Northwest Notes: Brooks, Thunder, Aldridge
Thunder GM Sam Presti doesn’t think Scott Brooks is a bad coach, but he believes he can find a better one, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Brooks was fired Wednesday after the Thunder narrowly missed the playoffs with a 45-37 record. Tramel speculates that the move was about the future, noting that Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have had the same coach since they entered the league. He said Presti likely wants to give them a fresh voice as they enter the next stage of their careers.
There’s more news from the Northwest Division:
- Three leading candidates to replace Brooks as Thunder coach were compared by Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Florida’s Billy Donovan and Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie have both been wildly successful as college coaches, while Tom Thibodeau has made the Bulls a perennial playoff team but is rumored to be in hot water in Chicago.
- LaMarcus Aldridge is the latest in a long line of talented power forwards in Portland, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com. When he was drafted by the Trail Blazers in 2006, it was to ultimately replace the man who he is now lining up against in the playoffs, the Grizzlies’ Zach Randolph. Aldridge said he remembers being labeled as a “project” early on. “People always called me ‘soft,’ but Z-Bo never did,” Aldridge said. “In practice, I would go at it. I wasn’t strong enough to bang, but I would bang with him as much as I could.” Randolph was dealt to the Knicks in 2007, but the Blazers are hoping to keep Aldridge. He is expected to be among the most sought-after free agents on the market this summer.
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Aldridge made comments to Holmes that echoed those he gave to Michael Lee of The Washington Post earlier this season in which he reflected on a time when he didn’t think the Blazers viewed him as a star in the making. “I wish I could say that,” Aldridge said to Holmes. “I want to give you that story so bad. But I’m trying to tell you, they did not believe in me in the beginning. I was a ‘project.'”
- After losing most of his season to shoulder surgery, Utah’s Alec Burks is looking forward to next year, reports Ryan McDonald of The Deseret News. The surgical procedure came just two months after Burks agreed to a four-year, $42MM extension with the Jazz. “It was tough,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that missing so many games, but I learned a lot. I’ll be able to play next year, and I can’t wait.”
And-Ones: Martin, Fontecchio, Jazz
The Jazz have some roster decisions to make regarding Trevor Booker, Joe Ingles, and Jeremy Evans this offseason, Randy Hollis of The Deseret News writes. Ingles can become a restricted free agent if the team tenders him a qualifying offer, Evans will be an unrestricted free agent, and only $250K of Booker’s $4,775,000 salary for 2015/16 is guaranteed. For their part, all three players want to return to Utah next season, and laud the organization and its coaching staff, Hollis notes. “The Jazz organization, they do a good job. It’s very family oriented, they do a lot of stuff for the fans. I mean, it’s just great,” Booker said. “Washington was a great experience, but I definitely enjoyed my time here in Utah a little more [than his previous four years in Washington with the Wizards].”
Out of the three, Evans is the likeliest not to return, with the forward only appearing in 38 games, and averaging just 2.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 7.0 minutes of action per contest, Hollis adds. “I feel like they have the confidence in me and I trust them that they’re going to make the right decision. That’s what they’re here for,” Evans said about Utah’s front office. “If I’m here, I’m gonna be so happy; I feel like this is my home. If not, I know it’s still going to be a bright future and I wish everybody the best.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- LSU sophomore power forward Jarell Martin has signed with agent Andy Miller of ASM Sports, Darren Heitner of SportsAgentBlog.com tweets. Martin is the 25th-best prospect on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and the No. 28 overall prospect according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required).
- Oklahoma State senior swingman Le’Bryan Nash has hired Matt Babcock and Adie von Gontard of APAA Sports Group to represent him, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). Nash is ranked as the No. 98 prospect by ESPN.com.
- Italian forward Simone Fontecchio, 19, will enter the 2015 NBA Draft, according to his agent Max Resini, Givony tweets. Fontecchio spent the last three seasons with Virtus Bologna of the Italian League. DraftExpress ranks the 6’6″ swingman as the No. 89 prospect in this year’s draft.
