Thunder Rumors

Northwest Notes: Donovan, Blazers, Pleiss

April 30th, 2015 at 6:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Billy Donovan‘s deal to coach the Thunder is for five-years and worth approximately $30MM, or roughly $6MM per season, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The fifth season is a team option, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets. The ex-Florida coach was reportedly seeking that amount annually if he was to make the jump from the NCAA, and it’s certainly a hefty raise from Donovan’s $4MM per season wage for coaching the Gators.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

During his exit interview today, Chris Kaman said that he would like to return to the Blazers next season, Jabari Young of CSNNW.com tweets. The 33-year-old big man said he’ll need to wait and see if Portland wants to retain him for 2015/16, Young adds. Kaman’s $5,016,000 salary for next season includes a partial guarantee of $1MM.
Damian Lillard says that he is confident that he and the Blazers will be able to reach an agreement on a contract extension this offseason, Joe Freeman of the Oregonian relays (Twitter link). “For me, this is where I want to be,” said Lillard. “Whatever we need to do to make that happen, we’ll make happen.” The point guard is set to enter the final year of his rookie deal with the team, and will earn $4,236,287 in 2015/16.
German center Tibor Pleiss could look to join the Jazz next season if his contract is indeed bought out by Barcelona, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net relays (hat tip to Jody Genessy of The Deseret News). Utah acquired the rights to the 25-year-old from the Thunder in the Enes Kanter trade earlier this season.
The Thunder‘s coaching switch from Scott Brooks to Donovan was done to get a different voice for the players to respond to, as well as for the franchise to create a new identity next season, Shelburne relays in a series of tweets. The plan is for the team to make a change now, rather than spend the year in organizational limbo, and to show Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook what the future will look like in OKC, Shelburne adds.

Thunder Hire Billy Donovan

April 30th, 2015 at 1:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:33pm: The Thunder have hired Donovan, the team announced.

1:30pm: Donovan has resigned from his job at Florida, the school announced, and the statement says he’s doing so to take the Thunder job (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com).

12:17pm: League sources tell Wojnarowski that the Thunder have hired Donovan and that’s he’s signing a five-year deal (Twitter links), though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.

11:58am: It’s a “done deal,” a source tells Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link), which jibes with Wojnarowski and Ford’s report.

11:45am: The sides are continuing to work on contract terms, a source tells Zillgitt.

11:01am: University of Florida coach Billy Donovan will sign a multiyear deal to become coach of the Thunder, and the sides are presently finalizing the deal, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. The news has been expected, as the sides were nearing an agreement late Wednesday, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported. Wojnarowski and Forde reported earlier Wednesday that the team was pushing Donovan to take the job and that the coach was enthusiastic about the idea as long as they could agree on terms. The Yahoo! scribes suggested at that point that Donovan was seeking salaries of about $6MM a year from the Thunder, though it’s unclear if the team agreed to shell out that sort of money.

Donovan is set to inherit a roster primed to contend for the title next season after Oklahoma missed the playoffs amid an injury-riddled 2014/15. Thunder GM Sam Presti hadn’t consulted with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or Serge Ibaka as he negotiated with Donovan, as Wojnarowski wrote Wednesday. Still, he and Ford heard that Durant had formed a positive opinion of the coach after speaking with one of Donovan’s former players who’s now in the NBA. Durant’s opinion looms large, as he’s set to become a free agent after next season, so Donovan will enter the job facing enormous pressure.

The Thunder quickly zeroed in on Donovan after Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie, reportedly the team’s No. 1 target, called Presti to tell him he wouldn’t take the job. Spurs assistant Ettore Messina was also reportedly a candidate, though Donovan was the front-runner once Ollie pulled out, which happened at about the same time the team fired former coach Scott Brooks. Presti and Donovan have long been friends, and Presti previously hired two members of Donovan’s staff to work within the Thunder organization.

