Western Notes: Garnett, Demps, Rockets
Kevin Garnett, who still has one year and $8MM remaining on his deal with the Wolves, is waiting to see how the hiring of Tom Thibodeau as coach and president of basketball operations will affect his future with the franchise, Marc Stein of ESPN.com relays. “I pride myself on being loyal,” Garnett told Stein. “I think I’ve proven that by coming back home to finish my career. I need to see how the next few weeks turn out to truly understand if everyone has that same loyalty. Then I will know what my future holds.” Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported earlier this week that Garnett intends to hold off on retiring and play in 2016/17.
Talks between team owner Glen Taylor and Grizzlies part-owner Steve Kaplan about a would-be deal for 30% of the Minnesota franchise are ongoing, Stein notes. If a deal between Kaplan and Taylor is struck, it would be with the understanding that Kaplan would eventually succeed Taylor as the Wolves’ controlling owner, with the timing of that change up to Taylor, Stein adds. Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press had reported in early March that talks between the pair had “hit a wall.”
Here’s more from out West:
- Pelicans ownership will meet with GM Dell Demps on Monday to discuss his future with the team, though indications point to the executive returning in 2016/17, as Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate relays.
- Much has been made out of the lack of emotion shown by members of the Rockets‘ bench after James Harden nailed the game-winning shot on Thursday night, but their failure to over-react only illustrates that they understand the Warriors haven’t played their best and are still firmly in control of the series, opines Ray Ratto of CSNBayArea.com.
- The Rockets contend that it wasn’t a lack of investment that caused them to appear stoic, but rather that they were upset with themselves for being in that precarious of a position, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle notes (Twitter links). “All of us were happy we won the game, but we were upset we put ourselves in position that it took a last-second shot,” Dwight Howard said. “For all those people saying we weren’t happy and excited that James hit the shot, shut up.” GM Daryl Morey also defended his team’s response, tweeting, “Big win to keep series on serve and folks are worried about grading cheer technique and execution when there is still time left on the clock? OK.“
Wizards Notes: Brooks, Durant, Porter
The Wizards’ deal to hire Scott Brooks as their new coach was a safe move for the franchise, as he is likely to be a solid leader for the team, writes Jerry Brewer of The Washington Post. But the jury still remains out on how successful Brooks can be without Kevin Durant to aid him, Brewer adds, with the scribe also noting that Brooks was fired after a season that saw the small forward limited to just 27 games. It’s also remains to be seen how well Brooks will coexist with John Wall after the coach had his difficulties at times with Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, with many believing Brooks’ offense limited the point guard’s productivity, Brewer adds.
Washington may have to hope that Brooks doesn’t require the presence of Durant to succeed, as friends of the player have indicated that he doesn’t want to sign with the Wizards and deal with the pressure of being surrounded by family, friends and hangers-on from his native Washington. Here’s more from the nation’s capital:
- Some possible candidates for Brooks’ coaching staff in Washington include Raptors assistant Rex Kalamian, Thunder assistant Maurice Cheeks and former Nets interim coach Tony Brown, David Aldridge of NBA.com relays (Twitter links).
- Brooks is an ardent believer in the potential of 2013 No. 3 overall pick Otto Porter, Aldridge notes. Porter, 22, appeared in 75 games for the Wizards this season and averaged 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists, all of which were career highs.
- The deal with Brooks is the culmination of the team’s moves the past few seasons, all of which were aimed at luring Durant to Washington D.C., writes J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic. The front office doesn’t view Brooks’ five-year pact as a risk, seeing the coach as a known quantity, Michael adds. Brooks should bring a fresh start to the team’s locker room, though he would be wise to add a disciplinarian to his coaching staff to help balance out his affable personality, the scribe opines.
- Durant said today that he’s happy Brooks landed the new position but insisted he’s focused on the playoffs when asked if the move increased his chances of joining the Wizards, as Erik Horne of The Oklahoman relays.
Latest On Knicks Point Guard Search
The Knicks have had a glaring hole at point guard the past few seasons and the team may look to correct the deficiency by acquiring a player like Darren Collison from the Kings if it’s unable to land a bigger name in free agency, Ian Begley of ESPN.com relays. The New York front office began discussing the possibility of working the trade market late in the season, Begley notes, and members of the Knicks organization are said to be fond of Collison. New York had also reportedly had trade talks with the Hawks regarding Jeff Teague prior to the trade deadline and there have been recent discussions within the organization about revisiting that pursuit this offseason, Begley notes.
