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Jacque Vaughn Withdraws From Head Coaching Searches

June 29th, 2021 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Nets assistant Jacque Vaughn has elected to withdraw his name from the ongoing head coaching searches around the NBA, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

According to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), Vaughn is citing family reasons, including the opportunity to spend more time with his two teenage sons, as the motivator for his decision. The expectation is that he’ll return to Steve Nash‘s staff in Brooklyn for the 2021/22 season.

Three teams – the Pelicans, Wizards, and Magic – are still seeking a new head coach. However, there hadn’t been reports indicating that Washington and Orlando were considering Vaughn for their respective vacancies.

New Orleans, on the other hand, was said to have Vaughn high on its list of candidates. A report last week suggested that his candidacy for the Pelicans’ job was gaining traction, and a more recent report tabbed him as a potential frontrunner.

If Vaughn was their preferred candidate, the Pelicans will now have to turn to other options. Bucks assistant Charles Lee and New Orleans’ own assistant Fred Vinson are among those believed to be in the mix.

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Community Shootaround: Remaining Coaching Openings

June 29th, 2021 at 9:34am CST by Luke Adams

Seven NBA teams have parted ways with their head coaches – mutually or otherwise – since the regular season ended. Of those seven clubs, four have since hired replacements.

The Celtics and Trail Blazers are making Ime Udoka and Chauncey Billups first-time head coaches, while the Pacers and Mavericks are reuniting with Rick Carlisle and Jason Kidd, respectively.

That leaves three teams in search of new head coaches: the Pelicans, Wizards, and Magic.

[RELATED: 2021 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker]

Of those three jobs, the one in New Orleans may be the most attractive. The Pelicans‘ core includes a pair of All-Star caliber forwards (Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram), along with several other young players and a boatload of future draft picks. While the Pelicans missed out on the postseason again in 2021, they’re well-positioned to continue improving their roster.

Nets assistant Jacque Vaughn has been the candidate most frequently linked to the Pelicans’ job. He has some head coaching experience, having coached Orlando for two-and-a-half years from 2012-15 and Brooklyn for 10 games in 2020. A former player who has spent over a decade in the coaching ranks since his retirement, Vaughn might be someone the Pelicans envision building a strong connection with their young roster. Bucks assistant Charles Lee and Pelicans assistant Fred Vinson are among the other candidates reportedly receiving consideration.

The Wizards, meanwhile, are the only one of the three teams without a head coach that is coming off a playoff appearance. The job comes with its share of pitfalls though. Bradley Beal could reach free agency in 2022, so his long-term future in D.C. isn’t assured. And the team, which had to win its second play-in game to sneak into the postseason, is capped out this offseason, with Russell Westbrook still owed $91MM+ over two years.

Still, the opportunity to coach one of the most talented backcourts in the NBA will be a draw, and Wizards ownership is willing to make the necessary investments to upgrade the roster wherever possible. Sixers assistant Sam Cassell, Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley, and Celtics assistant Scott Morrison are believed to be candidates for the Washington job, though the most intriguing name that keeps popping up is that of Nuggets associate head coach Wes Unseld Jr. His return to D.C., where his father spent the majority of his Hall-of-Fame career, would be a great story.

Finally, the Orlando job poses perhaps the most clear-cut challenge for an incoming coach: Help a roster that’s in the very early stages of a rebuild to grow and develop. With their moves at the trade deadline, the Magic tore things down and reset their timeline, so expectations will be modest for at least the next couple years. Whoever gets this job won’t be expected to turn this club into a title contender anytime soon.

The Magic appear to be conducting a wide-range search and are considering several assistants without NBA head coaching experience, though there’s a belief that they’d prefer a more experienced leader. Kenny Atkinson and Terry Stotts are among the former NBA head coaches who have been repeatedly cited as strong candidates for the job. Penny Hardaway, who has no NBA coaching experience but is a Magic legend and a head coach at the University of Memphis, is also said to be firmly in the mix.

We want to know what you think. Of the Pelicans’, Wizards’, and Magic’s head coaching jobs, which is most appealing? Which candidates do you think those clubs should be targeting? And which coaches do you expect to ultimately be hired?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

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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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Coaching Rumors: Magic, Atkinson, Pelicans, Blazers, Wizards

June 28th, 2021 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

Although Penny Hardaway has reportedly emerged as a legitimate candidate for the Magic‘s head coaching job, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report says Kenny Atkinson‘s name continues to be the one most frequently linked to the Orlando job.

As Fischer notes – and as has been reported elsewhere – the Magic are believed to be seeking a candidate who has previous head coaching experience. While Hardaway holds the top job at the University of Memphis, he lacks the NBA experience that Atkinson has. Sources tell Fischer that former Blazers coach Terry Stotts also remains a strong option for Orlando.

