Jerry Stackhouse

Warriors Notes: Roster, Rotation, Looney, Kuminga, Moody, Staff

Speaking on Thursday to reporters, including Anthony Slater of The Athletic and Kendra Andrews of ESPN, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said the front office believes it “improved the team” this offseason, though he suggested the club will remain on the lookout for further upgrades.

“We’re probably as impatient a franchise as you can be right now given our time horizon and all that,” Dunleavy said, per Slater. “But there’s a fine line between impatience and undisciplined. I feel good about the discipline that we held this summer and the roster we built and the growth from within that we’re going to have. I know everybody is always looking for big headline breaking news and all that, but I really like this team.”

As Slater writes, Dunleavy stressed that there’s “no point in going all in to be slightly above average,” but he and Warriors owner Joe Lacob have both expressed that they’re willing to surrender some future assets in order to upgrade the current roster.

“Does that mean we’re definitely going to do something? No,” the Warriors’ GM said. “We were super aggressive last year around the deadline. Didn’t do a whole lot. You’ve got to have a partner. Making deals in this league can be tough. But the effort and the urgency will always be there.”

Here’s more on the Warriors:

  • Head coach Steve Kerr feels good about the depth the Warriors have on their roster, suggesting that as many as 12 to 13 players have a case for rotation minutes and that multiple starting lineup spots could be up for grabs this fall, according to Andrews and Slater. “What I love about this camp is that we do have (starting) spots available,” Kerr said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have started a lot of games. Last year Wiggs (Andrew Wiggins), (Jonathan Kuminga), Draymond (Green), Trayce (Jackson-Davis) started some games. (Brandin Podziemski), De’Anthony (Melton), Buddy (Hield) has been a starter most of his career. It’s the easiest thing for me to do is just to tell the guys we’ve got starting spots available. That doesn’t mean I’m going to say how many to you or to them.” As Slater writes, Stephen Curry and Green are locks to start, and Wiggins is a relatively safe bet to join them unless he plays himself out of the job, but there could be a competition for the other two spots in the starting five.
  • While it’s unclear what sort of role he’ll have for the Warriors in 2024/25, veteran big man Kevon Looney is in “phenomenal shape,” a source told Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Speaking to NBC Sports Bay Area, Looney agreed with that assessment. “I feel lighter on my feet, I feel like I can move better,” he said. “I can move the way I want to for longer and I feel like I got a little more stamina.”
  • Dunleavy said on Thursday that the team has had “positive conversations” with the representatives for Kuminga and Moses Moody about possible rookie scale extensions, tweets Andrews. “Regardless whether we get something done (by October 21), we want those guys here,” Dunleavy said. “Just because you don’t get an extension done doesn’t mean they’re not going to be here for a long time. We’ll still have their rights in free agency if we can’t come to an agreement by the 21st. I think for them, the most important thing is we’ll get through these next few weeks with a deal or not a deal, but all that matters is they have great seasons.”
  • The Warriors officially announced today (via Twitter) that they’ve hired Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse as assistant coaches, which was first reported early in the offseason. Khalid Robinson, Jacob Rubin, and Anthony Vereen have also been promoted to assistant coaching roles, the club confirmed.
  • Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard has passed along some of the highlights from his conversation with Kerr on a recent episode of his TK Show podcast. We relayed some of Kerr’s comments about Klay Thompson‘s departure on Wednesday.

Warriors Notes: Podziemski, Kuminga, Curry, Green, Moody, More

The Warriors viewed the Jazz‘s asking price in trade talks for Lauri Markkanen as one that would have made it a “bad deal” if they’d met it, sources tell Kendra Andrews of ESPN, which is why discussions between the two teams stalled. Those talks officially came to an end on Wednesday when Markkanen renegotiated and extended his contract with Utah, making him ineligible to be dealt until the 2025 offseason.

Confirming previous reporting from The Athletic, Andrews says the Warriors aren’t feeling any urgency to shift their focus to a new trade target now that Markkanen is off the board, citing team sources who say the club isn’t “hot on” any of the players currently available on the market.

The negotiations with Utah also showed that the Warriors intend to hang onto young players like Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga “very tightly,” Andrews writes, and would only be willing to move one or both of them in an “overwhelming” deal that made the team better in the long run.

