Bulls Eye Several Assistant GMs For Their GM Job
Arturas Karnisovas, who is expected to be named the Bulls’ executive VP of basketball operations, will conduct interviews with a number of general manager candidates in the near future, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
The Nuggets’ Calvin Booth, the Sixers’ Marc Eversley, the Clippers’ Mark Hughes and the Magic’s Matt Lloyd are among several assistant GMs around the league under consideration, Wojnarowski adds. The Bulls’ office will start seeking permission from other teams to conduct interviews with everyone on their list, Wojnarowski reports in another tweet.
However, Booth could be promoted by Denver to replace Karnisovas, who emerged as Chicago’s choice as its top front office executive on Wednesday.
The Thunder’s Troy Weaver and Nazr Mohammed and the Mavericks’ Michael Finley are also candidates for the GM job, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets.
No matter which executive that Karnisovas chooses, current GM Gar Forman will lose his title. It’s uncertain whether Forman will be reassigned or simply let go by the organization. Karnisovas will decide Forman’s future, according to another Cowley tweet.
Longtime Bulls executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson is expected to remain in an advisory position with Karnisovas and ownership making the final decisions.
The Bulls were reportedly denied permission by the Thunder to speak with Weaver, OKC’s VP of basketball operations, during the search process for an executive VP. Whether the Thunder have changed their stance on Weaver remains to be seen. The Bulls did hold an informal interview with Mohammed recently for another front office job.
NBA, Players Assessing Blood Tests For Coronavirus
The NBA and the Players’ Association are looking into quick blood tests for the novel coronavirus which would make it more viable for the league to resume the season, Baxter Holmes of ESPN reports.
The league and its players have been assessing the viability of multiple blood-testing devices that could provide accurate results within a matter of minutes. That process would be a critical first step toward returning to action, though commissioner Adam Silver said on Monday that no decision on resuming play would be made until at least next month.
The “diabetes-like” blood test can be conducted with the prick of a finger and yield results within 15 minutes. Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories have begun shipping out the rapid-response tests, which can deliver results in 5-13 minutes. However, they have yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Sources told Holmes that the assessment of utilizing these tests is still in the exploratory phase. Finding ways to rapidly test for COVID-19 is the crucial path for sports leagues to resume play in the coming weeks and months, Holmes adds.
However, the NBA and its players are also aware that even if such rapid testing devices become available, health care workers and others tasked with saving lives should have priority to them.
Jazz GM Interviews For Top Spot In Bulls’ Front Office
Jazz GM Justin Zanik had a video interview with the Bulls on Monday for the franchise’s executive VP of basketball operations opening, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Zanik has held the GM job with the Utah franchise since May 2019 after being promoted from assistant GM. That occurred at the same time longtime GM Dennis Lindsey was promoted to executive VP of basketball operations.
Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas will get an interview in the middle of this week, Wojnarowski adds. Utah just received permission to interview Karnisovas, who is one of four executives reportedly on Chicago’s initial wish list for the job. The person the Bulls hire will have full authority on basketball decisions.
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan and Heat assistant GM Adam Simon were two of the candidates on that wish list, but both decided to stay put prior to the interview process.
It’s also uncertain that Raptors GM Bobby Webster, the other candidate on the list, will be interviewed. Toronto may not grant the Bulls permission to talk to Webster, who is under contract through 2021.
Clippers GM Michael Winger, Clippers assistant GM Trent Redden, Magic assistant GM Matt Lloyd are some other names that have surfaced as potential candidates.
NBA Establishes Guidelines For Virtual Meetings With Prospects
NBA teams will be allowed to conduct virtual meetings with 2020 draft prospects but they will be prohibited from in-person workouts, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Teams will also be banned from requesting and watching live video of prospects during the coronavirus pandemic (Twitter links).
Until further notice, teams can conduct up to four hours of virtual meetings per prospect during the predraft process. However, they will be prohibited from meeting for more than two hours a week with any player, Charania adds.
Teams are still restricted from having contact with underclassmen until the early entry list is sent by the NBA, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. The last day for underclassmen to declare is April 26 but the list last year was sent out three days after the deadline, Marks notes.
With practice and training facilities shuttered around the league, front office staff have been holding meetings via video conferences and conference calls. They’ll now be doing the same with potential draft prospects, though it will be more difficult for unheralded players to improve their stock without team workouts.
The draft lottery is still tentatively scheduled for May 19 with the draft itself on June 25. Those dates could obviously change, especially if the league continues to hold out hope of resuming the season.
Silver: Weeks Away From Decision On Resuming Season
Commissioner Adam Silver said in an interview with TNT broadcaster Ernie Johnson on Monday that a decision on whether to resume the season won’t come until at least May 1, Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays in a string of tweets.
