Central Notes: Delfino, Wolters, Curry
Cavs coach Mike Brown won’t be giving young players extra minutes to develop as the season winds down, telling Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio he will coach with the sole purpose of winning games, even after the Cavs become mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Here’s more from around the Central:
- Seth Curry, working on a 10-day contract with the Cavs, is a player that might not benefit from Brown’s philosophy, the coach told Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer. “There’s some little things he can help us with out on the floor, but only time will see how many minutes he gets for us with the bodies we have that are banged up,” said Brown.
- Contradicting an earlier report, Bucks officials tell Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journel Sentinel that injured guard Carlos Delfino will return to Milwaukee to rehab his foot. The earlier report indicated that Delfino would stay in his homeland of Argentina for the rest of the season.
- In the same piece, Gardner writes that Bucks rookie point guard Nate Wolters will miss the remainder of the season with a fractured hand. The 38th pick from the 2013 draft has played 22.6 minutes per game and started 31 times for Milwaukee this year.
Central Notes: Drummond, Bulls, Bynum
Andre Drummond tells Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press that the many Pistons losses this season have taken their toll on the young big man. “That’s how it goes sometimes. Nothing good comes easy, and nothing starts off easy, either. Tough starts will help us build this team and this organization,” said Drummond. Ellis points out that if the Pistons finish low enough to keep their lottery pick, it would be little consolation if continued losing sours Drummond on the organization. Here’s more from around the Central:
- Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times thinks speculation on Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau moving to the Knicks, or Carmelo Anthony signing with the Bulls, is a thing of the past, implying that Phil Jackson‘s tenure in New York will put an end to those possibilities.
- Cowley adds that Gary Harris, Doug McDermott, K.J. McDaniels, and Zach LaVine could be good options for the Bulls in the draft. Barring a Bobcats late-season meltdown, Chicago will have Charlotte’s first round pick to go with their own in the 2014 draft, both of which are currently projected in the teens.
- Carlos Delfino, lost for the year due to injury, won’t be joining the Bucks for the remainder of the year, per Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter link). The guard is opting to rehab in his home country of Argentina, and is still under contract with Milwaukee beyond this season.
- Pacers backup center Andrew Bynum is sidelined indefinitely while he receives treatment for swelling and soreness to his knee, per a team release. Bynum has only played two games with Indiana since signing there in early February, and it’s no shock that his chronic knee issues are limiting his time.
Kohl Close To Selling Majority Share Of Bucks?
THURSDAY, 8:02am: There doesn’t appear to be a buyer set to purchase a majority stake in the Bucks, according to Rich Kirchen of the Milwaukee Business Journal. Kirchen hears from a source whose input is remarkably similar to that of a source who spoke to Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier this week. Both Kirchen and Walker write that no deal is imminent in spite of a considerable amount of local and national interest in the club. It’s most likely any new investor would purchase a minority share with an option to buy a principal stake when Kohl is ready to step aside, Kirchen observes, though his source wouldn’t rule out the notion that Kohl could give up control of the team soon. A transaction of some kind will probably take place this summer, Kirchen adds.
TUESDAY, 8:28am: Bucks owner Herb Kohl will likely cede control of the franchise in a deal that would bring new ownership aboard, reports Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. It’s not clear exactly who will be taking over the team, but it won’t be anyone who’ll move the Bucks out of Milwaukee, according to Woelfel, who adds that the sale could take place as soon as late April. Kohl recently turned down a pair of groups with interest in moving the team elsewhere, Woelfel notes.
The 79-year-old Kohl had reportedly been looking for investors to buy minority shares of the club, but it now appears as though he’s ready to give up principal ownership, even though he insisted in late 2013 that he “isn’t going anywhere.” There’s a chance the new regime will keep him around in some sort of capacity, perhaps as an ambassador of sorts, Woelfel writes. Kohl has been particularly intent on building a new arena for the team and making it part of his legacy in Wisconsin, the state he represented for decades in the U.S. Senate.
Four “serious suitors” for the club emerged earlier this year, and it appears as though former Timberwolves GM David Kahn is part of a group that constitutes one of those suitors. Woelfel suggests that the new ownership could be around to make decisions in advance of the draft, but there’s usually a period of at least a few months between the time the sale of a team is consummated and official league approval of the deal. Still, it’s not uncommon for incoming ownership to start calling the shots before the league formally transfers power, so perhaps whoever takes control of the Bucks will indeed start molding the team soon after this season ends.
Concerns about the future of the Bucks are part of the reason why the NBA is apparently reluctant to expand anytime soon, with the threat of Seattle as a vacant market around as motivation for civic leaders to acquiesce to demands for a new arena. The Bucks seemingly face an uphill battle to secure public funding from local governments who’ve shown little willingness to play along. It’s not clear whether a new ownership group will change the atmosphere locally or signal the sort of long-term stability for Milwaukee that would lead the NBA to reconsider expansion.
