Atkinson Is A Fan Of Brook Lopez
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson proclaimed himself a fan of center Brook Lopez, adding that he views the big man as a vital part of the team’s rebuilding plan, NetsDaily relays. “The first thing I’m really impressed with him –watching him and I’m watching him really closely right now, watching games from the last couple of years — is how well he passes the ball and that’s going to be a big part of our offense, moving the ball,” Atkinson said of Lopez. “He obviously can score the ball. That’s been established. He’s been established as a pro, but I’m really impressed with the way he passes the ball.”
Nets Need To Be Creative This Offseason
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson acknowledged that the team’s lack of draft picks makes rebuilding more difficult, adding that the front office would just need to get creative in remaking the roster, NetsDaily relays. “We’re going to have to look under every rock, and that’s a great thing about the NBA today. I think there’s a lot of different ways to acquire players — D-League, international, free agency,” Atkinosn told reporters. “So I’m excited. I think we can get it done, and I’m ready to get to work. I think we have to focus on our future and think of the different ways we can get players here. We’re not focused on that. Past is the past, and we’re trying to be really creative.”
The new coach tried to temper expectations, noting that it would not be an overnight process to turn things around in Brooklyn, NetsDaily notes. “I think we can build something,” Atkinson said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. I want to see steady improvement on a daily basis. I think we can find some players for the way we want to play. The first thing we have to sell is the change in culture. They have to feel that. A bunch of our players yesterday were saying, ‘we want to be a part of this.’ We have to put it into action now.”
And-Ones: Bender, Anderson, Trimble, Hollins
Dragan Bender’s buyout with Maccabi Tel Aviv is just $1.3MM, which shouldn’t be an obstacle for the team that drafts him, reports Jonathan Givony of The Vertical. Bender, who is projected as a top 10 pick, signed a seven-year contract with the team in 2014 that included a clause requiring a buyout that is twice the amount that NBA teams are permitted to offer. That means whoever drafts Bender will pay $650K to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Bender will contribute the rest out of his rookie contract. Givony called the buyout figure “relatively small” for a player who is expected to be drafted so high.
There’s more news from around the basketball world:
- Kings swingman James Anderson wants to leave the NBA and play in Europe, tweets international journalist David Pick. He mentions Barcelona, Real Madrid and Fenerbahce as possible destinations for Anderson, who opted out of his contract with Sacramento on Wednesday.
- Maryland point guard Melo Trimble is getting close to a decision on whether to stay in the draft or return to school, writes Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel. Trimble, whose draft stock fell as his production slipped during the latter part of his sophomore season, said he has benefited from the NBA’s new rule allowing underclassmen to pull out of the draft by May 25th if they don’t hire agents. After working out for the Bucks on Wednesday, Trimble said he is “leaning toward” his final decision. “At this workout I really found my confidence, just out there playing, being myself,” he said. “And to see [Bucks coach] Jason Kidd on the sideline was just a morale booster. You want to show what you can do best.”
- The Nets stand to save some money if Lionel Hollins becomes an assistant coach with the Rockets, according to NetsDaily (Twitter link). Hollins is being considered as an assistant if the Rockets hire Stephen Silas as their head coach, and whatever Houston pays Hollins would lessen the amount that Brooklyn still owes him.
- Nando De Colo, who played two seasons with the Spurs and Raptors, is free to return to the NBA next season, writes Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops. The French star, who led CSKA Moscow to the Euroleague Final, will become a free agent this summer. “We will talk with Nando de Colo after the end of the season,” said team president Andrey Vatutin. “He knows how much we want to keep him in Europe and in Moscow and we will do what we must. Beyond that the point is 100% what he thinks and what feels more like a challenge. The answer to this question belongs to the player.”
Rockets Consider Silas-Hollins Pairing
12:52pm: The Rockets don’t expect to hire a coach this weekend, tweets Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. The front office wants to take more time to consider its decision.
11:39am: Stephen Silas is getting serious consideration for the Rockets’ head coaching job, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. The Hornets assistant was in Houston for a second interview Thursday and met with team owner Leslie Alexander. If the Rockets hire Silas, they would like to add former Nets coach Lionel Hollins as his top assistant, Feigen reports.
Silas “crushed” his interviews, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, and a Silas-Hollins team is being weighed against a possible pairing of Mike D’Antoni and current Grizzlies assistant Jeff Bzdelik (Twitter link). Raptors assistant Rex Kalamian is a candidate to join the coaching staffs in both Houston and Washington, Wojnarowski adds.
