Vlade Divac Denies Asking Players If Karl Should Go
6:45pm: Divac said the idea he asked the players if they wanted Karl fired is a misconception, notes Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee.
“You guys make my job hard,” Divac said to reporters. “There is partial truth to a lot of what has been reported, but much of it was off. First of all, I never asked the players if I should fire Coach or said I was thinking of doing that. I walked into the locker room after [Monday’s] game and said, ‘OK, you guys don’t want to play with Coach? What’s the problem?’ I wanted to catch them by surprise a little bit and get them to talk openly about what was going on. Then the coaches came in, and we talked some more. I think it was very positive for everyone.”
THURSDAY, 10:15am: A league source who spoke with Ken Berger of CBSSports.com disputes the idea that Divac asked Kings players if the team should get rid of Karl, though he doesn’t mention Bratz’s involvement. We have more on the Kings drama right here.
6:43pm: Divac answered affirmatively when Marc J. Spears asked him if Karl’s job is safe (Twitter link).
“Yeah,” Divac said. “Yeah. Nothing has changed, really. 1-7, we all know we’re better.”
The blame for Cousins’ tirade doesn’t rest on Karl’s shoulders, Divac also told Spears, who earlier passed on a statement from Cousins apologizing for his outburst (All four Twitter links). Divac wouldn’t say whether the team is disciplining Cousins in any way for the tirade, Spears notes (Twitter link).
“Most important thing we had after the meeting was we were on the same page, bottom line, on how to improve. That’s positive stuff,” Divac said.
5:36pm: Karl wanted to suspend Cousins for two games after the center’s Monday night verbal tirade, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays. According to Jones, Divac told the coach that he did not have authority to suspend Cousins, and Divac refused to grant Karl permission to impose the suspension.
3:15pm: Karl is indeed in jeopardy of losing his job as soon as this week, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports. Meanwhile, owners who have minority shares in the Kings are more frustrated than ever with Ranadive in large measure because he isn’t consulting with them on decisions, Amick hears from a source.
WEDNESDAY, 2:46pm: Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac and assistant GM Mike Bratz asked players during Tuesday’s team meeting whether they thought he should fire coach George Karl, reports Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead. The players weren’t sure how to respond, McIntyre adds, though Caron Butler said after the meeting that the players are behind the coach. DeMarcus Cousins verbally lit into Karl after Monday’s loss to the Spurs, though he later felt a level of regret about having done so, McIntyre also hears. Divac is under pressure as Vivek Ranadive’s interest in hiring John Calipari to both coach the team and run the front office has ramped up in recent months, according to McIntyre.
Cousins asked a couple of teammates if he had been too hard on Karl, who simply walked away at the end of the center’s rant, and they advised him not to “scream and curse” at his coach the way he had, as McIntyre details. Karl and Cousins have had an up-and-down relationship, at best, since Karl took over the team in February, with the two saying over the summer that they had patched up their differences following reports indicating that Karl wanted the team to trade Cousins and had sought to do so. Kings officials are reportedly concerned with Karl’s low energy amid a 1-7 start.
Ben McLemore expressed confusion during Tuesday’s team meeting about his role, though teammates told him it was to hit 3-pointers and defend, and that those are the responsibilities of everyone aside from Cousins and Rajon Rondo, as McIntyre details.
The Kings denied a report over the summer indicating that they had reached out to Calipari at that point, and Calipari has continually maintained that he isn’t interested in returning to the NBA, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. The team’s decisions to draft Willie Cauley-Stein, whom Calipari coached at Kentucky, and sign Rondo, who played at Kentucky before Calipari became coach there, were mostly because of Ranadive’s friendship with Calipari, McIntyre writes.
How do you see the Kings saga playing out? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Northwest Notes: Aldridge, Durant, Mitchell
LaMarcus Aldridge wouldn’t say much in response to a question from Jason Quick of CSNNW.com about his summer 2014 pledge to re-sign with the Trail Blazers in 2015. Aldridge signed this past summer with the Spurs instead, of course.
