Western Notes: Thompson, Holiday, Jazz
Klay Thompson tells J.A. Adande of ESPN.com that he’s more interested in securing an extension with the Warriors now than signing a single year contract next summer to prepare for the 2016/17 free agent market, when the league’s new TV deal will kick in and boost player salaries. “It really is tempting to do all that,” said Thompson, who admitted that seeing Paul George‘s shocking injury with Team USA has affected his outlook. “But I’d rather have the security right now, you know?” Adande gets the sense from both Thompson and the Warriors that a deal will get done before the October 31 deadline. Here’s more from Golden State and the rest of the West:
- 25-year-old Justin Holiday has faced a tough road to crack an NBA roster, but tells Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle that his experience in international and D-League play has been formative. “I don’t need to go out here and do the jobs of Steph [Curry] and Klay. I understand that,” said Holiday, who hopes to earn one of the two open regular season roster spots with the Warriors. “That’s what a team is about: playing together and using each guy’s strengths in order to win… I want to help and lead on defense. You can’t control your jump shot every night, but you can control your effort on defense all the time.”
- Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke highly of Holiday’s ability, telling Simmons, “He’s an unbelievable guy. He’s a great worker, he’s smart and he’s a team guy. Justin belongs in this league.” Kerr has expressed similar non-committal praise for fellow Golden State camp invite Jason Kapono.
- Veteran Jazz newcomers Trevor Booker and Dahntay Jones tell Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune that Utah’s roster is at an advanced stage for a rebuilding team, having witnessed successful rebuilds in their time with the Wizards and Pacers, respectively.
- Though the Jazz have waived Dee Bost and Kevin Murphy, they still have interest in adding the pair to their D-League team, Falk notes.
Western Notes: Stephenson, Kapono, Lee
Lance Stephenson entered free agency anticipating the NBA signing a new TV deal, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report writes. Stephenson was looking for a shorter deal that would allow him to have a shot at an even bigger payday down the line. The Pacers weren’t willing to agree to those terms, but the Mavericks were, notes Zwerling. Alberto Ebanks, Stephenson’s agent, confirmed reports that both sides had verbally committed to a two-year contract worth $20MM, but it was Dallas’ negotiations with Chandler Parsons that prevented the deal from being completed, Zwerling writes. “It was a domino effect,” Ebanks said. “Dallas did not think that Houston was going to let Parsons walk. Lance was very close to being a member of the Mavericks. When you’re a little further along into free agency, people are more in the position to pull the trigger when they see what they’re looking for.” It wound up being Charlotte that pulled the trigger on a deal.
Here’s more from out west:
- Jason Kapono is performing well in training camp and is in the running for the Warriors‘ final regular season roster spot, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group reports. “He’s in great shape,” head coach Steve Kerr said of Kapono. “I’m convinced he has a place in this league. Whether it’s with us or not, we’ll see.”
- During a media day interview posted on NBA.com, David Lee was asked about the Warriors slow offseason that saw the team’s only notable additions be Shaun Livingston and Brandon Rush. Lee believes the roster continuity is good, adding, “I think it’s huge, yeah. I think first of all it’s a sign of things getting better. If you’re winning 25-30 games there’s going to be constant change. We’ve finally been very consistent these last couple years in winning games and I think that’s how players stick around and how teams stick around. I think using San Antonio as a model, when you have those core guys together year in and year out, I think the familiarity can really help, especially in pressure situations and close games.”
- Jamel McLean scored the game winning basket in Alba Berlin’s 94-93 victory over the Spurs Wednesday. This might not be the last the NBA hears from McLean, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders opines. McLean worked out for the Kings last summer, and should warrant more attention from the league next offseason, Koutroupis notes.
Steve Kerr On Warriors, Knicks, Jackson
Steve Kerr is stepping out from behind the microphone as an announcer and venturing into new territory as an NBA rookie head coach with the Warriors this season. Golden State wasn’t his only suitor this summer, and Kerr was the heavy favorite to land the Knicks coaching position before deciding to pick up the clipboard in Oakland. Kerr sat down with Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com for an interview, and here are some of the highlights…
On why he doesn’t want to return to a front office role:
“I like being on the court. I enjoyed the job, but you’re never on the court as a GM. You’re always upstairs and talking to agents. It’s a more-corporate position. I’d rather dress like this (T-shirt, shorts) every day to practice, to be honest with you. I like working with players and I like the game itself.”