And-Ones: Bucks, Dedmon, Gooden, Pelicans
A source tells Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Bucks owner Herb Kohl is receiving considerable nationwide interest from investors who’d like to buy at least a minority share of the team, and many of them are in close proximity to Milwaukee. Kohl is reportedly close to selling a majority stake in the franchise, but Walker hears that no deal is imminent. Sports business experts say the team would be more valuable in another market, Walker writes, but Kohl has been insistent that the team stay in Milwaukee. Here’s more from around the league:
- Dewayne Dedmon‘s latest contract with the Magic gives him the chance to make the team’s roster next season, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, so presumably that means the deal covers 2014/15 with a non-guaranteed salary.
- The Wizards didn’t bring Drew Gooden aboard until last month, but they’d been monitoring him since December, tweets J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Gooden followed a pair of 10-day contracts with a deal Tuesday for the rest of the season.
- The Pelicans have more than $54MM in commitments for next season, and GM Dell Demps acknowledged that it’s unlikely the team will be a major player on the free agent market, as John Reid of The Times-Picayune observes. Demps also said he doesn’t regret last summer’s Jrue Holiday trade, even though there’s a strong chance it could cost them another lottery pick this year.
- The Bulls may have to make a few creative cap maneuvers to entice Nikola Mirotic to sign this summer, depending on the dollars-to-euros exchange rate and Real Madrid’s willingness to negotiate the amount of Mirotic’s buyout. Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders has the details.
- Twelve-year NBA veteran Ricky Davis had been attempting a comeback with the D-League affiliate of the Knicks, but the Erie BayHawks announced that they have cut him loose.
Larry Sanders To Miss Rest Of Season
Larry Sanders will be out for the rest of the season as he continues to recover from the broken right orbital bone he suffered during a game on February 8th, the center tells Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). Sanders signed a four-year, $44MM extension last fall that kicks in for 2014/15, but he played only 23 games this season because of the orbital bone injury as well as a broken hand that he suffered during a fight at a nightclub. That off-court misstep cost Sanders nearly two months, while his latest injury will keep him away for the final nine and a half weeks of the season.
Sanders finished third last year in Most Improved Player of the Year award voting and seventh in balloting for Defensive Player of the Year, but his inability to stay on the court has been microcosmic of the 2013/14 season for the Bucks, whose 13-55 record is still the worst in the NBA by two and a half games, in spite of Philadelphia’s ongoing 21-game losing streak. Sanders appeared to regress when he did play for Milwaukee this season, with his numbers down almost across the board from 2012/13.
The Bucks were reportedly aggressive in their attempts to trade Sanders in December, shortly before he returned from his broken hand. Milwaukee was apparently seeking draft picks in return, but the team had begun turning away suitors for the 25-year-old before he suffered his orbital bone injury. The Poison Pill Provision might have had much to do with the Bucks’ inability to pull off a deal, but it would no longer be a factor if Milwaukee GM John Hammond and company wanted to revisit the idea of trading him in the summer. Still, given the cost and length of Sanders’ contract, I’d be surprised if the Bucks find any takers willing to give them enough of a return, and today’s news means that potential trade partners won’t get another chance this season to see if Sanders can bounce back.
Eastern Notes: LeBron, Jackson, Antetokounmpo
Most league insiders think it’s unlikely LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will opt in for another season on their deals with the Heat, though the same people feel like they’ll all sign new deals with Miami for at least one season, writes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Many feel as though James will stay with the Heat even if Bosh and Wade leave, with the Cavs as the next in line for his services, and all other teams as dark horses. Amico cautioned that his sources are merely making educated guesses, as James has offered few hints. It appears we’ll have to wait until the summer for clarity on that front, but there’s plenty of other news around the Eastern Conference in the interim:
- Phil Jackson strongly encouraged Pistons owner Tom Gores to hire Steve Kerr last summer when Detroit instead tapped Maurice Cheeks as coach, according to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News. Jackson has remained an adviser to Gores, though that ostensibly ends with today’s official announcement of the Zen Master as Knicks president.
- Most NBA teams thought Giannis Antetokounmpo had a promise from the Hawks that they’d take him with the 17th pick, and Raptors GM Masai Ujiri tried “frantically” to trade into the top 15 to draft him before the Bucks snagged him at No. 15. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has the details behind the scramble for the Greek prospect.
- Ujiri doesn’t deny that he was close to a deal in December to send Kyle Lowry to the Knicks, observes Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, who examines how a better attitude is enhancing the Raptors point guard’s free agent value for this summer.
- The Sixers are unlikely to spend a lot of money in free agency this summer, writes Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com, who thinks that’s a reason why the team should hold on to trade candidate Thaddeus Young.
Eastern Notes: Oden, Knight, Kerr
In today’s mailbag, a reader asks Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel if it’s time to worry about Greg Oden. Winderman admits that it’s hard to see the former No. 1 overall pick being a real asset to the Heat during their playoff run. If he is going to to be a real part of their postseason plans, however, now is the time for Miami to figure out how to best utilize their low-risk offseason signing.
