Agent Kevin Bradbury is upset with Suns coach Jeff Hornacek‘s criticism of client and soon-to-be free agent Gerald Green, as Bradbury makes clear in his comments to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Hornacek brought up Green’s defense as one reason why the swingman hasn’t seen as much playing time as he’d like, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relayed earlier this week, and that in particular drew Bradbury’s ire.
“It’s completely unfair to misrepresent Gerald and his game like this,” Bradbury said. “You’re talking about a player that wants to win at any cost and is a tremendous locker guy and teammate. I don’t see the benefit for the coach to go about things this way.”
Bradbury told Deveney that opposing teams were willing to give up assets in significant trade offers for Green at the deadline, only to have the Suns turn them down. Green, who hits free agency this summer, said that in spite of his lack of minutes that he wants to re-sign with Phoenix and retire as a Sun, though he’s not sure if Phoenix feels the same way, as Coro relays. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Andrew Bogut is closing in on a key milestone tied to a bonus clause in his deal, as Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group points out. He played his 63rd game of the season Tuesday, so if he plays in two of the Warriors‘ last four regular season contests, he’ll hit the first criteria for triggering the bonus. He’d need to either win Defensive Player of the Year or make one of the league’s two All-Defensive teams for the bonus to kick in, but Bogut will almost certainly earn an All-Defensive nod, Kawakami writes.
- The prospect of Bogut triggering the bonus, worth 15% of his $12.973MM salary this season, was one reason why the Warriors didn’t give serious thought to adding a veteran the past few months, according to Kawakami. Golden State is well shy of the tax threshold for this season. Bogut’s cap figure for 2015/16 will be higher if he earns the bonus this year, but it won’t count toward the team’s salary for tax purposes next year unless he again hits the same benchmarks next season.
- Lakers coach Byron Scott on Wednesday tempered his earlier remark that he “wouldn’t want to be in a fox hole with” many of his players, which seemed to indicate a desire for an offseason overhaul. Scott said that he made that comment out of frustration and that he’s been pleased with the effort of his players for most of the year, as Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com details.