- Re-signing unrestricted free agents Doug McDermott and T.J. McConnell is a major focus for the Pacers this offseason, coach Rick Carlisle said on Tuesday, per Scott Agness of FieldhouseFiles.com (Twitter link). “The priority is to get the new staff in here, work towards good health as much as we can, try to get McConnell and McDermott re-signed if we can do that,” Carlisle said.
- In addition to JT Thor, whose workout was previously reported, Tre Mann, Eugene Omoruyi, Joshua Primo, DJ Steward, and Marcus Zegarowski are auditioning today for the Pacers, per a press release from the team.
1:10pm: Bulls assistant Chris Fleming has also interviewed for the Wizards’ head coaching position, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link).
12:28pm: The Wizards are continuing through their first round of head coaching interviews this week, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who hears that the team could move onto the next stage of the process by the end of the week.
An earlier report indicated that Washington’s search for Scott Brooks‘ replacement will be “lengthy and thorough.” Only a handful of candidates have been reported so far, but Scotto adds a couple more names to that list.
According to Scotto, Hornets assistant Ronald Nored and Heat assistant Chris Quinn are receiving consideration from the Wizards and were in the mix for the team’s first round of interviews.
Nored, who played for Butler from 2008-12 and coached the Long Island Nets from 2016-18, is also drawing interest from the Pacers as a possible assistant on Rick Carlisle‘s staff, Scotto adds. Quinn, meanwhile, has been a member of Erik Spoelstra‘s staff in Miami since 2014 and reportedly interviewed for Indiana’s head coaching job in 2020.
Nored and Quinn join a group of candidates that includes Wes Unseld Jr., Scott Morrison, Jamahl Mosley, and Sam Cassell. As we relayed earlier today, Cassell interviewed with the Wizards on Tuesday.
The Lakers lost a top assistant coach when Jason Kidd agreed to become the new head coach in Dallas. However, it appears Los Angeles has already lined up a replacement for Kidd on Frank Vogel‘s staff.
The Lakers are finalizing a deal to hire David Fizdale as an assistant coach, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). He’ll join a staff that includes Lionel Hollins and Phil Handy, among others.
Fizdale, who began his coaching career in the college ranks in 1998, moved to the NBA in 2003, becoming a Warriors assistant. He subsequently worked as an assistant for the Hawks and Heat before being hired as the head coach of the Grizzlies in 2016. He later had a stint as the head coach of the Knicks.
Fizdale’s time in New York was a disaster — he had a 21-83 (.202) record in one full season and part of a second from 2018-19. However, he earned a reputation as a respected and well-liked assistant during his eight years on Erik Spoelstra‘s staff in Miami, and spent four of those seasons working with LeBron James, making him a logical fit for the Lakers.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), multiple teams pursued Fizdale this offseason, hoping to hire him as a lead assistant. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link) says Fizdale was on the Cavaliers‘ list of targets, and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) adds that the Pacers were eyeing the veteran coach too.
There’s a belief that the Pelicans won’t be especially eager to add another rookie to an already young roster, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link), who says the No. 10 pick in next month’s draft, currently held by New Orleans, is considered one of the most available in the lottery.
Within his latest mock draft, Givony also provides some intel on some other picks at the top of the draft, confirming that the Pistons are looking hard at Jalen Green and Evan Mobley, though most executives anticipate they’ll select Cade Cunningham. According to Givony, NBA teams don’t have a good feel for which direction the Rockets will go at No. 2, since the new front office doesn’t have an extensive track record. For now, Givony believes Green would be the pick for Houston over Mobley.
Here’s more on the 2021 NBA draft, which is exactly one month away:
- In a separate Insider-only story for ESPN, Givony and Mike Schmitz break down the winners and losers of last week’s draft combine, noting that Australian prospect Josh Giddey was generating plenty of buzz despite not even attending the event in Chicago. James Bouknight, Sharife Cooper, and Trey Murphy were among the other projected first-round picks receiving positive feedback.
- Speaking of Murphy, he has worked out for the Celtics and Spurs so far in the pre-draft process, as he told reporters. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington has the story on the Virginia forward whose draft stock is on the rise.
