Nets Notes: Free Agents, Brown, Wolf, Zanin
Thaddeus Young said he and Brook Lopez have already begun trying to recruit free agents to the Nets, hinting that they’re trying to get in the ear of some superstars, notes Andy Vasquez of The Record (Twitter link). It figures to be a tough sell, given Brooklyn’s poor on-court performance this season and lack of a 2016 first-round pick. The team was reportedly eyeing DeMar DeRozan and Nicolas Batum, both of whom appear in line for max deals, though those reports emerged before the Nets reassigned former GM Billy King. Young could also try to convince John Calipari to come to Brooklyn, since the power forward has a relationship with the college coach who made a strong push to recruit him before he went to Georgia Tech instead, notes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link), though it’s unclear if Young will indeed make such an effort. Here’s more from Brooklyn:
- Owner Mikhail Prokhorov doesn’t see the Nets as being that far away from the top, touting Lopez, Young and the team’s developing players and saying “we need one or two players to make a championship contender” in a televised interview with YES Network’s Sarah Kustok (transcription via NetsDaily).
- Prokhorov wants interim coach Tony Brown to “find out what we have,” Brown said to reporters, indicating that the young players will get plenty of chances to play, Vasquez tweets.
- Assistant Joe Wolf will serve as Brown’s primary aide, notes Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Nets assistant GM Frank Zanin is a quiet type with close ties to King and was a strong advocate for acquiring the rights to draft-and-stash prospect Juan Vaulet, as NetsDaily writes in a profile of the man who’s in charge of the front office while the team searches for King’s replacement.
- TNT’s David Aldridge, writing in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com, wouldn’t be surprised if King recommends former Cavs and Hawks GM Danny Ferry, who was King’s teammate at Duke, for the GM job with the Nets. King will reportedly have input on his successor, though Prokhorov downplayed the idea.
Luke Walton On Nets Coaching Radar
The Nets are eyeing Warriors interim coach Luke Walton, whom they’re likely to consider as they seek a long-term replacement for the fired Lionel Hollins, sources tell Sam Amico of Amico Hoops and Fox Sports Ohio. Other reports have linked the Nets to John Calipari, Monty Williams and, more loosely, Chris Mullin. Nets assistant Tony Brown is serving as Brooklyn’s interim coach in the wake of Sunday’s dismissal of Hollins and reassignment of GM Billy King.
Walton, the NBA’s Western Conference Coach of the Month for November, has the Warriors at 36-2 while Steve Kerr continues to recover from two back surgeries. That’s the best 38-game start in NBA history, and it’s all the more remarkable given Walton’s relative inexperience. He’s just three years removed from having played in 50 games for the Cavaliers in the 2012/13 season, and last season was his first as an NBA assistant. He spent one season as a player development coach for the D-League affiliate of the Lakers in between the end of his playing career and the time Kerr added him to his staff in the summer of 2014.
The 35-year-old has expressed an interest in formally becoming a head coach some day, though it’s “nothing I’m trying to rush into,” as he told Ben Golliver of SI.com in November. Coaching the Nets would seemingly pose a much stiffer challenge than the Warriors do, since Brooklyn is mired in a 10-28 season and without its first-round pick this year. Still, the Nets have $45MM in guaranteed salaries against a projected $89MM cap for this summer, and it would seem likely that the Nets wouldn’t hire Walton until the offseason, though that’s just my speculation.
Walton has a tie to the recently deposed Nets coach. His father, Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton, was a teammate of Hollins’ on the Trail Blazers.
Max Offers Waiting For DeRozan; Likely Batum, Too
Several teams, including the Lakers, are ready to make maximum-salary offers to DeMar DeRozan, and Nicolas Batum is likely to draw max offers, too, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN.com in a piece on the Raptors. Toronto GM Masai Ujiri “has long been connected” to Batum, as Lowe puts it, and Batum’s camp has spoken in the past about his desire to play for the Raptors, as Lowe reported over the summer. However, Batum was vehement in the wake of that offseason report that he wants to remain with the Hornets, and while the Lakers reportedly have a longstanding interest in Southern California native DeRozan, he’s said he’d like to play for Toronto the rest of his career. Indeed, it appears that the most likely outcome for Batum and DeRozan is that they stay put, Lowe concludes, though it appears they’ll be well-compensated to do so.
The pair are eligible for the maximum-salary tier that would give them starting salaries of a projected $24.9MM each. Their incumbent teams can exceed the salary cap using their Bird rights to give them five-year deals with 7.5% raises, while competitors must use cap space and are limited to four-year offers with 4.5% raises. DeRozan was unlikely to command max salaries as recently as a year ago, but improvement in his pick-and-roll play has changed that, as Lowe details. Batum and DeRozan are both in the midst of career seasons that have no doubt enhanced their respective values.
