Odds & Ends: Paul, Cole, Heat, Celtics
All eyes will be on Clippers guard Chris Paul this summer and while the All-Star has been treated like royalty in L.A. and arguably has been given more pull than any other player in the league when it comes to personnel decisions, it's possible that CP3 will head elsewhere as he looks to win his first NBA title. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld ran down the Clippers' biggest competition and identified the Mavericks, Hawks, Rockets, and Nuggets as the top threats to pull him away from La La Land. Here's tonight's look around the Association as the Clippers gear up for a very interesting summer..
- In today's mailbag, a reader asked Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sentinel if Norris Cole is essentially playing his way out of Miami. The Heat guard is under contract for next season with a club option for 2014/15, but his play could convince Miami that they can safely let Mario Chalmers go rather than exercise his $4MM option for next year. Alternatively, they could also exercise the option on the KU product and flip him elsewhere.
- Chris Wilcox is a free agent for a second consecutive season, but he says that he would like to return to the Celtics, writes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “I would love to come back and be a part of this, because I just feel like I didn’t. . . . I wasn’t me, you know what I mean? So I want to come back healthy. I want to come back and be healthy right from the start of training camp," Wilcox said.
- The Nuggets' Quincy Miller recently had his contract for next season partially guaranteed at $150K, according to Sham Sports. Miller, who could earn up to $789K next year, had a clause in his deal that gave him a partial guarantee if he was not waived in the week following Denver's elimination from the playoffs.
Relocation Committee Sticks With Sacramento Side
The owners’ relocation and finance committees held a teleconference in the wake of several developments from the Seattle group that is trying to buy the Kings and relocate them. Despite a ramped up effort from Steve Ballmer & Co, the committees decided against their position to recommend the team be kept in Sacramento and not moved to Seattle, a source told Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
A final full vote on the matter is expected to come at the owners’ meetings on Wednesday in Dallas. Without a change in recommendation from the relocation and finance committees, however, it seems unlikely that the final vote will go in Seattle’s direction. Even a vote for Sacramento won’t put the team in billionaire Vivek Ranadive‘s hands, however, as the Maloofs still seem intent on selling to the Seattle side.
Last week, Seattle lead investor Chris Hansen increased his offer for 65 percent of the Kings to a record $409MM, up from $358 million. He also offered a relocation fee payout of roughly $116MM to sweeten the pot for owners who may be on the fence. Meanwhile, the Maloofs say if the Seattle move is blocked, they plan to sell a 20 percent share to Hansen’s group and keep controlling interest in the team.
Poll: Unrestricted Free Agent Shooting Guards
This year's free agent market is fairly underwhelming, especially if you believe that top unrestricted free agent Chris Paul will re-sign with the Clippers. However, it's a pretty solid crop at the two-guard position. Tyreke Evans is undoubtedly the premier restricted free agent in the group, unless you don't consider him to be an actual two-guard. Meanwhile, Monta Ellis, O.J. Mayo, and J.R. Smith all hold player options and could receive massive paydays if they opt out. Beyond those players, you have names such as Kevin Martin of the Thunder and J.J. Redick of the Bucks available as unrestricted free agents. We want to know how you rank the top UFAs at the two-guard position this summer…
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Once you've voted, you can check out the results right here.
Odds & Ends: Wall, Wade, Union, Draft
Sports fans are still feeling the shockwaves from Jay-Z's announcement earlier this year that he would enter the world of player representation for basketball as well as baseball. Recently, Abraham D. Madkour of Sports Business Journal spoke with longtime Jay-Z business partner Steve Stoute, who believes that its high time that someone new got in the game. “His reputation as a businessman has obviously been well-documented, so I don’t need to get into that. I think that there needs to be a new sheriff…David Falk had a long run in basketball and that had to change. Scott Boras had a long run in baseball and that has to change. Those things have to change," Stoute said. Here's more from around the Association..