“I’m not going to get into all of that,’’ Aldridge said. “What is done is done. I feel like both sides kind of have what they want. Now, I’m here [with the Spurs].’’
Aldridge expressed love for Portland and its fans despite his decision to split, as Quick relays, but the power forward privately made it clear he was no fan of the culture and climate of the Pacific Northwest, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, who offers a fascinating inside look at Aldridge’s free agency. See more from around the Northwest Division:
- It was Aldridge’s decision to leave the Blazers, but the team deserves blame for failing to convince the star that it was worth it to stick around, The Oregonian’s John Canzano argues.
- Kevin Durant need look no further than the Thunder in free agency next summer if he seeks a team with a roster that can help him win championships, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com believes.
- Sam Mitchell‘s future beyond this season as coach of the Timberwolves is unresolved, but his lineup decisions so far indicate that he’s not merely focusing on the near term, observes Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune.
And-Ones: Durant, Green, Aldridge
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News mentions the Lakers, Bulls and Knicks as major-market suitors for Kevin Durant, and the Warriors as a team that could catch his eye, but people around the league have long felt as though Durant will either sign with the Thunder or the Wizards, Deveney writes. It’s a sentiment one Eastern Conference GM who spoke with Deveney confirms. Still, Washington doesn’t plan an extravagant pitch, a source tells Deveney, in keeping with the former MVP’s low-key personality. That said, neither the Warriors nor the Heat should be ruled out as potential Durant destinations, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. See more from around the NBA:
- Gerald Green punched a man who was trying to restrain him from going from the lobby of his condo building to his unit, according to a police report that Manny Navarro and Charles Rabin of the Miami Herald obtained. The man, who elected not to press charges, was attempting to keep Green in the lobby so that he would be there when rescue officials arrived, the report states, according to Navarro and Rabin. Green had earlier approached the front desk of the lobby with bloody hands and asked for a call to paramedics, then proceeded to the valet area in front of the building and collapsed, the report continues, as Navarro and Rabin detail. Green, who was handcuffed but not arrested, was hospitalized and later released and is serving a two-game suspension from the Heat. Team president Pat Riley said the team still believes it can count on Green, who issued an apology as part of a team statement, Navarro and Rabin add.
- The Mavericks weren’t the favorites for LaMarcus Aldridge, but they still had a chance to sign him when they abandoned their pursuit to instead nail down the more certain acquisition of Wesley Matthews, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports details in an inside look at Aldridge’s free agency. Aldridge liked Kobe Bryant‘s basketball chat but little else about the Lakers presentation, while Aldridge was reluctant to share the marquee with James Harden despite an intriguing Rockets pitch and found Raptors GM Masai Ujiri appealing but not convincing enough to sway him to Toronto, according to Wojnarowski.
- The Spurs wooed Aldridge with a casual, face-to-face approach from Gregg Popovich and other San Antonio principals, Wojnarowski explains in the same piece. Popovich’s decision to fly in for a second visit, prompted by Aldridge’s second Lakers meeting, helped sealed the deal for the Spurs, thanks in part to a last-minute appeal from Riley that the Heat president intended to use to sell Aldridge on a secondary role in Miami, Wojnarowski writes. Instead, Aldridge took Riley’s message to heart as he embraced the idea of sacrificing some of his impressive offensive numbers in San Antonio’s egalitarian offense, as the Yahoo scribe details.
D-League Notes: Bulls, Hawks, Celtics, Sixers
GM Gar Forman said the Bulls haven’t used the D-League that frequently because they wanted the players “in our culture,” K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune passes along via Twitter. Earlier today, the Bulls formally announced that they will have their own D-League team starting in the 2016/17 season, so that concern will no longer be an issue.
Here’s more D-League news to pass along:
- Edy Tavares is headed to the D-League affiliate of the Spurs, the Hawks announced today, confirming Tuesday’s report from Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Atlanta was sending the rookie on assignment. The Hawks don’t have a D-League affiliate, so it wasn’t initially clear where he’d end up, though it’s no surprise to see him head to the Austin Spurs, given the ties between the Atlanta and San Antonio organizations.
