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Bucks Rumors: GM Search, Garrity, Simon, Kidd

June 1st, 2017 at 12:56pm CST by Luke Adams

A Wednesday report indicated that the Bucks have received permission to interview at least four executives from various teams around the NBA for their open general manager position. However, Milwaukee’s list of potential GM targets in longer than that. A source familiar with the team tells Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times that at least five other execs are under consideration by the Bucks, with about three dozen NBA officials having expressed interest in the job.

While Woelfel doesn’t specify any additional candidates, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical provides two more names, tweeting that Milwaukee has been granted permission to speak to Pistons executive Pat Garrity and Heat assistant GM Adam Simon. Garrity was said to be a candidate for the top job in Orlando before the Magic hired Jeff Weltman and John Hammond.

Woelfel has more info on the team’s GM search in his latest piece, so let’s dive in and round up the highlights…

Head coach Jason Kidd may be considered down the road for a top basketball operations role, but he’s not a candidate to take over that role in the short term, sources tell Woelfel. Still, Kidd will meet with the finalists for the position to ensure that they’ll have a good working relationship.
Assistant GM Justin Zanik is viewed as a strong candidate to be promoted to GM, but even if he doesn’t receive an official promotion, he’ll be well-compensated. According to Woelfel, Zanik’s contract includes a unique clause that stipulates his pay will be equal to that of the new GM.
Grizzlies VP of player personnel Ed Stefanski, one of the four candidates the Bucks received permission to interview, is viewed by several NBA officials as the frontrunner for the Bucks’ top job, reports Woelfel. Previous report have indicated that the relationship between Stefanski and Bucks consultant Rod Thorn is a strong factor working in Stefanski’s favor. The two men worked together in New Jersey and are longtime friends.
On Thursday, we examined five key questions facing the Bucks this offseason, including who will be calling the shots on personnel decisions.

Pistons Open To Moving Lottery Pick For Veteran

May 30th, 2017 at 1:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons currently have the No. 12 overall pick in this year’s draft, but there’s no guarantee this year’s 12th overall pick will play in Detroit in the fall. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein (via Twitter), the Pistons are open to discussing trades involving their lottery pick in the hopes of acquiring a “win-now veteran.”

As we saw a year ago when the Hornets moved the No. 22 overall pick for Marco Belinelli, a team without cap room could agree to a pick-for-player trade in June and then complete the deal in July, after they’ve opened up the necessary space. That could be one option for the capped-out Pistons.

However, even without taking into account Aron Baynes‘ player option or a lucrative potential new contract for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the Pistons already have about $95MM in guaranteed money on their books for 2017/18, so it’s unlikely that they’ll end up with any cap room even after the new league year begins.

That means that any deal involving the No. 12 pick and an established veteran would likely need to include at least one outgoing contract for salary-matching purposes. As such, it’s no surprise that Rod Beard of The Detroit News tweets the Pistons would likely be open to a “pick-plus-player option” to land that win-now veteran.

Stein’s report doesn’t specify any players – or even positions – the Pistons may be targeting as they discuss their lottery pick, but there are a few areas that could make sense. A frontcourt replacement for Baynes would be one possibility if the club expects to lose him in free agency. A guard would also be a logical target if Detroit has any concern about Reggie Jackson‘s ability to bounce back, or isn’t 100% sure that Caldwell-Pope will be retained.

Nets Will Pursue Otto Porter, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

May 26th, 2017 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets are planning an aggressive push for restricted free agents again, with Washington’s Otto Porter and Detroit’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as targets, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM.

It would be the continuation of a strategy that resulted in a four-year, $75MM offer sheet for Portland’s Allen Crabbe and a four-year, $50MM offer to Miami’s Tyler Johnson last summer. Both deals were matched by their current teams.

Similar offers this year would create financial dilemmas for the Wizards and Pistons, Smith adds (Twitter link).