On what the Knicks-Warriors decision came down to for him:
“New York was very intriguing, especially my relationship with Phil [Jackson] and the opportunity he was presenting me, and the Knicks, the franchise itself and the history. But it would have been a really, really difficult situation in terms of the family and being all the way across the country. I just felt better suited to work with these guys here, this younger roster with a more established core. It just felt more comfortable.”
On the differences between Golden State’s and New York’s rosters:
“The fact that the Knicks were in the East and were a year away from cap room was really intriguing. I think the Knicks are a playoff team right now and I think they’re going to get better and I think a year from now they’ll have a chance to make a real splash in free agency. The basketball situation, particularly being aligned with Phil, was very intriguing actually. It much more came down to lifestyle and family and the established roster here. On the flip side, we’re in the West. (He laughs) That was a negative. But can’t do much about that.”
On how close he was to coaching the Knicks:
“I came close. It was very difficult to turn down. Agonizing. I actually at one point told Phil I was going to come, without knowing anything about contracts and without really talking in detail about certain circumstances. At one point I told him, “I’m coming,” but the caveat that we need to hash the rest of this out. And that’s when the Golden State job opened up and that’s when they were able to contact me and I was able to explore it. The timing was weird.”
On if Phil Jackson was disappointed in Kerr heading to the Warriors:
“He [Jackson] understood. In fact, he said, ‘If you had come here and regretted it, it would have been the worst thing for both of us.’ That’s why Phil’s Phil. He understands people. In hindsight, it probably would have been best not committing, not saying anything, just saying, Look, I need to talk to Golden State. But the timing was an issue on both ends. It was very tricky. Anyway, it all worked out. I think the Knicks ended up with a great coach and Derek (Fisher) and Phil will do well together and I’m happy to be here with (general manager) Bob (Myers) and the team.”
And-Ones: Butler, Caven, Jefferson, Macklin
Jimmy Butler is focusing on basketball rather than becoming a restricted free agent next summer, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Friedell adds that Butler may seek more than the $9.7MM annual salary that former Bulls teammate Luol Deng received this offseason from the Heat. When the topic of the new TV deal was broached, Butler deflected the question, saying, “I don’t know nothing about a TV deal. I just know that it’s my contract year, and I got to play well and I want to help us win. That’s all that I know.” Butler will be one of the first players to sign a deal in the new cap era, Friedell notes.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The contracts of D.J. Mbenga (Knicks), Jason Kapono (Warriors), and Yuki Togashi (Mavs) are all non-guaranteed, minimum salary camp deals, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). Kapono’s deal is for one season, Pincus notes on Golden State’s salary page.
- One of Europe’s top prospects, Joonas Caven, a 6’11” big man from Finland, will enter the NBA D-League Draft this year, according to his agent K.C. Callero, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports (Twitter link). Caven is targeting the 2015 NBA Draft and the D-League will act as a showcase for his talents, notes Carchia.
- The Pelicans waived Vernon Macklin so that he could pursue an opportunity to play in Europe, John Reid of The Times-Picayune reports (Twitter link).
- One of the newest members of the Mavs, Richard Jefferson, accepted a veteran’s minimum deal this offseason, but that doesn’t mean he is willing to settle for a minimal role, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. MacMahon adds that Jefferson understands that he won’t be a starter but he is determined to find his niche on the team. “I like to believe myself to be an everyday contributor,” said Jefferson. “Whether it works out that way remains to be seen, but my job is just to stay ready.“
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Coaching Rumors: Vogel, Joerger, Hoiberg
Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird today called Frank Vogel a “perfect fit” for the team, as Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star notes (Twitter link), one day after Indiana granted an extension to the coach whose job appeared in serious jeopardy a few months ago. Much has changed for the Pacers since then, and Vogel’s task this year will be different than in years past, when he was in charge of a team on the rise. While we wait to see just how much Vogel can squeeze out of his depleted roster, we’ll pass along more on his deal and other news from NBA coaching circles.
- Indications are that Vogel’s extension runs until the summer of 2017, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, who also notes that Vogel is likely to have received a raise on the $2MM average annual value of the extension he signed in 2013.
- Dave Joerger‘s contract calls for him to make about $2MM each season through 2017/18, as Deveney also relays in the same slideshow. The Grizzlies this summer added the 2017/18 season onto the deal as a team option.
- Warriors GM Bob Myers acknowledged that the team engaged in discussions with Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg this spring before hiring Steve Kerr, but Myers downplayed the significance of the inquiry as he spoke to reporters, including Travis Hines of the Ames Tribune. “We focused on some other guys that had been around and got a pretty early indication from Fred that he was happy where he was,” Myers said. “We weren’t the first team to kind of at least put a phone call in. Mine was much more informal from our side just because I have a previous relationship with him so it wasn’t anything formal. I got the sense he’s very happy where he is.”
