Latest On Bulls’ Front Office Search
The Bulls have received permission to interview Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas, sources tell K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
Karnisovas was one of four men said to be on Chicago’s initial wish list for a top front office executive who will have full authority on basketball decisions. It’s not clear if the Bulls will get a chance to talk to any of those four potential candidates besides Karnisovas.
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan reportedly rebuffed the Bulls’ interest, opting to remain in Indiana. And there’s plenty of speculation around the NBA that the Heat will make an effort to retain assistant GM Adam Simon, according to Johnson (Twitter link).
As for the fourth candidate, Toronto’s Bobby Webster, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes that the Raptors may not grant the Bulls permission to speak to their general manager, who is under contract through 2021. With president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri and head coach Nick Nurse also set to have their contracts expire after next season, and many of their players coming off the books in the coming months, the Raptors face some long-term uncertainty and might not want to risk losing a rising young executive. There’s a sense they’ll tell Chicago that “this is not a good time,” according to Grange.
Even if they’re only able to speak to one of their initial four targets, the Bulls have a longer list of candidates, per Johnson (Twitter link), who names Clippers GM Michael Winger, Clippers assistant GM Trent Redden, Magic assistant GM Matt Lloyd, and Jazz GM Justin Zanik as possibilities.
Chicago has received permission to talk to Zanik, Johnson reports, so the Utah GM will join Karnisovas in taking part in the first round of Bulls interviews.
The Bulls will conduct those meetings electronically due to the coronavirus pandemic and reportedly want to make a hire prior to the draft and free agency.
Louisville’s Jordan Nwora Enters 2020 NBA Draft
Junior Louisville forward Jordan Nwora has elected to add his name to the 2020 NBA draft pool, he confirmed today in a Twitter announcement. Nwora intends to go pro rather than testing the waters while maintaining his college eligibility, as he tells Evan Daniels of 247Sports.
“I really just think and feel that now is the best time for me to reach my dreams and I got to go for it,” Nwora said. “Now is the best time for me. I think I did enough at Louisville and now is the best time for me to go.”
A two-time All-ACC player, Nwora averaged 18.0 PPG and 7.7 RPG in 31 games (33.1 MPG) as a junior, with a solid shooting line of .440/.402/.813. He ranks 39th overall on ESPN’s big board of 2020’s draft prospects, including ninth among power forwards.
Nwora, who tested the draft waters a year ago and participated in the combine before withdrawing his name, is optimistic that he can be a first-round pick in 2020, as he tells Daniels.
“I think I can go anywhere after 20, between 20 and 30 probably if I had to guess,” Nwora said. “With what I do, I think that depending on what teams need, especially with shooting there’s a chance I could go higher, it all depends. … At the end of the day I have confidence in my work ethic and my game. I don’t think there’s anyone else at my position that shoots better than me.”
Knicks Notes: DSJ, Trier, Free Agent Targets
Last year’s Kristaps Porzingis trade was ultimately the “undoing” for Steve Mills in New York, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who notes that Dennis Smith Jr.‘s inconsistent play for the Knicks didn’t help keep Mills off the hot seat leading up to his February ouster.
As Berman writes, former head coach David Fizdale and assistant Keith Smart were among Smith’s “key allies” within the franchise, and their departures – along with Mills’ – significantly reduce the odds that DSJ has a long-term future with the Knicks. Berman suggests Smith will be a trade candidate during the 2020 offseason, with the Magic among the teams that could have interest. Some teams still believe the former lottery pick can evolve into a solid pro, per Berman.
“He thinks too much about his shot and trying to score the ball,” one NBA scout said of Smith. “He needs to be more of lead pass-first guard and score second. Dennis also need a coach who shows him love and gives him confidence. The quickness and ability to dribble-drive is always there, but he wants to always be the highlight play with traffic dunks.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- While Fizdale was fond of Allonzo Trier, interim head coach Mike Miller preferred to play stronger defenders with more experience, Berman writes in a separate New York Post story. Given Trier’s lack of a regular role in 2019/20, he seems unlikely to stick with the Knicks as a restricted free agent this offseason, according to Berman.
- Mike Vorkunov and John Hollinger of The Athletic take an in-depth look at the Knicks’ future, breaking down the upcoming head coaching search, identifying possible free agent targets, and discussing which of the club’s current players are long-term keepers. Fred VanVleet is one free-agent-to-be singled out by Holliner as a potentially nice fit for the Knicks.
- 2020’s free agent class isn’t a particularly strong one, but there will be some intriguing players available if the Knicks want to try to make a splash, writes Steve Popper of Newsday.
- Rafael Canton of SNY.tv explores whether the Knicks’ financial flexibility could give them a chance to be in better position that the Nets three years from now.
