Jason Kidd Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Rumors: Cavs, Kidd, Johnson

April 13th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

GM David Griffin turned the Cavs into a potential championship contender with his in-season moves and unwavering support of first-year coach David Blatt, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today opines. Cleveland needed those improvements to be a true contender, Zillgitt continues, and his acquisitions of J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov made the desired impact. Griffin also diffused a potentially divisive issue with his public support of Blatt while the team was struggling, Zillgitt adds. Cleveland’s turnaround this season has made Griffin a prime candidate for the league’s Executive of the Year award.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Jason Kidd deserves Coach of the Year consideration after guiding the Bucks to the playoffs one season after they won 15 games, Matt Walks of ESPN.com writes. Kidd had to deal with the season-ending injury losses of Jabari Parker and Kendall Marshall as well as Larry Sanders‘ mental health issues that led him into retirement. Kidd also changed point guards from Brandon Knight to Michael Carter-Williams at the trade deadline, yet the club ranks second in defensive efficiency, Walks points out. The Bucks have a strong young core, provided they retains restricted free agent Khris Middleton, and has the draft choices to add more pieces, Walks concludes.
Tyler Johnson‘s story offers hope for prospects with seemingly little chance to be drafted, as he went from undrafted to a prominent role in the Heat’s playoff push within a single year, as Shams Charania of RealGM examines. Johnson, who’s averaging 18.4 minutes in 30 appearances, has a non-guaranteed salary for next season that becomes 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1st.
The Cavs assigned Joe Harris to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, the team announced on Monday. The guard has played in 50 games for the Cavs this season, averaging 2.7 points in 9.5 minutes per game. Harris was available to play for the Charge in their postseason game on Monday against the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Central Notes: Middleton, George, Jackson

March 23rd, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Khris Middleton refuses to bring up the subject of his impending restricted free agency even with his agent, as he tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe. “It’s a little awkward” to share an agent with Bucks coach Jason Kidd, Middleton also admits. The forward’s agent is Mike Lindeman of Excel Sports Management, while Kidd’s relationship with Excel founder Jeff Schwartz has been a flashpoint for controversy. Union executive director Michele Roberts indicated in November that she would take a tougher stance on a rarely enforced rule that bars agents from representing both coaches and players. Kidd also has a significant measure of player personnel control for the Bucks. There’s more on Middleton amid the latest from the Central Division:

Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird tells Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com that he expects George will play for the Pacers at some point this season, adding that he believes George has received medical clearance to do so (Twitlonger link).

Earlier updates:

Middleton told Lowe for the same piece that he loves living in Milwaukee but expressed reservations about the Bucks‘ deadline-day trade that sent out Brandon Knight and Kendall Marshall and netted Michael Carter-Williams, Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis. “Yeah. It was tough, man,” Middleton said about learning of the trade. “We had things rolling before the All-Star break. We thought we’d just get back on track rolling after the break, too. But it’s a business. They thought it was a good trade for the team, so, I mean, we’ll see.”
The Bucks prevailed upon the Pistons to include Middleton in the 2013 Knight/Brandon Jennings trade, and the experience of getting traded left Middleton with some painful feelings at first, as Lowe also details.
Paul George insisted today that there is no timetable for his return as he continues to recover from his broken leg, and he denied a report that the Pacers were targeting this week for his comeback, tweets Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star.
Reggie Jackson says Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy is “making it easy” as he’s turned him loose for Detroit, observes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Jackson hinted that he would have been OK with staying on the Thunder, who have a better shot at the playoffs, but he’s glad that his duties are more well-defined on the Pistons, notes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “It’s good,” Jackson said of knowing his role. “That’s one less monkey on my back. Wherever I got my shot was where I was going to get my shot. I was just vocal about what I wanted my shot to be, and some people were mad about that. Some people understood where I was coming from. But it’s always been about getting out there and competing.”

