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Kings To Interview Sam Mitchell, Vinny Del Negro

April 19th, 2016 at 8:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

8:05pm: The Kings’ first three interviews for their vacant coaching position will be with Jackson, Del Negro and former Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter).

TUESDAY, 2:50pm: The Kings are scheduled to interview Vinny Del Negro next week, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports, confirming a tweet from Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee that indicated as much. They’d like to interview Kevin McHale, but he hasn’t decided whether he’ll meet with the team, league sources told Wojnarowski, who earlier reported the team plans to interview Mike Woodson. The team is expected to meet with a handful of candidates for initial interviews before moving on to the next stage of its search, Wojnarowski hears.

Del Negro’s name emerged among several in the mix for the Kings job when Wojnarowski reported his candidacy last week. Sacramento reportedly contacted Del Negro for its vacancy in December 2014, shortly after firing Michael Malone, but since then, the Kings have had two head coaches, and Vlade Divac succeeded Pete D’Alessandro as the front office chief.

Sacramento has reached out to Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks, Ettore Messina, Luke Walton and David Blatt in addition to Del Negro and Woodson, according to Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), though Thibodeau and Brooks appear to be long shots, at best. Jeff Hornacek, Mark Jackson, Patrick Ewing, Nate McMillan and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga are others in whom the team reportedly has interest as it seeks a replacement for the fired George Karl.

Experience appears to be a key for Divac as he looks at candidates, and Del Negro fits that bill. The 49-year-old is 210-184 in five seasons as an NBA head coach, split between the Bulls and the Clippers.

Western Notes: Duncan, Durant, Griffin, Nuggets

April 16th, 2016 at 9:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kobe Bryant claimed the spotlight with his season-long retirement tour, but Tim Duncan could be wrapping up his career more quietly, suggests Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio-Express News. Duncan will turn 40 on April 25th, a day after Game 4 of the Spurs‘ first-round series with Memphis. He has a player option worth $5.5MM for next season, so it’s possible his career will end with the playoffs. “He’s going to wake up one day and say, ‘I’m done,’” said Manu Ginobili, “and you’re never going to see him again.” Ginobili is 38 and has a $2.94MM player option of his own, meaning two members of San Antonio’s historic Big Three may not return next season.

There’s more tonight from the Western Conference:

Kevin Durant managed to prevent his impending free agency from becoming a distraction as he re-established his place among’s the NBA’s top players, writes Michael Lee of The Vertical. The Thunder star kept reminding himself of his elite status as he worked his way back from a broken bone in his right foot that limited him to 27 games last season. “Yeah, I wasn’t around,” Durant said. “And there are two or three players that they kind of talk about as the best. They didn’t really talk about me. It’s not that I was mad or anything like that. I just tried to use all that stuff as extra fuel and I tried to push myself higher.” Durant bounced back to average 28.2 points and 8.2 rebounds this season and will be the top name on the free agent market.
The Clippers are happy to have Blake Griffin back for the playoffs, even if he isn’t fully healthy, writes Peter Socotch of CSNNW. Griffin recently returned to the court after being out since Christmas with a partially torn quad tendon. “He’s had not only five games, but he’s had some practice time,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Obviously, it’s not the exact way you would have wanted it, but we’ll take what we can get. We got him back, and that’s better than not getting him back. So I’ll take that.”
There are four difficult issues to resolve before the Nuggets can get the “championship results” that coach Michael Malone desires, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. He identifies them as the future of Danilo Gallinari and Jusuf Nurkic, whether to offer a max contract to anyone in free agency and whether to keep three first-rounders and two second-rounders in June’s draft.

Kings Eye McMillan, Ewing, McHale, Blatt, Others

April 14th, 2016 at 1:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:27pm: McHale appears unlikely to take the Kings job, and Del Negro is the most realistic candidate, Mannix suggests.

THURSDAY, 1:02pm: Nate McMillan is also in the mix, sources told Stein (Twitter link).

10:15pm: The possibility of hiring McHale is gaining traction within the Kings organization, Chris Mannix of The Vertical tweets. Sacramento is intrigued by the possibility of McHale working with DeMarcus Cousins, Mannix adds.

3:09pm: The Kings are also considering Patrick Ewing, league sources tell Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.

12:40pm: Kevin McHale and Mark Jackson are also under consideration, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Kings do have strong interest in Thibodeau and Brooks but acknowledge they’ll be tough gets, Stein adds. McHale is just a few months removed from having been fired by the Rockets, while Jackson last coached in 2013/14 with the Warriors.