- The Sixers sent point guards Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten to their D-League affiliate, the Delaware 87ers, the team announced via press release. The duo aren’t expected to play in any D-League games, but they will work out with the team as they recover from their respective injuries, per John Finger of CSNPhilly.com. These are the first D-League assignments of the season for Philadelphia.
- The Celtics assigned James Young to the Maine Red Claws, their D-League affiliate, and later recalled both him and Jordan Mickey, the team announced (Twitter links). Both players were sent to Maine to log more practice time. It was the third D-League assignment of the season for Young, and the second for Mickey, as our assignment and recall tracker shows.
- The Rockets have assigned swingman K.J. McDaniels to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This is the first D-League assignment of the 2015/16 season for both the player and team.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post
Western Notes: Russell, Aldridge, Capela
Rookie D’Angelo Russell is obviously in the Lakers‘ long-term plans, but that doesn’t mean he is ready to take on a huge role just yet, Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com writes.
“I’m not just going to put him out there to put him out there,” Coach Byron Scott said. “If I do that and he’s not prepared and he’s not learning, then I’m preparing him to fail. And I’m not going to do that. I think this kid is too valuable to us.”
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- LaMarcus Aldridge isn’t going to get caught up in his decision to leave Portland when the Blazers host the Spurs tonight, Jason Quick of CSNNW passes along via Twitter. “I’m not going to get into all of that. What is done is done. I feel like both sides kind of have what they want. Now, I’m here,” Aldridge said.
- Clint Capela is proving he belongs in the NBA and Rockets GM Daryl Morey has high expectations for the big man, as he tells Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. “Sky’s the limit for him.” Morey said. “To do what he’s doing at 22 is amazing in the NBA against the talent in the league and to come from playing mostly in the D-League last season, to start a few games for us, and in games that we’ve won, is huge. His ability to protect the rim, run the floor, rebound — we really feel like he’s got a chance to be a high-level player.”
- Capela has seen some added playing time this season with Dwight Howard not playing in both games of back-to-backs and there is no urgency to change the game plan, Morey tells Watkins in the same piece. “It’s going to come down to the doctor’s advice,” Morey said. “He has not played back-to-back and he’s played at an extremely high level. So I think the doctors are looking at that and feeling like that’s the smartest course at this point. If he gets to no symptoms whatsoever and playing at a high level, I think they might mix him in at some point. For now and the foreseeable future, I think they want him to sit out back-to-backs.” Howard can hit free agency this summer if he elects to turn down his player option, which is worth slightly more than $23.28MM.
Western Notes: Cousins, Belinelli, Green, Wolves
The Kings, losers of six in a row and just 1-7 on the season, are planning a players-only meeting, DeMarcus Cousins told reporters, adding that the team’s issues are “not at all” about on-court matters, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays. Cousins cautioned that he believes in “every single person in this [locker] room,” Jones notes, though the looming question surrounds his relationship with coach George Karl, who’s used seven different starting lineups in the team’s eight games.
“Everything I can’t really speak on,” Cousins said. “We got some issues that we got to carve out. Can’t really speak on that. But one thing is, us players, we got to stick together. And just with that, that’ll get us through most battles. We got some issues in-house we need to figure out.”
Rudy Gay suggested on-court issues were at play, saying the team’s offensive and defensive schemes require examination, The Bee’s Ailene Voisin tweets. While we wait to see how the latest drama in Sacramento plays out, see more on the Kings amid the latest from the Western Conference:
- Manu Ginobili and Marco Belinelli have known each other since they were teenagers and they forged an uncommonly tight bond that Ginobili has missed since Belinelli departed the Spurs for the Kings in free agency this past summer, observes Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News. Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich seems to wish he could have kept the Italian-born shooting guard. “I just miss his presence,” Popovich said, according to Orsborn. “He was a great guy. He was a great teammate. Great sense of humor, again he was a great teammate, a real smart player. We all miss him.”