It’s unclear if the Knicks have the assets required to land Collison or Teague, Begley notes, but New York will certainly have enough cap flexibility this summer to absorb either contract. The Knicks will have at least $18MM in available space to use and that number could surge to approximately $30MM if Arron Afflalo ($8MM) and Derrick Williams ($4,598,000) decline their respective player options, the scribe adds. Collison is set to earn $5,229,454 next season, the final year of his current deal. The Knicks could conceivably add Collison and still have room to ink a max salary free agent, Begley notes.
Collison appeared in 74 games for the Kings this season, including 15 as a starter, though he did see increased time as a shooting guard as the season wore on due to the presence of Rajon Rondo. His averages on the year were 14.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists to accompany a shooting line of .486/.401/.858. The 28-year-old would certainly be a clear upgrade over the team’s current crop of playmakers: Jose Calderon, Jerian Grant and Langston Galloway. The wild card in New York’s future backcourt plans is Tony Wroten, who has declared his intent to be the team’s starter in 2016/17 as he makes his way back from a torn right ACL.
Seth Curry To Decline Player Option
Seth Curry intends to decline his player option worth $1,015,696 for 2016/17 and will become a restricted free agent this summer, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical. Curry has until this Saturday to finalize his decision, Charania adds. The player inked a two-year pact with Sacramento last July.
Curry, 25, averaged 6.8 points, 1.5 assists and 1.4 rebounds in 44 games for Sacramento this season, finally establishing himself as a rotation player in the league, Charania notes. He shot a stellar 45.1% from three-point range for the season and connected on 45.5% of his shots overall. Prior to this season, Curry had spent most of his time in the NBA D-League, and he inked 10-day contracts with the Cavs, Grizzlies and Suns over the previous two campaigns.
The combo guard, who is the younger brother of Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, is in line for a higher salary than his player option would have seen him earn, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee opined recently. Curry averaged more than 11 points per game after the All-Star break and he notched 16.4 points and 5.3 assists in his last seven games of the season. “I think I’ve played pretty well and showed some different things in my game that will set me up for the future to show I can be a good player in this league for a long time,” Curry told Jones.
Community Shootaround: Tom Thibodeau
The Wolves and Tom Thibodeau reached an agreement Wednesday on a five-year deal that made Thibodeau the new head coach and president of basketball operations for Minnesota. “We are extremely excited to welcome Tom Thibodeau back to the Timberwolves,” team owner Glen Taylor said in the team’s official release. “Through this process we quickly identified Tom as the best leader to shape our talented team and help them realize their full potential. Tom’s resume speaks for itself. He is a proven winner, leader, and one of the most well-respected NBA head coaches over the last decade. His teams have annually been among the league leaders in defense and we are excited about the approach and mentality he will bring to that side of the ball. The future of the Minnesota Timberwolves has never been brighter and we are very pleased to have Tom as our basketball operations leader moving forward.”
Thibodeau had plenty of on-court success in his five seasons with the Bulls, who had given the longtime assistant his first NBA head coaching job. He went 255-139 in the regular season, winning the 2010 Coach of the Year award, though he was just 23-28 in the playoffs. Chicago parted ways with Thibodeau last May. The main criticisms regarding Thibodeau from his time in Chicago were regarding his lackluster offensive system and play calling, as well as his propensity to wear his veteran players down through brutal practices and excessive regular season minutes.
The Wolves as an organization have a wealth of young talent and are certainly one of the up and coming franchises in the league as a result. The addition of Thibodeau is a solid fit given the defensive talent already on Minnesota’s roster, but there are likely to be some concerns raised about whether he has the right temperament to properly nurture and develop his younger players.
This brings me to today’s topic: Is Tom Thibodeau the right fit for the Wolves?
Take to the comments section to share your thoughts on the hire, express any reservations regarding Thibs joining the Wolves, or simply to offer a prediction on how well the team will fare in 2016/17 under Thibodeau. We look forward to what you have to say.