For what it’s worth, both have lists of suitors that reportedly include the Nets, who have $45MM in guaranteed salaries against a projected $89MM cap, leaving not quite enough room to snag both of them. The Lakers have only about $23MM committed, though it’s unclear if they have strong interest in Batum.
Which would you rather have on a max deal, DeRozan or Batum? Leave a comment to tell us.
Nets Eye Monty Williams?
Former Pelicans coach and current Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams is among the names in contention for the freshly opened Nets vacancy, as NetsDaily has been told (Twitter link). Much of the attention has surrounded long-ago Nets coach John Calipari, but he reportedly wants a dual coach/executive role, and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a press conference today that he’d prefer to have a separate coach and GM. Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com heard that the Nets could consider St. John’s coach Chris Mullin, but it’s unclear whether his source was merely speculating.
Williams has quickly built a strong bond with soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant since joining the Thunder staff in the offseason, which certainly won’t hurt the coach’s candidacy for any NBA vacancy. He’s also close with Anthony Davis, his former Pelicans player, but Davis just signed a five-year extension with New Orleans this past summer, shortly after the team canned Williams.
New Orleans experienced an 11-win improvement last year in its final season under Williams, going 45-37 and grabbing the final playoff spot in the Western Conference before falling to the Warriors in a first-round sweep. It was the first time New Orleans had gone to the playoffs since the 2010/11 season, Williams’ first year as coach, when the then-Hornets lost in six games to the Lakers. The New Orleans job is his only NBA head coaching gig to date, though he spent five seasons as a Trail Blazers assistant before he took it, and he’s also served as an assistant coach for Team USA.
Do you think Williams would make sense for the Nets? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Nets Notes: Johnson, Prokhorov, Calipari, Bargnani
Joe Johnson didn’t know about the Nets’ firing of Lionel Hollins until he found out about it on TV, Johnson said today to reporters, including Andy Vasquez of The Record (Twitter link). Still, no indications existed as of late Sunday that the former All-Star has any interest in a buyout from the team, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Owner Mikhail Prokhorov said today that he began to consider the firing of Hollins and reassignment of GM Billy King a month and a half ago, notes Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com, and Prokhorov added that when he finally made the call, it was a “very easy” decision, notes Andrew Keh of The New York Times. See more on the changes in Brooklyn:
- Prokhorov, who pledged a more active role with the Nets, said he plans to meet with every candidate for the team’s vacancies, as Brian Fleurantin of NetsDaily relays in within a transcript of the owner’s press conference today.
- The owner also reiterated that he has no plans to sell the team, cited a desire for chemistry between the next GM and coach, and said, curiously, that, “I’m sure for the next season, we’ll be, I hope, [a] championship contender,” Fleurantin notes.
- Nets CEO Brett Yormark told WFAN radio today that he hasn’t spoken with John Calipari about rejoining the team “yet,” observes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Yormark has reportedly wanted to make a strong pitch to Calipari, though the CEO is apparently not heavily involved in the team’s search.
- Italian team Olimpia Milano plans a run at Andrea Bargnani, a native of Italy, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Milano would love to somehow acquire him by January 28th, when the Eurocup’s transfer window closes, but that’s highly unlikely, and a move during the summer, when Bargnani can opt out of his contract with the Nets, is more realistic, Carchia notes.
Latest On Nets, John Calipari
University of Kentucky coach John Calipari is the primary target of the Nets, who fired coach Lionel Hollins and reassigned GM Billy King on Sunday, several sources close to Calipari and the team told Frank Isola of the New York Daily News late Sunday. However, Calipari took to Twitter this morning to brush off that and other rumors connecting him to the Nets, writing, “You may have heard me say this before: I absolutely have the best coaching job in sports and I plan on being at Kentucky for a long time. I am not negotiating with ANYBODY. My total focus is on this team and winning the next game” (Twitter links). Calipari later said during a conference call that he appreciates the Kentucky job and is “humbled” to be in it, note Josh Newman and Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
The remark about negotiation seemed to be in response to an overnight report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, who heard from league sources who say Calipari has told the Nets, as well as the Kings, that it would take an offer of at least 10 years and $120MM. He’d also demand that he be head coach and have complete control of the front office, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com confirms. Prokhorov today indicated that he’d prefer a separate coach and GM. Assistant GM Frank Zanin is running the front office for the time being and assistant coach Tony Brown is the interim head coach.
