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By | at June 7, 2013 3:35 pm

If you want to keep tabs on all of Hoops Rumors' stories and updates, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed through your RSS reader of choice. However, if you prefer to only receive news about your favorite NBA team, we have you covered. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 30 teams.

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Longest-Tenured Coaches In The NBA

By | at June 4, 2013 3:50 pm

When an NBA team underachieves, its head coach typically becomes the scapegoat for the club's shortcomings. The roster may also undergo some changes, but typically veteran players are more expensive and more difficult to replace than a team's coach. As such, head coaches often bounce from job to job, from team to team, never lasting too long with a single franchise.

That has been more true than ever this summer, with six teams already hiring new head coaches, while four more clubs continue to search for replacements. And even with a third of the Association's teams already taking a ride on the coaching carousel, there may be more movement to come — the Grizzlies look like a good bet to replace Lionel Hollins, while one or two other coaches, such as the Raptors' Dwane Casey, don't appear to have totally solid footing.

The constant turnover in the coaching ranks makes it all the more impressive when a head coach stays in one spot for years, or even decades, in the case of Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. Popovich is by far the longest-tenured head coach in the NBA, but he's not the only one who has been with his team for a while now.

Here's the list of the current longest-tenured coaches in the NBA, along with the month and year in which they assumed the role:

  1. Gregg Popovich, Spurs: December 1996
  2. Doc Rivers, Celtics: April 2004
  3. George Karl, Nuggets: January 2005
  4. Erik Spoelstra, Heat: April 2008
  5. Rick Carlisle, Mavericks: May 2008
  6. Scott Brooks, Thunder: November 2008 (interim; permanent since April 2009)
  7. Lionel Hollins, Grizzlies: January 2009
  8. Monty Williams, Pelicans: June 2010
  9. Tom Thibodeau, Bulls: June 2010
  10. Frank Vogel, Pacers: January 2011 (interim; permanent since July 2011)
  11. Tyrone Corbin, Jazz: February 2011
  12. Kevin McHale, Rockets: June 2011
  13. Mark Jackson, Warriors: June 2011
  14. Dwane Casey, Raptors: June 2011
  15. Rick Adelman, Timberwolves: September 2011
  16. Randy Wittman, Wizards: January 2012 (interim; permanent since June 2012)
  17. Mike Woodson, Knicks: March 2012 (interim; permanent since May 2012)
  18. Jacque Vaughn, Magic: July 2012
  19. Terry Stotts, Trail Blazers: August 2012
  20. Mike D'Antoni, Lakers: November 2012
  21. Mike Brown, Cavaliers: April 2013
  22. Jeff Hornacek, Suns: May 2013
  23. Mike Budenholzer, Hawks: May 2013
  24. Steve Clifford, Bobcats: May 2013
  25. Larry Drew, Bucks: May 2013
  26. Michael Malone, Kings: June 2013
  27. ???, 76ers
  28. ???, Clippers
  29. ???, Nets
  30. ???, Pistons
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Implications Of Projected ’13/14 Cap, Tax Figures

By | at June 3, 2013 1:01 pm

Last night, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported (via Twitter) that the early estimates given to NBA owners and general managers have the 2013/14 salary cap rising to a projected $58.5MM from this year's $58.04MM. That figure isn't set in stone yet, and won't be until the first week of July, but if it's accurate, it's a tighter cap than we had expected — previous reports had estimated a figure in the neighborhood of $60MM.

Following up on that report, Stein adds today (via Twitter) that teams are being told the projected tax threshold for next season will be about $71.6MM. That wouldn't be a huge leap either, but it'd be more significant than the projected cap increase, considering this past season's tax line was about $70.31MM.