WEDNESDAY, 11:53am: The Kings, poised to fire George Karl, will consider a group of candidates that includes David Blatt, Vinny Del Negro, Jeff Hornacek, Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga and Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Jeff Van Gundy, Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks, who frequently draw mention as top NBA coaching candidates, are uninterested in the job, as Wojnarowski hears from league sources.

Blatt, whom the Cavs fired as their head coach in January, is also reportedly under consideration from the Knicks, though he’s reportedly a long shot for that job. The Nets have reportedly been eyeing him as well, and he has ties to the Brooklyn organization, having coached the Russian national team, which received significant financial backing from Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

Sacramento reportedly contacted Del Negro about its head coaching job in December 2014, when the team fired Michael Malone. Del Negro, a former Kings player, hasn’t coached in the NBA since the 2012/13 season with the Clippers, but Wojnarowski reported that he interviewed for the Pelicans job last summer.

Chatter about Hornacek has been quiet since the Suns fired him in February, though he earned respect around the league when he led Phoenix to a 48-34 record in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season during his first year as an NBA head coach. The Suns have regressed since then, and Hornacek wound up 101-112 overall in Phoenix. He was an assistant under former Kings coach Tyrone Corbin on the Jazz.

Wojnarowski wrote in February that Larranaga and Atkinson weren’t particularly eager to land the Kings job if it were to open. The assistants both reportedly interviewed for the Sixers job three years ago and have drawn frequent mention as a possible NBA head coaching candidate since. Larranaga was reportedly a contender for the recent opening at Georgia Tech that Josh Pastner ultimately filled.

Western Notes: Walton, Pelicans, Gallinari, Paul

March 29th, 2016 at 2:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Warriors assistant Luke Walton is reportedly poised to become a top candidate for the Knicks coaching vacancy, and the Lakers, Suns, Rockets and Kings are expected to target him, too, but former colleague Alvin Gentry thinks Walton still doesn’t gets the credit he deserves, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Gentry, now head coach of the Pelicans, was on Golden State’s staff last year with Walton, who inherited Gentry’s role as lead assistant and guided the Warriors to a 39-4 record while head coach Steve Kerr recovered from back surgeries. “Luke did an unbelievable job of managing egos, of rotations he played,” Gentry said. “Everything that happened there, he pushed the right buttons, so I was disappointed when people said anybody can coach that team. That’s not true at all. He has an unbelievable understanding of the game. I think [Knicks president] Phil [Jackson] knows that. [Luke] stayed in the league for a long time because of the basketball IQ he has. He gets along great with players. He’s going to be a terrific coach in the league – I really do think that.”

See more from the Western Conference:

Jrue Holiday and Alonzo Gee are out for the rest of the season, which ends two weeks from Wednesday, the Pelicans announced. That means seven New Orleans players are finished for 2015/16. Holiday, who fractured his orbital bone, and Gee, who ruptured a right quadriceps muscle, join Anthony Davis, Quincy Pondexter, Eric Gordon, Bryce Dejean-Jones and Tyreke Evans on the shelf for the year. Ryan Anderson and Norris Cole are also dealing with less severe injuries, the team said.
Danilo Gallinari doesn’t expect to play again this season for the Nuggets, as he said in an interview with Sky Sport of Italy (video link; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Coach Michael Malone told reporters early this month that the team was thinking about shutting him down even if he recovered before season’s end from the two torn ligaments he suffered in his right ankle February 26th. Denver has since signed Axel Toupane for the balance of the season and beyond.
Chris Paul won’t play for Team USA in the Olympics this year, telling Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins that he’s withdrawing his name from consideration for the squad. “I feel my body telling me that I could use the time,” the 30-year-old said. Paul can opt out of his contract with the Clippers after next season.

Northwest Notes: Sampson, Augustin, Hood

March 24th, 2016 at 3:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

JaKarr Sampson is surprised about how easily he’s fit in with the Nuggets since joining the team last month, as Nicki Jhabvala and Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relay. Sampson signed a two-year deal following a snafu that caused the Sixers to lose him, and he’s filled in as a starter for the injured Danilo Gallinari. Sampson is dealing with a strained right shoulder himself, but he played through it Wednesday, and his time in Denver has been smooth thus far. “The transition has been easy,” Sampson said. “My teammates have made it easy for me and coach [Michael Malone] has made it easy for me. So, it hasn’t been hard, the transition — new sets, new teammates. I love my teammates. We’ve got a great staff here. Everything has been easy for me.”