Only 42, Silas already has 16 years of experience as an assistant coach. The son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas was hired by the Charlotte Hornets in 2000 and has also spent time with the Cavaliers and Warriors. The Rockets have liked Hollins for years and had hoped to add him to Kevin McHale’s staff when Kelvin Sampson left, Feigen tweets, but he was hired in Brooklyn before that could happen.
Offseason Outlook: Brooklyn Nets
Hoops Rumors is looking ahead to offseason moves for all 30 teams. We’ll examine free agency, the draft, trades and other key storylines for each franchise as the summer approaches.
Front Office Shakeup
The Nets’ youth movement isn’t starting with the players. After reassigning GM Billy King in January, Brooklyn turned to 40-year-old Sean Marks, who had built a strong reputation as a coach and executive in the Spurs organization. Marks joined San Antonio in 2012 as director of basketball operations and GM for the D-League Austin Toros. He became an assistant coach a year later and was on the bench when the Spurs won the 2014 NBA title. He also won a ring with the organization as a player in 2005, so he brings a championship pedigree that the Nets need. Marks was serving as assistant GM when Brooklyn hired him away.
He takes over maybe the most daunting challenge in the league, trying to rebuild a team that won’t have its own first-round draft pick for the next three seasons. An ill-fated trade with the Celtics in 2013 sent an unprotected first-rounder to Boston this year and in 2018 and gave the Celtics the option to swap picks with the Nets next season. In the absence of high picks, Marks will have to be aggressive in free agency and crafty in trades to bring talent to Brooklyn.
Rookie Head Coach
The Nets are also going with a fresh face on their bench, hiring highly regarded Atlanta assistant Kenny Atkinson four days after the regular season ended. Before joining the Hawks, the 48-year-old Atkinson spent four years as an assistant with the Knicks. He has carved out a reputation as a hard-working, well-prepared coach who is willing to devote extra time to help players develop. Despite glowing reviews for Atkinson, he will need patience from the front office as he embarks on what is likely to be a long rebuilding process.
Spending Spree?
The good news in Brooklyn is that Marks will have plenty of cap room. The only significant salaries on the books for next season belong to center Brook Lopez, who will make nearly $21.2MM, and power forward Thaddeus Young, who is due a little more than $12.25MM. Bojan Bogdanovic ($3,573,020), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($1,395,600), Chris McCullough ($1,191,480) and Sean Kilpatrick ($980,431) are the only only other Nets with guaranteed deals for 2016/17.
The Nets are waiting for option decisions from Wayne Ellington ($1,567,500), Shane Larkin ($1,500,000) and Thomas Robinson ($1,050,961) that could cut their cap space by about $4.1MM if they all opt in. Jarrett Jack may be waived after tearing the ACL in his right knee, with the Nets absorbing his $500K partial guarantee. Add another $5.8MM from buyouts with Deron Williams and Andrea Bargnani, and Brooklyn can expect to have somewhere in the neighborhood of $40MM to spend once July 1 arrives.
Every big-name free agent is probably on the Nets’ wish list, but one name that has been mentioned prominently is Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley. Brooklyn needs someone to take over at that position with Jack’s possible departure, and Conley would represent a major upgrade.
Atkinson addressed the point guard need this week with a football analogy, saying a good one is like having Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers. He said there are “exciting names” available, but surely the list starts with Conley.
Quiet Draft Night?
That 2013 trade with the Celtics took away the Nets’ first-rounder, and a deal with the Clippers gave L.A. pick No. 33, while Brooklyn dropped to 55th as its only selection on draft night.
However, the Nets had a large presence at last week’s draft combine in Chicago and interviewed several top prospects, including Isaiah Whitehead, DeAndre’ Bembry and Cheick Diallo. So it’s possible that Marks is looking at a trade to bring Brooklyn back into the first round.
Roster Decisions
The Nets are expected to make a $1,180,431 qualifying offer to promising young shooting guard Markel Brown. The second-year pro appeared in 62 games this season, averaging 5.9 points per night. Brown’s playing time was cut by coach Lionel Hollins early in the season, but his role increased under interim coach Tony Brown. They also have to decide whether to tender a $1,215,696 offer to rookie power forward Willie Reed. Point guard Donald Sloan and center Henry Sims will be unrestricted free agents, along with small forward Sergey Karasev, whom the Nets cannot offer more than $2,463,754 because they declined their option on his rookie-scale contract in November.
Pillars Of Rebuilding
Marks said this week that both Lopez and Young are in his long-term plans and he isn’t trying to trade either player. Lopez has two years and $43MM left on his contract, while Young is signed at $25MM over the next two seasons with a $13.8MM player option for 2018/19. Marks called them both “teriffic” and “competitive,” and they’re very affordable at those prices in what is expected to be a rapidly escalating NBA salary structure.
