Randy Wittman Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: McGee, Pistons, Wittman

March 2nd, 2015 at 2:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

A third of the league is showing interest in JaVale McGee, whom the Sixers waived late Sunday, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Most of those 10 teams are playoff contenders, Spears adds, though their identities remain shrouded in mystery. The Clippers don’t appear to be one of them, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times hears they’re “not very” interested in the 27-year-old center (Twitter link). The teams that are in the mix for him envision him as a third-string center and wouldn’t shell out more than the minimum, a league source told John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com. There’s more from Gonzalez on McGee’s Sixers tenure amid the latest from around the Eastern Conference:

The Sixers were reluctant to waive McGee immediately after trading for him last month because they wanted to have a first-hand look to see if they would come away with a more positive impression of him than other teams have, a league source told Gonzalez for the same piece.
The Pistons recalled Quincy Miller from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). He averaged 11.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in just 19.7 minutes per contest during two games on his D-League stint, which began Friday. That was the day Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said he and his staff were leaning toward re-signing him to a second 10-day contract, notes Dave Pemberton of the Oakland Press (on Twitter). Today is the final day of his first 10-day pact.
There’s increasing pressure on Randy Wittman and others involved with the Wizards amid the team’s slump, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com writes in his weekly power rankings. Still, Wittman is in no immediate jeopardy, Stein cautions, and the team isn’t thinking about a coaching change, as J. Michael of CSNWashington.com wrote this weekend.
Lou Amundson hopes his stay with the Knicks will be “somewhat permanent,” in the words of Fred Kerber of the New York Post, who examines the positive effect the midseason addition has had. The pact he signed with New York after inking a pair of 10-day contracts runs only through the end of the season.

Southeast Notes: Heat, Wizards, Stephenson

December 15th, 2014 at 5:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

The two best Eastern Conference teams outside of Canada reside in the Southeast Division, where the Wizards and Hawks are separated by only a game atop the division. Still, there’s turmoil elsewhere in the Southeast, where the Hornets are apparently engaged in trade talks regarding Lance Stephenson and the Heat are suffering from injury woes. Here’s the latest:

The Heat are thinking about bringing in another big man with Josh McRoberts sidelined perhaps for the rest of the season, writes Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald.
John Wall insisted this past offseason that the Wizards retain coach Randy Wittman, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Wittman’s job security was reportedly still in limbo until Washington dispatched the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs last season, and the Wizards signed him to an extension in June.
Miami has recalled Shabazz Napier and Hassan Whiteside from the D-League, the team announced. The team sent them down to Sioux Falls on Saturday in advance of the Skyforce’s game that day. Napier scored 22 points and Whiteside put up 21 points and 12 rebounds in a win for the Heat‘s affiliate.
The Hornets are finding out that Stephenson is more attractive from a distance than he is as a day-to-day presence on the team, as Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star believes.

Eastern Notes: Labor, J.R. Smith, Butler, Cavs

November 14th, 2014 at 12:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

The collective bargaining agreement is in place at least until 2017, but LeBron James wants to see constructive labor negotiations start sooner rather than later in the wake of sharp remarks this week from union executive director Michele Roberts and commissioner Adam Silver. Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group has the details.

“At some point we would like to start conversations, because you don’t want to get to a point to where the deadline happens and now we’re scrambling,” James said. “Our game is too good, it’s too popular, everyone loves our game all across the world and we don’t want to get to a point where there’s another lockout.”

While we wait to see if LeBron can help bring the sides to the table, here’s the latest on his rivals from the Eastern Conference:

The Knicks continue to have internal discussions about ways to trade J.R. Smith, just as they have since July, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. A report early this month indicated that New York and the Pacers had engaged in talks about a Smith trade, and while a follow-up cast doubt on that notion, the most recent dispatch indicates that the Pacers do have interest in the volatile shooting guard.
An anonymous executive suggests to fellow ESPNNewYork.com scribe Ian O’Connor that Smith continues to be a viable trade asset in the proper circumstances. “J.R. has had a lot of issues but he can be a big-time scorer when he’s doing the right things,” the executive said. “There’s always a team out there willing to take a chance on somebody if they feel he can put them over the top, and there’s no doubt J.R. can play. People are going to be concerned about chemistry issues in the locker room, so it would have to be a strong leadership and coaching staff that take him in.”
Randy Wittman was the driving force behind the Wizards‘ decision to sign Rasual Butler, as the coach prevailed upon the team to invite the 35-year-old to camp, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com, who writes in his mailbag column. The move has paid off, as Butler made the opening-night roster and is averaging 8.8 points in 17.6 minutes per game.
The Cavs have assigned rookie Alex Kirk to the D-League, the team announced. Kirk has only seen three minutes of regular season action thus far for Cleveland.

Wizards Sign Randy Wittman To Extension

June 3rd, 2014 at 2:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:41pm: The deal is official, according to the team, which made the announcement on its website.

“We are pleased with the progress the team has made on the court and with the culture we have been able to build with Randy as our head coach,” GM Ernie Grunfeld said. “We will look to continue that momentum with him deservedly leading this group of dedicated and hard-working players.”