Warriors, Klay Thompson At Odds On Extension
11:51am: Thompson is unwilling to accept a discounted extension, as Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News group hears (Twitter link). It’s not entirely clear whether that means he’s unwilling to drop beneath a $15MM average annual value or if he won’t take any deal for less than the max.
11:12am: The Warriors and Klay Thompson haven’t made progress toward an extension in the past few weeks, and the sides are $2-3MM apart in the average annual value of their proposals, sources tell Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com. Still, it doesn’t appear as though agent Bill Duffy has lost optimism that the sides will strike agreement, Poole adds.
Thompson wants at least $15MM a year, while Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob isn’t sold on the idea of paying Thompson as much as the approximately $15MM that David Lee will make this season, according to Poole, who indicates that the team is hovering around $13MM in its offers. A July report indicated that Thompson was seeking the max. It won’t be clear until next July just how much Thompson could make in a max extension, since the cap figures won’t be set until then, but such a deal would yield about $85MM over five years based on this year’s max, or $66MM over four seasons. Next year’s maximum salaries will likely rise above those figures, given the projected increase to the salary cap.
The Timberwolves were prepared to give Thompson a max extension if they had acquired him in a trade for Kevin Love, sources tell Poole, but the Warriors steadfastly held Thompson out of those talks. The Warriors have appeared high on Thompson, and GM Bob Myers last month expressed a desire to strike a deal to keep him around, echoing the vow that Lacob made in the spring. Thompson wants to come to an agreement and his teammates do, too, Poole writes.
Lacob has hinted at a willingness to exceed the luxury tax in the past, but he doesn’t want to do so at this point, Poole hears. The Warriors already have about $56MM in commitments for 2015/16, so an extension would bring the team relatively close to the tax threshold for that season, though it’s unknown just where the tax line will be. Still, the league’s $24 billion TV deal figures to soon bring about a sharp rise in the salary cap, and the tax line along with it, so even a max extension for Thompson probably wouldn’t put the Warriors in too much danger of repeatedly becoming a taxpayer in the years ahead.
The Warriors have apparently budgeted for a Thompson extension, though it’s unclear just how much they’ve set aside. It’s uncommon for the team to strike an extension deal ahead of the deadline to do so, notes Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). So the lack of progress at this point doesn’t necessarily mean that talks won’t gain momentum closer to October 31st, the final day that the sides can put pen to paper on an extension.
Western Notes: Nedovic, Gasol, Faried
Nemanja Nedovic said that the Warriors haven’t given him any indication on whether or not the team’s third-year option on his contract will be picked up, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group writes. Golden State has until October 31st to decide on Nedovic’s option.
Here’s more from out west:
- Pau Gasol doesn’t have fond memories of being a free agent this past summer, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Talking about the process that led him to sign with the Bulls, Gasol said, “It was a difficult decision; it was a difficult process to go through and I don’t wish to go through it again because it was just very stressful. My phone was blowing up. It got to points in the day where I just didn’t want to be by my phone so I just put it away. I don’t know who called at those times. I tried to return the calls and the messages as much as I could, because I was trying to be respectful and appreciative of the people that had interest in me. I did not expect nor anticipate that it was going to be that hectic and that stressful. So first it was hard for me to make the decision to move on from the team that I’ve been a part of and been through so much with – the Lakers. Then, after that, it was, ‘Okay, where do I want to play?’”
- The Kings have hired David Arseneault Jr. as head coach of the Reno Bighorns, Sacramento’s D-League affiliate, the team announced via a press release. Arseneault was previously working as an assistant at Grinnell College, a Division III program. The Kings presumably hired him to implement and teach Grinnell’s high-scoring offensive system, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports notes.
- One of the big worries with signing players to big dollar contracts is if the pressure to live up to the numbers will hamper the player. Kenneth Faried isn’t letting his new windfall from the Nuggets affect him, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. When asked if he was feeling added weight because of the contract extension, Faried said, “No, I really don’t care. There’s no pressure, it’s just money. It’s not a big deal. I love the game so I’m going to continue to play the game like I’ve been playing. My mind has been at ease and I’ve been grinding.”
And-Ones: Suggs, Suns, Nuggets, Daniels
Let’s take a look at some of the news and notes coming out of the NBA on this Tuesday evening:
- Acquiring the D-League rights to Scott Suggs of France’s Chalon-Sur-Saone as part of today’s Seth Curry deal might eventually pay off for the Warriors, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports hears that the former Washington Husky has legitimate NBA talent (via Twitter).