- The release of Erick Green leaves the Nuggets shorthanded at point guard, but coach Michael Malone is confident that the team has enough ball-handling at other positions to make up for it, as Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post examines. The Nuggets had a chance to put that theory to the test when Jameer Nelson missed Monday’s win over the Blazers with injury. In any case, Denver remains high on Green. “He lives in the gym, everyone in this building has a positive impression of Erick, not just him as a player but him as a person,” GM Tim Connelly said. “He’s a fantastic person, and he’s going to be back in the NBA, ASAP. He’s a guys we’ll keep close tabs on. You never close the door, especially for a guy who has done as much as Erick and worked as hard as he has.”
- Austin Peters of Upside & Motor categorizes eight Timberwolves on rookie contracts into tiers, with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins in their own class at the top and Gorgui Dieng joining Adreian Payne as those Peters views as long shots to make an impact.
Southwest Notes: Thornton, Pelicans, Spurs
Marcus Thornton has emerged as a surprise starter with the Rockets by showing he can do more than just shoot, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. Thornton is enjoying a career revival as the team’s small forward, averaging 16.6 points and making a team-best 40.5% of his 3-point attempts, but his overall contributions have kept him on the floor, Feigen continues. “He’s a very good passer,” Houston coach Kevin McHale told Feigen. “He’s a good on-ball defender.” Thornton believes that McHale’s confidence in him has led to his strong start. “I always had a lot more to show,” Thornton said to Feigen. “Just now, I’ve been in the right position to show it.”
In other news around the Southwest Division:
- The only viable trade bait that the struggling Pelicans have to offer are their draft picks, according to Tom Ziller of SBNation.com. It would be difficult to move any of their rotation pieces because of injuries and/or contract status but the Pelicans do not owe any future first-rounders, Ziller continues in his analysis of the team’s slow start. Based upon GM Dell Demps’ history and the Pelicans’ mandate to make the playoffs, New Orleans is likely to dangle those picks on the trade market in an effort to turn its season around, Ziller believes.
- Ray McCallum has gotten buried on the Spurs’ bench but is trying to make the best of the situation and remain patient, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News reports. McCallum is currently the team’s third option at point guard behind Tony Parker and Patty Mills and has been learning from the players ahead of him in the rotation, Orsborn continues. Coach Gregg Popovich told Orsborn that McCallum is still settling in after getting traded by the Kings. “He’s probably a little bit confounded right now, trying to figure out what’s going on,” Popovich said. “Some of that has to happen in his own mind, and get some sort of comfort level before they can help him too much.”
- David West has been in the league a long time but he’s still opening eyes with his playmaking, Orsborn writes in a separate piece. The 13-year Spurs power forward had a six-assist outing off the bench against the Hornets last week. “Even from open gym, I realized he was better than I thought,” shooting guard Manu Ginobili told Orsborn. “He’s a willing passer, too. He’s looking for passes, looking for cutters. He can hit a jumper, but he’s also willing to pass.”
Spurs Notes: Popovich, Aldridge, Leonard
Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich was hesitant to make a definitive statement about how long he’d continue before retiring, but when the question came up while he was pitching LaMarcus Aldridge on signing with the Spurs this summer, he knew he had to answer, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe details.
“He outed me,” Popovich said to Washburn. “He put the pressure on me. Who knows when you might want to retire, but he and his agent sat across, and [the agent] said, ‘Ask him, ask him, go ahead and ask him.’ I knew it was coming, so I tried to end the meeting, ‘OK, we gotta go eat. We gotta do something.’ [The agent] said, ‘No, no, ask him.’ That’s when he hit me: ‘What are you going to do? How long are you going to be here?’ I said, ‘I’m here.’ I had just signed a five-year [extension] a year before. The contract was in place, so I told him I’ll be here.”
It’s unclear whether it was departing Wasserman Media Group agent Arn Tellem or another agency representative who prompted Aldridge to ask the question, but regardless, the Aldridge signing apparently secured more than just a star power forward for San Antonio. See more on the Spurs:
- Popovich also told Washburn that he and GM R.C. Buford initially weren’t quite sure how to approach Aldridge. “R.C. and I sat in a room and just looked at each other and just said, ‘What do we do now?’” Popovich said. “We don’t know how to do this. So we just decided to be who we are. ‘This is us, you know who we are, you wanna come or not?’”
