Wizards Sign Randy Wittman To Extension
2:41pm: The deal is official, according to the team, which made the announcement on its website.
“We are pleased with the progress the team has made on the court and with the culture we have been able to build with Randy as our head coach,” GM Ernie Grunfeld said. “We will look to continue that momentum with him deservedly leading this group of dedicated and hard-working players.”
12:47pm: The Wizards and Randy Wittman have agreed on a three-year extension that will give the coach about $3MM per season through 2016/17, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported the sides were close to a deal last week. The third season will be a team option, Lee writes.
Wittman’s contract had been set to expire at the end of the month after he led the Wizards closer to the conference finals than they’ve been since 1979, the last time they won multiple games in the second round. Washington also made a 15-game improvement in the regular season, but the coach’s job apparently still remained in jeopardy until the Wizards dispatched the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs.
Washington is 91-122 in parts of three seasons under Wittman, who’s 191-329 overall as an NBA head coach, having also spent time with the Cavs and Timberwolves. This season was the first time Wittman’s coached a team to a record of better than .500, so perhaps that explains the Wizards’ reported hesitance to commit to him before he’d proven himself in the playoffs. Still, Washington is on the rise, and up-and-coming stars John Wall and Bradley Beal endorsed the coach at season’s end.
Draft Notes: McRae, Hood, Young, Suns, Smart
Earlier today, our own Zach Links (Twitter links) spoke with Tennesee guard Jordan McRae who told Hoops Rumors that he has worked out for the Heat, Pistons, and 76ers in addition to his previously reported audition with the Bulls. Still on the docket for McRae are workouts with the Bucks, Raptors, Mavericks, Wizards, Pacers, and Rockets. In total, McRae says he has “about nine” workouts to go, so there should be even more clubs on the horizon for him (link). DraftExpress currently has McRae pegged to go to Toronto at No. 59 in their mock draft. Here’s the latest draft news from around the league..
- Rodney Hood, James Young, Zach LaVine, and Clint Capela are among those working out for the Suns today whom we hadn’t previously heard about. Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic has the details (Twitter links).
- Marcus Smart says he’ll work out a second time for the Magic, tweets Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com.
- The Knicks will audition Patric Young, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com hears (Twitter link). They brought Markel Starks in for a look this weekend, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
- Orlando Sanchez has already shown off for Kings, and he’ll also do so for Pacers, as Josh Newman of SNY.tv chronicles.
- The Bucks brought Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Cameron Clark, Josh Huestis, Melvin Johnson, Ovie Soko, and Fuquan Edwin in for auditions today, the team announced. Our own Zach Links interviewed Huestis in April as a part of our Prospect Profile series.
- Edwin also has the Suns on his agenda, and he’s already worked out for the Spurs, Sixers, Kings and Clippers, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel adds the Knicks and Sixers to the list of teams for which Antetokounmpo auditioned (Twitter link).
- Bryce Cotton is headed for a workout with the Mavs on Wednesday, tweets Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal.
- DeAndre Kane, Jake Odum, Jakarr Sampson, and Okaro White are among those performing for the Grizzlies today, as Michael Cohen of The Commercial Appeal details in a subscription-only piece.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Cavs, Bucks, Sixers, Temple
Another team with a top-three pick has inquired with the Cavs about trading up for the first overall pick, reports Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. That means either the Bucks, currently picking second, or Sixers, at No. 3, would like to see if they can improve their respective draft positions. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference, home to the teams with five of the top six selections in the draft:
- Soon-to-be free agent Garrett Temple says he’ll consider teams that offer an expanded role for him, but he nonetheless adds that he’d “love” to be back with the Wizards, as Ben Standig of CSNWashington.com observes.
- NBA veteran Lance Thomas has dropped out of this week’s Nets workout, tweets Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.
- Semaj Christon, Bryce Cotton, Deonte Burton, Russ Smith, Kendrick Perry, Kyle Casey, Reger Dowell and Tim Frazier are the previously unreported players working out for the Celtics today. Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe passes along the list on Twitter.
