Atlantic Notes: Boeheim Brothers, Knicks, Horford, White, Kokoskov
The Knicks recently worked out a pair of brothers — Buddy Boeheim and Jimmy Boeheim — ahead of the NBA draft, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Boeheim brothers are the sons of Jim Boeheim, who’s served as head coach at Syracuse since 1976.
“They’re getting an opportunity,” Boeheim said of his sons. “They worked hard all their life. They’ll do workouts and see where they stand in the whole picture. It’s fun for them.
“We’ll see where they can go — anywhere from the NBA to G-League to overseas. Nobody knows. I told them: Just keep your head down, work hard, go through workouts and get on a summer league team and see what happens there.’’
Both Boeheims played for their father at Syracuse last season. Buddy averaged 19.2 points per game on 41% shooting last season, while Jimmy averaged 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest. The Knicks own the No. 11 and No. 42 picks in the draft this year.
Here are some other notes from around the Atlantic:
- Jayson Tatum praised veteran big man Al Horford for his leadership with the Celtics this season, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets. Horford is in his 15th NBA campaign. “Al is the best teammate ever, just a consummate professional,” Tatum said. Horford also made the NBA Finals for the first time in his career this year.
- Celtics guard Derrick White briefly responded to Draymond Green‘s comments following Game 1, as relayed by Brian Robb of Masslive.com. Green pointed out that White, Marcus Smart and Horford combined to shoot 15-of-23 from deep in the game and seemed confident it wouldn’t happen again. “I mean, we knew what their game plan was going in, so it’s just up to us to make shots,” White said. “I mean, it is what it is. He said what he said. Just going into Game 2, just have the right mindset and whatever it takes to help us win games.” Green turned out to be right in Game 2, as White, Smart and Horford combined to shoot just 2-of-7 from deep.
- Brian Lewis of the New York Post explores what Igor Kokoskov could bring to the Nets. Brooklyn is expected to hire Kokoskov, who holds a relationship with Steve Nash and recently coached with Dallas, as an assistant coach.
Knicks Notes: Brunson, Etienne, Harper, Draft
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, who was hired in 2020, wanted Rick Brunson on his staff from the beginning, one source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post. However, some members of upper management had concerns about the circumstances of Brunson’s departure from Minnesota, Berman’s source said. The former Timberwolves assistant resigned after being accused of improper conduct toward women, though he and his lawyer denied any wrongdoing.
Although Brunson is now set to join Thibodeau’s staff in New York, it doesn’t sound like he intends to put the full-court press on his son Jalen Brunson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, to join him. According to Berman, Rick recently told a confidant that he just wants his son to sign the best deal he can, one representative of his market value.
Marc Stein reported today on Substack that there’s “no grave concern bubbling” in Dallas about the Knicks’ hiring of Rick Brunson, and Berman essentially says the same thing in his story. According to Berman, a source who recently spoke to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he’d be “shocked” if Dallas doesn’t re-sign Jalen Brunson.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- The Knicks have been busy conducting pre-draft workouts this week. According to Berman (Twitter links), Tyson Etienne (Wichita State), Orlando Robinson (Fresno State), and Jordan Goldwire (Oklahoma) were among the prospects at the team’s facility on Wednesday, while Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse) and Andrew Jones (Texas) were among those who auditioned for the team on Thursday.
- Rutgers forward Ron Harper Jr., the No. 57 prospect on ESPN’s big board, will work out for the Knicks on Saturday, tweets Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com.
- Several people in touch with the Knicks last month believe the team has interest trading up from No. 11 in the draft, writes Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
Southeast Draft Notes: Murray, Hawks, Wizards, Hornets
The Magic hold the No. 1 pick and Iowa’s Keegan Murray isn’t expected to go higher than No. 4 in the lottery. That didn’t prevent Orlando from doing its due diligence on the high-scoring wing. Murray came in for a pre-draft workout on Thursday, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. The two sides also had a discussion during the draft combine in Chicago, Price adds.
We have more developments from the Southeast Division:
- The Hawks have been busy looking at prospects. They brought in Teddy Allen (New Mexico St), JD Davison (Alabama), Henri Drell (Windy City Bulls), Malik Osborne (Florida St.), Matteo Spagnolo (Vanoli Cremona, Italy) and Davion Warren (Texas Tech) on Thursday, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic tweets. The parade of draft prospects will continue on Friday, as they’ll look at Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse), Christian Braun (Kansas), Eli Brooks (Michigan), R.J. Cole (UConn), Lester Quinones (Memphis) and Kai Sotto (Adelaide, Australia) on Friday, Kirschner adds in another tweet.
- The Wizards will also be evaluating six prospects on Friday, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. That group includes Alex Barcello (BYU), Josh Carlton (Houston), Makur Maker (Howard), Jean Montero (Overtime Elite), Charlie Moore (Miami, Fla.) and JD Notae (Arkansas).
- The Hornets hosted six prospects on Wednesday — Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), James Akinjo (Baylor), Luka Brajkovic (Davidson), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois), Trevor Keels (Duke) and Montero – the team’s PR department tweets. They brought in a handful of players on Thursday — Dhieu Deing (UTSA), Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (Florida), Both Gach (Utah), Jalen Johnson (Mercer) and Tommy Kuhse (Saint Mary’s), the team tweets. Villanova guard Collin Gillespie will be coming in soon, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets.