Joakim Noah Wins Defensive Player Of The Year
4:55pm: The Bulls confirmed the news via press release. Noah collected 555 out of a possible 1,125 points, including 100 out of a possible 125 first-place votes. Pacers center Roy Hibbert (166 points, eight first-place votes) and Clippers big man DeAndre Jordan (121 points, eight first-place votes) came in second and third, respectively.
12:46pm: Bulls center Joakim Noah has won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award, according to Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com (Twitter link). K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune confirms the report (on Twitter). The award is not one of the honors that reportedly would trigger an unlikely bonus, so the news doesn’t have bearing on Chicago’s team salary, which has been close to the tax line this season. The official announcement is set for later today.
Noah finished fourth in the voting for the award last season, behind winner Marc Gasol, even though Noah, and not Gasol, was on the league’s All-Defensive First Team. Writers vote for the Defensive Player of the Year award, while coaches vote for the All-Defensive teams, which accounts for the discrepancy.
The anchor of Chicago’s defense averaged 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals this season. The Bulls were the second most efficient defense in the league this season, per NBA.com, and though they were only slightly less efficient when Noah was off the floor, it was clear his combination of athleticism and 6’11” size helped the team seal off the basket.
Jazz Likely To Target Jim Boylen For Coach
Spurs assistant coach Jim Boylen will likely be a candidate for the Jazz head coaching vacancy, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). He’s not to be confused with Cavs assistant Jim Boylan, the former interim head coach of the Bulls and Bucks.
GM Dennis Lindsey, a former Spurs executive, wants a defensive-minded coach who believes in analytics, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. The team is likely to tap into Lindsey’s San Antonio connections for their next hire, whether it’s Boylen or someone else, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (on Twitter).
Boylen was the head coach at the University of Utah from 2007-11, and he was with the Pacers prior to joining the Spurs staff this past offseason. He was an assistant coach for the Bucks, Warriors and Rockets before taking the University of Utah job.
Jazz, Tyrone Corbin Officially Part Ways
The Jazz have decided to part ways with coach Tyrone Corbin, the team announced. He was on an expiring contract this season, as rumors of his cloudy future with the team swirled after the Jazz decided to embark on a rebuilding project this past summer. Utah went 25-57, finishing in last place in the Western Conference this year.
Corbin took over in the middle of the 2010/11 season after longtime coach Jerry Sloan stepped down. The Jazz made Corbin only their fourth head coach since the franchise moved to Utah for the 1979/80 season. The team went 8-20 the rest of the way that year, but Corbin guided the team to winning records the following two seasons. Utah appeared in the playoffs only once during Corbin’s tenure, and they were swept by the Spurs in the opening round in 2012.
Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward, a restricted free agent this summer, praised the job Corbin did this season, after a summer in which the team let Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Mo Williams and others sign elsewhere. The Jazz sacrificed their cap flexibility this past offseason to acquire draft picks attached to player-friendly contracts in a trade with Golden State, leaving the team with a mix of untested young players and mediocre veterans.
Richard Jefferson, at 33, started 78 games and received the third-most minutes on the team this season, and Marvin Williams saw significant playing time for Corbin, too. That led center Enes Kanter, up for a rookie scale extension this summer, to make a public call last week for the team to feature more of its young players on the floor together.
The Jazz also parted ways with Corbin’s assistant coaches, according to Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). It’s unclear if the team’s player development staff will return, Falk adds (on Twitter).
Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reported Friday that Corbin was out as coach, (Twitter links), though the team and Corbin’s agent denied the report to Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Steve Kerr Interested In Coaching Knicks
2:47pm: Kerr said that he anticipates hearing from Jackson about the team’s coaching vacancy, reiterated his desire to coach, and said that he’d be interested in the Knicks job in radio appearances today on SiriusXM’s NBA Radio and ESPN Chicago 1000. Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com passes the news along via Twitter.
MONDAY, 8:44am: Kerr’s friends say he may wait to see which other coaching jobs come open before saying yes to the Knicks, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Kerr intends to work his full playoff schedule for TNT, which runs through the conference finals, and he hasn’t spoken to his bosses about adjusting it to accommodate a coaching gig, Isola hears.