Eastern Rumors: ‘Melo, Griffin, Pistons, Saric
A source tells Ian Begley of ESPN.com that Carmelo Anthony would “embrace” playing for Mark Jackson, but that doesn’t mean he only wants to play for Jackson or would feel uncomfortable playing for anyone else, Begley cautions. Knicks president Phil Jackson hasn’t ruled out hiring the former Warriors coach, but it doesn’t appear as though there are plans for an interview. Jackson appears to be a leading candidate for the Cavs job, though no interview has been scheduled with Cleveland, either. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Adrian Griffin impressed the Cavs during his interview for the team’s coaching job this week, with one source telling Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio that the performance as “fantastic” (Twitter link).
- Spurs assistant GM Scott Layden, former Heat GM Randy Pfund and former Pelicans GM Jeff Bower are among the candidates for the Pistons GM job, reports Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Stu Jackson, who’s completed an interview for the job, and Otis Smith are the previously reported names.
- Dario Saric reportedly would come to the NBA for next season if the Celtics or Lakers were to draft him, but the C’s consider him a candidate for their pick at No. 17, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald, indicating that he’s not in the mix to go at No. 6.
- Marcin Gortat is likely in line for $10-12MM salaries while Trevor Ariza will look for $8-9MM as both Wizards hit free agency this summer, writes Michael Lee of The Washington Post.
Wizards, Randy Wittman Near Deal
THURSDAY, 9:23am: The third year in Wittman’s rumored deal would be a team option, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post.
TUESDAY, 11:13pm: Wittman is set to receive between $3MM and $3.5MM a year, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
2:48pm: The Wizards are close to agreeing on a three-year deal for coach Randy Wittman, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Owner Ted Leonsis said earlier today that Wittman, who coached this season on an expiring contract, deserved to return, tweets Dianna Marie Russini of NBC News4 in Washington (hat tip to Michael Lee of The Washington Post). The news is no surprise, since Washington just completed its best postseason performance in 32 years, but there were rumors entering the playoffs that a first-round exit would spell the end of Wittman’s tenure in the nation’s capital.
Leonsis hesitated to resolve Wittman’s situation in the immediate wake of the team’s playoff run, preferring to let the “raw emotion” of the season pass. That was in contrast to the Blazers, who locked up Terry Stotts for three more years just one day after San Antonio eliminated Portland from the playoffs. A three-year deal for Wittman would give him a contract that runs longer than that of GM Ernie Grunfeld, who’s set to enter the final season of his deal in 2014/15, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Leonsis and Grunfeld talk extension this summer.
Wittman, 54, just finished his second full season as Wizards coach, having taken over for Flip Saunders at midseason in 2011/12. Washington is just 91-122 under Wittman’s direction, and he’s a woeful 191-329 overall in parts of eight seasons as an NBA head coach. Still, he engineered a 15-game improvement in the standings this past season, overseeing the club as it won its first second-round playoff game since 1982.
Wizards ‘Stealth Candidate’ For Kevin Love
Kevin Love has a lingering affection for the Wizards, the franchise with which his father spent most of his NBA career, making Washington a “stealth candidate” for the sought-after Timberwolves star, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his latest Morning Tip column for NBA.com. The idea of trading Love is reportedly growing on the Wolves, but there’s little chance that Love will follow his dad’s footsteps to Washington, as Aldridge suggests Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders would ask for Bradley Beal in such a swap.
There’s nonetheless a connection between Saunders and Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld, for whom Saunders worked as Washington’s head coach from 2009 to 2012. The Wizards gave up their first-round pick this year in the Marcin Gortat trade, but they have all their other picks available for future seasons if Saunders showed interest. Still, the Washington roster is devoid of up-and-coming young talent aside from Beal, John Wall and Otto Porter, last year’s No. 3 overall pick who spent most of his rookie season buried on the bench.
The Wizards could eschew the idea of a trade and attempt to mount an effort to sign Love as a free agent next year, when he can opt out of his contract, but that would likely force Washington to let Gortat and Trevor Ariza walk away this summer. The team has roughly $34MM in commitments for 2015/16, not including the nearly $5.7MM team option on Beal for that season, so there’d be no room to accommodate new long-term deals at market price for Ariza and Gortat along with a max contract for Love.
