Nuggets Likely To Target D’Antoni, Gentry, Others
3:38pm: Denver is expected to make former Bulls and Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro a candidate for the job, and according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who also hears mention of ex-Kings coach Michael Malone. Berger hints that’s true of Pelicans assistant Bryan Gates, Pacers assistant Nate McMillan and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, too, though that’s not entirely clear. In any case, the Nuggets will likely give Gentry “heavy consideration,” Berger writes.
1:10pm: The Nuggets have yet to any consider long-term candidates, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
1:01pm: Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson, current Warriors assistant coach Alvin Gentry and Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin are believed to be likely candidates to replace the fired Brian Shaw as Nuggets head coach, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick. One-time Mavs and Nets coach Avery Johnson and former Nuggets, Suns, Knicks and Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni are other likely candidates, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, and a source who knows D’Antoni’s thinking told Amick that he would certainly be interested in the job. Still, the Nuggets indicated when they announced Shaw’s firing that Melvin Hunt would remain as interim coach through season’s end and that they would begin a search for a more permanent replacement after that. Sources confirm to Stein that the Nuggets will take a “long-term view” on their search (Twitter link).
D’Antoni recently suggested in a radio appearance with Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck and Ethan Skolnick that he had interest in returning to coach in the NBA (Twitlonger link; Twitter link). That was before Shaw’s firing, Beck cautions (on Twitter). D’Antoni resigned as Lakers coach last spring, and he got his start as an NBA coach with the 1999 Nuggets.
Jackson also coached as recently as last season, though his three-year Warriors stint is his only head coaching experience. Still, his name was linked to both the Magic and Kings openings earlier this season. Gentry has spent parts of 12 seasons as an NBA head coach, the last coming in 2012/13 with the Suns. That was Johnson’s last year of coaching, too, though he was only in charge of the Nets for the first 28 games that season. Johnson had more success in Dallas, where he took the team to the 2006 NBA Finals and won 67 games in 2006/07. Griffin has so far only served as an assistant coach with the Bucks and Bulls since the 2008/09 season, but Chicago promoted him before this season to lead assistant.
Reaction To Nuggets’ Firing Of Brian Shaw
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post takes Ty Lawson to task in a piece written before the Nuggets fired Brian Shaw today, and Hochman doesn’t completely believe Shaw is to blame for Lawson’s struggles of late. The post scribe passes along a comment from Shaw in response to a question about whether he should have tried a different approach to coaching Lawson this season.
“I believe what I’m doing. I don’t know if I’d say I’d do anything differently,” Shaw said. “There are a lot of circumstances that when [we talk to the media], I can’t talk about. I’ve always tried to be as honest as I possibly can. But there are also a lot of things I can’t say, because these are young men, and I look at them like I do my three kids — they make mistakes because they’re young. Our philosophy has been — make new mistakes, don’t make the same old mistakes. I feel obligated that when a guy makes a mistake — and I’m not talking about on the court, I’m talking about off the court — that I say, ‘I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and dump on him because he made a mistake.’ “
Ultimately, those mistakes cost Shaw his job, and there’s plenty of news surrounding Denver’s decision apart from the latest on likely candidates, which we passed along earlier. Here’s more surrounding the firing:
- There were moments of tension between Shaw and Lawson in the locker room this season, several league sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
- It was just days ago that Nuggets GM Tim Connelly said that Brian Shaw’s job was “absolutely” safe in comments the executive made in an video interview with The Denver Post’s Woody Paige and Les Shapiro, as Christopher Dempsey of the Post notes in his story on Shaw’s dismissal.
- Shaw knew the “1, 2, 3 … six weeks!” chant the Nuggets gave as they broke a huddle Friday was a reference to the time left in the season, a league source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Shaw claimed Monday that the chant was about the six weeks that had passed since the team’s last home victory.
- Pacers power forward David West pointed to a lack of “grownups” on the Nuggets roster as he expressed his disdain for the firing, notes Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com (on Twitter). Shaw coached West, who has a $12.6MM player option for next season, when he was a Pacers assistant.
