Noah Croom Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Stein’s Latest: Simmons, Sixers, NBPA Executive Director

September 21st, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The structure of Ben Simmons‘ contract may embolden him in his plans to hold out from the Sixers, Marc Stein of Substack writes in his latest newsletter. As Stein explains, Simmons received 25% of his 2021/22 salary on August 1 and will receive another 25% on October 1, meaning he’ll already have earned half of his $33MM salary for the season by the time the preseason starts.

League rules permit the Sixers to assess substantial fines for each game he misses during his holdout (approximately $228K per game), but Stein suggests those fines won’t be docked from Simmons’ pay until November, after the first pay period of the regular season. If Simmons was on a more traditional payment schedule, those fines would be more costly, but it will take a while for them to put a dent into the $16.5MM he’ll already have earned this season.

Here’s more from Stein:

Don’t expect the Sixers and Simmons to follow the blueprint that Al Horford and the Thunder or John Wall and the Rockets have, according to Stein. While those rebuilding teams were comfortable holding out their veteran players until they found a suitable trade partner, the 76ers continue to try to convince Simmons to report to training camp and have “zero interest” in reaching a mutual agreement to allow the three-time All-Star to remain away from the team, says Stein.
According to Stein, many of the teams that have engaged the Sixers in Simmons trade talks – including the Timberwolves, Raptors, Spurs, Cavaliers, and Kings – typically aren’t major players in free agency, and like the idea of securing a young impact player who is under contract for four years. However, most of those teams don’t have stars that would interest Philadelphia, or have made them unavailable in trade negotiations (such as the Wolves with Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, or the Kings with De’Aaron Fox).
The NBPA has enlisted Chicago-based search firm Heidrick & Struggles to help seek out a new executive director to replace Michele Roberts, according to Stein, who says that “well-placed observers” believe Roberts’ replacement could be an unexpected selection who hasn’t yet been publicly identified.
Stein, who previously named Malik Rose as a candidate to become the NBPA’s executive director, suggests Noah Croom, Arne Duncan, Nichole Francis Reynolds, Pat Garrity, and Mark Termini are other viable contenders for the job. Croom and Garrity are veteran team executives, Termini is a longtime player agent, and Duncan and Reynolds work outside of the NBA in education/politics and business, respectively.

Rockets Notes: Cousins, Oladipo, Croom, Porter

February 23rd, 2021 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

The DeMarcus Cousins era in Houston formally came to an end on Tuesday, as the Rockets announced they’ve officially waived the veteran center.

Explaining the decision to release Cousins, general manager Rafael Stone said they’ve been “talking to him about this for a little while” and decided the time was right to allow him to pursue a new opportunity (link via Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston). Stone added that Houston opted to guarantee Cousins’ full-season salary before parting ways with him because the team appreciated his work ethic and felt “that was the best way we could think of to say thank you.”

For John Wall, who played college ball with Cousins at Kentucky, teaming up with the veteran center in the NBA was something he’d looked forward to for a while, and he expressed some disappointment that it didn’t work out as they might’ve hoped.

“Getting to play with him again was what we always wanted in the NBA,” Wall said, per Berman. “It didn’t last as long as we thought it would. The decision that was made is out of my hands. It’s up to the front office, whatever they feel is best for our team going forward.

“I think with his time here he did a hell of a job,” Wall continued. “I think he showed he could come back and play in this league, coming off of injuries. Hopefully he can get another job somewhere very soon…getting back to where he wants to be in this league.”

Here’s more on the Rockets:

Victor Oladipo (right foot strain) suffered a slight setback when he stepped on teammate Rodions Kurucs‘ foot during a practice, preventing him from returning to action on Monday, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Head coach Stephen Silas said he remains hopeful that Oladipo will be back “sooner rather than later.”
Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, who reported last month that the Rockets are looking to hire an executive in an assistant general manager-type role, identifies former Timberwolves executive Noah Croom as a candidate being considered for that position.
Kevin Porter has yet to make his Rockets debut since being acquired from Cleveland a month ago, but his new team has a vision for how it will use him, writes Kelly Iko of The Athletic. The Rockets, who plan to have Porter finish the G League season at the Walt Disney World bubble, expect to have him eventually assume a point guard role on the second unit, per Iko.

Bucks Ready To Start GM Interviews

June 4th, 2017 at 2:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bucks are finalizing their list of GM candidates with interviews expected to start Monday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Assistant GM Justin Zanik remains a strong candidate to replace John Hammond, who left to become GM of the Magic. Sources tell Wojnarowski that Zanik has strong support inside and outside the Bucks organization.

Others expected to interview for the position are Minnesota assistant GM Noah Croom, Indiana vice president of basketball operations Peter Dinwiddie, Detroit assistant GM Pat Garrity, Denver assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas and Memphis VP of player personnel Ed Stefanski. Many of the names were already known, but Croom is a new addition, Wojnarowski tweets.

Sources indicate that Bucks owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens will participate in the interviews. An original list of candidates was trimmed by a search firm.

Western Notes: Thompson, Tarczewski, Faried

August 2nd, 2016 at 10:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Klay Thompson, whose shot attempts are likely to decrease now that Kevin Durant is a member of the Warriors, disagrees with the notion that Golden State’s players will need sacrifice their individual games for the team to be successful, Shams Charania of The Vertical writes. “I feel kind of disrespected that people keep using the term sacrifice to describe me and describe us,” Thompson told Charania. “We all want to see each other do well. But I’m not sacrificing [expletive], because my game isn’t changing. I’m still going to try to get buckets, hit shots, come off screens. I want to win and have a fun time every game we play.”

Thompson also relishes that the Warriors will be viewed as villains by opposing fans, Charania adds. “The NBA season can get mundane; 82 games are so long and there can be some boredom,” Thompson said. “Now, we can embrace being the hated team and getting everyone’s best, and adding some tension every night. It’ll be a fun experience going into arenas on the road, with opposing fans hating what we’ve built.”

Here’s more from out West:

Undrafted free agent center Kaleb Tarczewski has been invited to attend training camp with the Thunder with an eye on him joining their D-League affiliate, international journalist David Pick relays (on Twitter).
The Timberwolves have hired Noah Croom as their new assistant GM, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (via Twitter). Croom previously served as the Grizzlies assistant GM when the franchise was still located in Vancouver.
The Nuggets are still open to trading power forward Kenneth Faried, with the Thunder and Pelicans among the teams that have expressed interest, Sam Amico of Amico Hoops relays.