Here are a few more coaching-related notes and rumors:

  • The Pelicans‘ search is expected to continue until at least later this week, with current New Orleans assistant Fred Vinson still to be interviewed, says Fischer. However, Jacque Vaughn appears to be the frontrunner for that job, sources tell Bleacher Report. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said last week that Vaughn’s candidacy was gaining traction.
  • Trail Blazers officials were caught off guard by Damian Lillard‘s public support for Jason Kidd early in the team’s coaching search, and several staffers were surprised the All-NBA guard didn’t name former Portland assistant David Vanterpool as his preferred candidate, according to Fischer. Lillard advocated for Vanterpool to be named Minnesota’s coach following Ryan Saunders‘ dismissal earlier in the year.
  • Spurs assistant Becky Hammon impressed the Trail Blazers during the interview process, but the background intel the team got on Hammon “was not nearly as complimentary pertaining to various aspects of day-to-day coaching responsibilities,” Fischer writes. While team owner Jody Allen liked Hammon, there were doubts about whether she was best suited to navigate “delicate waters” with Lillard, Fischer adds.
  • Fischer says that the Wizards‘ coaching search will be “lengthy and thorough,” which suggests that Washington may end up being the last team to fill its head coaching opening.
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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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Southwest Notes: Mosley, Mavs Front Office, Kidd, Vaughn, Pelicans

June 26th, 2021 at 2:11pm CST by Eli Cohen

Assistant coach Jamahl Mosley is expected to leave the Mavericks, writes Tim Cato of the Athletic. Mosley is a respected coach around the league, and had a particularly close relationship with star Luka Doncic. Mosley had expected to receive serious consideration for the head coach position, but felt that failed to materialize as the team zeroed in on its preferred candidate, Jason Kidd. He will likely be an in-demand assistant coach, even if a head coaching position isn’t offered to him this summer.

In the same article, Cato examines the Mavericks’ front office power structure. The most striking thing, Cato writes, is that despite the overhaul, the structure feels exactly the same. The organization is surrounding new head of basketball operations Nico Harrison with former Mavericks players familiar with the team’s dealings, such as special advisor Dirk Nowitzki, vice president of basketball operations Michael Finley, and head coach Kidd, who is expected to bring on J.J. Barea and possibly Jason Terry as assistant coaches. Team owner Mark Cuban is expected to continue acting as the ultimate decision-maker.

We have more from around the Southwest Division:

  • Kidd’s contract with the Mavericks will be for four years, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The exact amount of the contract is still unclear, but this deal will run until Doncic is 26 years old, a critical period in the All NBA guard’s career.
  • Jacque Vaughn is gaining traction to become the head coach of the Pelicans, as Brian Windhorst reported this week. William Guillory of The Athletic examines how Vaughn – a current Brooklyn assistant and former Orlando head coach – could fit in New Orleans, as well as potential question marks for the coach, including the Magic’s lack of success with him at the helm, as well as the question of if he would continue to utilize star Zion Williamson as a point forward or rely more on the traditional guards.
  • Next season will mark the third coach in three years for the Pelicans, and Scott Kushner of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes that it could be president of basketball operations David Griffin‘s last chance to get it right for a while. It will be crucial for Griffin to examine where and why Alvin Gentry and Stan Van Gundy couldn’t succeed in New Orleans, or else the team will be forced into another reset that it cannot afford. “The real issue moving forward is finding somebody who you’re in lockstep with,” Griffin said. “And that includes ownership as well. That has to be something we’re moving with together and moving with the same spirit and same energy. I don’t know how else to put it.”
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2021 NBA Offseason Preview: New Orleans Pelicans

June 25th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After trading away Anthony Davis in 2019, the Pelicans moved another longtime standout during the 2020 offseason, sending Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee. While New Orleans’ return in the four-team deal was heavy on draft picks that could pay off down the line, it also included veterans Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe.

The idea was that the Pelicans weren’t giving up on their goal of making the playoffs in 2021 by trading Holiday, since they were getting two productive veterans in the deal — they even extended Adams as part of the trade, locking him up for two extra seasons.

However, instead of helping lead the Pelicans to the playoffs, Adams and Bledsoe struggled to fit in New Orleans. Adams and Zion Williamson weren’t a great match in the frontcourt, and Bledsoe’s efficiency cratered — his .421 FG% and .687 FT% were his worst marks since his rookie year.

Throw in the fact that new head coach Stan Van Gundy wasn’t able to deliver on his promise to turn the Pelicans’ defense around and it’s perhaps no surprise that the team didn’t take a step forward in 2020/21, falling out of play-in contention during the season’s final weeks.

The Pelicans’ Offseason Plan:

Van Gundy is gone after just one year, so the first item on the Pelicans’ offseason to-do list will be hiring his replacement. New Orleans is seeking a coach who can better connect with the young players on the roster — veteran assistants like Jacque Vaughn and Charles Lee are among the candidates receiving consideration.

