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Coaching Rumors: Cavs, Joerger, Fisher

May 27th, 2014 at 7:07pm CST by Cray Allred

The Cavs would improve their chances of retaining Luol Deng if they hired Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin as head coach, sources tell Adrian Wojnarwoski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Griffin, a candidate for the job, worked with Deng in Chicago, and although Deng’s departure has essentially been a foregone conclusion, it will be interesting to see if Cleveland re-calibrates their free agency goals after unexpectedly landing the first overall pick. Here’s more of the night’s coaching notes:

Dave Joerger acknowledged in a radio interview with Eli Savoie of Sports 56 that he was offered the Wolves coaching job before smoothing things out with Grizzlies owner Robert Pera. Joerger added that his contract extension was not a condition for staying with Memphis (Twitter links; H/T Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities).
Joerger said that three teams called the Grizzlies to request permission to speak with him, but only the Wolves were granted the opportunity, according to a report from The Associated Press (H/T The Star Tribune).
The Lakers are curious to see if Derek Fisher is a good fit for their head coaching vacancy, but will wait until his season with the Thunder is over, reports Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. This jibes with earlier reports that have marked Fisher as a candidate for both the Lakers and Knicks coaching jobs.
While continuing to downplay his talks with NBA teams, Billy Donovan explained to Edgar Thompson of The Orlando Sentinel that he won’t rule out leaving his coaching job at Florida for the pros. “I’ve seen a lot of coaches over the years come out and say, ‘No, no, no, no, I’m not going anywhere, I’m not going anywhere,’ and then all of a sudden they go somewhere and it’s like, ‘Well, this guy is a complete liar,'” said Donovan. “I don’t want to get into that situation. There (have) been some teams that have called, but that’s really it.”

Draft Rumors: Embiid, Parker, Wiggins, Ennis

May 27th, 2014 at 5:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

Several around the league believe Joel Embiid will only work out for the Cavs and Bucks as confidence grows that he won’t slip to the Sixers at No. 3, according to Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins will likely audition only for the teams with the top three picks, a source tells Holmes, though that’s much less noteworthy than the Embiid news, which signals that concerns about the health of his back are abating. Still, it appears as though Nuggets GM Tim Connelly would prefer Parker to Embiid and Wiggins if he somehow managed to have a choice, observes Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post (on Twitter). Here’s more from a busy afternoon of draft-related news:

Toronto native Tyler Ennis will work out for the Raptors on Thursday, the team announced.
Glenn Robinson III is auditioning for the Hawks today and the Hornets later this week, and he expects to do so for the Spurs, Bulls and Bucks sometime soon, as he tells MLive’s Brendan F. Quinn (hat tip to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution).
Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com adds T.J. Warren, Cleanthony Early and K.J. McDaniels to the players working out on June 3rd for the Celtics (Twitter link).
The Bulls will play host to workouts for Jordan McRae, Devyn Marble and C.J. Fair on Wednesday, Goodman tweets, adding their names to Rodney Hood‘s, which Goodman reported Monday.
Marble pulled out of his workout with the Bucks today, but the two sides will reschedule, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (on Twitter).
The Suns are auditioning Keith Appling, Alec Brown, Deonte Burton, Artem Klimenko, Jakarr Sampson and Jamil Wilson today, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Appling will also show off this week for the Pistons, Raptors and Wolves, agent Michael Silverman tells Matt Charboneau of The Detroit News.
The Knicks will work out Ian Chiles, a source tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
Xavier Thames auditioned for the Heat today, and he’s set to do so with the Bucks, Bulls, Celtics, Hornets, Knicks, Jazz, Mavericks and Pacers, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

Grizzlies Sign Dave Joerger To Extension

May 27th, 2014 at 4:51pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:51pm: The deal is official, the team announced on its website.

“Following an open and honest dialogue with Dave, it became clear that Dave was fully committed to Memphis and we are committed to him,” Pera said as part of the statement. “I look forward to seeing Dave build upon the foundation he helped establish over the last seven years, and we are both committed to bringing a championship to Memphis.”

4:04pm: The fifth-year team option includes a raise over his salaries in the first four seasons of the contract, as Sam Amick of USA Today reports (on Twitter). Joerger has been set to make close to $2MM a year.

