Pelicans Fire Monty Williams
1:00pm: The Pelicans were expected to pick up their team option for 2016/17 on Williams when they met with him this morning, sources told Wojnarowski for an updated version of his full story. Of course, that’s not how it turned out.
12:33pm: Benson told those close to him of his affection for Williams during the playoffs, TNT’s David Aldridge tweets, calling Thibodeau a “clear and obvious candidate” for the freshly opened Pelicans job in a second tweet. The future of Benson’s control of the Pelicans is in some doubt as his family puts up a legal fight for the team.
12:26pm: Demps pushed out Williams, Wojnarowski writes in a full story. The GM has been angling for more control and Williams’ coaching staff sensed decreasing support from management, feeling as though there were “unnecessary obstacles” in their way, league sources told Wojnarowski.
11:56am: The Pelicans have parted ways with coach Monty Williams, the team announced via press release. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported minutes earlier that the team had fired him (Twitter link). Williams was under contract through next season. The futures of Williams and GM Dell Demps have been shrouded in uncertainty of late, though Wojnarowski seems to imply that Demps is safe, saying that the GM “has his way now” (Twitter link).
“Making a decision like this is never easy and is never done hastily, especially when you are dealing with a person of Monty Williams’ character. We thanked Monty for the tremendous work and commitment he made to our organization and the development of our young players, specifically Anthony Davis,” executive vice president of basketball operations Mickey Loomis said in the team’s statement. “While we continue to work towards improving our roster, we decided that now was the time to make this decision. We wish nothing but the best for Monty in the future.”
Demps and owner Tom Benson were also quoted in the statement. Benson sent Williams, Demps and their staffs a letter of congratulations following the end of the team’s season, one in which the franchise made the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The timing of the firing is curious, coming more than two weeks after the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The sense around the NBA was that the playoff berth, clinched on the final night of the regular season, had saved Williams’ job, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (Twitter link). John Reid of The Times-Picayune reported that the team planned evaluations of Demps and Williams at season’s end. Demps refuted another report that the organization had given him and Williams playoffs-or-else mandates before the season.
The job would appear to be attractive to potential replacements based on the presence of Davis alone. The Pelicans hold Tom Thibodeau in high regard, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders wrote earlier today, and the team has pursued Thibodeau in the past, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who also notes the close relationship between Davis and Thibodeau from their time working with Team USA. Of course, there’s the matter of Thibodeau’s contract with the Bulls, which runs for two more seasons. Turmoil has marked the coach’s relationship with the front office, but Chicago may prefer to seek compensation from another team for the right to hire him rather than simply letting him go after the season, as Kyler wrote.
New Orleans hired Williams before the 2010/11 season, the last one before the team traded Chris Paul to the Clippers. The then-Hornets made the playoffs in Williams’ first season but bottomed out the next year. New Orleans won the draft lottery in 2012, enabling the franchise to take Davis with the No. 1 overall pick, but even this year, the team has yet to finish outside of last place in the competitive Southwest Division since trading Paul. Williams went 173-221 with the Pelicans in his only NBA head coaching gig to date, compiling a playoff record of 2-8.
No Deal Between Kenyon Martin, Panathinaikos
MONDAY, 2:20pm: Talks are dead between Martin and Panathinaikos and the veteran won’t be signing there, David Pick of Eurobasket.net tweets.
SUNDAY, 8:00pm: The two sides are no longer talking, according to Cauchi, who cites a source. Martin was close to signing with the Greek team, but negotiations were taking too much time, Cauchi writes.
9:09am: Kenyon Martin is expected to sign with Panathinaikos in Greece, tweets Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. A source calls the move “done,” noting that the agreement will cover one month.
The 37-year-old Martin is a 15-year veteran of the NBA, and appeared in 11 games this season with the Bucks. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds in just 9.5 minutes of playing time.
Milwaukee signed Martin to a 10-day contract January 10th, then a second 10-day deal January 19th. On January 29th, he signed for the remainder of the season, but was waived February 19th and hasn’t played in the NBA since then.
