Nate Bjorkgren Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Raptors Notes: Nurse, Casey, Messina, Valanciunas

June 13th, 2018 at 7:26pm CST by Arthur Hill

Assembling a staff will be the first priority for Nick Nurse, who was officially hired as the Raptors’ new head coach earlier today, writes Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. With many of Dwane Casey’s assistants possibly following him to Detroit, Nurse, an assistant in Toronto for the past five years, may have to build his staff from scratch.

One possibility, according to Wolstat, is Nate Bjorkgren, a longtime friend who worked on Nurse’s staff at Iowa in the G League. Bjorkgren landed a job as an advance scout with the Raptors last fall after being let go when Earl Watson was fired in Phoenix. Wolstat also cites a report out of Italy that Spanish National team head coach Sergio Scariolo and former German National Team head coach Andrea Trinchieri are being considered. Nurse was a successful coach in Europe for 12 years before coming to the United States.

Current Raptors assistant Rex Kalamian isn’t expected to remain on staff, according to Wolstat, and may take a job with the Clippers if he doesn’t go to the Pistons.

There’s more tonight out of Toronto:

The relationship between Nurse and Casey became severely strained after the Raptors were bounced from the playoffs, according to Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star, with a source telling Feschuk there’s “no love lost between ’em.” Casey gave Nurse his first NBA opportunity, hiring him out of the G League in 2013. Feschuk also questions whether it was the right choice to promote one of Casey’s assistants when fellow finalist Ettore Messina could have provided a new direction for the organization.
The Raptors’ front office was divided between Nurse and Messina over the weekend, tweets Josh Lewenburg of TSN Sports. Messina, an assistant with the Spurs, reportedly performed well in both interviews.
The decision to hire Nurse means center Jonas Valanciunas is unlikely to be traded, relays Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Valanciunas worked frequently with Nurse during the season to try to develop a perimeter game, and that effort figures to expand now that Nurse is in charge.
The decision to replace Casey indicates that team president Masai Ujiri is feeling pressure to make changes, Deveney adds in the same piece. Ujiri’s job remains safe, but his preference to avoid major moves in the past hasn’t resulted in playoff success.

Suns Notes: Assistants, Watson, McDonough, Bledsoe

October 23rd, 2017 at 10:24am CST by Arthur Hill

Three Suns assistants were fired Sunday along with head coach Earl Watson, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Nate Bjorkgren, Mehmet Okur and Jason Fraser were all dismissed after a meeting with management Sunday night. Bjorkgren served as a bench coach, while Okur and Fraser were part of player development.

Bjorkgren is a former G League head coach and an original member of Watson’s staff. Okur, who played 10 years in the NBA, joined the Phoenix staff at the start of last season. Fraser had been with the team since 2015.

Tyrone Corbin will be promoted to lead assistant under interim coach Jay Triano. A former head coach with the Jazz and Kings, Corbin is in his second season on the Suns’ staff.

There’s more news this morning out of Phoenix:

Watson had a tumultuous relationship with GM Ryan McDonough during his two and a half seasons as head coach, Wojanarowski writes in the same story. They clashed frequently over a variety of topics, and owner Robert Sarver ultimately sided with McDonough. Watson, who leaves with an 87-142 record, offered a farewell message to the team and his fans. “Thank you to my Suns family, the Phoenix community and everyone who has supported me through this journey,” he said. “Life has unpredictable pivots that I embrace humbly and with great purpose.”
Suns star Eric Bledsoe received a lot of attention for Sunday’s tweet that read, “I don’t wanna be here,” but it wasn’t the first time he expressed a desire to get out of Phoenix, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). The eighth-year guard met with with management before the season started to tell them he wanted to be dealt. On top of the losing, Bledsoe was unhappy when the team decided to shut him down because of soreness in his knees last March.
Bledsoe was excited about the possibility of being traded to Cleveland over the summer as part of a rumored deal for Kyrie Irving, according to Sam Amico of AmicoHoops. The teams were close to completing the trade and Bledsoe was “depressed” when it fell through, a source tells Amico.
The Suns’ problems stem more from the roster McDonough put together than Watson’s coaching, writes Mitch Lawrence of Forbes. Phoenix is trying to compete with four rookies and four second-year players, including a 19-year-old in Dragan Bender and three 20-year-olds. Lawrence states that Bledsoe and fellow veteran Tyson Chandler aren’t pleased with the youth movement. He also notes that McDonough hasn’t been able to find a franchise player despite picking fourth twice, fifth and eighth in the past five drafts.
Former Suns stars Steve Nash and Dan Majerle are among the potential replacements for Watson suggested by Jordan Greer of The Sporting News. Others are Adrian Griffin, Ime Udoka, Monty Williams, Sean Miller, Jerry Stackhouse, Mark Jackson and Brent Barry.

