Fallout From Spurs’ Release Of Stephen Jackson
Usually, roster moves this time of year involve tweaks to the end of the bench, so San Antonio's decision to waive Stephen Jackson, who averaged close to 20 minutes per game this season, comes as a surprise. We're beginning to hear some of the reasons why the team let Jackson go, as well as some reaction from the locker room.
- The timing of the move was strategic, according to USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. Jackson and the team had discussed a release prior to the trade deadline, but the Spurs preferred to wait until after the March 1st deadline for him to have been eligible to play for another team in the postseason.
- Jackson has made just one appearance of at least 20 minutes in the last month, so his lack of minutes made it easier for the team to make the move. Still, it was a risk, since Jackson was popular with his Spurs teammates, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links).
- Danny Green, one of Jackson's now-former teammates, expressed shock as he explained his feeling about the move. Dan McCarney of the San Antonio News-Express has the details in three Twitter links.
- Gregg Popovich addressed the move with reporters this evening, and fellow Express-News scribe Jeff McDonald shares some of his remarks. "Tough decision, because on a personal basis, I’ve known him a long time and I enjoy him very much," Popovich said of Jackson. "But you’ve got to make decisions that are tough sometimes. We thought this was best for our group." (Twitter links)
- Popovich also called the move "a basketball decision and a family decision." Jackson took the news in a "classy" manner, Popovich added, though the coach wouldn't answer whether he thought Jackson had been disgruntled (Twitter links).
- The move caught Jackson off-guard, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Spurs felt Jackson had begun to have a negative influence on the team's younger players, and the team's brass didn't feel like Jackson's play of late was justifying the disruption.
- The Spurs front office knew what it was getting with Jackson and had wanted to add "edge" to the locker room when the team acquired him last season, tweets Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com.
Wolves Owner On Adelman, Kahn, Saunders, Sale
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor identifies the uncertainty surrouding the future of coach Rick Adelman as his top offseason concern, but his comments to Ray Richardson of St. Paul Pioneer Press seemed to dispel this week's report that Adelman is likely to retire. Taylor plans on Adelman coming back, and doesn't have a contingency in place if Adelman steps down. The owner said he isn't sure if assistant Terry Porter, who filled for Adelman during his absence, would be the choice. "If Rick were to leave, I would want to think about all options we have available to us. My thought process right now would be to not look at just one person," Taylor said.
Richardson's Q&A with Taylor is worth a read in its entirety, but we'll hit the highlights here:
On the future of GM David Kahn:
I haven't come to the time to make a decision on that. Let's finish the season first. I want to find out about my coach first. I don't have a time frame to address David's situation. He and I have been talking about the draft and other things as we go into the offseason. At some point, I know I need to make a decision.
On his relationship with Flip Saunders:
First of all, Flip was just trying to help a friend who had an outside group, but that group never submitted a bid. I have a coach and I have a GM. Me and Flip have not talked about those things. What we talk about mostly is his work at ESPN and what's going on in the league. I have maintained a friendship with Flip. We kept in touch when he was at Washington and Detroit.
On a potential sale of the team:
I haven't come up with anybody who meets all the needs. One of my problems is that I haven't found anybody who lives in Minnesota or has a Minnesota background. The interest has come from people outside the state. I'm interested in a local person buying the team on a limited partner basis. Right now, I don't have a strong feeling that I want to get rid of the team. I still enjoy it. I was thinking of a long run to try to find a successor, but I might keep things the way they are.
On Nikola Pekovic's restricted free agency this summer:
I want him to stay, and he has told me he wants to stay. It's to our advantage to try and work something out with him. We know and he knows he's able to test the market. When he tells me he wants to stay, I take him for his word, but agents play a big role in all of this.
On the notion that the team's signing of Brandon Roy was a mistake:
It's fair criticism … for me and David. We did take a risk, and it was proven to be a wrong risk. There were other players out there with some experience who we could have gotten, who would have helped us at a position (shooting guard) where we needed help. We're out of the money this year ($5.1MM), but based on the contract we have, we don't have to pay him next year if he doesn't play.
Knicks Release Kurt Thomas
1:25pm: The Knicks have officially waived Thomas, according to the team's PR Twitter account.
FRIDAY, 11:40am: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has reported that the Knicks will waive Thomas to clear a spot to sign Solomon Jones. While Wojnarowski doesn't explicitly mention Singleton in his report, the implication seems to be that the Knicks' agreemeent with Singleton fell through, leading them to turn to Jones instead.
If the Knicks were to waive another player in addition to Thomas, they could clear room for both Singleton and Jones. It's possible that there were complications with Singleton's letter of clearance from China, though that's just my speculation.