Like millions of fans and everyone connected with the league, Silver said the suspension of play in NBA and other major pro and college sports has left a void in daily life.
“I think we are all realizing how much we miss live sports,” he said.
However, the stark reality of the coronavirus pandemic has made it impossible to know when games will be played again. Playing regular-season games as well as a postseason is still a possibility “in an ideal world.” However, there has been a growing sense of pessimism as the delay drags on with no end in sight.
Even though the league is willing to stretch this season into September to crown a championship, it also has to take into consideration that it doesn’t want negatively impact next season, Silver points out.
Silver is even more concerned about the 55,000 jobs affected by the stoppage of play in the league, including all of its game-day workers. Once it’s considered safe for games to be played, the sports leagues will be “ready to go.”
Northwest Notes: Pritchard, Paul, Millsap, Thunder
Oregon point guard Payton Pritchard and Michigan State forward Xavier Tillman are two potential draft targets for the Jazz, Tony Jones of The Athletic opines. Pritchard could replace free agent Emmanuel Mudiay, while Tillman would add toughness and defensive versatility, Jones continues. Utah owns a late first-round pick. Vanderbilt swingman Aaron Nesmith, a prolific shooter, is another player the franchise could consider at that spot, Jones adds.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- The Thunder’s best chance for long-term improvement is to cash in on Chris Paul‘s big season and move him this offseason, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic. Paul — who still has two years left on his contract, including a $44.2MM player option in the final year — will never again be higher in value than this summer, in Hollinger’s view. Paul’s situation is similar to that of Mike Conley‘s last offseason, when he was traded to Utah due to the size of his contract and the numbers of players likely to be required to match salaries, Hollinger adds. Hollinger and The Athletic’s Erik Horne break down the Thunder’s roster and outlook in their comprehensive story.
- If unrestricted free agent Paul Millsap re-signs with the Nuggets, it will be at a vastly reduced rate, Mike Singer of the Denver Post speculates. Millsap, who is making $30MM this season, would probably have to settle for a short-term contract with a starting salary of $10-13MM. Re-signing fellow power forward Jerami Grant, who is likely to opt out and become an unrestricted free agent, is probably a bigger priority, Singer adds.
- The Thunder are in danger of losing their first-round draft pick, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman points out. It’s a scenario that we previously noted. Oklahoma City traded the pick in November 2016 with top-20 protection to Philadelphia for Grant. OKC is tied for the ninth-best record in the NBA, which means if the draft order remains in place, the 76ers would get the Thunder’s pick at No. 21 or 22.
Bryant, Garnett, Duncan Joined By Six Others In Hall Class
Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan have officially been named to the Naismith Hall of Fame Class of 2020, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. They are joined by Rudy Tomjanovich, Eddie Sutton, long-time WNBA star Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann, Bontemps adds.
In essence, every finalist for Hall of Fame consideration this year received enough votes for induction. A finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Word leaked on Friday that Bryant, Garnett, Duncan and Tomjanovich would be inducted, though it was a foregone conclusion that the late Bryant, Garnett and Duncan — three of the game’s all-time greats — would received the required votes.
Bryant was an 18-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion, winning the MVP award in 2008 to go along with a pair of Finals MVPs. He is fourth on the league’s all-time scoring list and won scoring titles in 2006 and 2007.
Duncan won three Finals MVPs and five titles in total. Like Bryant, he was named to an All-NBA team 15 times over the course of his career. The longtime Spurs‘ big man was one of the best players of his era, ranking sixth on the NBA’s all-time rebounding list and fifth in blocked shots.
Garnett earned 15 All-Star nods, an MVP award (in 2004), a Defensive Player of the Year award (2008), and a title in 2008 with the Celtics. Garnett, who began his career with the Timberwolves, ranks in the NBA’s top 20 in career points, rebounds, blocks, and steals.
Tomjanovich is one of just three coaches to win both an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal. He coached the Rockets to a pair of championships in the mid-1990s and had an impressive career as a Rockets player prior to his coaching days, earning five NBA All-Star nods in his 11-year career.
Sutton is a four-time National Coach of the Year and was the first coach to lead four different schools to the NCAA Tournament.
Catchings is a 10-time WNBA All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist. She was also named WNBA MVP in 2011. Mulkey has coached Baylor to three NCAA national championships, including last season. Stevens has coached in the collegiate ranks for over 40 years and is the fifth coach in NCAA women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career wins. Baumann is a longtime FIBA executive.
