Clippers, Celtics Nearing Doc Rivers Deal
4:57pm: The Clippers and Rivers are working on the length of the deal, tweets Wojnarowski.
4:56pm: The Clippers believe that Chris Paul will soon notify them that the acquisition of Rivers clinches his signature on a max deal when he can legally sign on July 1st, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
4:30pm: The deal will see the Clippers trade a 2015 unprotected first-round pick to the Celtics, a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).
4:02pm: The Clippers and Celtics are nearing a deal to allow Doc Rivers to become the next coach of the Clippers, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Rivers and the Clippers are working on the language of a five-year, $35MM deal and no agreement will be in place until those details are finalized. It appears that the deal will send a first round pick out east to Boston in exchange for the rights to Rivers.
The longtime C's coach told the Clippers that he was no longer interested in the position on Friday, but Paul pressured L.A. management to fork over a first round pick to get the deal done. Wojnarowski concludes that Rivers' telling the Clps he no longer had interest in the job and the Celtics setting a Friday deadline for a deal were negotiating postures to get the Clippers to up their offer.
Rivers went into the weekend planning to decide his future with the Celtics and sources said he had been leaning strongly toward returning next season to fulfill the three years and $21MM left on his deal. With the Celtics set to rebuild, several sources say that Boston wanted draft-pick compensation over paying for an elite coach.
Western Notes: Mavericks, Clippers, Oberto
We've already mentioned the "draft and stash" philosophy earlier in the night, and that's what Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News thinks the Mavericks might do if they don't trade their 13th pick in this year's draft. He says they're eyeing German point guard Dennis Schroeder if they choose to keep the pick, which has been considered unlikely as they go for broke at another title with Dirk Nowitzki not getting any younger.
Nowitzki would help fellow German Schroeder mesh with the team, and the Mavs are looking for point guard help after Darren Collison failed to inspire a lot of confidence last season when the team missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999/00 campaign. Schroeder can also be stashed if the Mavs don't feel he's ready to come in and play heavy minutes in the rotation.
- Former Spurs forward Fabricio Oberto may have hinted at a possible return to the NBA as a part of the Spurs' coaching staff in an interview with Argentinian journalist Julian Mozo, reports Dan McCarney of the Express-News.
- Bob Young of the Arizona Republic says the Suns will wear long-sleeved jerseys, like the Warriors did last season, in an effort to improve faltering merchandise sales.
- Lakers executive and owner, Jeanie Buss, spoke with the Los Angeles Times' Eric Pincus about her confidence in the team despite Dwight Howard's uncertain future as an unrestricted free agent, and their luxury tax issues after the CBA.
- Pincus also offers his thoughts on the Clippers' head coaching candidates after they failed to reach an agreement with the Celtics to let Doc Rivers out of his contract (Sulia link). As reported earlier today, the Clippers have started preliminary contract discussions with Brian Shaw and Byron Scott.
- Speaking of coaching searches, with all their interviews completed, the Grizzlies now only need to select a coach, writes Ronald Tillery in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
- Jerry Sloan spoke with Mike Sorenson of the Deseret News about his decision to accept an advisory role with the Jazz.
- Joe Freeman at the Oregonian looks at draft prospect Peyton Siva as the Trail Blazers' possible 10th pick this Thurday.
- Star-Tribune reporter Jerry Zgoda goes through five possible draft selections with Minnesota connections, and details Flip Saunders' first draft with the Timberwolves as head of basketball operations after replacing David Kahn earlier this summer. Saunders was the coach for the Wolves under then-general manager Kevin McHale from 1995-2006.
Clippers Have Talked Contract With Scott, Shaw
4:39pm: It’s not clear whether Scott is the front-runner for the job, according to Broussard, whose report includes word from Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com that the Clippers intend to go after Rivers one more time once they have an alternative lined up. Broussard also points to the close relationship between Chris Paul and Scott, who was CP3’s coach in New Orleans.
4:25pm: The Clippers began contract talks with Scott after his interview Tuesday, and they did the same Wednesday with Shaw, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports. Sources tell Turner that Scott and the Clippers are “getting there, but still talking,” with no agreement in place yet (All Twitter links).