FRIDAY, 8:17am: Steve Kerr “absolutely expects” the Knicks to offer him their head coaching job, and he intends to accept such an offer, a source tells George Willis of the New York Post. Kerr has already spoken to TNT about adjusting his broadcasting schedule for the playoffs so he can start working for the Knicks, Willis hears.
Kerr has reportedly been the front-runner for the job for a while, and his name was linked to the Knicks as a possible candidate even when the team was still negotiating its deal with Phil Jackson. Mike Woodson is under contract to coach the team in 2014/15, but the Knicks had reportedly been planning to fire him if they failed to make the playoffs. Even after falling short of the postseason, Woodson received strong public support from Carmelo Anthony, who on Thursday referred to Woodson as “almost a father figure, a friend, a guy I can bounce stuff off of,” notes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Woodson still appears on his way out, according to Isola, who hears from a source who says that Woodson and Jackson will speak Friday, and either set up a meeting for next week or discuss the terms of their parting.
Several teams apparently would like to bring Kerr aboard as an executive, but his focus is on coaching. Marc Berman of the New York Post suggests Jim Cleamons as a potential candidate to become the top assistant coach for the Knicks if they hire Kerr as head coach.
Carmelo Anthony To Meet With Several Teams
The Knicks’ firing of Mike Woodson today will have no impact on Carmelo Anthony‘s willingness to remain with the team, and Anthony plans to meet with several other NBA clubs this summer, a source tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Anthony wants to approach the process just as Dwight Howard did last summer, when he sat down with potential suitors after free agency began in July, Deveney hears. ‘Melo hasn’t made a list of the teams he’d like to hear from yet, but Deveney says the Knicks and Bulls are “certain” to be on it, naming the Lakers, Rockets and Clippers as others who might be in the mix.
Anthony spoke in support of Woodson last week, but the identity of next season’s coach will have little effect on Anthony’s free agency, according to Deveney. Anthony has long planned to opt out of his contract this summer, and summed up his thoughts regarding the Knicks and free agency succinctly last week when he said, “I want to come back. I want to come back. But I also want to win.” Deveney’s source reiterates that winning will be chief in the star’s mind, though it will be difficult for the Knicks to improve their roster, given their lack of both cap flexibility and a first-round pick in this year’s draft, as Deveney points out.
Howard’s contentment in Houston this year is helping dispel Anthony’s fears of a public backlash should he leave the Knicks, Deveney writes. The Rockets star endured a maelstrom of negative press amid his departures from the Magic and the Lakers, but that’s died down now that Howard is on a long-term deal in Houston.
Coaching Rumors: Warriors, Wolves, Knicks
The week began with the creation of a pair of coaching vacancies, as the Knicks fired Mike Woodson an hour before Rick Adelman announced his retirement from the Wolves. There will probably be other jobs opening up, but Jermaine O’Neal gets the sense that Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob isn’t down on Mark Jackson, as the veteran center tells USA Today’s Sam Amick.
“When I speak to Joe, he likes what we have,” O’Neal said. “But hey, it’s a different era right now. We have a new breed of owners in our league and their patience is a lot shorter. So I don’t know ultimately what his plan is — that’s up to him. He pays the bills. He can do whatever he wants to do with his team. But from the conversations I’ve had with him, he likes Mark.”
Here’s more on the Warriors and other coaching news from around the league:
- Andre Iguodala has Jackson’s fate on his mind as the Warriors go through the playoffs, observes Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. “We’re trying to save our coach,” Iguodala said. “Every game is pressure for us.”
- Fellow Bay Area News Group scribe Tim Kawakami suggests that Steve Kerr and Fred Hoiberg would top the Warriors‘ list of targets if the team parts ways Jackson (Twitter link). Jackson would “almost surely” want an extension that includes a pay raise if the team decides to keep him, Kawakami writes.
- Adelman said he made his decision to retire in part because he didn’t think it would help the Wolves to have both him and Kevin Love on expiring contracts next season, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune notes. Adelman also said he probably would have retired regardless of his wife’s health, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter links).
- Flip Saunders hinted that the Wolves will prioritize coaching candidates who’d continue to run an offense similar to Adelman’s, Zgoda tweets.