- Kawhi Leonard‘s ability to perform so well on both ends of the floor is “spectacular,” according to Popovich, who applauds the faith he showed when the Spurs decided against an extension last year before re-signing him this past summer, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio News-Express relays. “He trusted us,” Popovich said. “We think everything comes at its own pace, at the appropriate time. I think he understood that, and his agent [Brian Elfus] understood it. He knows our history.”
- The Spurs are 4-2 so far, but with key figures Aldridge and David West among the team’s six newcomers, they must make adjustments before hitting their stride, as TNT’s David Aldridge examines in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
Southwest Notes: Williams, Ginobili, Anderson
The Mavericks hope Saturday’s game was a breakthrough for new point guard Deron Williams, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Williams, who signed with Dallas in July after agreeing to a buyout with the Nets, hit two key shots late in a victory over the Pelicans. “I don’t like to talk about my time in Brooklyn,” Williams said, “but a lot of times I was in the corner waiting and watching, so it felt good to just have the ball at the end of the game and be able to make a play.”
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- At age 38, Manu Ginobili has become less reckless on the court, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express News. The longtime Spur received a new two-year deal over the summer worth $5.7MM, with a player option for the second season. “I am changing the way I play a lot,” he said. “I still have that essence, but, of course, I don’t have the ability to go all the way as I used to do, or get to the line, or throw my body onto defenders. I have to mix it up, pick my battles, less minutes. But the good thing is I’m still having fun and I’m enjoying the season. I’m very happy and optimistic about our chances.”
- Second-year player Kyle Anderson admitted “everything surprised me” during his rookie season with the Spurs, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Anderson is still seeing limited playing time in San Antonio, but the team displayed confidence by exercising its third-year option on him for the 2016/17 season. “You kinda think you have a feel from what’s going on because you’re in high school and you know a few NBA players and they tell you what it’s like,” Anderson said, “but I’ve come to know, in my second year, that what you think you know… It’s not that.”
- Despite bringing back the core of last season’s Western Conference finalists, Rockets coach Kevin McHale told Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com he sometimes feels like he has “a new team.” Houston’s only major offseason deal was trading four players to Denver for Ty Lawson, but with forwards Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas out with injuries and center Dwight Howard not playing in back-to-back games, McHale has had to shuffle his lineup. “It’s a lot of hit and miss,” McHale said. “It feels, honestly, like live darts you’re throwing at the dartboard and seeing what you get.”
Western Notes: Bryant, Lakers, Spurs
Kobe Bryant appears to be leaning toward retirement at the end of the year, but he hasn’t made a decision just yet, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. “If you asked me today, this would be my last year. But you never know,” Bryant said. “We’ll keep it open. Whatever happens, happens.” Regardless of when the five time NBA champion decides to retire, he has no desire to get into coaching. “I don’t feel like dealing with divas,” Bryant said jokingly.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference
- The Lakers passed on Kristaps Porzingis in part because of how long they thought it would take him to develop, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. “[Porzingis] really didn’t show any fear. We just thought it would take him some time,” coach Byron Scott said. “Obviously we’re a little wrong about that. He’s playing pretty well right now.”
- The Spurs are taking a hands-off approach to integrating LaMarcus Aldridge into their system, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News writes. “We still haven’t coached him much,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “We just watch him.” San Antonio is using the same strategy that the team employed with Tim Duncan during the 1997/98 campaign. “Coaching [Duncan] didn’t seem too smart to me,” Popovich said. “If there’s something you might add to his game, you do it after you’ve seen what he does naturally.”
- The Spurs have assigned Jonathon Simmons to their D-League affiliate in Austin, the team announced. This is the first D-League assignment of the season for San Antonio. You can keep track of all of the D-League assignments and recalls made during the 2015/16 campaign here.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.