Northwest Notes: Donovan, Matthews, Durant
New Thunder coach Billy Donovan indicated that he had no second thoughts about making the jump to the NBA this time, unlike his previous flirtation with the Magic back in 2007, Royce Young of ESPN.com writes. “I think the Orlando situation really had nothing to do with Orlando,” Donovan said. “It had a lot more to do with me and I think where I was at, at that time in my life. We were coming off two national championships and I didn’t feel like my job was completed there. I felt like I had more to do. This time around, when Sam [Presti] called and said he wanted to meet and talk, I knew it was going to have to take something very, very special.”
Here’s what else is happening around the Northwest Division:
- Donovan also understands that his new job with the Thunder comes with a level of pressure and expectations that he didn’t have to deal with coaching at the NCAA level, Young notes. “I think any time you walk into the unknown, there’s going to be a level of uncertainty — I don’t think there’s any question about that. I’m OK with that,” Donovan said. “I’m excited for the challenge, I’m excited to bring value.“
- Unrestricted free agent Wesley Matthews says that his ideal outcome would be to re-sign with the Trail Blazers this summer, Sean Meagher of The Oregonian writes. The swingman also acknowledged that he has the ideal setting for him in Portland as he recovers from a torn Achilles tendon he suffered this season. “So much stuff can happen between now and when free agency starts,” Matthews said. “Ideally, perfect situation, yeah. Who doesn’t want to go for the perfect situation?“
- One of Donovan’s most important jobs as coach of the Thunder will be to build rapport with Kevin Durant, who can depart as an unrestricted free agent after the 2015/16 campaign, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman notes. The new coach addressed his star’s pending free agency, saying, “Whatever decision that he [Durant] has to make, I feel very, very strongly about the organization, about [GM] Sam Presti, about Mr. [Clay] Bennett and the [franchise’s] commitment. I think a lot of those things probably line up with Kevin and how he feels. So I feel very, very confident in the organization and I think the organization and Kevin – from an outsider because I’m just coming in right now – are a great match.”
Northwest Notes: Donovan, Blazers, Thunder
Billy Donovan was officially introduced today as the new coach of the Thunder, and he views his jump from the college ranks to the NBA as an exciting challenge, Royce Young of ESPN.com relays. “It’s been a complete whirlwind for me the last four or five days,” Donovan said. “I am extremely thankful the way [OKC GM Sam Presti] laid out the organization to me over about a two-and-a-half-day period because, to be honest with you, I really did not know a lot about the Oklahoma City Thunder. I knew of Sam, I obviously knew of the players and organization, but I didn’t know what it was about. And it was that — that really made me turn my head when I started to find out more, that I think the qualities, the values, what this organization is about is directly in line and mirrors what I believe.”
Here’s more from the Northwest Division:
- The Thunder‘s hiring of Donovan shows that Presti is more concerned about the overall future of the franchise than of Kevin Durant departing as a free agent after the 2015/16 season, Michael Lee of The Washington Post writes. If Presti was going to make a coaching hire simply to placate Durant, the GM would have likely gone with Kevin Ollie or Mark Jackson instead, both of whom are well-respected by the star forward, Lee adds.
- As the Trail Blazers enter the summer with uncertainty regarding a number of players on the roster, C.J. McCollum and Meyers Leonard are two players whom the team expects to build around heading into the 2015/16 campaign, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes. “It validates what we’ve believed the whole time,” GM Neil Olshey said of the duo’s playoff performances. “Seeing what C.J. and Meyers were able to do in this playoff series against one the most physical, well-coached, defensive minded teams in this league should inspire everybody in this marketplace that we have a very strong core of youth that we can move forward with.” Leonard is eligible to ink a rookie scale extension with Portland this offseason.
- The injuries suffered by Durant this season scuttled the Thunder‘s plans to evolve offensively, and instead the team had to simply try and survive the season, Young writes in a separate piece. While the team’s offensive stagnation wasn’t the primary reason for the dismissal of former coach Scott Brooks, it certainly played a large part, Young adds.
Southeast Notes: Carroll, Wittman, Walker
Soon-to-be free agent DeMarre Carroll has benefited from Atlanta’s focus on player development and from playing almost exclusively at small forward, SB Nation’s Paul Flannery details. Some numbers suggest that Carroll, who’s exceeded the team’s expectations on his two-year deal, has been the most important player for the Hawks in their series against the Nets, Flannery points out.
