And-Ones: Coaches, Wolves, Cavs
A league executive tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer that Dante Exum, who considers himself a point guard, will be taken high as a potential point guard despite his uncommon size and skill set for the position. The executive believes Exum will wind up a shooting guard, but says that Michael Carter-Williams‘ standout rookie performance as a 6’6″ point guard makes Exum more enticing for teams at the top of the draft. Here’s more from around the league:
- Flip Saunders has conducted the Wolves coaching search with stealth, and Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reveals that Saunders interviewed rumored candidate Lionel Hollins three weeks ago.
- Zgoda describes Hollins as “in the running” for the Cavs job. Hollins was named in earlier reports as a potential candidate.
- Zgoda reports that Saunders also had informal discussions with Tom Izzo, Fred Hoiberg, and Stan Van Gundy, but the talks stalled in each case.
- Izzo was first offered the five-year, $35MM offer to run the Pistons that Van Gundy eventually accepted, opting to stay in the college ranks, writes Zgoda.
- Saunders isn’t interested in George Karl, who would prefer to coach the Cavs or, if Randy Wittman were fired, the Wizards over the Wolves, according to Zgoda.
- Zgoda mentions Nate McMillan, Scott Skiles, and Sam Mitchell as intriguing possibilities for the Wolves head coaching vacancy in a separate piece. There hasn’t been any reported interest from the team toward McMillan or Skiles, and Minnesota is reportedly not interested in Mitchell.
- During the combine, the Wolves met with enough power forwards and prospects projected in the top tier of the draft to make Zgoda wonder if a Kevin Love trade is a possibility (via Twitter). The Wolves have very little chance of moving above 13th in the first round, and obviously have no pressing need at power forward so long as Love is on the team.
- LaQuinton Ross is scheduled to work out for the Cavs on Monday, reports Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal.
- Tomas Satoranksy will join the Wizards summer league team for the second consecutive year, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington.com (H/T Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The shooting guard was selected as a “draft and stash” player in the second round of the 2012 draft, and could find his way onto the team next season if Washington loses perimeter talent to free agency, Michael writes.
Eastern Notes: Fizdale, Pistons, Gortat
Heat assistant coach David Fizdale is on the Cavs radar, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Broussard doesn’t specify that Cleveland’s interest regards its head coaching vacancy, but Fizdale recently drew interest as a Warriors head coaching candidate before Golden State hired Steve Kerr. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Stan Van Gundy has prioritized hiring a GM and some assistant coaches for the Pistons in the near future, he told reporters including Vincent Ellis of Detroit Free PRess. “The biggest thing right now for us is probably our GM search, getting through that,” said Van Gundy. “And at the same time we’ll make some other hirings pretty quickly to get more people on board.”
- Van Gundy also said that he is considering some of his former players as assistant coaches with the Pistons.
- Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel thinks that Van Gundy will have to become more patient in his approach to succeed in his front office role with the Pistons. Schmitz also worries that Van Gundy’s health will suffer if he doesn’t delegate his coaching and executive duties well.
- Marcin Gortat said that he doesn’t want to play anywhere with a “blind” point guard as he approaches free agency, tweets Ben Standig of CSNWashington.com. The Wizards center praised John Wall‘s willingness to share the ball.
Draft Notes: Smart, Adams, Vonleh, Gordon
Marcus Smart doesn’t regret returning to college for his sophomore season, writes Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Smart said, “The reason I came back is my freshman year was the first time I played point guard. I wanted to embrace that role and become a better point guard, learn the position before I take my talents to the NBA where guys have been playing that role their whole life.“
More on the draft:
- Two big winners of the Draft combine so far are Noah Vonleh and Aaron Gordon, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
- Teams need to remember Doug McDermott‘s statistics when observing him at the combine, writes Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders. McDermott doesn’t have the type of measurements or athletic ability that jumps out scouts in combine settings, notes Brigham.
- Marc D’Amico of NBA.com breaks down some of the best individual draft combine numbers of the day.
- The Bulls are looking for shooters in this year’s NBA Draft, reports K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Two names being mentioned in connection with the team are McDermott and Rodney Hood, per the article.