4:01pm: The Clippers initiated discussion Friday night about the financial framework of a contract with coaching candidate Byron Scott, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. The team has not had similar talks with Brian Shaw and Lionel Hollins, two of the others that the team considers its primary alternatives to Doc Rivers.
The progress toward an agreement with Scott could signal that the Clippers are finally ready to move on from their pursuit of Rivers, whom the Celtics have been unwilling to release from his contract for the Clips’ offer of a second-round pick. Scott interviewed for the job on Tuesday, and his meeting with owner Donald Sterling went “very well,” Broussard noted earlier this week. Scott reportedly hasn’t interviewed with another team since the Cavs fired him more than two months ago. Scott and the Clippers had preliminary discussions about the job weeks ago.
Scott has been employed as an NBA head coach for at least part of each of the last 13 seasons. He’s 416-521 overall with the Nets, Pelicans (then Hornets) and Cavs. Four of his teams have reached the playoffs, including his back-to-back Finals squads with New Jersey.
If the Clippers hire Scott, Hollins and Shaw could turn to the Nuggets, where both are candidates, as is former Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro. Shaw has also been a candidate for the Sixers job, and the Grizzlies are looking for a new coach as well.
At the end of May, Hoops Rumors readers selected Scott as most likely to land the Clippers job among a field of six choices that didn’t include Rivers. Though much has changed since then, readers may still wind up being correct.
Latest On Celtics/Clippers Talks
Yesterday we heard that the Celtics/Clippers deal involving Doc Rivers was dead, only to later come across reports that such trade talks would continue. More continues to come in about the on-again, off-again saga, much of it courtesy Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald and Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe. Here’s what we know:
- A source tells Murphy that the deal is dead, despite insistence from the Clippers camp that it will be revived. Discussion about a Kevin Garnett-for-DeAndre Jordan trade is probably dead as well, Murphy writes.
- Rivers is still in contact with Danny Ainge and deliberating over whether he’ll return to Boston for next season, and the decision is not necessarily tied to whether the Celtics will rebuild, Murphy says.
- The Celtics postponed Friday’s press conference with Rivers and Ainge until Monday because the Clippers wanted to discuss a deal again, according to Holmes.
- Holmes hears that Rivers wants to continue coaching in the NBA, despite his well-documented misgivings about doing so with a rebuilding team. Yet sources tell Holmes that Rivers could wind up returning to broadcasting, where his salary would not match what he could get as a coach, because it might be too awkward to go back to the Boston bench at this point. Even so, Celtics management maintains that they would welcome him back.
- As Holmes points out, the Clippers were prepared to give up a first-round pick for Rivers earlier this week when it appeared there was a second, separate deal involving Garnett. Now that the two sides have pushed the Garnett talk to the backburner under pressure from the league, the Clippers only seem willing to relinquish a second-rounder for Rivers.
- Holmes hears from sources who believe the Clippers never intended to pull of a deal with the C’s, and were merely trying to make it seem as though they were to appease Chris Paul.
- A source tells Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com that Rivers and Rajon Rondo had a locker-room altercation that nearly turned into a physical confrontation. “An intense dislike” for Rondo is part of Rivers’ motivation for leaving the Celtics, Sheridan writes. Rich Levine of CSNNE.com tweets his doubts that such an incident took place, and believes that if it did, it may have happened as far back as 2010.
- In a separate piece, Holmes notes that Celtics assistant coach Mike Longabardi has accepted a position on Jeff Hornacek‘s coaching staff with the Suns. He’s the only Celtics assistant to have depared the team this offseason.
Door ‘Not Closed’ On Celtics, Clippers Deal
The Rasputin of NBA trade rumors appears to be alive once more, as executives tell Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times that the Clippers will make another play on Monday for Celtics coach Doc Rivers. Reports on two occasions, including earlier today, have indicated that talks between the two teams were at an end, but one executive said to Turner tonight that, "The door is not closed yet on getting a deal done." Still, Rivers' agent has told the Clippers he's no longer interested in coaching the team, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who adds that Chris Paul, a proponent of bringing Rivers to L.A., has been displeased with the fallout of what looked to be a failed deal.