Pacific Notes: Gay, Pierce, Calathes, Kings, Suns

July 27th, 2016 at 2:41pm CST by Luke Adams

After Rudy Gay made some interesting comments that conveyed his dissatisfaction with his situation in Sacramento, Kings general manager Vlade Divac was asked about the disgruntled forward. As James Ham of CSN California details, Divac downplayed Gay’s comments about a lack of communication between him and the Kings as trade rumors swirl.

“He has my number,” the Kings GM said. “If I do something, I will call him. Obviously, if I didn’t call him, we didn’t do anything. … I was a player, 16-17 years in the league, nobody called me everyday and tell me what management is doing. Management was doing their job. If something big happened, they called and told me. Obviously, nothing big happened (so) I’m not going to call anybody.”

Let’s check in on a few other items from out of the Pacific division…

Paul Pierce has yet to formally announce a decision one way or the other about his future, and a source tells Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter links) that the veteran forward will take a few more weeks to weigh his options and make a final call. However, another source suggests to Turner that Pierce is planning to return to the Clippers for one more season.
As we heard earlier this week, the Kings made an effort to land Nick Calathes, but the former Grizzlies guard is “bound to return” to Panathinakos in Greece, according to international journalist David Pick.
The Suns have officially announced Earl Watson‘s coaching staff, confirming in a press release that Tyrone Corbin and Nate Bjorkgren will be assistants, with former Raptors coach Jay Triano serving as the club’s associate head coach.
After signing a three-year deal with the Suns, Jared Dudley has penned a piece for The Players’ Tribune about returning “home” and aiming to get the Suns back to their “2010 vibe.”

Suns Name Earl Watson Interim Coach

February 1st, 2016 at 5:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:40pm: The move is official, the team announced.

5:04pm: The Suns have decided to name assistant coach Earl Watson as interim head coach, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Watson beat out other reported candidates Corey Gaines and Nate Bjorkgren for the temporary position that came open when the team fired Jeff Hornacek on Monday.

Watson, 36, is not far removed from his playing career. He was in the league as recently as the 2013/14 season, when he appeared in 24 games with the Trail Blazers. He will make his head coaching debut on Tuesday against the Raptors.

Watson’s first coaching job was last season, when he was hired by the Spurs’ D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, as an assistant. He joined Hornacek’s staff prior to this season. Watson appeared in 878 games during his 13-year playing career with six different franchises, averaging 6.4 points and 4.4 assists.

The Suns added a veteran coach to help out Watson by hiring four-time NBA head coach Bob Hill as an assistant, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets.

Watson will hire agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group as his agent, league sources informed Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Twitter link). Paul also represents several prominent players, including LeBron James and John Wall, as well as Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe.

(Dana Gauruder contributed to this report.)

Suns Fire Jeff Hornacek

February 1st, 2016 at 8:12am CST by Chuck Myron

Tim Fuller / USA TODAY Sports Images

8:12am: The firing is official, the team announced, adding that it plans to name an interim coach by Tuesday (Twitter link).

7:46am: Phoenix will interview Gaines, Watson and Bjorkgren for the interim position, reports Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).

7:29am: The Suns have fired coach Jeff Hornacek, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. The team has yet to publicly acknowledge the move, but GM Ryan McDonough has already let Hornacek know his fate, Wojnarowski writes. Phoenix has lost 19 of its last 21 games and 14 in a row on the road, though injuries have played a role, with the team’s top three scorers absent for Sunday’s loss at Dallas, as Wojnarowski points out. His interim replacement is expected to be either one of two Suns assistants: Corey Gaines or Earl Watson, Wojnarowski also reports.