Martin was picked first overall by the Nets in the 2000 NBA draft. He also played for the Nuggets, Clippers and Knicks during his NBA career. This will be Martin’s second stint overseas. He played briefly for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of China during the 2011 lockout.
Thunder Hire Billy Donovan
1:33pm: The Thunder have hired Donovan, the team announced.
1:30pm: Donovan has resigned from his job at Florida, the school announced, and the statement says he’s doing so to take the Thunder job (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com).
12:17pm: League sources tell Wojnarowski that the Thunder have hired Donovan and that’s he’s signing a five-year deal (Twitter links), though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.
11:58am: It’s a “done deal,” a source tells Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link), which jibes with Wojnarowski and Ford’s report.
11:45am: The sides are continuing to work on contract terms, a source tells Zillgitt.
11:01am: University of Florida coach Billy Donovan will sign a multiyear deal to become coach of the Thunder, and the sides are presently finalizing the deal, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. The news has been expected, as the sides were nearing an agreement late Wednesday, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported. Wojnarowski and Forde reported earlier Wednesday that the team was pushing Donovan to take the job and that the coach was enthusiastic about the idea as long as they could agree on terms. The Yahoo! scribes suggested at that point that Donovan was seeking salaries of about $6MM a year from the Thunder, though it’s unclear if the team agreed to shell out that sort of money.
Donovan is set to inherit a roster primed to contend for the title next season after Oklahoma missed the playoffs amid an injury-riddled 2014/15. Thunder GM Sam Presti hadn’t consulted with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or Serge Ibaka as he negotiated with Donovan, as Wojnarowski wrote Wednesday. Still, he and Ford heard that Durant had formed a positive opinion of the coach after speaking with one of Donovan’s former players who’s now in the NBA. Durant’s opinion looms large, as he’s set to become a free agent after next season, so Donovan will enter the job facing enormous pressure.
The Thunder quickly zeroed in on Donovan after Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie, reportedly the team’s No. 1 target, called Presti to tell him he wouldn’t take the job. Spurs assistant Ettore Messina was also reportedly a candidate, though Donovan was the front-runner once Ollie pulled out, which happened at about the same time the team fired former coach Scott Brooks. Presti and Donovan have long been friends, and Presti previously hired two members of Donovan’s staff to work within the Thunder organization.
Donovan, who turns 50 next month, has spent the past 19 years at Florida and won two national championships, mentoring several players who went on to success in the NBA, including four who earned at least $12MM this season. A feeling that Donovan was ready to jump at the right opportunity to coach an NBA team was growing around the league this spring, as Stein reported then, adding Wednesday that the power and comfort that staying at Florida would entail loomed as the largest hurdle to an NBA jump. Donovan has been making more than $4MM a year at Florida, but there’s no buyout necessary for him to escape his contract with the school, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
The coach temporarily left the school in 2007, shortly after winning his second national title, to coach the Magic, but reneged on the deal and returned to Florida, which imposed a five-year moratorium on his pursuit of any NBA jobs. That’s long since expired, and had lapsed prior to last year, when Donovan rejected what Stein described as serious interest from the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves. The Nuggets and Magic planned to pursue Donovan this year, Stein reported in early April, but neither seemed to come after him with the conviction that the Thunder did.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Magic Sign Rob Hennigan To Extension
The Magic have signed GM Rob Hennigan to an extension that carries through the 2017/18 season, the Magic announced. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this morning that the sides were close (Twitter link). The news is no surprise, as Robbins reported a month ago that the team would seek an extension, and two weeks ago the Sentinel scribe relayed that all signs pointed to the sides striking a deal soon. Magic CEO Alex Martins stopped short of confirming that report, but he did make it clear that he’s pleased with the job that Hennigan has done since the team hired him in 2012. The previous terms of the GM’s contract took the pact through 2015/16, and Martins was wary of having such a key executive on an expiring deal, as Robbins detailed in his initial story on the team’s desire for an extension.
“Under the leadership of Rob, we feel that we are positioning ourselves to be able to contend in a long-term, sustainable fashion,” Martins said in the team’s statement. “We are proud of the work that Rob and our basketball operations department has done to this point and we look forward to taking the next steps in the process.