For now, Podziemski, Kuminga, Moses Moody, and Trayce Jackson-Davis all appear poised to take on larger roles with the Warriors in 2024/25, though nothing will be handed to them, a source tell Andrews, meaning they’ll have to show that they deserve increased minutes and possibly starting spots. While Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are, of course, penciled in as starters, the other three spots in the starting five are considered “wide open” entering training camp, Andrews reports.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

  • Curry and Green want to be consulted on the Warriors’ roster moves, but they’ve made it clear they don’t want to be “final decision-makers,” sources tell ESPN. “Steph has said, ‘Look, I do not want to be making those decisions. It puts me in a different spot than all of my teammates. I do not want that,'” one source said to Andrews. While the two stars are still adjusting to the fact that Klay Thompson is no longer on the roster, they’re excited about the moves Golden State has made this offseason, Andrews adds.
  • With Thompson and Chris Paul exiting Golden State this summer, adding scoring was the team’s top priority, which was the impetus for the addition of Buddy Hield in particular. The Warriors also expect Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton to contribute in that area while helping to solidify the defense, Andrews writes.
  • The Warriors haven’t engaged in any serious rookie scale extension discussions with Kuminga or Moody yet, but general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. has expressed interest in exploring deals for both players. Andrews suggests Moody’s next deal could be in the range of $11-13MM per year.
  • One front office source told Andrews that it was “actually really fun” to be able to operate below the tax aprons this offseason for the first time in years. That allowed the Warriors to use their full mid-level exception (on Melton) and acquire two players (Hield and Anderson) via sign-and-trade.
  • “Diversifying” the coaching staff and bringing in fresh faces was a goal this offseason, which led to the additions of Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse. A source referred to head coach Steve Kerr and Stotts as “kindred spirits” and said Kerr appreciates the offensive acumen and communication skills the former Blazers head coach will bring to the club. Stackhouse, meanwhile, is expected to team up with assistant coach Chris DeMarco in focusing on the defensive side of the ball, says Andrews.

Western Notes: Morant, Clark, Stackhouse, Suns

Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant only made nine appearances last season after missing the first 25 games of the year due to a suspension and then his final 48 with a shoulder injury. Speaking to reporters on Thursday (Twitter link via WPSD’s Logan Whaley), Morant asserted he was about 75% healthy ahead of next season and sent a warning to the rest of the league.

I feel like that’s still scary for whoever’s in front of me,” Morant said.

Memphis suffered a litany of injuries last season, with 33 players seeing playing time for the organization after various hardship signings. Morant, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart played just 71 combined games and only two Grizzlies players appeared in 60 or more games.

If Morant comes back healthy, the Grizzlies will almost certainly factor into the Western playoff picture. The team won 50 or more games in the two seasons prior to 2023/24 and while last season was disappointing, the openings created by the injuries allowed young players like Vince Williams and GG Jackson to emerge as rotation options.

We have more from around the Western Conference:

  • Timberwolves two-way guard Jaylen Clark missed all of last season with an Achilles injury, but the UCLA product was all smiles even amid a tougher-than-expected first summer league with the team, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes. The 53rd overall pick in the 2023 draft, Clark might not see much playing time on a contending Wolves roster, but he’s happy to simply be back on the court. He earned praises from his coaching staff in Las Vegas. “What I like about him is he picks up early and he’s very strong,” Wolves assistant and summer league head coach Chris Hines said. “He stands up guys. For him, it’s just finding how to drive and kick and get back to respace, set his feet and shoot the ball.
  • Jerry Stackhouse was expecting to sit out a year from coaching after exiting from Vanderbilt, but the Warriors called him and he impressed Steve Kerr, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater details. “I don’t think the timing could’ve been more perfect for me,” Stackhouse said of joining the team as an assistant. The Warriors are reportedly excited to be bringing in a former player and plan on having Stackhouse run the team’s defensive schemes.
  • The Suns‘ ’23/24 season went far from expected, as the team bowed out in the first round of the playoffs following the formation of a “big three” consisting of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. In a subscriber-only story, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic breaks down his predictions and projections for next season. The Suns improved by adding Tyus Jones and generally did well in addressing their depth but as Rankin observes, it will be difficult to climb the standings if the likes of Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Dallas continue on their current trajectories along with mainstays like Denver.

Pacific Notes: Plowden, Bronny, Stotts, Stackhouse, Ishbia

When the Warriors were reviewing videos of players to decide who to invite to their free agent mini-camp, Daeqwon Plowden stood out right away, writes Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. The 25-year-old shooting guard, who signed a two-way contract with the team on Tuesday, was going full speed and giving maximum effort in all of his film clips.

