Suns Name Earl Watson Interim Coach
5:40pm: The move is official, the team announced.
5:04pm: The Suns have decided to name assistant coach Earl Watson as interim head coach, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Watson beat out other reported candidates Corey Gaines and Nate Bjorkgren for the temporary position that came open when the team fired Jeff Hornacek on Monday.
Watson, 36, is not far removed from his playing career. He was in the league as recently as the 2013/14 season, when he appeared in 24 games with the Trail Blazers. He will make his head coaching debut on Tuesday against the Raptors.
Watson’s first coaching job was last season, when he was hired by the Spurs’ D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, as an assistant. He joined Hornacek’s staff prior to this season. Watson appeared in 878 games during his 13-year playing career with six different franchises, averaging 6.4 points and 4.4 assists.
The Suns added a veteran coach to help out Watson by hiring four-time NBA head coach Bob Hill as an assistant, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets.
Watson will hire agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group as his agent, league sources informed Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Twitter link). Paul also represents several prominent players, including LeBron James and John Wall, as well as Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe.
(Dana Gauruder contributed to this report.)
Western Notes: Pierce, Martin, Bass, Batum
The Clippers signed Paul Pierce to a three-year deal in the offseason, but the 38-year-old has shown the ravages of age this season, and coach/executive Doc Rivers admits the team’s maintenance plan for him isn’t foolproof, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register examines. Pierce hasn’t ruled out retirement after the season.
“It has to be [hard for him],” Rivers said. “You could see he didn’t have great rhythm tonight and he didn’t practice and he takes the days off. Again, it’s an imperfect science. I think at the end of the year it will be great for him because now the rhythm will start and he’ll start playing, but I really don’t know. I’m just trying to do the best with him so we can preserve him.”
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Some teams with interest in trading with the Timberwolves for Kevin Martin would prefer that he picks up his player option worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, but a larger and more seriously intrigued bunch of teams wants him to turn down the option, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders hears. The same is true among suitors for Lakers power forward Brandon Bass, who has a $3.135MM player option, Kyler adds.
- Soon-to-be free agent Nicolas Batum said after Friday’s game that he “loved” playing for the Trail Blazers, but Portland’s victory over the Hornets, in which Batum struggled, was in large measure about the Blazers moving past Batum and the other players the team didn’t bring back from last season, as The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman details. The Charlotte swingman was the last of the four former Blazers starters to play a game with his new team in Portland.
- The Rockets have recalled Donatas Motiejunas and K.J. McDaniels from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). Motiejunas, set for restricted free agency at season’s end, gave his consent to the D-League trip as a rehab assignment, and he said he’ll again join Houston’s affiliate later in the week, notes Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (on Twitter). Motiejunas has three previous years of experience, so the Rockets need his permission as well as the union’s to send him to the D-League.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Karasev, Karnisovas, Rosas
Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck doubts the team will make a major move at the trade deadline, as he said in a recent radio appearance on the “Felger and Mazz” show on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston (video link). Boston is clinging fast to draft assets that include two likely first-round picks for this June in addition to its own.
“I think we’ll do something. Will it be transformative? I don’t know,” Grousbeck said. “There are only a few players we’d be willing to make a transformative move for because the picks could be good. I think the odds are pretty slim you do a transformative trade.”
See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Sergey Karasev is supportive of David Blatt‘s reported candidacy for the Nets coaching vacancy, as he said on the “Sports interest” show on Russia’s Match TV, NetsDaily notes. Karasev, who played for Blatt on the Russian national team, also indicated a desire to stay in Brooklyn, according to NetsDaily. The team declined its $2,463,754 option on his rookie scale contract for next season and can’t re-sign him to a deal with a starting salary greater than that amount.
- NetsDaily, in a pair of pieces, examines reported Nets GM candidates Arturas Karnisovas and Gersson Rosas. Both shared time in the Rockets front office and stand as relatively unknown quantities compared to former NBA GMs Bryan Colangelo and Danny Ferry, who are also reportedly up for the job.
- Questions surround just how the Sixers view the progress of Joel Embiid‘s recovery and their internal projections for Dario Saric, but the central issue at play as the trade deadline approaches is what the team wants to do with Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, as Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer examines.
Grizzlies Sign Ryan Hollins To Second 10-Day Pact
The Grizzlies have signed Ryan Hollins to a second 10-day contract, the team announced via press release. His first 10-day deal expired at the end of Saturday. The latest arrangement covers all five of the games remaining on the Memphis schedule prior to the All-Star break and the February 18th trade deadline. The Grizzlies will play the Pelicans, Knicks, Mavericks, Trail Blazers and Nets during the next 10 days.
