San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

R.C. Buford Wins Executive Of Year

May 7th, 2014 at 9:03am CST by Chuck Myron

San Antonio GM R.C. Buford has won the NBA’s Executive of the Year award, the league announced. It’s the first such honor for Buford, who’s served as the primary basketball executive for the Spurs since July of 2002. He beat out first-year Suns GM Ryan McDonough and Blazers GM Neil Olshey in a wide-open race that saw 11 executives draw first-place votes from their front office colleagues around the league.

“I’m extremely happy for R.C. Buford to have won this award, which is both absolutely deserved and long overdue,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said in a statement from the team. “His knowledge of the rules, basketball expertise and keen eye for talent have served the Spurs organization well for a very long time. It has been a personal pleasure to be at his side during this period.”

The Spurs have won three championships and made it to four Finals during Buford’s tenure atop the team’s basketball operations department. San Antonio compiled a league-best 62-20 record after a summer in which Buford made key signings to largely bring back the same roster that came within a hair’s breadth of the title last season. Buford re-signed Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili, and added Marco Belinelli, who served as a key piece off the bench for much of the season.

McDonough and Olshey finished second and third, respectively, followed by Toronto’s Masai Ujiri, who was last year’s winner, and Miami’s Pat Riley. Billy King of the Nets, Sam Presti of the Thunder, Danny Ainge of the Celtics, Ernie Grunfeld of the Wizards, Rod Higgins of the Bobcats and Bob Myers of the Warriors were the others who received first-place votes.

It’s the second consecutive year that the same team has had both the Executive of the Year and the Coach of the Year. Popovich won this year’s Coach of the Year honors last month, while Ujiri and George Karl pulled off the double for the Nuggets in 2012/13. Neither remained with Denver for this season, but Buford and Popovich seem destined to stay in San Antonio for the foreseeable future.

Coaching Rumors: Kerr, Messina, D’Antoni

May 1st, 2014 at 12:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

There are four head coaching vacancies in the NBA, or five, if you count the Pistons, for whom John Loyer finished the season as interim coach. Others may follow once the first round of the playoffs concludes in a few days, so the coaching market is in full gear. Here’s the latest:

Steve Kerr won’t use other openings as leverage against the Knicks and team president Phil Jackson, sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Lute Olson, Kerr’s former college coach, rejects the notion that Kerr prefers a West Coast job and thinks he’s more than likely to accept an offer from the Knicks, as Olson tells Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Sources tell Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net that Ettore Messina has already told CSKA Moscow that he’ll leave this summer, but Varlas hears Messina is more likely to wind up as a Spurs assistant than an NBA head coach next season. Messina has drawn mention as a candidate for head coaching jobs with the Lakers and Jazz this year.
Mike D’Antoni is still interested in coaching, a source tells Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Bresnahan writes that the portion of next year’s $4MM salary that the Lakers agreed to pay him even though he resigned is less than $2MM, but Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com hears that it’s more than that (Twitter link).

Reports have indicated that Mark Jackson and the Warriors never engaged in extension talks, but Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group hears that they briefly discussed the subject this past summer. Jackson is set to enter the final year of his contract next season, though it’s unlikely he’ll return for 2014/15 barring a long playoff run.

And-Ones: O’Neal, Sterling, Jackson

April 30th, 2014 at 10:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jonathan Abrams of Grantland examines the resurgence of Jermaine O’Neal with the Warriors. O’Neal feels like his years with the Celtics were lost seasons, per the article. O’Neal said, “Those two years [in Boston] were very difficult for me, because not only did I feel like I was wearing down physically, I was wearing down mentally. That was the first time in my life I felt myself starting to break away a little bit.”

Latest On Jazz Coaching Search

April 28th, 2014 at 11:43am CST by Chuck Myron

APRIL 28TH: Genessy has received further indication that Boylen is the lead candidate for the job (Twitter link). That’s in spite of a comment from Jazz president Randy Rigby last week asserting that the club had yet to identify any potential replacements for Corbin.

APRIL 23RD, 4:21pm: Hawks assistant Quin Snyder is also a candidate, Stein hears (Twitter link). Snyder worked with Lindsey in San Antonio, as Stein points out via Twitter, noting that he also spent time in Russia as an assistant under Messina.

TUESDAY, 1:59pm: Current Jazz assistant Brad Jones has also drawn mention as a potential candidate, Stein writes, though the ESPN scribe casts Boylen and Messina as the favorites. Still, neither Boylen nor Messina is likely to become available until June as their respective teams play on in the postseason. If Lindsey decides Boylen is the right choice, he wouldn’t allow the sentiment of locals turned off by Boylen’s poor performance at the University of Utah to dissuade him, according to Stein.