Hope For The Future?
The Nets have been plagued by instability ever since the move to Brooklyn. Atkinson is the team’s sixth coach in four years, and only Hollins lasted more than one season. Many observers believed the front office shakeup was long overdue, and now the Nets can plan for the future with a talented young GM and coach. With a shortage of draft picks, Brooklyn won’t be able to rebuild in the traditional way. The franchise will need Marks’ best efforts in talent acquisition and Atkinson’s skills in player development. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov isn’t known for his patience, but if he gives Marks and Atkinson time to succeed, the franchise could be on the right track. If not, the Nets could be back to square one in a couple of years.
Guaranteed Salary
- Brook Lopez ($21,165,675)
- Thaddeus Young ($12,278,652)
- (Deron Williams $5,474,787) — Salary remaining from buyout via stretch provision
- Bojan Bogdanovic ($3,573,020)
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($1,395,600)
- Chris McCullough ($1,191,480)
- Sean Kilpatrick ($980,431)
- Jarrett Jack ($500,000) — Partial guarantee; non-guaranteed portion listed below
- (Andrea Bargnani $323,599) — Salary remaining from buyout
- Total: $46,883,244
Player Options
- Wayne Ellington ($1,567,500)
- Shane Larkin ($1,500,000)
- Thomas Robinson ($1,050,961)
- Total: $4,118,461
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Jarrett Jack ($5,800,000) — Partial guarantee; guaranteed portion listed above
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- Shane Larkin ($1,875,000/$1,875,000) — Pending player option
- Willie Reed ($1,215,696/$1,215,696)
- Markel Brown ($1,180,431/$1,180,431)
- Totals: ($4,271,127/$4,271,127)
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Sergey Karasev ($2,463,754)1
- Wayne Ellington ($1,800,000) — Pending player option
- Thomas Robinson ($980,431) — Pending player option
- Donald Sloan ($980,431)
- Henry Sims ($980,431)
- Total: $7,205,047
Other Cap Holds
- Andray Blatche ($1,788,285)
- Jason Collins ($980,431)
- Jerry Stackhouse ($980,431)
- Total: $3,749,147
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
Footnotes:
- The Nets can’t re-sign Karasev to a contract with a starting salary worth more than the amount listed here because they declined their team option on his rookie scale contract.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
And-Ones: Dunn, Sanders, Calipari, Blatt
Representatives for Providence’s Kris Dunn don’t want him to go to a team with a young point guard already in place and may refuse to release his medical records to the Celtics and Suns, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Speaking on a draft lottery special, Wojnarowski said Dunn’s agents did not submit him for a physical at last week’s draft combine, which would have made his records accessible to everyone. Dunn has undergone two surgical procedures on his right shoulder, and teams may be reluctant to draft him if they are unsure of his current physical status. Dunn has been projected as a possible No. 3 pick, but his camp apparently doesn’t want him to compete for playing time with Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart in Boston or Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight in Phoenix. The Celtics own the third selection in next month’s draft, while the Suns pick fourth.
There’s more news from around the basketball world:
- Rutgers freshman point guard Corey Sanders will withdraw from the draft and return to school, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. There’s little chance that Sanders would have been drafted, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him ranked 73rd among NCAA freshmen and ESPN’s Chad Ford doesn’t have him listed among his top 100 prospects.
- Kentucky coach John Calipari, whose name has been floated for several NBA openings, plans to stay with the Wildcats for the rest of his career, he said in a message on his website. Calipari was considered a candidate for the Nets job after they fired Lionel Hollins in January, and the Kings reportedly spoke to him about taking over for George Karl last summer.
- Spanish power FC Barcelona is interested in former Cavaliers coach David Blatt, according to El Mundo Deportivo (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Blatt recently talked with the Rockets, Kings, Knicks and Lakers about their coaching jobs.
- Twenty-four teams will compete in the Las Vegas Summer League July 8th-18th, the NBA announced today in a press release. The Spurs, coached by Becky Hammon, are the defending champions.
Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Anderson, Terry
The Grizzlies spoke with at least two candidates today as their search for a new coach heats up. Heat assistant David Fizdale came to Memphis for an interview, tweets Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com., as did Portland assistant Nate Tibbetts, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). Both had been previously named as candidates for the job.
Spurs assistant James Borrego impressed Grizzlies officials during his interview earlier this week, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Memphis has also held interviews with Spurs assistant Ettore Messina, Hornets assistant Patrick Ewing and recently fired Pacers coach Frank Vogel (Twitter link). The Grizzlies have significant interest in Vogel, according to ESPN, but so does Orlando (Twitter link).