The feeling around the league earlier this month was that the Magic’s intention to extend Hennigan’s deal was a clear signal to candidates for the team’s coaching vacancy that they wouldn’t get personnel control, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher said. The Magic picked up team options for 2015/16 on Hennigan and former coach Jacque Vaughn last spring but fired Vaughn in February, forcing the coach and not the GM to face the ultimate consequences for the team’s failure to show significant improvement over the past three seasons. The team hired both Hennigan and Vaughn in the 2012 offseason and has gone 68-178 since, topping out at just 25 wins this past season.
Hennigan made what’s likely the most significant move of his tenure shortly after taking the job, when he traded Dwight Howard to the Lakers in August 2012 for a package that included three first-round picks and Nikola Vucevic, who blossomed in Orlando. The Magic and Hennigan signed Vucevic to a four-year, $48MM extension that includes incentives, and though Vucevic hasn’t matched the production of Howard, particularly defensively, he has nonetheless become more than a capable starting center. Hennigan also received Arron Afflalo in that trade, flipping him after he led the team in scoring last season for the much cheaper Evan Fournier, who’s performed a lot better in Orlando than he did in Denver.
The Magic now seek an experienced coach to pair with Hennigan and face key decisions in the offseason. Forward Tobias Harris, the jewel of the 2013 J.J. Redick trade, is set to become a restricted free agent, and Orlando is in line for another high lottery pick, with a better chance of drafting sixth than in any other spot in the first-round order, as our lottery odds table shows.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Chase Budinger Opts In With Wolves
7:43pm: Kevin Bradbury, Budinger’s agent, said that the decision was made quickly regarding the forward’s player option in order to give both sides “flexibility” while Minnesota makes the decision on whether or not it will keep Budinger, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune relays (Twitter links). The agent also said that Budinger’s late-season play proved he is 100% healthy and can play to the level he did prior to his injury, Zgoda adds.
WEDNESDAY, 5:19pm: Budinger has indeed exercised his player option for 2015/16, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports.
TUESDAY, 5:20pm: Small forward Chase Budinger intends to opt in and remain with the Timberwolves for the 2015/16 season, a source close to the player told Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 26-year-old would choose to remain in Minnesota for another go around, since the value of his option is likely more than he would command as an unrestricted free agent, though that is merely my speculation. Budinger has a player option worth $5MM for next season.
Minnesota currently has $51,065,800 in guaranteed salary already committed for the 2015/16 campaign, as well as $947,276 in non-guaranteed salary for Lorenzo Brown on its books. Budinger remaining with the team will remove some flexibility for coach/executive Flip Saunders, though Minnesota isn’t likely to be a big player in free agency this offseason, so the impact isn’t too severe. The team had previously expressed a willingness to trade Budinger, and reportedly tried to move him prior to this year’s trade deadline.
Budinger’s production in Minnesota never quite lived up to the three-year, $16MM contract he inked with the team back in 2013. He has been hampered by injuries and appeared in just 23, 41, and 67 games during his stint in the Twin Cities. During the 2014/15 campaign Budinger notched averages of 6.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 19.2 minutes per contest. The forward’s career numbers are 8.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists. His career slash line is .429/.358/.810.
Thunder Fire Scott Brooks
The Thunder have parted ways with coach Scott Brooks, the team announced via press release. A league source told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports moments earlier that the team had fired the coach. GM Sam Presti gave Brooks the news today, Wojnarowski tweets. Brooks becomes a top candidate for the Magic and Nuggets coaching vacancies, the Yahoo! scribe adds (on Twitter). University of Florida coach Billy Donovan is a “natural favorite” to succeed Brooks, though the team’s top target as of Tuesday was reportedly University of Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, who issued a statement today that he had no interest in leaving the school. Donovan is expected to become a serious candidate, Wojnarowski hears, seconding Stein, and Donovan has done background research on Kevin Durant, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
“This is an extremely difficult decision on many levels. Scott helped establish the identity of the Thunder and has earned his rightful place in the history of our organization through his seven years as a valued leader and team member,” Presti said in the team’s statement. “As we all know, this past year we had unique and challenging circumstances and as I have conveyed, not many people could have accomplished what Scott and this team were able to. Therefore, it is very important to state that this decision is not a reflection of this past season, but rather an assessment of what we feel is necessary at this point in time in order to continually evolve, progress and sustain.