- The “rumor in Chicago” was that Oregon’s Chris Duarte, who pulled out of the draft combine, has received a guarantee early in the second round, per Marc Berman of The New York Post.
- Potential first-round pick JT Thor of Auburn is working out for the Pacers, Hornets, Hawks, and Pelicans between now and July 6, as Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report details (Twitter link).
Four qualifying tournaments to determine the final four teams in the men’s basketball pool at the Tokyo Olympics are set to tip off on Tuesday. In advance of the Olympic qualifiers, the 24 teams involved have officially set their 12-man rosters, according to a press release from FIBA.
More than two dozen current NBA players are participating in the tournament, and 11 of the 24 teams competing for Olympic spots have at least one current NBA players on their respective rosters. Of those clubs, Team Canada has the biggest contingent of NBA players — eight of the 12 players on Nick Nurse‘s squad finished the season on an NBA roster. Turkey is next with four NBA players.
The four qualifying tournaments will take place in Serbia, Lithuania, Croatia, and Canada. Only the winner of each six-team group will advance to Tokyo. Those four winners will join Japan, Nigeria, Argentina, Iran, France, Spain, Australia, and the U.S. in the 12-team Olympic tournament.
The teams that move onto the Olympics may tweak their rosters for Tokyo, depending on the availability of certain players. For instance, if Greece were to win its qualifying tournament, perhaps Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo – who remains active in the playoffs for now – would make an effort to join the team in Tokyo next month.
Here are the NBA players on the OQT rosters:
Belgrade, Serbia
- Italy: Nico Mannion (Warriors), Nicolo Melli (Mavericks/RFA)
- Serbia: Nemanja Bjelica (Heat/UFA), Boban Marjanovic (Mavericks/UFA)
- Dominican Republic, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal: None
Kaunas, Lithuania
- Lithuania: Domantas Sabonis (Pacers), Jonas Valanciunas (Grizzlies)
- Slovenia: Vlatko Cancar (Nuggets), Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- Angola, Korea, Poland, Venezuela: None
Split, Croatia
- Brazil: Anderson Varejao (Cavaliers/UFA)
- Croatia: Bojan Bogdanovic (Jazz)
- Germany: Isaac Bonga (Wizards/RFA), Moritz Wagner (Magic/UFA)
- Mexico, Russia, Tunisia: None
Victoria, Canada
- Canada: Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Pelicans), RJ Barrett (Knicks), Luguentz Dort (Thunder), Cory Joseph (Pistons), Trey Lyles (Spurs/UFA), Mychal Mulder (Warriors/RFA), Dwight Powell (Mavericks), Andrew Wiggins (Warriors)
- Czech Republic: Tomas Satoransky (Bulls)
- Greece: Kostas Antetokounmpo (Lakers/RFA)
- Turkey: Cedi Osman (Cavaliers), Ersan Ilyasova (Jazz/UFA), Furkan Korkmaz (Sixers/UFA), Omer Yurtseven (Heat/team option)
- China, Uruguay: None
There are also many former NBA players among the 24 rosters, including Mario Hezonja (Croatia), Milos Teodosic (Serbia), Jan Vesely (Czech Republic), Timofey Mozgov (Russia), and Anthony Bennett (Canada).
To view the full rosters, be sure to visit FIBA’s official site and click through to each team from there.
- With his long track record and a four-year contract, Rick Carlisle will command respect in the Pacers’ locker room, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star (subscription required) writes.
We haven’t heard about many candidates linked to the Wizards‘ head coaching job since the team announced Scott Brooks wouldn’t be returning for the 2021/22 season. However, it sounds like Washington’s search is moving forward.
Celtics assistant Scott Morrison told Peter Yannopoulos of RDS (Twitter link) that he has interviewed for the Wizards’ head coaching job. Morrison also interviewed for the open position in Boston before the team decided to hire Ime Udoka. With Udoka likely to bring in some new assistants, Morrison’s future with the C’s is unclear.
Meanwhile, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said on his Hoop Collective podcast that Sam Cassell and Wes Unseld Jr. are considered two of the leading candidates for the Wizards’ job (hat tip to RealGM). Cassell is currently an assistant with the Sixers, while Unseld – who has previously been mentioned as a contender for the Washington job – is a Nuggets assistant.