Central Notes: Sloan, Blatt, Ennis
Donald Sloan has proven to be a valuable find for the Pacers this season, writes Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders. Brigham compares Sloan’s path to the NBA to Hassan Whiteside‘s path. Both players came into the league with Sacramento in 2010, both spent time playing in the D-League and this season, both are playing major roles on their respective teams. Sloan hasn’t quite been as dominant as Whiteside, but the 27-year-old has started 21 games for Indiana this season. The Pacers are 24-34 on the season and currently own the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Sloan will become an unrestricted free agent after this season, in which he is making slightly more than $948K. The Texas A&M product is averaging 13.6 points, 6.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds per 36 minutes this year and with numbers like that, he should expect a raise on his minimum salary arrangement, although that is just my speculation.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Cavs coach David Blatt almost ended up as an assistant on Steve Kerr‘s staff in Golden State, but despite some early season difficulties, Blatt is happy to be in Cleveland, Chris Fedor of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “Once I had the opportunity to come to the Cavaliers I really didn’t feel any regret,” Blatt said. “It’s really through the good graces of Steve Kerr and the Golden State staff that I had the opportunity to interview for the job and they were willing to let me follow this path. I still hold a really good feeling of appreciation for the way they handled that situation. It’s turned out pretty good for both sides.”
- Blatt heard all of the criticism levied at him when the Cavs began the season slowly, but he never felt the need to validate his coaching credentials, Fedor adds. “I’ve been a head coach for 22 years,” Blatt said. “People overlook that too easily and I think unfairly. I know I’m the new kid on the block in the NBA and I recognize the greatness of this league and the difficulty of this league and the fact that I’ve had to make, and am still going through the adjustment to coach in this league, but I am not now, nor have I been for quite some time, a rookie coach.”
- New addition Tyler Ennis was excited about coming to Milwaukee and is happy with his increased playing time, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. Ennis has played 88 minutes in his first five games with the Bucks after seeing only 58 minutes of NBA action during his time with the Suns this season.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post
And-Ones: Jennings, Wizards, Jerebko
Brandon Jennings might not have been thrilled the Pistons traded for another point guard but after meeting with coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy, he understands why the move was made, according to David Mayo of MLive.com. Jennings, who suffered a season-ending torn left Achilles tendon January 24th at Milwaukee, could wind up sharing time with recently-acquired Reggie Jackson next season if Jackson signs with the club as a restricted free agent, Mayo continues. Jennings, who has one year and approximately $8.34MM remaining on his contract, will be tough to trade this summer as he tries to return from the injury, Mayo adds.
In other news around the league:
- The Wizards indeed used part of their Trevor Ariza trade exception to absorb Ramon Sessions‘ salary in last week’s trade, allowing them to create a new $4.625MM trade exception equivalent to Andre Miller‘s salary, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). There had been conflicting estimates about how the Wizards handled the exceptions, as I noted earlier this week. The Ariza exception is now worth $2,252,089.
- The Pacers, Knicks and Lakers are eyeing 28-year-old Lithuanian shooting guard Mantas Kalnietis, with Indiana showing the most interest, agent Tadas Bulotas tells Lithuania’s Sport 1 (YouTube link; transcription via TalkBasket.net). Kalnietis went undrafted in 2008, so no NBA team holds his rights.
- Jonas Jerebko, who is in the final year of a four-year, $18MM deal he signed with the Pistons in December 2011, believes his time with the Celtics is an opportunity to showcase his true potential, reports Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. After spending his first five-plus NBA seasons with the Pistons, Jerebko was traded with Luigi Datome to Boston last week in exchange for Tayshaun Prince.
- Monty Williams is acting like a coach with his job on the line even though he has a year left on his contract, John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reveals. The Pelicans coach has been forced to deal with injuries to his star player, Anthony Davis, but he is still under heavy pressure to win because of a frustrated fan base, Reid adds.
Will Joseph and Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Gal Mekel Signs To Play Russia
Former Mavs and Pelicans point guard Gal Mekel has signed with Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). The Pacers and Wizards are among the teams with interest in signing him for next season, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter), since he has an NBA escape clause that will allow him to shake loose this summer, as David Pick of Eurobasket.com reports (Twitter link). The contract otherwise runs through 2016, the team says, but it wouldn’t force Mekel or any NBA team to pay a buyout if he decided to end the deal this summer, Stein points out in his tweet.
Pick reported Monday that a deal was close, though Hapoel Jerusalem in Mekel’s native Israel made a strong effort to sign him late in the running, Stein adds (Twitter link). Mekel had been waiting for an NBA deal since the Pelicans cut him loose after a brief December stint. Coach Monty Williams wouldn’t rule out a new deal between the Pelicans and the 26-year-old shortly after his release, but no such arrangement materialized.