Hollins, a 10th-year veteran, begins his fifth NBA contract this season and his fourth with the Grizzlies. He was a preseason signee but lost a battle for an opening night roster spot despite a strong performance in exhibitions. Memphis re-signed him in late December after he spent about a month with the Wizards, but the Grizzlies once more waived him early last month, only to bring him back two weeks later on the first of his 10-day contracts. He’s averaged 3.1 points and 2.6 rebounds in 10.6 minutes per game across nine appearances for the Grizzlies this season.
Memphis has 14 other players on contracts that carry through at least the rest of the season. That the sort of deal the Grizzlies would have to give Hollins if they sign him again once his latest 10-day pact runs to term.
Heat Spoke With Agent For John Lucas III
The Heat spoke with the agent for point guard John Lucas III during a recent stretch when two of their existing point guards were injured, reports Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. It’s nonetheless unclear if Miami still has interest in the client of Bernie Lee after today’s news that Tyler Johnson is likely to miss at least two months. Johnson and fellow Heat point guards Goran Dragic and Beno Udrih all missed games in January for the Heat, who came close to having enough players who were expected to miss enough time to qualify for a 16th roster spot via hardship. The team doesn’t currently meet the hardship criteria, so signing Lucas or any other player would require the Heat, who have a full 15-man roster, to unload someone else.
That would be a difficult proposition, since all salaries are guaranteed at this point in the season and the Heat face repeat-offender tax penalties if they can’t decrease their payroll by about $5.5MM by the final day of the regular season. Rookie shooting guard Josh Richardson has the cheapest salary on the Heat, at the rookie minimum of $525,093, but he’s liable to see more playing time with Johnson out.
Lucas, 33, was with the Heat for the preseason, and coach Erik Spoelstra said it was a tough decision to release him before opening night, even though his contract was non-guaranteed. Sixers coach Brett Brown said in December that he spoke with the eight-year veteran, and last month Lucas joined the D-League affiliate of the Pacers. He’s averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 assists and 2.2 turnovers in 37.4 minutes per game across five D-League appearances so far.
The Heat recently made a due diligence check-in with free agent combo guard Tony Wroten, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported. They did the same with combo forward Dorell Wright, Jackson added.
Suns Eye Reluctant Steve Nash For Coaching Job
The Suns have strong interest in Steve Nash to fill their coaching vacancy but the two-time MVP doesn’t feel ready to become a full-time coach, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports earlier today wrote that Nash should be expected to emerge as a candidate for the position created when the team fired Jeff Hornacek overnight, citing owner Robert Sarver’s fondness for the retired point guard. Sarver and Nash recently bought controlling interest in the Spanish soccer club Real Mallorca, Mannix notes. Still, Nash never wanted to be a head coach, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Nash is serving as a part-time player development consultant for the Warriors this season and is also GM of Team Canada.
Many believe Sarver would do whatever it takes to bring Nash back to the Suns organization, Mannix writes, suggesting that the team might consider clearing a front office position for him. The feeling around the Suns is that GM Ryan McDonough is safe for the time being, but ultimately the team is expected to review its operation from top to bottom, team sources told Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
Nash, who turns 42 on Sunday, is a year removed from having retired as a player, though the Mavericks reportedly clung to hopes as recently as June that he would return to play this season. A nerve ailment kept him from appearing in a regular season game last season.
2016 Free Agent Power Rankings
The trade deadline has the spotlight in February, but fueling much of the movement will be the anticipation of the summer ahead, when a booming salary cap figures to make it a lucrative time to be a free agent. We’re ranking those at the front of the line to snag that cash, just as we’ve done from time to time since last summer’s free agent market died down. Here’s where the top 2016 free agents stand as the NBA enters a pivotal month:
- Kevin Durant — No one’s better than the New York media at eliciting a response from prospective free agents who’ve been otherwise reluctant to talk. Durant’s respect for the charm of Madison Square Garden aside, he’s given no major hints that he’s ready to leave Oklahoma City. Of course, the Thunder still have half a season and two Western Conference juggernauts to overcome, and nothing’s settled yet. Last time: No. 1.
- LeBron James (player option) — He might not have his top choice as coach, but the Cavs have given LeBron someone he apparently likes better than David Blatt, and the results, save for a hiccup against the Bulls in Tyronn Lue‘s first outing, have been encouraging so far. Last time: No. 2.