He won a spot on Golden State’s Summer League team, where he’s continuing to impress the organization, averaging 16.6 points per game while shooting 48.1% from three-point range and playing physical defense. Plowden wants to prove he’s “a winner,” and he sounds ready to use his opportunity with the Warriors as a learning experience.

“Throughout the year, I really just want to learn how to be a better pro,” he said. “This is one of the premier organizations. They’ve got some high-level guys. Some high-level characters. I want to learn how to be a better pro, whether that be for here … or wherever I end up winding up.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Bronny James had his best outing in the Summer League on Wednesday as the Lakers pulled out a one-point win over Atlanta. He had 12 points and made two 3-pointers after going 0-for-15 from the beyond the arc in his first four games. “I feel like I know the right way to play. So if I go out there and play my game every game, results like that will come,” he told Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
  • Warriors coach Steve Kerr wanted to tweak his offense, which is a major reason why he decided to hire Terry Stotts as his lead assistant. “He fits what we want to do and get a little bit more patterned,” Kerr told Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “He loves movement. Portland, you know, they always had a lot of motion and movement, but it was probably more patterned than what we’ve done. Terry can really help us put in some new things that may be easier to run but maintain the motion.” Jerry Stackhouse, who has also been added to the staff, will bring a former player’s perspective. “Just feel like we needed Jerry,” Kerr said. “We have a lot of young players. … There’s something about a former player where those guys can tell our players, ‘I’ve been there, I’ve done this. I know exactly what you’re going through.’ Jerry did it on a really high level, but he’s also coached at a high level. That meant a lot to me.” Golden State has yet to officially announce those coaching hires.
  • Suns owner Mat Ishbia said during an NBA TV interview that he believes his team is primed for a deep playoff run, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic relays. “First year, we didn’t get to where we wanted to be,” Ishbia said. “Second year, we’re going to see and we’re going to go out there and compete. I love those guys. I love the pieces, (Jusuf) Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale. We’ve got a lot of pieces. Bol Bol is back. We’ve got a lot of great pieces, but you’ve got to win. If you don’t win in the playoffs, people are going to talk about you. That’s an honor that they talk about us ’cause it’s high expectations. We’ve got to get there. We’re going to try this year again.”

Dana Gauruder contributed to this report.

Stotts, Stackhouse Expected To Join Warriors’ Staff

The Warriors are planning to hire Terry Stotts as Steve Kerr‘s lead assistant coach, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Jerry Stackhouse is also expected to join the staff.

Stotts, 66, has a long career as an NBA head coach and assistant. Stotts was the Trail Blazers’ head coach from 2012-21 and was also head coach of Atlanta and Milwaukee. Stotts was hired as Adrian Griffin‘s lead assistant with the Bucks last offseason but abruptly left the organization before the regular season started when they clashed over scheme and philosophy.

Stotts will take the spot previously held by Kenny Atkinson, the Cavaliers’ new head coach. Stotts was also on Cleveland’s radar during its head coaching search.

Stackhouse, 49, interviewed for the Hornets coaching job that eventually went to Charles Lee. Stackhouse was hired as Vanderbilt’s head coach in 2019. The school parted ways with him after last season. The former All-Star guard was previously an assistant with the Raptors and Grizzlies and was also the head coach of the G League 905 Raptors.

Ott, Stackhouse, Ivey To Interview For Hornets Job

The Hornets have added Lakers assistant Jordan Ott and former Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse to their list of head coaching candidates, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

Ott has been with the Lakers since Darvin Ham brought him in as an assistant in September 2022. He was previously on the Nets’ staff.

Stackhouse was hired by the Commodores in 2019 and fired last month. The former All-Star guard has also been an assistant with the Raptors and Grizzlies and was also the head coach of the G League 905 Raptors.

Rockets assistant Royal Ivey will also be interviewed, according to the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen. Ivey was also a Nets assistant for three seasons before joining coach Ime Udoka with the Rockets this season. Ivey has also been an assistant with the Thunder and Knicks.

Denver’s David Adelman, Boston’s Charles Lee, Sacramento’s Jordi Fernandez, the Clippers’ Jay Larranaga, Phoenix’s Kevin Young and Kings G League coach Lindsey Harding have also been identified as candidates to be interviewed for Charlotte’s position. Steve Clifford announced prior to the end of the season that he’d be stepping down.