Brooklyn has about $27MM in cap room right now and could easily get into position to offer a max deal to Porter or Caldwell-Pope. Most of that salary for next season is tied up in Brook Lopez ($22.6MM) and Jeremy Lin ($12MM), with eight players on the roster making between $1.12MM and $1.7MM.

A fourth-year small forward, Porter has been a starter in Washington the past two seasons. He averaged 13.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 80 games this year. Although the Wizards own his Bird rights, the team is in a bind with only about $7MM in cap space and the need to re-sign Bojan Bogdanovic and rebuild a faltering bench.

Caldwell-Pope has been Detroit’s starter at shooting guard for the past three and a half seasons and averaged 13.8 points per game this year. The Pistons are about $3MM over the cap entering this summer.

Club Should Target Big-Time Shooter

May 25th, 2017 at 11:38am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pistons will ideally draft a knock-down 3-point shooter or a perimeter player who can make plays off the dribble with the No. 12 overall pick, as Keith Langlois of Pistons.com details.

Draft Notes: Swanigan, Diallo, Jackson, Lakers

May 24th, 2017 at 10:52pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan will remain in the draft, ESPN’s Jeff Goodwin reports (ESPN Now link). One GM tells Goodman that Swanigan is the most underrated guy in the draft. The big man is the 35th best prospect, according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.

Here’s more on the upcoming draft:

Hamidou Diallo will withdraw from the draft and play at Kentucky next season, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets. Several NBA teams had interest in Diallo and Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog (Twitter link) reports that the Nets and Jazz were the two teams that had the strongest interest in the athletic wing.
Josh Jackson is expected to come off the board early on draft night, but Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype speculates that Jackson’s off-court troubles could cause teams to pass on the Kansas product. Jackson was charged with a misdemeanor back in December for kicking and damaging another student’s car door and taillight. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and ultimately signed a diversion agreement which calls for him to attend anger management classes as part of its conditions.
The Lakers worked out several prospects, according to Joey Ramirez of NBA.com. Kadeem Allen (Arizona), Jamel Artis (Pittsburg), Sidy Djitte (Clemson), J.J. Frazier (Georgia), Josh Hawkinson (Washington State) and L.J. Peak (Georgetown) all participated in drills for the team.
Ike Anigbogu, who is expected to be taken in the first round, is dealing with a knee injury, Rod Beard of The Detroit News tweets. The ailment forced the UCLA product to miss a workout with the Pistons.

Players Unlikely To Be Available For Pistons At No. 12

May 19th, 2017 at 4:57pm CST by Austin Kent

The Pistons will draft 12th in this summer’s NBA Draft, so Keith Langlois of the team’s official site has put together a rundown of the types of players who will likely be selected prior and thus not be available when Detroit is on the clock.

Andre Drummond Confident In Pistons' Current Roster

May 19th, 2017 at 12:36pm CST by Luke Adams

After a disappointing 2016/17 season, the Pistons will be looking this offseason for ways to improve the team’s outlook for next year. However, as Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press details, Andre Drummond doesn’t believe a roster overhaul is necessary.

“I don’t think we need to do any changes,” the Pistons center told reporters earlier this week. “We had a lot of bumps in the road last season with different things going on, and it took everybody out of sync. … With this summer coming up, we have to do a better job staying connected — the more stuff we do together, the better our camaraderie will be.”

Even if the Pistons were interested in making major changes to their roster, they would be tricky to pull off. Detroit has nearly $95MM in guaranteed salary on its books for 2017/18 without counting Aron Baynes‘ $6.5MM player option or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s $9.2MM cap hold, so the team won’t have cap room to work with.

Hoops Links Vol. 5: Shirley Temple Lies, Milkshake Theft, More

May 18th, 2017 at 8:49am CST by Austin Kent

Welcome to the fifth installment of Hoops Links, where we round up our favorite content from around the NBA blogosphere and shine a light on it here. Every week we set out to feature entertaining, original content powered by the blogging community.

See your own piece plugged? Well done! Now share the love by spreading the word about Hoops Links – we’re talking favs, retweets, postcards to mom and everything in between. Help us build a bigger stage for your best work!