- Andre Drummond (restricted) — No, he can’t shoot free throws, but Drummond does so much to offset that. The league’s leading rebounder is also tops in defensive win shares, according to Basketball Reference. It’s enough to vault him into the No. 3 spot here, though it’s a virtual certainty he’ll remain with the Pistons. Last time: No. 4.
- Al Horford — Recent reports that the Hawks aren’t entirely certain he’ll re-sign and that the Celtics have asked the Hawks about him cast doubt on the future whereabouts of the once-again Wasserman Media Group client, but there’s no doubting his game. Horford’s sudden addition of the 3-point shot to his arsenal this season adds intrigue, even if he’s only hitting them at a 33.1% clip. Last time: No. 5.
- Mike Conley — It was a tough January for the usually durable 28-year-old point guard who missed six games with a sore left Achilles tendon and averaged just 11.6 points in the eight that he played. He’ll no doubt return to more familiar form, but for now, he goes down a couple of pegs. Last time: No. 3.
- Dwight Howard (player option) — The 30-year-old is exhibiting some self-awareness this season, one in which he’s concentrated his shot attempts to within 3 feet of the basket like never before, as Basketball-Reference shows. Consequently, he’s nearly at a career high in field goal percentage, and his rebounding numbers are better after a regression in his injury-shortened campaign last season. Last time: No. 6.
- DeMar DeRozan (player option) — Even the 26-year-old’s maligned 3-point shooting is up to a nearly-decent 31.8% this season, a well-timed career year for the Aaron Goodwin client. Max offers reportedly await, but DeRozan has repeatedly expressed his affection for Toronto and the Raptors, saying recently he’d like to spend his entire career with the organization. Last time: No. 8.
- Bradley Beal (restricted) — Beal’s admitted that he’ll probably have to deal with a minutes limit for the rest of his career, his defense has slipped, and an opposing GM said that he’s “scared” of the shooting guard because of his track record of injuries. Red flags abound, but it’s remarkably tough to see Washington turning its back on a 22-year-old averaging 18.1 points and shooting 39.3% from 3-point land. Last time: No. 7.
- Harrison Barnes (restricted) — He lacks eye-popping stats in part because of all the talent around him, but the numbers that matter — a 44-4 record and his 24th birthday this May — point to a significant payday ahead for the new Jeff Schwartz client. Last time: No. 10.
- Hassan Whiteside — The league’s leader in blocks per game did himself no favors when he said recently that his upcoming free agency weighs into his decision-making about whether to play with injury. Questions about his approach to the game abound, but he’s still talented enough and, turning only 27 in June, young enough to loom as a tantalizing figure on the market. Last time: No. 9.
We don’t always carry the rankings past the top 10, but we’ll do our next 10 here. Batum, who’s likely in line for the max, was a particularly difficult omission from the main group:
11. Nicolas Batum
12. Rajon Rondo
13. Dwyane Wade
14. Pau Gasol (player option)
15. Chandler Parsons (player option)
16. Ryan Anderson
17. Kent Bazemore
18. Evan Fournier (restricted)
19. Eric Gordon
20. Deron Williams (player option)
See all the previous editions of our rankings here. See the full list of 2016 free agents here.
Think one of these soon-to-be free agents should be higher on the list? Lower? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Southeast Notes: Frye, Skiles, Pargo, Whiteside
The Magic have fielded multiple inquiries on Channing Frye, league sources tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Interest in the 32-year-old big man is high, an executive from a rival team told Deveney, adding that it looks like Orlando is moving on from him. The 11th-year veteran, who’s making $8.193MM this season, is averaging 17.5 minutes per game, his fewest since the 2008/09 season, save for 2012/13, which he missed entirely due to a heart condition. Coach Scott Skiles recently removed him from the starting lineup, and Frye didn’t appear in Sunday’s win over the Celtics. Sources told Zach Lowe of ESPN.com before the season that Frye, whose contract runs through 2017/18, was available for little in return, but Magic officials denied that. See more on the Magic and other teams from the Southeast Division:
- Skiles admitted that he wasn’t effectively conveying his messages to Magic players as they struggled through 12 losses in 13 games before Sunday’s win, observes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. “This is my responsibility,” Skiles said before the game Sunday. “I’ve got to get these guys to understand what it takes to consistently win in the NBA, and I haven’t gotten that done in the last five weeks. For whatever reason, it hasn’t happened. So I’ve got to find a way to get that done.”
- Former Hornets point guard Jannero Pargo has signed to play in the D-League, reports Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link). Pargo has been out of the NBA since Charlotte released him nearly a year ago, midway through his 12th season in the league, while he dealt with a back injury. The 36-year-old has never played in the D-League before, so he’ll go through D-League waivers before landing with a team.
