Mitch Kupchak On Draft, D’Antoni, Kobe
After finishing with the worst record in the Pacific Division, the Lakers are looking to turn things around in a major way. The Lakers bid farewell to coach Mike D’Antoni and they could be moving on from free agent Pau Gasol as well. In advance of the NBA Lottery, GM Mitch Kupchak took some time out from his schedule to talk with Mike Trudell of Lakers.com about the road ahead. The whole Q&A is worth reading but we’ll provide a few of the highlights here..
Does having only three players on the roster right now for next season change how you approach the coaching hire?
You do take into consideration the make up of your roster. Although I won’t rule out hiring a coach prior to the lottery on May 20, I think it’s likely that we don’t, because that’s really the first step in terms of additional information for this franchise. Let’s find out what kind of pick we have. That may even help us decide what direction to go with for our coach. It will be a consideration.
Does the search for D’Antoni’s replacement and the uncertainty over where you’ll pick effect your draft preparations?
As you mentioned, May 20 is the lottery, and it’s hard to focus 100% on the draft until you know where you’re drafting. If the stars all line up and you get No. 1 instead of No. 9, there’s a difference, and it’s impossible to schedule workouts because the agents won’t cooperate until they know where you’re drafting. That part of it has proved uneventful, and probably won’t change until the 20th. We are working on setting up some interviews, and we’ve been successful, but you’re not going to really get moving on it until the agents know where you’re drafting.
You’ve been criticized for the contract extension that was given to Kobe Bryant. How does it factor into the way you build this team over the next two seasons, with salary cap implications and so on, and how would things look different if you’d given him less money?
When we gave Kobe the extension, we took a lot of factors into consideration, including the factors you just mentioned. We felt it was the thing to do. We’re still in a position to be a big player in the free agent market. Signing Kobe when we did, we felt, gave us one of the top two or three free agents that would be available this summer. We had the rare opportunity to get that done and not have to wait until July 1. Everybody can debate whether they would have waited or not, but our mindset was: ‘This is somebody we can get done now, and we still have a chance to be a player financially with free agency.’ Cap space is valuable and you don’t want to misuse it. You do have to use it, but you don’t have to use it going forward unless you want to.
Pacific Rumors: Van Gundy, Lakers, Clippers
It wasn’t long ago that the Kings appeared to be Seattle-bound, but owner Vivek Ranadive‘s group brought that talk to a definitive end. This weekend it was reported that the Kings finalized a 35-year lease agreement to build a new arena in Sacramento. The measure still needs to be approved by the city council, but there’s no indication that it won’t go through. Here’s tonight’s glance at the Pacific Division..
- Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News feels that Stan Van Gundy is the current frontrunner for the Warriors‘ head coaching job among the known candidates out there. However, he adds that there could be under-the-radar names who are currently employed and therefore cannot publicly discuss their interest in the gig.
- Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com rounds up the Lakers‘ quest for a new coach, and surmises that the candidate they decide to pursue will be heavily affected by their position in the lottery.
- Shelly Sterling‘s resistance to surrender ownership of the Clippers means she’ll likely be in control of the team for the foreseeable future, opines Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Any ousting process could take over a year, says Mannix, who also adds the NBA isn’t buying her claimed outrage at her husband’s comments (all Twitter links).
- LeBron James, meanwhile, doesn’t want to see anyone with the Sterling surname involved in the Clippers, writes Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press.
- At this point, the over/under on the number of years it will take the NBA to excise the Sterlings from the Clippers is around two, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
- Yesterday, we rounded up news on the Lakers and Clippers.
Charlie Adams contributed to this post.
LA Notes: Rivers, Parsons, Lakers
Clippers coach Doc Rivers spoke with Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman and discussed, among other topics, the appointment of Dick Parsons as the team’s interim CEO. “I don’t know Dick very well,” said Rivers. “But from what I heard from everyone who knows him and from talking to him today, I think it’s a very good hire for us.” We’ll cover more from Tramel’s discussion with Rivers as well as the Lakers coaching search:
- Rivers said that the league has done a great job of keeping him involved in the search for a replacement for Donald Sterling. Their involvement has helped him focus on basketball rather than the scandal, admits Rivers.
- The league never went as far as to ask Rivers to run the Clippers, and Rivers said he wouldn’t have been interested even if they had since he has a limited understanding of the business side of running an NBA team.
- Although the Lakers don’t appear to be in the running for Steve Kerr, they’re still likely to hire someone who makes a splash. Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News passes along the the opinions of experts from around the league about which candidates would be best suited for the job.
