Jabari Parker Declares For Draft
Jabari Parker has decided to enter this year’s draft, as he writes on SI.com in a piece with Jeff Benedict. There was less clarity about Parker’s decision than with anyone else projected to go in the top half of the lottery, as the possibility of playing with AAU teammate and top 2015 prospect Jahlil Okafor at Duke next season tugged at his heart. Ultimately, Parker, the No. 2 prospect in the rankings of Chad Ford of ESPN.com and the third-best with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, has opted to head to the NBA after his freshman year.
Parker says the decision came down to his conclusion that the NBA gives him the best opportunity for growth on and off the court, as he writes in the piece. He also acknowledges that he considered going on a two-year Mormon mission rather than playing basketball, but he’s chosen not to do that.
The combo forward averaged 19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds in 30.7 minutes per game for Duke, which suffered an upset loss to Mercer in the NCAA tournament. Teams consider Parker and the Kansas duo of Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid as the primary contenders for the No. 1 overall pick, though many prefer the greater upside that Wiggins and Embiid have, as our Charlie Adams noted when he examined Parker’s stock last month.
In any case, today’s news is a relief to teams with significant chances at one of the top two or three picks in the draft, as well as those farther down the lottery order, since the absence of Parker from the draft would further commoditize the other top prospects. Parker notes in his piece that he’s sent official paperwork to the NBA, and Wednesday was the final day that underclassmen could withdraw from the draft and still retain their college eligibility, so there’s finally clarity surrounding the top of the 2014 draft.
Draft Notes: Parker, Saric, Ennis, Gordon
There were dozens of scenarios in play for June’s draft order entering the final night of the regular season, as I outlined Wednesday, but many of them remain unresolved. Random drawings set for Friday will break the four ties shown in our Reverse Standings, while the May 20th draft lottery looms for the top of the order. Until then, here’s the latest on a handful of the top prospects:
- Jabari Parker would go right to the top of the 2015 prospect rankings if he chooses to stay at Duke for his sophomore year, opines Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who answered reader questions in a chat Wednesday.
- Dario Saric’s agent said the matter of whether his client will remain in the draft or withdraw will have much to do with their confidence that he’d be drafted in the top 10 or 14 picks. However, most teams would want to know for sure that he’d play in the NBA next season before committing a top-10 pick to him, as Ford writes in the same chat.
- Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis is going with agent Mike George of Excel Sports Management for his representation, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
- Another projected lottery pick, Arizona forward Aaron Gordon, is set to sign with BDA Sports, reports Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star (Twitter link).
- Purdue sophomore A.J. Hammons will return to school rather than entering this year’s draft, the Boilermakers announced. The center is the 40th-best prospect on the list that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compiles, while Ford puts him 72nd.
Nemanja Dangubic To Enter Draft
Serbian shooting guard Nemanja Dangubic has declared himself eligible for this year’s draft, agent Misko Raznatovic tweets (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress doesn’t include Dangubic in his top 100 prospects, but he lists him as the seventh-best international prospect born in 1993. He’s unranked in Chad Ford’s listings for ESPN.com.
Dangubic is variously listed as either 6’5″ or 6’6″. He’s played for KK Mega Vizura in his home country the past two seasons, averaging 9.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per contest this year. He’s not a long-range shooter, having connected on just 28.2% of his three-point attempts in 2013/14.
He won’t be automatically eligible for the draft until 2015, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dangubic go through a few workouts with NBA teams and withdraw before the June 16th deadline for players from overseas. If he remains eligible and goes undrafted this year, he’ll be a free agent capable of signing with any NBA team, so perhaps he and Raznatovic prefer that flexibility.
Celtics Open To Return Of Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce can envision playing for the Celtics again, and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge can see Pierce returning to Boston, too, if the price and circumstances are right, as Ainge said this morning on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, tweets Ben Rohrbach of WEEI. The 36-year-old Pierce becomes a free agent in the summer, though the Nets would like to re-sign him, too.
Pierce spent all 15 of his NBA seasons with the Celtics before they traded him to the Nets this past summer. He talked teammate Kevin Garnett into waiving his no-trade clause to help facilitate the move, but Pierce was emotional upon his return to Boston to play against the Celtics this season, and said he never wanted to leave. Much of Pierce’s decision this summer might come down to whether Garnett, who has one more year left on his contract, retires at the end of this season.
The Nets have Pierce’s full Bird rights, though it’s almost certain that he’ll have to take a pay cut from his current salary of more than $15.3MM. The Celtics have about $45MM in commitments for next season, though that doesn’t include the rookie salary for Boston’s lottery pick and a $3.8MM player option for Joel Anthony that he’s almost certain to exercise. Anthony and the rookie would give the Celtics nine players and roughly $10MM worth of cap flexibility, plus some form of the mid-level exception, so there’s probably a path back to Boston for Pierce if both sides are motivated enough to get a deal done.