- The success of the Heat and backup big man Amar’e Stoudemire during the recent absence of Hassan Whiteside raises further questions about whether the soon-to-be free agent Whiteside is a truly a fit for Miami, argues Dave Hyde of the Sun Sentinel.
Jazz Mull Trade For Jeff Teague
The Jazz are considering a run at trading for Jeff Teague, multiple league sources told Andy Larsen of KSL.com, who cautions that no formal contact has taken place between Utah and the Hawks. The Jazz are open to a deal if the right opportunity arises but aren’t actively seeking a trade, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune, who adds that they’re enamored with the injured Dante Exum and remain 100% committed to him (Twitter link). Nonetheless, Utah has been “poking around” the market for a point guard, several league sources told Zach Lowe of ESPN.com for a report last week.
Atlanta has reportedly been talking with other teams about Teague, including apparent preliminary discussions with the Knicks, and the Celtics have reportedly contacted the Hawks to gauge the availability of Teague and Al Horford. The Hawks also reportedly solicited offers for Dennis Schröder but have focused more prominently on Teague of late, in spite of Lowe’s report that the team has “major trust issues” with the 22-year-old Schröder.
Larsen suggests that an acquisition of Teague wouldn’t run counter to the team’s commitment to Exum, since Exum is out for this season, and because next season is the last on Teague’s contract, which pays him $8MM a year. Exum’s rookie scale deal runs through 2017/18.
The KSL scribe speculates that the Hawks would want wing players in return for Teague, whose trade candidacy I examined last week. The Jazz have been going with three wing players in lieu of a point guard for significant stretches this season, with Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood and Alec Burks the most prominent among them. Joe Ingles and Chris Johnson have also been part of the rotation.
Suns Fire Jeff Hornacek
8:12am: The firing is official, the team announced, adding that it plans to name an interim coach by Tuesday (Twitter link).
7:46am: Phoenix will interview Gaines, Watson and Bjorkgren for the interim position, reports Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
7:29am: The Suns have fired coach Jeff Hornacek, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. The team has yet to publicly acknowledge the move, but GM Ryan McDonough has already let Hornacek know his fate, Wojnarowski writes. Phoenix has lost 19 of its last 21 games and 14 in a row on the road, though injuries have played a role, with the team’s top three scorers absent for Sunday’s loss at Dallas, as Wojnarowski points out. His interim replacement is expected to be either one of two Suns assistants: Corey Gaines or Earl Watson, Wojnarowski also reports.
The move is no shock, as Hornacek’s job was reportedly under immediate threat in late December, when the team instead fired assistants Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting and shifted fellow assistants Watson and Nate Bjorkgren to more prominent roles. The future of the 52-year-old Hornacek was up in the air even as the season began, with a contractual decision on his team option for 2016/17 looming. Little has gone right since, as the Suns have compiled a 14-35 record in spite of realistic preseason hopes that they would make the playoffs for the first time since losing the Western Conference Finals in 2010. Phoenix stands nine games out of the final postseason spot in the West.
An offseason trade demand from Markieff Morris has seemingly hung over the team all season, even though he backtracked at the start of training camp. Trade rumors continue, and it’s reportedly a matter of when, not if, the Suns will trade the power forward who elicited a two-game suspension in December after he threw a towel in Hornacek’s direction during a December game.
Hornacek’s tenure began with much promise in 2013/14, his first season as an NBA head coach, when he finished second in Coach of the Year voting and the Suns went 48-34, narrowly missing the playoffs in a brutally competitive conference. The addition of Isaiah Thomas the following offseason backfired, and the Suns regressed to a 39-43 record last season, trading Thomas and Goran Dragic at the deadline. The Suns narrowly missed out on free agent prize LaMarcus Aldridge this past summer, instead setting off a negative chain reaction when they traded Marcus Morris and upset Markieff, his twin.
The Suns were 101-112 overall under Hornacek. Neither Gaines, Watson nor Bjorkgren has held an NBA head coaching job before. Gaines, 50, played parts of five seasons in the NBA and served as head coach and general manager of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. He’s been with the Suns as a player development coach since 2010/11. Watson, 36, ended a 13-year playing career after the 2013/14 season, spending last season an assistant coach with the Spurs D-League affiliate before joining the Suns staff this past summer. Bjorkgren didn’t play in the NBA but has been the head coach for three different D-League teams, including the Suns affiliate. He, like Watson, became a Suns assistant just this past summer.
Is firing Hornacek the right move for the Suns, or did he deserve more of a chance? Leave a comment to tell us.