Central Notes: Pistons, Adams, Cavaliers, Ham
Per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, the Pistons should disregard any positional need with the No. 15 overall selection in this year’s draft and simply pick the player whom the team feels with have the biggest impact during his rookie contract.
Langlois provides examples of teams who have had success employing the same strategy, noting the Spurs in 2011 (traded George Hill for Kawhi Leonard when they had Richard Jefferson) and the Bucks in 2013 (shocked the world by drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo while already having John Henson and Ersan Ilyasovsa on the roster) as ideas for the Pistons to emulate.
One would think that the Pistons should look to upgrade their backcourt to complement both Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond, but as Langlois notes, Drummond can opt out of his contract after next season and Griffin is versatile enough to play alongside another power forward.
So who should the Pistons take? For now, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has Detroit taking Indiana swingman Romeo Langford, his 11th ranked prospect and the top-ranked player left on the board when the Pistons make their selection.
There’s more from the Central Division tonight:
- In addition to adding Chris Fleming to his staff, Bulls’ head coach Jim Boylen is trying to add one more assistant, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The top candidate appears to be Texas Tech assistant coach Mark Adams.
- The Cavaliers were left without an identity for the first time in nearly two decades when homegrown superstar LeBron James left for Los Angeles, but as Ben Golliver of The Washington Post writes, new head coach John Beilein should be able to create a new identity and culture for the franchise.
- As we relayed yesterday afternoon, Bucks’ assistant coach Darvin Ham has been identified by the Timberwolves as another head coaching candidate under Gersson Rosas and the team’s new front office.
Southeast Notes: Connelly, Heat, Ressler
Now that the Nuggets’ season is over after a thrilling seven-game series loss to Portland, the Wizards are ramping up their efforts to hire Denver’s current president of basketball operations Tim Connelly to the same position in Washington, per Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington.
While there were questions as to why the Wizards would wait until the Nuggets’ season was over to pursue Connelly, Standig notes that Connelly wasn’t expected to fully explore a move until the Nuggets’ playoff run ended, despite reportedly having interest in running the Wizards.
The Nuggets appear to have an extremely bright future, but Connelly is from Baltimore and began his front office career in Washington in 1996 when he was hired as intern before working his way up to director of player personnel under then-general manager and Wizards’ legend Wes Unseld.
The Nuggets have been in a similar situation as this before. Back in 2013, Nuggets’ GM Masai Ujiri took the same position with the Raptors after team owner Stan Kroenke acquiesced to Ujiri’s desire to return to Toronto. It will interesting to see if a similar situation will arise with Connelly and the Wizards.
There’s more from the Southeast Division this evening:
- While it remains highly unlikely that either Hassan Whiteside or Goran Dragic opt out of their contract with the Heat, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel relays that even if they did, Miami would still need to use the stretch provision on veteran forward Ryan Anderson just to get close to having enough cap space to sign a max-salary free agent. The more likely scenario is a trade of Dragic, but not Whiteside, after both opt in, especially considering the unlikelihood of a free agent wanting to sign with Miami if Whiteside and Dragic are both gone.
- In another Q&A session for the Sun-Sentinel (link), Winderman agrees with one of his readers that the Heat probably mistimed their rebuild by beginning a little too early. Rather, they should have followed the lead of other Eastern Conference contenders and waited for LeBron James to leave the East before going into rebuild mode.
- Despite a overwhelming consensus that this year’s draft crop is lacking in overall talent, Hawks’ owner Tony Ressler is not using that as an excuse, telling Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “If we can’t make two top-10 picks work for us, it’s our fault. Our job is to make them work and I think we will.”
Lottery Promise For Darius Garland?
7:53pm: Per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, the Suns, while interested, have not made a promise to Garland.
6:15pm: Vanderbilt’s Darius Garland, a projected top-five pick in this year’s draft, will skip this week’s NBA Draft Combine, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, who adds that Garland’s departure from Chicago may be tied to a promise from a team picking in the lottery.
The three likeliest teams to have given that promise appear to be the Lakers, Suns, or Bulls, who pick fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively. The Cavs, who pick fifth, selected Collin Sexton in last year’s lottery, and are therefore unlikely to add another point guard to their roster with their top selection.
Phoenix and Chicago, meanwhile, are both widely known to be looking for a franchise point guard to complement their young, promising rosters, while the Lakers have the first opportunity to select a player after the presumptive top-three players (Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, and R.J. Barrett) are selected by the Pelicans, Grizzlies, and Knicks, respectively.