WEDNESDAY, 6:38pm: The Knicks will waive Thomas, Isola tweets. Thomas, 40, will have surgery on his foot next week. Thomas has been the league's oldest player this season, a distinction that will fall to Grant Hill of the Clippers, who is one day younger.
5:52pm: The Knicks will sign free agent power forward James Singleton, a source confirms to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). Frank Isola of the New York Daily News first tweeted the news that a deal was close. Kurt Thomas, in the last season of a two-year contract for the minimum salary, will likely be waived to create room on the roster, according to Isola.
Singleton signed in November with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese league after turning down a minimum-salary offer last summer from the Wizards, with whom he played 12 games last season. The 6'8", 31-year-old Singleton averaged 15.2 points and 11.1 rebounds as a part-time starter in 21 games for Xinjiang this season, down slightly from the 17.8 PPG and 11.9 RPG he produced while playing in China during 2011/12. He's seen much more limited playing time with the Clippers, Mavs and Wizards in parts of five NBA seasons, notching 8.2 PPG and 6.8 RPG with Washington last year.
Begley reported earlier today that the Knicks were looking at free agent big men in the wake of Kenyon Martin's injury last night. The Knicks have been especially hard hit with ailments to their front line, Thomas included. He suffered a stress fracture in his right foot last month, and played with the injury in a game against the Jazz before shutting it down with hopes of returning for the playoffs. That game, Thomas' last appearance, was the first win in New York's current 13-game winning streak, Isola points out (Twitter link).
Odds & Ends: Millsap, Martin, Mejri, Blazers
The Bulls might not have Derrick Rose, but they proved again Thursday that they can beat anybody, giving the Knicks their first loss after 13 wins in a row. This comes just a few weeks after Chicago stopped the Heat's epic 27-game streak, and it seems like the Bulls will be a tough out no matter who they draw in the playoffs. There's plenty of intrigue involving off-court matters as well, and here's the latest:
- Friday's matchup with the Timberwolves could be Paul Millsap's last home game as a member of the Jazz, and the soon-t0-be free agent reflected on his time in Utah, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News details. "I owe a lot to this community," Millsap said. "I owe a lot to this organization."
- Cartier Martin probably won't have much leverage when it comes to choosing a team as a free agent this summer, but he expressed a desire to re-sign with the Wizards, notes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com.
- HoopsHype's Jorge Sierra looks at Tunisian center Salah Mejri, who continues to draw interest from NBA teams after coming close to signing last year. Still, agent Bouna Ndiaye tells Sierra that he and Mejri will look to European clubs first before considering the NBA.
- The Oregonian's Joe Freeman reviews the first year of the Trail Blazers' exclusive partnership with the D-League's Idaho Stampede. Portland made a half-dozen assignments with four different players, and planned to make even more use of their affiliate.
- Greg Esposito of Suns.com chronicles the many travels of Suns point guard Diante Garrett, who spent Thursday night on his latest trip to the D-League, putting up a team-high 23 points for the Bakersfield Jam in a playoff loss to the Austin Toros.
- Cavs power forward Kevin Jones is no stranger to the D-League either, having been assigned to the Canton Charge six times this season, but he's begun to see consistent time for the big club, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal points out.
Decline Of College Seniors In Draft Continues
The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament got under way yesterday, but what once was a key pre-draft showcase now seems the exclusive territory of second-round hopefuls and future D-Leaguers. The tournament is for the top college seniors, but seniors have become decreasingly relevant in the draft. Even the most highly regarded seniors are now staying away from Portsmouth, yet the more significant development is the lack of highly regarded seniors at all.
The No. 1 senior on Jonathan Givony's DraftExpress board is Duke's Mason Plumlee, whom Givony ranks 13th overall. C.J. McCollum of Lehigh is the top senior for Chad Ford of ESPN.com, and he likewise checks in at No. 13 on Ford's overall list.
In 2006, the first year of the NBA's current age limit eliminating high schoolers from the draft, the Hawks took Duke senior Shelden Williams fifth overall. He was the first of three consecutive college seniors taken in that draft, and a total of eight went in the first round. Since then, only one senior has been drafted in the top 10: Jimmer Fredette, who went 10th overall to the Kings in 2011.
The past 15 drafts show a steady decline in the number of seniors drafted in the first round each year, and that's also reflected in the draft position of the highest senior selected. Nearly half of the first-round picks from 1998 to 2000 were seniors, as were two of the three No. 1 overall selections in that span. Since then, no senior has gone higher than Williams at No. 5 in 2006. Fredette was the only senior to become a lottery pick in the past three seasons.