Donovan, who turns 50 next month, has spent the past 19 years at Florida and won two national championships, mentoring several players who went on to success in the NBA, including four who earned at least $12MM this season. A feeling that Donovan was ready to jump at the right opportunity to coach an NBA team was growing around the league this spring, as Stein reported then, adding Wednesday that the power and comfort that staying at Florida would entail loomed as the largest hurdle to an NBA jump. Donovan has been making more than $4MM a year at Florida, but there’s no buyout necessary for him to escape his contract with the school, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

The coach temporarily left the school in 2007, shortly after winning his second national title, to coach the Magic, but reneged on the deal and returned to Florida, which imposed a five-year moratorium on his pursuit of any NBA jobs. That’s long since expired, and had lapsed prior to last year, when Donovan rejected what Stein described as serious interest from the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves. The Nuggets and Magic planned to pursue Donovan this year, Stein reported in early April, but neither seemed to come after him with the conviction that the Thunder did.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Northwest Notes: Blazers, Thibodeau, Donovan

April 30th, 2015 at 12:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The questions that face the Blazers after a disappointing stretch run that threatens to shake the foundation of the roster are as profound as any the team has faced in the last 15 years, The Oregonian’s Jason Quick argues. The emergence of C.J. McCollum and Meyers Leonard, the disappointing play of Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez, and the rumors surrounding LaMarcus Aldridge‘s willingness to keep playing in Portland provide challenge and opportunity for GM Neil Olshey, Quick contends. Still, few options other than returning to the Blazers would give Aldridge the chance to play a lead role on a true contender, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller opines. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post doesn’t envision Tom Thibodeau emerging as the top candidate for the Nuggets job given the conflict of his defense-first philosophy and Denver’s desire for a fast-paced game, as Dempsey writes in a mailbag column.
The decision to leave Florida for the Thunder that Billy Donovan reportedly made should have been an easy one, as Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel argues. He’ll have an “exponentially better chance” at a title in Oklahoma City than he would with the Gators the next two years, and if he fails and the Thunder fire him, he’d have his pick of top college jobs, Thamel believes.
The numbers suggest that Donovan was no better down the stretch in close games at Florida than the oft-criticized Scott Brooks was for the Thunder, The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson writes.

Celtics Rumors: Free Agency, Jerebko, Crowder

April 30th, 2015 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge seeks a talent upgrade this summer and, to no one’s surprise, pledged today to try for a marquee acquisition, MassLive’s Jay King notes (on Twitter). Still, King hears that that the C’s are prepared to chase second-tier free agents if they miss out on stars, and league sources told King that the Celtics are ready to offer a contract that would make it seem like they were overpaying one of those Plan B free agents. The idea is that Boston would do so with someone who it felt would improve enough to justify the hefty salaries and that those paydays wouldn’t seem as large in the context of the surging cap in the next few years, as King explains. There’s more from King amid the latest from Boston:

Reggie Jackson and Enes Kanter are second-tier free agents the Celtics are unlikely to pursue, King writes in the same piece. They fear that Kanter believes he’s more valuable than he is and that such thinking would disrupt the team concept, according to King.
Soon-to-be free agent Jonas Jerebko drew raves today from Ainge, who jokingly called him “the Swedish Larry Bird,” and Ainge dropped hints that he’d like to re-sign the forward, as King observes (Twitter links). “I think I would sign off on the ‘sign the Swede’ hashtag. … But it all depends,” Ainge said.
Ainge confirmed the team will indeed extend the qualifying offer of little more than $1.181MM necessary to match competing offers for Jae Crowder in free agency this summer, notes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Ainge strongly signaled last week that he’d like to re-sign the swingman acquired in the Rajon Rondo trade.
Ainge again challenged Jared Sullinger to improve his conditioning, as Globe scribe Adam Himmelsbach relays. Sullinger is up for a rookie scale extension this year. “I think he’s hurting the longevity of his career and his play now by not being in as good shape as he can be in,” Ainge said.