2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Hornets
The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams have one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.
This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.
We at Hoops Rumors will be recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team, and we’ll continue with the the Charlotte Hornets, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:
The Hornets made three assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending one player (Aaron Harrison) to the D-League for a total of 30 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Charlotte for the 2015/16 campaign:
- January 21st: Assigned Aaron Harrison (1st) [Oklahoma City Blue] — Recalled January 23rd
- February 1st: Assigned Aaron Harrison (2nd) [Oklahoma City Blue] — Recalled February 8th
- March 13th: Assigned Aaron Harrison (3rd) [Erie BayHawks] — Recalled April 3rd
Here is how Harrison, Charlotte’s lone assignee, performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- With the Oklahoma City Blue: In four games, he averaged 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Harrison’s slash line was .308/.167/.714.
- With the Erie BayHawks: In nine games, Harrison averaged 21.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists. His shooting line was .377/.300/.840,
- Totals: In 13 combined games, Harrison notched averages of 17.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists. His combined slash line was .363/.265/.820.
Pacific Notes: Clarkson, Cousins, Livingston
During Jordan Clarkson‘s exit interview, the Lakers stressed that the point guard would need to improve his defense over the summer or risk losing minutes next season, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. “If we get the right players in here and if he doesn’t do it, he won’t play much,” coach Byron Scott said of Clarkson. “It’s that simple.” Opposing players shot 62.5% against Clarkson and the point guard finished with a lackluster defensive rating of 111.5, Medina notes. “He is too athletic and too quick to be that bad defensively,” Scott said. “Numbers from our analytical department don’t lie.”
Clarkson, who is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason, acknowledged the need to improve his defense and added that he wants to remain part of the Lakers moving forward, Medina relays. “I feel confident I’ll be back here. I want to be here,” Clarkson said. “I want to be one of those guys that is not bouncing around from team to team. I want to be somewhere where I can come home and leave my mark or legacy or somewhere I can call home. I feel like this is the place I can do that.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Kings have been clear to candidates for their head coaching post that the front office will support them in disciplining players, including center DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays in a series of tweets. The franchise is fighting the notion that George Karl was fired to appease Cousins, and higher-ups have been clear that the big man isn’t a consideration when hiring or firing personnel, Jones adds.
- Warriors GM Bob Myers noted that while Shaun Livingston‘s contract for 2016/17 is only partially guaranteed for $3MM, the point guard remains in the team’s future plans, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group relays (Twitter link). The $5,782,450 that Livingston is scheduled to earn next season will become fully guaranteed if he remains on Golden State’s roster past June 30th. The 30-year-old appeared in 78 games for the Warriors this season and averaged 6.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
Atlantic Notes: Anthony, Atkinson, Larkin
Former Knicks swingman Landry Fields noted that New York could have evolved into an Eastern Conference power if it had waited to sign Carmelo Anthony when he hit free agency rather than gutting the team to acquire him from the Nuggets, Ian Begley of ESPN.com relays (ESPN Now link). “It would have been a major, major play for New York if we had kind of the young talent of [Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler] and Raymond Felton and Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo. It would have been a team that just would have been so impactful throughout the league and one that probably could have created a dynasty,” Fields said. “But I don’t want to speak too much to that because you don’t want to get [into] all of this, ‘Rah rah, what could have been’ because that’s not what happened. There were possibilities there for such an incredible team to be assembled but at the same time, we can’t harp on what never happened.”
Here’s more from out of the Atlantic Division:
- Jeremy Lin, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, had all positives to say about new Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, who was an assistant with the Knicks when “Linsanity” broke out during the 2011/12 season, NetsDaily relays. “I’ve kind of been saying it was just a matter of time for him because I know how good he is, I know how much he was there for me in New York,” Lin said. “When you’re around him, you kind of understand there’s something different about him: his energy, his passion, the juice he approaches his work with. He doesn’t leave any stone unturned. He’s always the first one in, and I’m saying first one in by, like, hours.“
- Nets point guard Shane Larkin, who has a player option for 2016/17 worth $1.5MM, says the coaching change from Lionel Hollins to Tony Brown this season hurt his development, notes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. “It’s tough, especially as a point guard because you’re an extension of the coach on the floor,” Larkin said. “I mean, at the beginning of the year, there were several articles saying, ‘Oh, it’s Larkin’s breakout year, he’s finally found himself, averaging this and that, shooting well from the three.’ I was really comfortable with Coach Hollins. But after 37 games, to be exact, Coach Hollins was out of here and Billy King was released or whatever it was so it was like we didn’t really have a lot of direction. Coach Tony was kind of just handed the job like, ‘All right, here you go.’ It was kind of like, ‘Just like go play basketball.’ It’s just difficult, when I’ve now been with four coaches in three years. It’s definitely easier when you’re with a team for a while and you know what your coach wants and you know what he expects from you. He knows what you can do, he knows the pros and cons to your game and he could put you in a position to be successful.”
