J.J. Outlaw Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Wizards Announce Brian Keefe’s New Coaching Staff

July 10th, 2024 at 9:21am CST by Luke Adams

While Brian Keefe isn’t technically among this offseason’s new head coaches – he took over Washington’s job midway through the 2023/24 campaign when Wes Unseld Jr. transitioned to a front office role – the Wizards have revamped his coaching staff heading into Keefe’s first full season at the helm.

According to a press release from the team, veteran assistant David Vanterpool is the only member of last season’s staff who is returning for 2024/25. The new additions, some of whom were previously reported, are as follows:

Adam Caporn, a former G League head coach for the Long Island Nets who spent the past three seasons as an assistant in Brooklyn.
J.J. Outlaw, an assistant coach with the Cavaliers for the past five seasons who also had stints with the Lakers and Grizzlies.
Brian Randle, who spent last season as a Pistons assistant and previously worked for the Suns (as an assistant) and Timberwolves (as a player development coach).
T.J. Sorrentine, a longtime assistant coach at Brown University.
Alexis Ajinca, a seven-year NBA veteran who also played professionally in France and transitioned into coaching in 2023 as an assistant for the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate.

Joseph Blair, James Posey, and Mike Miller (the former Knicks coach, not the former Heat champion) are among the notable assistants who were let go by the Wizards when the club cleaned house back in April.

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Outlaw, Caporn, Heat, Jovic

June 24th, 2024 at 10:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Not only did the Hornets have a head coaching change, the entire staff has been overhauled, Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer reports.

As previously noted here, Lamar Skeeter, Chris Jent and Josh Longstaff have been hired away from other organizations to head up Charles Lee‘s staff with the Hornets. They’ll be joined by Ryan Frazier, Zach Peterson, Matt Hill and Blaine Mueller, according to Boone. The training staff is also undergoing changes, as the Hornets have decided to part ways with longtime director of health care and sports performance Joe Sharpe.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

In more coaching news, J.J. Outlaw, who spent the last three seasons as a Cavaliers assistant coach, and Adam Caporn, who spent the last two seasons as a Nets assistant, are strong candidates to join Brian Keefe‘s Wizards staff, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets.
The Heat own the No. 15 pick in the draft and The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang takes a deep dive into the prospects that might be available at that spot. The list is comprehensive, omitting only those prospects who seems likely to go in the top 10.
If finding another shooter is a priority, Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham, Duke guard Jared McCain, Colorado’s Tristan de Silva and the University of Miami’s Kyshawn George are potential targets with the Heat‘s first-rounder, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
In a separate draft-related piece, Winderman notes that virtually every position on the Heat roster could use a boost, with only shooting guard currently having enough quality depth.
Nikola Jovic suffered a postseason left ankle sprain and he’s still in recovery mode, which makes the Heat forward’s status for Serbia’s pre-Olympic matchups uncertain. “I’m doing great,” he told Mozzartsport, as relayed by BasketNews. “The injury I got is getting better, the swelling is almost gone. But we’ll wait a few more days for the control scan and after that we’ll see how things are. Honestly, I’m not 100% sure that I’ll play, but I really believe in it.

Central Notes: Pistons, Bucks, Dosunmu, Mobley

August 12th, 2021 at 9:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pistons have a logjam and will need to make some moves to create roster space, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. They’re already at the 15-player limit for standard contracts and a decision on restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo is still looming. They also have only one two-way contract slot available and have yet to sign second-round draft picks Luka Garza and Balsa Koprivica.

We have more from the Central Division:

The Bucks gave up two second-round picks in the Grayson Allen deal with the Grizzlies. The picks they’re giving up are owed to Milwaukee from previous deals, Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian tweets. The first of those picks will either the Pacers’ pick or the less favorable of Cavaliers’ or Jazz’s pick in 2024. The second will be conveyed in 2026, the highest of either the Pacers’ or Heat’s pick.
Bulls second-rounder Ayo Dosunmu is off to a rough shooting start in the summer league, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times notes. He’s shooting 7-for-24 (29%) from the field through three games. “The advice I got was go out there and play hard,’’ said Dosunmu, the 38th overall selection. “Just try to learn something new each game. That’s the best way you’re going to get better.”
The No. 3 overall pick, Evan Mobley, is showing the Cavaliers in summer league play how he can impact their offense in a number of ways, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes. His passing ability, in particular, can diversify their attack. “He’s going to be an extremely integral piece for us throughout the season and his willingness to share the ball and then also be able to get his own shot when he wants it is extremely important,” Cavaliers summer league coach J.J. Outlaw said. “But as you can see his teammates trusted that he would deliver the ball on time, on target when they would cut and they just kept cutting.”

Cavaliers Notes: Trades, Coaches, Lineup Changes

February 20th, 2020 at 10:50pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Cavaliers underwent a major change this week, moving on from coach John Beilein. Yet, more needs to be done if the team is going to turn the franchise around, as I recently wrote on Heavy.com.

If Andre Drummond opts in this offseason, then making trades will be key to unlocking Cleveland’s fortunes. Kevin Love and Collin Sexton are among the players who could bring the franchise long-term value in deals.

Here’s more from Cleveland:

Assistant Lindsay Gottlieb will rotation with J.J. Outlaw to the front of the bench under new coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic tweets. It will depend on which coach as the scouting report for a given game. Russo adds that Antonio Lang is the new lead assistant, for now.
Bickerstaff plans to experiment with the lineups, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com passes along. “Are there things that we can do to be creative? Like you talk about K.P., can he play the point? Can we put the ball in his hand and let him initiate some stuff? Those types of things,” Bickerstaff said.
Bickerstaff didn’t see Beilein’s exit coming over the All-Star break, as he was in the Caribbean vacationing, Fedor writes in the same piece. However, the team and Bickerstaff had previously spoken about the associate head coach taking over after Beilein was done, though no one expected it this soon.

Western Notes: Terry, Papanikolaou, Lakers

September 16th, 2014 at 8:56pm CST by Alex Lee

With a few weeks until training camps begin, here is the latest news coming out of the Western Conference on Tuesday evening:

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Rockets‘ deal for Jason Terry will be completed tomorrow (via Twitter). The trade, which will send Terry to Houston and Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to Sacramento, was originally agreed to on August 31st. There was a report yesterday that it would be finalized today, so we should expect an official announcement shortly.
Feigen also expects the signing of Kostas Papanikolaou to become official this week, though he cautions that his buyout ($1.5MM) and the necessary FIBA approval make it a little unpredictable (Twitter link). Papanikolaou’s first-year salary of just under $4.8MM is the most ever given to a second-round pick in his first NBA season.
The Lakers announced today that Paul Pressey, Jim Eyen and Mark Madsen will join Byron Scott on the Los Angeles bench as assistant coaches this season. Beyond that trio, the team also announced Clay Moser, Larry Lewis, Tom Bialaszewski and J.J. Outlaw as members of the staff. Rondre Jackson has been promoted to director of player development and Jordan Wilkes has been hired as an operations assistant, according to the team release.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.