4:00pm: Memphis agreed to guarantee what had been a fourth-year team option on Joerger’s deal and add a fifth-year team option, tweets Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.

3:47pm: The Grizzlies and coach Dave Joerger have agreed to a two-year extension, reports Eric Hasseltine of SiriusXM NBA Radio, who spoke with with Joerger this afternoon on 92.9 ESPN Radio in Memphis (Twitter links). Joerger already had two seasons left at more than $2MM, but Grizzlies owner Robert Pera reportedly “improved” the deal this weekend amid a reconciliation that forestalled Joerger from leaving the team to take the Wolves head coaching job.

The deal is the latest outgrowth of Pera’s decision eight days ago to dismiss CEO Jason Levien and assistant GM Stu Lash. Memphis brass reportedly saw Joerger as a “Levien guy”, and Pera was prepared to fire the first-year coach earlier this season. There was supposedly mutual “hate” between Joerger and team attorney-turned-scouting director David Mincberg, whose role within the basketball operations department appeared to grow and just as quickly shrink within recent days.

Joerger, a Minnesota native, interviewed with Wolves president of basketball ops Flip Saunders, with whom the Grizzlies coach is close, as well as Wolves owner Glen Taylor. He appeared well on his way to filling their vacancy before he met with Pera this past weekend and, in a stunning turn, agreed to remain in Memphis. The Grizzlies went 50-32 and took the Thunder to seven games in the first round of the playoffs this past season, Joerger’s first as an NBA head coach.

Draft Notes: Hairston, Clarkson, Cotton

May 27th, 2014 at 10:16am CST by Chuck Myron

Memorial Day brought no shortage of updates on NBA draft prospects and teams as they schedule workouts, and today promises still more clues about the June 26th draft. Here’s the latest:

P.J. Hairston will work out for the Suns, Celtics and Hornets in addition to today’s previously reported audition for the Heat, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
Jordan Clarkson is also on the agenda for the Heat, according to Goodman, who reiterates that Miami will put Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes through workouts, too (Twitter links).
Bryce Cotton will also show off for the Heat, as well as the Spurs, his agent tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel adds seniors Chris Crawford of Memphis and Drew Crawford of Northwestern to the list of the prospects working out today for the Bucks.
Jermaine Marshall of Arizona State is working out for the Rockets today, Carchia reports.
It appears as though Nedim Buza will audition for the Bucks, Timberwolves and Nuggets, while Adin Vrabac has a workout with the Wolves on tap, according to agent Alexander Raskovic (Twitter links; hat tip to Sportando).

Kings Want Love Even Without Re-Sign Promise

May 27th, 2014 at 8:29am CST by Zachary Links

TUESDAY, 8:29am: Sacramento’s pitch would probably only interest the Wolves if Minnesota feels confident that either Julius Randle or Noah Vonleh will be available with the eighth overall pick, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. The Wolves prefer those two to Aaron Gordon among top-ranked power forward prospects, Wolfson adds.

MONDAY, 9:57pm: If the Wolves aren’t willing to take the gamble that Kevin Love will re-sign with them at the end of the year, the Kings are. A league source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that the Kings would pull the trigger on a deal for the All-Star big man without any assurance that he’d sign a new deal.

The Kings are willing to give up their No. 8 overall pick in this year’s draft and a combination of players for Love, even though he would not be expected to sign a contract extension with Sacramento, the source said. The Kings know it’s a gamble on convincing Love to re-sign, given that the franchise is rebuilding and Love is looking to go to the postseason for the first time. They’ll also have to vie with suitors from bigger markets including the Celtics, Lakers, Knicks, Warriors, Rockets and Bulls. While Love doesn’t have a no-trade clause (few do), he figures to wield a good amount of influence over where he lines up.

If the Kings can land the All-Star, they’ll have a very dangerous frontcourt with Love, DeMarcus Cousins, and Rudy Gay, if he exercises his player option. Sacramento struggled to a 28-54 record last season and missed the playoffs for the eighth straight season, but there’s a new regime in charge that’s hoping to right the ship quickly. The Kings expect to begin playing in a new downtown Sacramento arena in 2016.