The All-Star power forward’s middle name is Wesley, a nod to Washington Hall-of-Famer Wes Unseld, but Love has his eyes on destinations other than the nation’s capital, with the Warriors, Bulls and Celtics among the latest additions to his wish list. The Lakers have long seemingly been in Love’s sights, and they still reportedly hold plenty of appeal to the former UCLA Bruin.
Draft Rumors: Harris, Young, Robinson, Smart
NBA executives are gathered in Southern California for a series of workouts involving draft hopefuls, and Chad Ford of ESPN.com passes along some intel in an Insider-only piece. Gary Harris has used hot shooting to impress and he’s a likely top-10 pick, Ford believes. He’ll work out for the Celtics and Bulls. among other teams, according to Ford. James Young is drawing interest from a slew of teams, including the Hornets, Sixers, Nuggets, Magic, Timberwolves and Suns, while many clubs are high on Glenn Robinson III after he performed well in a workout for the Bulls this past Monday, Ford writes. Here’s more on the draft:
- Marcus Smart has workouts scheduled with the Magic and Celtics, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter links).
- Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times adds the Nuggets to the list of teams that interviewed Aaron Gordon at last week’s draft combine in Chicago.
- The Clippers, Pacers, Pistons and Wizards are among the clubs interested in Virginia swingman Joe Harris, Woelfel writes in the same piece, reiterating that the Bucks are eyeing him, too. Harris spoke to Zach Links of Hoops Rumors recently for our Prospect Profile series.
- Chane Behanan will work out for the Mavs next month, Goodman also tweets.
Offseason Outlook: Washington Wizards
Guaranteed Contracts
- John Wall ($13,701,250)
- Nene ($13,000,000)
- Martell Webster ($5,381,750)
- Bradley Beal ($4,505,280)
- Otto Porter ($4,470,480)
Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- Andre Miller ($4,625,000; guaranteed for $2,000,000)*
- Glen Rice Jr. ($816,482; guaranteed for $400,000)
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- Trevor Ariza ($11,590,920)
- Marcin Gortat ($11,590,920)
- Kevin Seraphin ($6,902,785)
- Trevor Booker ($5,877,050)
- Chris Singleton ($2,489,530)**
- Drew Gooden ($915,243)
- Al Harrington ($915,243)
- Garrett Temple ($915,243)
Draft Picks
- 2nd Round (46th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $43,458,760
- Options: $0
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $3,041,482
- Cap Holds: $41,196,934
- Total: $87,697,176
The Wizards entered this season without having won a single game in the second round of the playoffs since 1982, so to come away with two such victories is quite a leap for Washington. Still, the accomplishment comes amid a historic ebb in the strength of the Eastern Conference, in which only two teams finished with more than 48 wins in the regular season. Making it to the second round is but a step along a journey to the ultimate goal of a championship, and navigating the rest of that path might prove just as challenging for a franchise that faces critical decisions this summer.
The first move will seemingly involve a new deal for coach Randy Wittman, who coached this past season on an expiring contract. It seemed his job was safe as he piloted the Wizards to their first playoff appearance in six years, but Marc Stein of ESPN.com revealed that there seemed a decent chance as the playoffs began that the Wizards would part ways with him if they didn’t get past the first round. It’s been a week since the Pacers put Washington out in the second round and there’s still no news of a contract for Wittman, but owner Ted Leonsis has expressed a desire to take some time before making any decisions. Ostensibly, there remains a chance that either the Wizards, Wittman or both decide to end their relationship, but it seems slim at best even as time passes and other teams looking for coaches intensify their searches.
The fluidity of Washington’s coaching situation pales in comparison to the roster, which features only a handful of guaranteed contracts. Re-signing Marcin Gortat appears to be job No. 1 for Washington, a task that will likely require salaries of around $10MM a year. The 30-year-old seems to like playing for the Wizards, but capable starting centers always come at a premium. The Mavs are interested in snatching him away, and others will no doubt pursue the 6’11” center. There’s probably a strong chance that his $10MM price tag goes up, particularly in a free agent market that’s heavy on restricted free agents and players who can opt in for next season.