And-Ones: Thunder, Warriors, Bargnani

April 29th, 2015 at 10:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Thunder will be over the league’s luxury tax line this season for the first time in team history, and will likely do so again next season if the team wishes to retain restricted free agent Enes Kanter, Tom Moore of Calkins Media writes. If OKC decides it wants to avoid the extra cost associated with paying the luxury tax, the Sixers could end up being the beneficiaries, Moore opines. Philadelphia will have enough cap room to add three OKC players who have fallen out of the team’s rotation — forwards Steve Novak and Perry Jones III, and guard Jeremy Lamb, which would in turn lower OKC’s 2015/16 payroll by approximately $8.82MM, though it would likely cost GM Sam Presti the team’s 2015 first-rounder to get the Sixers to bite on such a trade, Moore adds.

Here’s more from around the league:

Stiff opposition has arisen against the Warriors‘ plan to construct a new arena in San Francisco’s Mission Bay area, Phil Matier and Andy Ross of The San Francisco Chronicle write. “This arena is going to essentially ruin decades of good work and planning in Mission Bay and make it impossible for people to access the hospital there,” said public relations expert Sam Singer, who has been hired by the group opposing the project, the scribes relay. This opposition comes just a month before the final environmental impact report for the proposed arena is due to be released, which could suggest that the effort is largely aimed at trying to force the team to scale back its ambitious plan for developing 12 acres next to the University of California, San Francisco, the Chronicle duo adds.
Knicks unrestricted free agent Andrea Bargnani spoke with La Gazzetta dello Sport about his future (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando), and indicated he intends to remain in the NBA next season, and favors a return to New York. “I am happy with the Knicks. I love the city and the organization. There is an important project here,” Bargnani told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I will consider all the offers I receive from July. I want to remain in the NBA. And I will. I am at the peak of my basketball career and I want to win in the NBA.” The Knicks are reportedly open to re-signing Bargnani to a minimum salary deal.

Billy Donovan, Thunder Nearing Agreement

April 29th, 2015 at 9:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

9:24pm: The two sides are nearing an agreement that would make Donovan the team’s coach, and a formal announcement of the deal is expected in the next two days, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.

3:25pm: Donovan and the Thunder are discussing the framework of a contract that would bring the coach to OKC, Wojnarowski and Forde report. There is confidence on both sides that a deal can be completed, but no agreement has been reached as of yet, the Yahoo! scribes note.

1:43pm: Presti has yet to speak with Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka or their agents about the idea of hiring Donovan, Wojnarowski tweets.

1:15pm: Donovan is strongly leaning toward taking the Thunder job, sources tell Stein and fellow ESPN scribe Andy Katz, and one source said to them that the feeling around Florida is that Donovan “is as good as gone.”

12:24pm: Oklahoma City is focusing completely on Donovan, reports Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. The likeliest scenario involves Donovan taking the Thunder job, presuming they can agree on compensation, sources tell Parrish.

11:28am: Donovan doesn’t have to pay Florida a buyout to leave the deal, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Presti flew to Florida and met with Donovan on Tuesday, league sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

11:05am: The job is Donovan’s to lose, a source tells Stein.

10:08am: The Thunder are pushing Donovan to take the job as the team puts together an offer, and Donovan is enthusiastic about the idea pending agreement on terms of a deal, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski suggests that Donovan is looking for salaries of around $6MM a year. Kevin Durant has a positive feeling about the possibility after reaching out to one of Donovan’s former player’s who’s now in the NBA, league sources tell Wojnarowski. Donovan has wanted to speak with Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka before taking the job, but it’s unclear if he’ll be able to talk to them, Wojnarowski adds.

9:17am: Grantland’s Zach Lowe has heard further chatter connecting the Thunder and Donovan, and that combined with Stein’s report prompted Lowe to say via Twitter that he’d be surprised if Oklahoma City doesn’t hire the Florida coach.

8:54am: Thunder GM Sam Presti and University of Florida coach Billy Donovan have begun formal conversations about Oklahoma City’s vacant coaching position, league sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Donovan has been considered the favorite to end up in the job since the team fired Scott Brooks a week ago, according to Stein, though Spurs assistant Ettore Messina is also a candidate, as the ESPN.com scribe reported last week. Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie was reportedly the team’s No. 1 target shortly before the Thunder dismissed Brooks, but he issued a statement indicating he would stay at UConn shortly before Brooks’ firing and later called Presti to tell him he was withdrawing from consideration.