- The Knicks will encourage whomever they hire to replace Woodson to re-hire longtime assistant coach Herb Williams, who was let go along with the rest of the team’s coaching staff today, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. However, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News casts doubt on the report, suggesting that the idea that team wants Williams back comes from neither Phil Jackson nor Williams (Twitter link).
Rick Adelman Announces Retirement
Rick Adelman announced his retirement from coaching at a press conference today, the Timberwolves confirm (Twitter link). A parting of ways has been widely expected, and fellow Star Tribune scribe Sid Hartman wrote last week that there was “no chance” that Adelman would return. That followed a pair of reports last month that cast serious doubt on the coach’s future. The team and Adelman had a mutual option for 2014/15, and either side had the ability to walk away from the contract. He’ll remain with the team as a consultant, the team also says (on Twitter).
Tom Izzo, Fred Hoiberg and Stan Van Gundy are the team’s targets to coach next season, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported last week, though all three seem difficult targets. Hoiberg appeared unlikely to accept an offer from the team even before Iowa State gave him a raise, and report from February indicated Van Gundy probably won’t coach anywhere next season. Izzo vehemently denied rumors that he’d coach the Pistons. A more attainable replacement for Adelman could be Suns assistant coach Jerry Sichting, whom Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio identifies as a “name to really watch” in connection to the Wolves job (Twitter link). Wolves President of basketball operations Flip Saunders reportedly would like to take over as coach, but owner Glen Taylor prefers that two different people handle the top front office job and the head coaching gig.
Adelman, 67, is stepping away with the eighth-most wins in NBA history, having compiled a 1,042-749 record in 23 seasons. He arrived in Minnesota for the 2011/12 season after a three-year stint with the Rockets, but he failed to lift the Wolves into the playoffs during his tenure. He enjoyed much greater success elsewhere, leading the Trail Blazers to two Finals appearances in his first four seasons as an NBA coach and nearly guiding the Kings to the Finals in 2002, when they lost a seven-game heartbreaker in the conference finals.
Those Kings teams cemented Adelman’s reputation as an offensive wizard, but Zgoda suggested last month that if he hadn’t retired from the Wolves, the team would have declined to pick up his option for next season. In any case, the health of Adelman’s wife likely weighed heavily in his decision. He missed 11 games to tend to her during the 2012/13 season, when she was suffering from seizures, and Adelman missed time to deal with unspecified personal issues this season.
Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune was the first to report the news, via Twitter. Sam Amick of USA Today confirmed the report (Twitter link). Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Knicks Fire Mike Woodson
The Knicks have announced the firing of coach Mike Woodson and his staff. The move has been expected nearly all season long, as the team struggled to a 37-45 record after winning 54 games and advancing to the conference semifinals last year. Woodson was under contract through next season, and presumably he’ll still receive his $3.4MM salary for 2014/15.
The move follows a meeting between Woodson and Knicks president Phil Jackson, notes Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’s Jackson’s first major move with the club, which hired him to run the front office last month.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike Woodson and his entire staff,” Jackson said in the team’s statement. “The coaches and players on this team had an extremely difficult 2013/14 season, and blame should not be put on one individual. But the time has come for change throughout the franchise as we start the journey to assess and build this team for next season and beyond. Everyone in this franchise owes a great deal of gratitude to what Mike and his staff have done. We wish him the best.”
Carmelo Anthony threw his support behind Woodson last week, but it wasn’t enough to save the job of the coach who went 109-79 in parts of three seasons with the Knicks. He was an assistant coach with the Knicks when he took the head coaching job late in the 2011/12 season after the team let go of Mike D’Antoni. Woodson went 18-6 that year and guided the team to the playoffs, where they lost to the eventual champion Heat in the first round.
The narrative was a positive one for Woodson until last year’s playoff loss to the Pacers. Marc Berman of the New York Post suggested Sunday that when the Knicks exercised their 2014/15 team option on Woodson before this season began, they knew it was unlikely he’d actually coach the team that season unless the team made it to the conference finals this year. Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops reported earlier this month that the Knicks planned to fire Woodson if the team’s late push for the playoffs fell short, and indeed the ax fell soon after New York finished in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, a game out of the final playoff spot.