Draft Decisions: S. Lewis, Armstrong, Camper, Santos-Silva, More
Florida freshman shooting guard Scottie Lewis had been considered a strong candidate to be drafted this spring, ranking 38th overall on ESPN’s big board. However, Lewis has opted not to declare for the draft, as he confirms to Jeff Goodman of Stadium.
“I was so stuck on going to the NBA when I got home, but then I thought long and hard about it and with all the uncertainty about the draft process, and if there will even be a combine and team workouts, I felt like it was the right move to go back to school,” Lewis told Stadium.
As Goodman details, Lewis got feedback from the NBA’s advisory committee, and while he was confident he’d be selected if he entered, he received a wide range of opinions on when exactly he might come off the board. With few opportunities during this year’s pre-draft process to boost his stock, Lewis has opted to play at least one more college season in the hopes of showing individual improvement and enjoying more team success.
“There’s so much more I think I can show, that we can show as a team,” Lewis said. “I want to leave a legacy at Florida. … I’m an optimistic person and no matter where I get drafted, I’m going to work my butt off. But with all this uncertainty, it was best for me to play it safe and put myself in a better position a year from now.”
Although Lewis isn’t entering his name in the 2020 NBA draft pool, several NCAA underclassmen are doing so. In addition to Kentucky guards Tyrese Maxey and Ashton Hagans, whose decisions we covered earlier today, here are some of the recent prospects who will at least test the draft waters:
- Terry Armstrong, G, Australia (born 2000) (Twitter link)
- Manny Camper, G/F, Siena (junior) (press release)
- Joel Ekamba, G, France (born 2001) (link via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando)
- Mason Faulkner, G, Western Carolina (junior) (Twitter link via Jeff Goodman of Stadium)
- Blake Francis, G, Richmond (junior) (Twitter link via Jeff Goodman of Stadium)
- Javon Freeman-Liberty, G, Valparaiso (sophomore) (Twitter link)
- Jacob Gilyard, G, Richmond (junior) (Twitter link via Jeff Goodman of Stadium)
- Grant Golden, F, Richmond (junior) (Twitter link via Jeff Goodman of Stadium)
- Nate Hinton, G/F, Houston (sophomore) (Twitter link)
- Darius Quisenberry, G, Youngstown State (sophomore) (Twitter link)
- Marcus Santos-Silva, F, VCU (junior) (Instagram link)
Potential Lottery Pick Tyrese Maxey Declares For Draft
Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey has declared for the NBA draft, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews. The freshman joins fellow Wildcats guard Ashton Hagans, who has also entered the 2020 draft class. Maxey tells Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com that he intends to forgo his remaining eligibility and keep his name in the draft.
“I felt like now that I’ve gone through the process of college and played for a great coach (John Calipari) and I feel like he has prepared me to declare the Draft and move on to the next level,” Maxey said to Daniels.
Maxey was Kentucky’s third-leading scorer in 2019/20, averaging 14.0 PPG in 31 games (34.5 MPG), to go along with 4.3 RPG and 3.2 APG. He recorded a shooting line of .427/.292/.833.
ESPN has Maxey ranked eighth overall on its big board, projecting him to be a versatile two-way combo guard at the NBA level. According to Jonathan Givony, Maxey is an “instinctive scorer who excels in transition” and is very physical defensively, though his shot selection and decision-makers are considered “works in progress.”
Kentucky’s Ashton Hagans Enters 2020 NBA Draft
Kentucky guard Ashton Hagans is entering the 2020 NBA draft, he announced on Twitter on Sunday. Although the sophomore could test the waters while retaining his college eligibility, the wording of his statement suggests he’s ready to go pro.
“I just wanted to let you all know that even though I love Kentucky with all of my heart and really wish I could have played for a (championship), it’s time for me to live out my life-long dream and declare for the NBA draft,” he wrote. “It’s been my No. 1 goal since I first picked up a ball to take this step and I know my time is now. It’s so hard for me to say goodbye to the best fans in the world, because these last two years have been some of the best of my life.”
In 2019/20, Hagans averaged 11.5 PPG, 6.4 APG, 3.9 RPG, and 1.9 SPG in 30 games (33.1 MPG) as the Wildcats’ starting point guard.
Although Hagans is a strong candidate to be drafted, ranking 49th on ESPN’s big board, his inconsistent shooting may give some NBA teams pause. As a sophomore, he made just 40.4% of his attempts from the field, including 25.8% from beyond the arc.
And-Ones: CP3, Griffin, I. Thomas, Hall Of Fame
A number of reports both during and after the Lob City era in Los Angeles suggested that Clippers stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul had a tendency to rub one another the wrong way and weren’t exactly the best of friends by the time CP3 was traded to Houston.
However, appearing on the Up in Smoke Podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Paul admitted that he gained a renewed fondness for Griffin after his days with the Clippers were over.