The 49-year-old Donovan is the first candidate with whom Oklahoma City is known to have had formal talks, Stein writes, though it’s clear that there were at least back-channel communications going on between the Thunder and Ollie. Presti and Donovan have a longstanding friendship, and the GM has hired two members of Donovan’s staff in the past. One person who knows Donovan recently described him as “tired of recruiting” to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, and sources tell Stein much the same. There was a growing feeling around the league as of a month ago that Donovan was ready to jump to the NBA for the right opportunity, as Stein heard then, though the comforts and power Donovan has established over 19 years at Florida continue to tug at the coach, Stein notes.

The Nuggets and Magic have planned to target Donovan for their openings as well, Stein wrote early this month, and last year Donovan turned away what Stein described as serious interest from the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves. The coach has a $500K buyout in his Florida contract, one that pays him more than $4MM a year, though that buyout wouldn’t dissuade him from jumping to the NBA, according to Stein.

Western Notes: Brooks, Love, Parsons

April 27th, 2015 at 9:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Scott Brooks would still be the Thunder coach if Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook had strongly objected to the decision to fire him, David Aldridge of NBA.com opines. While Durant and Westbrook were protective of Brooks, they accepted the decision by Oklahoma City’s management, Aldridge continues. The Thunder could not afford the risk of waiting to bring in a new coach after next season when Durant hits the free agent market, Aldridge concludes.

In other news around the Western Conference:

Kevin Love‘s shoulder injury, which will keep him out of the Eastern Conference playoff semifinals, could have a major impact on his potential free agency and the Lakers’ offseason blueprint, Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report tweets. Love, who holds an approximate $16.7MM player option on his contract for next season, is at the forefront of the Lakers’ rebuilding plans, Ding adds.
Chandler Parsons might need microfracture surgery on his right knee, which could keep him out of action at the start of next season, sources told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. That could play a role in the Mavericks’ offseason strategy, considering they signed Parsons last summer to be their starting small forward. Parsons will make approximately $15.36MM next season and holds an option of just over $16MM on the final year of his deal in 2016/17. It’s still possible Parsons would only require arthroscopic surgery on the knee, which has a shorter recovery period, MacMahon adds.
The Warriors added more depth to their postseason roster by recalling center Ognjen Kuzmic and forward James Michael McAdoo from their D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to the team’s website. Kuzmic and McAdoo helped Santa Cruz win the D-League championship over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, as the duo combined for 31 points and 17 rebounds in the clinching 109-96 victory on Sunday night.

Western Notes: Aldridge, Williams, Thunder

April 26th, 2015 at 8:25pm CST by Will Joseph

Damian Lillard is confident that his Trail Blazers teammate LaMarcus Aldridge, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, will remain in Portland, Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com writes. “I don’t have any reason to believe why he wouldn’t be back here,” Lillard said. Aldridge has been the subject of several recent reports that have tied him to the Spurs, Mavericks and Knicks. Aldridge has played for only Portland since he was drafted in 2006. On Sunday, Holmes notes, Aldridge declined to answer questions about his future. “I’m focused on winning right now,” Aldridge said.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Pelicans coach Monty Williams, who has one year remaining on his contract and a team option beyond next year, deserves to lead New Orleans for the next two seasons, Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune opines. It was Williams’ tactical gumption that propelled the Pelicans into the playoffs this year, Smith writes. Under Williams, the Pelicans finished 45-37 this season, winning 11 more games than the previous season. There were reports last month that the Pelicans would evaluate Williams, who has received support from players, after the season. Williams was reportedly under pressure earlier this season, his fifth as coach of the Pelicans.
The next coach of the Thunder won’t be someone with a flamboyant personality, and instead will have a blue-collar work ethic, a humble demeanor and well-known success with the clipboard, Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes. Whoever replaces Scott Brooks will have to embrace the “Thunder Way,” Mayberry adds. “We have a pretty clear identity of the type of person and specific vision for that role going forward,” said Thunder GM Sam Presti. Florida’s Billy Donovan is a leading candidate for the job.

