Terry Stotts Won’t Return As Trail Blazers Coach
10:01pm: The team has confirmed in a press release that Stotts will not return.
“I have the utmost respect for Terry and what he has accomplished these past nine seasons,” president of basketball operations Neil Olshey said in a statement. “This was a difficult decision on both a personal and professional level but it’s in the best interest of the franchise to move in another direction. Terry will always hold a special place in the Trail Blazer family and the Portland community. We relied on the integrity, professionalism and consistency he brought to the job every day and we wish he and Jan nothing but the best.”
9:40pm: The Trail Blazers and longtime head coach Terry Stotts have mutually agreed to part ways, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
Stotts, 63, has been the team’s head coach since the 2012/13 season. Portland has qualified for the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons but only made the conference finals in 2018/19, when they were swept by the Warriors. The Blazers have been eliminated in the first round in two consecutive years, and four of the last five.
Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups, ABC broadcaster and former Rockets/Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy, former head coach and current Nets assistant Mike D’Antoni, and University of Michigan head coach and former Heat assistant Juwan Howard are expected to receive consideration for the job, Wojnarowski reports in a separate tweet.
The Blazers’ quick exit in this year’s playoffs was unexpected. They were facing a depleted Nuggets team, missing starting guards Jamal Murray and Will Barton, while all of their own starters were healthy. Despite some stellar performances from Damian Lillard, Portland was eliminated in six games.
Lillard has played under Stotts throughout his career. The All-Star point guard will have a major say on Stotts’ replacement, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets.
In his nine seasons with Portland, Stotts accumulated a regular-season record of 402-318 (.558). However, the Blazers went 22-40 (.355) in those postseason appearances. Stotts had one more guaranteed year on his contract, with a team option for 2022/23.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Grizzlies Sign Zach Kleiman To Contract Extension
The Grizzlies have inked executive vice president of basketball operations and general manager Zach Kleiman to a long-term extension, according to an official team press release. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Kleiman has been Memphis’s lead front office decision maker since April 2019, when the club overhauled its basketball operations department and reassigned former GM Chris Wallace to the scouting department. As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets, Kleiman played a big part in rebuilding the team from the “Grit and Grind” era to its current roster.
Kleiman traded longtime Grizzlies veterans Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, drafted rising star Ja Morant, and hired current head coach Taylor Jenkins. He’s also responsible for locking up players like Dillon Brooks, De’Anthony Melton, and Jonas Valanciunas to reasonably team-friendly multiyear contracts.
“Zach has proven to be a strong cultural leader in this organization, consistently demonstrating high-integrity, hard-work, humility and a drive for continuous improvement,” Grizzlies owner Robert Pera said in a statement. “We have confidence in our strategy and believe it will result in an elite organization over the long-term.”
Alex Kirschenbaum contributed to this story.
Anthony Davis To Return For Game 6
8:33pm: Lakers team doctors have medically cleared Davis ahead of the team’s must-win Game 6 against the Suns this evening, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
7:54pm: Lakers head coach Frank Vogel has clarified that Davis wants to play through his groin strain if given the green light by team doctors ahead of Game 6, tweets Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register.
7:37pm: All-Star Lakers big man Anthony Davis hopes to return to the floor for LA ahead of the club’s must-win Game 6 in its first-round playoff series tonight against the Suns, per John Gambardo of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register cautions (via Twitter) that Davis’ return has yet to be medically cleared by a team doctor.
Davis hopes to start tonight should he complete his warm-ups without any issue, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Davis did not play in Game 5 after suffering a groin strain in Game 4. The Lakers lost both contests, and are now down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Power forward Markieff Morris started in Davis’s stead for Game 5, a 115-85 Lakers loss. Across 10 minutes of game action, Morris notched four points, a rebound and an assist. Morris, a valuable floor-spacing reserve during L.A.’s title run last season, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
In comments made on Wednesday, Davis indicated that his groin injury was in part a result of a hyperextended knee he incurred in Game 3. “[Team doctors] told me everything is connected and that’s exactly what happened,” Davis said. “The groin happened because of the tightness in the knee from the hyperextension.”
Mild Right Hamstring Strain Leaves Mike Conley Day-To-Day
All-Star Jazz point guard Mike Conley left the fifth and final game in Utah’s first-round series against the Grizzlies after having played just 12 minutes with what was described as right hamstring soreness.
Following an MRI today, the team has determined that Conley suffered a mild right hamstring strain, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic. Jones says that Conley is day-to-day with the injury, and the top-seeded club will reassess his status ahead of the first game of the team’s Western Conference semifinals series against the winner of the Clippers-Mavericks series.
The 33-year-old Conley will be an unrestricted free agent this season. He has expressed a desire to remain with the Jazz for his next contract, but is sure to have a variety of suitors as he enters free agency.