- The free agent class of 2014 is unbelievably stacked, writes Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld. Cap room for July 2014 will be tremendously important as John Wall (restricted), Dwyane Wade (early termination option), Kobe Bryant, LeBron James (ETO), Carmelo Anthony (ETO), Paul Pierce, Luol Deng, Rudy Gay (player option), Danny Granger, and many many more will be on the open market.
- The NBA players' union, who is still without a chief executive, will have its next meeting pushed back from June to August or September, according to Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal (via Twitter). The union has also yet to hire a firm to lead the search for the next chief.
- The ESPN Insider staff (sub. req'd) held a roundtable discussion on the 2013 draft and opinions are extremely split on who the best player in this class will be. Two of the five scribes like Otto Porter over everyone else but Ben McLemore, Nerlens Noel, and Anthony Bennett also received votes.
Odds & Ends: Jazz, Bulls, Rose
Nothing like a little bit of bonus basketball to liven up a one game Sunday and the Warriors made the most of their extra frame against the Spurs. Stephen Curry has been the posterchild for Golden State throughout the postseason but it was Harrison Barnes who stepped up in a big way as he scored a game high 26 points. Here's tonight's look around the Association as San Antonio and Golden State are knotted at two a piece..
- Coaches without experience are more likely to succeed than retreads are when taking over sub-.500 teams that missed the playoffs the previous season, according to a Charlotte Observer study. A recent Hoops Rumors poll of this year's free agent coaching retreads saw Jerry Sloan voted as the most wanted of the bunch.
- Jody Genessy of The Deseret News rounds up the action from the Jazz's six-player pre-draft workout Saturday, drawing attention to the three playmakers among the group and the team's lack of a pure point guard under contract for next season.
- At the outset of the second round of the Bulls' series against the Heat, Derrick Rose strongly considered returning from his torn ACL injury but ultimately decided not to, a source told Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com. The Bulls are down 2-1 heading into tomorrow night's contest with Miami.
Celtics Notes: Rondo, Garnett, Williams
This figures to be a very interesting offseason in Boston and the club may have to turn the page on Paul Pierce and/or Kevin Garnett. Last week, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com ran down some potential offseason targets for the C's, starting with longshot targets like Josh Smith and David West. More realistic possibilities might include O.J. Mayo and Chris Kaman, depending on their cap room situation. Here's more on the Celtics..
- Even as Danny Ainge insists he won't trade Rajon Rondo, he'll listen if the right offer comes along, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald, who advocates for the Celtics to keep the premier playmaker.
- Ainge is facing a critical summer as the club is in a transitional phase, writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. The Celtics could cut ties with Pierce with an inexpensive $5MM buyout of his deal while Garnett, with two years left, may decide to call it a career.
- Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com gave his year-end report card on mid-season pickup Terrence Williams. The guard spent time in China and came to Boston and earned a B for his latest tenure in green.
Central Notes: Cavs, Brown, Pistons, Bulls
Here's a look at the latest out of the Central division..
- Cavs coach Mike Brown is looking for long-armed perimeter athletes who can defend, rebound and score, and the team views Alonzo Gee, who started all 82 games this season, as a backup, writesTerry Pluto of The Plain Dealer.
- The Pistons' biggest pick won't come in the draft, it'll come in the selection of their next coach, opines Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News. Meanwhile, in the draft, Detroit will have a good deal of swing players to choose from but not much in terms of big men. Character will be important for Joe Dumars & Co. but they're also in a position to groom a young player thanks to their level-headed core.
- The Bulls just might have the right blueprint for today's smaller NBA, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Week In Review: 5/6/13 – 5/12/13
This week the league awards for 2012/13 were announced and there weren't any real surprises. The biggest controversy came when one of the 121 possible first place votes in the MVP race went to Carmelo Anthony rather than LeBron James. The Twitterverse went on a witchhunt to find the culprit and ultimately we learned that the intrepid voter was Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, who penned a column to explain his rationale. Here's a look back at the rest of this week's news on Hoops Rumors..
- After firing P.J. Carlesimo, the Nets reached out to Phil Jackson to fill their coaching vacancy but he turned them down. They're also interested in Larry Brown and Brian Shaw.
- The Sixers hired Sam Hinkie as their new GM.