Eastern Notes: Heat, Kidd, Fisher, Harris

January 24th, 2015 at 1:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Heat team president Pat Riley denies a report from last week indicating that the team proposed a deal that would send Chris Andersen, Norris Cole and Josh McRoberts to the Nets for Brook Lopez, notes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Riley insists the Heat haven’t made any offers to any team, and that while the Heat have had conversations with other clubs, they aren’t active on the market, as Jackson transcribes in a second piece. The executive doesn’t feel the team needs an upgrade to make the playoffs and indicated that he would only commit to salary beyond next season for a star, Jackson adds.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Bucks coach Jason Kidd doesn’t believe that Kobe Bryant‘s latest injury will be a career-ending one, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel writes. Kidd also spoke about how his own career ended, which he says was on his own terms, Gardner notes. “I would say, yes, in a way I did get to go out on my terms, but I had no gas left in the tank,” Kidd said. “It was an easy call. I got to make the call, but the car had no gas. A lot of times for athletes, we want to be able to go out on our own and not with an injury. You want to play and you want to leave feeling you’ve given everything to the game.“
Knicks rookie coach Derek Fisher didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be to get his players emotionally ready to compete, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “Probably what jumps out the most is you still have to work pretty hard to motivate and inspire guys at this level,’’ Fisher said. “Something a guy who came into the league in 1996, that wasn’t required. If you weren’t self-driven and self motivated, you couldn’t get on the floor. As a player for 18 years, my brain worked that way. It’s one area that continues to evolve — find ways to help my guys be more inspired and more motivated.’’
With the highly touted NBA draft class of 2014 not quite living up to the hype thus far, David Thorpe of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) looks at a number of rookies who have stood out. These players include Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), Jerami Grant (Sixers), and Elfrid Payton (Magic).
The Cavs assigned Joe Harris to the Canton Charge, their D-League affiliate, the team announced.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Lopez, Kidd, Robinson

January 22nd, 2015 at 12:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets weren’t as close to trading Brook Lopez to the Thunder as they seemed, a league source tells Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher, adding that Brooklyn simply didn’t want Lance Stephenson, who would have come from Charlotte in a three-way proposal, or Kendrick Perkins. Still, a Lopez trade remains a possibility, Bucher writes, and the Nuggets are expected to make another run at him, according to Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post, just as they did when they reportedly spoke about a package with JaVale McGee as the centerpiece. There’s more on the Nets amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:

“High ranking sources” in the Nets organization dispute to Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News that Mikhail Prokhorov wants to sell his majority interest in the club, but those same sources tell Abramson that it’s not out of the question that Prokhorov will give up the team.
The management for Jason Kidd‘s ownership stake in the Nets has asked the NBA for more time to find a buyer, reports Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com. Kidd owns one-sixth of 1% of the Nets, Soshnick notes, but he’s required to divest himself of that share, worth $2.5MM based on the Forbes valuation of the franchise, since he’s now coaching the Bucks instead.
Nate Robinson gave up $689K of this season’s salary of nearly $2.107MM in his buyout agreement with the Celtics, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
The Knicks and Sixers both have dreadful records this season, but only in Philadelphia’s case is that according to any sort of plan, as Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer examines.

Eastern Notes: McRae, Stoudemire, Kidd

January 13th, 2015 at 10:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There’s a possibility that 2014 second-rounder Jordan McRae could join the Sixers prior to the end of the season, Tom Moore of Calkins Media writes. McRae, whose rights the Sixers acquired from the Spurs on draft night, has been averaging 20.9 points in 18 games for Melbourne United of the Australian league this season. Philadelphia coach Brett Brown has kept a watchful eye on McRae’s progress overseas, Moore notes. “We are always paying attention to Jordan,” Brown said. “He’s in a good situation. He’s playing a lot of minutes and continuing to score. Jordan is always in the back of our minds.”

With the Sixers having an open roster spot thanks to Andrei Kirilenko being placed on the suspended list, Brown was asked about the possibility of McRae filling that slot, Moore adds. “It’s a fair question,” Brown said. “How we decide to handle Jordan will be determined — just not now. We have talked a lot about it.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Kevin Love‘s comment that he intends to opt in and remain with the Cavaliers for the 2015/16 campaign leaves the team with one less distraction this season, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders writes.
The Knicks are reportedly not looking to deal Amar’e Stoudemire, but the team has had internal discussions about the possibility of reaching a buyout agreement with him so that Stoudemire could try and catch on with a contender, Mark Woods of ESPNNewYork.com reports.
Jason Kidd has found a fit as the coach of the Bucks that he didn’t during his time with the Nets, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. Last year’s Brooklyn squad didn’t need a teacher in the way that Milwaukee does, and it’s a role that Kidd is more suited to, Zillgitt opines.
Cavs coach David Blatt‘s level of comfort in Cleveland would benefit greatly from a stout endorsement from LeBron James, something that hasn’t happened yet, Sam Amick of USA Today writes.
One of the Knicks‘ biggest issues as a franchise is their poor player development history, Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal writes. “The Knicks have always had the money to spend. But because they saw that as their advantage, it might have also become a reason to put off being patient with a rebuild,” John Nash, a former NBA GM, told Herring. “They may have felt they didn’t have the time to truly develop young players.” New York’s problem isn’t poor drafting, as the franchise has actually had three first-team All-Rookie selections the past four seasons, Herring notes. But those players have all regressed offensively in their second seasons, which is an alarming trend, the Wall Street Journal scribe adds.