The 6’1″ veteran has enjoyed a stellar 2020/21 season with the Jazz when healthy, averaging 16.2 PPG, 6.0 APG and 3.5 RPG in just 29.4 MPG across 51 regular season games, while posting a shooting line of .444/.412/.852. Conley has proven to be an excellent backcourt mate for All-Star Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell. The Jazz are one of the West’s deepest playoff clubs, and before Conley’s injury had been one of its healthiest.
Pat Riley Talks Free Agency, 2021 Rookies, Bam, Oladipo, Future
Heat team president Pat Riley addressed the club’s present and future during his yearly season-ending press conference today, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald details.
Following a surprising NBA Finals run within the 2020 restart season’s Orlando “bubble” campus last year, expectations were high for Miami this season. However, many of the team’s key players battled injuries and COVID-19 exposure, and the Heat suffered a first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the Bucks. The loss of forward Jae Crowder in free agency, plus some compensatory signing missteps, also contributed to a disappointing 2020/21 season.
When asked about how he wants to build around the team’s two best players, wing Jimmy Butler and big man Bam Adebayo, this summer, Riley kept things fairly open-ended.
“We’ll see,” he said. “We are going to have a lot of [cap] room if we want to use it. You can’t continue to defer your room… We like our core.”
Here’s more from the presser:
- It sounds like Riley fully expects to replicate the success the club has enjoyed in recent seasons when scouring the market for undrafted rookies. The Heat traded away their first-round draft pick for 2021. “We will get a couple good players out of this year’s draft, I’m sure,” Riley said.
- Riley was questioned about Adebayo potentially rounding out his offensive game by developing three-point range soon. “It doesn’t need to happen quickly,” he said. “[Head coach Erik Spoelstra] likes to use Bam with a stretch five or four. You might have to change. You might have to think about what’s next thing in the NBA to require you to stay with that kind of play. I’ll leave that to Spo and we will talk about it.”
- New Heat guard Victor Oladipo, an unrestricted free agent this offseason, had an underwhelming tenure with the team, appearing in just four games after being acquired from the Rockets at the trade deadline. He was felled by a quadriceps injury that required season-ending surgery. “When we made the trade, we knew there was a risk,” Riley acknowledged. “He’s like any other free agent on the team who sustained an injury; he will be rehabbing with us until he’s healthy enough to get out of that cast. … We will monitor him, work with him, and then see what happens in August when we sit down to talk to him.”
- The 76-year-old Riley would not address his long-term outlook with the club as team president beyond the upcoming season. “I’m getting ready for the [draft combine] and then the summer league,” Riley said. “I’m ready to move forward and try to make this team better. For all of our fans out there, it was so great to see the place packed and I’m really disappointed our fans didn’t get to see what the Heat really are like.” Riley is one of the most decorated personalities in NBA history, having won once as a player, once as an assistant coach, five times as a head coach, and three times as an executive.
Damian Lillard Wins Teammate Of The Year Award
Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard has been named the winner of the 2020/2021 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award, the league announced today.
A panel of league executives selected 12 candidates, six from each conference, and current NBA players selected the winner from the list of 12 choices. The award is given to the player “deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.”
More than 300 players voted this year, with Lillard receiving 40 first-place votes. Other nominees included Suns guard Chris Paul, Nets forward Joe Harris, 76ers forward Tobias Harris, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, and Heat forward Udonis Haslem.
Paul, the runner-up, actually received more first-place votes (47), but Lillard’s 1,012 total points narrowly edged CP3’s 1,001.
Lillard averaged 28.8 points and 7.5 assists this season while leading the Blazers to a six seed in the Western Conference. He was also named to his sixth All Star game. Lillard received his third NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente in April for his work empowering the youth of Portland, and has previously won the 2018/19 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for outstanding service and dedication to his community.
The Trail Blazers are currently down 3-2 in their first round playoff series against the Nuggets, in which Lillard is averaging a playoff career high 35.6 points a night to go with 9.6 assists. They’ll look to extend their season tonight.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
GM: Wizards Won’t Make Decision on Brooks Right Away
With the Wizards‘ loss to the 76ers on Wednesday, head coach Scott Brooks has officially reached the end of his five-year contract. However, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington relays, general manager Tommy Sheppard isn’t ready to make a decision on Brooks’ future just yet.
“Any question about that stuff, that’s not for today, that’s not for this time,” Sheppard said. “I will say this, Scotty did a hell of a job keeping this team together through some of the most difficult and dark moments probably in franchise history, to be honest with you.”
The Wizards fought through a season-ending injury to starting center Thomas Bryant, as well as multiple disruptions due to COVID-19, to finish the year on a 17-6 run and advance from the play-in tournament to their third playoff appearance in Brooks’ five-year tenure.
Still, Sheppard reiterated the need to examine the entire team, from players to coaches, ahead of the 2021/2022 season, which could prove to be the final year of star Bradley Beal‘s contract, should he decline his 2022/2023 player option.
