Eastern Notes: Heat, Robinson, Bobcats, Pistons
The Nets' win in Chicago last night ensured that we'll get at least one Game Seven in the first round of this year's playoffs, but if we're lucky, we could do a lot better than that. With four Game Sixes on tap for tonight, including two more Eastern Conference series, there's a chance this year's first round could break the NBA record for most Game Sevens in a single playoff round. According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter), there has never been more than three in a round. As we look forward to tonight's packed slate, let's check out some notes from around the East….
- In his latest mailbag, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel notes that Patrick Beverley is in a good spot in Houston and that the Heat won a title without him, a win-win situation for both sides. However, Winderman adds that a defensive third-string point guard like Beverley could have come in handy for Miami, and "it's not as if there wasn't roster space to try to make it work." The Heat signed Beverley to a guaranteed two-year deal in 2010, but cut him shortly thereafter.
- Nate Robinson figures to land more than a veteran's minimum contract in free agency this summer, but don't bank on him receiving a huge raise, writes Tom Ziller of SBNation.com.
- With at least five candidates already in the mix for the Bobcats' head coaching opening, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer anticipates a search as wide-ranging as last year's. Charlotte's hunt for a coach last May involved so many names that I dedicated a post at the time to keeping them all straight.
- Vince Goodwill of the Detroit News breaks down nine potential candidates for the Pistons' head coaching opening, in slideshow form. GM Joe Dumars and owner Tom Gores will be advised by Phil Jackson in the Pistons' search, as the team announced yesterday.
Phil Jackson Remains Open To NBA Opportunities
The Pistons announced yesterday that Phil Jackson has agreed to serve in an advisory capacity to help the team find its next head coach. Despite the agreement, Jackson won't assume a formal role in the Pistons' front office, and remains open to other opportunities. According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne, Jackson's role as an advisor for the Pistons "does not foreclose any options."
Stein and Shelburne report that Jackson won't be paid for his assistance to the Pistons, and that the agreement represents an "act of friendship" between Jacksons and team owner Tom Gores. Presumably, Jackson's stint as a club consultant will come to an end once the team completes a coaching search that has led them to interview Nate McMillan and Lindsey Hunter so far.
The Raptors have been mentioned as an aggressive suitor for Jackson, though Toronto is far from the only one. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported earlier this week that a number of teams have reached out to Jackson via "back channels" to discuss a potential front office role with him, and that other clubs may still try to recruit the Zen Master as a head coach.
Jackson told the San Francisco Chronicle last week that he'd spoken to "three or four teams" about a front office position. Perhaps he has already ruled out a couple of those opportunities, but it's possible more have arisen since then.
Coaching Rumors: Bucks, Pistons, Bobcats, 76ers
Earlier this morning, we passed along word that the Sixers have received permission to interview Michael Malone and Jeff Hornacek for their head coaching position. Philadelphia is currently one of four teams actively seeking a new coach, but that number figures to increase in the coming weeks. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com has a little more on the Sixers and other teams exploring the coaching market, so let's round up the highlights from his piece:
- Nate McMillan, who has met with the Pistons twice, is also near the top of the Bucks' list of targets, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
Earlier updates:
- After the Bucks parted ways with Jim Boylan yesterday, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Stan Van Gundy and Kelvin Sampson were expected to be among Milwaukee's top targets. According to Berger, both Van Gundy and Sampson will interview with the Bucks. Lakers assistant Steve Clifford is also expected to be considered for the position.
- Bucks GM John Hammond is seeking a defensive-minded coach who can "control the locker room," says Berger.
- Pistons owner Tom Gores is taking a lead role in in the club's coaching search, with one source telling Berger that Gores is "looking to put his stamp on this one." Sampson and Nate McMillan are among the Pistons' potential candidates.
- Sampson, McMillan, Nate Tibbetts, and Quin Snyder will likely all be considered by the Bobcats, according to Berger.
- In addition to the Philadelphia targets we've already heard about, the Sixers are eyeing Heat assistant David Fizdale, says Berger, adding that the team is also doing its homework on potential GM candidates.
- Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni would like to add a defense-first assistant to his staff, and McMillan may be his first choice. However, with McMillan a decent bet to land a head coaching job this summer, D'Antoni may turn to former Suns coach Alvin Gentry, according to Berger.
- Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times also provides a coaching update this morning, tweeting that he has been told Jerry Sloan is "seriously considering" returning to the sidelines.
Odds & Ends: Pistons, Kings, Draft, Balkman
Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game reported in March that the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is adopting a tournament-style format this year, and the league confirmed the news today. The games will take place between July 12th and July 22nd, and while the move promises excitement, the contests won't necessarily have much meaning. Damian Lillard won the circuit's co-MVP honors last summer to kick off his Rookie of the Year campaign, but the other co-MVP was Josh Selby, who's been out of the NBA since March. While we wait to see how the revamped summer league shakes out, there's plenty of other NBA news:
- Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press compares Nate McMillan and Lindsey Hunter, the presumptive frontrunners for the Pistons coaching vacancy. The team is still expected to consider a wide range of candidates, and that list includes Pacers assistant Brian Shaw and Heat assistant David Fizdale, according to Ellis.
- Dale Kasler, Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee lay out the myriad contingencies still remaining in the Kings saga after the NBA's relocation committee recommended this week that the team stay in Sacramento.
- Four HoopsWorld writers have Nerlens Noel penciled in as the No. 1 pick, but Joe Kotoch of SheridanHoops.com has the Kentucky center at No. 2, behind Kansas shooting guard Ben McLemore.
- Renaldo Balkman has signed to play for Brujos de Guayama in Puerto Rico, Luis Modestti reports (translation via Sportando). The former Knicks first-round pick received a one-year ban from playing in the Philippines earlier this season after choking a teammate.
- Marc Stein of ESPN.com appeared on KESN-FM in Dallas this week, and pegged the Mavericks' chances of signing Dwight Howard at 10%, according to a Dallas Morning News transcription. Stein thinks Howard is still most likely to re-sign with the Lakers.
- Jeff Caplan of NBA.com takes an optimistic view of Howard's future with the Lakers, believing Howard will re-sign and, freed of speculation about his next destination, fulfill his promise as a superstar.
Amico On Lakers, World Peace, Van Gundy, Scott
Mitch Kupchak has been Lakers GM since 2000, the year the team won the first of its five championships with Kobe Bryant, but this is his most important offseason to date, opines Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Just months after it appeared Kupchak might be a candidate for Executive of the Year for his role in building a team primed for a title run, the pressure's on him to clean up the mess of a season gone wrong. Amico goes over the Lakers' to-do list for the summer, and drops news from both L.A. teams and other NBA outposts, as we detail here:
- The Lakers are privately hoping Metta World Peace exercises his early-termination option to get out of his $7.727MM contract for next season, according to Amico. World Peace hasn't given any hints about his intentions, though I'd be surprised if he turns down the money.
- Stan Van Gundy reportedly doesn't want to return to coaching yet, but he may be holding out to see if the Clippers job opens up, Amico hears, adding that Van Gundy has sent signals that he's not interested in the Pistons vacancy.
- Sources tell Amico that Byron Scott may become a candidate to take over as Suns coach if the team doesn't retain interim boss Lindsey Hunter, who appears to be on his way out.
Latest On Pistons, Bobcats Coaching Searches
3:21pm: The Bobcats have also requested permission to interview Rockets assistant Kelvin Sampson, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Sampson's Rockets remain active in the postseason, though the team is one loss away from elimination.
2:19pm: According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link), Pistons GM Joe Dumars met with McMillan last week. Ownership is expected to be involved in today's formal interview, says Wojnarowski.
1:02pm: While the Cavaliers struck quickly to fill their head coaching opening, two other Eastern Conference lottery teams appear to be moving at a more deliberate pace. The Pistons have begun to interview candidates, according to Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News, who tweets that Lindsey Hunter interviewed with the team yesterday, while Nate McMillan will do so today.
McMillan and Hunter appear to be the early favorites for the Pistons' coaching job, but they're unlikely to be the only candidates interviewed by the club. With 14 teams still alive in the postseason, teams searching for a new head coach may have to wait until later in the spring to seek permission to interview assistants on those playoff clubs.
Meanwhile, the Bobcats have asked for the Cavaliers' permission to talk to assistant coach Nate Tibbetts, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Twitter link). If that story sounds familiar, it may be because the Bobcats interviewed the Cavs assistant a year ago, before eventually hiring Mike Dunlap.
The Bobcats seem to be revisiting a number of past candidates, having also been linked this month to Pacers assistant Brian Shaw and former Lakers assistant Quin Snyder, both of whom were interviewed by Charlotte last spring.