“Player development is big in this league,” Carroll said. “When coaches take time to work kids on their player development, they can succeed. It’s about opportunity and player development. That’s what I believe.”
Atlanta will have Carroll’s Early Bird rights this summer, as we explained. Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:
- Randy Wittman‘s job has never been in jeopardy this season, even when the Wizards lost back-to-back games to the Timberwolves and Sixers, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com, and the Wizards coach looked shrewd in the team’s sweep of the Raptors, as Michael details. Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote shortly after those losses that while Wittman’s job wasn’t in immediate danger, there was increasing pressure on him and others within the organization.
- Henry Walker faces a stiff challenge to remain with the Heat into next season on his non-guaranteed deal, but Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he was an obvious choice when the team sought a midseason addition this year, as Surya Fernandez of Fox Sports Florida relays.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel believes the Heat should avoid their pattern of reuniting with their former players when it comes to Dorell Wright, who will become a free agent when his contract with the Blazers expires at the end of June.
Celtics Likely To Seek DeMarcus Cousins
2:21pm: The Celtics have been enamored with Cousins for years, but Ranadive almost certainly wouldn’t approve a trade that sends him out, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
8:23am: The “early word” indicates that the Celtics will try to trade for DeMarcus Cousins this summer, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Indeed, the Celtics will likely be in the hunt for just about every marquee player who might become available in the months ahead, Stein writes, echoing comments that president of basketball operations Danny Ainge made Thursday. LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Monroe, Paul Millsap and Omer Asik are among the many free agents whom Boston is expected to make a run at, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com details. Reports conflicted about whether Boston made a run at trading for Cousins before the deadline.
A person familiar with Kings coach George Karl‘s thinking told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck in February that the Kings didn’t rule out trading their All-Star center at the deadline, and Karl said last month that there were no untouchables on the roster. However, Vlade Divac, whom the Kings installed in March as the head of their basketball operations, is enamored with Cousins and wants the 24-year-old’s time in Sacramento to continue, and owner Vivek Ranadive has bristled at the assertion that Cousins is a trade candidate.
The Celtics have about $40MM in guaranteed salary for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, but opening cap space would force the team to renounce its unmatched reserve of trade exceptions. None of them, even the one worth nearly $13MM left over from the Rajon Rondo trade, would be large enough to acquire Cousins and his max deal, though the exceptions could help the Celtics structure a larger-scale multiplayer deal involving Cousins or another star. Boston’s store of draft picks loom as significant trade assets, too, as Stein points out, and those won’t disappear if the Celtics decide to use cap space in July, unlike the trade exceptions.
The Celtics don’t have any player who’s truly off-limits for a trade either, according to Stein, though among the C’s under contract, Ainge has a particular soft spot for Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley, the ESPN scribe points out. Sources told Blakely that Smart and Tyler Zeller are the least likely players to leave Boston via trade, as we noted earlier. Ainge is also high on soon-to-be free agents Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko, Stein writes, as previous reports have indicated.
Latest On LaMarcus Aldridge
LaMarcus Aldridge is indeed thinking of signing with the Spurs or Mavericks, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears, advancing his report from last week that those two teams believe they have a shot to lure him back to his native Texas. San Antonio is “near or at” the top of the Arn Tellem client‘s list, Stein writes, though he suggests the Cavaliers would come into the picture if Kevin Love were to somehow depart and the Cavs found a way to sign-and-trade for Aldridge. Stein reiterates that the Knicks and Lakers plan to go after Aldridge as well. A. Sherrod Blakely of CSSNE.com named the Blazers power forward as one of many marquee free agents the Celtics are expected to pursue this summer.
Aldridge spoke of an “amazing” nine years in Portland and said he’s “not trying to have that end” in a season-ending media session Thursday. It nonetheless seems as if more executives around the league believe that the former No. 2 overall pick will leave Portland in free agency this summer than think he’ll re-sign as he pledged to do last summer, according to Stein. Aldridge, who turns 30 this summer, said “we’ll see” when ESPN’s Chris Broussard asked him recently if the Blazers remained the front-runners for him, Stein notes. Aldridge first seemed to hint at dissatisfaction when he reflected to Michael Lee of The Washington Post on a time when he felt the Blazers didn’t support him, and he told Lee that he wondered how easily the team could move on without him.