If you want to hit us up with a link in the future, make sure to drop me a line on Twitter (@AustinKent) or even just email HoopsRumorsTips@Sports.ws. Remember, we want to be intrigued and captivated. It also helps if the content is relatively fresh (considering we publish on Thursdays).

Without further ado…

With a roster full of young players and a negligible chance of winning a meaningful amount of ball games, the Suns made the decision with months remaining in the season to tank unabashedly. After Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery, in which Phoenix dropped from a projected No. 2 seed to the No. 4 seed, Adam Maynes of Valley of the Suns wrote a spirited column suggesting that the organization got what it deserved.

Rating: 9 out of 10 Angry Earl Watsons
Author: Adam Maynes – @Adam4America
Link: Phoenix Suns tank fail

We’re all happy to buy into the quirky Joel Embiid narrative whenever the goofy big man does something like sip a Shirley Temple on live television. But what if we’re living a lie? Kyle Neubeck of Liberty Ballers revealed that the pink beverage at Embiid’s side during the Draft Lottery was little more than a prop.

Rating: 8 out of 10 Red Pills
Author: Kyle Neubeck – @KyleNeubeck
Link: Joel Embiid’s Shirley Temple prop

Are the Bulls less likely to deal Jimmy Butler to the Celtics now that Boston has landed the No. 1 pick in the draft? Vijay Vemu of Blog A Bull suggests as much, writing that Danny Ainge took a risk holding onto the pick at the deadline rather than going the safe route and dealing for an established star.

Rating: 7 out of 10 Fortunate Gambles
Author: Vijay Vemu – @VJVemu
Link: Jimmy Butler to Celtics less likely

The Hawks could have done more to involve Dwight Howard in their offense, Da’Vonte Hughes of Soaring Down South writes, suggesting that the big man had reason to be upset with how he was utilized during his first season Atlanta.

Rating: 8 out of 10 Neglected Supermen
Author: Da’Vonte Hughes – @CookieByNature
Link: Dwight Howard non-option for Hawks

Did you forget that Joel Anthony was still in the NBA? You aren’t alone. Dan Devine of Ball Don’t Lie noticed the big man’s name trending on Twitter and discovered that people all around the world were shocked to see the veteran big man suit up in the Spurs‘ blowout loss Wednesday.

Rating: 8 out of 10 Two-Time NBA Champions
Author: Dan Devine – @YourManDevine
Link: Joel Anthony trends on Twitter

There are similarities between Jimmy Butler and Stanley Johnson, including underwhelming freshman and sophomore seasons, says Luke Wolthuis of Piston Powered. Could Johnson, a well-built two-way forward, make a leap similar to that of Butler’s in Year 3?

Rating: 7 out of 10 Better Late Than Nevers
Author: Luke Wolthuis – @WolthuisLuke
Link: Stanley Johnson, Jimmy Butler comparison

Although he may not win the award, Harrison Barnes deserves a spot in the Most Improved Player conversation, Sam Guertler of Mavs Moneyball suggests. The forward’s offensive game improved dramatically in his first year as a targeted weapon in Dallas, without any compromise in efficiency.

Rating: 8 out of 10 Additional Better Late Than Nevers
Author: Sam Guertler – @SamGuertler
Link: Harrison Barnes Most Improved Player

It takes a delicate balance of usefulness and expendability for a player to suit up for three different franchises in one season. This year, Ersan Ilyasova dressed for the Thunder, Sixers, and Hawks, and still managed to set a new career high for points in a season. Miles Wray of The Step Back took a good long look at how the season stands up historically.

Rating: 9 out of 10 Bonus Points For Playing For Two Altogether Different Teams Last Year
Author: Miles Wray – @MilesWray
Link: NBA players who play for three teams in one season

It was hard to evaluate the first season in the NBA for Jakob Poeltl, a lottery pick on a reigning Eastern Conference Finals squad, but Brian Boake set out to do so anyway for Raptors Rapture. In Poeltl, the Raptors have a cheap, malleable option to audition as their Stretch 5 of the Future.

