Detroit Pistons Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Pistons, Smart, Singleton

June 13th, 2014 at 6:43pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Adi Joseph of USA Today breaks down the Pistons‘ draft needs. Joesph opines that the team needs to focus on obtaining a backup center, mentioning Mitch McGary as a good fit. He also believes the team needs outside shooting help, with DeAndre Daniels and Jordan Adams listed as possibilities. Lastly, Joseph thinks the team needs a stretch four that can help spread defenses, and lists Adreian Payne as the ideal fit, though it is unlikely Payne will be available when the Pistons are on the clock with the 38th pick.

Here’s more news from the east:

Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe writes that Marcus Smart wouldn’t mind being drafted by the Celtics, despite the presence of Rajon Rondo as a starter. Smart said, “Rondo is one of the greatest point guards to ever play this game. If I’m fortunate enough and Boston picks me, and that means I have to sit on the bench and play behind Rondo, that’s an honor, to learn from one of the greatest point guards of that position, especially me playing the point guard position.”
Smart really impressed the Celtics in today’s workout, reports Brian Robb of Boston.com. Smart has embraced the competition in these joint pre-draft workouts, which is a departure from a number of lottery prospects who have stuck to individual workouts, notes Robb. Smart said, “I told my agent, you see all these guys dodging. My biggest attribute, to me, I’m a competitor. I show my best skills when the game’s on the line, when somebody’s guarding me, and there’s competition. Whoever you put in front of me, I’m not going to back down. I’ve never backed down from a challenge. That’s not me. That’s not what my makeup is. In a sense, it’s kind of showing the teams that it doesn’t matter [who I face]. I’m supposed to be ranked one of the top guards here, but I’m still playing against guys that’s lower [ranked] than me that might have a chance – if they do this, if they do that – to move up in the rankings. But that doesn’t scare me because of who I am.”
The Wizards declined to pick up Chris Singleton’s fourth-year option prior to this past season making him an unrestricted free agent this summer. Brandon Parker of The Washington Post looks at some important statistics from Singleton’s 2013/14 campaign.

Draft Notes: Celtics, Lakers, Kings, Randle

June 11th, 2014 at 2:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

We rounded up the latest on draft workouts around the league this morning, but updates continue to pour in, so we’ll pass along draft-related news from this afternoon here:

Chad Ford of ESPN.com, in a chat with readers, identifies the Celtics, Lakers and Kings as the three teams most likely to trade their top-10 picks.
Julius Randle will have an individual workout with the Celtics, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
Nik Stauskas is set to work out for the Suns, in addition to previously reported workouts with the Hornets, Celtics, and Lakers, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, who hears that those will be the only auditions Stauskas will do (Twitter links).
Gary Harris, T.J. Warren, K.J. McDaniels are among those showing off for the Sixers today, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The Jazz will interview Spencer Dinwiddie next week, a source tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Dinwiddie is recovering from a torn ACL and can’t work out, as Jones points out (Twitter links).
James Michael McAdoo, Jake Odum, Ronald Roberts Jr. and Scottie Wilbekin are scheduled to work out Thursday for the Pacers, the team announced (on Twitter).
Jordan Clarkson, David Stockton, Cameron Clark, Davante Gardner, Richard Solomon and Tyler Stone are auditioning for the Suns today, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press adds Jordan Bachynski and Dwight Powell to the list of players working out for the Pistons. Okaro White is also showing off for the Pistons, as well as the Warriors, as Natalie Pierre of the Tallahassee Democrat details (hat tip to Ellis).

Eastern Notes: Rambis, Jefferson, Snell, Sixers

June 10th, 2014 at 4:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers have granted the Knicks permission to interview assistant coach Kurt Rambis for a job on head coach Derek Fisher‘s staff, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Rambis is willing to listen, Medina hears. Rambis also remains a candidate for the Lakers head coaching job, but it’s uncertain whether he’d be retained as a Lakers assistant if they go with someone else for the head job, as Medina points out. Here’s more news related to Eastern Conference teams:

Al Jefferson is recruiting free agents to come to Charlotte, and Hornets coach Steve Clifford is confident that the mere presence of the Third-Team All-NBA center makes the Hornets more attractive to potential signees, writes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
The Bulls remain sold on Tony Snell as a rotation-caliber talent, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune details in his latest mailbag column. Johnson also says he’d be “shocked” if the Bulls don’t address their shooting via the draft.
The New Jersey state government gave the OK this morning for the Sixers to build a practice facility in Camden, reports Julia Terruso of the Philadelphia Inquirer, prompting the team to announce plans for the facility. GM Sam Hinkie and coach Brett Brown have contended that the facility will be key to attracting free agents.
The Celtics are among the teams that have worked out draft lottery prospect Doug McDermott, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com notes in his Insider-only mock draft.
Isaiah Austin and Cory Jefferson will audition for the Pistons, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
The Wizards will work out LaQuinton Ross, Devyn Marble, Jarell Eddie, Okaro White and Kendall Williams, the team announced.
Semaj Christon, DeAndre Kane, Drew Crawford, Sebastian Koch and Talib Zanna are among those who’ll perform for the Hornets on Wednesday, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter links). Crawford was also scheduled to show off for the team last week.
Alex Kirk is working out for the Hornets this week, too, and he’ll also do so for the Raptors, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.