Northwest Notes: Brooks, Jazz, Wolves
Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey says that the team has a number of options to consider this offseason as the franchise looks to take its next step toward the playoffs, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News relays. The different scenarios that the team has come up with include trying to attract a big name free agent to add to its young core; continue building with youth through the draft; or potentially trading its first round pick this year as part of a package to acquire a veteran player, Genessy notes. “We’ll come up with something that is sound,” Lindsey said. “If sound means be bold, then we’ll do that. The Miller family is fully committed to that. … The neat thing is we have a full set of alternatives.”
Here’s more happenings from the Northwest Division:
- For their part, many of the Jazz‘s players would be happy to have the same roster as this season return for 2015/16, Genessy adds. “I think the group is really excited. It’s super young. I think we’re really just scratching the surface of what can happen,” forward Joe Ingles said. “The future’s there. The guys work hard. The coaches probably work even harder behind the scenes. Everyone’s excited.” Of course, Ingles may be a touch biased in his desire for the roster to remain intact, since he is eligible to become a restricted free agent this offseason if Utah tenders him a qualifying offer worth $1,045,059.
- Scott Brooks‘ tenure with the Thunder had far more positives than negatives, and the organization owes much of its identity to its former coach, Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman writes. Brooks was also great at developing young talent, something the former head coach didn’t get enough credit for, Carlson adds.
- Wolves executive/coach Flip Saunders said that Minnesota is going to prioritize improving its outside shooting this offseason, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. Saunders acknowledged that any upgrade to the team’s outside game may have to come from developing its own players, since today’s college game is long on athleticism and short on shooters, and that often those who are the best three-point shooters lack the athleticism to play in the NBA, Zgoda relays.
And-Ones: Bhamara, Jazz, Brooks
Satnam Singh Bhamara, a 7’1” 290-pound player from India, is considering declaring for the 2015 NBA Draft, Pete Thamel of SI.com writes. While the 19-year-old is unlikely to be selected this June, Bhamara is considered India’s best chance for producing its first NBA player, Thamel notes. Sim Bhullar became the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA this past season, but Bhullar was born in Canada.
Bhamara will be represented by both Relativity Sports and WME/IMG, and his advisers felt the best course of action for the player would be to develop and refine his skills instead of attending a junior college, the SI scribe adds. “I do think he’ll end up in the NBA because I’ve seen his progress over the last four years,” said IMG Director of Basketball Kenny Natt. “I’ve been in the league and know how guys like Satnam are looked upon. He has size, strength and touch. He has good hands and can run the floor. Those are the types of things that NBA teams value.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey‘s moves have resulted in Utah notching a record of 19-10 after the All-Star break, and the team being on the rise heading into the 2015/16 season, Doug Robinson of The Deseret News writes. Robinson points to the hiring of coach Quin Snyder, the selection of Dante Exum in the 2014 NBA draft, and matching the Hornets’ offer sheet to Gordon Hayward last summer as some of Lindsey’s recent successes.
- History is not on Thunder coach Scott Brooks‘ side in regards to retaining his job, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman writes. Tramel points to a number of instances where long-tenured coaches were replaced mainly to provide a new voice for the players, and the teams experiencing an uptick in performance as a result.
- The Knicks‘ difficult season at least allowed Carmelo Anthony to have surgery without impacting his team’s postseason chances, a luxury ‘Melo wouldn’t have had if he signed with a different franchise last summer, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “It was at a point if this was any other team he had to gone to, then they’d be taking away a lot of playoff hopes,’’ team president Phil Jackson said. “In our situation it was something he could do and we could accept it and move forward because next year was a real important year for him to come back and play at the highest level he can play at.’’
Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Brewer, Garnett
Sources close to the Nuggets say money won’t be an obstacle in the search for a new coach, reports Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. He speculated that veterans like Mike D’Antoni and Alvin Gentry could be had at an annual salary of $3MM to $4MM, as the chance to coach again would be more important than haggling over a contract. If they want Billy Donovan, the Nuggets would have to top his $3.7MM salary at the University of Florida and handle his $500K buyout. GM Tim Connelly has stated that he would like to fill the coaching vacancy before the June 25th draft.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- The Rockets’ Corey Brewer credits the Wolves for their help in finding him a new home, reports Brett Pollakoff of Pro Basketball Talk. Brewer, who has become an important reserve in Houston, said coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders helped him find his way to a playoff team with the December trade to Houston. “We looked at the trade options,” Brewer said of Saunders, “he gave me permission to talk to teams, and it worked out perfectly.” Brewer said the Rockets and Cavaliers were his top choices.