Pacific Notes: Sterlings, Kings, Young
The Kings finalized a 35-year lease agreement to build a new arena in Sacramento, according to a report from Dale Kasler, Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee. The agreement still has to be voted on by city council, but there are no signs at this point that the measure would fail. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The NBA is not worried about Shelly Sterling’s long term involvement with the Clippers, sources with knowledge of the league’s legal strategy tell Michael McCann of SI.com. There is no danger of Shelly becoming a controlling owner of the team by default, and the only way she could be named a controlling owner would be with league approval.
- McCann has also learned that Sterling is likely to lose her share along with Donald Sterling if the league is successful in their push to oust him. California property law views the team as a single property shared by the Sterlings, not two distinct 50/50 pieces that the league could strip in part.
- League officials are not worried about a “slippery slope” precedent being set with the ouster, per McCann. Private comments made by other owners in the past or future will not be subject to these measures, except for egregious cases that create exceptional outrage like Sterling’s comments did.
- In anticipating the likelihood of a Sterling lawsuit, the SI.com scribe shares that the league is more concerned with the legal process becoming dragged out and embarrassing than it is with the strength of its case, which it expects to hold up in court.
- Mike Trudell of Lakers.com takes a look at Nick Young‘s season with the Lakers, asking the pending free agent about his future with the team. “Hopefully I could be back but we’ll see what [the Lakers] plans are after the draft and settle in to what they want to do,” said Young. “I appreciate everything they said to me and being able to do what I do here.” The Lakers are rumored to be interested in bringing the shooting guard back next year.
Pacific Rumors: Kings, Thompson, Lakers
The Kings are canvassing their fans for input on this year’s draft, and GM Pete D’Alessandro will meet with those who submit the best ideas for player evaluation and invite a few of them into the team’s war room on draft night, as he explained in a Reddit chat today. Whether he’ll actually listen or if it’s just a publicity stunt remains to be seen, but it’s another example of the experimental approach the new Kings brass has been taking. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Kings will favor the best player available over positional needs in the draft, D’Alessandro also said on Reddit.
- Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group suggests that Klay Thompson will wind up with $12MM annual salaries in an extension from the Warriors this summer (Twitter link). Co-owner Joe Lacob has vowed to strike a deal with the shooting guard.
- Kobe Bryant, in an appearance Thursday on Jimmy Kimmel Live, said he wants the Lakers to consult him on their next coach and claimed they didn’t do so when they hired Mike Brown and Mike D’Antoni, but that’s revisionist history, writes Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding. Bryant is on record as having said he spoke with co-owner Jim Buss about D’Antoni during the team’s 2012 coaching search, Ding points out.
- Bryant also said on Kimmel’s show that he “didn’t care” whether the Lakers retained D’Antoni, who resigned last week. Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com rounds up more from Bryant’s turn on late-night TV.
Pau Gasol Eyes Grizzlies, Bulls, Spurs, Lakers
Pau Gasol spoke of highly of the Grizzlies and hinted at interest at the Bulls and Spurs as well as a return to the Lakers in a Spanish-language video on Marca.com, as James Barrigan of the Los Angeles Times notes. The soon-to-be free agent big man said it’s difficult for him to envision signing with the Clippers, given their proximity to and rivalry with the Lakers, for whom Gasol has played the past six and a half seasons. Gasol nonetheless praised Clippers guard Chris Paul and said that he likes to play with the league’s best, naming LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony in addition to Paul.
Gasol said in December that the Grizzlies would be an “appealing” option given the presence of his brother, Marc Gasol, and he reiterated those comments to Marca.com, also citing the strength of the Memphis team that won 50 games this past season. The Grizzlies want to first see what happens with Zach Randolph, who has a nearly $17MM player option, but they still seem to have designs on pursuing Pau Gasol, who turns 34 in the summer. The Bulls reportedly have interest, too, as do the Cavs and Bobcats. There have been no indications that the Spurs want to go after him, but they’d certainly fit Gasol’s desire to play for a winner, and Gasol praised the team and Coach of the Year Gregg Popovich in his latest remarks.
The Arn Tellem client has had a checkered relationship with the Lakers in recent months, recently saying the team would have to make major changes if he’s to re-sign. He seemed to soften his stance in the wake of the resignation of Mike D’Antoni, with whom he’d feuded. Gasol said this week that he still considered himself a Laker, though he said the absence of D’Antoni would not be the determining factor in his decision whether to leave the club in free agency.