The "one-and-done" eligibility rule, which sees many top-ranked prospects spend one year in college before entering the draft, is an easy target for explaining why fewer college seniors are picked, but the number of first-round seniors was dwindling even before 2006. Underclassmen have, for years, taken advantage of the opportunity to jump to the NBA as soon as they're deemed ready by scouts and executives, who in turn continue to draft them. Players and teams alike perpetuate the phenomenon.
Here's a look at the number of seniors taken in each draft since 1998, with the highest senior picked in parentheses:
- 2012: 4 (Tyler Zeller, 17th)
- 2011: 7 (Jimmer Fredette, 10th)
- 2010: 5 (Trevor Booker, 23rd)
- 2009: 6 (Terrence Williams, 11th)
- 2008: 5 (Jason Thompson, 12th)
- 2007: 6 (Acie Law, 11th)
- 2006: 8 (Shelden Williams, 5th)
- 2005: 9 (Channing Frye, 8th)
- 2004: 4 (Rafael Araujo, 8th)
- 2003: 9 (Kirk Hinrich, 7th)
- 2002: 7 (Melvin Ely, 12th)
- 2001: 5 (Shane Battier, 6th)
- 2000: 11 (Kenyon Martin, 1st)
- 1999: 12 (Wally Szczerbiak, 6th)
- 1998: 13 (Michael Olowokandi, 1st)
Draft Rumors: Dobos, McCollum, Muscala
Hungarian center Laszlo Dobos is entering the draft, agent Giorgio Dimitropoulos tweets. The 19-year-old is 7'2" with a 7'8" wingspan, but he's been largely off the radar for draftniks — neither DraftExpress nor ESPN.com has ranked or profiled him. Unlike college underclassmen, who can't return to school if they don't withdraw by Tuesday, Dobos can leave the draft pool any time from now through June 17th and still return to CAI Zaragoza, his Spanish league team. Here's more on the draft front:
- A pair of college seniors have signed with the Excel Sports Management agency, reports Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal. C.J. McCollum will have Sam Goldfeder as his representative, while Mike Muscala's agent will be Sean Kennedy (Twitter links).
- An NBA assistant GM shared his list of the top 30 prospects with Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Sulia link). Not surprisingly, Nerlens Noel, Ben McLemore and Marcus Smart lead off, though the unnamed executive cautioned that it's "extremely early," and much could change between now and the draft.
- Chris Mannix of SI.com implores Louisville junior guard Russ Smith to leave the draft field by Tuesday's deadline. Most teams peg him as a second-rounder, while others have him going undrafted, Mannix says. Mark Deeks of ShamSports thinks Smith's should stay in the draft, arguing that his stock isn't getting any higher (Twitter links).
- The ideal draft scenario would allow the Timberwolves to draft Victor Oladipo, according to Jim Rand of the Star Tribune.
Kings Updates: Maloofs, Hansen, New Investors
It's difficult to get a sense of who the frontrunner is in the tug of war over the Kings between Sacramento and Seattle. Yesterday's updates seemed to indicate that momentum was in Seattle's corner, but there's conflicting news today, as we detail:
- Sacramento's bidders will fully match Seattle's $341MM price for the Maloofs' 65% stake in the team, USA Today's Sam Amick hears. The bidders initially tried to come in $30MM short, based on the non-refundable payment Seattle investors made as part of their agreement to buy the team, but when the league told them that strategy wouldn't work, Sacramento's group agreed to add the $30MM.
- The Maloofs are concerned that Chris Hansen, the primary investor in Seattle's bid, may sue them if their purchase agreement falls through and Hansen winds up losing money in the ordeal, Amick adds in the same piece, which points to David Stern's influence behind Sacramento's effort.
Earlier updates:
- A group of 27 millionaires will join Sacramento's bid, but they're not going to be major investors in the effort, reports Nick Monacelli of News10 in Sacramento (Twitterlinks).
- The Sacramento bidders, as a whole, are more focused on the NBA's protocol for the process than the Maloofs' deadline, though they're not ignoring it, Monacelli tweets.
- The league committee weighing the competing bids for the Kings will recommend keeping the team in Sacramento as long as that city's investors match "the essential elements" of Seattle's offer, according to Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (Sulia link). Vivek Ranadive, who took over last month as the principal financial backer of the Sacramento effort, has been a "game changer," Bucher writes.
- Ranadive's impressiveness is second only to the one Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson has made on owners, many of whom want Johnson to work in the league office, as Bucher also notes.
- Speaking to reporters last night in Sacramento, Johnson reiterated multiple times that money isn't expected to be a problem when it comes to Sacramento's offer for the Kings (video link via News10).
