Brett Brown Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Fallout From Sixers Front Office Change

April 7th, 2016 at 10:33am CST by Chuck Myron

The resignation of Sixers GM Sam Hinkie on Wednesday night brought an end to one of the most controversial front office tenures the NBA has ever seen. Philadelphia went 47-195 in Hinkie’s time, its winning percentage decreasing in each of his three seasons. Now, it appears the task of rebuilding the Sixers will fall to Bryan Colangelo, whom the team is reportedly poised to hire as its new GM, and his father, Jerry Colangelo, the team’s chairman of basketball operations. See the fallout from Philly:

Hinkie’s resignation shocked Sixers higher-ups, a league source told Pompey. Hinkie was with the team and other members of the organization for three hours, posed for the team picture and met with managing owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer for 90 minutes before dropping his bombshell of a resignation letter, Pompey relays. Members of the Sixers brass were keen on Hinkie’s knowledge of analytics and ability to manage the salary cap but found him lacking in other skills necessary for the GM job, so they met with him at times over the past three or four months about reducing his role and mitigating his shortcomings, according to Pompey. Those conversations heated up over the past two weeks, Pompey adds.

8:58am updates:

Coach Brett Brown was a Hinkie hire, but his job is safe, a league source told Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The Sixers extended Brown’s contract through the 2018/19 season shortly after Jerry Colangelo’s hiring in December.
The Sixers were planning to announce after the season that Hinkie would be in charge of analytics and that they were bringing someone else into the front office, a league source told Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter link). Sources told Pompey that the team asked Hinkie to take a lesser role to accommodate the hiring of Bryan Colangelo. Ownership thought Hinkie would accept this sort of arrangement, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Tension built between Hinkie and ownership in the months after the team hired Jerry Colangelo, league sources told John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com. The owners wanted the Colangelos to take the lead role in dealing with players and agents in free agency, but Hinkie thought he “had it covered,” Gonzalez hears.
Hinkie stepped down without notifying his employees, who learned of his resignation via social media, several sources told Pompey for the same piece. Staff who worked under Hinkie were often frustrated about his lack of communication, Wojnarowski tweets. Hinkie was reluctant to trust anyone outside a small circle of confidants and employees he hired, team sources told David Aldridge of NBA.com.

Thunder Rumors: Durant, Donovan, Foye, Kanter

March 21st, 2016 at 9:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

Heading into free agency, Kevin Durant is asked about a lot of NBA destinations, but he offered a simple answer of “It’s home” when he got that question about Oklahoma City, relays Royce Young of ESPN.com. Whether or not that offers a clue of Durant’s free agency intentions, it’s clear he has developed an affection for the city where he has spent the last eight years of his NBA career. “I’ve always felt that this place meant so much to me,” Durant said. “It has a special place in my heart and my family’s heart as well.”

There’s more out of Oklahoma City:

Billy Donovan has adjusted to the challenge of handling two superstars in his first NBA coaching job, writes Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Donovan had spent 21 years at the college level, and 19 at the University of Florida, before replacing Scott Brooks in Oklahoma City last summer. Donovan has the Thunder, who missed the playoffs in an injury-filled season a year ago, firmly in third place in the West with a 48-22 record. “I just think that there is sort of a down-to-earth part of him that allows him to come in and be excellent at inheriting a hell of a team,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said of Donovan. “That’s a hard job in different ways you look at it. Because it is so veteran and they have been used to success. I thought Scotty did a hell of a job with them, too. It’s not an easy job.”
Randy Foye, who was acquired from the Nuggets at the trade deadline, has helped rejuvenate the bench in Oklahoma City, according to Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. Foye is a streaky shooter, but he has helped by limiting turnovers and playing strong defense on the perimeter. Strong bench play has also come from center Enes Kanter, whom the Thunder kept last summer by matching a five-year, $70MM offer from Portland.
Still recovering from hip surgery, assistant coach Maurice Cheeks is expected to return to the Thunder bench for home games beginning this week, Slater tweets. Donovan hopes Cheeks can take on full-time duty by the start of next month.
The Thunder have assigned forward Mitch McGary to Oklahoma City Blue in the D-League. He has played 22 games with the Blue this season, averaging 15 points and 9.1 rebounds.