As mentioned, we won't officially know 2013/14's cap, tax, and salary restrictions for a few more weeks, but if we assume that Stein's reported figures end up being accurate, what will that mean for the free agent period this summer? Let's examine a few ways that teams and players could be affected…

  • Even with a $60MM cap, teams like the Rockets and Mavericks, who hope to make a run at Dwight Howard, would have had a hard time squeezing a maximum-salary offer in under the cap. With a $58.5MM cap, each team would have to make at least one trade to clear the room necessary for Howard's max first-year salary (about $20.51MM). The Hawks would also need to clear a little salary to make room for max offers for Howard and Chris Paul.
  • A year ago, player's maximum salaries rose by about 5.78%. I'd expect a smaller increase this year if the cap increase is as modest as Stein suggests. That won't affect players like Howard or Paul, who are eligible to make 105% of their previous salaries, since they're already earning more than the maximum. But it could impact the earning potential of other players who will be seeking the max, such as Nikola Pekovic, Josh Smith, and Brandon Jennings.
  • As Jeff Kramer of Storyteller's Contracts points out (via Twitter), projected taxpayers wouldn't mind seeing the tax threshold increase a little more, since the new CBA's more punitive tax penalties will be in effect for the first time in 2013/14. The higher the threshold, the less expensive the bill would be for a taxpaying team. The Nets, Bulls, Lakers, Heat, and Knicks are among the clubs that figure to be affected by the new tax rates.
  • If the tax threshold is at $71.6MM, that would put the apron ($4MM above the tax line) at $75.6MM. That would mean that teams acquiring a player via sign-and-trade, using the bi-annual exception, or using more than $3,182,700 in first-year mid-level exception money wouldn't be able to exceed that $75.6MM hard cap for the remainder of the season.

Despite a modest projected increase for 2013/14, the cap and tax lines are expected to increase substantially for the '14/15 season, according to cap expert Larry Coon. Coon tweets that the current projected figures for '14/15 are a $62.1MM cap and $75.7MM tax line.

Based on those numbers, it's possible we see teams maneuvering to avoid handing out big salaries this season, preferring instead to spend money in the summer of 2014 and beyond, when they'll have more cap flexibility. Additionally, the free agent class of '14 figures to be more star-studded than this year's class, with LeBron James and his early termination option leading a group that could also include Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins.

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NBA Award-Winners And Their Agencies

By | at June 1, 2013 3:23 pm

All of this year's award-winning players have their hardware now, with the exception of the Finals MVP. We'll have to wait at least a couple more weeks to find out who that will be, but the rest of the award-winners have been feted with press conferences and pregame ceremonies. Behind the scenes, their agents have no doubt been celebrating as well, particularly those whose clients have contract negotiations on the agenda this summer.

Using the Hoops Rumors Agency Database, we can get an idea of the league's most powerful agencies through the prism of this year's awards. The Creative Artists Agency is this year's most decorated outfit, boasting eight players who took home honors this spring. Three of them — Chris Paul, Paul George and J.R. Smith — could be calling on CAA to help them cash in on their success this summer. Five other agencies boast multiple award-winners. Rich Paul's Klutch Sports Group only has one client on this list, but it's the one to have: LeBron James.

Here's the complete list. The specific agent assigned to each client, when known, is in parentheses.

Creative Artists Agency

Landmark Sports Agency, Inc.

Excel Sports Management

Wasserman Media Group 

  • Russell Westbrook, All-NBA Second Team (Thad Foucher)
  • Marc Gasol, All-NBA Second Team, Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defensive Second Team (Arn Tellem)
  • Anthony Davis, All-Rookie First Team (Arn Tellem)
  • Kyle Singler, All-Rookie Second Team (Greg Lawrence)

BDA Sports Management

Priority Sports & Entertainment

  • David Lee, All-NBA Third Team (Mark Bartelstein)
  • Bradley Beal, All-Rookie First Team (Mark Bartelstein)

24/7 Sports Management

ASM Sports

Goodwin Sports Management

  • Damian Lillard, Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie First Team (Aaron Goodwin)

Klutch Sports Group

  • LeBron James, MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-Defensive First Team (Rich Paul)

Lagardere Unlimited

Relativity Sports

Williams & Connolly

  • Tim Duncan, All-NBA First Team, All-Defensive Second Team (Jim Tanner)

*-Player is a free agent this summer
^Player is eligible for a rookie-scale extension this summer
#-Player can exercise an early-termination or player option this summer 

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Revisiting Our 2012/13 NBA Predictions

By | at May 30, 2013 11:41 am

Back in October, eight members of the Hoops Rumors writing team submitted their predictions for the coming 2012/13 season. Considering those predictions were made at a time when the Lakers were viewed as a potential juggernaut, the Timberwolves were relatively healthy, and there still seemed to be a chance that Andrew Bynum and Derrick Rose would see the court at some point, some of our picks look worse than others.