Gasol said in the Marca video that he hopes the Lakers will make him an offer strong enough for him to consider. He’ll surely have to take a pay cut from this season’s salary, which exceeded $19MM, but he reportedly has a decent chance to receive an offer worth $10MM a year.
Coaching Rumors: Ollie, Jackson, Scott
There probably won’t be 13 coaching changes like last offseason, but with vacancies on high-profile teams like the Lakers and Knicks and plenty of disharmony surrounding Mark Jackson‘s dismissal from the Warriors, there’s no shortage of chatter. Here’s the latest:
- University of Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie still hasn’t heard from any NBA teams about their openings, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM. Ollie is nonetheless likely to start talks with NBA teams if his negotiations about a new deal with the school don’t bear fruit, Charania adds (Twitter links).
- Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group believes race played a role, if not the deciding role, in the Warriors‘ firing of Jackson, whether or not co-owner Joe Lacob and the front office intended it. The cultural and racial divide led to misunderstandings and discomfort, Thompson argues.
- It’s a “safe assumption” that late Lakers owner Jerry Buss would have hired Byron Scott as head coach in 2010 had he not already been coaching the Cavs, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding writes, making the case for Scott as the most logical Lakers hire this year.
Lakers Want To Interview Roy Williams
THURSDAY, 3:53pm: Williams distanced himself from the notion that he’d like to head to the Lakers in comments he made during an appearance on Fox Sports Radio, according to Sports Xchange.
“I’ve always felt like that I’m a college coach and that’s where I belong,” Williams said. “Mitch Kupchak is one of my best friends in the whole wide world, there’s no question there, but I’m a college guy and if somebody calls and offers me the greatest job in the world, it better be really good because I feel like I’ve got about the greatest job in the world.”
MONDAY, 7:00pm: The Lakers reportedly want to make a splash with their next coaching hire and the latest name in the mix would certainly accomplish that. General Manager Mitch Kupchak & Co. want to speak with North Carolina head coach Roy Williams at some point, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter).
As Bresnahan notes (link), Williams declined to discuss the Lakers’ job in 2004, one year after he left Kansas for UNC. While the Lakers like Williams and can see him making the transition to the NBA, there’s no rush to talk to him as they have a slow timetable to make their hire. Over the course of his college coaching career, Williams has racked up a 724–190 record, good for a .792 win percentage. UNC finished the 2013/14 regular season tied for third in the ACC and saw their season end at the hands of Iowa State in the Round of 32.
Other candidates linked to the Lakers job have included George Karl, Jeff Van Gundy, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, Kevin Ollie, and John Calipari.
Warriors Notes: Kerr, Hoiberg, Jackson, Curry
The Warriors will take their time finding a new coach, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group hears, and he sees it as an indication that the team won’t land Steve Kerr if the TNT broadcaster is anxious to take a job soon (Twitter links). There’s more on Golden State’s coaching search as well as the future of their ex-coach amid the latest on the Warriors:
- Kerr, Fred Hoiberg, Stan Van Gundy and Kevin Ollie are in the first tier of Warriors coaching candidates, Kawakami believes (Twitter link).
- Ousted Warriors coach Mark Jackson says he’d like to coach again and cited the “great jobs available” at present in an interview Wednesday on ESPN New York 98.7 FM, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com notes. Jackson, who played for the Knicks, said New York hasn’t contacted him about its vacancy. The former point guard is reportedly a candidate for the Lakers job.
- The deadline trade that sent Kent Bazemore to the Lakers angered Stephen Curry, who yelled “It’s a business!” as he ran past a press conference in which GM Bob Myers was announcing the deal, according to Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher.
Warriors Contact Stan Van Gundy
The Warriors have contacted Stan Van Gundy about their head-coaching vacancy, writes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Van Gundy has interest in the position, but an interview hasn’t been scheduled yet, reports Spears. The coaching position became available after the team fired coach Mark Jackson earlier this week.
Van Gundy has been mentioned in connection with some of the other vacant positions, but Spears mentions that Van Gundy has no interest in coaching either the Lakers or Timberwolves.
He had a 371-208 combined record coaching the Heat and Magic. Van Gundy guided the Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Lakers. He has compiled a career playoff record of 48-39.
Van Gundy was a Bay Area high school star at Alhambra High School in Martinez, Calif., and has been doing some radio color commentary during the NBA playoffs, notes Spears.