Despite appearing in only five games for Vanderbilt this season due to a season-ending knee injury, Garland has continued to move up draft boards after averaging 16.2 PPG on an impressive .537/.478/.750 shooting in those five games. He is widely considered the No. 2 point guard prospect behind Morant.
Grizzlies “Locked In” On Selecting Ja Morant
In more draft news coming out of Chicago this evening, Jonathan Givony of ESPN is reporting that the Grizzlies have zeroed in on Murray State point guard Ja Morant as their pick for the No. 2 overall selection in this summer’s 2019 NBA Draft.
Memphis, still looking for a new head coach after the ousting of J.B. Bickerstaff, will look to count on Morant to join last year’s lottery selection Jaren Jackson Jr. in leading a rebuild that began with the trade of franchise cornerstone Marc Gasol earlier this year and could see Gasol’s longtime running mate Mike Conley be traded soon as well.
Last night’s runner-up finish in the lottery was a serendipitous turn of events for Memphis, who only had a 12.3% chance of landing a top-2 pick. For months now, it was rumored that the Grizzlies would have preferred to lose their pick (top-8 protected) to the Celtics, but that was under the assumption that the pick didn’t land at the top of the draft.
However, because the Grizzlies kept their 2019 pick, the Celtics now own Memphis’ 2020 first-round pick if it falls out of the top six. In other words, it may pay for Grind City to be at the bottom of league standings again next season, making it all the more likely that Conley is traded sooner rather than later.
Pacific Notes: Sarver, Lakers, Durant, Curry
The Suns just hired the much-sought after Monty Williams as their next head coach, have two young studs in guard Devin Booker and big man Deandre Ayton, and share the top odds in Tuesday’s lottery to obtain the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. In other words, owner Robert Sarver has run out of excuses, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic
The Suns have had a losing record in the past five consecutive seasons, and Sarver’s reputation continues to suffer as a result. The fact that the team shuffles through staff so quickly doesn’t help either, but as Rankin notes, the Steve Nash-era Suns were Sarver’s teams as well, so it’s not like Sarver can’t turn things around.
The first step? Reports are he admitted to making mistakes to Williams before the new head coach was hired, which gave Williams enough respect for the franchise to choose the Suns as his next landing spot. The next step? Hoping for good luck on Tuesday night.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, the Lakers would be best served by new ownership. The Buss family, particularly Jeanie Buss, has now overseen a sudden, public resignation from one of its all-time greats (Magic Johnson) and a protest by one of the league’s most die-hard fan bases. That, coupled with the Tyronn Lue fiasco, has created one of the most trying and embarrassing times in franchise history.
- Despite the rumor mill cranking out the notion that Kevin Durant is headed elsewhere this summer, there is still a sense in Warriors‘ circles that Durant may stay in the Bay Area, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.
- Per Mark Medina of The Mercury News, the dislocated left middle finger of Warriors sharpshooting point guard Stephen Curry is still causing a lot of pain, and Curry and the medical staff of Golden State are still figuring out different ways to make the situation (i.e. splint, buddy tape) more manageable as the postseason moves forward.
Knicks’ Potential Packages To Trade For Anthony Davis
The Knicks (along with the Cavs and Suns) have the best chance at landing the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s draft and the rights to draft Zion Williamson. But, as good of a prospect as Williamson is, he still hasn’t played a minute in the NBA, and as a result, the Pelicans’ would still want a package surrounding Williamson should the Knicks seek a trade for All-Star big man Anthony Davis, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
New Orleans’ new head of basketball operations David Griffin plans to meet with Davis to discuss him staying in The Big Easy, but reports suggest Davis still wants to leave. If the Knicks are serious about a potential trade for Davis, some reports suggest it may take Williamson (making Tuesday’s lottery all the more important), Kevin Knox, and Mitchell Robinson to get a deal done.
Another possibility that would cost the Knicks even more (per ESPN’s Bobby Marks) would be Williamson, Knox, Frank Ntilikina, and Dallas’ two future first-round picks that the Mavericks traded to New York in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis.
Either deal may seem like quite a haul for just one player, even one as good as Davis, but an interesting dynamic comes into play if the Knicks are able to lure Warriors’ forward Kevin Durant away in free agency. Durant, now 30, and likely to be seeking more championships wherever he signs this summer, would all but assuredly prefer Davis over Williamson at this stage in both of their careers.
If Williamson is drafted by the Knicks, Durant could push the issue of New York trading Zion for Davis, regardless of the cost. Williamson may have generational talent, but the Knicks are reportedly unsure whether he will ever rise to the stratosphere of LeBron James (or Davis, for that matter), the superstar to whom the 18-year-old phenom is most often compared, so Durant’s preference could be an important factor.