- The Suns officially have a new GM in place: Ryan McDonough. The former Celtics exec takes over for Lance Blanks, who was recently let go. There were rumblings that the Suns were holding out for Grant Hill to take the job.
- Vinny Del Negro's dismissal from the Clippers seems rather likely at this point.
- J.B. Bickerstaff is on the Pistons' radar.
- The Timberwolves are expected to go hard after O.J. Mayo.
- The Hawks like Stan Van Gundy. So do the Bucks.
- Lionel Hollins says the Grizzlies want him back.
- The Timberwolves cut ties with Brandon Roy.
- The Clippers are publicly confident that Chris Paul will return next season.
- The Hawks are convinced that the situation in L.A. will open the door for them to sign Dwight Howard.
- Things don't sound good for coach Larry Drew and his staff in Atlanta. The coaches have begun looking into other opportunities around the league.
- Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri is hopeful that Andre Iguodala will return to Denver.
- Omer Asik isn't paying attention to the Howard-to-Houston talk.
- The Wolves want to keep Nikola Pekovic.
- Zaza Pachulia and Kyle Korver are interested in returning to the Hawks.
- The Raptors are going to keep Bryan Colangelo.
- The Kings' new ownership has agreed to take in less from the league's revenue sharing program. Meanwhile, the drama continues.
- Andray Blatche wants to return to the Nets.
- No surprise here, Metta World Peace won't opt out.
Hoops Links: Ainge, Nets, Rose, Rockets
On this date in 1985, the Knicks won the NBA Draft Lottery, allowing them to take Georgetown standout Patrick Ewing. The Knicks' good fortune gave way to the biggest conspiracy theory since the release of the Zapruder film as some fans believed that the league's marquee franchise was handed the No. 1 pick.
Got a fantastic basketball blog piece that you want featured on Hoops Rumors? Send your submissions to HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here's this week's look around the web..
- Yahoo Sports says the Celtics' faults start at the top with Danny Ainge.
- The Basketball Post sees a difficult offseason ahead for the Nets.
- Hoops Addict says the speculation on Derrick Rose needs to end.
- Red94 believes that this is the start of great things for the Rockets.
- The Brooklyn Game grades Kris Humphries' difficult season.
- Bright Side Of The Sun says a lot of the pieces currently in Phoenix don't fit the club's vision.
- Hardwood Paroxysm looks at how the Warriors turned the Spurs upside-down.
- Blog A Bull isn't surprised by how Game 2 went.
- Rufus On Fire had some fun with the Bobcats coaching search.
- Celtics Life asks if you would swap Rajon Rondo for Stephen Curry.
- SB Nation makes the case for Alex Len over Nerlens Noel.
- Pounding The Rock looks at the Tony Parker conundrum.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached here.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 5/6/13 – 5/12/13
Here's this week's look back at the original analysis produced by the Hoops Rumors staff this week..
- Luke Adams looked ahead to the Clippers' summer as they hope to hang on to their star point guard.
- There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding Greg Oden, but he could land a multi-year deal this offseason, Luke writes.
- I previewed the summer ahead of the Nets and the challenges that they face as they look to move up a tier in the NBA.
- Chuck looks at how the Nuggets can get even stronger for 2013/14.
- The Rockets are now entering the next phase of their rebuilding process.
- Here's a reminder of the criteria to pull of a sign-and-trade swap.
- Our Prospect Profile series continued with a look at Alex Len.
- Luke re-examined Stephen Curry's extension.
- The Lakers might not shake things up too much, Chuck writes.
- It's going to be an intriguing offseason when it comes to free agent centers.
- George Karl won Coach of the Year but we asked you to weigh in with your own vote.
- Hoops Rumors readers see a possible underdog in the second round.
- Here's how to follow your favorite team on Facebook, Twitter, and RSS.
- Check out the Hoops Rumors agency database.
- Josh Smith is the one power forward on this year's open market with a shot at landing a max deal.
- If you missed out on Luke's weekly chat, you can check out the transcript here.
- Play nice, everyone. Here's a refresher on our commenting policy.