It remains to be seen if this year’s induction ceremony will take place as scheduled on August 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Kanter, Robinson, Musa
Sixers center Joel Embiid is joining forces with team managing partner Josh Harris and co-managing partner David Blitzer on a $1.3MM contribution to fund testing for 1,000 health care workers in the Philadelphia region, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports. The donation has been confirmed in a team press release.
Embiid said he learned that “testing for COVID-19 antibodies has the chance to let health care workers know if they are immune to the virus.” The big man notes that the workers who have immunity can work in “risky environments” and donate blood to help patients recover. Embiid’s partnership with team ownership should quell speculation that he has a fractious relationship with the organization which could eventually lead to his departure.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Celtics center Enes Kanter remains hopeful that the remainder of the season, or at least the playoffs, can be played, The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach writes. “We are competitors man, so we want to go out there and finish the season,’‘ Kanter said on Zoom. “Especially, like, it’s crazy — we actually have a really good chance to go out there and win a championship.”
- Knicks center Mitchell Robinson might have the league’s most team-friendly contract, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The big man has a $1.66MM salary for next season with a $1.8MM team option for 2021/22, Berman notes. The Knicks’ net rating improves by 5.3 points per 100 possessions with Robinson on the court, Berman adds.
- The Nets’ European players — Dzanan Musa, Rodions Kurucs and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot — have been separated from their families indefinitely during the coronavirus pandemic, Brian Lewis of the New York Post notes. Travel restrictions prevent them from reuniting with their families. “They are coping, and their families are coping with this. But that’s really difficult,” Nets GM Sean Marks said. “Their families are completely separated. They’re not in the same time zone, they’re in completely different countries, and obviously there is a travel ban in place.”
Pessimism Growing About Resumption Of Season
There’s growing pessimism around the league that the 2019/20 season can be resumed, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said on SportsCenter (video link).
While the NBA is willing to go deep into the summer to complete the season, recent developments have led the league to discuss the implications of cancellation.
“It’s been a bad week,” Windhorst said. “I think there was optimism about progress a week ago. Some things that have happened this week have turned it south about what could happened.”
China’s decision to halt the Chinese Basketball Association’s plan to resume play this month has been a major factor.
“They (the CBA) really believed if they just tested the players’ temperature all this time that it would work,” Windhorst said. “The Chinese are finding that asymptomatic carriers are causing maybe a second wave in that country and they’re just slamming the brakes on sports.”
Unless widespread, quick tests for the novel coronavirus become available in the near future, league officials can’t see a way to resume play and ensure safety for all involved.
“It is clear that the NBA is angling to set up a deal that enables them to shut the season down,” Windhorst said. “They don’t have to do that yet. The way they’re negotiating, they’re leaving an option either way. But they’re not having talks about how to restart the league. They’re having financial talks about what would happen if the season shuts down. I think there’s a significant amount of pessimism.”
Bulls Notes: Markkanen, Porter, Boylen, White
Bulls power forward Lauri Markkanen was unhappy with the direction of the offense under coach Jim Boylen and his role in it, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Markkanen’s frustration had reached a point where he’d rather be dealt if organization changes weren’t made, Cowley continues. It’s possible the new front office executive — the Bulls are lining up interviews with candidates — could look to trade Markkanen if they feel the relationship is beyond repair, Cowley adds.
We have more on the Bulls:
- Within that same story, Cowley writes that the Bulls are keeping a close eye on the Heat. In addition to seeking an interview with Miami’s assistant GM Adam Simon, Chicago has also considered emulating the Heat’s front office structure, and has done homework on free agents like Goran Dragic and Derrick Jones.
- Otto Porter Jr. will likely be in a lame duck situation as the team’s small forward next season, Cowley writes in a separate story. Porter will surely exercise his $28.5MM option for next season after an injury-plagued campaign and his salary will come off the books just in time for the much-anticipated 2021 free-agent class. Boylen has even hinted he might have Porter come off the bench next season.
- Boylen’s future with the organization will be determined by the lead executive the Bulls hire, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports. Boylen has the support of COO Michael Reinsdorf and executive VP John Paxson but a desire of the new executive to hire his own coach wouldn’t be a deal-breaker, Johnson continues, confirming one of his earlier stories. While Reinsdorf has been handling the search, Paxson has been a driving force on the need for change and a more modern front office, Johnson adds.
- The team’s ceiling for next season with its current group is a low-end playoff seed unless 2019 lottery pick Coby White develops rapidly, Kevin Pelton of ESPN opines. White needs to emerge as a knockdown shooter, something he flashed late in the season. It’s unlikely the new executive will pursue an extension with Markkanen, but if he bounces back and breaks out, the Bulls can still benefit by utilizing his “relatively modest” $20.2MM cap hold as he enters restricted free agency, Pelton adds.