Draft Notes: White, Taylor, Diop, Sipahi
Nebraska junior small forward Andrew White intends to test the waters and declare for the 2016 NBA Draft, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The 22-year-old is the No. 25 ranked junior according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and lands at a less optimistic No. 262 overall according to ESPN’s Chad Ford. In 34 appearances for the Cornhuskers this season, White averaged 16.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals to accompany a shooting line of .481/.412/.775.
Here’s the latest news regarding this year’s draft:
- University of Texas point guard Isaiah Taylor intends to hire an agent, which would eliminate the opportunity for him to withdraw from the draft and return to school for his senior season, relays Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).
- Turkish point guard Kenan Sipahi intends to enter this year’s NBA draft, agent Misko Raznatovic tweets. The 20-year-old is the No. 18 overall ranked international player in his class, according to Givony.
- African center Ilimane Diop and Latvian forward Rolands Smits intend to enter this year’s NBA draft, Eurohopes.com relays (via Twitter). Diop, a native of Senegal, is the No. 13 international prospect born in 1995, according to Givony, who projected him as the No. 50 overall player in the 2017 draft. Smits is the No. 20 international prospect in his class, according to the DraftExpress scribe.
- Florida sophomore small forward Devin Robinson underwent surgery to repair a left foot stress fracture and is expected to be out of action for four to six months, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets. The ESPN scribe speculates that this will result in Robinson withdrawing from this year’s NBA draft, though no announcement to that end has been made by the player or the university.
- Dayton junior guard Charles Cooke intends to enter this year’s NBA Draft, though he’ll hold off on hiring an agent, which will allow him to return to school if he withdraws prior to the May 25th deadline, Goodman relays (on Twitter). The 21-year-old is a long shot to be selected and doesn’t appear among the top 100 prospects on Givony’s or Ford’s rankings.
Southeast Notes: Wade, Lamb, D-League
Dwyane Wade, who’s poised for free agency in the summer, has been in closer communication than ever with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra this year, as Ethan Skolnick of the Miami Herald details. “I really care about Dwyane,” Spoelstra said. “When you work with somebody that long, you get to see somebody grow, from a young man as a professional, and then as a father. There’s been so much time, he’s seen me grow as a professional, and I’ve seen him grow in all those areas. And it’s just kind of fun. And this year, I’ve just tried to enjoy the relationship, enjoy this journey together, to be pushing and driving in the same direction in a way that’s not quite as player-coach.”
Here’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Jeremy Lamb‘s role with the Hornets has decreased significantly since the beginning of the season and his future in Charlotte is up in the air despite having three years remaining on his deal, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman writes. The 23-year-old made 66 appearances for the Hornets this season and averaged 8.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.6 minutes per outing. Lamb is scheduled to earn $6,511,628 in 2016/17.
- Given that their 2016 first-round selection is likely to fall outside the top 10, the Magic should strongly consider trading the pick for a player who can contribute immediately, opines Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders. With this year’s draft extremely top-heavy in terms of depth, adding another player who’s years away from contributing makes little sense for Orlando, Taylor adds.
- Hornets swingman Nicolas Batum will miss the remainder of the team’s first round series against the Heat with an ankle injury, tweets Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group. Batum’s X-rays showed no fracture in his injured ankle, Haynes adds. See more about Batum’s impending free agency here.
- The Hawks have recalled center Edy Tavares and swingman Lamar Patterson from the Austin Spurs of the NBA D-League, the team announced via press release.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.