Rating: 8 out of 10 Teenage Mutant Ninjas
Author: Brian Boake – @NewmarketBrian
Link: Jakob Poeltl’s future with Raptors

Over the years, Gregg Popovich has simply owned Mike D’Antoni in the NBA playoffs, so much so that the J.R. Wilco over at Pounding the Rock had a particularly specific video commissioned just to drive home the point.

Rating: 9 out of 10 Academy Award-Winning Method Actors
Author: J.R. Wilco – @JRWilco
Link: Gregg Popovich, Mike D’Antoni History

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sixers Notes: Redick, Draft, Colangelo, Okafor

May 17th, 2017 at 9:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Clippers free agent J.J. Redick will get a lot of interest from the Eastern Conference, and the Sixers may be the leading contender, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. In a video posted on the Vertical website, several analysts offer their visions of the future for Philadelphia after winding up with the third pick in next month’s draft. Wojnarowski believes the Sixers will make a strong play for Redick, an 11-year veteran who would fill a position of need at shooting guard while bringing leadership to the locker room. Redick will probably receive offers starting at $16MM to $17MM annually, Wojnarowski predicts, and Philly’s strongest competition for him will come from the Nets, as well as the Knicks if they can clear enough cap room.

There’s more tonight out of Philadelphia:

The Sixers may try to trade down in the draft, suggests The Vertical’s Bobby Marks in the same video, because there isn’t a perfect fit for them at No. 3. They are believed to have interest in Kentucky guard Malik Monk, who could be available a few picks later. Marks says the Kings, who own picks No. 5 and No. 10, might emerge as a trading partner. He adds that Philadelphia also owns an unprotected Lakers pick next season, an unprotected Kings pick in 2019 and a pick from the Thunder in 2020 that is top-20 protected, all of which could be used as trade assets.
President of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo was planning a “measured, organic growth path” if the Sixers came away from Tuesday’s lottery with two picks, relays Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Instead, the Lakers landed in the top three and got to keep their selection for another year, which leads Colangelo to a more aggressive approach that will involve seeking veteran help through trades and free agency. “We are going to have both opportunities available to us now,” he said. “We are going to look at all those alternatives, all those options.” Pompey lists Redick, Kyle Lowry, Otto Porter, Danilo Gallinari and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as free agents the team might target.
Jahlil Okafor is an obvious candidate to be used as a trade chip, writes Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly. The second-year center has been a poor fit in Philadelphia since being drafted in 2015. Many observers expected him to be dealt at the February deadline, but Nerlens Noel was shipped to Dallas instead. “I want to find a situation that’s great for us and great for Jahlil, and if that means him staying here then that’s great,” Colangelo said. “He’s a great kid and a great player and we’re going to see how he fits with this group.”

Pistons GM Talks No. 12 Pick, Pre-Draft Workouts

May 17th, 2017 at 12:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Having remained at No. 12 after Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery, the Pistons are scouting a wide range of prospects and won’t necessarily target a player at a position of need next month, per GM Jeff Bower (link via Rod Beard of The Detroit News). As Bower explained, a player’s value and long-term potential may make him the best pick for Detroit, even if he doesn’t immediately fit into the team’s rotation.

Our list of draft picks by team shows that the Pistons’ 12th overall selection is currently their only pick in this year’s draft. That could make it difficult for the club to bring in second-round prospects for workouts, but Bower remains hopeful that those players will be willing to audition for the team, recognizing that they could be undrafted free agents, or that the Pistons could acquire a second-round pick.

“Some guys aren’t going to want to come in and work out if they don’t see a vehicle at the end of it,” said the Pistons’ GM. “The reality of it is we are looking for guys where we don’t have a second-round pick now — we could (via a trade) — but those possibilities change, so you want to try to be prepared. … Our relationships with agents are strong. They like our program and like their guys to have the exposure to us.”