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Nored Close To Joining Carlisle's Staff

July 1st, 2021 at 9:12pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pacers are close to hiring former Hornets assistant coach Ronald Nored to join Rick Carlisle‘s staff, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star tweets. Nored reportedly received consideration for the Wizards’ head coaching job. It’s not clear if he remains a candidate for that position, but presumably if he takes an assistant job in Indiana he wouldn’t expect to be hired by Washington.

The Pacers have zeroed in on former Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce as Carlisle’s top assistant. Darrell Armstrong, Carlisle’s longtime assistant with the Mavericks, will not join him in Indiana, J. Michael adds in a separate tweet.

  • By re-hiring Carlisle, the Pacers are making a statement that they are no longer satisfied with mediocrity, says Bob Kravitz of The Athletic. Despite the team’s record this season, the Pacers have the pieces to make the playoffs and blossom into a contender. However, they need direction, professionalism and accountability, and bringing in Carlisle should facilitate that process.
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Lloyd Pierce Finalizing Deal To Be Carlisle’s Top Assistant

July 1st, 2021 at 6:12pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pacers are finalizing a contract with Lloyd Pierce that would make him Rick Carlisle’s top assistant, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

Pierce was reportedly under consideration for a similar job with the Warriors. Pierce was replaced by Nate McMillan as the Hawks’ head coach on March 1 after the team began this season with a 14-20 record. Multiple players reportedly pushed for a coaching change.

Pierce previously served as an assistant coach in Cleveland, Golden State, Memphis, and Philadelphia before being hired as the Hawks’ head coach in 2018. Pierce led Atlanta to a 63-120 (.344) record in two-and-a-half seasons, with no playoff appearances.

Pierce is also on Gregg Popovich’s Team USA staff for this month’s Olympics.

Former Knicks coach David Fizdale reportedly turned down an offer from Indiana to join Frank Vogel’s staff with the Lakers.

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Pacers Notes: Fizdale, Collins, Pritchard, Turner, Sabonis, Workouts

June 30th, 2021 at 8:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

David Fizdale turned down more money from the Pacers to be one of Rick Carlisle’s lead assistants in order to take a similar job with the Lakers, according to Marc Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). Indiana’s interest in Fizdale was previously reported. Former Warriors assistant coach Jarron Collins is being considered for an assistant coaching position with the Pacers, Spears adds.

We have more on the Pacers;

  • President of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said the hiring of Carlisle is a signal that the franchise is intent on winning a title, according to Michael Marot of The Associated Press. “We’re in a win-now mode, we’re trying to win and so we identified some traits or characteristics we wanted in a coach,” Pritchard said. “Those characteristics were first of all multiyear experience, we really wanted to have someone who had a championship pedigree and that can be challenging to find all of them in one person. What happened in this year’s search is Rick became available.”
  • Myles Turner‘s name has often been tossed into trade rumors but Carlisle believes he can get more out of the frontcourt duo of Domantas Sabonis and Turner, Wheat Hotchkiss of Pacers.com writes. “When my teams have played them over the last few years, we’ve always felt like it was a physical beating that we were taking with them, both defensively and offensively,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of making it work.”
  • The team is bringing in Brandon Boston Jr. (Kentucky), Matt Coleman III (Texas), EJ Onu (Shawnee State), Austin Reaves (Oklahoma), Jaden Springer (Tennessee) and Moses Wright (Georgia Tech) for pre-draft workouts on Thursday, according to a team press release. Springer, a point guard, is ranked No. 27 on ESPN’s Best Available list. Shooting guards Boston (No. 41) and Reaves (No. 44) are also ranked in the Top 50.
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Re-Signing McDermott, McConnell High On Team's List

June 30th, 2021 at 6:18pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • 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.
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Pacers Working Out Six Prospects On Wednesday

June 30th, 2021 at 1:30pm CST by Luke Adams
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Latest On Wizards’ Head Coaching Search

June 30th, 2021 at 1:10pm CST by Luke Adams

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.

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Lakers Finalizing Deal To Hire David Fizdale As Assistant

June 30th, 2021 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

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.

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Draft Notes: Pelicans, Giddey, Murphy, Duarte, Thor

June 29th, 2021 at 8:29am CST by Luke Adams

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).
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Rosters Announced For Olympic Qualifying Tournaments

June 28th, 2021 at 9:16am CST by Luke Adams

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

Kaunas, Lithuania

Split, Croatia

Victoria, Canada

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.

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Players Will Have To Listen To Carlisle

June 25th, 2021 at 7:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • 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.
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