Central Notes: Rose, McDermott, Van Gundy

December 20th, 2014 at 7:17pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls may have to adjust to life with an “ordinary” Derrick Rose, opines Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. The former MVP is averaging 16.2 points, 5.1 assists and 3.2 rebounds in the 13 games he has been healthy enough to play this season, while shooting 41.4% — all far below his usual standards. “The thing about Derrick, he is the same person, he’s the same player,” teammate Taj Gibson said. “[The media] is so hypocritical in what he does. You got to understand, he’s playing with hamstring injuries. That stuff is tough. Track runners sit out after getting their hamstrings hurt.” Rose’s contract runs through 2016/17 and is worth a total of approximately $41.4MM over the final two seasons.

There’s more from the Central Division:

The Bulls‘ Doug McDermott is focused on returning as soon as possible from his meniscus tear, reports Sam Smith of Bulls.com. McDermott said he was “shocked” to learn the MRI results. His prognosis is three to six weeks out of action, but the rookie is hoping to cut that down. “I’m trying to take it as a positive,” McDermott said, “settle down and take a deep breath and learn from Jimmy [Butler] and Mike [Dunleavy] and watch them play and watch [coach Tom Thibodeau] and how everyone reacts on the floor. I think it will be a good thing to watch practice every day and get better.”
Give Stan Van Gundy a second chance at the offseason, and David Mayo of MLive believes several things would have turned out differently. Mayo speculates that if Van Gundy, the Pistons‘ coach and president of basketball operations, knew what he knows now, he would have traded Josh Smith to the Kings, spent money on a high-profile wing player and not connected any other moves to Greg Monroe‘s decision. The writer also believes the team would have passed on Aaron Gray and Cartier Martin.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd tells Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report that he has no regrets about leaving the Nets. Kidd said Brooklyn’s front office was leaning toward letting him go after a slow start last season, then agreed to let Milwaukee talk to him about the coaching job in the summer. “Everybody can run with their conspiracy theories or power struggles,” Kidd said. “But at the end of the day, Milwaukee asked Brooklyn for permission and they granted it.” The Bucks dealt two second-round picks to the Nets in July for the rights to Kidd.

Central Notes: Kidd, Hammond, Gasol, Pistons

December 12th, 2014 at 1:37pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jason Kidd has just as much authority on player personnel for the Bucks as GM John Hammond does, co-owner Marc Lasry tells Chris Mannix of SI.com. If Hammond and Kidd disagree, the owners will cast the deciding vote, Lasry adds.

“I don’t want John to say we need to do something and Jason to say the opposite, and then there is a fight,” Lasry said. “If John wants to do something, Jason should be on board. If Jason wants to do something, John should be on board with it. That’s how we do it in our business, that’s how we want to do it here.”

Reports from before Milwaukee hired Kidd as coach this summer indicated that Kidd was seeking to become Bucks president of basketball operations. Hammond’s deal with Milwaukee runs through 2015/16, but the new owners were reluctant to commit to him for this season before ultimately deciding to do so. Here’s more from around the Central Division:

The style of play the Bulls employ was key to their recruitment of Pau Gasol and to his early-season resurgence, as he told reporters, including Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. “It’s just a really nice fit for me and something I evaluated before I made my decision,” Gasol said. “… The system, the way we run things, our principles, how we want the ball to touch the paint and get to the post and then operate from there.”
Gasol’s performance so far this season has been impressive enough to create a compelling case that he was the most important free agent acquisition this summer outside of LeBron James, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The ex-Laker is averaging 19.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game.
The Pistons figure to be active in trade talk this season, and MLive’s David Mayo, amid his latest mailbag column, identifies a few potential buyers and sellers with whom Detroit could partner.

Nets Rumors: Kidd, King, Collins

November 20th, 2014 at 10:35am CST by Chuck Myron

Jason Kidd‘s controversial leap from the Nets to the Bucks this summer is a flashpoint for an issue that new union executive director Michele Roberts would like to resolve, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com details. The union has a rule that bars player agents from representing coaches or executives so that no agent is ever representing people on both sides of the negotiating table, but it’s rarely enforced, as Roberts and agents who spoke with Berger contend. Kidd said that his player agent, Jeff Schwartz, had a role in negotiations for him this summer, as Berger points out. Sources tell Berger that Schwartz kept the Kidd talks separate from discussions surrounding Schwartz clients Shaun Livingston and Paul Pierce, who also left the Nets this summer, but the conflict of interest nonetheless troubles Roberts and others.