Some Blazers observers think Damian Lillard‘s growing stature on the team bothers Aldridge, according to Stein. Still, Lillard, who’s reportedly insisting on a max extension this summer, has said he believes Aldridge will be back. Some Blazers are worried that Aldridge will leave, as The Oregonian’s Jason Quick reported, and one of them told Quick a few weeks ago that he thought it was a 50-50 proposition whether the All-Star power forward would re-sign.
Northwest Notes: Wiggins, Budinger, Lopez
The Timberwolves “hit a home run” when they made the Kevin Love/Andrew Wiggins trade, GM Milt Newton told Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press, and Wiggins, the newly crowned Rookie of The Year, seems enamored with the Wolves franchise.
“I hope I’m here forever,” Wiggins told Krawczynski. “I hope. It would be nice.”
That would conflict with reports of whispers that he’d love to play for his hometown Raptors someday. That won’t be his decision for quite sometime, anyway, and Newton and coach/executive Flip Saunders made it seem as though Wiggins will get his wish to stay in Minnesota for years to come, as Krawczynski details. Here’s more from the Northwest:
- Krawczynski expects the Timberwolves to trade Chase Budinger at some point this summer (Twitter link). Budinger is opting in to his $5MM salary for next season, but the Wolves reportedly sought to honor his trade request before the deadline.
- Robin Lopez suggested that he’d prefer to re-sign with the Trail Blazers but didn’t make it seem as though he was confident in any particular outcome as his free agency looms, The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman relays in a slideshow. “Nothing’s 100% certain,” Lopez said. “Obviously, so far, I’ve loved my time here in Portland. I would love to come back. I’m very open to coming back. But it’s hard to say 100%. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. I think that’s something to put off until a little later.”
- Blazers GM Neil Olshey plans to stay in touch with all of the team’s free agents between now and July 1st and believes he’ll have a strong idea of what each of them wants to do once other teams can begin contacting them then, as he told reporters Thursday and as The Oregonian’s Sean Meagher transcribes. Olshey nonetheless noted that he has contingency plans for each of them in case they sign elsewhere, as Meagher relays. The GM also expressed his belief in growth from within the roster and pledged no shortage of activity at the draft, Meagher notes.
- Thunder GM Sam Presti and new coach Billy Donovan aren’t quite as close as many reports have indicated, according to Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. Presti met Donovan on a scouting trip years ago and they’ve chatted on occasion since then, but the GM has admired the coach largely from afar, as Slater details.
Aldridge On Free Agency, Surgery, Olshey
Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and while Portland certainly wishes to re-sign its star, the competition to secure his services is likely to be stiff indeed. Both the Spurs and the Mavericks are expected to pursue the native Texan, and the Knicks and Lakers are also expected to make a run at inking the 29-year-old. In his exit interview with the media Aldridge touched upon a number of subjects, and here or some of the highlights (hat tip to Sean Meagher of The Oregonian for the transcription)…
On what will be most important to him when making his free agency decision:
“I’m not gonna get into the details of it, but I think I’m gonna go home and just relax and talk to my family and my agent and just go from there. Of course I love being here, I’m thankful for everything this city has given me and for my time here. It’s been an amazing nine years; of course I’m not trying to have that end. When the time comes we’ll sit down, my agent and [GM] Neil Olshey and [owner] Paul Allen, we’ll just figure it out.”
On if his thinking regarding re-signing with the Blazers has changed since last summer:
“I haven’t thought about it since then. The season just ended. I have to sit back and reflect on everything that just happened. Look back on the season and the things that are important to me. I wouldn’t say things have changed, I just think that I’m gonna do my due diligence. I’m just gonna go through the process.”
On if he was looking forward to the free agency process:
“Um, yes and no. I think every player wants to be wanted. Obviously if I said I don’t want to be wanted, does that mean you’re one of the top players in your position. It’s always good and bad that comes with it and I have to deal with it. But I’m looking forward to getting rest right now and then figure the rest out.”
On if he will require offseason surgery to repair damage to his thumb:
“I don’t know yet. I have to get it looked at again.”
On his relationship with Olshey:
“I would say it’s good. I would say he is different than most other GMs I’ve dealt with … other than when Chad [Buchanan] subbed in, I thought Chad had some Neil qualities in him as far as putting players first and trying to make sure the players have everything that they wanted and needed and trying to make sure guys are happy. Neil has brought a new culture to this team, to this city. He came in and he redid the whole facility, the whole arena. I just think he wants players to be happy at their jobs and at the arena and stuff like that. That was new for me and I enjoyed that.”