9:30am: Rumored candidate Jim Boylen is indeed in the running for the Jazz head coaching job, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune, and the Spurs assistant is at the top of the list, a source tells Mike Monroe of the San Antonio-Express News. The Jazz will also consider longtime European coach and former Lakers assistant Ettore Messina, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Jazz are perhaps more open to hiring a European coach than any other NBA team, a source tells Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link). The name of Bulls lead assistant coach Adrian Griffin has come up in regard to the Jazz as well as other teams of late, Genessy tweets. Griffin was a candidate for the Sixers and Pistons last year and the Blazers in 2012.

Utah GM Dennis Lindsey and assistant GM Justin Zanik are well-known fans of Messina, who’s apparently itching to come to the NBA, Stein says in a pair of tweets. Messina is the coach of CSKA Moscow, though his roots are in Italy, where he coached for more than a decade and a half and established himself as one of Europe’s top sideline bosses. Critics say he’s too tough on players to succeed as an NBA coach, though proponents point to his year of experience as an assistant in the NBA with the Lakers 2011/12, when the team had plenty of title-winning veterans, to suggest that he can succeed, Stein tweets. Messina was a candidate for the Hawks head coaching job last year.

Boylen’s connection to Lindsey dates back to their time together in the Rockets organization. They share the same agent and have a close relationship, Jones tweets, though Boylen’s time as coach of the University of Utah, a tenure marked by back-to-back losing seasons in his final two years, would be viewed as a negative, according to Jones, as well as Stein (Twitter link).

It’s unlikely that the Jazz’s next coach will be a retread, Jones says via Twitter. Lindsey insisted that the team hadn’t considered any candidates before announcing Monday that Tyrone Corbin wouldn’t be back, as fellow Tribune scribe Aaron Falk observes. Lindsey didn’t rule out the idea of Corbin remaining with the organization in a different capacity, Jones tweets.

Atlantic Notes: Jackson, ‘Melo, Bayless

April 26th, 2014 at 4:55pm CST by Charlie Adams

Phil Jackson recently spoke to members of the media about Tim Duncan‘s legacy with Spurs, noting Duncan has stuck around in San Antonio long enough for the club to build a roster Jackson described as a “great force.” Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders thinks the Zen Master’s comments are clearly a message to Carmelo Anthony, who can choose to walk away in free agency in this offseason. Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Amar’e Stoudemire has a $23MM player option for 2014/15 that he’ll almost surely opt in for. Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer examines a reader-suggested trade scenario where the Knicks send Stoudemire to the Cavs, noting that acting Cleveland GM David Griffin has ties to the big man from their time together in Phoenix. She concludes it’s very unlikely because of his injury history and bloated contract.
Harvey Araton of the New York Times takes a look at the blockbuster deal that sent Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets. Although the price was high for the veteran duo, Brooklyn was enticed by the clutch shooting abilities of Pierce and the fiery passion Garnett has for the game, observes Araton.
Celtics guard Jerryd Bayless is set to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com concludes Bayless’ performance this season might not have been strong enough to guarantee that Boston wants to bring him back.

And-Ones: McHale, Harris, Blair

April 25th, 2014 at 10:59pm CST by Cray Allred

Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram thinks Devin Harris is proving that he deserved the initial three-year, $9MM contract that the Mavs revoked when a post-agreement physical revealed a foot injury. Harris and Dallas agreed to a one-year minimum deal instead, which is paying dividends for both the Mavs’ playoff performance and the point guard’s market value. Here’s more from around the league:

DeJuan Blair is taking the Mavs first round matchup with the Spurs personally, he told reporters including Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “This is something that’s a dream, to always go against somebody who knows you well, just like you know them,’’ said Blair, who left San Antonio as a free agent after being bumped from the rotation last season. “I’m just excited like everybody else.”
The Rockets haven’t picked up coach Kevin McHale‘s option for next season yet, but sources tell ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein that there is support for the coach within the organization, including from key players and owner Les Alexander. The ESPN scribes report that there has been an understanding that this year’s roster needs more than a year together to become a contender, so a first-round exit wouldn’t be alarming enough to let McHale go.
Arash Markazi ESPNLosAngeles.com says the Lakers fans’ displeasure with the team’s decision not to fire coach Mike D’Antoni could build to a mutiny (via Twitter).
Lee Jenkins of SI.com profiles Ron Howard, the 31-year-old D-League standout still hoping for a shot at the NBA. Howard, who was told by Scott Skiles that he was good enough to play in the league while with the Bucks for the 2008/09 preseason, admits that it’s frustrating to thrive in the developmental league while hundreds of younger players get called up.

Coaching Rumors: Jazz, D’Antoni, Boylen

April 24th, 2014 at 4:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

Executives, coaches and other league insiders struggle to come up with names of intriguing coaching candidates after last year’s record volume of new hires, but Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com was able to pry the identities of a few well-regarded potential hires. Some of them have been in rumors in recent weeks, but University of Virginia head coach Tony Bennett, Bulls assistant Ed Pinckney, and Blazers assistant David Vanterpool are the names we haven’t heard. Potential head coaches with ties to the Spurs were already popular, and they’ve grown even more so this year, Arnovitz hears. Here’s more from the coaching rumor mill:

The Jazz plan to interview more than 20 candidates fitting virtually every description, team president Randy Rigby said Wednesday on The Zone Sports Network radio, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Though a few candidates have reportedly emerged, Rigby insists the club hasn’t identified any potential targets. He also said the decision will be a group effort and won’t lie solely with GM Dennis Lindsey.
Mike D’Antoni won’t be coaching Marshall University next season, but his brother Dan D’Antoni will be, the school announced. Dan D’Antoni is leaving his job as a Lakers assistant coach to take the new gig.
The Pacers weren’t pleased when former assistant coach and current Jazz head coaching candidate Jim Boylen left last year to become a Spurs assistant, tweets Scott Agness of Pacers.com. “He did us dirty,” one Pacers player told Agness.
Knicks president Phil Jackson said Wednesday that his coaching search could extend into July, but he adds that it’s not because he’s waiting around to see which, if any, coaches working in the playoffs become available, notes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter).
Nets GM Billy King said on NBA TV that he, and not coach Jason Kidd, made the decision to reassign assistant coach Lawrence Frank earlier this season, fellow ESPNNewYork.com scribe Mike Mazzeo observes.

Gregg Popovich Wins Coach Of The Year

April 22nd, 2014 at 9:33am CST by Chuck Myron

Gregg Popovich has won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award, the league announced, joining Pat Riley and Don Nelson as the only three-time winners of the honor. It’s the second such award in three years for the Spurs coach, who was also the top coach in 2012 and 2003.

Popovich garnered 59 out of a possible 124 first-place votes, with Jeff Hornacek of the Suns finishing second in just his first season as an NBA coach. Tom Thibodeau finished third, followed by Steve Clifford, Dwane Casey, Terry Stotts and Doc Rivers among coaches who received first-place votes.

Popovich led the Spurs to the league’s best record of 62-20, all the while managing minutes for Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, San Antonio’s trio of stars over the age of 30. With Rick Adelman‘s retirement Monday, Popovich is the NBA’s active career wins leader, having racked up 967 regular season victories since taking over the team in the middle of the 1996/97 season.

Last year’s Coach of the Year, George Karl, found himself out of a job in the offseason, but that almost certainly won’t happen with Popovich, who’s firmly ensconced in the Spurs organization. He’s the NBA’s longest-tenured coach by more than a decade.

And-Ones: Celtics, Rockets, Draft, Price, Parker

April 21st, 2014 at 10:59pm CST by Zachary Links

Celtics GM Danny Ainge says he doesn’t feel pressure from ownership to make a big trade like the one that brought Kevin Garnett to Boston, writes Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe. “I don’t think that would be very smart, to put pressure on myself,” Ainge said. “That one happened to work out and we were very fortunate that Minnesota was moving in a different direction, that they loved Al Jefferson, and so we were able to get a deal done. But there’s been a lot of deals that I thought we had a way better chance of doing that we couldn’t end up doing.” More from around the Association..

The Rockets announced (via Twitter) that Robert Covington and Isaiah Canaan have been reassigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League. Covington and Canaan have been bounced back and forth from the Rockets’ varsity squad to the D-League affiliate a number of times this season, as shown in our running list of assignments and recalls for the 2013/14 season.
Veteran Ronnie Price is happy to help take on a leadership role with the young Magic, writes Ken Hornack of FOX Sports Florida. “This year has been kind of refreshing for me in a lot of ways,” the 30-year-old guard said. “And I can’t really explain where it came from or why I feel that way. I feel like a kid again. I really enjoy the game.” Price will be a free agent this summer and if Jameer Nelson winds up elsewhere, Hornack writes that Orlando can’t afford to get too young at the point guard position.
Spurs stars Tony Parker and Tim Duncan have found success together, but their relationship did not start off on such spectacular terms, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. “He didn’t talk to me for a whole year,” Parker said, reflecting on his rookie season in 2001/02. “It was kind of weird coming from France and you have your superstar player that doesn’t talk to you as a point guard, it’s kind of tough, you know? Because you’re supposed to talk to everybody.“

Jazz Likely To Target Jim Boylen For Coach

April 21st, 2014 at 3:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

Spurs assistant coach Jim Boylen will likely be a candidate for the Jazz head coaching vacancy, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). He’s not to be confused with Cavs assistant Jim Boylan, the former interim head coach of the Bulls and Bucks.

GM Dennis Lindsey, a former Spurs executive, wants a defensive-minded coach who believes in analytics, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. The team is likely to tap into Lindsey’s San Antonio connections for their next hire, whether it’s Boylen or someone else, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (on Twitter).

Boylen was the head coach at the University of Utah from 2007-11, and he was with the Pacers prior to joining the Spurs staff this past offseason. He was an assistant coach for the Bucks, Warriors and Rockets before taking the University of Utah job.