See more from Denver amid news from the Northwest Division:

D.J. Augustin, who says he’d love to re-sign with the Nuggets this summer, has made a strong impression in his brief time with Denver since coming over via trade last month, observes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. “D.J.’s our security blanket,” Malone said. “He’s won games for us. Put the ball into his hands in the fourth quarter and he steps up, makes shots, hits free throws and always makes the right play.”
Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey is excited about Rodney Hood‘s room for continued growth, notes Kareem Copeland of The Associated Press, and the team is proving wise for having selected him 23rd overall in 2014, Copeland argues. “What we saw was a guy that was somewhat sophisticated with the ball and with his reads,” Lindsey said. “It was relatively evident fairly quick that he’d be a nice fit for us. It’s to the kid’s credit that he’s gotten better since this time last year.”
The Thunder have focused too much on adding scoring punch around Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and not enough on finding role players, argues Christopher Reina of RealGM. That plus their reliance on traditional big men threatens to leave the franchise in a compromising position, unable to win a title despite the presence of two elite players, Reina writes.

Northwest Notes: Batum, Malone, Singler

January 29th, 2016 at 2:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nicolas Batum‘s former Trail Blazers teammates Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum have fond memories of the small forward whom Portland traded to the Hornets this past summer, and Batum admits it will be “weird” Friday when Charlotte plays at Portland, The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman observes. Batum is a free agent at season’s end, and the Blazers will have plenty of cap space this summer, but there’s been no talk of a reunion.

“He was a really good teammate,” Lillard said. “I always remember my rookie year and my second year, when it would get to five minutes or less in the game, he would always come tap me on my back and be like, ‘Dame, it’s your time. Take over the game.’ Just being so young and having somebody who’s been a part of this team come to me and have that much confidence, that always meant a lot to me. He was always that type of person. He was unselfish. Just a good dude to play with.”

See more from the Northwest Division:

Michael Malone still stings from having been fired from the Kings in 2014, but he’s fully engaged with the Nuggets and he and former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro, who was Malone’s boss at the time of the firing and is now in the Nuggets front office, don’t feel any “angst or hate” toward one another, Malone tells Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan has said repeatedly that he’s a fan of what Kyle Singler can do on defense with his 6’8″ body, and the absence of the injured Andre Roberson will challenge Singler to live up to the five-year, $24.3MM deal he signed this past summer, observes Erik Horne of The Oklahoman.
Tyus Jones hasn’t played in 12 consecutive games for the Timberwolves, but he’s not complaining, and he prefers sitting on the bench and getting practice reps with his NBA teammates to playing on D-League assignment, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune details. The rookie spent much of December with the Jazz D-League affiliate.

Western Notes: Malone, Leonard, Jones

December 22nd, 2015 at 8:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry declined to discuss how much contact he had with the Nuggets over the summer regarding Denver’s then open coaching position, which ultimately went to Michael Malone, but firmly believes the franchise made a good choice in its hire, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “They got themselves a really, really good coach, a guy that works his butt off,” Gentry said. “I don’t think there’s anybody out there that works any harder [than Malone] or understands the game. He’s been around it his whole life. So, I think they did great.“

Malone noted that Emmanuel Mudiay‘s recent ankle injury is related to the injury the rookie sustained while playing in China last season, Dempsey adds. When asked when Mudiay might return to game action, Malone said, “We trust our athletic training staff to tell us when he can get back on the floor to start practicing. And then obviously he’ll have to get through a practice before he can play in a game. To be honest, I think he’s probably a little ways away from that. So we’ll be cautious. It’s an injury he sustained while in China, and it’s kind of come back a little bit.“

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The reports that Blazers big man Meyers Leonard was offered and turned down a four-year, $60MM extension from the team are “grossly inaccurate,” according to Jason Quick of CSNNW.com (Twitter link). Leonard is eligible to become a restricted free agent next summer provided Portland extends him a qualifying offer worth $4,210,880.
The Timberwolves have recalled point guard Tyus Jones from the Idaho Stampede, the team announced. The rookie had been with the Jazz’s D-League affiliate since December 5th as part of the league’s flexible assignment program.
The Grizzlies have assigned James Ennis, Jarell Martin and Russ Smith to their D-League affiliate in Iowa, the team announced. This will be Ennis’ fifth stint with the Energy and the second for both Martin and Smith.

Northwest Notes: Donovan, Garnett, Malone

December 1st, 2015 at 8:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Thunder‘s presentation when they courted Billy Donovan this past spring centered on organizational structure rather than basketball, and his relationship with GM Sam Presti helped convince Donovan to leave the University of Florida, as USA Today’s Sam Amick examines. Kevin Durant has been impressed so far, as the soon-to-be free agent said to Amick, though Donovan made his decision independent of the former MVP’s looming choice. “I never looked at it as, ‘Well, geesh, I may not [have Durant long-term],’ or like I need any assurances,” Donovan said. “Everybody has got their own decision to make, like I had to make a decision about coming here. Kevin at the end will have his own decision, but I feel like my job right now is to do the best I can to help Kevin and the rest of the team. So I never really factored that in.”

