Northwest Notes: Rubio, Hairston, Jazz
Former D-Leaguers P.J. Hairston and Thanasis Antetokounmpo are among the most intriguing players in this year’s class and Jazz VP of Player Personnel Walt Perrin expects to see more of that in the future, writes Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. “I would guess if the league raises the age limit that there will be more players that will go that route,” Perrin said. “Everybody’s not made to go to school. Some of them are just players. A lot of them now, with the one-and-done, can get through one year. But I don’t know if they can get through two.” Here’s more out of the Northwest Division..
- At the Adidas Eurocamp, Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio spoke with Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (video link) about the rumors surrounding Kevin Love and new head coach Flip Saunders.
- Hairston was unable to participate in today’s workout with the Jazz due to back spasms, tweets Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune. Utah will try to bring Hairston in for another workout but that may not be possible with his busy schedule (link).
- Michigan’s Glenn Robinson III was among the remaining five players who did work out for the Jazz today and he said that his agent has given him a draft range of 17-25, tweets Jones. Robinson also said he’d like to reunite with former Wolverines teammate Trey Burke (link).
Eastern Notes: Pistons, Hornets, Dolan, Celtics
The Pistons have big plans for their new NBA D-League team in Grand Rapids, writes David Mayo of MLive. Coach and president of basketball operations, Stan Van Gundy intends to use the D-League as a major part of their development plan for young players, reports Mayo. Van Gundy said, “If you get that coach integrated with what you’re doing, and you’re playing the same system and everything else, I think that D-League thing can be very, very valuable. And we’ll take the hiring of that coach as a very big part of our staff because I think it can be that valuable.“
More news from the east:
- If the Hornets don’t want to regress next season they will have to add some offensive weapons to their roster, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
- Knicks owner James Dolan needs to observe how Heat owner Micky Arison and Spurs owner Peter Holt do business, writes Mitch Lawrence of The New York Daily News. Lawrence cites Dolan’s tendency to meddle in basketball affairs as one of the main issues affecting the franchise’s ability to rebuild and contend.
- If the Celtics want to acquire Kevin Love from the Timberwolves the possibility of re-signing him will be directly tied to what GM Danny Ainge decides to do with Rajon Rondo, writes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Without Love the team has less of a reason to retain Rondo, and without Rondo the team would be less likely to entice Love to stay in Boston, opines Murphy.
And-Ones: D-League, Cavs, Age Limit
It appears the NBA and the D-League are thinking about reinstituting a limit on the number of D-League assignments an NBA team can make, as Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside hears. The move would be made to address the logjam possible if 13 NBA teams end up sharing the Fort Wayne Mad Ants next season. Here’s more from around the league:
- Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer pegs the odds at 50% that the Cavs hold onto their No. 1 draft pick, rather than swinging a deal for an established premier talent such as Kevin Love.
- Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer doesn’t get the sense that the Cavs are spending much energy trying to orchestrate LeBron James‘ return to Cleveland, and thinks a move to acquire Love without the assurance of him re-signing with the team would be foolish.
- Tom Ziller of SB Nation sees the draft age-limit as one of the player union’s only bargaining chips to leverage for the next CBA discussions, and thinks the players should push to reduce team control over rookie scale contracts in order to give its best young players more power.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Magic To Partner With Erie BayHawks
MAY 19TH: The deal is now official, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
MAY 9TH: An official announcement of the new arrangement will be made the week of May 19th, reports Gino Pilato of D-League Digest.
APRIL 15TH: The Erie BayHawks will serve as the Magic’s D-League affiliate in a one-to-one relationship next season, sources tell Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The Knicks announced this spring that they’re ending their hybrid partnership with the BayHawks after the season and starting a D-League expansion team that will serve as their affiliate. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported in February that the Magic had been in talks with an existing D-League team about forming a one-to-one relationship, and Zillgitt reveals it was indeed the BayHawks.