- The Suns anticipated a skyrocketing salary cap when they handed out $122MM to Eric Bledsoe, Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris last month, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. After accumulating draft picks for years and locking up some of their better players, the team believes they are in an ideal position to add to an already impressive core, Coro writes.
- The Nuggets‘ extension of Kenneth Faried projects to be very reasonable in the current cap climate and is a good bet to become a bargain after the inevitable cap adjustment, according to ESPN Insider’s Kevin Pelton. Pelton fully expects teams to put an emphasis on locking up their young players for as long as they can.
- Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post provides a player-by-player look at how the inflation of the salary cap would affect the Nuggets, who seem to be well-positioned to build around Ty Lawson and Faried.
- Marquis Daniels, who played in the NBA as recently as the 2012/13 season, is in the early stages of a transition to coaching, writes Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders.
And-Ones: Papanikolaou, Popovich, Warriors
Rockets forward Kostas Papanikolaou‘s $4,591,066 salary has become fully-guaranteed today since he is still on Houston’s preseason roster past the October 4th trigger date in the revamped deal he inked. This now gives the team 15 fully guaranteed deals out of the 20 on the Rockets’ preseason roster.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The pairing of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan is nearing the end. In the past Popovich has been quoted as saying that he would retire when Duncan did, but that might have changed, Michael Lee of The Washington Post writes. Popovich recently said, “That’s very possible. I always said that [he’d leave with Duncan], because it’s kind of a funny line. It seems pretty logical and smart to do that. I know where my bread is buttered. But I basically made the same commitments to Manu Ginobili and to Tony Parker that when they signed contracts, they wanted to know if I’m going to be here and I tell them I am, so it’s pretty tough to go ahead and leave.” Ginobili is signed through next season and Parker is under contract through 2018, but it’s the emergence of Kawhi Leonard that might be a bigger incentive since it will keep the team’s championship window open, opines Lee.
- During his first stint with the Raptors and head coach Dwane Casey, James Johnson had a number of confrontations that eventually led to Johnson being suspended and ultimately dealt to the Kings at the end of the 2011/12 season. Johnson is back in Toronto and under the eye of Casey, but things are much improved between them now, Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun writes. Johnson credits a stint in the D-League as what changed him, saying, “I flourished in the D-League. I am happy to say my career was bumpy but going down to the D-league made the old James Johnson not exist anymore.”
- There’s a new regime in Golden State with Steve Kerr replacing Mark Jackson as head coach. Rusty Simmons of The San Francisco Chronicle profiled the Warriors coaching staff and what each brings to the court and to the locker room for the team.
Western Notes: Barea, Warriors, Wallace
Timberwolves coach and president of basketball ops Flip Saunders continues to praise point guard J.J. Barea‘s play in training camp, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Barea has been on the block for a trade or release, but sees himself as a team fixture. Whether Saunders is leaning toward keeping Barea around, or merely trying to inflate his trade value, remains to be seen. Here’s a look at the rest of tonight’s Western notes:
- Andrew Bogut‘s primary backup, Festus Ezeli is hurt, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters including Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group that he is content with bigs Marreese Speights and Ognjen Kuzmic when asked if Golden State is in need of another center (Twitter link). Kerr’s outlook will need to change for camp invite Mitchell Watt to secure one of the two open regular season roster spots in Golden State.
- Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace came out on top of some front-office turmoil in Memphis this summer, and he tells Ronald Tillery of Commercial Appeal [subscription-only] that his commitment to the game has routinely paid off. “My staying power is pretty simplistic. This is as good a job as I can get,” said Wallace. “I do not have a college degree, there’s a limitation on what I can do. I’m not going to Wall Street. I’m not walking across the street for executive training. I’m realistic. For someone who loves basketball, it’s light years better than anything else I can do. And change is a norm in the NBA, especially in the front office and coaching ranks.”
- Wallace also revealed that he has less autonomy than he did in his previous tenure as GM in Memphis. “The reality of NBA front offices in 2014 is they are highly collaborative. You have very few czars in the league,” Wallace said. “Having said all of that, the misconception is that you arrive at a consensus. Most times, somebody in the organization drives a decision. The better organizations probably have more consistent decision making. I’m in contact and they know my opinion on things. The good thing right now and when I was brought back is we’re rolling as a team and how the team is perceived. It’s not a reclamation project.”