Thunder coach Scott Brooks will sit down with the team in the next few days to discuss his return, as we heard earlier. Though a dozen Thunder players already have guaranteed contracts for next season, re-signing the coach isn't the only item on GM Sam Presti's offseason agenda. There are possible extensions to negotiate with James Harden and Serge Ibaka, and the team must decide what it wants to do with backup center Nazr Mohammed, who fell out of the rotation in the playoffs and is now an unrestricted free agent. Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor has plenty of work to do as well, and we have news about both teams.
We're less than a week away from the NBA Draft, and the Raptors big board doesn't seem to be getting any clearer, writes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. However, multiple team sources say that the club was impressed with North Carolina power forward John Henson’s workout on Thursday. More draft news and other odds and ends on this Sunday afternoon..
Joel Freeland will talk to the Trail Blazers this weekend and could agree to a contract before the Olympics, according to Ian Whittell of the Wardle Whittell Agency (Twitter links). Freeland, who was drafted by the Blazers in the first round in 2006, is "open to offers" and will have four Portland execs watching him play Lithuania at an Olympic warm-up in Houston tomorrow, says Whittell (Twitter link).
Here are a few more Friday afternoon odds and ends, including items on the top player on the market, the Western Conference champs, and the NBPA's latest victory….
All eyes tonight will be on Game 5 of the NBA Finals, as the Thunder look to stave off elimination in Miami, but exactly one week from now, we'll be gearing up for the 2012 draft. The first draft-related trade of the month was finalized yesterday, when the Wizards sent the No. 46 overall pick to the Hornets along with Rashard Lewis as part of a three-player swap. Will we see another deal consummated today? We'll keep track of the day's latest draft news and rumors right here, with the newest items added up top….
- Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com wonders whether Royce White's decision to pull out of his remaining workout has to do with an injury or his fear of flying instead of a promise from the Celtics (Twitter link). Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune pegs White as a candidate to be picked at No. 18 by the Wolves, and lists the second-round hopefuls the team will be working out Friday.
- Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal sizes up Andrew Nicholson and the chances he'll go to the Cavs at pick No. 24.
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com has tweaked his mock draft in the wake of the latest developments (Insider link).
Earlier updates:
Reports continue to suggest that the Trail Blazers are enamored by Damian Lillard, enough to draft him sixth overall. Such a move would mean that one of the players initially viewed as a consensus top-six pick, Andre Drummond, could be available when the Warriors picked seventh overall. According to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News, there could be a very interesting debate among Warriors execs if Drummond was on the board at No. 7. For what it's worth, our mock draft earlier this week had Lillard to Portland at six and Drummond slipping to the Raptors at eight.
Let's round up a few more Warriors-related rumors from Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group….
Game 4 of the 2012 NBA Finals will get underway in a little over seven hours, and it's essentially a must-win game for the Thunder. No team in Finals history has ever come back from a 3-1 defecit to win the series.
According to John Hollinger of ESPN.com (Insider link), the key to the game for Oklahoma City will be its big-man rotation. Hollinger argues that some of Kendrick Perkins' minutes should be allotted to Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka. As Scott Brooks and his team prepare for tonight's contest, let's round up a few more Thunder-related items….
Earlier this morning, we unveiled the first version of our 2012 mock draft, projecting every pick from No. 1 (Anthony Davis) to No. 30 (Quincy Miller). We'll publish one more mock next week, before draft day, and until then, we'll be keeping tabs on all the latest draft-related news and rumors. Here are today's updates, with the newest items added at the top throughout the day….
- The Pistons have a big workout scheduled for next Monday, with Jared Sullinger, Tyler Zeller, Meyers Leonard, John Henson, Terrence Jones, and Perry Jones III expected to attend, tweets ESPN.com's Chad Ford.
- Harrison Barnes and a pair of possible second-round candidates will work out for the Wizards tomorrow, the team announced.
We've already heard today from Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer about the Bobcats' draft history and how important it is to capitalize on top five picks when you have them. In an Odds & Ends post, the Pistons and Hawks draft prospects were also discussed. As tonight's start time for Game 3 of the NBA Finals approaches, we will keep all draft-related links in this post, with the latest news on top.
- Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com examines the possibility of Austin Rivers being drafted by the Celtics and playing for his father. While he deems the chances remote, it sounds like something both parties would be up for.
Thunder General Manager Sam Presti has offered head coach Scott Brooks a three-year deal worth just under $11MM in the past, but he and his agent weren't willing to accept it, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The two sides have set aside talks for the playoffs and a guaranteed fourth year could make a new contract happen.