Jazz GM Interviews For Top Spot In Bulls’ Front Office
Jazz GM Justin Zanik had a video interview with the Bulls on Monday for the franchise’s executive VP of basketball operations opening, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Zanik has held the GM job with the Utah franchise since May 2019 after being promoted from assistant GM. That occurred at the same time longtime GM Dennis Lindsey was promoted to executive VP of basketball operations.
Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas will get an interview in the middle of this week, Wojnarowski adds. Utah just received permission to interview Karnisovas, who is one of four executives reportedly on Chicago’s initial wish list for the job. The person the Bulls hire will have full authority on basketball decisions.
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan and Heat assistant GM Adam Simon were two of the candidates on that wish list, but both decided to stay put prior to the interview process.
It’s also uncertain that Raptors GM Bobby Webster, the other candidate on the list, will be interviewed. Toronto may not grant the Bulls permission to talk to Webster, who is under contract through 2021.
Clippers GM Michael Winger, Clippers assistant GM Trent Redden, Magic assistant GM Matt Lloyd are some other names that have surfaced as potential candidates.
Silver: Weeks Away From Decision On Resuming Season
Commissioner Adam Silver said in an interview with TNT broadcaster Ernie Johnson on Monday that a decision on whether to resume the season won’t come until at least May 1, Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays in a string of tweets.
Like millions of fans and everyone connected with the league, Silver said the suspension of play in NBA and other major pro and college sports has left a void in daily life.
“I think we are all realizing how much we miss live sports,” he said.
However, the stark reality of the coronavirus pandemic has made it impossible to know when games will be played again. Playing regular-season games as well as a postseason is still a possibility “in an ideal world.” However, there has been a growing sense of pessimism as the delay drags on with no end in sight.
Even though the league is willing to stretch this season into September to crown a championship, it also has to take into consideration that it doesn’t want negatively impact next season, Silver points out.
Silver is even more concerned about the 55,000 jobs affected by the stoppage of play in the league, including all of its game-day workers. Once it’s considered safe for games to be played, the sports leagues will be “ready to go.”
Louisville’s Jordan Nwora Enters 2020 NBA Draft
Junior Louisville forward Jordan Nwora has elected to add his name to the 2020 NBA draft pool, he confirmed today in a Twitter announcement. Nwora intends to go pro rather than testing the waters while maintaining his college eligibility, as he tells Evan Daniels of 247Sports.
“I really just think and feel that now is the best time for me to reach my dreams and I got to go for it,” Nwora said. “Now is the best time for me. I think I did enough at Louisville and now is the best time for me to go.”
A two-time All-ACC player, Nwora averaged 18.0 PPG and 7.7 RPG in 31 games (33.1 MPG) as a junior, with a solid shooting line of .440/.402/.813. He ranks 39th overall on ESPN’s big board of 2020’s draft prospects, including ninth among power forwards.
Nwora, who tested the draft waters a year ago and participated in the combine before withdrawing his name, is optimistic that he can be a first-round pick in 2020, as he tells Daniels.
“I think I can go anywhere after 20, between 20 and 30 probably if I had to guess,” Nwora said. “With what I do, I think that depending on what teams need, especially with shooting there’s a chance I could go higher, it all depends. … At the end of the day I have confidence in my work ethic and my game. I don’t think there’s anyone else at my position that shoots better than me.”
Potential Lottery Pick Tyrese Maxey Declares For Draft
Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey has declared for the NBA draft, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews. The freshman joins fellow Wildcats guard Ashton Hagans, who has also entered the 2020 draft class. Maxey tells Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com that he intends to forgo his remaining eligibility and keep his name in the draft.
“I felt like now that I’ve gone through the process of college and played for a great coach (John Calipari) and I feel like he has prepared me to declare the Draft and move on to the next level,” Maxey said to Daniels.
Maxey was Kentucky’s third-leading scorer in 2019/20, averaging 14.0 PPG in 31 games (34.5 MPG), to go along with 4.3 RPG and 3.2 APG. He recorded a shooting line of .427/.292/.833.
ESPN has Maxey ranked eighth overall on its big board, projecting him to be a versatile two-way combo guard at the NBA level. According to Jonathan Givony, Maxey is an “instinctive scorer who excels in transition” and is very physical defensively, though his shot selection and decision-makers are considered “works in progress.”