Northwest Notes: Brooks, Thunder, Aldridge

April 25th, 2015 at 10:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

Thunder GM Sam Presti doesn’t think Scott Brooks is a bad coach, but he believes he can find a better one, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Brooks was fired Wednesday after the Thunder narrowly missed the playoffs with a 45-37 record. Tramel speculates that the move was about the future, noting that Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have had the same coach since they entered the league. He said Presti likely wants to give them a fresh voice as they enter the next stage of their careers.

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

Three leading candidates to replace Brooks as Thunder coach were compared by Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Florida’s Billy Donovan and Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie have both been wildly successful as college coaches, while Tom Thibodeau has made the Bulls a perennial playoff team but is rumored to be in hot water in Chicago.
LaMarcus Aldridge is the latest in a long line of talented power forwards in Portland, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com. When he was drafted by the Trail Blazers in 2006, it was to ultimately replace the man who he is now lining up against in the playoffs, the Grizzlies’ Zach Randolph. Aldridge said he remembers being labeled as a “project” early on. “People always called me ‘soft,’ but Z-Bo never did,” Aldridge said. “In practice, I would go at it. I wasn’t strong enough to bang, but I would bang with him as much as I could.” Randolph was dealt to the Knicks in 2007, but the Blazers are hoping to keep Aldridge. He is expected to be among the most sought-after free agents on the market this summer.
Aldridge made comments to Holmes that echoed those he gave to Michael Lee of The Washington Post earlier this season in which he reflected on a time when he didn’t think the Blazers viewed him as a star in the making. “I wish I could say that,” Aldridge said to Holmes. “I want to give you that story so bad. But I’m trying to tell you, they did not believe in me in the beginning. I was a ‘project.'”
After losing most of his season to shoulder surgery, Utah’s Alec Burks is looking forward to next year, reports Ryan McDonald of The Deseret News. The surgical procedure came just two months after Burks agreed to a four-year, $42MM extension with the Jazz. “It was tough,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that missing so many games, but I learned a lot. I’ll be able to play next year, and I can’t wait.”

Northwest Notes: Brooks, Jazz, Wolves

April 24th, 2015 at 9:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey says that the team has a number of options to consider this offseason as the franchise looks to take its next step toward the playoffs, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News relays. The different scenarios that the team has come up with include trying to attract a big name free agent to add to its young core; continue building with youth through the draft; or potentially trading its first round pick this year as part of a package to acquire a veteran player, Genessy notes. “We’ll come up with something that is sound,” Lindsey said. “If sound means be bold, then we’ll do that. The Miller family is fully committed to that. … The neat thing is we have a full set of alternatives.”

Here’s more happenings from the Northwest Division:

For their part, many of the Jazz‘s players would be happy to have the same roster as this season return for 2015/16, Genessy adds. “I think the group is really excited. It’s super young. I think we’re really just scratching the surface of what can happen,” forward Joe Ingles said. “The future’s there. The guys work hard. The coaches probably work even harder behind the scenes. Everyone’s excited.” Of course, Ingles may be a touch biased in his desire for the roster to remain intact, since he is eligible to become a restricted free agent this offseason if Utah tenders him a qualifying offer worth $1,045,059.
Scott Brooks‘ tenure with the Thunder had far more positives than negatives, and the organization owes much of its identity to its former coach, Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman writes. Brooks was also great at developing young talent, something the former head coach didn’t get enough credit for, Carlson adds.
Wolves executive/coach Flip Saunders said that Minnesota is going to prioritize improving its outside shooting this offseason, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. Saunders acknowledged that any upgrade to the team’s outside game may have to come from developing its own players, since today’s college game is long on athleticism and short on shooters, and that often those who are the best three-point shooters lack the athleticism to play in the NBA, Zgoda relays.

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