Pistons To Meet With Nate McMillan
The Pistons have opened the interview process in their search for a new coach and are slated to meet with Nate McMillan, NBA coaching sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. McMillan would appear to be an early favorite for the job alongside Suns interim coach Lindsey Hunter this week.
McMillan was recently said to be the frontrunner for the job, however the former Sonics coach later said that he had yet to talk to Joe Dumars & Co. Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson is also projected to be in the mix when Houston's playoff run is over.
McMillan also openly campaigned to hook on with the Kings if they moved to Seattle. However, the vote earlier today from the league's relocation committee likely means that the team will be staying put in Sacramento.
Central Notes: Bucks, Jennings, Pistons, Bulls
After getting swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Heat, the Bucks gave their exit interviews with reporters. Milwaukee could look extremely different next season with several impact players bound for the open market and coach Jim Boylan reportedly on the hot seat. Here's more on the Bucks and other news out of the Central Division..
- As Brandon Jennings gets ready to start fielding offer sheets from clubs this summer, he says that he'll leave the process up to agent Jeff Schwartz, writes Shams Charania of RealGM. Jennings has been unsatisfied with the Bucks in the past but he recently expressed some fondness for the club in an interview with ESPN's Scoop Jackson.
- In today's column, David Aldridge of NBA.com suggested that Knicks assistant Darrell Walker would be a good fit for the vacant Pistons job. Aldridge writes that the 52-year-old is a no-nonsense coach who's not afraid to challenge players when they give less than their best. Detroit is looking for a new head coach after letting Lawrence Frank go earlier this month.
- The Milwaukee Association of Commerce recently met to discuss the idea of building a new arena for the Bucks and the ramifications of possibly losing their NBA franchise down the line, writes Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel. The city may also renovate the BMO Harris Bradley Center which was opened in 1988.
- While speaking about Jason Collins' decision to come out of the closet, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau revealed that the club met with him while he was a free agent last summer, tweets K.C Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The spot that would have gone to Collins eventually went to Nazr Mohammed.
Odds & Ends: Pistons, Carlesimo, Lakers
We've got four great playoff games on the docket today, starting with the Nets and Bulls at 1pm Central. After that, it's Clippers-Grizzlies at 3:30, Pacers–Hawks at 6:00, and Thunder–Rockets at 8:30. Here's today's look around the Association..
- David Mayo of MLive.com doesn't necessarily expect the Pistons to rush when it comes to finding a new head coach. At this point it has become clear that there may be a wish list, but there is no clear front-runner for the gig.
- Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo finds himself in a must-win situation to keep his job, writes George Willis of the New York Post. General Manager Billy King recently got a contract extension but its believed that Carlesimo has to take Brooklyn deep into the playoffs in order to get a contract for next season and beyond.
- There will be plenty of finger pointing going on when it comes to the Lakers this summer, writes Brian Kamenetzky of SheridanHoops.com. Some will blame coach Mike D'Antoni for the teams woes while others will put the onus on the front office. No matter how things shake out, it figures to be an interesting offseason in L.A.
- This was a season that was never meant to be for the Lakers, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Spurs cruised to a 120-89 victory on Friday night to take a 3-0 lead in their first round series.
Eastern Notes: Dalembert, Adetokunbo, Cavs
We rounded up a few Western Conference notes earlier today, so let's head east and check in on the other conference….
- Although Samuel Dalembert has expressed some interest in signing with the Heat this summer, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel doesn't see Dalembert as more than a "fallback option" for Miami. Winderman isn't sure whether Dalembert would fit the Heat's culture, and thinks any interest from Miami would come later in free agency, if at all.
- The Pistons are expected to scout Greek prospect Giannis Adetokunbo for the first time this weekend, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Hopefully they'll have better luck than scouts for the Spurs, Heat, Hawks, and Grizzlies — Sportando contributor David Pick reports they failed to secure game passes to watch Adetokunbo today and were refused credentials. Representatives from the Cavs and Jazz did get in, however (Twitter links).
- New Cavs head coach Mike Brown has a long list of potential assistant candidates, and will begin getting in touch with them next week, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
- John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer examines the merits of hiring Brian Shaw for the Sixers, noting that as of earlier this week, the team had yet to set up any interviews with potential coaching candidates.