“We determined that, in order to stimulate progress and put ourselves in the best position next season and as we looked to the future, a transition of this kind was necessary for the program. We move forward with confidence in our foundation and embrace the persistence and responsibility that is required to construct an elite and enduring basketball organization capable of winning an NBA championship in Oklahoma City.”
Brooks was under contract with the Thunder through next season and with a team option for 2016/17. Wojnarowski reported last week that several people close to the coach had doubts about his security in the job that he’d held since early in the 2008/09 season. Presti didn’t consult with Thunder players before making the move to let go of Brooks, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka all expressed their support for Brooks in the wake of Wojnarowski’s story last week.
It’s no surprise to see Brooks linked to the Magic, given that Orlando GM Rob Hennigan was working with Brooks in the Thunder organization when the Magic hired him in 2012. There are strong links between Presti and Donovan, too, as Presti has made two hires for the Thunder from Donovan’s staff, notes Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Brooks went 338-207 in parts of seven seasons with the Thunder and helped the team to the Finals in 2012. Still, he endured frequent criticism of his lineups and in-game strategy. Injuries befell the Thunder in the last two postseasons, and prolonged absences for Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and others derailed another shot at contention this season for the Thunder, who finished 45-37 and out of the playoffs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lakers Sign Vander Blue
7:58pm: The Lakers have made the signing of Blue official, according to the team’s website. There was no mention of a corresponding move, so evidently the Lakers have used the hardship provision again, as the team’s roster is once more at 16 players.
1:01pm: The Lakers have plans to sign Vander Blue for the rest of the season, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The team was reportedly about to re-sign Dwight Buycks instead, but he broke his right hand on Sunday, the final day of his 10-day contract. It’s not immediately clear whether the deal is just for the team’s final two games this season or if it covers next season, too, though the injury-riddled Lakers presumably wouldn’t have to waive anyone if they signed Blue only for the balance of 2014/15. The team has 15 players on the roster already, but the Lakers are in position for the league to grant a hardship exception, which would allow a 16th player as long as he’s on only a rest-of-season deal.
The 10-day deal with Buycks came via hardship, and the Lakers previously used hardship exceptions to sign Jabari Brown to a pair of 10-day deals before waiving Steve Nash to accommodate a longer-term arrangement with Brown. Jordan Clarkson and Brown are the only two healthy Lakers guards, so Blue, a 6’5″ shooting guard, will provide much-needed depth. The team only has eight total healthy players, and none of them are small forwards, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Blue get some time at the three position.
Blue has been averaging 23.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 37.3 minutes per game for the Lakers D-League affiliate this season, nailing 41.6% of his three-point attempts during his 49 appearances. All of those numbers are improvements over his D-League stats from last season. Blue is a one-year NBA veteran thanks to a single 10-day contract he signed with the Celtics in January 2014, and he scored five points in 15 minutes of action during three games with Boston. The 22-year-old also signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Wizards before this season, but Washington waived him in early October, well before opening night.
The Lakers are limited to the minimum-salary exception, so even if they are signing him for more than just this season and waiving another player to make that happen, Blue’s contract couldn’t stretch beyond next season.
Nuggets Sign Jamaal Franklin
SUNDAY, 3:16pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s website.