- Saunders is hoping to keep Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, according to Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. A sore knee has limited Garnett’s playing time since he was traded to the Wolves in February, but Saunders said the free-agent-to-be is working hard behind the scenes. “He is doing things right now to get ready to play [next season],” Saunders said.
- After having the best week of his NBA career with the Jazz, Bryce Cotton is returning to the life of a fringe NBA player, writes Brad Rock of The Deseret News. Cotton had a 21-point game Monday against Dallas and scored 14 Wednesday against Houston, but because his contract isn’t guaranteed for next season, he’s looking forward to the summer leagues and a chance to keep proving himself.
Pacers Win Tiebreaker For 11th Lottery Position
The Pacers won a random draw with the Jazz today that gives Indiana the 11th lottery position and Utah the 12th, reports Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). The teams finished with identical 38-44 records this season. Indiana will have an eight-in-1,000 chance at the No. 1 overall pick, and Utah will have a seven-in-1,000 chance, but while the extra chance the Pacers have probably won’t matter, the Pacers are in line to pick one spot in front of the Jazz if, as is most likely, neither team wins any of the top three picks.
The Lakers, who hold Houston’s first-rounder, won a random draw with the Celtics, who have the Clippers’ selection, for the 27th pick, so Boston will pick 28th, Washburn also reports (Twitter link). The Mavericks have the 21st pick and the Bulls the 22nd after winning the random draw between those teams, and the Grizzlies won their draw with the Spurs for pick No. 25, leaving San Antonio pick No. 26, according to Dan Feldman of ProBasketballTalk.com. We’ve updated our post showing this year’s draft order and lottery odds with the latest news.
The procedure for two teams tied for lottery spots dictates that they split the odds for the two positions they occupy, and that the winner of the tiebreaker receive the extra chance if there’s an odd number of them. But since the 11th team in the lottery receives eight chances out of 1,000 and the 12th gets seven chances out of 1,000 to win the lottery, the Pacers simply take over the odds of the 11th spot. There’s less than a 10% chance that either team will move up or back in the lottery.
The tiebreaker comes with a slight financial consequence for next season, since the Pacers will have the rookie scale amount for the 11th pick instead of the 12th counting against their cap, and the Jazz the opposite, a difference of nearly $100K. That difference will be slightly larger once the draftees sign for the usual 120% of those scale amounts. The teams could remove those respective cap hits if they and the players they pick agree in writing not to sign next season, but that’s an unlikely outcome.
Western Notes: McDaniels, Duncan, Brooks
Rockets rookie K.J. McDaniels will likely miss the playoffs due to a fractured wrist, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle relays (Twitter link). McDaniels has played sparingly since being acquired from the Sixers, appearing in 10 games and averaging 1.1 points in 3.3 minutes per night. The swingman will be a restricted free agent this summer if Houston extends him a qualifying offer worth $1,045,059.
Here’s more news out of the Western Conference:
- Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link) believes that Tim Duncan will put off retirement to return to the Spurs for his 19th NBA season. The 38-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
- Carlos Boozer said he would like to return to the Lakers if the team makes additions to the roster that would allow it to be a playoff contender, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. The unrestricted free agent also indicated that he would be open to a role off the bench, Pincus adds.
- Both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook offered support to embattled Thunder coach Scott Brooks, whom the team is reportedly evaluating prior to making a decision on his future, Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman relays (Twitter links). When asked about his coach’s performance, Westbrook said, “He did a great job. I don’t think he gets enough credit behind the scenes. Obviously he can’t make players do things they don’t want to do. With the group of guys we have on our team and the guys that wanted to be here, I thought he did a great job of keeping the boat afloat.“
- Trevor Booker, whose $4,775,000 salary for next season is non-guaranteed, indicated that he would like to remain with the Jazz, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News tweets. The forward appeared in 79 contests for the Jazz this season, averaging 7.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 19.8 minutes per game.
2015/16 Salary Commitments: Jazz
With the NBA regular season ending tonight, teams are now focusing on their first round series or anxiously awaiting the draft lottery results. With the playoffs set to begin on Saturday, teams’ rosters are now essentially locked in for the remainder of the postseason. We at Hoops Rumors are in the process of taking a look ahead at each franchise’s salary cap situation heading into the summer, and the free agent frenzy that occurs every offseason. While the exact amount of the 2015/16 salary cap won’t be announced until July, the cap is projected to come in somewhere around $67.4MM, with the luxury tax threshold projected at approximately $81MM. This year’s $63.065MM cap represented an increase of 7.7% over 2013/14, which was well above the league’s projected annual increase of 4.5%.
We’ll continue onward by taking a look at the Jazz’s cap outlook for 2015/16:
Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:
- Trey Burke — $2,658,240
- Alec Burks — $9,463,484
- Dante Exum — $3,777,720
- Derrick Favors — $12MM
- Rudy Gobert — $1,175,880
- Rodney Hood — $1,348,440
- Gordon Hayward — $15,409,470
- Grant Jerrett — $947,276
Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:
- Trevor Booker — $4,775,000 ($250K Guaranteed)
- Jack Cooley — $845,059
- Bryce Cotton — $845,059
- Chris Johnson — $981,348
- Elijah Millsap — $845,059
Players with options:
- None
The Jazz’s Cap Summary for 2015/16:
- Guaranteed Salary: $46,730,510
- Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $8,041,525
- Total: $54,772,035
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Northwest Notes: Kanter, Billups, Garnett
The Trail Blazers are playoff-bound, though they’ll have a higher seed than their record shows they deserve because they won the Northwest Division. If the Thunder lose or the Pelicans win tonight, Portland will be the Northwest’s only playoff representative. Here’s more from a division that’s proven a drag on the Western Conference’s claim to supremacy this season:
- It was obvious to opposing front office executives that the Jazz were under a ton of pressure to trade Enes Kanter at the deadline, as one of those executives tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, adding that the Jazz were only seeking a pick for the now-Thunder center. Kanter, a restricted free agent this summer, had pushed for a trade, and when Utah accommodated him, the Jazz received a lottery-protected first-rounder, a second-rounder and the rights to a draft-and-stash prospect along with Kendrick Perkins and Grant Jerrett.
- Chauncey Billups tells Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post that Timberwolves coach/executive Flip Saunders reached out to him last spring with the idea of making him the team’s lead assistant this season and its head coach for 2015/16. Billups reiterated to Kiszla that while he’d “never say never,” he doesn’t want to coach. The retired point guard would rather work as a team executive, and Kiszla urges the Nuggets to pursue him for such a role. Denver wanted to hire Billups for a front office job before this season, as the Post’s Christopher Dempsey wrote in October.
- Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune suggests that Minnesota’s trade for Kevin Garnett is more about ticket sales than Garnett’s on-court impact or his influence on prize rookie Andrew Wiggins. Garnett has played only five games since returning to the Wolves.
Jazz, Joe Ingles Mutually Interested In New Deal
There is mutual interest between Joe Ingles and the Jazz in the player returning to Utah next season, Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune writes. The 27-year-old can become a restricted free agent this summer if Utah extends him a qualifying offer worth $1,045,059. This would allow the Jazz to match any offer sheets the forward was to receive this offseason. Ingles is ineligible to ink an extension since his current deal was for a single season, and extensions are only for contracts that cover four or more years. The Jazz hold Ingles’ Non-Bird rights, which means they will only be able to offer the forward 20% above the minimum unless they utilize cap space or another exception.
Ingles arrived in Utah back in October after being released by the Clippers and claimed off of waivers. Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey was very complimentary of the Australian, telling Monson, “He’s exceeded our expectations as a teammate and a competitor. He’s an NBA player. He’s proved that this year. Hopefully, his experience has been good enough that he’ll consider us when the time comes.”
The appreciation isn’t one-sided, with Ingles proclaiming himself a fan of the organization. “Being here has been one of the best experiences I’ve had in basketball,” said Ingles. “It’s been great. The guys are unselfish and fun and I’ve had a great time. I love Utah and I’d like to come back. I feel like I’ve found the enjoyment of playing the game again here. Last year, at Maccabi Tel Aviv, was good. This has taken it to another level. I’d love to …”
In 78 appearances for the Jazz this season, including 31 as a starter, Ingles is averaging 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 21.2 minutes per night. His slash line is .422/.362/.750.