Nets CEO Brett Yormark is reportedly prepared to give Calipari whatever he wants, but while he appears to have more influence than in the past, he’s not seen as a major contributor to the decision-making on the next Nets front office chief, according to Windhorst. People who have spoken to the Nets recently instead believe Nets chairman Dmitry Razumov and Irina Pavlova, president of Prokhorov’s ONEXIM Sports and Entertainment holding company and liaison between the owner and team management, will run the search for a new GM and coach, Windhorst hears. A belief is growing across the league that Nets board member Sergey Kushchenko increasingly has Prokhorov’s ear, according to Windhorst. Prokhorov said today that he’ll spend more time than usual in the U.S. while searching for a new GM and coach and told commissioner Adam Silver that he and Razumov intend to take a more hands-on approach during the transition and going forward, as Silver told Harvey Araton of The New York Times.
King, whom the Nets will reassign within the organization, won’t be directly involved in the club’s search for a GM, in spite of reports to the contrary, though he can offer suggestions “as a friend,” Prokhorov said today, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. The ex-GM has a close relationship with Razumov, as Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com points out, though the organization views the 2013 trade to acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett that happened on King’s watch as a “massive mistake,” Mazzeo writes. The ESPNNewYork.com scribe also intimates that King’s fallout with former Nets coach Jason Kidd prompted the GM not to re-sign Pierce, who shares agent Jeff Schwartz with Kidd.
The $120MM is figure that Calipari is reportedly seeking is up somewhat from the $11MM-plus that Calipari told minority owners of the Kings that he wanted this summer, as Wojnarowski also reports. The Cavs offered 10 years and $80MM in 2014, but he turned that down, Wojnarowski adds. Calipari receives nearly annual extensions from Kentucky, having signed one this past spring worth $54MM plus bonuses, Windhorst notes. Calipari’s previous coaching relationships with several prominent future free agents represent his allure to NBA teams, but some people close to his former Kentucky players say they’re reluctant to again endure the coach’s caustic style, according to Wojnarowski. Some around Calipari would prefer he join the Kings rather than the Nets, who have more limited maneuverability to improve, Wojnarowski also writes.
Many people around the league “believe there is more smoke than fire” when it comes to the idea of Calipari returning to the NBA, but his failed tenure with the Nets in the late 1990s is his greatest regret in basketball, sources tell Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
Assistant GM Frank Zanin To Run Nets Front Office
Assistant GM Frank Zanin is in charge of the Brooklyn front office in the wake of the team’s removal of Billy King from the GM role, owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a press conference today, notes Andy Vasquez of The Record (Twitter link). The owner said he’ll be in contact with Zanin every day if necessary, as NetsDaily relays (on Twitter). Prokhorov will continue to search for a permanent front office chief, as well as a new coach, and said he will spend more time in the U.S. rather than his home in Russia as he does so, though he cautioned that he’s in no hurry to fill the team’s vacancies, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
The February 18th trade deadline is less than six weeks away, so Zanin will be busy. He’s a discipline of King’s, having gotten his start in the NBA as a video intern with the Sixers while King was the GM of that team. He later served as video coordinator, scout and assistant coach for Philadelphia before rejoining King in Brooklyn. He became one of two assistant GMs in 2013/14, and this season served as the club’s sole assistant GM after the team elected not to retain Bobby Marks.
Prokhorov said he has no plans to hire CSKA Moscow team president Andrey Vatutin, who had been rumored as his top choice to replace King, tweets Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The owner also indicated a preference for a separate GM and coach, which would seem to cast doubt on the idea of the team hiring John Calipari, another rumored candidate, observes Chris Mannix of SI.com (on Twitter). Still, Prokhorov declined to address the notion of Calipari’s candidacy, aside from calling him a “great coach,” as Lewis relays (Twitter link).
And-Ones: Nets, Mullin, Stoudemire
Current St. John’s coach and former Warriors GM Chris Mullin, who is from Brooklyn, is a name that Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com has heard in regards to the Nets’ new head coaching vacancy (Twitter link). This is the first mention of Mullin in connection to the Nets that we’ve learned of and it is not yet known how serious a candidate he is to consider.
In other news regarding the Nets’ shakeup today, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com hears reports that claim former GM Billy King will advise in the search for his successor are “totally true” (Twitter link).
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Amar’e Stoudemire considered signing with the Suns, which is one of his former teams, over the summer before he joined the Heat, opting to instead play on a title contender, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports (scroll down). The Suns drafted Stoudemire in 2002. He captured the Rookie of the Year award and made five All-Star teams with the Suns. “That’s why I chose Miami, but Phoenix is still not ruled out,” Stoudemire said. “I have a lot of basketball left in me.” Stoudemire, 33, will be a free agent again this summer.
