- Lance Stephenson said he would be comfortable remaining with the Grizzlies if they exercise their team option on his contract worth $9,405MM for next season, when asked if he would prefer to ink a multiyear deal instead, tweets Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
- The Knicks aren’t as high on soon-to-be free agent Mike Conley as they were during the season, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post, citing team president Phil Jackson‘s lack of emphasis on point guards, his faith in Tony Wroten, and the Achilles injury that has plagued the Grizzlies star as potential reasons why.
Mike Conley won’t commit to staying in Memphis until he sees what kind of offseason moves the Grizzlies make, according to ESPN.com. The 28-year-old point guard, who hasn’t played since March 6th because of an Achilles problem, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer for the first time in his career. “We need to be committed to doing the things, whatever it may be and however hard the decision may be,” Conley said, “to do the right things in order to get us where we need to go.” Conley’s situation has been compared to that of teammate Marc Gasol, who re-signed quickly after hitting the open market last summer, but Conley cautions that his decision is different because the Grizzlies have regressed as a team. Coach Dave Joerger remains confident that Conley will stay in Memphis.
- Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, made a number of comments regarding Memphis’ future that bode well for him re-signing with the franchise, Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal relays in a series of tweets. “We’re all invested. We’re invested in each other, we’re invested in the community,” Conley told reporters. “We’re going into next season with a lot of room to make improvements. We feel like we’re all in this together and we have been since day one.“
- Swingman Lance Stephenson, whose contract includes a rare team option worth $9.405MM for next season, said he’s found a home with the Grizzlies and wants to remain with the team next season, Peter Edmiston of WHBQ-AM tweets. The 25-year-old appeared in 26 games for Memphis after being acquired from the Clippers, averaging 14.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 26.6 minutes per outing.
Vince Carter isn’t ready to walk away from the NBA, he told reporters in a video tweeted by NBA TV. Carter, 39, could be headed toward free agency after his Grizzlies were swept out of the playoffs by the Spurs this afternoon. He is under contract with Memphis for next season and is slated to make $4,264,057, but only $2MM of that is guaranteed. Carter averaged 6.6 points per night this year in 60 games with the Grizzlies, all but three of them as a reserve. “When I don’t feel like training or lose the passion and love for the game, then it’s time to walk away,” Carter said in a postgame press conference. “I still have it. It still bothers me to lose games and not play well.”
There’s more on a season-ending day in Memphis:
- Mike Conley‘s aching Achilles is improving and he is looking forward to his first experience as an unrestricted free agent, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. Conley, who hasn’t played since March 6th, will be the top point guard on the open market this offseason, and he can expect several teams to come calling. That should produce a substantial raise from the nearly $9.6MM he made this season. “This summer will be a fun one for me,” Conley said. “Free agency is new for me. We’ll see how it goes.”
- Memphis coach Dave Joerger should be remembered for making history by leading a roster that included 28 different players at one point or another into the playoffs, writes Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal. The Grizzlies were ravaged by season-ending injuries that robbed Joerger of Conley, Marc Gasol and Mario Chalmers. Two other key contributors, Jeff Green and Courtney Lee, were traded for draft picks at the deadline. “It’s frustrating from the level as a coach, where you see, especially San Antonio, they’re at the doctoral level of things that they run,” Joerger said. “And we had to go backward. … It’s just difficult when you have new guys, new faces. Defense is built on trust.”
- With today’s loss, the Grizzlies are now eligible to make trades, tweets Bobby Marks of The Vertical. They join the 14 nonplayoff teams that have been in that position since the regular season ended. Only players under contract for next season who don’t have player options can be dealt.
- Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace was emphatic in his assertion that Memphis would re-sign point guard Mike Conley, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, tweets Chris Vernon of 92.9 FM ESPN. “We are undefeated in re-signing our core players, and we will remain so. We are going to re-sign Mike Conley,” Wallace said.