Lowe’s Latest: Stephenson, Horford, Hamilton

June 10th, 2014 at 9:10am CST by Chuck Myron

Zach Lowe’s weekly column for Grantland, always required reading for NBA fans, focuses this week on Lance Stephenson, and Lowe classifies the Hornets and Pistons as the Pacers‘ stiffest competition for the unrestricted free agent shooting guard this summer. A February report made note of Charlotte’s interest, but it’s unclear if the Pistons are indeed planning a pursuit. Still, Lowe has plenty of intel on Stephenson and others from around the league, and we’ll hit the highlights here:

The Hawks made Al Horford available to other teams at the trade deadline in a “very targeted fashion,” sources tell Lowe.
Multiple execs have pegged the Kings as a potential suitor for Stephenson if Rudy Gay opts out, Lowe reports, but Lowe suggests that Gay is planning to opt in. The last dispatch from Gay signaled that he was torn about what to do with his player option, worth more than $19.3MM, so it’s unclear if Lowe is merely making an educated guess or if he’s heard indications that Gay will indeed pick up the option.
Plenty of rival executives have mentioned the Pelicans as a sign-and-trade possibility for Stephenson, writes Lowe, who nonetheless doesn’t see a fit.
Jordan Hamilton has piqued the curiosity of teams from around the league, according to Lowe. The Grantland scribe mentions Hamilton among possibilities for teams looking to split the $5.305MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception between two players, and that looks like ominous news for Houston’s hopes of re-signing him. The Rockets are limited to offering a starting salary of no more than $2,109,294, as I explained at the bottom of Houston’s offseason outlook last week.

Eastern Notes: Pistons, Hornets, Dolan, Celtics

June 8th, 2014 at 8:50am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Pistons have big plans for their new NBA D-League team in Grand Rapids, writes David Mayo of MLive. Coach and president of basketball operations, Stan Van Gundy intends to use the D-League as a major part of their development plan for young players, reports Mayo. Van Gundy said, “If you get that coach integrated with what you’re doing, and you’re playing the same system and everything else, I think that D-League thing can be very, very valuable. And we’ll take the hiring of that coach as a very big part of our staff because I think it can be that valuable.“

More news from the east:

If the Hornets don’t want to regress next season they will have to add some offensive weapons to their roster, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
Knicks owner James Dolan needs to observe how Heat owner Micky Arison and Spurs owner Peter Holt do business, writes Mitch Lawrence of The New York Daily News. Lawrence cites Dolan’s tendency to meddle in basketball affairs as one of the main issues affecting the franchise’s ability to rebuild and contend.
If the Celtics want to acquire Kevin Love from the Timberwolves the possibility of re-signing him will be directly tied to what GM Danny Ainge decides to do with Rajon Rondo, writes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Without Love the team has less of a reason to retain Rondo, and without Rondo the team would be less likely to entice Love to stay in Boston, opines Murphy.

Flip Saunders To Coach Timberwolves

June 6th, 2014 at 1:10pm CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 1:10pm: The Wolves officially announced that Saunders will serve as their head coach and held an afternoon press conference.

THURSDAY, 11:19am: The move doesn’t affect Love’s thought process regarding an exit from the Wolves, sources tell Stein, largely echoing an earlier report from Holmes, as we passed along below (Twitter link).

11:05am: The coaching agreement between Saunders and Taylor is “open-ended” in terms of length, meaning Saunders will have the opportunity to revisit a search for someone else to coach the team in the future, Zgoda writes.

10:41am: Sources tell Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe that they strongly doubt Saunders’ decision to coach the team himself will convince Love to stay in Minnesota (Twitter link).

10:23am: Mitchell and Sidney Lowe are expected to become assistant coaches under Saunders, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. There doesn’t appear to be a timetable for Saunders to coach, and neither Mitchell nor Lowe is a “coach in waiting,” Zgoda adds via Twitter. It’s unclear whether Billups will be a part of the staff, Zgoda also tweets, noting that he’s heard that Billups would prefer a basketball executive job, which falls in line with the guard’s assertion in March that several teams had gauged his interest in joining their front offices.