No Chance Adelman Returns As Wolves Coach
There is no chance that Rick Adelman will be back as coach of the Timberwolves next season, one of the team’s decision-makers tells Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune. It’s certainly not a surprise, given that many around the Wolves have believed that the 67-year-old would retire after the season. Fellow Star Tribune scribe Jerry Zgoda said last month that if Adelman didn’t leave, the Wolves would turn down their mutual option to retain him. Still, it seemed at the time that there was at least a remote chance the longtime coach would be back with the team.
Adelman is set to meet today with owner Glen Taylor and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders, with a final decision on the coach’s future to come as soon as this week. Both the team and Adelman have two weeks to exercise the mutual option. The Wolves have reportedly discussed him staying on with the club as a consultant, though it’s unclear if that will happen. Adelman’s wife has suffered from seizures over the past few years, and her health weighed on his mind before he decided to coach this season.
The Wolves haven’t made the playoffs in three seasons under Adelman, even though they made a nine-game improvement this year. He’s otherwise been a successful NBA coach, compiling a 1,042-749 record and winning raves for his offensive innovations.
The Wolves had apparently envisioned a strong pursuit of Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, but he’s unlikely to join the Wolves, and while Taylor and Saunders like Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, too, he’s also a longshot, Hartman writes. Taylor doesn’t want Saunders to coach because he’d prefer his top basketball executive and his coach not to be the same person, Hartman writes. Saunders reportedly would like to return to the bench, and Hartman thinks Saunders can convince his boss to let him do so.
Draft Order Situations To Watch Tonight
There are 15 games on the NBA schedule tonight, and only one of them, the contest between the Hawks and Bucks, won’t have any bearing on the 2014 draft order. With the help of our Reverse Standings, I’ve sketched out what’s at stake in each matchup.
Bulls at Bobcats
Charlotte owes its first-rounder to Chicago, so the outcome of tonight’s game could be doubly meaningful for the Bulls. A Chicago win would ensure the Bulls of the No. 16 pick via Charlotte, but it would drop Chicago’s own pick as low as No. 21. If Charlotte wins, the pick it sends to the Bulls might fall to 17th, while the Bulls’ own pick might go as high as No. 19.
Pacers at Magic
The Magic would seal the third-best lottery position with a loss, but a win might drop them to fourth. The Pacers’ pick belongs to the Suns, who’d be assured of No. 27 with an Indiana loss. Phoenix might wind up with No. 26 if the Pacers win.
Mavericks at Grizzlies
Dallas will have a chance to keep its first-round pick if it loses, but only if the Raptors and Bulls both win and the Mavs win a series of coin flips to determine who picks 19th. Otherwise, the selection goes to the Thunder, who might wind up picking as high as 20th if the Mavs lose and as low as 23rd if the Mavs win. The Grizzlies’ pick might go as high as No. 19 with a loss and as low as No. 23 with a win.
Jazz at Timberwolves
The Jazz can have, at best, the third-best chance of winning the lottery with a loss, or, at worst, the fifth best with a win. The Timberwolves are locked into the 13th position for the lottery.
Rockets at Pelicans
Houston might pick as high as 24th with a loss and as low as 27th with a win. New Orleans, which owes its first-rounder to the Sixers unless it wins one of the top three picks in the lottery, will be locked into the 10th lottery position with a win, but the Pelicans might climb into the ninth lottery position with a loss.
Pistons at Thunder
Detroit, which owes Charlotte its pick if it doesn’t wind up eighth or better, will be locked into the eighth lottery position with a win, but the Pistons might climb to seventh if they lose. The Thunder will pick 29th if they win, but they might pick 27th if they lose.
Lakers at Spurs
The Lakers will have the sixth lottery position if they win, but they might move into fifth with a loss. San Antonio is locked into the final pick of the first round.
Wizards at Celtics
Washington owes its selection to the Suns, who’ll pick as high as 16th with a Wizards loss and as low as 18th with a Wizards win. The Celtics might have a lottery position as high as fourth with a loss and as low as sixth with a win.
Nets at Cavaliers
Brooklyn’s pick goes to the Celtics, who’ll pick 18th if the Nets win, though the pick might go to No. 17 if the Nets lose. The Cavs can lock up the ninth lottery position with a loss, but a win could drop them to 10th.
Sixers at Heat
Miami might pick as high as 24th with a loss and as low as 27th with a win. Philadelphia is locked in to the second-best lottery position.
Raptors at Knicks
The Raptors might pick as high as 19th if they lose and as low as 22nd if they win. The Knicks owe their pick to the Nuggets, who in turn owe the Magic the least favorable of the Knicks’ pick and their own pick. Denver and New York are tied, but one of them will finish in the 11th lottery position and the other will finish in the 12th lottery position regardless of tonight’s outcomes.
Clippers at Trail Blazers
The Clippers will pick 28th if they win, but they might drop to 29th if they lose. The Blazers owe their pick to the Bobcats, who’ll pick 24th if Portland wins, but might pick as low as 26th if Portland loses.
Suns at Kings
The Suns are locked into the 14th lottery position. The Kings will have the seventh lottery position if they lose, but they might drop to eighth if they win.
