Bob Myers Wins Executive Of The Year
11:37am: Votes that went to Budenholzer were meant as nods to Ferry, multiple executives tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (All Twitter links).
11:03am: Warriors GM Bob Myers has won the NBA’s Executive of the Year award, the league announced. Cavaliers GM David Griffin was a fairly close second, followed by Hawks coach and acting GM Mike Budenholzer, whose nomination over GM Danny Ferry stirred controversy.
Each team can nominate one candidate for the award, and executives vote for the winner from among their ranks. Hoops Rumors learned that there was talk among some executives that they would abstain from voting out of displeasure that they couldn’t vote for Ferry, who’s on a leave of absence after having constructed most of the roster of the 60-win Hawks. However, all 30 executives eligible to vote for the award went ahead and did so. Many around the league felt as though Ferry would have been the clear favorite for the award, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote. However, his absence stemming from the racially charged comments he relayed about 2014 free agent target Luol Deng short-circuited his candidacy.
Myers nonetheless has no shortage of qualifications for the honor, having been at the helm as the Warriors went from perennial lottery participants to a 67-win juggernaut over the past few years. His contributions to the team’s decision against trading Klay Thompson as part of a potential Kevin Love trade last summer and its hiring of new coach Steve Kerr played key roles in the team’s leap from 51 wins last year into an historically great regular season this year. Myers also helped fortify the team’s bench this past summer with the addition of Shaun Livingston on a three-year mid-level deal. Chris Crouse of Hoops Rumors profiled Myers’ Executive of the Year candidacy a couple of weeks ago.
Myers garnered 13 first-place votes, while Griffin collected eight and Budenholzer picked up four. Blazers GM Neil Olshey was the only other executive to receive multiple first-place votes, with two, though he finished sixth in the weighted points system which assigns five points for a first-place vote, three points for a second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, who finished fourth, Bulls GM Gar Forman, who was fifth, and Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy, in eight place, received one first-place vote each. Executives voted anonymously for the award in contrast to the writers who select many of the other NBA award winners.
2014/15 D-League Usage Report: Warriors
The relationship between the NBA and the D-League continues to grow, and 17 NBA franchises currently have one-to-one D-League affiliates amongst the 18 D-League teams. The remaining 13 NBA teams shared the Fort Wayne Mad Ants this season. We at Hoops Rumors will be recapping each team’s use of the D-League this season, looking at assignments and recalls as well as the players signed out of the D-League. We’ll continue onward with a look back at how the Warriors utilized the D-League during the 2014/15 campaign…
D-League Team: Santa Cruz Warriors
Affiliation Type: One-to-one
D-League Team Record: 35-15
Number of NBA Players Assigned To D-League: 4
Total D-League Assignments: 13
Player Stats While On Assignment:
- James Michael McAdoo: 3 assignments, 33 games, 19.6 PPG, 8.7 RPG, and 2.3 APG. .575/.250/.685.
- Justin Holiday: 1 assignment, 1 game, 26.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 4.0 APG. .450/.455/.600.
- Ognjen Kuzmic: 8 assignments, 29 games, 12.8 PPG, 12.0 RPG, and 2.0 BPG. .493/.000/.772.
- Festus Ezeli: 1 assignment, 2 games, 10.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 3.0 BPG. .474/.000/1.000.
D-League Signings
- James Michael McAdoo (Santa Cruz Warriors-Golden State affiliate): Signed 1st 10-day contract on January 19th, 2nd 10-day deal on February 2nd, and inked a mulityear contract on February 19th.
