Clarence Gaines Jr. is no longer with the Knicks’ organization, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports. Gaines was the team’s VP of player personnel under former team president Phil Jackson, who credited Gaines for lobbying to select Kristaps Porzingis in the 2015 lottery. Gaines did scouting for the current regime last season. Several newcomers have been hired by the front office and Gaines did not have strong ties to GM Scott Perry, Ian Begley of ESPN notes. Gaines’ contract expired after last season.
In other developments around the Atlantic Division:
- Challenging DeMar DeRozan to become a better defender is just one of the things new Raptors coach Nick Nurse has in mind for next season, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun writes. Nurse is trying to devise ways to play two smaller guards, Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet, together and still minimize the issues that it presents defending pick-and-rolls, Wolstat continues. Playing Serge Ibaka more often at center is another wrinkle Nurse plans to employ, Wolstat adds.
- The Celtics are planning to hold onto their $8.641MM mid-level exception for the balance of the offseason, Keith Smith of RealGM tweets. Their priority is to re-sign restricted free agents Marcus Smart and Jabari Bird and see what develops during the season, Smith adds.
- Strong summer-league showings by first-round pick Kevin Knox and second-rounder Mitchell Robinson have made the Knicks look wise in their selections, ESPN’s Andre Snellings writes. Knox should jump right into the Knicks’ starting lineup at small forward, while Robinson could eventually work his way into the rotation. While neither player shows superstar potential, they both have skill sets that should translate to the league, Snellings adds.
- The Nets have positioned themselves to make a big splash next summer, Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype notes. They can create enough salary-cap room to sign two first-tier free agents to go along with two first-round picks, provided that the protections on the pick the Nuggets sent them don’t kick in.
- Knicks coach David Fizdale will head off to Latvia on July 22nd to visit with Porzingis and check on his progress from knee surgery, Marc Berman of the New York Post reports.
Well is only Summer League for Knox & Mitchell is hardly relevant at all. I do think he is good but not based on SL, but as the article said not star quality.
I will give Knox credit he has looked a lot better. I think SGA took over that team and Knox kind of became beta, so it will be interesting to see this team with KP around AS break. Knox has the keys to the car until then. I’m surprised they didnt get involved in a Howard or Biymombo traded only BC KP hates playing the 5 and wants to play the 4.
I read this article 3 times. Where is the reference to Irving that’s in the headline?
That may have been a result of some late change to the post, not sure. I’ve updated the headline to avoid confusion.
I think they got Kyle Lowry mixed up with Kyrie Irving. I see how that could happen. :)
Not sure what the ESPN guy means by a superstar, let alone superstar potential in an 18 year old. Knox certainly has All Star potential. A completely different player than Kyle Kuzma (who’s a nice player, but 22, limited to one position and a pedestrian athlete at this level). Yeah, they’re the same height. LOL. If that’s all Knox becomes, he’ll have greatly underachieved. Although, based on some of these deals, might still get 20 mm a year in 4 years.