Warriors at Nuggets
The Warriors owe their pick to the Jazz, who’ll pick 23rd if Golden State wins and might pick as high as 21st if Golden State loses. The Nuggets owe the least favorable of their own pick and the Knicks’ pick to the Magic. Denver and New York are tied, but one of them will finish in the 11th lottery position and the other will finish in the 12th lottery position regardless of tonight’s outcomes.
Atlantic Notes: Woodson, ‘Melo, Lowry, Nets
Mike Woodson has had little contact with Knicks president Phil Jackson, and a source close to the coach believes he knows he’ll be fired, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Woodson’s assistants have been given no assurances of their future, and if Woodson is fired, all but Herb Williams seem certain to lose their jobs, too, Isola adds. With a coaching change seemingly on the horizon, here’s more on the Knicks and their Atlantic Division rivals:
- Carmelo Anthony‘s longtime teammate J.R. Smith isn’t worried about the prospect that ‘Melo will head elsewhere and is confident he’ll re-sign with the Knicks this summer, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com observes.
- The Raptors are so deep into plans to move forward with soon-to-be free agent Kyle Lowry on the roster next season that Lowry would be “derailing the train” if he were to sign elsewhere, writes Cathal Kelly of The Globe and Mail.
- Shaun Livingston, also set to hit free agency, will be a priority for the Nets this summer, and he hasn’t been disappointed with his experience in Brooklyn, as Dave D’Alessandro of NJ.com notes. “I like where I’m at, let’s put it that way,” Livingston said. “This year’s been everything I could have asked for.”
Knicks Mull Signing Ike Diogu
The Knicks are considering a deal with Ike Diogu today that would extend into next season, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). Presumably, such a move would be instead of signing Lamar Odom. The team is still in talks with Odom, according to Begley, but apparently he’s not the only one on the Knicks’ radar as they look to fill their open roster spot.
Diogu was with the Knicks during the preseason, but apparently they never intended to keep him into the regular season before cutting him prior to opening night. Still, he remained on the team’s short list, and a report in late February indicated the team was thinking about re-signing him. The Bobcats also reportedly auditioned the 30-year-old big man about a month ago before signing DJ White instead.
The veteran of parts of six NBA seasons has spent most of 2013/14 with the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League, appearing in 42 games and averaging 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest. He hasn’t appeared in official NBA games since 2011/12, when he made a two-game cameo with the Spurs. Diogu, the ninth overall pick in the 2005 draft, last saw significant NBA action with the Clippers in 2010/11.
Diogu’s salary for next season would almost certainly be non-guaranteed. The motivation to sign a player today is so that the Knicks could use that non-guaranteed salary as trade ballast to help salaries match if they make a swap before July. Still, Odom, a 14-year veteran, would be more valuable in that regard than Diogu, whose minimum salary wouldn’t be quite as high.
Candidates Emerge For Pistons Top Exec Job
1:33pm: Hill would be interested in taking a front office job eventually, but not now, tweets Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News.
11:16am: The Pistons appear to be targeting Grant Hill and Magic assistant GM Scott Perry as candidates to replace Joe Dumars atop the Detroit front office, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein cautions that the Pistons have promised a broad search, so Hill and Perry will likely be two of many in the running for the job.
Perry has spent most of his NBA career with the Pistons, joining the team as a scout during the same offseason in which Dumars became the club’s top basketball executive. He ascended through the ranks to become vice president of basketball operations for the team after a one-year stint as assistant GM to Sam Presti with the Thunder in 2007/08. He was said to have advocated for the Pistons to draft Carmelo Anthony rather than Darko Milicic while serving as Pistons director of player personnel in 2003, USA Today’s Sam Amick notes (Twitter link).
Hill was rumored to be a candidate for the Suns GM job last year shortly after he retired from playing at the end of the 2012/13 season. NBA teams were still interested in the 41-year-old as a player earlier this year, but Hill rejected those entreaties and has spent the season as a broadcaster. The Pistons drafted him third overall in 1994, and he played his first six NBA seasons with the team.
Amick also names Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk and former Raptors and Suns GM Bryan Colangelo as possible candidates (Twitter link).
Los Angeles Rumors: Rivers, Bazemore, Nash
Los Angeles has never seen an NBA season like this one. The Clippers won their franchise-record 57th game on Tuesday, while the Lakers are in the mix for the fifth-worst record in the league. Here’s the latest on a pair of franchises that have switched places in recent years:
- The Clippers will end up only a game or two better than last season, but the change in atmosphere that coach and senior VP of basketball operations Doc Rivers brought about suggests they’re primed for a greater step forward in the postseason, opines Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. “It’s one thing when your general manager is trying to trade you,” Matt Barnes told Markazi. “It’s another when your coach is the general manager and trying to trade you.”
- Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News believes Jodie Meeks, Jordan Farmar, Ryan Kelly and Kendall Marshall are those most likely to return among the Lakers without guaranteed contracts for next season (Twitter link). Medina looks at what’s ahead for several Lakers in a full piece, suggesting the team is likely to extend a qualifying offer to Kent Bazemore to make him a restricted free agent this summer.
- Steve Nash tells Mike Trudell of NBA.com that he remains unsure of whether he’ll be able to return to the court next season, even as he holds out hope of making a positive contribution in the Lakers lineup.