Assignment/Recall Log
- November 14th: Assigned Justin Holiday (Recalled November 15th)
- November 14th: Assigned Ognjen Kuzmic (Recalled November 15th)
- December 17th: Assigned Ognjen Kuzmic (Recalled December 18th)
- January 3rd: Assigned Ognjen Kuzmic (Recalled January 4th)
- January 8th: Assigned Ognjen Kuzmic (Recalled January 14th)
- January 15th: Assigned Ognjen Kuzmic (Recalled January 28th)
- January 28th: Assigned Festus Ezeli (Recalled February 2nd)
- February 4th: Assigned Ognjen Kuzmic (Recalled February 14th)
- February 20th: Assigned James Michael McAdoo (Recalled March 12th)
- March 14th: Assigned James Michael McAdoo (Recalled March 16th)
- March 18th: Assigned Ognjen Kuzmic (Recalled April 27th)
- April 10th: Assigned James Michael McAdoo (Recalled April 11th)
- April 26th: Assigned James Michael McAdoo (Recalled April 27th)
And-Ones: Thunder, Warriors, Bargnani
The Thunder will be over the league’s luxury tax line this season for the first time in team history, and will likely do so again next season if the team wishes to retain restricted free agent Enes Kanter, Tom Moore of Calkins Media writes. If OKC decides it wants to avoid the extra cost associated with paying the luxury tax, the Sixers could end up being the beneficiaries, Moore opines. Philadelphia will have enough cap room to add three OKC players who have fallen out of the team’s rotation — forwards Steve Novak and Perry Jones III, and guard Jeremy Lamb, which would in turn lower OKC’s 2015/16 payroll by approximately $8.82MM, though it would likely cost GM Sam Presti the team’s 2015 first-rounder to get the Sixers to bite on such a trade, Moore adds.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Stiff opposition has arisen against the Warriors‘ plan to construct a new arena in San Francisco’s Mission Bay area, Phil Matier and Andy Ross of The San Francisco Chronicle write. “This arena is going to essentially ruin decades of good work and planning in Mission Bay and make it impossible for people to access the hospital there,” said public relations expert Sam Singer, who has been hired by the group opposing the project, the scribes relay. This opposition comes just a month before the final environmental impact report for the proposed arena is due to be released, which could suggest that the effort is largely aimed at trying to force the team to scale back its ambitious plan for developing 12 acres next to the University of California, San Francisco, the Chronicle duo adds.
- Knicks unrestricted free agent Andrea Bargnani spoke with La Gazzetta dello Sport about his future (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando), and indicated he intends to remain in the NBA next season, and favors a return to New York. “I am happy with the Knicks. I love the city and the organization. There is an important project here,” Bargnani told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I will consider all the offers I receive from July. I want to remain in the NBA. And I will. I am at the peak of my basketball career and I want to win in the NBA.” The Knicks are reportedly open to re-signing Bargnani to a minimum salary deal.
Western Notes: Brooks, Love, Parsons
Scott Brooks would still be the Thunder coach if Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook had strongly objected to the decision to fire him, David Aldridge of NBA.com opines. While Durant and Westbrook were protective of Brooks, they accepted the decision by Oklahoma City’s management, Aldridge continues. The Thunder could not afford the risk of waiting to bring in a new coach after next season when Durant hits the free agent market, Aldridge concludes.
In other news around the Western Conference:
- Kevin Love‘s shoulder injury, which will keep him out of the Eastern Conference playoff semifinals, could have a major impact on his potential free agency and the Lakers’ offseason blueprint, Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report tweets. Love, who holds an approximate $16.7MM player option on his contract for next season, is at the forefront of the Lakers’ rebuilding plans, Ding adds.
- Chandler Parsons might need microfracture surgery on his right knee, which could keep him out of action at the start of next season, sources told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. That could play a role in the Mavericks’ offseason strategy, considering they signed Parsons last summer to be their starting small forward. Parsons will make approximately $15.36MM next season and holds an option of just over $16MM on the final year of his deal in 2016/17. It’s still possible Parsons would only require arthroscopic surgery on the knee, which has a shorter recovery period, MacMahon adds.
- The Warriors added more depth to their postseason roster by recalling center Ognjen Kuzmic and forward James Michael McAdoo from their D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to the team’s website. Kuzmic and McAdoo helped Santa Cruz win the D-League championship over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, as the duo combined for 31 points and 17 rebounds in the clinching 109-96 victory on Sunday night.
Pacific Notes: Clippers, Lakers, Lee
If the Clippers fail to advance in the playoffs, the team’s lack of depth will be the culprit, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles opines. Markazi blames president of basketball operations Doc Rivers for signing Spencer Hawes with the full mid-level exception. Markazi believes signing Paul Pierce to give the team more depth on the wing would have been a better use of the franchise’s resources.