More out of the East..
- One NBA advance scout told Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times (on Twitter) that it’s obvious the Pistons gave up on Brandon Knight too soon. WIth the Bucks, the Kentucky product has averaged a career-high 17.4 PPG and 4.9 APG in 32.3 minutes per contest. His current per of 17.0 is by far the best of his three NBA seasons.
- Steve Kerr is close with Phil Jackson and has said he wants to coach in the NBA someday, but says all the talk linking him to the Knicks is just rumors, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com. Kerr said, “It’s crazy, I think people are just connecting the dots because of my relationship with Phil Jackson. That’s all it is, just speculation.” Kerr was asked what he would do if Jackson hypothetically offered him the Knicks job tomorrow. “I have no idea,” Kerr responded. There’s a lot that goes into that. I don’t know, we’ll see.”
- Ben Golliver of SI.com writes that Kerr and Jackson have stayed close since their time in Chicago together. In the article Kerr said, “We’ve stayed close over the years. He’s in Los Angeles and I’m in San Diego. I see him occasionally … we email quite a bit. We stay in touch. I played for him for five years. We share that bond and the love for the game. We talk basketball when we get together.” Kerr left little doubt that he wants to try his hand at coaching, but declined to discuss the possibility of him joining the Knicks out of respect for current coach Mike Woodson, Golliver writes.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Ilyasova, Embiid, Jackson
Bucks big man Ersan Ilyasova admits that he was frustrated by being involved in trade talk around the deadline but he says that he still sees himself with Milwaukee in the long run, writes Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. “When you go through a season like this and your name comes up [in rumors] it is a little frustrating,” Ilyasova said. “But I still feel myself as part of this franchise. I’m hopeful we can find the right pieces for the team so we can play much better because we really need it. I want to be part of a playoff team and that’s what I’m looking forward to, [the franchise] building a better team – a playoff team.”
- One NBA scout told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) that Kansas’ Joel Embiid is the “only potential franchise player” in the 2014 draft. Meanwhile, Spears believes that Duke’s Jabari Parker will prove to be one as well.
- If Phil Jackson hopes to emulate Pat Riley‘s success with the Heat, he must be an active and visible face of the Knicks organization, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
- There’s a long list of coaches who have moved on to the front office and they’ve had mixed results, write USA Today Sports’ Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick. Of course, Jackson hopes to follow the path of Riley, Danny Ainge, and Red Auerbach rather than the likes of Isiah Thomas.
Ramon Sessions Interested In Bobcats Reunion
Bucks guard Ramon Sessions says that he would love to be a member of the Bobcats again if they’d be interested in signing him this summer, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Charlotte traded Sessions to Milwaukee at the trade deadline along with Jeff Adrien in a deal that brought them Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour.
Sessions, 28 next month, recently told Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders that he felt “blindsided” by the February deal. Meanwhile, he told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo back in 2012 that the reason he opted out of his contract with the Lakers and signed with Charlotte in the first place was so that he’d have some career stability. However, it sounds like there are no hard feelings between the veteran guard and the Bobcats.
Sessions is making $5MM in the final year of his contract and while Milwaukee isn’t playing for much at this stage of the season, the veteran has been playing well over the past few weeks. In 12 games for the Bucks, Sessions has been averaging 12.8 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.8 RPG in 25 minutes per contest. Between the two clubs, Sessions has averages of 10.9 PPG, 3.7 APG, and 2.3 RPG in 24 minutes per game (15.6 PER).
Eastern Notes: Lowry, Ridnour, Heat
At his introductory press conference, Paul Pierce said that he would be a “glorified role player” for the Nets. Now, as the Nets ascend the standings without the services of Kevin Garnett, it’s clear that he’s much more than that, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Here’s more from around the East:
- Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders suspects point guard Kyle Lowry will re-sign with the Raptors this summer for $7-$8MM per year (Twitter link).
- Luke Ridnour was happy to leave the Bucks and land with the Bobcats, he tells Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. “I was glad to get out of Milwaukee,” said Ridnour. “It’s a good situation here. I’ve only played five, six games here so I’m trying to get used to it. It’s a good city and I’ve been in the playoffs before, and just to be back in the hunt where every game is big, it’s just a lot different feeling… This has been fun.”
- The Bobcats are looking to add a third center now that it appears Brendan Haywood is done for the season, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
- In the same tweet, Bonnell says the Heat‘s signing of Justin Hamilton was made due to coach Erik Spoelstra‘s faith in the big man.
- Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel writes that Hamilton’s two-year deal is about the future. Winderman sees Hamilton and 2013 first-rounder James Ennis as having a shot to make the Heat’s roster next year, and notes that Pat Riley is scouting college tournaments in looking ahead.
Zach Links contributed to this post.