- Point guard Jordan Farmar, who last played in the league in 2014/15 for the Clippers and is mostly known for his time with the Lakers, wants to be back in the NBA and would not turn down a 10-day contract, international journalist David Pick reports (on Twitter). Farmer parted ways with Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv today after signing overseas in July, according to the team’s Twitter (h/t Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
- Tyson Chandler‘s four-year, $52MM pact with the Suns was one of the summer’s worst free agent deals because the 33-year-old has struggled mightily with his new team, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders opines. Omer Asik‘s contract with the Pelicans and Kyle Singler‘s deal with the Thunder also made Basketball Insiders’ list.
- After making the playoffs last season and then signing Greg Monroe, the Bucks are a disappointing 15-24, but with young stars on the roster, Milwaukee’s position is still an enviable one going forward, Ian Thomsen of NBA.com writes. There is still a lot of hope that the Bucks can contend beyond this season because Jabari Parker is 20, Giannis Antetokounmpo is 21 and Monroe is 25, Thomsen adds. With another top-10 pick likely coming in June, the Bucks remain in good shape for the long-term, Thomsen contends.
New York Notes: King, Westphal, Murry
Former Nets GM Billy King was reassigned today and part of his new role will include advising ownership in the search for his own successor, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. The situation is quite odd, considering King was pushed out of the job by owner Mikhail Prokhorov, Wojnarowski writes. It’s not unusual for an exiting executive to help in the search for a replacement, however. As Wojnarowski points out, former Nets GM Rod Thorn had played a part in hiring King upon Thorn’s departure from the Nets in 2010, but the difference in that example is that Thorn had resigned from his position and was not forced out, Wojnarowski adds.
Here’s more news from a busy day out of the Big Apple:
- Respected and longtime coach Paul Westphal will no longer serve as an assistant coach for the Nets in the wake of Lionel Hollins‘ firing earlier today, Westphal’s wife, Cindy, writes on Facebook (h/t Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily). After parts of 10 seasons as a head coach, Westphal had no desire to coach again until Hollins approached him to be his top guy with the Nets, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com wrote in 2014. Westphal’s loyalty to Hollins was too strong to allow him to stay with Brooklyn, Puccio writes.
- The Knicks, who have reportedly been shopping for backcourt help, scouted shooting guard Toure’ Murry at the D-League Showcase event in Santa Cruz, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News tweets. Of course, it’s important to note that nearly every team is scouting someone at the event and that does not necessarily mean a deal is imminent, as Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets. Murry is averaging 14.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game with the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ D-League affiliate. Murry, whom the Jazz mulled signing in December, played in 51 games with the Knicks in 2013/14, his rookie season.
- It likely doesn’t matter whom the Nets hire as their next head coach because the organization is still paying for mistakes made in the early days of moving to Brooklyn, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post opines. The Nets’ history of acquiring flashy names such as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson has had long-term consequences, Bontemps adds. There is no one in the organization that is capable of stepping into the general manager’s job at the moment, according to Bontemps.
Reactions To Nets Shakeup
Former Nets coach Lionel Hollins told Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link) that he received a call from former GM Billy King, who was reassigned today, telling him that he had been let go, but expressed gratitude nonetheless. Hollins, as Mazzeo points out, still has one and a half years left on his contract.
“I’m thankful to Billy and Mikhail [Prokhorov] and Dmitry [Razumov] for the opportunity to have coached the Nets,” Hollins told Mazzeo. “I’m disappointed to where it didn’t work out to where we didn’t have playoff success and fans weren’t celebrating in the streets of Brooklyn.”
Here is more news and reactions to Brooklyn’s decision to fire Hollins and reassign King:
- Nets assistant GM Frank Zanin will be retained, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reports (on Twitter). Zanin has been involved with most of the day-to-day team business, including trade talks, according to Mannix.
- Still, it’s unclear who would be answering the phones if a team called regarding trade talk, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post hears after speaking with multiple sources (Twitter link).
- While the timing of the moves was surprising to some, considering how close the trade deadline is, some executives around the league were always surprised King was able to keep his job with Brooklyn for as long as he did, Ian Begley of ESPN.com passes along (on Twitter).
- Nets CEO Brett Yormark, who is reportedly enamored with John Calipari, is someone who is having his voice heard more now within the organization, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News tweets.
- Tom Thibodeau would be an ideal fit as the next coach for the Nets because of his ability to maximize players’ talents on defense, Sean Deveney of the Sporting News writes in a list of top candidates to replace Hollins. Thibodeau is seen as a logical choice for other potential openings and will come at a hefty price, Deveney adds. Among other names Deveney mentions as top candidates are: Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Patrick Ewing.
- Prokhorov did not like Hollins’ public criticism of players, NetsDaily tweets.
- Former Hawks GM Danny Ferry, who interviewed with the Nets before the job went to King, is still unemployed and has some baggage, but it’s worth noting his father, Bob, is a Nets scout, Bondy tweets.