There’s more from the Pacific Division on a playoff Sunday:
- Rivers said he used the Spurs as his model when he came to the Clippers, Markazi writes in a separate story. He said he has tried to build a relationship with GM Dave Wohl similar to the one between San Antonio head coach and president of basketball operations Gregg Popovich and GM R.C. Buford. “Clearly you would love to build what they have,” Rivers said. “It means that you’re going to do it for a time. We have a long way to go, but that would be nice.”
- The presence of Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson on the roster shouldn’t preclude the Lakers from selecting a point guard or power forward in this year’s draft, opines Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). Ford recalls the Blazers passing on the chance to take Chris Paul and Deron Williams because the team thought it had a long-term piece in Sebastian Telfair. Ford believes the Lakers’ best option is to take the top player available rather than drafting for need, due to the lack of talent on the roster.
- The Warriors are hoping David Lee will be ready for the second round of the playoffs, writes Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group. Lee, who missed the entire first-round series against the Pelicans with a strained back, knows the Warriors will need all the front-line help they can get if they’re matched up with the rugged Grizzlies. “It’s a team that plays big and that we’re going to need every big on the roster ready to go, myself included,” he said.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Pacific Notes: Rondo, Bledsoe, Warriors
The Warriors beat the Pelicans by a score of 109-98 on Saturday to sweep their first round series. Golden State is hitting on all cylinders and I chronicled the moves that GM Bob Myers made to put a championship contender on the floor in his Executive of the Year Candidate piece.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers might be the only team to offer Rajon Rondo a sizable contract, Tim Bontemps of the New York Post opines. Bomtemps speculates that the point guard will struggle to get a contract that exceeds $10MM to $12MM per year.
- The Suns are optimistic that Eric Bledsoe can be a cornerstone for the team, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes. “The exciting thing for us about Eric is he’s still just starting to scratch the surface of his potential,” GM Ryan McDonough said. “Last year [2013/14], he started for half a season and you saw glimpses of it. I think there some questions externally, certainly not from us, but could he do it as a starter, could he do it over the course of an 82-game season? I think he certainly proved he could with the numbers he averaged.” The point guard averaged 17.0 points, 6.1 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game.
- Golden State has assigned James Michael McAdoo to its D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to the team’s twitter feed. This will be the forward’s fourth stint in the D-League this season.
Western Notes: Hill, Kanter, Warriors
During his exit interview with Jordan Hill, Lakers coach Byron Scott told the big man that he wasn’t happy with the consistency of his efforts this season, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News relays. “He was disappointed he didn’t see that energy,” Hill said. “That’s something else I need to work on.” It’s unclear if the franchise will exercise its $9MM team option on Hill, Medina adds. The team is focusing on the draft and free agency before making decisions on its current roster, something that Hill understands, Medina notes. “It’s going to be a big offseason for the Lakers,” Hill said. “It’s up in the air right now. They don’t know what’s going to happen. I have to stay positive and hope everything will fall into place.”
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Enes Kanter has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, knocking him out of action for four-to-six weeks, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman relays. The big man can become a restricted free agent this summer if the Thunder tender him a qualifying offer worth $7,471,412.
- The Warriors as a team are influenced by both former coach Mark Jackson and current coach Steve Kerr emotionally, but it is the emergence as Stephen Curry as a leader that has put the team over the top this season, Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group writes.
- Clint Capela has unexpectedly stepped into the Rockets‘ playoff rotation and has risen to the challenge after being used sparingly all season, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “He’s a good kid,” coach Kevin McHale said. “He plays hard all the time. Nothing bothers him. Whether he had a really good last play or a really bad last play, he plays hard on the next play. That’s key. You do that, and you don’t drag all your baggage with you down the floor because you missed a shot or if you don’t defend.“
Pacific Notes: Cousins, Johnson, Green
DeAndre Jordan changed the first game of the Spurs series in a positive way for the Clippers, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register chronicles, and his continued presence will be key in Game 2. Of course, whether Jordan is a presence for the Clips beyond this season isn’t known, since he’ll be a free agent, but it’d be tough for L.A. to let him go, since the team already has some $58MM on the books for next season and is without much cap flexibility to replace him. Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- Vivek Ranadive foresees an active offseason for the Kings but can’t envision a DeMarcus Cousins trade, and the Kings owner seemed annoyed Monday that Cousins’ name has been in trade rumors of late, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee relays (Twitter links). “I don’t know why that stuff is out there,” Ranadive said.