Draft Rumors: Hood, Stokes, Fair, Hairston

May 26th, 2014 at 10:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

The draft takes place one month from tonight, and teams are beginning to ramp up their schedule of workouts with prospects. Busy draft hopefuls include Rodney Hood, who’ll audition for eight lottery teams, and Jarnell Stokes, who’s working out for 11 teams drafting in the back half of the first round, as Zach Links of Hoops Rumors has learned (Twitter links). One of those teams is the Magic, as we passed along Sunday, and Hood will also work out for the Sixers and Bulls, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The Wolves are on Hood’s schedule, too, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Stokes will show off for the Heat and Sixers, Goodman also tweets. Here’s more on an evolving draft landscape:

Stokes will also audition for the Hawks and Bulls in addition to Miami and Philadelphia, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
The Bucks will audition Washington’s C.J. Wilcox, Iowa’s Devyn Marble, Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson, Virginia’s Joe Harris, and Missouri’s Jabari Brown on Tuesday, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Journal-Times.
C.J. Fair will work out for the Bulls on Wednesday, the Bucks on Thursday, and the Hornets on Friday, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
P.J. Hairston, DeAndre Kane and Markel Brown are also among those auditioning for Minnesota, Wolfson reports in the same tweet in which he passed along the Hood news. Nick Johnson will join that group, and the Wolves are eyeing Melvin Ejim and Chane Behanan for workouts, too, Wolfson adds (on Twitter).
Behanan will audition for the Sixers and Wolves, as well, Goodman reports via Twitter, seconding his earlier dispatch about Behanan’s workout with the Mavs. Russ Smith, Behanan’s former Louisville teammate, is slated to work out for the Heat, Thunder and Suns, Goodman tweets.
Johnson will also work out for the Magic, Goodman notes (via Twitter). He’ll join Smart and Hood in Orlando, as previously reported.
The Lakers are set to work out Marcus Smart and Noah Vonleh, while Vonleh will also audition for the Celtics and Kings, according to Goodman (Twitter links).
Goodman adds the Raptors to the teams working out Kyle Anderson (Twitter link).
The ESPN.com scribe also reports additional workouts for DeAndre Daniels, who’s set to get a look-see from the Hornets and Hawks (Twitter link).
The Bulls, Suns and Grizzlies are on the workout agenda of Scottie Wilbekin, Goodman reports (on Twitter). The Suns, along with the Bucks and Lakers, are also among the trio of teams auditioning Joe Harris, Goodman tweets.
Johnny O’Bryant III will work out for the Hawks, Raptors, Suns and Spurs, according to Goodman (Twitter link).

Wizards ‘Stealth Candidate’ For Kevin Love

May 26th, 2014 at 12:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kevin Love has a lingering affection for the Wizards, the franchise with which his father spent most of his NBA career, making Washington a “stealth candidate” for the sought-after Timberwolves star, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his latest Morning Tip column for NBA.com. The idea of trading Love is reportedly growing on the Wolves, but there’s little chance that Love will follow his dad’s footsteps to Washington, as Aldridge suggests Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders would ask for Bradley Beal in such a swap.

There’s nonetheless a connection between Saunders and Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld, for whom Saunders worked as Washington’s head coach from 2009 to 2012. The Wizards gave up their first-round pick this year in the Marcin Gortat trade, but they have all their other picks available for future seasons if Saunders showed interest. Still, the Washington roster is devoid of up-and-coming young talent aside from Beal, John Wall and Otto Porter, last year’s No. 3 overall pick who spent most of his rookie season buried on the bench.

The Wizards could eschew the idea of a trade and attempt to mount an effort to sign Love as a free agent next year, when he can opt out of his contract, but that would likely force Washington to let Gortat and Trevor Ariza walk away this summer. The team has roughly $34MM in commitments for 2015/16, not including the nearly $5.7MM team option on Beal for that season, so there’d be no room to accommodate new long-term deals at market price for Ariza and Gortat along with a max contract for Love.

The All-Star power forward’s middle name is Wesley, a nod to Washington Hall-of-Famer Wes Unseld, but Love has his eyes on destinations other than the nation’s capital, with the Warriors, Bulls and Celtics among the latest additions to his wish list. The Lakers have long seemingly been in Love’s sights, and they still reportedly hold plenty of appeal to the former UCLA Bruin.