The move is no shock, as Hornacek’s job was reportedly under immediate threat in late December, when the team instead fired assistants Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting and shifted fellow assistants Watson and Nate Bjorkgren to more prominent roles. The future of the 52-year-old Hornacek was up in the air even as the season began, with a contractual decision on his team option for 2016/17 looming. Little has gone right since, as the Suns have compiled a 14-35 record in spite of realistic preseason hopes that they would make the playoffs for the first time since losing the Western Conference Finals in 2010. Phoenix stands nine games out of the final postseason spot in the West.

An offseason trade demand from Markieff Morris has seemingly hung over the team all season, even though he backtracked at the start of training camp. Trade rumors continue, and it’s reportedly a matter of when, not if, the Suns will trade the power forward who elicited a two-game suspension in December after he threw a towel in Hornacek’s direction during a December game.

Hornacek’s tenure began with much promise in 2013/14, his first season as an NBA head coach, when he finished second in Coach of the Year voting and the Suns went 48-34, narrowly missing the playoffs in a brutally competitive conference. The addition of Isaiah Thomas the following offseason backfired, and the Suns regressed to a 39-43 record last season, trading Thomas and Goran Dragic at the deadline. The Suns narrowly missed out on free agent prize LaMarcus Aldridge this past summer, instead setting off a negative chain reaction when they traded Marcus Morris and upset Markieff, his twin.

The Suns were 101-112 overall under Hornacek. Neither Gaines, Watson nor Bjorkgren has held an NBA head coaching job before. Gaines, 50, played parts of five seasons in the NBA and served as head coach and general manager of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. He’s been with the Suns as a player development coach since 2010/11. Watson, 36, ended a 13-year playing career after the 2013/14 season, spending last season an assistant coach with the Spurs D-League affiliate before joining the Suns staff this past summer. Bjorkgren didn’t play in the NBA but has been the head coach for three different D-League teams, including the Suns affiliate. He, like Watson, became a Suns assistant just this past summer.

Is firing Hornacek the right move for the Suns, or did he deserve more of a chance? Leave a comment to tell us.

Jeff Hornacek On Hot Seat With Suns

December 28th, 2015 at 11:05am CST by Will Joseph

MONDAY, 11:05am: The Suns have officially announced the assistant coaching moves in a press release. “It is never easy to make changes to a coaching staff in the middle of a season but we feel Earl and Nate are ready to take the next steps in their careers and provide some creative ideas to our group,” said GM Ryan McDonough. “We thank Mike and Jerry for their contributions. They are both good coaches who made significant contributions to our team winning 87 games over the previous two seasons.”

11:10pm: The Suns are firing assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, while Stein hears that fellow assistants Nate Bjorkgren and Earl Watson will take on more prominent roles (Twitter links). Hornacek’s future is still unclear, Wojnarowski says, though Stein suggests in a second tweet that the moves indicate the team is giving Hornacek another chance.

SUNDAY, 1:39pm: Jeff Hornacek‘s job as head coach of the Suns is under immediate threat because of the team’s 12-20 record and its recent 5-15 skid, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. With belief growing within the organization that the team is no longer responding to Hornacek, the organization is thinking about making a coaching switch, according to Stein. This is the final guaranteed season on Hornacek’s original four-year contract.

The Suns were viewed as having a strong chance to make the playoffs this season after solid campaigns in each of Hornacek’s first two seasons. Phoenix was one of the league’s most improved teams in 2013/14, Hornacek’s first year. The Suns went 48-34 that season yet did not make the playoffs. They were 39-43 last season and again missed the playoffs. The Suns’ signing of Tyson Chandler was thought to be a significant addition and one that would make the Suns a much better team, as Stein points out.

Things have not worked out that way, especially lately. The Suns’ loss to the Sixers on Saturday seems to have been especially tough for the organization to swallow, Stein writes. It was Philadelphia’s first road win since last March. What’s more, as Stein adds, it was the first game on the Sixers’ bench for former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni, who was hired recently by new Philadelphia chairman of basketball operations and former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo to serve as associate head coach to the Sixers’ Brett Brown. The timing of the news is also interesting because Eric Bledsoe will likely miss a significant amount of time with a knee injury, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link).