- Wesley Johnson suggests the constantly changing roles throughout his NBA career have led to his inconsistency, while coach Byron Scott believes part of the problem is “between the ears,” observes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. In any case, the Lakers are on the fence about re-signing Johnson, who’s started 121 games for them the last two seasons, even though he’d like to come back, as Medina details.
- Draymond Green is proving his value once more for the Warriors in their first-round series against the Pelicans, as SB Nation’s Tom Ziller examines. The Warriors have indicated they plan to match any offer for the soon-to-be restricted free agent.
Western Notes: Clippers, Williams, Thunder
Whether the Clippers win or lose their first-round series against the Spurs, don’t expect major changes this summer, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. He notes that the team’s stars, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, both have trade kickers in their contracts that would impede any deal. Paul is signed for two more seasons at $44MM total, with a player option for a third. The trade kicker would inflate his salary by 10%. Griffin is under contract for two more years totaling nearly $40MM, also with an option for a third. He has a 15% trade kicker. Deveney says the team has little choice about keeping free agent center DeAndre Jordan, which could involve a five-year commitment topping $100MM, even though the Clippers would be over the luxury tax for the third straight year and would incur a repeater tax if they paid the tax again the next year.
There’s more from the Western Conference:
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams said he was joking with comments about the noise at Oracle Arena, according to Tom Haberstroh of ESPN. In a press conference before tonight’s playoff game, Williams downplayed comments he made earlier in the day that he wasn’t sure the arena’s decibel level was “legal.” Because Williams is a member of the NBA’s competition committee, his statement could be construed as more than just an idle threat. “It was more of a compliment more than anything,” Williams explained. The NFL’s Atlanta Falcons were punished in February for using artificial noise in their stadium.
- The Thunder’s trade for Enes Kanter solved one problem but created another, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City finally got the post-up scoring threat it needed, but weakened its defense in the process. Kanter came to OKC from the Jazz in a three-team deal at the deadline. Tramel estimates that, even with Kanter’s defensive shortcomings, it will cost the Thunder $12MM to $15MM a year to keep him when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer.
Pistons Rumors: Drummond, Green, Dinwiddie
The Pistons’ most important offseason negotiations may not involve free agents Greg Monroe or Reggie Jackson, according to David Mayo of MLive. Andre Drummond is about to enter the final year of his rookie contract, which is open to extension through October 31st. Owner Tom Gores recently expressed his desire to keep Drummond in Detroit long-term, calling him “a maximum player.” The tough part may be convincing the young center that he can win if he remains a Piston. “It was a tough situation for us,” Drummond said of the just-completed 32-50 season that was marked by frequent roster changes. “We lost Brandon [Jennings], our chemistry was a little messed up. I’m just going to come back ready for next year and have a good summer.”
There’s more from the Motor City:
- The first item on Drummond’s wish list is Golden State’s free-agent-to-be Draymond Green, writes Kirkland Crawford of The Detroit Free Press. Early Sunday morning, Drummond put up a post on his Twitter account saying, “I want @Money23Green on my team …….,” referencing Green’s Twitter handle. Drummond later deleted that tweet. Green, a former star at Michigan State, has expressed interest in playing for the Pistons, but it will likely take a maximum or near-max offer to acquire his services.
- A knee injury limited him to 34 games, but Spencer Dinwiddie is satisfied with the progress he made in his rookie season, Mayo writes in a separate story. The Pistons used a second-round pick on Dinwiddie, even though he was rehabbing from a major knee injury at Colorado. They signed Dinwiddie to a three-year deal last summer, giving him $700K for the first season and the league minimum for the next two. Coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy said Dinwiddie showed promise as a distributor, but needs to work on his shot. “I don’t think he’s mainly going to be a scorer, but he’s got to make the shots that he gets,” Van Gundy said.