Fallout From Grizzlies, Joerger Reconciliation

May 26th, 2014 at 9:10am CST by Chuck Myron

Robert Pera challenged Tony Allen to a game of one-on-one before last season, and when Dave Joerger expressed misgivings about such an event, owner Robert Pera blamed him, rather than Allen, whose indifference was the main reason the game never happened. Chris Mannix of SI.com passes along that detail along with others in his peek inside the rollercoaster relationship between Pera and the coach that appears hunky dory now. Yet after the Allen-Pera showdown failed to come off, Pera wanted to fire the coach, Mannix writes. Pera’s unconventional ideas included using Mike Miller as a player-coach, which would be impossible under the collective bargaining agreement. He also insisted on more minutes for Ed Davis, and when Davis only played a single minute in an early season game, Pera again wanted Joerger gone. Only when told it would be unseemly to fire a coach so early into his tenure did he back off, according to Mannix. Here’s more from a strange situation in Memphis and Minnesota:

There was some confusion last week over whether Lionel Hollins has interviewed for the Wolves head coaching job, but according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, he’s done so. Zgoda also confirms that Sam Mitchell, a favorite of owner Glen Taylor, has interviewed with Minnesota, too.
The Grizzlies likely would have asked to swap first-round picks, perhaps attached to additional draft compensation, according to Zgoda, but the Wolves were reluctant to give up even a future second-rounder, as Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com write. That’s because the Wolves believed the Grizzlies would fire Joerger rather than keep him, allowing Minnesota to scoop him up without relinquishing any compensation.
Pera, on Twitter, said that he never spoke with the Wolves about compensation for Joerger, and Pera and Joerger appear nonetheless sincere when they say they’re in it for the long haul together, tweets Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal. Pera “improved” Joerger’s contract this weekend, Zgoda writes.
The Grizzlies owner vowed on Twitter to spend to upgrade the team. “I will open up the checkbook and do whatever it takes to bring us closer to a championship organization,” Pera tweeted.
Pera also said the team has begun the hunt for a new head of basketball operations, as Stein and Shelburne note, and he added that he wants interim GM Chris Wallace in the organization in some capacity, whether he keeps his GM role or not.

Northwest Notes: Love, Joerger, Wolves

May 25th, 2014 at 7:51pm CST by Zachary Links

Former NBA player Jalen Rose is preaching patience when it comes to the Wolves and Kevin Love, writes Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press. “If you’re Minnesota, you have the asset, and between now and the trade deadline, teams are going to get more desperate,” Rose said. “But (don’t) allow it to turn into a Dwight Howard situation where he leaves and you don’t get anything.” More out of the Northwest Division..

Grizzlies owner Robert Pera never should have given the Wolves permission to talk to Dave Joerger if he was going to play hardball on compensation, opines Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter).
One source tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter link) that the Wolves value a second-round draft pick at $2MM. That could explain why they were so reluctant to part with one in order to land Joerger.
Bill Ingram of Basketball Insiders wonders if it’s time for the Thunder to trade guard Russell Westbrook. The dynamic athlete has been the primary fingerpointing target for OKC’s struggles due to his poor shot selection. When the Thunder were without Westbrook this season because of his knee injury, Reggie Jackson guided them to a 19-6 record.

Dave Joerger To Stay With Grizzlies

May 25th, 2014 at 5:05pm CST by Zachary Links

Dave Joerger has decided to stay in Memphis and forgo the opportunity with the Wolves, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. Joerger, the Grizzlies, and the Wolves have been trying all weekend to settle their differences (link), but it sounds like they were unable to come an agreement on a compensation package.

It’s a surprising twist since the ouster of CEO Jason Levien and assistant GM Stu Lash seemed to signal a complete overhaul of the club’s front office operations and coaching staff. Joerger met with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor for over two hours on Saturday and was said to be the frontrunner for the position. Team president Flip Saunders has a history with Joerger and saw a lot of himself in the young coach.

The Grizzlies seemed poised to go after another big name coach – possibly the Bulls’ Tom Thibodeau or former coach Lionel Hollins – but it sounds like they’ll be keeping things status quo instead. With Joerger out of the running for the Wolves’ gig, Minnesota may turn their attention to fellow candidate and owner Glen Taylor favorite Sam Mitchell.