FRIDAY, 12:17pm: The Nuggets plan to sign former Grizzlies shooting guard Jamaal Franklin, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Presumably, Denver will slide Franklin into the roster spot that they filled with Shavlik Randolph earlier this week, since they’re reportedly poised to waive Randolph. The 23-year-old Franklin has been playing for the D-League affiliate of the Lakers.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote a month ago that Franklin was likely to sign with some NBA team in the near future. He’s not far removed from having been the 41st overall pick in the 2013 draft, and while he saw just 7.7 minutes per game in 21 appearances for the Grizzlies last season, it’s not at all surprising to see him resurface in the NBA. He displayed an all-around game in 21 D-League contests this season, averaging 19.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 34.1 minutes per game, numbers that were significant improvements on his D-League performance while on assignment from Memphis last season.
The Grizzlies waived Franklin at the end of August so they could use the stretch provision to spread his guaranteed salary for this season over a five-year period. The resulting payment this year, which came to less than $200K, left the Brian Elfus client with plenty of financial incentive to seek a lucrative deal wherever he could find one, and he signed with China’s Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in early October after workouts with the Spurs and Wizards. He averaged 28.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 4.6 APG in 33.8 MPG in 26 Chinese Basketball Association games before returning stateside.
Charania indicates that it’s a rest-of-season deal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Nuggets include an extra year in the arrangement to give themselves a greater degree of control, perhaps with a partial guarantee or guarantee dates built in, though that’s just my speculation. Even if his deal covers only the final days of this season, the Nuggets would be able to dictate his next NBA destination, since he’d be eligible for restricted free agency.
Kings Ink David Stockton To Multiyear Deal
SUNDAY, 12:15pm: The signing is official, the team announced. Stockton’s salary is not guaranteed for next season, reports Bill Herenda of CSNBayArea.com.
SATURDAY, 8:03am: The Kings are planning to sign guard David Stockton to a multiyear deal prior to the season ending, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports. With Sacramento’s roster count sitting at the league maximum of 15 players, the Kings will need to clear a spot prior to Stockton putting pen to paper on his new pact. The likeliest candidate to go would be big man Sim Bhullar, whose 10-day pact ends today, Stein notes. Sacramento’s next scheduled contest is Sunday against the Nuggets.
Stockton, the son of NBA legend John Stockton, went undrafted last year after four seasons at Gonzaga. The younger Stockton was in training camp with the Wizards but didn’t make it onto Washington’s regular season roster. Sacramento had a chance to sample the 23-year-old’s wares back in February when the team inked him to a lone 10-day pact, but Stockton only appeared in one contest while on that deal, scoring one point in seven minutes of action. The player spent the balance of this season in the D-League with the Reno Bighorns, Sacramento’s affiliate. In 43 D-League appearances he averaged a stellar 20.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 9.9 assists.
When Bhullar signed his 10-day deal with the Kings he made history as the first NBA player of Indian descent. The big man saw little action during his time in Sacramento, only appearing in 3 contests. Bhullar averaged 0.7 points and 0.3 rebounds in 1.0 minute per game.
Clippers Sign Lester Hudson To Multiyear Deal
6:32pm: Hudson’s contract includes a partial guarantee for next season, according to Ben Bolch of Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
5:41pm: The signing, which is a multi-year arrangement, is official, according to the team’s website. Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles (Twitter link) reports the contract contains a team option for next season. Next season’s salary is most likely non-guaranteed, since true team options are rare.
5:13pm: The Clippers will sign Lester Hudson on Saturday for the rest of the season, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register tweets. Hudson will fill the team’s open roster spot through the postseason since 10-day contracts are no longer allowed. By signing Hudson, the Clippers have apparently decided not to re-sign Nate Robinson.
The Clippers wanted to re-sign Robinson but the bone bruise in his left knee hasn’t fully healed and they didn’t want to wait any longer, according to a tweet from Arash Markazi of ESPN.com. Concerns over Robinson’s injury kept the Clippers from re-signing him after his two 10-day contracts expired last month. The team signed Hudson while Robinson was injured and Hudson’s 10-day deal was set to expire after Tuesday. Hudson is averaging 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11.3 minutes in three games since joining the club.
Hudson had been out of the NBA since 2012 before he inked his 10-day contract. Robinson averaged 5.1 points, 2.2 assists and 0.9 turnovers in 14.0 minutes per game during his nine contests with the Clips. Both played for Rivers when he was the coach of the Celtics.