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Pacific Notes: Paul, Clippers, Kings, Jackson

April 21st, 2013 at 5:02pm CST by Zachary Links

Chris Paul has kept mum on his future so far, but he may have dropped some very telling hints when speaking to reporters this afternoon. The Clippers star remarked that guard Eric Bledsoe is likely going to wind up elsewhere next year because the club won't have enough money to sign him, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The way that Paul spoke of Bledsoe's future leads Markazi to believe (link) that Paul intends on staying in L.A. for the long-term. It's also worth noting that Bledsoe isn't a free agent this summer – he's under contract next season for $2.6MM. However, the Clippers are expected to shop him when/if Paul re-signs (link). Here's more out of the Pacific..

An NBA owner expressed his doubts to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com about Sacramento's bid for the Kings, saying, "The check's in the mail, and that's not good enough. The check's got to arrive." Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson nonetheless believes most owners were "blown away" by the competitiveness of the city's offer, as well as the fast pace at which its come together.
Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News (on Twitter) notes that the three-year, $28MM extension that Stephen Jackson signed with the Warriors is just expiring now after four trades and one release.
Ike Diogu began the season in training camp with the Suns and played 41 games with the Guangdong Southern Tigers in China. Now, he's headed to Puerto Rico to play with Leones de Ponce, Sportando's Emiliano Carchia reports.

Pacific Links: Paul, Hunter, Nash, Assistants

April 19th, 2013 at 9:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

Three Pacific Division teams are preparing for the playoffs this weekend, while the other two have May 21st, the date of the draft lottery, circled on their calendars. By the end of that night, the Kings will know which pick they'll have in the first round, and apparently which city they'll be playing in next year, too, according to comments David Stern made today. We've been keeping close tabs on Kings developments, and there's news involving the other four teams in the division as well.

A source close to Chris Paul tells HoopsWorld's Bill Ingram that there's no way CP3 will leave the Clippers (Twitter link). That's in keeping with the signals Paul's camp has been putting out all season.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports unveils his final power rankings of the 2012/13 season, and in so doing passes along news that the Suns are thinking about keeping interim coach Lindsey Hunter, according to a source.
Steve Nash has endured a season of injuries and dished out his fewest assists per game since 1999/00, but he's giving no thought to retirement, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Sulia link).
From conversations with general managers, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports gleans the names of four assistant coaches who appear to be top candidates to wind up as head coaches (Twitter link). Three have Pacific Division ties: Michael Malone of the Warriors, Steve Clifford of the Lakers, and former Lakers assistant Quin Snyder, who's now an assistant in Russia with CSKA Moscow. The other name on Wojnarowski's list is Kelvin Sampson, who temporarily took over head coaching duties for the Rockets this season while Kevin McHale tended to his ailing daughter.

Odds & Ends: Coaches, Mavericks, Pacers

April 13th, 2013 at 9:04pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The NBA has its first official playoff matchup cemented in the postseason schedule, as the Bucks' loss to the Bobcats tonight guaranteed them a first round dance with the Heat. Now that Boston is a lock for seventh place, five of the remaining playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference are still yet to be determined. We've got plenty of miscellaneous links to share tonight, and you can find them below:

Kurt Kragthorpe of The Salt Lake Tribune thinks Tyrone Corbin will face plenty of scrutiny next season from the Jazz front office. Corbin appears likely to keep his job regardless of whether the team captures the final playoff spot this year.
Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times figures on at least six coaching vacancies in the offseason, with the Pistons most likely to have one of them. Woelfel hears Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson is already drawing serious consideration from a couple of teams. Sampson was recently linked to the Bucks, where coach Jim Boylan appears on unsteady footing.
According to Paul Franklin of The Times of Trenton, Lakers assistant coach Eddie Jordan is expected to be announced as the new head basketball coach at Rutgers University. Tom Luicci of the Star-Ledger heard about the possibility earlier this afternoon (Twitter link).
Dirk Nowitzki believes the outcome of the Mavericks' attempt to retool this summer might determine the effectiveness of Mark Cuban's decision to break up his 2011 championship team, observes Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
Even without a superstar, the well-balanced Pacers appear to be primed as a dangerous post-season matchup, writes Zach Schonbrun of the New York Times.
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register tweets that Kobe Bryant will likely seek advice from soccer star and friend David Beckham, who also suffered an Achilles injury but returned after six months. Dan Woike (also of the OC Register) says that Clippers guard Chauncey Billups – who also suffered the same injury last season – is also willing to lend his support (Twitter link). Lastly, the LA Times' Sam Farmer and Broderick Turner gathered some thoughts from NFL star Terrell Suggs, who shed some light on the process of recovery.

Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors contributed to this post.

Traded 2013 Draft Picks Still Up In The Air

April 11th, 2013 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

With just a handful of games remaining in the 2012/13 regular season, most traded 2013 draft picks that included some sort of protection have been locked in, with teams' records ensuring those picks will either change hands or stay put. The Bulls, for instance, obviously aren't getting the Bobcats' top-12-protected pick, while the Jazz know definitively that they will receive Golden State's top-six-protected first-rounder.