The Clippers appear willing to be patient for a Rivers deal because Brian Shaw, Lionel Hollins and Byron Scott, their alternative coaching candidates, aren't likely to leave the market anytime soon. Two of those three haven't been offered a job by another team, according to Turner, adding that Scott hasn't even interviewed with anyone aside from the Clippers.
Boston is seeking a 2014 first-round pick in return for allowing Rivers out of his contract, which has three more seasons left on it. The Clippers are only offering a second-rounder. Clippers owner Donald Sterling and Rivers have negotiated a five-year, $35MM deal, but there's been a growing doubt around the NBA that Sterling really wants to pay that much, according to Wojnarowski.
The Celtics and Clippers have been engaged in talks involving only Rivers and draft picks since commissioner David Stern expressed this week that the league was unlikely to approve any deal that gave the appearance that Rivers was being traded in tandem with players. Such a deal would violate the collective bargaining agreement, and even though the teams appeared to be trying to structure a deal involving Kevin Garnett that would be separate from the Rivers transaction, it appeared that, too, would be vetoed. The Celtics and Clippers may attempt to circle back to a Garnett deal once the Rivers situation is resolved.
Rivers and Ainge will reportedly talk throughout the weekend in hopes of reaching a resolution on his future with the Celtics by Monday, when the team has a press conference scheduled.
Negotiations Between Celtics, Clippers End Again
7:00pm: Rivers and Ainge will talk through the weekend, with plans to have a resolution by Monday on Rivers' future as Celtics coach, Wojnarowski reports, adding that Rivers told the Clippers on Friday that he's no longer interested in coaching their team (Twitter links).
6:39pm: Talks won't start up again tonight, but the Clippers believe discussions will resume at some point, and until the team hires a coach other than Rivers, he remains their target, according to Shelburne and ESPN.com colleague Marc Stein. Their report also indicates that one of the Clippers' other coaching candidates told ESPN's Chris Broussard that owner Donald Sterling will take the weekend to ponder whether to move on from Rivers.
4:27pm: Chris Paul "badly" wanted Rivers as his coach and pushed the Clippers to make a deal to get him from the Celtics, according to Wojnarowski. Rivers isn't going after the Clippers job anymore, as his choices for next season appear to be down to coaching for the Celtics or returning to broadcasting, Wojnarowski hears.
4:23pm: A source close to Rivers tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he believes Rivers will be coaching somewhere next year, in spite of Rivers' frustration with the current situation. Meanwhile, the Clippers had intended to negotiate through the weekend with the Celtics before talks broke down today, Shelburne reports (Twitter links).
3:50pm: The NBA's on-again, off-again deal of the summer appears to be off again, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Murphy reports that negotations between the Clippers and Celtics have ended again, and while there's a possibility they could re-open for a third time, both sides seemed to acknowledge today that nothing could be gained.
"The Celtics' price (for Rivers) was a first round pick, and the Clippers weren't willing to do that," a source told Murphy, which echoes an earlier report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who said L.A. had only put a second-round pick on the table. Wojnarowski has since backed up Murphy's report, tweeting that Rivers is no longer expected to pursue the Clippers' job after talks failed again today.
After the Celtics cancelled a press conference this morning, it was presumed that the Clippers had sweetened their offer, or at least come back to the table to continue discussing potential compensation for Rivers. However, according to Murphy, today's presser wasn't cancelled due to negotiations, but rather due to the fact that Rivers needed more time to ponder his future. Rivers and GM Danny Ainge are now tentatively scheduled to address the media on Monday.
Latest On Clippers/Celtics Negotiations
3:22pm: The Celtics and Rivers' camp are "rapidly" coming to believe that no deal is going to be reached with the Clippers, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
2:59pm: Although the Clippers raised the idea of sending Boston a second-round pick as compensation for Rivers, the Celtics are holding out for a first-rounder, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. That would suggest that perhaps the 2015 first-rounder mentioned below hasn't officially been put on the table yet. According to Wojnarowski, the two sides aren't making much progress at this point.
