After interviewing for multiple NBA head coaching jobs this offseason, David Blatt has reached an agreement that will keep him in Europe. As Orazio Cauchi of Sportando relays, Blatt has signed a two-year contract to coach Greek powerhouse Olympiacos.
The former head coach of the Cavaliers, Blatt has spent most of his career overseas. Over the last two seasons he served as the head coach for Turkish team Darussafaka, and prior to his stint in Cleveland, he coached Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. Now, Blatt – who met with the Bucks and Knicks this spring before they hired Mike Budenholzer and David Fizdale, respectively – will continue his coaching career in Greece.
Here are a few more odds and ends from across the NBA:
- Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has the details on a couple trades that went down on draft night, reporting that the Rockets bought the No. 52 overall pick from the Jazz for $1.5MM and the Trail Blazers sent the Kings $1.5MM in their deal for Gary Trent Jr.‘s draft rights (Twitter links).
- Axel Toupane, who appeared in 25 total NBA regular season games in 2016 and 2017, is working out privately for NBA clubs this week, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). A 6’7″ wing, Toupane played for Zalgiris Kaunas in 2017/18, helping lead the Lithuanian club to a spot in the EuroLeague Final Four.
- In an excellent breakdown for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks previews the coming offseason for all 30 teams, detailing each club’s key decisions and cap situation.
Owners have to flip draft to happen after free agency. This is nuts….waiting on Jordan, LBJ, etc
Can’t they structure contacts so that options must be either picked up or declined prior to the draft?
Indianapolis Star lists free agents by position and rank.
Nice listing by Marks, except–
For the Lakers, it is possible to trade for the likes of Kawhi, THEN sign 2 max players, so it’s like 3 max players. They have the roster to do it, though it’s probably not their best option.
For the Nuggets, he said they have too many 4s, then like an internet poster, said they have to trade their least desirable 4.
Well to bolster the 1– which they really need to do– there are five other 4s to choose from that are more likely to be wanted. 3 others CAN play the 4 incl. Jokic.
So Denver should be dealing, not just trying & failing AGAIN to dump the worst. That is from jumping on Porter in the draft, another forward.
Definitely the worst position in Denver is 1-2 they don’t have anything in there, very heavy on the front court though, but what a front court can you imagine, MPJ, Milsap & Jokic, if they could have just a pair of even decent starters, that could be a scary starting line up.