12:47pm: The Wizards and Randy Wittman have agreed on a three-year extension that will give the coach about $3MM per season through 2016/17, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported the sides were close to a deal last week. The third season will be a team option, Lee writes.

Wittman’s contract had been set to expire at the end of the month after he led the Wizards closer to the conference finals than they’ve been since 1979, the last time they won multiple games in the second round. Washington also made a 15-game improvement in the regular season, but the coach’s job apparently still remained in jeopardy until the Wizards dispatched the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs.

Washington is 91-122 in parts of three seasons under Wittman, who’s 191-329 overall as an NBA head coach, having also spent time with the Cavs and Timberwolves. This season was the first time Wittman’s coached a team to a record of better than .500, so perhaps that explains the Wizards’ reported hesitance to commit to him before he’d proven himself in the playoffs. Still, Washington is on the rise, and up-and-coming stars John Wall and Bradley Beal endorsed the coach at season’s end.

Wizards, Randy Wittman Near Deal

May 29th, 2014 at 9:23am CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 9:23am: The third year in Wittman’s rumored deal would be a team option, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post.

TUESDAY, 11:13pm: Wittman is set to receive between $3MM and $3.5MM a year, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).

2:48pm: The Wizards are close to agreeing on a three-year deal for coach Randy Wittman, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Owner Ted Leonsis said earlier today that Wittman, who coached this season on an expiring contract, deserved to return, tweets Dianna Marie Russini of NBC News4 in Washington (hat tip to Michael Lee of The Washington Post). The news is no surprise, since Washington just completed its best postseason performance in 32 years, but there were rumors entering the playoffs that a first-round exit would spell the end of Wittman’s tenure in the nation’s capital.

Leonsis hesitated to resolve Wittman’s situation in the immediate wake of the team’s playoff run, preferring to let the “raw emotion” of the season pass. That was in contrast to the Blazers, who locked up Terry Stotts for three more years just one day after San Antonio eliminated Portland from the playoffs. A three-year deal for Wittman would give him a contract that runs longer than that of GM Ernie Grunfeld, who’s set to enter the final season of his deal in 2014/15, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Leonsis and Grunfeld talk extension this summer.

Wittman, 54, just finished his second full season as Wizards coach, having taken over for Flip Saunders at midseason in 2011/12. Washington is just 91-122 under Wittman’s direction, and he’s a woeful 191-329 overall in parts of eight seasons as an NBA head coach. Still, he engineered a 15-game improvement in the standings this past season, overseeing the club as it won its first second-round playoff game since 1982.

And-Ones: LeBron, Wittman, Levien, Dunleavy Sr.

May 22nd, 2014 at 7:05pm CST by Ryan Raroque

LeBron James didn’t have much to say about the Cavaliers’ recent NBA Draft lottery coup or the speculation that he could decide to return to Cleveland if he opts out this summer, telling Charlie McCarthy of FOX Sports Florida, “I heard about it but I don’t really have thoughts about it. … I’m in the middle of the conference finals, I’m not worried about draft lotteries, draft conversations. That’s the last thing on my mind.

Interestingly enough, LeBron added, “(The Heat aren’t) the most talented team, I don’t think, in the NBA. ... There are other talented teams. We have some very, very high IQ basketball players. I think IQ is more important than talent.”

With that aside, here’s more of this evening’s miscellaneous news and notes:

The Wizards haven’t been in a rush to make a decision on Randy Wittman‘s future, and a source tells Michael Lee of the Washington Post that there is no current timetable to get something done. Wittman, who led the team to its first playoff series win since 2004/05, was given strong endorsements from John Wall, Bradley Beal, Andre Miller, and several other team veterans after the season had ended.
Although former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien’s recent resignation sent shockwaves around the league, sources tell Sean Deveney of the Sporting News that tension between Levien and team owner Robert Pera had actually been building for months.
On ESPN Radio’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” Mike Dunleavy Sr. said that he hopes he has a shot at the Knicks head coaching job, adding that he’s very familiar with the triangle offense: “I played in the triangle system down in Houston, it was kind of left over from when Tex Winter coached there. All my teams, I’ve run it as a transition set. … Maybe I’m the outside guy from the other guys that [Phil Jackson will] talk to, former players who played in the system and other guys who coached under him in the system. But at least I do know the system. I have run it” (H/T to Al Iannazzone of Newsday).
Timberwolves star Kevin Love may be the NBA’s most valuable player available for trade since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar requested out of Milwaukee in 1974, explains Kevin Pelton of ESPN (Insiders only).

Eastern Notes: Ariza, Rondo, Wizards

May 16th, 2014 at 7:57pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Trevor Ariza is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but the Wizards have a good chance to re-sign the forward, notes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Ariza said, “My family is definitely the most important thing to me before basketball, everything. That plays a big factor into a log of things. But when you build something with people that’s hard to let go, too. What we built in this locker room this season, this is a beautiful thing to me. I really enjoyed playing with those guys. I love those dudes like they’re my brothers.” Ariza averaged 14.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG and shot a career-high 40.7% from three-point range this season.