12:47pm: The ongoing saga involving the Clippers, the Celtics, Doc Rivers, and Kevin Garnett took another odd twist this morning, when the Celtics sent out a press release announcing that Rivers and GM Danny Ainge would speak to the media today. Shortly after that announcement, the Celtics postponed the press conference until Monday, tentatively at noon eastern, according to Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com (via Twitter).
As Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe notes (via Twitter), the unusual move by the Celtics may have been designed to push the Clippers into action. The Clips had previously been unwilling to give up first-round draft picks as compensation for Rivers, but the threat of a press conference in Boston (perhaps to announce that Rivers would be returning) may have changed that, says Holmes.
Hall of Fame scribe Mark Heisler confirms as much, reporting (via Twitter) that the Clippers have now offered a protected 2015 first-round pick for Rivers. If the two sides can reach an agreement on compensation for Rivers, a Doc deal could be completed today, according to Heisler (Twitter link). However, he adds that the same can't be said for a trade involving Garnett. Due to CBA rules, the NBA has essentially insisted that Rivers and KG would have to be moved in separate, unrelated transactions.
To clarify that last point: Because NBA head coaches can't officially be traded, the Celtics aren't allowed to include Rivers in a Garnett deal. Instead, they'd have to release Rivers from his contract, allowing him to sign with the Clippers, making a potential KG/DeAndre Jordan swap an entirely separate transaction.
But the CBA also doesn't allow teams to make two separate moves that are contingent on one another, so the Clippers have shifted their focus to Rivers for now, in hopes of hiring him and then pursuing Garnett at a later date. If the Clips were to land Rivers and agree to acquire Garnett later, they'd have to convince the NBA that the two moves were made independently of one another.
For more details on how these negotiations have played out, check out our posts rounding up the updates from Wednesday and from Thursday.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Rivers, Raps, Nets, 76ers
The Celtics sent out a press release this morning announcing that GM Danny Ainge and head coach Doc Rivers would address the media at 12:00 eastern time today, but Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald tweets that the presser has been postponed until Monday. It's not known whether Ainge and Rivers were ready to make an announcement today, but with no press conference scheduled until Monday now, it appears the team will still have a few more days to negotiate a potential deal with the Clippers. Here's more from around the Atlantic Division:
- The Clippers still want to land Rivers, but they believe the Celtics are the team with a timetable looming, and are in no hurry to complete a deal, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- Doug Smith of the Toronto Star is hearing there will likely be some turnover for the Raptors' coaching staff, with assistants Johnny Davis, Scott Roth, and Tom Sterner not expected to return.
- Noting that multiple mock drafts have the 76ers drafting Steven Adams, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer wonders whether the Pittsburgh big man is the best target for the Sixers. Our own mock draft has Philadelphia selecting Cody Zeller at No. 11, with Adams going a pick later.
- With C.J. Watson opting out of his contract, the Nets will need a new backup point guard, and may target Isaiah Canaan in the draft, as Fred Kerber of the New York Post writes.
Odds & Ends: Rivers, Nuggets, Roc Nation
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald refers to a source that says Doc Rivers had no intention of being a part of an eventual rebuilding process with the Celtics, and that the team knew he felt that way when he signed his latest contract. The same source also said that Rivers did not intitiate the process that led to talks between Boston and the Clippers, adding that he had been contemplating between returning to coach the Celtics and stepping away from the game before team brass asked him if he was interested in any of the coaching opportunities around the league.
According to Bulpett's source, Rivers then learned that the front office had already held preliminary discussions with the Clippers about making him available (by releasing him from his contract) and seeing what they could get in return. At that point, Rivers was reportedly intrigued at the prospect of moving west and allowed Danny Ainge to try to work out the best possible deal. In the meantime, the 51-year-old coach was given permission to see if he could reach a separate agreement with the Clippers, which he eventually did (most notably, it would allow him to have control over player personnel).
With the deal now slowed by the fact that the agreement doesn't exactly comply with the rules of the CBA, Bulpett writes that Rivers could choose to do television work for the next one to two years rather than decide between coaching the Celtics or stepping away from the game altogether – that is, if the deal with the Clippers falls through. Interestingly enough, on the notion that Rivers had once said he'd be willing to continue coaching in Boston during a rebuilding process, some sources have called it an obligatory statement that was meant to preserve the stability of the team at the time, all while the front office would work to find pieces to complement Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce accordingly.