And-Ones: Stackhouse, Schröder, 2024 Mock, Mayo, Adams

Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse, a former NBA player and assistant coach, is not expected to return as the Commodores’ head coach, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein (Twitter link).

According to fellow college insider Jeff Goodman (Twitter link), Stackhouse’s buyout for Vanderbilt was “extremely high.” As Goodman points out, Vanderbilt signed Stackhouse to a contract extension after the team played its way to the NIT quarterfinals last season.

Stackhouse finishes his coaching career at Vanderbilt with a 70-92 record in five seasons with zero NCAA Tournament appearances. Before being hired Vanderbilt, Stackhouse was an assistant coach for the Raptors in the 2015/16 season and the Raptors 905’s head coach from 2016-18. He was also an assistant for the Grizzlies in the ’18/19 season. He has been linked to NBA head coaching jobs in the past.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • Nets point guard Dennis Schröder, 30, isn’t planning to stop playing professional basketball anytime soon, according to Eurohoops.net. Schröder sees himself playing for at least another decade and eventually returning to play in Germany at the tail end of his career. The same goes for his stint with the German national team, according to Eurohoops. “I have the feeling that I want to stay there for a long time, like Dirk Nowitzki back then,” Schröder said. “I can realistically assess if and how I can still help the team.
  • With conference tournament play underway, Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman provided his latest 2024 NBA mock draft. Alexandre Sarr to the Wizards, Zaccharie Risacher to the Pistons and Reed Sheppard to the Spurs are his top three projected picks. Indiana’s Kel’el Ware and UConn’s Stephon Castle are some of the biggest risers, while potential top pick Nikola Topic falls to seventh to the Spurs in Wasserman’s mock.
  • Former NBA players O.J. Mayo and Jaylen Adams are signing in China with the Liaoning Flying Leopards, according to Sportando. Mayo had been previously playing in Egypt, while Adams just wrapped up the NBL season in Australia. Mayo, the third overall pick in 2008, played eight NBA seasons (2008-16), averaging 13.8 points. Adams has two seasons of NBA experience, playing with Atlanta (2018/19) and Milwaukee (’20/21), averaging 2.7 points in his career.

Coaching Rumors: Nurse, Bucks, Lue, Young, Stackhouse

Nick Nurse has been busy interviewing this offseason after being dismissed from the Raptors, and is reportedly a finalist for a couple different coaching vacancies, including Milwaukee’s.

While Nurse has “strong support” within the Bucks, Ian Begley of SNY.tv hears from sources who say that support isn’t unanimous among the “key stakeholders” in the organization.

Nurse, who won a championship with Toronto in 2018/19, is also a finalist in Phoenix and interviewed with Philadelphia. The other two reported finalists for the Bucks are Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin.

Here are a few more coaching rumors from Begley:

  • Begley is the latest to report that Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who is still under contract, is expected to stay with L.A. and not be made available for any openings this spring. The Suns were among the teams rumored to be interested in Lue, which Begley confirms.
  • Assistant coach Kevin Young is considered a strong candidate for the the Suns‘ coaching vacancy after an impressive interview, per Begley. Marc Stein previously reported that Young had a legitimate chance to be promoted, with an endorsement from star guard Devin Booker. Aside from Nurse and Young, Jordi Fernandez, Frank Vogel and Doc Rivers are considered by some reporters to be finalists for the Suns.
  • According to Begley’s sources, the Pistons did background research on Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse, but Begley doesn’t specify whether or not he actually interviewed. Stackhouse was rumored to be a coaching candidate for the Raptors and was mentioned as possible candidate for Detroit. A longtime former NBA player and assistant coach, Stackhouse has been with Vanderbilt since 2019. Kevin Ollie, Charles Lee and Jarron Collins are reportedly the finalists for the Pistons’ coaching job.

Raptors Notes: P. Mutombo, Stackhouse, Nurse, Offseason

Reporting in the wake of Nick Nurse‘s dismissal on Friday indicated that Ime Udoka would be one of the candidates the Raptors seriously consider to become their next head coach. Shams Charania of The Athletic confirms Toronto’s interest in Udoka and adds a couple more names to the team’s possible list of targets, writing that Patrick Mutombo and Jerry Stackhouse may receive consideration.