The Magic are one of six teams sharing the Fort Wayne Mad Ants this season, and they haven’t made a D-League assignment in 2013/14, even though their roster is full of young, developing players. GM Rob Hennigan and company apparently want to make better use of the D-League, despite the approximately 1,000-mile distance between Orlando and Erie, Pennsylvania that will make it tough for the club to liberally shuttle players back and forth as many teams with closer affiliates do. Still, it’s only about half the distance separating the Heat from their one-to-one affiliate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
There were 14 NBA teams this season with a one-to-one D-League affiliation. The Pistons will also join that list next season, while the Blazers are ending their relationship with the Idaho Stampede and will share an affiliate in 2014/15. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another team strike a direct partnership with the Stampede before next season. The number of teams with one-to-one affiliates has grown in the past few years, and the D-League hopes someday to have a club lined up with each NBA team.
The hybrid partnership means the Magic will run the basketball operations for the BayHawks, while Erie’s owners will take care of the business end of the club. There are seven NBA franchises that have similar arrangements with a D-League team this season, while other NBA clubs own their affiliates outright.
And-Ones: Johnson, Williams, Draft
Kevin Johnson has made it a point to include Player Agents in the search for the new head of the NBA Player’s Association, writes Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. This approach differs from former NBAPA head, Billy Hunter, who was known to exclude agents from the decision making process.
More from around the league:
- The rapid turnover in coaches and executives is thinning out the candidate pool and forcing teams to get creative in their searches, writes Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal. This trend is leading to more coaches getting hired without previous experience, and fewer coaches getting second chances if they didn’t succeed at their first job, opines Lloyd.
- Terrence Williams has reached an agreement to play in the Philippines with the Meralco Bolts, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). The former NBA player has played this season with Turk Telekom Ankara, Guayama and the L.A. D-Fenders of the NBA D-league. Williams’ career numbers are 7.1 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 2.4 APG in 19.1 minutes per contest.
- Heading into the draft, the player with the biggest mystery surrounding his game is Dante Exum, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Exum said, “I guess they all have an idea of what I’m about. They’ve seen some of the college players play 40 game seasons, and they haven’t seen me a lot. So I guess when they are trying to look at tape, they can’t see a lot of me.” Exum is projected as an early lottery pick.
- Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com profiles draft prospects Markel Brown and Nick Johnson.
- More than ever, team executives are looking for prospects with solid character when making their draft selections, writes Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. Talent still rules the decision making process, but if all things are considered equal, teams will seek out the player destined to provide them with the “fewest headaches,” notes Ellis.
- Mark Snyder of The Detroit Free Press looks at Kentucky swingman James Young‘s path to the pros and his thoughts on the draft process. You can also check on my draft profile on Young here.
And-Ones: Hairston, Wolves, Draft
One player whose draft stock might benefit from the pre-draft interview process is P.J. Hairston, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. In 26 games this past season with the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League, Hairston averaged 21.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0.8 APG, and 1.5 SPG in 32.3 minutes per contest.
More from around the league:
- The Timberwolves plan on interviewing Aaron Gordon, Gary Harris, and James Young this week at the Chicago Combine, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). All three players are projected lottery picks and you can check out our prospect profiles on each here.
- RealGM takes a look at the Lakers lottery history.
- The draft combine is crucial to the Magic despite the big names not showing up, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. The Magic are set to interview the league maximum 18 players while in Chicago, the article notes. These names will likely include Dante Exum, Julius Randle, Gordon, Noah Vonleh, and Marcus Smart, per Robbins.
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com (video link) breaks down draft prospect C.J. Wilcox. The senior guard from Washington averaged 18.3 PPG this season and is a projected second-round pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
- The Thunder, Bobcats, Lakers, and Cavaliers were among the teams that met with Rodney Hood at the draft combine, reports Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- Jarnell Stokes met with the Knicks and the Hawks today, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Stokes is projected as a second-round pick.
Eastern Notes: Van Gundy, Knicks, Cavaliers
Stan Van Gundy hit a home run when he interviewed in Los Angeles with Pistons owner Tom Gores and representatives from his Platinum Equity firm, as Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press details. He broke down every player on the roster and presented a detailed plan for his first 100 days as he convinced the team he could handle the front office and coaching duties at the same time, Ellis writes.
More from the east:
- The Knicks have officially named their new D-League team the Westchester Knicks, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link).
- Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer breaks down the coaching candidates for the Cavaliers head coaching position.
- Balancing coaching with running the Pistons might prove too difficult for Van Gundy, writes Drew Sharp of USA Today. Sharp looks at the reasons why he thinks things could get ugly for Van Gundy as an executive in Detroit.