Damian Lillard To Seek Max Extension
Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard intends to seek a maximum contract extension from the team this offseason, Shams Charania of RealGM reports. The 6’3″ point guard is looking to secure a five year deal with the team, Charania adds. According to Charania’s sources, Lillard has no plans to consider agreeing to an extension for less than the designated maximum, and would have no inclination to do so considering the anticipated rise in the salary cap in 2016.
In his exit interview earlier today, Lillard told reporters he’s confident that he and the team would be able to come to terms on an extension, and that he has no desire to leave Portland any time soon, Charania adds. “For me, this is where I want to be,” Lillard said. “So whatever we need to do to make that happen and figure that out, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Mike Tokito of The Oregonian relays. The team intends to first focus its efforts on re-signing unrestricted free agents LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews, the RealGM scribe notes, but Portland is expected to begin talks with Lillard shortly after those players’ situations are resolved.
Lillard, 24, was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. He has appeared in a total of 246 games for Portland since entering the league, all as a starter. Lillard’s career averages are 20.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 6.2 assists. His career shooting percentages are .429/.368/.861. The former Weber State star has been remarkably healthy thus far in his career, having never missed a game since entering the league.
Northwest Notes: Donovan, Blazers, Pleiss
Billy Donovan‘s deal to coach the Thunder is for five-years and worth approximately $30MM, or roughly $6MM per season, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The fifth season is a team option, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets. The ex-Florida coach was reportedly seeking that amount annually if he was to make the jump from the NCAA, and it’s certainly a hefty raise from Donovan’s $4MM per season wage for coaching the Gators.
Here’s more from the Northwest Division:
- During his exit interview today, Chris Kaman said that he would like to return to the Blazers next season, Jabari Young of CSNNW.com tweets. The 33-year-old big man said he’ll need to wait and see if Portland wants to retain him for 2015/16, Young adds. Kaman’s $5,016,000 salary for next season includes a partial guarantee of $1MM.
- Damian Lillard says that he is confident that he and the Blazers will be able to reach an agreement on a contract extension this offseason, Joe Freeman of the Oregonian relays (Twitter link). “For me, this is where I want to be,” said Lillard. “Whatever we need to do to make that happen, we’ll make happen.” The point guard is set to enter the final year of his rookie deal with the team, and will earn $4,236,287 in 2015/16.
- German center Tibor Pleiss could look to join the Jazz next season if his contract is indeed bought out by Barcelona, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net relays (hat tip to Jody Genessy of The Deseret News). Utah acquired the rights to the 25-year-old from the Thunder in the Enes Kanter trade earlier this season.
- The Thunder‘s coaching switch from Scott Brooks to Donovan was done to get a different voice for the players to respond to, as well as for the franchise to create a new identity next season, Shelburne relays in a series of tweets. The plan is for the team to make a change now, rather than spend the year in organizational limbo, and to show Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook what the future will look like in OKC, Shelburne adds.
Northwest Notes: Blazers, Thibodeau, Donovan
The questions that face the Blazers after a disappointing stretch run that threatens to shake the foundation of the roster are as profound as any the team has faced in the last 15 years, The Oregonian’s Jason Quick argues. The emergence of C.J. McCollum and Meyers Leonard, the disappointing play of Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez, and the rumors surrounding LaMarcus Aldridge‘s willingness to keep playing in Portland provide challenge and opportunity for GM Neil Olshey, Quick contends. Still, few options other than returning to the Blazers would give Aldridge the chance to play a lead role on a true contender, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller opines. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:
- Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post doesn’t envision Tom Thibodeau emerging as the top candidate for the Nuggets job given the conflict of his defense-first philosophy and Denver’s desire for a fast-paced game, as Dempsey writes in a mailbag column.
- The decision to leave Florida for the Thunder that Billy Donovan reportedly made should have been an easy one, as Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel argues. He’ll have an “exponentially better chance” at a title in Oklahoma City than he would with the Gators the next two years, and if he fails and the Thunder fire him, he’d have his pick of top college jobs, Thamel believes.
- The numbers suggest that Donovan was no better down the stretch in close games at Florida than the oft-criticized Scott Brooks was for the Thunder, The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson writes.