As we gear up for the seventh and deciding game of the NBA Finals, here are more of tonight's miscellaneous notes from around the Association:
- Mike Bratz, currently the director of player personnel for the Nuggets and former Kings backup point guard, has reached an agreement with Sacramento to become the team's assistant general manager (Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee reports).
- Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that shortly after firing George Karl, the Nuggets had offered the Celtics a first round draft pick as compensation to pry Rivers out of his contract. Once Denver's offer was rebuffed by Danny Ainge, they quickly moved their focus onto Brian Shaw and Lionel Hollins, who both are said to have made strong impressions on team president Josh Kroenke and general manager Tim Connelly. Sources have said that at the time Kroenke had made his bid for Rivers about ten days ago, Boston was not ready to start the process of letting Rivers leave, and the negotiations never went beyond one brief conversation between Kroenke and Ainge.
- There has been growing confusion (as well as anger, in some cases) among outside agents about who exactly the Roc Nation Sports agency represents and which athletes are part of its partnership with CAA Sports, writes Liz Mullen of SportsBusinessDaily.com. Some agents have privately expressed anger that Roc Nation has been reported to represent athletes who are still clients of other firms.
- Janis Carr of the OC Register writes that Dwight Howard is still undecided on his future (subscribers only).
- Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News tweets that Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni will be continuing interviews to fill out the rest of his coaching staff through next week, and that much of it will depend on how the head coaching hires around the league turn out.
- The city of Sacramento is being asked to write its first big check toward the development of a downtown sports arena, says Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. City development staff is expected to ask the council for $6.5MM in city funds, of which some will be used to hire a team of financial, design, and legal consultants. The team of consultants are said to be needed as the city begins negotiations on "definitive agreements" of an arena financing and construction plan with the private investment team that owns the Kings.
- The Grizzlies should strongly consider selecting D.J. Stephens on draft night, opines Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Clippers Targeting Rivers First; KG, Pierce Later
7:28pm: Dan Woike of the OC Register tweets that Los Angeles isn't optimistic that the league will ever allow them to acquire both Garnett and Rivers.
7:10pm: ESPN's Ramona Shelburne tweets that the Clippers are in no rush to get something done, knowing that two of the three candidates they've interviewed will be available for a while.
7:00pm: Rivers is said to be growing frustrated by the lack of closure on the deal and could take himself out of it if things aren't resolved by tomorrow morning, writes Bulpett. Though another source tells Bulpett that process has come too far along to turn away now.
6:21pm: Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald (via Twitter) says that there was no deal presented to the league today because the Clippers have yet to meet the Celtics' asking price.
4:43pm: According to Wojnarowski, the Celtics would just want one first-round pick as compensation for releasing Rivers from his contract. If the two sides eventually returned to talks involving Garnett, the Celtics would want another first-rounder along with Jordan, says Wojnarowski.
However, the Clippers still haven't extended an offer of compensation to Boston, and there's concern from people involved in the talks that L.A.'s front office doesn't have the authority to meet the Celtics' request. Clippers management had privately insisted to people they were waiting on Donald Sterling's approval for the draft-pick compensation.
4:07pm: Although the Clippers want to set aside the Garnett discussions for now, they haven't shown a willingness to offer even one first-round pick for the rights to Rivers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski adds that talks are going nowhere until the Clippers relent on at least one pick (Twitter links).
Since it was previously reported that the deal for Garnett and Rivers would include two first-rounders along with Jordan, this new information is a little confusing. Obviously, the Clippers wouldn't give up two first-round picks and Jordan for Garnett alone, so it had appeared the team was willing to give up a first-rounder or two for Rivers.
The equation has likely changed now for one of two reasons: If the Clippers reach an agreement for Doc first, there's no guarantee they'll be able to work out a separate deal for KG later, so the team may be unwilling to part with first-round picks for just a coach, rather than the duo as a package. The Clippers also may feel they've regained some leverage, since Stern's public comments today suggested the NBA was uneasy about attaching significant trade value to head coaches. Both of those theories are my own speculation though.