- Now that Steve Kerr is headed to the Warriors, Al Iannazzone of Newsday looks at some coaching candidates that Phil Jackson might turn to next.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Warriors, Pelicans, Jazz
The Warriors could hire one of the known coaching candidates, but Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area Newsgroup (Twitter link) thinks team owner Joe Lacob would love to do a “stealth hiring” if he’s unable to lure Steve Kerr. Kawakami also tweets that just because certain names keep being mentioned, that doesn’t mean those are the only ones in play for the position.
More from out west:
- When Stan Van Gundy met with the Warriors, the Pistons had already presented him with their plan of a dual executive/coach role, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports. Van Gundy wasn’t a product of the team’s search committee, led by Phil Norment and Bob Wentworth, but owner Tom Gores forged ahead, according to Lowe, who says Van Gundy has told the Pistons he’ll take an analytical approach to both his front office and coaching jobs.
- The Pelicans have no interest in trading for Josh Smith, Lowe writes in the same piece.
- The Jazz‘s one-to-one affiliation with Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League still remains likely, reports Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (Twitter link). The Jazz shared the Bakersfield Jam with four other NBA teams this season.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Suns To Have Own D-League Affiliate
MAY 13TH: The Suns have officially partnered with the D-League’s Jam on a one-to-one affiliation, the league announced.
MAY 8TH: Paul Coro of Azcentral.com reports that the Suns are expected to finalize an agreement with Bakersfield next week, and that it will indeed be a hybrid one-to-one relationship as previously reported.
APRIL 30TH: Sources tell Gino Pilato of D-League Digest that they expect the Suns will partner with the D-League’s Bakersfield Jam next season (Twitter link). It would be a “hybrid” arrangement in which the Suns would control the basketball operations for the club while the Jam would continue to be independently owned.
Phoenix only made a pair of D-League assignments this season, as our log shows, having shared the Jam with the Hawks, Clippers, Raptors and Jazz. Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby and GM Ryan McDonough would apparently like to make more frequent use of the D-League next year. That stands to reason, given that the Suns are set to have four or perhaps five draft picks in June, with the potential for another extra pick coming their way as early as next year.
The Jam were one of only three D-League teams aligned with more than one NBA franchise this season. It appears as though there will be just two D-League squads to cover the NBA clubs without one-to-one affiliations for next season, even as the Knicks are creating a new D-League team that will be the league’s 18th. The Magic are taking over the Erie BayHawks, the Knicks’ former affiliate, and there’s a strong possibility that the Jazz will partner with the Idaho Stampede, with whom the Blazers are ending their partnership. That means the Nets, who lost their one-to-one affiliate to the Pistons, will join the Hawks, Clippers, Raptors, Bobcats, Pacers, Grizzlies, Bucks, Bulls, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Pelicans, Wizards and Blazers in sharing D-League teams in 2014/15, unless one of them strikes a new agreement.
Eastern Notes: Kerr, Anthony, Jackson
Steve Kerr is seeking a five-year deal worth $30MM from the Knicks, notes Matt Moore of CBSSports.com. The article speculates that Kerr wants his deal to be the same length as Phil Jackson‘s, and he wants a salary comparable to Mike D’Antoni‘s $6MM per season when he was the team’s head coach. Kerr is expected to decide next week if he’ll become the next coach of the Knicks.
More from the east:
- The main storyline in New York this summer is going to be whether or not Carmelo Anthony re-signs with the team. Amar’e Stoudemire isn’t sure if ‘Melo will be a Knick next season, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. Stoudemire said, “My gut feeling is that Carmelo will be staying. That’s my gut feeling right now today but I’m not totally sure.”
- Pat Delany, who coached the Sioux Falls Skyforce to the NBA D-League’s playoff semi-finals, has joined the Heat‘s playoff coaching staff, reports Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).
- The Pistons should give Mark Jackson serious consideration for their vacant head coaching position, writes Perry A. Farrell of The Detroit Free Press. Jackson’s career situation reminds Farrell of Rick Carlisle‘s when he was fired after winning 100 games in two seasons with the Pistons, partly due to how he treated people in the team’s administration.