Mutombo, currently an assistant on Monty Williams‘ staff in Phoenix, was on the Raptors’ coaching staff from 2016-20 and coached the team’s G League affiliate (Raptors 905) from 2020-22 before joining the Suns last offseason.

Stackhouse also has an existing relationship with the Raptors, having been an assistant with the team in 2015/16 and the Raptors 905 head coach from 2016-18. He spent a season as an assistant coach with the Grizzlies in 2018/19 and has been the head coach at Vanderbilt since 2019. Stackhouse has also been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Pistons’ head coaching vacancy, though there has been no indication that he’ll interview for that position.

Here’s more on the Raptors and their newly opened head coaching job:

  • Some people in the Raptors organization were surprised by Friday’s news on Nurse, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who says Nurse and team president Masai Ujiri met four teams in the nine days after Toronto’s season ended. That level of communication is unusual for a team about to let go of a head coach, but Ujiri felt the Raptors needed a new voice and Nurse “welcomed the change,” says Lewenberg.
  • Raptors management had some questions about Nurse’s style of communication, Lewenberg writes, noting that the head coach had a habit of calling out players publicly without talking to them privately first. Following a bad loss in December, Nurse held closed-door meetings with some players and staffers that Lewenberg hears were “intense” and “confrontational.” Nurse also had a “tense” relationship with one assistant coach after telling him not to accompany the team on a road trip in January, Lewenberg adds.
  • Observing that several Raptors players improved individually, but not collectively, Ujiri said on Friday that he expects to make changes in Toronto this offseason beyond hiring a new coach, per Lewenberg. “I think changes are going to be made on all fronts,” Ujiri said. “We’re going to address that with the team. We saw how different players on our team would rise, would do well, but we never did it collectively. Maybe that could be fit. Maybe that could be system, sometimes role orientation, sometimes accountability – all the things we are going to really look at it how our roster is built. We believe in the players we have. Whether it’s tweaks or major changes, we’re definitely going to look at everything.”

Hornets Rumors: Jordan, Kupchak, Head Coach Candidates

The decision to fire former Hornets head coach James Borrego apparently came from owner Michael Jordan, not president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. This contradicts a report last month that Kupchak was the driving force behind the move.

Sources tell Fischer that Jordan was unhappy with Charlotte’s poor defense, which fell from 16th in 2020/21 to 22nd this season. The Hornets also gave up 144 points to Indiana in last season’s play-in tournament and then 132 to Atlanta this season, both blowout losses.

The Hornets are in the early stages of their search to fill the coaching vacancy, Fischer writes. Kupchak has been mulling over candidates and is acting as though he’ll remain in charge of the team’s basketball operations even though his contract expires after the season, sources tell Fischer.

The team has discussed finding someone to eventually succeed Kupchak for years, but the Hornets want him to remain in place for at least the short term, assuming the two sides can work out their difference of opinion regarding salary, which sounds like a formality.

Prior to Adrian Wojnarowski’s report that the Hornets will interview Mike D’Antoni, Kenny Atkinson, Darvin Ham and Sean Sweeney for their head coaching job, Fischer explored some possible candidates, including D’Antoni and Atkinson.

Like the Kings, the Hornets are also searching for someone with previous head coaching experience. League sources tell Fischer that former Rockets head coach D’Antoni, Warriors assistants Mike Brown and Atkinson, and Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse are potential candidates for the opening. Brown holds previous head coaching experience with the Cavaliers and Lakers and is a finalist for Sacramento’s job, while Atkinson was Brooklyn’s lead coach from 2016-20.

Fischer notes that D’Antoni has frequently been linked to the Sixers since Daryl Morey became president of basketball operations, but the team has consistently maintained that head coach Doc Rivers and the front office are aligned on their shared vision of the future. Rivers still is still owed an additional $24MM over three years following this season, so even if Morey did want to fire him, that would be a bitter pill for Philadelphia’s ownership to swallow, Fischer observes.

Echoing a report from Marc Stein, Fischer says one more name to keep an eye on for the Hornets is Jazz coach Quin Snyder, who still has one year remaining on his contract with Utah. Synder previously worked under Kupchak’s front office as a Lakers assistant and has ties to North Carolina — he played for Duke in college and was an assistant coach there prior to becoming Missouri’s head coach.

Snyder has repeatedly been linked to the Lakers‘ opening, but several sources tell Fischer that L.A. doesn’t appeal to Utah’s head coach.