“We can’t allow the status quo to remain, i.e. people to act in defiance of the rule because the rule is the rule,” Roberts said. “But I also want to try to do it in a way that makes sense for everyone. If it appears that the rule is not something that we can work around, then it’s time to enforce it.”

There’s more on the Nets and their former coach in the wake of Milwaukee’s three-overtime win Wednesday in Brooklyn:

Kidd cited rumors that the Nets thought about firing him during last season as reason for his distrust of the organization, but in reality the Nets were highly supportive of the first-year coach, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com.
Mannix, writing in the same piece, hears from a Nets official who’s curious whether Kidd knew he would join the Bucks when the coach suggested during a meeting of Nets brass in June, while he was still working for Brooklyn, that the Nets trade Brook Lopez for Larry Sanders. In any case, Nets GM Billy King rejected the idea of such a swap.
Kidd insisted Wednesday that he never tried to convince the Nets to promote him above King, despite reports to the contrary this summer, but the Bucks coach added that he didn’t have much of a relationship with King last year, Newsday’s Roderick Boone observes.
Jason Collins admits that he knew this past summer that he wanted to retire but decided to wait to make an announcement until Wednesday’s meeting of Kidd’s Bucks and the Nets because of his respect for Kidd, a former teammate and coach, Boone notes.

Eastern Notes: Rondo, Kidd, Butler, Sixers

November 19th, 2014 at 7:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Executives from around the league tell Howard Beck of Bleacher Report that Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has remained resolute with them that he won’t trade Rajon Rondo at this point. Still, many of those execs think the Celtics are in a position in which they simply must trade the point guard to avoid seeing him walk in free agency this coming summer. Ainge nonetheless continues to look for upgrades around Rondo, as he tells Beck. “Philosophically, we know who the players are, we know who the guys are that we would love to get,” Ainge said. “But we also know that certain players don’t make as much of a difference. We can’t sell our stockpile of assets just to appease one player. We’ve got to be smart in rebuilding. And we do have to remain patient. And yet at the same time, be ready to jump into the fray and pay a high price for special players, transcendent players.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

The Bucks’ roster features two starters who are 19 years old, a stark contrast to head coach Jason Kidd‘s Nets team of a year ago, which featured seven players 32 or older, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. Kidd says it’s still just basketball to him, adding, “It’s just the age difference. They’re basketball players. This is a younger team, the team I had last year was vets. They knew how to play, a couple of them won championships so they knew what it took to win. We won a Game 7 on the road, so experience, time and minutes are probably the only thing that’s different.” The other difference for Kidd in Milwaukee is that he’s now coaching a team on the upswing rather than one constructed to contend for a single year like Brooklyn was last season, notes Deveney.
Jimmy Butler‘s decision to bypass a contract extension from the Bulls that would have netted him roughly $11MM per season could pay off handsomely if he continues his excellent play, Michael Lee of The Washington Post opines.
Former Sixer Evan Turner believes he can speak for those players unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle of GM Sam Hinkie‘s rebuilding plan, writes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Turner said of Hinkie’s approach, “It’s different. It goes the right way, or not. That kind of trend can make or break certain situations. Hopefully they don’t get penalized for what they’re doing, but if they do put the right guys on the team they can be really successful thanks to the leadership of coach [Brett] Brown. The biggest thing is having the unity. That’s all you have and you have to stay focused on going to battle with who you have.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Eastern Notes: Kidd, Cavs, Early, Raptors

November 18th, 2014 at 3:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

Bucks coach Jason Kidd didn’t have interest in heading to Milwaukee until the team came after him, as he makes clear to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Kidd remains proud of the work he did in his lone season as coach of the Nets, who received a pair of second-rounders as compensation when the Bucks hired him this summer.

“We felt that we helped a lot of people get better. As coaches, that’s all you ask for,” Kidd said. “There was a lot of good stuff. Unfortunately, management, ownership didn’t [think so], so they got two second round picks.”

Kidd returns to Brooklyn on Wednesday, and while we wait to see that, here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

The relationship between LeBron James and coach David Blatt isn’t fully functional yet, and though Blatt is technically the boss, James perhaps wields greater leverage over him than he has with any of his previous coaches, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group examines.
Knicks rookie small forward Cleanthony Early is set to miss about a month or more after undergoing surgery to remove a “loose body” in his knee, the team announced (Twitter link).
The size of the role that James Johnson would play for the Raptors wasn’t clear when they signed him this summer, but he’s quickly become a key contributor who’ll be missed while he’s out indefinitely with a severely sprained ankle, as Eric Koreen of the National Post details.