According to Warriors GM Bob Myers, it doesn’t appear that Jermaine O’Neal will be returning to Golden State, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle notes (Twitter link). When discussing the bigs on his roster, Myers said the team would be sticking with Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, Ognjen Kuzmic for training camp. O’Neal had been giving some thought to retirement but there was talk that the Warriors had interest in bringing back the 35 year-old center.
Here’s the latest out of the Pacific Division:
- Longtime Clippers executive Andy Roser, who’d been on an indefinite leave of absence since May, will not return to the team, a source tells Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. Roeser was briefly in charge of the franchise after commissioner Adam Silver banned former owner Donald Sterling for life.
- The team president that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is seeking to run the team’s day-to-day operations would oversee the business side, as Bolch clarifies. So, that ostensibly means the hire wouldn’t dabble in the basketball operations department that’s the domain of coach/executive Doc Rivers. Roeser, who had previously occupied the team presidency, was part of a triumvirate of executives in charge of player personnel before Rivers came aboard last year.
- Having David Lee back on the court might not be the best thing for the Warriors, Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM opines. Former coach Mark Jackson was forced to get creative when Lee was injured during the playoffs in 2013, and the changes he made maximized the team’s strengths, Tjarks notes.
- One thing that Ballmer should do is to find a way to welcome Elgin Baylor back to the organization in some capacity, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com opines. Baylor lost his wrongful termination suit against the franchise, but recent events certainly seem to add credence to his claims that racism played a part in his firing by the team.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.