Once the coaching search is over, president of basketball operations David Griffin will face a series of challenging offseason decisions, including the looming restricted free agencies of Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart. Both players are due for substantial raises, potentially creating a cap crunch for the Pelicans, who presumably aren’t eager to pay the luxury tax and would be approaching that threshold if they bring both RFAs back on fair-market deals.

Still, the Pelicans won’t want to lose their solid young players for nothing. Star forwards Williamson and Brandon Ingram have both expressed a desire to continue playing with Ball, in particular, and Hart has reportedly been a strong locker room voice for the young squad.

In order to comfortably re-sign both players and potentially use their mid-level exception, the Pelicans may explore trading Bledsoe and/or Adams to cut costs. Neither player is a positive asset at this point, but neither contract is so onerous that it can’t be moved.

While it’s never ideal for a rebuilding team to surrender draft picks in order to clear unwanted contracts from its cap, the Pelicans are uniquely positioned following their Davis and Holiday mega-deals to sacrifice a pick or two in a salary dump and not be significantly set back by it.

Ideally, they’d deal from their cache of second-round picks (they have four in 2021 alone), but if they need to include a protected first-rounder, the Pelicans should seriously consider giving up a selection previously acquired from the Lakers or Bucks. If they want to get back to the postseason sooner rather than later, it’s worth being aggressive this summer rather than waiting another year or two for those contracts to expire.

Salary Cap Situation

Note: Our salary cap projections are based on a presumed 3% increase, which would result in a $112.4MM cap for 2021/22.

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

  • None

Team Options

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Restricted Free Agents

Two-Way Free Agents

Draft Picks

  • No. 10 overall pick ($4,373,160)
  • No. 35 overall pick (no cap hold)
  • No. 40 overall pick (no cap hold)
  • No. 43 overall pick (no cap hold)
  • No. 53 overall pick (no cap hold)
  • Total: $4,373,160

Extension-Eligible Players

  • None

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

Offseason Cap Outlook

Accounting for their nine players on guaranteed contracts, Louzada’s minimum-salary team option, and the cap hold for the No. 10 pick brings the Pelicans’ team salary to $97MM+. It seems safe to assume the club will try to retain at least one of Ball and Hart, if not both, so New Orleans appears likely to operate over the cap.

However, with so many variables in play, it’s tricky to project which exceptions the Pelicans might have access to. Re-signing Ball and Hart without cutting costs elsewhere would likely put team salary at the tax line, limiting the club to the taxpayer mid-level exception. But letting one of those RFAs go – or trading Adams and/or Bledsoe to save some money – could create enough flexibility for New Orleans to use the full mid-level and/or the bi-annual exception.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Mid-level exception: $9,536,000 2
  • Bi-annual exception: $3,732,000 2
  • Trade exception: $3,897,436

Footnotes

  1. Louzada will be eligible for restricted free agency if his option is declined.
  2. These are projected values. If the Pelicans are at or near the tax line, they may instead have access to just the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.9MM).

Salary and cap information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post.

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Draft Notes: Workouts, Aluma, T. Williams, Hurt, McBride

June 25th, 2021 at 3:16pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves and Jazz are hosting pre-draft group workouts in Minneapolis from July 8-11, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, the event will be open to all 30 NBA teams and the goal will be to have 48 prospects participate over that four-day period.

In past years when teams have brought in groups of prospects for pre-draft workouts, they’ve typically hosted six players at a time. If the event in Minneapolis follows a similar pattern, it could showcase two groups of six players apiece on each day from July 8-11.

Here’s more on the upcoming draft:

  • Virginia Tech forward Keve Aluma is returning to school for another year, he announced on Twitter. Aluma had been testing the draft waters after 15.2 PPG and 7.9 RPG in 22 games (30.6 MPG) as a junior in 2020/21.
  • Purdue forward Trevion Williams is also pulling out of the draft and heading back to school, per a Twitter announcement. Williams put up 15.5 PPG and 9.1 RPG in 28 games (25.1 MPG) for the Boilemakers as a junior this year, earning All-Big Ten honors.
  • Duke forward Matthew Hurt has workouts on tap with the Celtics, Thunder, Pelicans, Lakers, Clippers, and Bucks, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link).
  • West Virginia guard Miles McBride has worked out for the Knicks and Celtics in addition to interviewing with several teams, tweets Alder Almo of Empire Sports Media.
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Coaching Rumors: Wizards, Morrison, Cassell, Pelicans, Vaughn, Carlisle

June 25th, 2021 at 9:09am CST by Luke Adams

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.
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Van Gundy Couldn't Match Thibodeau's Success

June 24th, 2021 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Stan Van Gundy was one-and-done as the Pelicans‘ head coach, while Tom Thibodeau was named Coach of the Year in his first season with the Knicks. The fact that the Knicks’ top players bought in to Thibodeau’s style and schemes while the Pelicans’ young core didn’t do the same with their veteran coach led to Van Gundy’s demise, Christian Clark of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes. The Knicks also had more experienced players on their roster than the Pelicans, another reason why Van Gundy failed and Thibodeau thrived.
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