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo interviewed with the Nets, Pacers, Pelicans, Wizards, Bobcats, Cavaliers, and Knicks while at the combine, tweets Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- Patric Young interviewed with the Knicks, Pelicans, and Grizzlies, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. On speaking with Phil Jackson, Young said, “He didn’t say much the first 20 minutes. He was just being calm and being himself. He would eat some chips while everyone else was asking questions. Then he popped in a question every now and then and made some comments. But it was good. It was great. They seemed to really like me and be really intrigued by me as a person.”
- UCLA guards Zach LaVine and Jordan Adams did enough athletically at the combine to improve their draft stocks, writes Michael O’Brien of The Chicago Sun-Times.
- The key to the Lakers offseason will be the draft lottery, writes Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. GM Mitch Kupchak said the team wouldn’t base their lottery selection by positional need, but rather the best overall player, notes Oram. Kupchak also said, “When you only have four or five guys on your roster, you really need seven to eight players, so we need to bring in players at every position really.”
Eastern Notes: Ariza, Rondo, Wizards
Trevor Ariza is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but the Wizards have a good chance to re-sign the forward, notes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Ariza said, “My family is definitely the most important thing to me before basketball, everything. That plays a big factor into a log of things. But when you build something with people that’s hard to let go, too. What we built in this locker room this season, this is a beautiful thing to me. I really enjoyed playing with those guys. I love those dudes like they’re my brothers.” Ariza averaged 14.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG and shot a career-high 40.7% from three-point range this season.
More from the east:
- The Wizards have a number of decisions to make this offseason, and besides John Wall and Bradley Beal, little else is guaranteed to be the same next year, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. Team owner Ted Leonsis said that he won’t make any decisions until the “raw emotion” of the season has faded. This includes whether or not the team re-signs coach Randy Wittman, whose contract expires this summer.
- Andre Miller said that he believes he has a few more years left in him and that he’d love to finish his career with the Wizards, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
- Rajon Rondo might be more available than ever via a trade, writes Brian Robb from CelticsHub.com. The Celtics might be compelled to move the point guard this summer when his value will be higher than it will be during the season, opines Robb.
- The Bobcats-to-Hornets name change will officially take place on May 20th, the team announced (Twitter link).
- Unless the Pelicans land one of the top five picks in the lottery, their first-round pick goes to the Sixers. Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer looks at some of the players the Sixers might target with that selection.
Draft Combine Updates: Friday
We gathered a slew of reports connecting draft prospects with teams yesterday on the first full day of the Chicago draft combine, and we’ll do the same today with this post. The latest updates will be on top as we follow the action throughout.
- Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders adds the Pistons, Kings and Suns to the list of teams interviewing Noah Vonleh (Twitter link).
- The Pistons met with Rodney Hood, Ellis tweets, and the Thunder also met with him, Holmes notes (on Twitter).
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo sat down with the Nets, Knicks, Pacers, Cavs, Wizards and Pelicans, according to Woelfel (Twitter link).
2:00pm updates:
- The Pistons have met with Smart and Zach LaVine, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press and Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, respectively (Twitter links).
- Smart is also among the players interviewing with the Celtics tonight, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, and the C’s spoke with Aaron Gordon, too, fellow Globe scribe Baxter Holmes notes (Twitter links).
- Gordon also met with the Magic, who are set to meet with James Michael McAdoo, as well, according to Robbins (Twitter links).
- Tyler Ennis is meeting with the Bucks today after interviewing with the Bulls on Thursday, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times and Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com report (Twitter links).
- Jarnell Stokes already worked out for the Raptors, according to Wolstat (on Twitter).
12:02pm updates:
- Dante Exum‘s interview with the Magic went well, he said, adding that the team would like to bring him to Central Florida for a workout, tweets Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Robbins, in a full piece, added Marcus Smart to the list of top prospects who’ve interviewed with the Magic.
- Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge expressed a fondness for Smart today in an interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz on the network’s coverage of the combine, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv notes (on Twitter).
- Gary Harris told Katz he met with the Raptors, Nuggets, Grizzlies and Pistons, as Zagoria once more passes along via Twitter.
- The Raptors will interview Jordan Adams today, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, who says the team also spoke with James Young (Twitter links).