Here are a few more coaching-related updates and notes from around the NBA:
- Windhorst also said on his latest Hoop Collective podcast that Nets assistant Jacque Vaughn has emerged as a legit contender for the Pelicans‘ head coaching vacancy. “I’m not saying he’s going to get (the) job, because Charles Lee on the Bucks‘ staff is also going to be a strong candidate,” Windhorst said, per RealGM. “The word coming out of Chicago at the draft combine is that Jacque Vaughn, who is close to (Pelicans GM) Trajan Langdon… Jacque Vaughn is going to get a real serious look.” ESPN reported earlier in the week that both Vaughn and Lee were interviewing with New Orleans.
- On that same Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon suggested that former Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle may have felt threatened in Dallas by assistant Jamahl Mosley‘s close relationship with Luka Doncic (hat tip to RealGM). Carlisle’s endorsement of Jason Kidd for the job could be viewed through that lens. “I think Rick understood the perception of how (the endorsement of Kidd) might impact who he didn’t endorse,” MacMahon said, adding of Carlisle and Mosley: “I don’t think those guys will necessarily send each other Christmas cards.”
- Carlisle spoke to other teams with coaching openings before finalizing a deal with the Pacers, but Indiana was where the mutual interest was strongest, says J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (subscriber-only article). According to Michael, Carlisle and the Pacers didn’t even meet face-to-face, completing their four-year deal over the phone.
3:50pm: The Pacers have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve hired Carlisle.
“Rick is a proven winner with a championship and will be a Hall of Fame coach,” Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement. “He has demonstrated throughout his career an ability to build something with sustainable success. He has great respect for our franchise and our fans from his previous times here. We are very happy to welcome him back to Indiana.”
10:13am: The Pacers are hiring Rick Carlisle as their new head coach, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that Carlisle will sign a four-year contract worth $29MM.
It’s a reunion for the Pacers and Carlisle. He was an assistant coach on Larry Bird‘s staff in Indiana from 1997-2000 and became the team’s head coach from 2003-07 before moving on to Dallas.
For the last 13 years, Carlisle has been the Mavericks’ head coach, leading the team to a title in 2011 and compiling an overall regular season record of 555-478 (.537). Taking into account previous head coaching stints in Detroit and Indiana, Carlisle has an overall regular season mark of 836-689 (.548), putting him 15th in career wins among all NBA head coaches.
Carlisle stepped down from his position as the Mavs’ head coach earlier this month and there was a sense at the time that he might have another opportunity lined up. Given his history with the Pacers, a return to Indiana makes sense — especially since the organization was seeking an experienced leader after its experiment with first-time head coach Nate Bjorkgren failed after just one year.
Steve Clifford, Brian Shaw, and Terry Stotts were among the other candidates considered by the Pacers, who will pay a premium to bring in Carlisle. Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files notes (via Twitter) that the new coach’s reported salary will be about twice what Frank Vogel and Nate McMillan received during their stints as Indiana’s head coach. The club is also still paying Bjorkgren for another year.
Although Carlisle still had two years left on his contract with Dallas when he resigned, the Mavs had indicated they wouldn’t seek compensation from a team that hired him, so the Pacers won’t have to give up any assets to finalize the deal.
Carlisle will be tasked with turning a veteran-heavy Pacers squad that missed the playoffs this year into a legit contender in the Eastern Conference. While the team may shake up its roster a little this summer – a Myles Turner trade remains a possibility – there’s an expectation that most key players, including Domantas Sabonis, Caris LeVert, Malcolm Brogdon, and T.J. Warren, should be back.
Now that the Pacers and Celtics (Ime Udoka) have made decisions on new head coaches, there are five teams still conducting active searches. Those teams are the Wizards, Pelicans, Magic, Mavericks, and Blazers.
- In the wake of reports that he has been hired to coach the Pacers, Rick Carlisle offered the following quote to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link): “It’s a team of skilled, unselfish guys that play hard. It’s always possible that moves could be made before the season, but I think (president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard) and I are both very excited about getting the roster healthy and seeing what this team can be.”