10:08am: Saunders has confirmed the news to Stein, and Saunders will continue to have the ultimate authority in the front office and work in concert with GM Milt Newton, Krawczynski hears (Twitter links).

9:54am: Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders will coach the team next season, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link). The news comes just minutes after Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported that Saunders was strongly considering the move. The team failed to gain traction with several other coaching candidates, and while the prospect of Saunders returning to the team’s bench has been in play since before former coach Rick Adelman retired at season’s end, it never appeared to be the team’s first choice.

Saunders is likely to target Chauncey Billups for an assistant coaching position, even though Billups remains under contract as a player with the Pistons. Detroit has a $2.5MM team option on Billups for next season, but he’s indicated that he’s thinking about retiring. Saunders will also reach out to Israeli league coach David Blatt and one-time Wolves head coaching candidate Sam Mitchell for jobs on his staff, Krawczynski hears (Twitter link).

Saunders’ decision to coach is met with excitement from Ricky Rubio‘s camp, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities, pointing out that negotiations over Rubio’s rookie scale extension will begin soon (Twitter link). Perhaps of greater concern to the Wolves and teams around the league is how Kevin Love will receive the move. The team had reportedly been holding off on trading Love, who appears to want out of Minnesota, until they named a new coach, ostensibly to allow the team to have its house in order before it lobbies a strong effort to convince Love to stay.

The Wolves had interviewed Mitchell, Scott Skiles, Vinny Del Negro and Lionel Hollins in addition to Dave Joerger, who seemed to come within a hair’s breadth of becoming the team’s coach before he patched up his relationship with the Grizzlies and signed an extension to stay in Memphis. The Wolves also reportedly went after high profile college coaches Fred Hoiberg, Billy Donovan and Tom Izzo, but apparently had no luck prying them from campus. The team also appeared to have interest in Stan Van Gundy, but it wasn’t mutual, and he wound up taking a dual front office/coaching role with the Pistons much like the one Saunders is embracing in Minnesota.

Saunders said “never say never” on multiple occasions this spring when asked about the prospect of coaching the team himself, though he had publicly downplayed the possibility. There were mixed messages about whether Saunders wanted to coach and whether owner Glen Taylor was on board with the idea, but Wolfson says Taylor was always going to proceed with whatever plan Saunders had in mind (Twitter link). Saunders returns to the role in which he took the Wolves to all eight of their postseason appearances during his tenure on the team’s bench from 1995-2005. He went on to coach the Pistons and Wizards before taking over the Wolves front office last year, and is 638-526 in parts of 16 seasons as an NBA head coach.

Central Rumors: Cavs, Van Gundy, Love

June 5th, 2014 at 6:20pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Cavs’ head coaching vacancy could filled within the next 10 days, reports Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (on Twitter). The team has been linked to Alvin Gentry, Vinny Del Negro, Lionel Hollins, and Tyronn Lue, but Amico adds in the same tweet that there’s a mystery candidate in the mix for the job who hasn’t been revealed to the media. Here’s the latest from the Central:

The Cavs have interest in LaMarcus Aldridge, but it’ll be tough to pry the big man away from Portland after the Blazers’ unexpectedly strong season, writes Amico in a full-length piece. Cleveland has also shown interest in Joakim Noah, says Amico, noting the club is just “lukewarm” on Al Horford.
Two teams with lottery picks have contacted the Cavs, passes along Amico in the same piece. Each club would ostensibly be interested in moving up in the draft by dealing for the number one overall selection.
When Stan Van Gundy was hired by the Pistons, he told staff members left over from the previous management team that they would have a six week working interview to prove they belong in the organization, explains David Mayo of Mlive.
Bulls management holds Carmelo Anthony in higher esteem than Kevin Love, according to Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Friedell says it’s true Chicago would be excited to add Love, but the team sees ‘Melo as their primary target this summer.

Wolves Rumors: Love, Saunders, Hoiberg

June 5th, 2014 at 4:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

There was a time when Flip Saunders thought he had convinced friend Tom Izzo to take the Wolves coaching job, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Saunders also asked Jeff Van Gundy, with whom he is also close, about his interest in the job, Zgoda adds. The Wolves president of basketball operations ultimately picked himself to fill the team’s coaching vacancy, and he joins Doc Rivers, Stan Van Gundy and Gregg Popovich among NBA coaches with front office decision-making power. Here’s more on the Wolves:

Love wouldn’t have been convinced to stay with the Wolves even if they had hired Phil Jackson as coach, a source tells USA Today’s Sam Amick.
The power forward became disconnected from the team toward the end of the season, and the club grew to accept he didn’t want to stay, as Steve Aschburner of NBA.com details. Saunders’ decision to coach wasn’t as much about convincing Love to remain as it was about taking a hands-on approach with whomever the club can get in return for him, according to Aschburner, echoing a sentiment that Zgoda expressed earlier via Twitter.
Saunders had concerns that he’d clash with a veteran coach if he hired one, and Izzo, Fred Hoiberg and Billy Donovan were all wary of Love’s uncertain future when they turned down the job, Aschburner also hears.
It’s far more likely that Saunders will target experienced players in a trade for Love than he is to go after draft picks, as Amick surmises in his piece.