- Zagoria adds the Sixers, Spurs, Clippers, Mavs, Nuggets, Warriors and Bulls to the list of teams that Kyle Anderson either met or is slated to meet (Twitter link).
- Markel Brown said he’ll talk with the Celtics today, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com (Twitter link).
Wizards Links: Gortat, Ariza, Wittman, Miller
Marc Stein of ESPN.com continues his Summer Scoop series with a look at the Wizards, who have little to be disappointed about in spite of last night’s playoff elimination at the hands of the Pacers. We’ll sum up the highlights here and pass along some additional insight:
- The Wizards are indeed interested in re-signing Trevor Ariza as well as Marcin Gortat, but there’s concern that they’ll prove too expensive to retain, Stein writes, pointing to Gortat as the team’s top priority should it have to choose. Martell Webster shot a dreadful 23.1% from behind the arc in the postseason, but he looms as a superior plan B at small forward than anyone the Wizards have to replace Gortat, Stein suggests.
- J. Michael of CSNWashington.com pegs the salary that the Wizards will have to shell out to retain Gortat at about $10MM. Executives around the league believe Gortat and Ariza will cost a combined $15-20MM in annual salaries, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe reported this week.
- Coach Randy Wittman, whose contract is up, is likely to return as coach, Stein hears, but there was chatter entering the playoffs that a loss in the first-round would prompt the Wizards to dump Wittman and pursue George Karl and Alvin Gentry. Now the only question is whether the team will offer Wittman a one-year deal to align his contract with that of GM Ernie Grunfeld, which expires after next season, or make it a long-term pact for the coach.
- The Wizards are leaning toward retaining Andre Miller, whose $4.625MM salary for next season is only guaranteed for $2MM, but they haven’t made up their minds yet, Stein reports.
Bulpett’s Latest: Ainge, Rondo, Green, Trades
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald hears the Celtics are seemingly more open to trading Rajon Rondo than ever, though Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has batted down similar rumors for several months. Ainge once more went on the offensive against the chatter surrounding the star point guard, as Bulpett observes.
“That’s all speculation,” Ainge said. “Those aren’t facts. People don’t know that, so it’s just people speculating on Rondo’s free agency next summer. That’s all that you’re hearing. You’re not hearing any facts from anybody. Those conversations haven’t even been discussed, so that’s just speculation.”
Bulpett has more from Ainge and other Celtics news in his must-read piece, and we’ll sum up the highlights here:
- Ainge believes he must make significant trades to surround Rondo with talent to convince him to stay when his contract expires after next season. Still, Ainge nonetheless thinks that as long as Rondo sees the Celtics gathering momentum toward a revival, that will be enough, Bulpett writes. “We love Rondo, and Rondo loves us,” Ainge told Bulpett. “We don’t feel like there’s pressure that we have to do something or there’s some sort of deadline that something has to get done by. You know, sure Rondo has to see progress and Rondo has to believe that we’re going to be contenders and be in the picture and have something. But that’s an ongoing thing. I mean, we feel that way with everybody.”
- Several teams are waiting to see where the Celtics end up in the lottery before talking trade with Ainge and his staff, according to Bulpett. Boston is projected to wind up with the fifth overall pick.
- The Wizards have held an interest in Jeff Green in recent years, Grantland’s Zach Lowe noted this week, but Bulpett hears that Green holds no current appeal to Washington, given the two years and $18.4MM remaining on his deal.
Wizards Interested In Re-Signing Trevor Ariza
The Wizards have made it clear for the past several months that they intend to pursue a long-term deal with soon-to-be free agent Marcin Gortat, but the team is also interested in re-signing Trevor Ariza, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Most league executives expect both to ink new contracts with Washington this summer, Lowe reports. Those execs from around the NBA believe that Ariza and Gortat will make $15-20MM combined in annual salary on deals that cover three or four years.
Ariza has expressed a desire to re-sign with the Wizards, though he prefaced that by telling Michael Lee of The Washington Post that he’ll go “wherever I’m wanted.” The Wizards and Cavs spoke about Ariza in trade talks involving Luol Deng at the deadline, but the team had little luck as it sought to unload Ariza’s expiring contract. It appears that Ariza has grown on Washington since then, though the Wizards probably hope his market value drops between now and July, when rival suitors can make offers, Lowe writes. That’s a possibility if other teams are wary of how he’d play for them when he’s not in a contract year and doesn’t have John Wall to set him up with corner three-pointers, Lowe suggests.