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio says the return of Kevin Garnett to Minnesota last season altered the franchise for the better, Britt Robson of MinnPost.com writes. “He changed the culture over here. It is something that I have been so excited to see. A guy who is 20 years in the league, 40 years old, comes two hours before practice and gets some shots up and does some extra work,” said Rubio. “Now everybody does the same. I used to do the same. I know your body got to rest sometimes, but it is something that, when you are home, you are thinking, “KG is on his way to the arena” and I am just having breakfast at home or whatever. And you feel bad. You feel like, ‘I should be there.’ And that — little things, little details change the culture from a normal team to a winning team. Because the line from winning and losing is so thin, that people don’t realize what it takes to win. There are so many little details that something that small can change a big thing at the end.“
Coach Michael Malone places much of the blame for the Nuggets‘ early season woes on himself, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “We’re not mentally tough enough to withstand a run and counter with our own,” Malone said. “We can do it in short stretches but sooner or later that levee is going to break and we’re not handling it like we need to. And, again, I’m going to put it on me. As the head coach of this team, I must do a better job. Whether it’s finding five guys who are going to play the right way, whether it’s helping us offensively, helping us defensively, it’s my job to help this team a lot more than I’ve been doing lately.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pacific Notes: Green, Kobe, Scott, Malone

November 20th, 2015 at 2:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

There was no way of knowing Draymond Green would develop into a player making in excess of $16MM a year on his new five-year, $82MM deal, Warriors GM Bob Myers remarked recently, and Green admits he didn’t know how valuable he would become, either, observes Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com. Green was the 35th overall pick in 2012 and made the minimum salary last season.

“Yeah, I was thinking, like, maybe $7, $8MM,” Green said, according to Strauss. “Who saw this coming?”

The free agent market is never quite predictable, but the Warriors seem to have a handle on it even amid the rapid cost escalation for Green, as I examined earlier this week. See more from the Pacific Division:

Kobe Bryant said this summer that he could envision himself playing overseas after his NBA career, but that’s not in his plans for now, as he told Marc Stein of ESPN.com within the past week. The Lakers star also said this week that he doesn’t see himself playing beyond the season, barring a change.
The demanding nature of coach Byron Scott makes for a challenging adjustment, Nick Young posited as he talked about the struggles of offseason signee Lou Williams. Bill Oram of the Orange County Register has the details.
Michael Malone cited the trouble the Kings have faced after his firing in response to a question about Houston’s dismissal of Kevin McHale this week, notes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “I can only speak to my experience [in Sacramento],” Malone said. “It was loud and clear that I didn’t lose the locker room. Once I got fired, the organization lost the team in a weird way.”

And-Ones: Malone, Draft, D-League, Amerileague

October 13th, 2015 at 3:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Michael Malone was an assistant coach on teams that featured LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, so he’s using that experience to draw the attention of rookie Emmanuel Mudiay, as Malone explains to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. The new Nuggets head coach is getting a second chance to lead a team after the Kings fired him this past December, and Malone reiterated his feeling that the turmoil Sacramento endured after his dismissal served to validate the work that he and his staff had done.

“By the end of it, I looked like John Wooden,” Malone said to Simmons.

Malone will seek to right a franchise that had its share of upheaval last season. See more from around NBA circles:

UNLV is the latest school to organize a preseason showcase for NBA scouts, joining Kentucky and LSU, reports Jeff Borzello of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). A handful of UNLV players are drawing looks from NBA personnel, Borzello says, but only Stephen Zimmerman, a 7’0″ freshman center, appears in the top 100 prospects for 2016 that Jonathan Givony compiles for DraftExpress or on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com Big Board.
The Timberwolves will speak with organizers in Omaha who say they’ve secured a commitment for a D-League franchise there at some point, but the Wolves would prefer their eventual one-to-one D-League affiliate be closer to Minneapolis, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. The Wolves are less likely to end up with a D-League affiliate in the near future than any team except the Bulls, opines Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. Johnson identifies the Hornets as the team most likely to have its own D-League team soon, probably by the 2016/17 season.
The Amerileague, a startup domestic minor league with six teams, is handing out contracts worth as much as $50K per month, notes international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). That’s about twice as much as D-Leaguers in the top salary tier make for an entire season.