Any escalation in what Gortat can command will have a direct effect on Trevor Ariza, Washington’s other starter set to hit free agency. Executives around the NBA told Grantland’s Zach Lowe that they expect Ariza and Gortat to run up a combined annual cost of $15-20MM on their next deals. That means Washington’s cap flexibility will likely vanish if the team signs them both. There’s reason for the Wizards to have trepidation about paying too much for Ariza, whose 14.4 points per game this past season approached a career high and who has only twice scored more than 11.0 points per contest in his 10 years in the league.
The free agent pool doesn’t offer much long-range shooting, which could drive up the price for Ariza, who made 40.7% of his three-point attempts this season. The Hawks appear to have him on their list of potential targets, and the Cavs, who can clear plenty of cap room, reportedly engaged in trade discussions about him with the Wizards at the deadline. The lack of shooters on the market could also make it difficult for the Wizards to sign a replacement if he winds up elsewhere. The club is nonetheless confident in Martell Webster, who signed with the team for the full value of the mid-level last summer and whose 39.2% three-point shooting this season was nearly on par with Ariza’s accuracy, even though Webster slumped in the playoffs.
Gortat would be the team’s choice if it can’t re-sign both of them, reportedly in part because of the presence of Webster. There’s also Otto Porter, whom the Wizards no doubt hope will become the long-term solution at small forward. The No. 3 overall pick never earned consistent minutes after an injury sidelined him for the early part of the season, but better health in 2014/15 would seem to offer promise of marked improvement ahead for the former Georgetown Hoya. Locking up Ariza on a long-term deal with Webster’s salary already guaranteed through 2015/16 would signal that the Wizards have quickly lost faith in Porter, and it seems too early to give up on him.
Porter apparently isn’t the only player from Georgetown on the minds of GM Ernie Grunfeld and company. A January report indicated that the team was interested in Greg Monroe, and that news came just days before word of the team’s desire to re-sign Gortat. Inking both Monroe and Gortat wouldn’t make sense for the Wizards, who already have Nene on a long-term contract that would be difficult to trade, so perhaps the team views Monroe as a fallback option to Gortat. Agent David Falk has designs on a max contract for Monroe, who’s still a couple of weeks shy of his 24th birthday and seems likely to command higher salaries than Gortat will. Landing Monroe, who’d make around $14MM on a max deal next season, would probably mean both Gortat and Ariza are goners, but Washington’s full Bird Rights on both of its free agents wouldn’t necessarily preclude the return of Ariza, at least.
Regardless of what happens with Gortat, Ariza and any potential replacements, the Wizards have an opportunity to reshape their bench. Washington is leaning toward keeping Andre Miller, which would require the team to fully guarantee more than $4.6MM to a 38-year-old backup point guard. Grunfeld’s final decision on Miller may hinge on the team’s plans for the rest of the roster. There’s a decent chance it comes to down to a choice between committing to the $2.6MM non-guaranteed portion of Miller’s salary and having the ability to squeeze another full mid-level signing under the tax line. Miller’s salary becomes fully guaranteed before free agency begins in July, complicating the decision. If reports between now and then indicate that Gortat and Ariza are drawing interest from several other clubs, suggesting the price to retain them is going up, I wouldn’t be surprised if the team cuts Miller loose.
The Wizards also face decisions regarding qualifying offers for Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin. Booker triggered the starter criteria and is thus in line for a qualifying offer worth $4,677,708, as I explained in March. Seraphin’s qualifying offer would be $3,898,692, somewhat less expensive but nonetheless less likely to be tendered. Seraphin proved unready to take over as the team’s starting center in the absence of the injured Emeka Okafor in the preseason, helping motivate Grunfeld to trade for Gortat. Seraphin wound up falling out of the rotation entirely, and he seems destined for the minimum salary on his next NBA deal.
Booker will probably command more than that, but an offer that’s close to mid-level money seems mighty costly for a player who lost minutes in the playoffs to amnesty refugee Drew Gooden. The team went 23-22 when he started this season, not much worse than its 21-16 record with Nene as its starter, but even if the Wizards wind up re-signing him at a salary close to what his qualifying offer would be, Washington needn’t tether itself to that price. The Wizards would still have Booker’s Bird Rights if they declined to make the qualifying offer, so they’d still have a weapon to ward off interest from other teams even without the right of first refusal.