- The NBA has asked the Sacramento group to cover the $30MM non-refundable payment that Seattle investors made as part of their deal to buy the controlling interest in the Kings from the Maloof family, reports Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Daily. Ranadive and company are expected to submit their final offer to the NBA tomorrow, presumably ahead of the Maloofs' deadline, and announce additional investors as well, according to Kaplan.
- A pair of attorneys threatening to sue the city of Sacramento over its contribution to a new arena say the city has understated the amount of money it's putting into the project, report Ryan Lillis and Dale Kasler of The Sacramento Bee.
Casspi Would Be ‘Really Happy’ To Return To Cavs
It seems unlikely Omri Casspi will be back with the Cavaliers next season, given that we've heard he's no longer in the team's plans and could be headed to to play in Israel. There were conflicting reports early this season about whether he had requested a trade, but Casspi tells Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer that he wouldn't mind a return to Cleveland as a free agent this summer.
"One thing I learned is to not think about the future too much,'' Casspi said. "Take it one day at a time, one game at a time, play hard when you get the opportunity on both ends of the floor. That's what I'm trying to do. Whatever happens happens. I'll be really happy to be back. If not I'll find my way through the league. I'm happy that there's a lot of teams interested. Everything happens for a reason.''
Casspi would become a restricted free agent in the offseason if the Cavs extend a $3.3MM qualifying offer to him, but that probably won't happen, Boyer writes. If it doesn't, Casspi would become an unrestricted free agent. The former first-round draft pick's assertion that "there's a lot of teams interested" seems to conflict with what transpired around the buyout deadline, when the Rockets appeared to be the only team with legitimate interest. Of course, teams will have more flexibility in the summer, so it's possible more clubs could come after Casspi. The Israeli native may also have been referring to interest from overseas teams.
Casspi has seen his playing time and most of his other numbers decline in each season following his rookie campaign. That year, he averaged 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 25.1 minutes per game for the Kings, who drafted him 23rd overall in 2009. He's down to 3.8 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 10.8 MPG this season.
Bulls Won’t Sign Nikola Mirotic Until 2014
There's "no possibility" the Bulls will sign 2011 first-round draft pick Nikola Mirotic this summer, GM Gar Forman said today on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 radio. ESPNChicago.com rounds up Forman's comments about Mirotic, who's currently playing in Spain for Real Madrid. Forman said the Bulls will wait until the summer of 2014 because the rookie-scale amount the team would be limited to offering this summer wouldn't match what he's making overseas.
Mirotic was the 23rd overall pick in 2011, so if he signed this summer, he could get a first-year salary of up to 120% of the $1,038,900 rookie-scale amount for this year's 23rd pick. That would come to $1,246,680. But, if the Bulls wait until next summer, three years after they drafted him, the collective barganing agreement would allow them to ignore the rookie-scale amounts and use whatever cap space or exceptions they have at their disposal.
The Bulls see the 6'10" Mirotic as a power forward in the NBA, and Forman called the 22-year-old's ceiling "incredible." Mirotic has won the Euroleague's Rising Star Award two times, and Forman said he's about to win the honor again.
"He shoots it from 3, can handle it, good mobility," Forman said. "And he's a tough, tough kid."
The Grizzlies faced off against Real Madrid in the preseason, and after the game, Zach Randolph said Mirotic reminded him of Dirk Nowitzki and, to a lesser degree, Danilo Gallinari.
Hollins Confident His Fate Isn’t Tied To Playoffs
Lionel Hollins doesn't believe a "growing perception" that the Grizzlies may be waiting to see if the team advances past the first round of the playoffs before deciding whether to bring him back, writes Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal. Hollins and the team haven't discussed an extension to his deal, which is up at the end of the season. Still, a source recently told Marc Stein of ESPN.com that Hollins is "very likely" to receive a new contract after the playoffs even if the team bows out in the first round.
"There are a lot of teams that have successful seasons that don’t win in the first round," the coach said. "Look at San Antonio against us a couple of years ago. They won 61 games. That’s a successful season. But what happens in the playoffs is a different story. They caught a team on the rise and playing well. It happens."
Players, including Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Tony Allen, spoke in support of Hollins, as Tillery details. There have been rumors of a rift between Hollins and Zach Randolph, but both said last month that such speculation wasn't true.
Hollins will likely have offers from other teams if he hits the offseason without a deal, but he's nonetheless made it clear he wants to remain in Memphis, according to Tillery. Hollins criticized the team's Rudy Gay trade earlier this season, but later said it was an emotional reaction, and that he's on board with the team's revamped management, which places a greater emphasis on analytics.