“It’s seriously one of those things you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone,” Paul said, per Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. “I think about it at times. And me and Blake absolutely had our issues here and there, but I actually appreciated Blake probably a lot more after I left.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Isaiah Thomas, who recently expressed confidence that he’ll have no problem finding an NBA job for next season, told NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller on the Wizards Talk Podcast that he wants to play for many more years. “I have a lot left in the tank and my goal has always been to play until 40 (years old), and I’m going to try everything I can to reach that,” the 31-year-old guard said.
- With the Basketball Hall of Fame scheduled to officially announce its 2020 class on Saturday, an ESPN panel identified the most likely Hall-of-Famer on every NBA team’s current roster.
- Which current NBA front office executives look like candidates to take on greater roles in the not-too-distant future? Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News spoke to multiple sources in an attempt to compile a list of the rising and overlooked executives from around the league, ranging from current general managers and assistant GMs to scouts and G League execs.
NBA Proposes 50% Pay Check Reduction For Players
The NBA has proposed to the National Basketball Players Association that players accept a 50% pay check reduction beginning on April 15, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the NBPA has issued a counter-proposal that would see players’ pay checks reduced by 25%, beginning in mid-May.
It would be in both sides’ best interest to resolve these negotiations – which were reported earlier in the week by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski – fairly soon, since the players’ next checks are due in 12 days.
Thus far, team owners have assumed the brunt of the financial losses from the NBA’s stoppage of play, but the impact of that lost revenue will soon hit the players, since the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for approximately a 50/50 revenue split between the two groups.
The NBA already holds 10% of players’ salaries in an escrow account and would normally either pay out or withhold some or all of that money at season’s end, depending on whether the players were overpaid or underpaid over the course of the year, relative to the revenue split.
Given how much money the league projects to lose this season, the amount in that escrow – approximately $380MM, per Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report – likely won’t be enough to cover the players’ half of the losses, which is why the NBA is looking to recoup an additional portion of its players’ salaries.
The exact amount that the NBA gets back from players will depend on whether or not any part of the season can be salvaged this summer and how much revenue the league ultimately loses. As Pincus notes in a tweet, the NBA’s proposal – a 50% reduction beginning on April 15 – may suggest that the league believes its losses this season will total more than the $1.2 billion he estimated in his article.
If the two sides can’t come to a satisfactory agreement that helps maintain the revenue split, the players would simply be delaying rather than avoiding the financial impact of the suspended season. The effects would be felt if and when the NBA invokes the “force majeure” clause for canceled games, which would unilaterally reduce players’ salaries and could result in re-opened CBA negotiations. The salary cap for 2020/21 could also drop substantially if players earn a much larger portion of the revenue split than owners in ’19/20.
Kobe, Duncan, Garnett, Tomjanovich To Be Inducted Into Hall Of Fame
Former NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).
This year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony figures to be an emotional affair, with Bryant headlining the 2020 class just months after his tragic passing. The Lakers‘ legend 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.
Bryant will be joined by a pair of fellow NBA champions, including Duncan, who 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.
While Garnett’s résumé isn’t quite as decorated as that of Bryant and Duncan, he 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.
Bryant, Duncan, and Garnett may be this year’s headliners, but they aren’t the only ones being inducted into the Hall of Fame. According to Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link), former Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich has also been elected.
Tomjanovich is one of just three coaches to win both an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal. He coached Houston 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.
Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Eddie Sutton, and Barbara Stevens were announced as Hall of Fame finalists in February — it’s unclear if anyone from that group will be inducted into the 2020 class alongside Bryant, Duncan, Garnett, and Tomjanovich. The official announcement will happen on Saturday.
It remains to be seen what form this year’s induction ceremony will take. It’s scheduled to happen on August 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts, but there’s no guarantee that the coronavirus situation will have improved enough by then to hold large-scale gatherings.
Layoffs, Cutbacks Underway For Jazz
The Larry H. Miller Group has begun laying off some Jazz employees, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Sources tell ESPN that the cutbacks so far are affecting non-basketball employees. Wojnarowski adds that some employees are accepting reductions in compensation.
“Due to the impact on our customer-facing businesses from his unprecedented pandemic, the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, of which the Utah Jazz are a part, unfortunately had to make difficult decisions to reduce a small percentage of our workforce,” the company said in a statement to ESPN. “Over the past several weeks, we have worked to manage and reduce costs, including executive compensation, and have reached a point where we have had to say farewell to a limited number of our valued employees.”
In addition to the Jazz, the Larry H. Miller Group owns the Megaplex Theatres chain, ad agency Saxton Horne, dozens of auto dealerships, and a number of other companies, many of which have been hit as hard as – or worse than – the Jazz by the coronavirus pandemic.
While we haven’t yet heard much about other NBA teams being hit by layoffs and cutbacks, the Jazz are unlikely to be the last team to take such measures, since the league is expected to be on hiatus for months.