Former Timberwolves general manager Milt Newton departed from the franchise last year, when Flip Saunders‘ passing led to an overhaul of the club’s front office and coaching staff. However, he remains interested in returning to an NBA front office, telling Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated that he wouldn’t be opposed to an assistant GM role. No teams have approached him about executive positions since his departure from Minnesota though, according to Milton.
“A young guy like Milt should have teams calling him if not to be a GM, to be a part of their organization,” Former Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told Spears. “He did a great job in Minnesota. He built a young team. He’s a great dude. He works well. He’s one of the best young talents in the league. What more can you ask for?”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former first overall pick Greg Oden has returned to Ohio State to finish working toward his college degree, a source tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). While the former Trail Blazers center is in Columbus, he’ll also help out at Buckeyes’ practices, says Rothstein.
- Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders lists six top basketball executives who could find themselves on the hot seat at some point in the not-so-distant future if their respective teams don’t play well in 2016/17.
- With training camps around the NBA having gotten underway this week, Bobby Marks of The Vertical delves into the training camp contract, explaining how they work and how different language in deals affects a players’ preseason earnings and injury protection (or lack thereof).
- The Lakers‘ signing of Timofey Mozgov has received plenty of criticism this offseason, but Los Angeles won’t be the only team with buyers’ remorse this fall, according to Mitch Lawrence of Forbes.com, who identifies five other clubs that may come to regret their summer deals.