Hornacek’s agent, Steve Kauffman, reportedly engaged in an odd exchange on an online message board over the summer in which he denied that Hornacek declined to interview for the then-vacant head coaching position at Iowa State, his alma mater. Shortly before that, Hornacek expressed his commitment to the Suns when asked if he had interest in coaching the Cyclones.

Pacific Notes: Lieberman, Moreland, Durant

July 30th, 2015 at 10:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

10:28pm: The Kings and Lieberman have reached an agreement, Lieberman tells Voisin (Twitter link).

7:29pm: The NBA will boast multiple female assistant coaches for the first time this season, as the Kings are expected to hire Hall of Famer and women’s basketball pioneer Nancy Lieberman to head coach George Karl‘s staff, reports Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Kings VP of franchise and basketball ops Vlade Divac told Voisin today that he’ll make Lieberman an offer, and she said to Voisin that she’ll accept it.

“George and I talked about bringing her back after she helped us at summer league,” Divac said. “She was terrific. She brings a different dimension. I think [it’s] a nice opportunity for her.”

She’ll join Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, the head coach of the Las Vegas Summer League champs, who became just the second female NBA assistant coach ever last summer, and the first to hold such a position full-time. Lieberman has previously served as head coach of the Mavs D-League affiliate. Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:

The Kings decided one-year veteran Eric Moreland‘s playing style was too similar to that of No. 6 pick Willie Cauley-Stein, helping prompt Sacramento to waive Moreland on Thursday rather than guarantee his salary, as Shams Charania of RealGM writes. Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee wouldn’t be shocked to see Moreland end up with Denver, where former Sacramento GM Pete D’Alessandro, who signed him to the Kings last year, works in the Nuggets front office, but Bill Herenda of CSN California heard early word suggesting that won’t happen (Twitter links).
The Warriors will surely chase Kevin Durant next summer, when he’s set for free agency, but realistically, they’d have to sign-and-trade for him, and such a deal would probably have to include Harrison Barnes plus more, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group posits in a look at Golden State’s chances for the former MVP.
Golden State has promoted Luke Walton to lead assistant to replace Alvin Gentry, the team announced. Gentry became the head coach of the Pelicans earlier this summer. Walton joined the Warriors coaching staff last year.
The Suns have officially added Earl Watson, Nate Bjorkgren and Jason Fraser to their coaching staff, the team announced. Watson and Fraser come from the Spurs D-League team while Bjorkgren had coached Phoenix’s D-League affiliate. Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group first reported the addition of Watson, who helped with the Suns’ pitch to LaMarcus Aldridge, his former teammate with the Trail Blazers.

Suns Notes: Hornacek, Draft, Bledsoe

May 29th, 2015 at 11:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Jeff Hornacek indicated that if the timing was right, he would consider taking the coaching job at Iowa State, but he made it clear that he hopes to remain coach of the Suns for a long time, as he said on The Burns and Gambo show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday (transcription via Adam Green of ArizonaSports.com). Fred Hoiberg, currently the coach at the school, which he and Hornacek attended, has long been linked to the now-vacant Bulls job. Here’s more from the Valley of the Sun:

Today’s Suns predraft workout participants are Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, North Carolina’s J.P. Tokoto, Bowling Green’s Richaun Holmes, Boston College’s Olivier Hanlan, Villanova’s Darrun Hilliard and Virginia’s Darion Atkins, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Grant and Holmes shared more about themselves in recent conversations with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors.
The Suns have let go of assistant coach Kenny Gattison and are transitioning Nate Bjorkgren, the coach of their D-League affiliate, into a player development role, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).
Phoenix offered only four years and $29MM to Eric Bledsoe in the fall of 2013 when the sides were negotiating an extension shortly after the Suns acquired him from the Clippers, league sources told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Bledsoe, a Rich Paul client, wisely turned that down and garnered his five-year, $70MM deal this past fall.