Grunfeld won’t have the biannual exception at his disposal, having used it last summer on Eric Maynor, who flopped as the backup point guard. Still, the GM was able to swing the deal that brought in Miller, jettisoned Maynor and sent away 2011 No. 6 overall pick Jan Vesely, a high-profile draft bust on Grunfeld’s record. The 2013/14 season was a season of redemption for past failures up and down the Wizards organization, one in which so many of the team’s gambles, including last summer’s max extension for John Wall, were validated. We’ll see this summer whether Grunfeld is willing to go down the familiar path, spend the team’s money on its existing cast, and bank on continued improvement, or if he’ll risk significant changes to the most accomplished Wizards team in decades.
Cap footnotes
* — Miller’s contract becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before June 28th.
** — The cap hold for Singleton is equivalent to the greatest amount Washington can offer him for next season. Because the Wizards declined their fourth-year team option on Singleton before the season, they aren’t allowed to re-sign him for a 2014/15 salary that’s more than he would have earned on that option.
ShamSports and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
And-Ones: LeBron, Wittman, Levien, Dunleavy Sr.
LeBron James didn’t have much to say about the Cavaliers’ recent NBA Draft lottery coup or the speculation that he could decide to return to Cleveland if he opts out this summer, telling Charlie McCarthy of FOX Sports Florida, “I heard about it but I don’t really have thoughts about it. … I’m in the middle of the conference finals, I’m not worried about draft lotteries, draft conversations. That’s the last thing on my mind.
Interestingly enough, LeBron added, “(The Heat aren’t) the most talented team, I don’t think, in the NBA. ... There are other talented teams. We have some very, very high IQ basketball players. I think IQ is more important than talent.”
With that aside, here’s more of this evening’s miscellaneous news and notes:
- The Wizards haven’t been in a rush to make a decision on Randy Wittman‘s future, and a source tells Michael Lee of the Washington Post that there is no current timetable to get something done. Wittman, who led the team to its first playoff series win since 2004/05, was given strong endorsements from John Wall, Bradley Beal, Andre Miller, and several other team veterans after the season had ended.
- Although former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien’s recent resignation sent shockwaves around the league, sources tell Sean Deveney of the Sporting News that tension between Levien and team owner Robert Pera had actually been building for months.
- On ESPN Radio’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” Mike Dunleavy Sr. said that he hopes he has a shot at the Knicks head coaching job, adding that he’s very familiar with the triangle offense: “I played in the triangle system down in Houston, it was kind of left over from when Tex Winter coached there. All my teams, I’ve run it as a transition set. … Maybe I’m the outside guy from the other guys that [Phil Jackson will] talk to, former players who played in the system and other guys who coached under him in the system. But at least I do know the system. I have run it” (H/T to Al Iannazzone of Newsday).
- Timberwolves star Kevin Love may be the NBA’s most valuable player available for trade since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar requested out of Milwaukee in 1974, explains Kevin Pelton of ESPN (Insiders only).
Wizards Rumors: Gortat, Ariza, Porter
The Wizards are interested in re-signing Trevor Ariza as well as Marcin Gortat, but there’s concern that they’ll prove too expensive to retain, Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote last week. Meanwhile, executives around the league told Zach Lowe of Grantland that they believe Gortat and Ariza will cost a combined $15-20MM in annual salaries. Here’s the latest out of D.C., where we could see some big checks written this summer..
- Ariza is a free agent this summer but he continues to be extremely complimentary of the Wizards, writes Michael Lee of the Washington Post. “I think trust,” Ariza said, when asked what was most important to him. “Having trust in where you are, with your organization, with your teammates, is No. 1. “And how comfortable you are, how comfortable my family is, and this year, my family has been extremely comfortable. We loved our neighborhood that we lived in. The organization has been great. My teammates, we hang out all the time, so I think this is a really good destination. Free agents would be crazy not to want to come here.”
- Free-agent-to-be Gortat reiterated his affinity for the Wizards, this week, writes Brandon Parker of the Washington Post. Gortat was hesitant to come to D.C. in the Suns trade but ultimately felt at home in his new surroundings.
- When asked if this was a “lost season,” Wizards rising sophomore Otto Porter said that he saw his rookie campaign as a “learning season,” Lee tweets. Porter struggled during his first NBA season and the club even considered sending the No. 3 overall pick to the D-League.