With the season coming to an end though, and all the major awards having been handed out, we’ll take ownership of all our picks, rounding up some of the highlights and lowlights of the bunch. You can view our full list of predictions right here.

The Good:

  • It wasn’t a hard pick to make, but five of us had LeBron James winning the league’s Most Valuable Player award, while another two chose Kevin Durant, who finished as the runner-up.
  • We did fairly well on Rookie of the Year as well, with three of us picking eventual winner Damian Lillard, while the other five went with runner-up Anthony Davis.
  • We didn’t do quite so well as a group on Sixth Man of the Year, but Ryan Raroque correctly predicted that J.R. Smith would take home the hardware.
  • Michael Pina called Paul George as the NBA’s Most Improved Player.
  • We’ll have to wait to see whether the Heat ultimately come out of the East, but seven of us had Miami in the NBA Finals, while Zach Links and Daniel Seco both identified the Pacers as the team the Heat would beat in the Eastern Finals.
  • Zach and Daniel, making their picks just days after the James Harden trade was consummated, also correctly predicted that the deal would make the Rockets a playoff team in the West.
  • Michael and I both had the Spurs coming out of the West, meaning my predicted Finals matchup (Heat/Spurs) remains in play.

The Bad:

  • As a group, we were relatively bullish on the Timberwolves and Jazz — each team received five votes for a playoff spot in the West, but ended up in the lottery.
  • The 76ers earned the highest projection for a team that missed the postseason, having been placed fourth in the East by Chuck Myron and Alex Lee.
  • Perhaps if it hadn’t been for Russell Westbrook‘s knee injury, a few of our predictions out West would look better. Six of us had the Thunder advancing to at least the Western Finals, while none of us had the Grizzlies in the series.
  • We also underestimated the Knicks; only two of us had them finishing higher than sixth in the East, and no one projected them to place higher than fourth.
  • I think our choices for Most Improved Player were fairly good across the board (particularly Chuck’s Andray Blatche pick and Zach’s Omer Asik selection), but the fact remains: Besides George, none of our picks were even among the top five vote-getters for the award.

The Ugly:

  • “Ugly” is an appropriate descriptor for the Lakers’ season, and just about everyone misfired on them. That’s particularly noticeable when looking at our Western Conference Finals picks — seven of us thought they’d play in the Western Finals and four of us expected them in the NBA Finals.
  • Sixth Man of the Year is a difficult award to project since it often relies so heavily on a coach’s lineup decisions. But given the decline in production by players like Jason Terry and Antawn Jamison, many of our choices look especially off.
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Lakers Notes: Howard, 2014 Free Agency, Kupchak

By | at May 29, 2013 7:19 pm

Their season might have ended in extreme disappointment, but things are never boring for long in Los Angeles when it comes to the Lakers. Here are a few bits of news with how the team plans to bounce back in the future months.

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Schedule Of Contract Guarantee Dates

By | at May 29, 2013 3:55 pm

Earlier this month, Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors listed the offseason dates on which certain players’ contracts will become guaranteed during the coming summer and fall. Today, with the help of ShamSports’ contract database, we’ll go one step further, creating a timeline of guarantee dates for each and every player who currently has a non-guaranteed deal for 2013/14.

Using the following list, we can track teams’ various cap commitments as they arise starting in June and continuing until next January. Unless otherwise indicated, these players are on minimum-salary contracts. Their contracts will become guaranteed for the given amounts if they’re not waived on or before the dates indicated.

For instance, in the first example on the list, Matt Bonner‘s contract with the Spurs is currently guaranteed for $1,000,000. If he’s not released on or before June 29th, it becomes fully guaranteed for $3,945,000. If he’s waived on or before June 29th, San Antonio would still pay the $1MM he’s already owed, but would save the other $2,945,000.