Assistants Herb Williams, Jim Todd, Darrell Walker, Jerry Dunn, David Hopla and LaSalle Thompson join Woodson in exiting the Knicks, who begin their search for a new head coach at once, according to the team’s statement. Steve Kerr appears to be the front-runner, though there are conflicting reports about whether he’d jump at the job.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Western Notes: Leonard, Jazz, Bledsoe, Nash
Kawhi Leonard is up for a rookie scale extension this summer, but it appears he envisions a long-term future with the Spurs, based in his comments to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. Gregg Popovich believes the small forward will become the face of the franchise once Tim Duncan retires.
“I’ve been working hard to be one of the focal points in the NBA, one of the top guys. For him to say that and see that I could be the face, it just brings joy to me,” Leonard said. “I’m just happy that someone else sees it other than myself.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin is on shaky ground in Utah, but soon-to-be free agent Gordon Hayward said Corbin did a “tremendous job” considering the circumstances this year, observes Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune.
- Eric Bledsoe has been non-committal in his public statements about the notion of re-signing with the Suns this summer, though teammate and neighbor Ish Smith is confident Bledsoe will return, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. The Suns have said they intend to match any offer for Bledsoe, a restricted free agent.
- Steve Nash is fine with a reduced role on the Lakers next season, one he expects will be his last in the NBA, notes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. “They can’t rely on me, frankly,” Nash said. “Hopefully, I come back and play 82 games next year and the sky is the limit. But they can’t rely on me if they don’t know what I’m going to bring, so they got to evaluate those guys for next season.”
- There’s a “strong possibility” the Jazz will have a one-to-one affiliation with the D-League’s Idaho Stampede next season, reports Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (on Twitter). The Jazz shared the Bakersfield Jam with four other NBA teams this season.
- The Warriors recalled Ognjen Kuzmic from the D-League today, the team announced. Golden State has been shuttling him back and forth to help the Santa Cruz Warriors in the playoffs, and Kuzmic had 23 points and 18 rebounds in Thursday’s win.
- Santa Cruz beat the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who announced Thursday that the Rockets had assigned Isaiah Canaan and Robert Covington to play in the game (Twitter link). Houston brought them back to the big club today, the Rockets announced via Twitter.
Lakers Rumors: Gasol, D’Antoni, Kobe, Draft
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak spoke to reporters today after the team completed the last of its exit interviews with players, and he reiterated the team’s significant interest in re-signing Pau Gasol, as Mark T. Willard of ESPN LA 710 radio notes via Twitter.
“When you look at the free agents on the board, there’s probably not a player better than Pau Gasol,” he said.
That’s quite a stretch, as Gasol doesn’t appear in our 2014 Free Agent Power Rankings, which go 10 deep. We have plenty more on the Lakers, courtesy of Dave McMenamin and Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, and Mike Trudell of Lakers.com. All links go to their Twitter accounts, unless otherwise noted.
- Mike D’Antoni said he’s optimistic about returning, referencing his contract, which runs through 2015/16 with a team option in the final season. “Yeah. I’ve got one or two years left, depending on how you look at it. And I’m their coach,” D’Antoni said.
- Kupchak praised the job D’Antoni did this past season. “Under the circumstances, I’m not sure anybody could have done a better job than he did,” Kupchak said. The GM said he’s not concerned about what Kobe Bryant thinks of the coach, and says Gasol’s opinion doesn’t have any bearing, either.
- Gasol said yesterday that style of play will weigh into his decision about where to sign, indicating his frustration with D’Antoni’s small-ball attack, but the coach is confident that he and the big man can continue to work together.
- Kupchak thinks Bryant could play beyond 2015/16, the final season of his two-year extension.
- The Lakers reportedly plan to keep Kendall Marshall, whose contract is non-guaranteed for next season, and though it seems he’d probably make more on the open market, he said today he hopes the Lakers keep him. Kupchak said the team is “optimistic” about him going forward, but the GM nonetheless plans to address the point guard position in the offseason.
- Kupchak doesn’t regret staying above the tax threshold this season.
- The GM acknowledged that the Lakers might trade their first-round pick, though by rule they can’t do it until after the draft, since they’ve already traded their 2015 first-rounder.