It’s no surprise to see the Pacers once more linked to Mekel, since Indiana reportedly would have signed him in November if it weren’t for visa-related complications. The Thunder have apparently held interest in him in the past, and he reportedly worked out for the Lakers twice earlier this season. He’s been drawing money from the Mavericks this season and will continue to do through 2017/18, since Dallas waived him before opening night and used the stretch provision on the second of the two years remaining on his contract.
And-Ones: Bucks, Mekel, Bargnani
The Bucks rejected an offer from the Suns that would have sent Goran Dragic to Milwaukee for Brandon Knight, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, adding that Michael Carter-Williams and Tyler Ennis, whom Milwaukee acquired instead of Dragic, were who they wanted all along. Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times disputes that Milwaukee ever turned down a Dragic proposal, however (Twitter link).
Here’s more from around the league:
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside wonders if Peyton Siva is being overshadowed with the Erie BayHawks this season. Seth Curry has gotten most of the attention on the team, but Siva is still having a relatively strong campaign in his own right.
- Danny Granger says he wanted to rejoin the Pacers when he was a free agent this summer but couldn’t afford to wait for them to decide what to do with Lance Stephenson, as Granger tells Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com (Twitter link).
- Unless an NBA offer materializes in the next few days, Gal Mekel is going to play in Europe, David Pick of Eurobasket.com tweets. The point guard has reportedly passed on numerous overseas offers after being released by the Pelicans back in December.
- Knicks team president Phil Jackson said there are no immediate plans to reach a buyout arrangement with Andrea Bargnani, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “It’s debatable,’’ Jackson said regarding a buyout. “Now that we have a gap in scoring, this is a guy that is a natural scorer. I think the coaching staff would like to have him on the court and be competitive with his scoring capabilities. Without Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, we are going to need some scorers out there. And we would like to give him a forum. I am not going to hold it against him if he wasn’t here for the first 40-something games.’’
- The Sixers almost wound up with Isaiah Thomas in their three-team deal with the Bucks and Suns, but they let the Suns send him to the Celtics in a separate transaction instead, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Zach Links and Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Sessions, Heat, Pacers
Ramon Sessions‘ agent, Jared Karnes, is excited to see his client join the Wizards, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports writes. “Washington is a great situation for Ramon,” Karnes said. “He’s obviously looking forward to going to the playoffs. He has a contract year coming up and this gives him a chance shake things up and be part of a playoff team. Ramon appreciated his time in Sacramento and wishes them success.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Pacers made a serious bid to acquire Reggie Jackson from the Thunder, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Of course, the Pacers wound up losing out to the Pistons.
- The Heat made Hassan Whiteside an untouchable in trade talks along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).
- Knicks president Phil Jackson can learn a lot about being a successful NBA executive from the Heat‘s Pat Riley, Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post writes.
- Raptors GM Masai Ujiri was happy enough with his roster to not make any moves prior to the trade deadline, Holly MacKenzie of NBA.com writes. “We feel confident in this team,” Ujiri said. “In terms of growth, in terms of growing, we’re still a long ways away. We understand that, but a lot of things that were put in front of us were things that maybe [helped] immediately, something that makes you a slightly better now, but it also takes away from younger guys continuing to grow. We felt it wasn’t the time.”
- Goran Dragic is likely to sign a long-term deal this summer to remain with the Heat, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. More than anything else, Dragic desires stability in his career, Deveney adds. “Finding a place where I can be a part of something and build toward something, that is what I have wanted most, really. Having stability,” Dragic told the Sporting News scribe.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Thunder Discuss Enes Kanter Deal
The Thunder have had talks about acquiring disgruntled center Enes Kanter from the Jazz as they wait to decide whether to pull the trigger on the Brook Lopez–Reggie Jackson proposal with the Nets, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Oklahoma City is making a hard push for Kanter, tweets Jody Genessy of The Deseret News, but still, a strong belief remains that the Brooklyn deal will get done, Wojnarowski adds (on Twitter). It not immediately clear whether Jackson would be involved in a Kanter trade. Oklahoma City has also talked to the Pacers as the Thunder search for alternatives to the Lopez-Jackson deal, but nothing materialized with Indiana, Wojnarowski tweets.