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Pelicans free agent Ryan Anderson says he was nearly traded to Cleveland at the deadline, relays Brett Dawson of The Advocate. Appearing on “The Vertical Podcast,” Anderson contends the Cavaliers were trying to work out a deal for him before they picked up Channing Frye from Orlando. “There was a very last-minute phone call that I could have gone to Cleveland,” Anderson said. “I would be playing for the Cavs right now.” Anderson said he didn’t ask the Pelicans to trade him because he wants to have the option in free agency of staying in New Orleans. Anderson’s last experience as a free agent came in 2012 when he was restricted and Orlando swung a deal to send him to the Pelicans. This time, he likes the feeling of being in complete control. “I want to enjoy this process and see where New Orleans is at this summer,” Anderson said. “I want to see where, I don’t know, Houston is at or Sacramento or Washington.”
- The Spurs could be interested in power forward Thomas Robinson if he opts out of his deal with the Nets, according to Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News. Robinson would give up a little more than $980K by opting out, but he stands to make much more on the open market with the expected jump in the salary cap. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has talked about the need to rebuild the bench with younger players, and the 25-year-old Robinson, a former teammate of LaMarcus Aldridge in Portland, could be a possibility.
- Rockets point guard Jason Terry thinks Dwight Howard would be a “great fit” with the Mavericks, but only if he adapts to coach Rick Carlisle, according to The Dallas Morning News. “Whatever [Howard’s] role is, he would have to be the one to buy in first, and then you go from there,” Terry said on ESPN Radio’s Cowlishaw and Mosley show. “But he and Dirk [Nowitzki] together? That’s a powerful combination.” The 38-year-old Terry adds that he hopes to play one more season before retiring.
Prokhov Promises Patience
Nets team owner Mikhail Prokhorov indicated that he intends to exercise greater patience than in the past as the franchise attempts to rebuild itself under GM Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com relays. “We’re all on the same page,” Marks told the media during Atkinson’s introductory press conference on Monday. “In talking to Mr. Prokhorov — he sat in, and he was right there interviewing Kenny with me — he made it well clear that things were going to be done a little differently. He’s given us the reins to build this thing our way, and if it takes some time, it does. But we’ll be doing everything we can to turn this thing around quickly.”
Atkinson acknowledged that Brooklyn’s high coaching turnover rate under Prokhorov gave him pause, but trust in Marks helped him overcome his initial reticence regarding the post, Youngmisuk notes. “I think it gives you pause because you look at the past,” Atkinson said on becoming the Nets’ sixth coach since 2012. “But that’s why you meet with ownership, and that’s why my relationship with Sean was important, because he had an intimate conversation, and when I came up here to interview with them, that was part of my question. I was more than satisfied with the answers. We’re going to build something sustainable. We’re going to build something for the long term, so that excited me and convinced me.”
- The Nets worked out former Michigan State center Matt Costello today, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv relays (via Twitter). Costello is a potential late second-rounder, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranking him as the No. 71 overall senior.
- Former Toledo power forward Nathan Boothe has workouts scheduled this week with the Nets and the Pistons, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops relays (via Twitter). Boothe is the No. 46 overall senior, per Givony’s rankings.
Nets Rumors: Young, Lopez, Point Guard
After Thaddeus Young mentioned on Monday that he has been told by the Nets that the team doesn’t intend to move either him or Brook Lopez (Twitter link via Andy Vasquez of The Record), general manager Sean Marks was asked about the topic and essentially confirmed what Young had said, albeit with a caveat.
“I’m certainly not looking to trade them,” the Nets GM said of Young and Lopez, per Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops (Twitter link). “But again, what I’ve said before is you have to be fluid. You never know what’s going to come your way. I hope that they’re part of this. They’re both terrific people. They’re both competitive people. I hope to maximize their talent and help build around them.”
- During his introductory press conference on Monday, new Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson acknowledged that addressing the point guard position will be high on Brooklyn’s to-do list this summer. “It’s like the NFL quarterback,” Atkinson said. “It’s the Drew Brees, it’s the Aaron Rogers. It’s super important.” Atkinson added that there are some “exciting names” expected to be available in free agency at point guard (Twitter links via Vasquez).
Nets To Work Out Melvin Johnson
- Two more players who worked out for the Sixers today – Louisiana-Lafayette forward Shawn Long and VCU guard Melvin Johnson – are getting looks from a handful of other teams too. Per Camerato (Twitter links), Long has the Bucks on Wednesday, the Nuggets on Saturday, and the Rockets and Mavericks next week. Johnson, meanwhile, will work out for the Cavaliers, Nets, and Celtics this week after having worked out for the Spurs and Rockets as well.