There are still a handful of picks whose fate remains up in the air, however. For instance, the Suns and Cavaliers are watching the Lakers' place in the standings anxiously, since Phoenix will get L.A.'s pick if the Lakers miss the playoffs, while the Cavs will grab it if the Lakers earn a postseason berth. With the help of our projected draft order, here are the details on that pick and the rest of the selections that still may or may not change hands:

Team: Raptors (30-48)
Protection details: First-round pick sent to Thunder if not between 1-3 or 15-30.
Projected landing spot: 10th
Current outlook: The Raptors have a chance to jump into the top three in the draft lottery to keep their pick, but it's a real long shot. Assuming they finish with the league's 10th-worst record, the Raps' odds of landing a top-three pick will be about 4%.

Team: Trail Blazers (33-45)
Protection details: First-round pick sent to Bobcats if not in top 12.
Projected landing spot: 12th
Current outlook: With Dallas five games ahead of them in the standings, the Trail Blazers will finish with no better than the league's 12th-worst record. That bodes well for their chances of keeping their first-rounder, since the odds of the 13th and/or 14th teams leapfrogging the Blazers in the lottery (pushing them out of the top 12) are only about 4%.

Team: Lakers (42-37)
Protection details: First-round pick sent to Suns if in top 14. If not in top 14, Cavaliers can swap Heat first-round pick with Lakers first-rounder; Lakers then send Heat pick to Suns.
Projected landing spot: 15th
Current outlook: A game up on the Jazz, the Lakers are in the driver's seat in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot, but they'll host the Warriors, Spurs, and Rockets in their last three games, so it won't be a cakewalk. The Jazz hold the playoff tiebreaker and finish with games against the Timberwolves (twice) and Grizzlies. John Hollinger's playoffs odds give the Lakers 73.5% odds to earn the 8th seed, but this could still go either way.

Team: Trail Blazers (33-45)
Protection details: Second-round pick sent to Nuggets if not in top 40.
Projected landing spot: 42nd
Current outlook: Unlike the team's first-rounder, Portland isn't likely to keep this pick. Even if the Blazers' losing streak continues and they don't win another game this season, two of the Raptors, Sixers, and Timberwolves would have to finish the year with a handful of wins to push Portland's pick into the top 40. That means the Nuggets will probably receive it.

Team: Clippers (52-26)
Protection details: Second-round pick sent to Pistons if not in top 55.
Projected landing spot: 55th
Current outlook: The Clippers are a half-game up on the Knicks in the NBA standings and are within a game of the Grizzlies and two games of the Nuggets, so this pick remains unsettled. If the Pistons land it, it'd be one more very small asset in an offseason where the team is expected to have a lottery pick and a ton of cap space.

Team: Grizzlies (53-25)
Protection details: Second-round pick sent to Lakers if not in top 55.
Projected landing spot: 56th
Current outlook: A late-season loss or two for the Grizz could mean this pick ends up in the top 55 and remains in their control, but I don't think either team is losing much sleep over it.

Chauncey Billups Not Considering Retirement

April 11th, 2013 at 8:46am CST by Luke Adams

Injuries have wiped out the majority of Chauncey Billups' last two seasons, as the veteran guard has combined to play just 40 games since December 2011 — 20 in '11/12 and 20 more this season. However, despite being slowed by health issues, Billups isn't contemplating retirement, as Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes.

Before he sat out last night's game against the Timberwolves, the sixth in a row he has missed, Billups assured reporters, including Markazi, that he'd be back on the court by the end of the regular season. Asked whether this would be his last season and/or postseason, Billups replied, "No. Not at all."

While Billups' drop-off in production over the last two seasons can probably be attributed in large part to his health, he'll also turn 37 years old before the 2013/14 season gets underway. Having made over $100MM in his playing career, according to Basketball-Reference, and with no contract yet for next season, it wouldn't have been totally shocking if Billups called it a career. But he did suggest earlier this season that he'd like to play for a few more years, and it looks like he's sticking to that stance.

Billups signed a one-year deal worth $4MM last summer to remain with the Clippers. I'd imagine there will be mutual interest between the two sides in continuing the relationship beyond this season, though it would likely have to be for a reduced salary.

Celtics Rumors: Pierce, Garnett, Christmas

April 10th, 2013 at 7:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have ended the Celtics' five-year reign as Atlantic Division champs, but it's looking increasingly like Boston will have a chance for revenge in the first round of the playoffs. The Celtics are a game and a half behind the Hawks for the sixth spot in the East, but otherwise they and the Knicks appear locked into the seventh and second seeds, respectively. While we wait to see if that matchup becomes reality, the Knicks are set to make a roster move, and there's plenty of news on the C's as well.