Theo Maledon Declares For Draft
Potential lottery pick Theo Maledon has submitted paperwork to become eligible for the NBA draft, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Ranked as the 15th best prospect in ESPN’s Top 100, Maledon, 18, plays in the EuroLeague and the French LNB for ASVEL. He is averaging 7.1 points and 2.3 assists in 17 minutes per game and is considered a top candidate for the EuroLeague Rising Star award. Givony notes that Luka Doncic is the only other 18-year-old in the past decade to start the majority of his team’s games in the EuroLeague.
Maledon already has an impressive resume that includes winning a gold medal in the U16 European Championship and serving as captain of the French junior national team that captured a silver medal at the FIBA U17 World Cup. Like the rest of the world, his season is on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he had ASVEL on top of the league at 21-4 when the shutdown began.
“Before COVID-19 stopped basketball, I was looking forward to finishing the EuroLeague season and hopefully winning the LNB Championship,” Maledon said. “Normally, the championship would have run until the second week of June so I would not have much time to train in the U.S. before the draft. Now the landscape has changed, but I have to wait like everyone else to see when and what we are able to do.
“Right now I am doing everything possible at my house to maintain my conditioning. Really all I can do is listen to the experts, the officials, and my team and stay at home. I know this is not what I expected, but knowing I will be in the NBA next year is what I am focused on. One day I will shake Commissioner Silver’s hand.”
Givony notes that Maledon’s assets include exceptional size for at point guard at 6’5″ with a 6’9″ wingspan. He’s considered a good shooter and versatile defender and may have more experience playing against top-level competition than anyone else in the draft.
NBA Planning H-O-R-S-E Competition
The NBA is working with ESPN to develop a televised H-O-R-S-E competition that would include several star players, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The plan is for players to remain in isolation, likely in home gyms, while putting up shots against competitors. Details of the event are still being worked out, but it would provide a way to create television programming while the league remains on hiatus.
H-O-R-S-E is a popular game on playgrounds where a player attempts a shot, and if it goes in, a competitor has to make the same shot from the same spot on the court. Each failure to do so results in a letter, and the first player to spell out H-O-R-S-E is eliminated.
President Sees Fans Returning By August Or September
President Donald Trump expressed hope that fans will be able to attend games by August or September during a conference call today with commissioners of several leagues, according to Adam Schefter and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Trump also said the NFL should be able to start its season on time, although the authors add that it’s not clear if medical experts agree with the timeline.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver noted that the sports leagues were the first major U.S. enterprises to shut down and would like to be leaders in restarting the economy once public health officials provide an “all clear” signal. The NBA was the first professional league to suspend play, making the announcement March 11.
A return to normalcy by late summer would come too late for the NBA to have any hope of finishing its season in front of crowds, but the league has discussed holding a few regular season games and possibly an abbreviated playoff format in empty arenas.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a press conference today that he’s not optimistic about the NFL starting on time in his state, according to Eric Ting of SFGate.
“We’ve all seen the headlines over the last couple days in Asia where they opening up certain businesses and now they’re starting to roll back those openings because they’re starting (to see) some spread and there’s a boomerang,” Newsom said. “One has to be very cautious here, one has to be careful not to overpromise.”
Also during the call, Trump suggested that the leagues should work together to lobby for the return of tax credits that used to be given for entertainment expenses, sources tell Schefter and Wojnarowski. Those credits, which include some deductions for concessions and tickets, could make it easier for fans to attend games while the economy works its way through the current downturn.
Along with the NBA and NFL, the call included executives from Major League Baseball, the NHL, Major League Soccer, WNBA, WWE, the PGA Tour, UFC, IndyCar, LPGA and Breeders’ Cup.
Bryant, Garnett, Duncan Joined By Six Others In Hall Class
Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan have officially been named to the Naismith Hall of Fame Class of 2020, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. They are joined by Rudy Tomjanovich, Eddie Sutton, long-time WNBA star Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann, Bontemps adds.
In essence, every finalist for Hall of Fame consideration this year received enough votes for induction. A finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Word leaked on Friday that Bryant, Garnett, Duncan and Tomjanovich would be inducted, though it was a foregone conclusion that the late Bryant, Garnett and Duncan — three of the game’s all-time greats — would received the required votes.