Earlier updates:

The Wolves made Dave Joerger an offer to coach the team before he decided to remain with the Grizzlies, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com says in a video report. Joerger interviewed with Saunders and Taylor and appeared quite close to becoming the team’s coach, but it wasn’t entirely clear whether the team had indeed offered the job to him.
Chauncey Billups told James Herbert of CBSSports.com earlier this season that he didn’t want to coach, lending credence to earlier reports suggesting the same and casting doubt on the idea that he’ll become an assistant coach for the Wolves next season (Twitter link).
David Blatt looks like Saunders’ top choice if he decides to hire an assistant he can groom to take over the coaching duties in a year or two, according to Darren Wolfson and Nate Sandell of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Blatt is the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.
Minnesota will likely offer Kevin Garnett a front office role and a chance to buy a minority stake in the team once he retires, writes Jackie MacMullan of ESPNBoston.com. We rounded up more from her story centering on Kevin Love‘s future late last night.
Love is a calculating type, and he wants to get to the Knicks or the Lakers as quickly as possible, The Oregonian’s John Canzano believes, opining that the Knicks would be an especially appealing suitor for the power forward in free agency next summer.

Saunders Strongly Considers Coaching Wolves

June 5th, 2014 at 9:48am CST by Chuck Myron

Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders is strongly considering filling the team’s coaching vacancy with himself, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Saunders would target Chauncey Billups for an assistant coaching position in that scenario, Stein adds (Twitter links). Billups remains under contract with the Pistons, who hold a $2.5MM team option on him for next season, but he’s indicated that he’s mulling retirement.

The idea of Saunders becoming Minnesota’s head coach next season, reprising the role he had from 1995 to 2005, is not new, but it appears as though the team is circling around to it after failing to gain traction with other coaching candidates.

Stan Van Gundy On Bower, Monroe, Drummond

June 4th, 2014 at 4:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pistons owner Tom Gores and his partners had an active role in the search for GM Jeff Bower, as coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy told reporters, including MLive’s Brendan Savage. Van Gundy said he sees the influence as a positive, giving him confidence that he can have a successful working relationship with the club’s owners, Savage notes. Van Gundy had plenty more to say as the team introduced Bower to the media, and we’ll round up his most relevant comments via Savage and Perry Farrell of the Detroit Free Press.

On the front office dynamic between him and Bower:

“Jeff is going to be our general manager on a day-to-day basis. He’s going to be talking to assistant general managers and the scouts and dealing with agents on the phone and things like that. I’ll be much more involved at this time of the year but as we get into the season, it will look like a pretty conventional NBA franchise. What we want is a collaboration process with a lot of hard-working, intelligent people who are thinking and then we use the process to come to a decision. I look at my role in this … as more working with Jeff to develop a vision and strategy of where we want to be and then Jeff will be the primary guy. This will be Jeff’s front office. I’ll be involved. We’ve talked about lines of communication to keep me involved. But day-to-day, he’ll be the one running things.”

On the front office chain of command:

“I know how important the general manger is in this thing. The general manager is going to have just about as much authority as he has anywhere. I guess at the end of the day, if we totally disagreed on who to sign, yeah I’ll be the one [to make the final decision]. I don’t think it will come to that.”

On Greg Monroe‘s fit with the Pistons:

“Before you talk about style of play we have a current roster right here, right now and we’ve got to build around that, and I think a key piece around that right now is the Greg Monroe situation as a restricted free agent. What’s going to go on there? With Greg and Andre [Drummond] you certainly have to play a little bit differently than we played in Orlando. That doesn’t mean you still can’t find a fit. We have two of the best young guys in the league. I value Greg Monroe highly. I do want him here, but obviously when you’re dealing with a free agent, even restricted free agents, the situation gets a little more complicated.”

On his interaction with Monroe and agent David Falk:

“We’ve sat down face-to-face and they know how highly I value him. Greg Monroe is a very good young talent. He has great offensive skills. He has very high character. Those are things we value a great deal. I hope he’s here for the long haul.”

On his pitch to Monroe:

“I’ve tried to sell him on our vision. I told him I have a pretty good track record with big guys being successful.”