Wizards Links: Gortat, Ariza, Wittman, Miller

May 16th, 2014 at 11:05am CST by Chuck Myron

Marc Stein of ESPN.com continues his Summer Scoop series with a look at the Wizards, who have little to be disappointed about in spite of last night’s playoff elimination at the hands of the Pacers. We’ll sum up the highlights here and pass along some additional insight:

The Wizards are indeed interested in re-signing Trevor Ariza as well as Marcin Gortat, but there’s concern that they’ll prove too expensive to retain, Stein writes, pointing to Gortat as the team’s top priority should it have to choose. Martell Webster shot a dreadful 23.1% from behind the arc in the postseason, but he looms as a superior plan B at small forward than anyone the Wizards have to replace Gortat, Stein suggests.
J. Michael of CSNWashington.com pegs the salary that the Wizards will have to shell out to retain Gortat at about $10MM. Executives around the league believe Gortat and Ariza will cost a combined $15-20MM in annual salaries, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe reported this week.
Coach Randy Wittman, whose contract is up, is likely to return as coach, Stein hears, but there was chatter entering the playoffs that a loss in the first-round would prompt the Wizards to dump Wittman and pursue George Karl and Alvin Gentry. Now the only question is whether the team will offer Wittman a one-year deal to align his contract with that of GM Ernie Grunfeld, which expires after next season, or make it a long-term pact for the coach.
The Wizards are leaning toward retaining Andre Miller, whose $4.625MM salary for next season is only guaranteed for $2MM, but they haven’t made up their minds yet, Stein reports.

Coaching Rumors: Jackson, T’Wolves, Adelman

March 27th, 2014 at 8:45pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The topic of Mark Jackson’s job security with the Warriors is riddled with complexity, and ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez and J.A. Adande discuss how this year’s struggles may affect the third-year head coach’s future in Oakland. Gutierrez suggests that Jackson bears some responsibility for Golden State’s frustrating play at times this year, while Adande surmises that Jackson will be in big trouble if the Warriors fail to improve on their six playoff wins from last season. Adande adds that ownership has spent nearly half of a billion dollars to purchase the team and upgrade the arena, and doesn’t think that patience accompanies those types of expenditures.

You can find additional coaching-related links below, including more from the above piece:

Adande believes that a contract extension for Jackson would imply a significant vouch of support from management; however, the fact that there hasn’t been one yet makes him wonder if anyone within the organization’s hierarchy has Jackson’s back.
Gutierrez thinks the Warriors are hastily trying to figure out Jackson’s potential as a head coach, and that Jackson could be heading into the postseason with his future in Golden State on the line.
Timberwolves executive Flip Saunders is close to college coaches Fred Hoiberg and Tom Izzo, both of whom owner Glen Taylor admires, notes Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Walters senses that the chances of Rick Adelman returning to coach the Wolves are “remote” and points to the team’s coaching search from six years ago, when the team was willing to give the job to Izzo. Still, Izzo was strident in saying this week that he has no interest in coaching the Pistons. Saunders will be in New York to watch both Hoiberg and Izzo coach in the NCAA tournament this week, Walters adds via Twitter.
Aside from Mark Jackson, there are many other coaches are in worse situations, notes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Toronto’s Dwane Casey, Washington’s Randy Wittman , Portland’s Terry Stotts, and Utah’s Tyrone Corbin are all finishing up their contracts this year and have yet to receive extensions.
Deveney also groups Knicks coach Mike Woodson with Corbin as two contract-year coaches who are on “ice that is thin as ice can get”, though it’s worth mentioning that Woodson actually had his 2014/15 contract option picked up last September.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Coach/GM Rumors: Jazz, Wizards, Raps, Cavs

November 22nd, 2013 at 4:52pm CST by Luke Adams

It may seem a little early in the season for any NBA teams to make a coaching change, but it’s worth noting that each of the league’s 30 coaches have already survived twice as long this year as Mike Brown did with the Lakers a year ago. While there may not be any coaching or front office shake-ups right around the corner, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com examines situations of potential unrest around the league, offering up a few tidbits along the way. Let’s round them up….

Despite leading the Jazz to a 1-12 start, coach Tyrone Corbin doesn’t appear to be in any danger, since the focus in Utah is on player development rather than wins and losses. Berger adds that there’s also no logical in-house candidate to serve as an interim coach now that former assistant Jeff Hornacek is in Phoenix.
League sources question how much longer Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld “can remain in self-preservation mode,” says Berger.
If the Wizards and Raptors continue losing, Randy Wittman and Dwane Casey could be in a dead heat for the first coach to be replaced. According to Berger, the feeling around the league is that new Toronto president Masai Ujiri would be quick to make a change and start putting his own stamp on the franchise if things go south for Casey and the Raptors.
Cavaliers GM Chris Grant is on “shaky ground,” sources tell Berger. While coach Mike Brown may have pushed for the drafting of Anthony Bennett, Brown just signed a four-year contract with the team, so Grant’s seat is much hotter than his coach’s.
Pelicans GM Dell Demps and Pistons GM Joe Dumars are among the other executives who could be in danger of losing their jobs if their respective teams aren’t in the playoff hunt, writes Berger.