Bryant was an 18-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion, winning the MVP award in 2008 to go along with a pair of Finals MVPs. He is fourth on the league’s all-time scoring list and won scoring titles in 2006 and 2007.
Duncan won three Finals MVPs and five titles in total. Like Bryant, he was named to an All-NBA team 15 times over the course of his career. The longtime Spurs‘ big man was one of the best players of his era, ranking sixth on the NBA’s all-time rebounding list and fifth in blocked shots.
Garnett earned 15 All-Star nods, an MVP award (in 2004), a Defensive Player of the Year award (2008), and a title in 2008 with the Celtics. Garnett, who began his career with the Timberwolves, ranks in the NBA’s top 20 in career points, rebounds, blocks, and steals.
Tomjanovich is one of just three coaches to win both an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal. He coached the Rockets to a pair of championships in the mid-1990s and had an impressive career as a Rockets player prior to his coaching days, earning five NBA All-Star nods in his 11-year career.
Sutton is a four-time National Coach of the Year and was the first coach to lead four different schools to the NCAA Tournament.
Catchings is a 10-time WNBA All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist. She was also named WNBA MVP in 2011. Mulkey has coached Baylor to three NCAA national championships, including last season. Stevens has coached in the collegiate ranks for over 40 years and is the fifth coach in NCAA women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career wins. Baumann is a longtime FIBA executive.
It remains to be seen if this year’s induction ceremony will take place as scheduled on August 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Pessimism Growing About Resumption Of Season
There’s growing pessimism around the league that the 2019/20 season can be resumed, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said on SportsCenter (video link).
While the NBA is willing to go deep into the summer to complete the season, recent developments have led the league to discuss the implications of cancellation.
“It’s been a bad week,” Windhorst said. “I think there was optimism about progress a week ago. Some things that have happened this week have turned it south about what could happened.”
China’s decision to halt the Chinese Basketball Association’s plan to resume play this month has been a major factor.
“They (the CBA) really believed if they just tested the players’ temperature all this time that it would work,” Windhorst said. “The Chinese are finding that asymptomatic carriers are causing maybe a second wave in that country and they’re just slamming the brakes on sports.”
Unless widespread, quick tests for the novel coronavirus become available in the near future, league officials can’t see a way to resume play and ensure safety for all involved.
“It is clear that the NBA is angling to set up a deal that enables them to shut the season down,” Windhorst said. “They don’t have to do that yet. The way they’re negotiating, they’re leaving an option either way. But they’re not having talks about how to restart the league. They’re having financial talks about what would happen if the season shuts down. I think there’s a significant amount of pessimism.”
NBA Proposes 50% Pay Check Reduction For Players
The NBA has proposed to the National Basketball Players Association that players accept a 50% pay check reduction beginning on April 15, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the NBPA has issued a counter-proposal that would see players’ pay checks reduced by 25%, beginning in mid-May.
It would be in both sides’ best interest to resolve these negotiations – which were reported earlier in the week by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski – fairly soon, since the players’ next checks are due in 12 days.
Thus far, team owners have assumed the brunt of the financial losses from the NBA’s stoppage of play, but the impact of that lost revenue will soon hit the players, since the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for approximately a 50/50 revenue split between the two groups.
The NBA already holds 10% of players’ salaries in an escrow account and would normally either pay out or withhold some or all of that money at season’s end, depending on whether the players were overpaid or underpaid over the course of the year, relative to the revenue split.
Given how much money the league projects to lose this season, the amount in that escrow – approximately $380MM, per Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report – likely won’t be enough to cover the players’ half of the losses, which is why the NBA is looking to recoup an additional portion of its players’ salaries.
The exact amount that the NBA gets back from players will depend on whether or not any part of the season can be salvaged this summer and how much revenue the league ultimately loses. As Pincus notes in a tweet, the NBA’s proposal – a 50% reduction beginning on April 15 – may suggest that the league believes its losses this season will total more than the $1.2 billion he estimated in his article.
If the two sides can’t come to a satisfactory agreement that helps maintain the revenue split, the players would simply be delaying rather than avoiding the financial impact of the suspended season. The effects would be felt if and when the NBA invokes the “force majeure” clause for canceled games, which would unilaterally reduce players’ salaries and could result in re-opened CBA negotiations. The salary cap for 2020/21 could also drop substantially if players earn a much larger portion of the revenue split than owners in ’19/20.