Kanter made it clear last week that he’s frustrated with his role and wants a trade
Goran Dragic Rumors: Thursday
The intensity of trade chatter surrounding Goran Dragic picked up Wednesday, when the guard said flatly of Phoenix’s front office, “I don’t trust them anymore.” We’ll use this post to round up the Dragic rumors as today’s 2pm Central time trade deadline approaches, with any additional updates on top:
- The Heat are in the lead for Dragic as the Suns continue to talk with multiple teams, and while the Suns continue to send signals they won’t trade him, no other team wants to believe that, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links).
12:30pm update:
- The Suns are holding firm to their preference to move Isaiah Thomas rather than Dragic, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News (on Twitter). Dragic was designated as the heir apparent to Steve Nash and owner Robert Sarver wants to keep it that way.
9:37am update:
- The Heat are offering two first-round picks for Dragic, but Sarver is still resistant to a trade, according to Broussard (Twitter link).
9:16am update:
- The Suns want a first-round pick and a “young player with significant potential” or two first-rounders in return if they’re to part with Dragic, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Nik Stauskas and a first-round pick were among the assets the Kings were willing to offer, league sources tell the Yahoo! scribe. The timing of Dragic’s trade request is what’s upsetting Sarver, Wojnarowski hears.
8:57am updates:
- The Kings are growing hesitant to make a deal for Dragic, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). There’s “no way” that Dragic will sign a long-term deal with the Kings, Pacers, Rockets, Celtics, or any other team that’s not among his preferred destinations, a source tells Broussard (Twitter link).
- Dragic’s trade request has miffed Suns owner Robert Sarver, who’s refusing to go along with it, at least at this point, league executives tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- The Knicks are offering a package for Dragic that includes Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jose Calderon, Broussard tweets.
- No deal between the Suns and Lakers involving Dragic appears likely, a source tells Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times.
- The ability to offer a fifth year in a new contract this summer, which is the exclusive domain of whichever team holds his Bird rights, won’t have much sway on where Dragic decides to sign, a source tells USA Today’s Sam Amick. Of course, Bird rights also give a team the opportunity offer raises of 7.5% instead of 4.5%.
- There’s “nothing of substance” to the reported interest of the Celtics in either Dragic or Reggie Jackson, given the ability of both to hit free agency this summer, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald hears. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge spoke of his hesitancy to “get rid of multiple draft picks for players with uncertainty in the free agent market” in a radio appearance this morning on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, notes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com (on Twitter).
Latest On Ty Lawson
10:31am: There’s tension between Lawson and the Nuggets, and both parties are frustrated with each other, as Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter link). A trade remains “very possible,” Kennedy adds.
8:42am: The Nuggets were never interested in a Lawson-for-Hill swap, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post (Twitter link). Lawson remains unlikely to be traded, Dempsey also tweets.
THURSDAY, 7:21am: Denver has listened to pitches for Lawson, but the front office has yet to seriously consider a deal, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 8:02pm: The Nuggets are trying to trade point guard Ty Lawson, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). If Denver is indeed able to move Lawson, coach Brian Shaw wants his team to acquire George Hill from the Pacers as Lawson’s replacement, Broussard adds. The Lakers have expressed interest in Lawson in addition to Goran Dragic of the Suns, the ESPN scribe notes. The Bucks, Kings, and Celtics are all reportedly interested in the veteran point guard as well.
Lawson, 27, has two more years left on his contract after this season. He is earning $11,595,506 this year, and will make $12,404,595 in 2015/16 and $13,213,482 during the 2016/17 campaign, the final year of his current deal. In 51 appearances this season, all as a starter, Lawson is averaging 16.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and a career-high 10.1 assists. His career numbers over five and a half seasons are 14.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 6.5 APG. His career slash line is .470/.373/.773.
The Pacers are reportedly willing to move one of their high-salaried veterans to create cap space to pursue free agents with this summer, according to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report . Indiana is believed to be willing to trade anyone aside from Paul George to accomplish that, Bucher writes.
Hill is making $8MM this season, and is on the books for two more years beyond this one at the same rate. In 15 appearances for the Pacers this season Hill is averaging 14.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 23.9 minutes per contest. His career numbers through 448 games are 10.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 3.1 APG. Hill’s career shooting percentages are .448/.373/.806.