The Wizards are at a fork that presents a number of routes toward a shot at a title, as Lowe examines, noting the team’s long-held fondness for Jeff Green as a possible trade target. Washington has about $43.5MM in commitments for next season, and while new deals for Gortat and Ariza would erase the team’s cap flexibility, the Wizards would still have a chance to use the non-taxpayer’s mid-level, Lowe notes. Largely staying the course and bringing back the starting five from this year’s team is seemingly GM Ernie Grunfeld‘s preferred course for now amid rampant mediocrity in the Eastern Conference, but there will be opportunities to pivot, as Lowe points out.
Eastern Links: Grunfeld, Kerr, Vasquez, Ariza
Ernie Grunfeld‘s contract with the Wizards was believed to run only through this season, but Mike Wise of The Washington Post reports that it covers next season, too. That Grunfeld is on target to return to the team for 2014/15 is no surprise, given Washington’s revival this year, and perhaps Grunfeld may still have the opportunity to parlay the success into an extension. Still, it looks he won’t be hitting the open market this summer. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Steve Kerr was the only voter to have Tim Hardaway Jr. atop his Rookie of the Year ballot. It’s seemingly further indication that Kerr is on his way to the Knicks, and a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post that the would-be coach sees re-signing Carmelo Anthony as “vital” to the team’s future, as Berman writes.
- Greivis Vasquez is set for restricted free agency this summer, but he apparently has no intention of leaving the Raptors, as he told reporters today, including Cathal Kelly of The Globe and Mail (Twitter link). “I want to be back. I truly want to be back … It will truly be heartbreaking if I’m not back,” Vasquez said.
- Trevor Ariza would like to re-sign with the Wizards in free agency this summer and says that returning to the West Coast to be closer to family wouldn’t be his top priority, but the small forward tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post that he’ll go “wherever I’m wanted.”
- Elton Brand remains uncertain about retirement, though Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gets the sense that the 15th-year veteran still thinks he can play (Twitter link).
- Fellow Hawks big man Mike Scott, a restricted free agent, probably earned a raise as he established himself as a key part of Atlanta’s rotation this year, and he says he would like to come back to the team, Vivlamore tweets.
Mavs Rumors: Bledsoe, Stephenson, ‘Melo, Dirk
Mavs GM Donnie Nelson promises an “action-packed summer,” but he indicated today that he’s pleased with the roster as is, notes Bryan Gutierrez of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter links).
“I think if we had the same cast or crew come and lace ’em up next year, I’d feel real good about our chances,” he said.
Fellow ESPNDallas.com scribe Tim McMahon doesn’t buy it, writing that the Mavs front office knows it needs significant improvement to contend. There’s more from McMahon’s piece amid the latest on the Mavs:
- McMahon throws Eric Bledsoe‘s name into the mix of likely targets that already included Marcin Gortat and Luol Deng, though he acknowledges that it’ll be “extremely difficult” to pry Bledsoe, or even Gortat, away from their respective teams. The Mavs are unlikely to make a run at Lance Stephenson, according to McMahon.
- The Mavs would like to get involved in the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes, but not if he demands a max contract, McMahon writes.
- Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs have made it clear that they fully intend to strike a new deal this summer. Nowitzki acknowledged today that he doesn’t think it will resemble Kobe Bryant‘s massive two-year, $48.5MM extension, but he does want the team to respect his continued on-court prowess in negotiations, as Gutierrez observes (Twitter links). McMahon, in his piece, suggests Nowitzki is likely to sign a three-year, $30MM deal.
- Shawn Marion, who turns 36 on Wednesday, plans to play two more seasons, tweets Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com, noting that while there’s strong mutual interest in a return to the Mavs, the forward will also think about signing elsewhere. Still, he intends to retire as a Mav one way or another, Gutierrez notes (Twitter link).
- Soon-to-be free agent DeJuan Blair is hopeful that he’ll re-sign with the Mavs this summer, as Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram chronicles.
- We passed along news of the Mavs’ mutual interest in Devin Harris earlier today.