Malcolm Brogdon To Remain In Bench Role?
Despite the benefit of an extended break that he and his Bucks’ teammates will now enjoy while awaiting the winner of the Raptors/Sixers series, shooting guard Malcolm Brodgon appears likely to continue coming off the bench for the time being, writes Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Brogdon, who sat out for nearly two months with a torn plantar fascia in his right foot, made his return in Wednesday’s Game 5 win over the Celtics and performed well off the bench, scoring 10 points, dishing out four assists, and grabbing three rebounds in limited minutes.
In addition to Brogdon’s injury, absence, and resulting rust, the potential decision to keep him out of the staring lineup is also a result of the improved performance of a recently-inserted starter who played extremely well against Boston – forward Nikola Mirotic.
Per Velazquez, Budenholzer has been impressed (and perhaps pleasantly surprised) by Mirotic’s activity on defense, particularly the way he has been able to play with both Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo and therefore defend smaller wings like Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, or Gordon Hayward. As for whether the Bucks’ regular reserves prefer to play with Brogdon or Mirotic, they don’t seem to care.
“Whatever coach wants to do we’ll support,” reserve guard Pat Connaughton said. “If we have to re-knight Niko back into it we’ll re-knight him. If Malcolm’s still with us, we’re happy to have him. Regardless of who is a part of the bench mob, the bench mob’s goals and morals still stay the same.”
Kristaps Porzingis Allegedly Involved In Latvian Brawl
2:21pm: Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Mavericks are aware of the situation and are investigating the altercation.
2:18pm: As relayed by Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mavericks’ big man Kristaps Porzingis was apparently involved in some sort of physical altercation in his home country of Latvia recently, which came to light upon the release of a video showing Porzingis with blood on his face.
While details have not yet been confirmed, there are reports from TMZ Sports that Porzingis was in his hometown of Liepaja this weekend celebrating some occasion when a “handful of Russians confronted Kristaps, supposedly upset with the fact that he’d (left the Knicks for the Mavericks) and an all-out tussle broke out.”
This incident continues an already tumultuous offseason for the 23-year-old, who is also under investigation for an alleged sexual assault in New York against a former neighbor of his in a high rise apartment complex.
When the assault allegations against Porzingis were made in late March, Mavs’ owner Mark Cuban declined to comment, but did say that “some people” (presumably Porzingis) need to do their homework and use some common sense. The Mavericks have yet to comment, but it will be interesting to see what they have to say after this latest incident.
Community Shootaround: Better Match-Up For Bucks?
The Eastern Conference Finals are halfway set, with the No. 1 seed Bucks set to face the winner of the Raptors/Sixers series. And while the Bucks ended up making quick work of the Celtics after losing Game 1 of that series, the match-up against Toronto or Philadelphia figures to be much more difficult.
The series between the Raptors and Sixers is now tied 3-3, and both teams have shown promise as a potential NBA Finals participant during stretches this postseason. Kawhi Leonard is having an all-time great postseason, while both Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid (when ostensibly healthy) have played great games.
Milwaukee took two of three contests from the Sixers this season, splitting the match-ups in Wisconsin and winning in Philly, while the Raptors lost their regular season series to the Bucks 3-1 (split in Milwaukee with the Bucks winning both contests in Toronto).
So, based on the above and any other factors you may consider, which match-up do you think would be the most compelling? Would either of the series go the full seven games? Could there be a sweep? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Wolves Notes: Rosas, Front Office, Draft Workouts
Promising to question the norm with everything, new Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas was introduced at a news conference on Monday while flanked by owner Glen Taylor and CEO Ethan Casson, writes Michael Rand of the Star Tribune.
Rosas was noncommittal about the status of interim head coach Ryan Saunders and general manager Scott Layden, but did say that he was looking forward to sitting down and visiting with them and talking about the organization.
As for the roster itself, Rosas stressed player development and being creative in maximizing talent. As an example, Rosas spoke about Andrew Wiggins, saying that the team is going to work him day in and day out, and that he still has a tremendous upside.
There’s more from Minneapolis this evening:
- According to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News, the Timberwolves hosted draft workouts for forward Jordan Murphy (Minnesota) and guard Jordan Geist (Missouri) on Tuesday.
- Per Britt Robson of The Athletic, it is widely expected that Saunders will progress from interim to official head coach, and that Layden will be retained in some fashion.
- In addition to his basketball credentials, Rosas emerged as the favorite for the top job in Minnesota for his ability to have a personal connection with Taylor, something the owner covets in his front office employees, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.