Players listed multiple times will have their guarantee amounts increased the longer they remain on a roster. For example, Terrence Williams will earn $200,000 if he remains on the Celtics’ roster beyond June 30th. That amount will increase to $300,000 if he’s still on the roster past September 1st. Williams’ contract would eventually become fully guaranteed if he’s still hasn’t been cut by October 31st.

Here’s the complete list:

  • None remaining as of 1-7-14
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Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors

By | at May 27, 2013 10:23 am

As we've outlined before, there are a number of different ways to follow Hoops Rumors via Facebook, Twitter, and RSS. If you don't want to follow all the site's updates, you can follow team-specific or transaction-only Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds. Although we don't have Facebook pages or Twitter feeds for specific players, you can also easily follow all our updates on your favorite player.

If, for instance, you want to keep track of all the latest news and rumors on Josh Smith as his free agency approaches, you can visit this page. If you're interested in keeping tabs on what the Raptors' new head of basketball operations will do with Andrea Bargnani this summer, all Bargnani-related updates are located here.

Every player we've written about has his own rumors page. You can find your player of choice by using our search box (located in the right sidebar); by clicking his tag at the bottom of a post where he's discussed; or, by simply typing his name in your address bar after hoopsrumors.com, substituting dashes for spaces. For example, Smith's page is located at hoopsrumors.com/josh-smith.

In addition to players and teams, there are a number of other subjects you can track by clicking on the tags we use at the bottom of posts. Items related to the 2013 NBA draft, for instance, can be found on its rumors page. If you want to continue to follow updates on Seattle's attempts to bring an NBA team back to the city, those are all available here.

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Pacific Notes: Clippers, Pack, Kings, Evans

By | at May 26, 2013 10:20 pm

After a 25-57 season, the Suns decided earlier today to move on from interim coach Lindsey Hunter and instead hire Jeff Hornacek.  The Suns may not be ready for the playoffs next year, but they hope to take a few strides towards success in 2013/14.  Here's more out of the Pacific Division..

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Hoops Rumors Features

By | at May 24, 2013 1:44 pm

Hoops Rumors passes along the latest news and rumors on NBA player movement 365 days a year, but those aren't the only updates you'll see on the site. On our right sidebar, you'll find a number of additional features and featured posts. Here's a rundown of a few of them:

  • We'll be keeping a close eye on free agency this summer with the help of our list of 2013 free agents. If you want to look ahead to the summer of 2014, we've rounded up those free agents as well. Both lists will continue to be modified as needed.
  • Our Free Agent Tracker, which features data sortable by team, position, contract years, and contract amount, currently includes last summer's signings and will be used to track the upcoming summer's deals as well.
  • Speaking of those upcoming signings, we've started looking ahead to a number of specific free agent cases in our Free Agent Stock Watch series, which we'll continue through July.
  • Our agency database is a handy reference point for determining the representation for virtually every NBA player.
  • We've taken a closer look at a number of this year's draft-eligible players in our Prospect Profile series.
  • Using our 10-day contract tracker, you can find any 10-day contract signed since 2007, sorting by player, team, year, and other variables.
  • On Mondays at 4:00pm CT, I answer readers' questions in a live chat. You can check out transcripts of our past live discussions here.
  • Our list of outstanding traded player exceptions is updated whenever a trade exception is created, is used, or expires.
  • We're also tracking teams' amnesty provisions — using our complete list, you can check to see which clubs have used the amnesty clause and which will carry it into the summer.
  • The Hoops Rumors glossary helps explain some of the more complex concepts in the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement.
  • Zach Links rounds up the best of the blogosphere every Sunday in his weekly Hoops Links feature.
  • If you're looking to catch up on a few days worth of content, our Week in Review posts round up the week's news and rumors, while our Hoops Rumors Originals posts recap the site's original content for the week. Both round-ups are published every Sunday.
  • Be sure to check out the Featured Posts section on the right sidebar for more original pieces from the Hoops Rumors writing team. Recently, we listed offseason guarantee dates for players on non-guaranteed contracts for 2013/14, re-examined Stephen Curry's contract extension, and explained how playing time will affect certain players' qualifying offers this summer.
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