9:00pm: Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger is among the candidates the Wolves will consider, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com tweets. The ESPN scribe also notes that Mitchell won’t be among the coaches considered for the post. Team owner Glen Taylor has hired the search firm Korn Ferry to help in the hunt for a new coach as well as a new president of basketball operations, though the team may elect to hire one person for both slots, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press relays.
A chance exists that the team will circle back to Mitchell, but it appears to be a long shot, as Krawczynski details. Minnesota’s plans also throw into question the future of Newton, as the new president of basketball operations would decide whether to retain him, Krawczynski writes. Wojnarowski wrote earlier that it was unclear whether Newton would remain atop the basketball operations department, but Newton isn’t initially a candidate for the president of basketball operations job, according to Krawczynski. It’s possible the next coach and president of basketball operations will be the same person, as Taylor is intrigued with the success the Pistons have had under coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, Wojnarowski hears.
3:07pm: The Timberwolves coaching search will include Mitchell as part of candidate process, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical relays (on Twitter). Minnesota’s current coaching short-list includes Jeff Van Gundy, Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks, Wojnarowski adds.
1:37pm: The growing belief around the NBA coaching community is that the Timberwolves will elect not to retain coach Sam Mitchell, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Wolves only assured Mitchell of the head coaching position through this season when he took over for the late Flip Saunders this fall, and Mitchell’s contract doesn’t cover next season, Stein notes (on Twitter). Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Shabazz Muhammad have endorsed Mitchell’s return in the past few days, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link) and Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press have noted, but it appears that might not be enough to save the coach’s job.
Minnesota is just 28-53 this season under Mitchell, but it’s a significant improvement on last season’s 16-66 record, and not much was expected from the youthful roster despite the presence of Wiggins and Towns, the last two No. 1 overall picks. The team has shown promise, particularly in a win at Golden State earlier this month, and Towns has swept the league’s Rookie of the Month honors thus far. Mitchell was to have continued serving as an assistant coach this season but took the head coaching reigns in September while Saunders suffered complications from cancer treatment. Saunders died in October, a few days before opening night.
“We’ve done a great job this year, especially the coaching staff,” Towns said this week, as Krawczynski relays. “With the tragedy happening, I think they did a great job for us this year.”
Veteran leader Kevin Garnett made it known earlier this season that Mitchell has his support after speculation to the contrary, but it’s unclear whether Garnett, who turns 40 next month, will return to play next season. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor will make the call on whether to retain Mitchell, Taylor said, though he added that he’ll solicit the input of GM Milt Newton. Taylor said last month that Newton would keep his job through the summer, at least.
- Brandan Wright was limited to just 12 games for the Grizzlies this season, which likely diminishes his value as a potential trade chip and increases the likelihood Wright will be on Memphis’ roster next season, opines Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal. The big man inked a three-year, $18MM with the Grizzlies last summer.
- Bob Donewald, Jr. will not return next season as the head coach of the Grizzlies’ D-League affiliate, the Iowa Energy, the team announced on its website. Donewald compiled a 52-48 record with the Energy, including a 26-24 record this season.
GM Chris Wallace says the Grizzlies have skewed toward youth with the players they’ve signed to compensate for injury this season, given the cushion they’d already built for a playoff spot and the opportunity to “catch lightning in a bottle” with a prospect who pans out, as he tells Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. Memphis has had success in this regard in the past with JaMychal Green, and Wallace is optimistic that Xavier Munford, who recently signed a two-year deal, will follow in his footsteps. “I’m very proud of both of those guys,” Wallace said. “They were given a golden opportunity to make the case that they’re NBA players. [Green]’s played more games than anybody has for us this year. JaMychal has proven he’s an NBA rotation player. Xavier came from further off the beaten path than JaMychal. Xavier had never been in an NBA training camp. Xavier had never had a call-up. But he’s got good size and is very long and rangy. He’s got good potential defensively. When he’s out there, it looks like he belongs and he does well. The coaching staff and his teammates are getting more and more confidence in him. You always have to be projective with younger players. He’s a major upward curve that’s very intriguing for us in the future.”