Despite Beal finishing the year second in the NBA in scoring and his backcourt mate Russell Westbrook leading the league in assists, the Wizards were games under .500, and if they hope to retain Beal beyond 2022, they will have to consider how to build the team around their talented backcourt.
As for Brooks, the veteran coach understands the business of these decisions, and is letting the situation play out as it will. “It doesn’t bother me one bit. That’s just part of being in this business. It’s obviously well-documented that my contract’s up,” he said.
The 12-year head coach is instead taking the time to enjoy the opportunity he had with the Wizards and to focus on his family as Sheppard and team owner Ted Leonsis mull a decision on Brooks’ future.
Chris Paul Expected To Decline Player Option
Suns point guard Chris Paul intends to turn down his player option for the 2021/22 season in order to seek a new contract, multiple sources tell Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Opting out will make Paul an unrestricted free agent this summer.
[RELATED: NBA Player Option Decisions For 2021/22]
The value of that ’21/22 option is $44.2MM, which is more than Paul has ever earned in a single season and would be one of the highest salaries in the NBA. A year or two ago, the 36-year-old was considered a virtual lock to pick up that option. But back-to-back All-Star seasons in Oklahoma City and Phoenix have buoyed his stock, putting him in position to secure one last multiyear deal.
Pincus suggests that Paul might be seeking a contract in the range of $100MM over three years. Essentially, he’d be taking the same route that Gordon Hayward did a year ago, or that Al Horford did in 2019 — turning down an option and accepting a slightly lesser short-term salary, but adding more years to his contract and substantially increasing the overall guarantee.
It’s possible that Paul’s plans could change between now and his decision deadline on August 1. Pincus notes that it’s unclear whether CP3’s recent shoulder injury might alter his thinking, for example.
However, even after re-injuring that right shoulder in Game 5, Paul seemed relatively “OK,” as head coach Monty Williams confirmed after Tuesday’s game (Twitter link via Gina Mizell). He’s listed as probable for Game 6 on Thursday night, and there’s no expectation he won’t play, so I imagine it would take a more serious injury for him to seriously consider changing course and picking up his option.
Given the success they’ve had with Paul this season, the Suns will almost certainly push to re-sign the veteran guard if and when he opts out. Phoenix has the cap flexibility to accommodate a new deal for CP3, though the club will face a number of major contract decisions this offseason and may be wary of tacking on too many years, with Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges up for extensions.
Multiple sources told Pincus they believe Ayton is worth the max, while Bridges could be in line for a salary in the range of $20MM per year.
Celtics Will Start Coaching Search With Internal Interviews
The first step in the Celtics‘ search for a new head coach to replace Brad Stevens will begin with several internal candidates, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Chris Mannix of SI.com suggested as much earlier today.
Boston’s head coaching position opened up this morning when Danny Ainge resigned as president of basketball operations and Stevens was chosen to replace him.
Weiss notes that Stevens’ staff has several strong candidates. Jay Larranaga interviewed for the Hornets’ head coaching spot before James Borrego was hired, and Scott Morrison and Brandon Bailey both coached at the team’s G League affiliate in Maine. Jerome Allen is a former NBA player with college head coaching experience at the University of Pennsylvania, while Jamie Young has been with the team since 2008.
Among external candidates, the most interesting name is Kara Lawson, who would become the first female NBA head coach if she gets the job. Lawson spent a year as an assistant in Boston before leaving in 2020 to become head coach of the women’s team at Duke. Others to watch, sources tell Weiss, include former Celtics players Sam Cassell, currently an assistant with the Sixers, and Chauncey Billups, who is on the Clippers‘ staff.
Weiss also expects interest in former Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce, Timberwolves assistant David Vanterpool, Lakers assistant Jason Kidd, Nets assistant Ime Udoka, Spurs assistant Becky Hammon and Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee. According to Weiss, another potential outsider is Juwan Howard if he’s willing to leave Michigan.
No New Positive COVID-19 Tests Among Players Since May 26
The NBA and NBPA announced today in a press release that out of the 278 players tested for COVID-19 since May 26, none returned a new positive confirmed test.
After a turbulent NBA season marred by postponed games and players missing substantial time due to health and safety protocols, the playoffs have managed to proceed uninterrupted by COVID-related delays, and it appears that things are trending in the right direction.
This marks two straight weeks for the league without a positive result, as well as only two positive tests since May 5, an encouraging sign for the league as the NBA approaches the second round of the 2021 postseason — and as stadiums have eased their restrictions for fan capacity.
Given the league’s previous concerns about ensuring the safety of the players in this year’s bubble-free postseason, it would appear that the protocols in place are working — a welcome relief as the NBA attempts to recreate some sense of normalcy surrounding the draft process and Summer League this offseason.