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports speculated last night that the Clippers and Celtics, who explored a Kevin Garnett trade before the deadline, could revisit talks in the summer, this time centering around Paul Pierce (video link). Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com has a partial transcription of the video. Teams may be wary of trading for Garnett, who has a no-trade clause, because they fear he might retire rather than play anywhere but Boston, as Garnett has suggested.
Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com runs the numbers to examine the potential impact a Garnett trade could have had on the Clippers, concluding that the move would have given L.A. a better shot at the title (Insider only).
Dionte Christmas, a training camp invitee with the Celtics last fall, has officially signed to play in Italy with Montepaschi Siena, according to the Italian team (translation via Sportando). Christmas tweeted the news of his signing over the weekend.

Stein On Van Gundy, Clippers, Pistons, Grizzlies

April 6th, 2013 at 12:26pm CST by Zachary Links

In his Weekend Dime column, ESPN.com's Marc Stein takes us on a ride around the NBA coaching carousel. You must be this tall to check out the highlights..

According to sources, Stan Van Gundy's availability already has the Clippers highly intrigued. That doesn't bode well for coach Vinny Del Negro, who might not even be able to save his job with a deep playoff run.
No team in coaching circles is rated as more likely to make a change than the Pistons. Sources consistently say that Lawrence Frank is going to be ousted when the season is over based on the lack of responsiveness from his players. It would be a big surprise at this stage if the Pistons aren't soon in the market for a coach and they make target a former player.
One coaching source says that it is "very likely" that Lionel Hollins will get a new deal from the Grizzlies after the playoffs. Word is that they'll still probably keep him in the event of a first round exit.
More than one source says that Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap is a coach in potential jeopardy, which undoubtedly stems from Michael Jordan's recent promise to season-ticket holders that major offseason changes are on the way. Stein doesn't think that the criticism for Dunlap is fair considering the group that he has to work with.
Sources continue to link Kelvin Sampson to the Bucks' opening, but interim coach Jim Boylan could get the full-time gig still.
One source with knowledge of the Suns said this week that Lindsey Hunter has a "good shot" to become the permanent head coach at season's end.
Byron Scott is believed to have the support of the front office, but there is a growing sense in Cleveland that owner Dan Gilbert will make a change regardless. The coach had had to deal with the absences of Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao, and Dion Waiters throughout the year.
Wizards coach Randy Wittman appears to be safe and he should have less to worry about that the aforementioned coaches on the hot seat.

Pacific Rumors: Lakers, Kings, Clippers

April 5th, 2013 at 8:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

If the Lakers fail to make the playoffs, they'll have no one but themselves to blame, opines Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. They sit a half-game up on the Jazz for eighth place in the Western Conference heading into tonight's action, with Utah playing host to the Hornets while the Lakers face a much tougher opponent in the Grizzlies. It's the same position both clubs found themselves in yesterday, when we asked Hoops Rumors readers which of the teams fighting for the last playoff spot would make it. A strong majority favored L.A. over Utah and the fading Mavericks. As the Lakers, through all their struggles, continue to deal with expectations, here's more from around the Pacific Division:

Michael Lee of the Washington Post summarizes the state of affairs in the tug of war over the Kings, and lays out the case for both Sacramento and Seattle.
Legal analyst Michael McCann believes there's little grounds for a threatened referendum on Sacramento's public funding plan for a new arena, tweets Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com. The city would raise money for its contribution to the building through the lease of parking garages and land.
Blake Griffin doesn't put much stock in a recent column by T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times suggesting immaturity is causing problems for the Clippers, and downplays the idea of chemistry problems on the team. Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com has the details.

Pacific Notes: Howard, World Peace, Kings, Clips

April 4th, 2013 at 3:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, the Clippers signed DaJuan Summers for the season, and we passed along word that Grant Hill is likely to retire at season's end. Here are a few more Thursday items from out of the Pacific Division:

Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Insider-only link) expects Dwight Howard to re-sign with the Lakers, but notes that there are other potentially attractive destinations in play. Broussard breaks down the pros and cons of three likely Howard suitors, the Hawks, Rockets, and Mavericks.
Metta World Peace's rehab from knee surgery is off to a good start, though his future is still uncertain, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
As Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld explains, when the NBA Board of Governors votes on the future of the Kings, the decision won't necessarily come down to Seattle vs. Sacramento, since the Board can't force the Maloofs to sell to the Sacramento group. The Board of Governors will simply be voting on whether or not to approve the sale to the Seattle group, so if the sale is to be declined, there will need to be real cause.
In his latest column for the Los Angeles Times, T.J. Simers argues that the immaturity of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan is dragging the Clippers down, and says Jordan "blames [head coach Vinny] Del Negro for burying him on the bench."

Clippers Re-Sign DaJuan Summers For Season

April 4th, 2013 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers have re-signed DaJuan Summers to a rest-of-season contract, the team announced today in a press release. Summers had signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the club, the second of which came to an end after last night's win over the Suns.

During his first 20 days with the Clippers, Summers has only appeared in two games, scoring a single basket in seven minutes of action. I don't expect the 25-year-old to be a part of the team's postseason rotation, so I'd imagine his contract includes a non-guaranteed option for 2013/14, giving L.A. a chance to take an extended look at him over the summer.

Now that they've signed Summers and Maalik Wayns to guaranteed contracts, the Clippers have a full roster of 15 players.