checkbook for the Octagon Sports client. Perhaps Gay feels as though the time to capitalize on this is now, before any regression happens, before another losing season in Sacramento spoils the owner’s mood, and before the Kings make another move that ties up their books.
There hasn’t been much chatter about an extension after it seemed in the wake of the trade that there was a decent chance it would become a topic of discussion. Former Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo had broached the subject before his ouster last summer. Still, unless Gay opts in and signs an extension after the end of June, it could only run two years longer than his current deal. It wouldn’t give him the kind of long-term financial security that a new, five-year deal from the Kings could provide.
Even a four-year deal with an interested suitor from outside Sacramento would probably ensure more money than an extension would. Some GMs said early in the season that he wouldn’t be worthy of mid-level exception salaries, but that group probably doesn’t include Suns GM Ryan McDonough, as Phoenix appears to have him in its sights. The Suns have been linked to a number of potential free agents this summer, as they’re set to have plenty of cap flexibility even with a new max deal for Eric Bledsoe.
Phoenix, coming off a 48-win season, might be an intriguing destination for Gay, who suggested in December that he wants to play for a winning team. He made similar comments when he spoke about his option decision at the beginning of the month, saying that while he can see himself continuing to play for a rebuilding team, it’s not ideal. Gay was part of a high-scoring trio with Cousins and Isaiah Thomas in Sacramento, but the Kings are miles from contention, and Thomas is set to become a restricted free agent this summer.
Gay has expressed a fondness for Sacramento and said in February that he appreciates the on-court freedom Kings coach Michael Malone and his staff have given him. Gay’s arrival in Sacramento was certainly a boon for his on-court production, even if it meant joining a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2005/06. The vast majority of that streak of lottery appearances was under the ownership of the Maloof family. Ranadive was right about Gay’s improved play this season, and his complete reboot of the front office and coaching staff since buying the team last year is reason for optimism. Sacramento has a decent chance to make significant improvements between now and the end of Gay’s next deal.
That next deal is one I think he chooses to sign with Sacramento after opting out of the final season of his existing contract. Hoops Rumors readers pegged his value at between $10MM and $15MM before his time in Sacramento began, and I think he’ll warrant salaries at the high end of that spectrum from Ranadive and company, if not slightly more. That kind of long-term money will more than make up for sacrificing his lucrative option year.
Karl, Fratello Interested In Cavs Front Office Job
3:40pm: Amico cautions that just because the Cavs don’t have designs on reaching out to Karl now doesn’t mean they won’t later, Amico clarifies (on Twitter).
3:18pm: The Cavs have no plans to talk to Karl about any position right now, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Twitter link).
11:27am: George Karl would love to be considered for the top job in Cleveland’s front office, and Mike Fratello would have interest, too, according to Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer. The job they appear to have in mind would be team president, though owner Dan Gilbert hasn’t indicated whether he wants to create that job to oversee the GM position, which David Griffin currently occupies on an interim basis.
A report in February indicated that the Cavs had interest in Karl, though it wasn’t entirely clear whether they thought of him as a coach or an executive. Karl, last year’s Coach of the Year with the Nuggets, apparently isn’t looking to return to the bench for a rebuilding team, and the Cavs, in the lottery for the fourth straight year, probably fit that description. Still, it appears Karl is eager to get back in the game.
“Being a leader, running a team and organizing a group with the common goal of winning a championship would be the ultimate challenge in my career,” Karl wrote in an email to Boyer.
Karl, like Fratello, is a former Cavs coach, and Fratello still lives in Cleveland, as Boyer points out. He was last on an NBA bench in the 2006/07 season with Memphis, and neither Fratello nor Karl has ever run an NBA front office.
Griffin’s future with the team is unclear, though he made comments this week indicating that he’d prefer to remain with the Cavs rather than jump to the Pistons or Knicks, teams to which he’s been linked. He seemed to give the impression that his job is safe, though he said he didn’t know when he and Gilbert would talk about it.
Central Rumors: Boozer, Billups, Pistons, Pacers
The Central Division representatives in the playoffs are in a world of hurt, with the Pacers stunningly behind the sub-.500 Hawks in their series and the Bulls facing an 0-2 deficit and heading to Washington for their next two games. Here’s more from a division that’s seen better days:
- Carlos Boozer‘s anger at Tom Thibodeau over a lack of fourth quarter playing time has intensified in the playoffs, a source tells Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Still, it hasn’t become a problem in the locker room, Cowley writes, praising Thibodeau for deftly handling the situation and pointing to the coach’s comfort with the Bulls as another reason to suggest he won’t head elsewhere this summer.
- Sam Smith of Bulls.com answers Chicago-centric questions in his latest mailbag column, and also suggests that Chauncey Billups undermined former Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks in an effort to curry favor with ownership. Billups has expressed interest in a front office role with the Pistons.
- The schedules of many potential Pistons front office candidates make it a tough week for the team to make progress on its search for a GM, writes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Ellis gets the sense that the Pistons aren’t too concerned with having someone in place in time for the draft and free agency.
- Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard dismisses the notion that Frank Vogel‘s job is on the line in the playoffs, but Vogel should take the fall if the team goes out early and he doesn’t bench struggling center Roy Hibbert, opines Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star.
DeAndre Daniels To Enter Draft
Connecticut junior DeAndre Daniels is headed into the NBA draft, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The small forward is No. 28 on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress list of the top prospects, while he checks in 34th with Chad Ford of ESPN.com, putting him squarely on the bubble to become a first-round pick.
Daniels, who turned 22 earlier this month, was a key part of UConn’s title-winning team this year, averaging 13.1 points and 6.0 rebounds in 29.0 minutes per game. His three-point shooting has improved consistently over his college career, vaulting from 24.0% accuracy as a freshman, to 30.9% last season, and 41.7% this year.
A lack of consistency has plagued Daniels, who followed a season-high 31 points against Temple with just seven against Rutgers. He sprung for 20 points and 10 rebounds versus No. 1 overall seed Florida in the Final Four, then put up only eight points and six boards in the championship game against Kentucky.
Harrison Twins Decline To Enter Draft
Kentucky freshman twins Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison have decided to return to school next season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The guards were highly touted entering the season, and Andrew was a particularly hot prospect, checking in at No. 8 on both Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and Chad Ford’s ESPN.com Big Board in late October. Aaron was at No. 32 with Givony at the time, but Andrew and Aaron have slipped to 39th and 53rd, respectively, in Givony’s ratings. Ford has Andrew 31st and Aaron 33rd.
The brothers were torn and went back and forth on the idea of entering this year’s draft as Sunday’s deadline to declare approached, Wojnarowski adds via Twitter. They were reportedly leaning toward going into the draft as of earlier this month, but people around the league weren’t enamored with them. The Harrisons heard from several teams that they would be late first-round picks, but they feel they can up their stock with another year in school, tweets Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
Andrew, a combo guard, averaged 10.9 points, 4.0 assists and 2.7 turnovers in 31.7 minutes per game for Kentucky this season. Aaron, who plays shooting guard, put up 13.7 PPG in 32.6 MPG. They’ll compete for shots and playing time on a loaded Kentucky team that returns potential 2014 draftees Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, Dakari Johnson and others to go along with another strong recruiting class, so there’s certainly no guarantee the Harrisons will be in better position for the 2015 draft.