Atlantic Notes: Early, Rondo, Embiid, Scola

March 20th, 2016 at 5:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks activated small forward Cleanthony Early today for the first time since he was shot in the right knee during a December 30th robbery, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Early told police he was robbed and shot when four to six men stopped a taxi he was riding in. The Knicks assigned Early to the D-League two weeks ago to help him prepare for his NBA return.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Kings point guard and impending free agent Rajon Rondo said former Knicks coach Derek Fisher “might have blacked out a couple of times” when he questioned Rondo’s ability to run the triangle offense, Begley relays. Rondo made some comments questioning the triangle earlier this season, and many interpreted them as a sign that he wouldn’t consider New York in free agency. But Rondo sounded different before Sacramento’s game tonight at Madison Square Garden. “I’m not saying I couldn’t master [the triangle]. I think I can put my mind to it, break down a lot of film if that was the case to be,” Rondo said. “I don’t play in the triangle. I can only speak on what I do know and that’s under George Karl’s system. We’re pretty good offensively. We don’t want to talk about the defense.”
The Sixers sent Joel Embiid back to the Aspetar medical facility in Qatar because they were happy with the results of his first visit, according to Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly. Coach Brett Brown said the first trip to Aspetar provided positive results for Embiid in the areas of body weight, sleep, body mass assessment and healing. “Maybe more important than anything, Joel bought in, in a large way, and the results were starting to show,” Brown said. “We test drove it, we liked what we saw a lot, led by a group of us that assessed it and Joel’s reaction to it.”
Veteran power forward Luis Scola, who signed with the Raptors in free agency over the offseason, has become a valuable contributor in Toronto, writes Holly MacKenzie of NBA.com. Scola raised some eyebrows around the league with a 17-point first quarter against the Celtics this week. “This is a team that we have a bunch of pieces and they all have their role,” Scola said.

Sixers Rumors: Okafor, Noel, Draft, Brown

March 13th, 2016 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The pairing of big men Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor earned a C grade from Sixers coach Brett Brown, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Okafor had a troubled rookie season off the court despite being the team’s leading scorer at 17.5 points per game. He was suspended for two games in December after being part of two street fights in Boston and was cited for driving more than 100 mph in Philadelphia. Okafor’s season ended prematurely with a meniscus tear in his right knee. Questions have lingered about how well he and Noel fit together, with rumors that the Sixers were gauging interest in Okafor at the trade deadline. “With sometimes the excitement of [an] A, no doubt,” Brown said in explaining his C grade. “Sometimes the disappointment of [an] F. It’s not anybody’s fault. We all have talked about it and I believe everybody here understands how difficult [it is] taking two [centers] that are 20 and letting them figure out NBA transition defense and matchups and the punishments.”

There’s more out of Philadelphia:

The Sixers shouldn’t feel any pressure to take a point guard early in the draft, contends Derek Bodner of Philadelphia magazine. Sitting on top of our reverse standings, Philadelphia expects to have a prime selection with its own choice and will receive the Lakers’ pick if it falls outside the top three. Bodner isn’t convinced that prospects such as Kris Dunn of Providence or Jamal Murray of Kentucky are the answer in the range of the Lakers’ pick. The Sixers are likely to get the Thunder’s and Heat’s picks as well, which is where they could nab someone like French prospect Timothe Luwawu.
Brown deserves more time to try to build a winner, argues Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The columnist will likely get his wish, as Brown signed a two-year extension in December despite a poor won-loss record. He recently summed up his coaching situation. “There is just no margin of error for us. None,” said Brown. “If you missed a switch, you lose. If you miss a box out, you could lose. If you miss two box outs and two switches, you lose by eight. There’s just no margin for error. We just don’t have the roster to absorb multiple errors.”
Having a parcel of draft picks is no guarantee of success, Cooney warns in a separate story. He also notes that most players have to become veterans before they’re ready to win big.

Atlantic Notes: Wroten, Okafor, Rondo, Powell

March 10th, 2016 at 9:29am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks apparently held reservations in the recent past about Tony Wroten‘s gambling style of defense, but sources tell Marc Berman of the New York Post they see him as a good defender who’s aggressive in the passing lanes. Wroten, who remains unsigned, is reportedly unlikely to see action for the Knicks this season even if he and the team do finalize a reported two-year agreement, but interim coach Kurt Rambis sees merit in adding him, as Berman relays.

“If he’s not healthy to play, we can evaluate him over summer,” Rambis said. “We see potential in him. Now we have his rights. He’s a penetrating guard. He was somebody who can really break down defenses and attack the basket, but I haven’t seen him play in a while. [There are] a lot of management reasons to do something like that, that still holds value to the team, even if he’s not actively playing the rest of the year. It’s a management and medical decision right now.”

See more on the Knicks and other teams from the Atlantic Division:

Sixers coach Brett Brown didn’t rule out the idea that Jahlil Okafor will miss the rest of the season because of lingering soreness in his right knee, though he strongly cautioned that no such decision has been made, as Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays. The No. 3 overall pick from last year’s draft underwent a CAT scan Tuesday and hasn’t played since February 28th.
Carmelo Anthony sees soon-to-be free agent Rajon Rondo as an ideal fit for the triangle offense, but Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News argues that Rondo would be a poor free agent choice for the Knicks, citing his lack of shooting, questions about whether he’s truly an elite player and frequent involvement in controversy.
Norman Powell has proven a steal at the No. 46 pick last year, contends Mike Ganter of The National Post. Minutes have been inconsistent for the Raptors small forward, but he’s nonetheless getting some significant playing time and making a contribution to the Eastern Conference’s second-place team, as Ganter details.

Sixers Notes: Free Agents, Colangelo, Brown

February 27th, 2016 at 6:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers’ front office recognizes that it hasn’t created an attractive environment for free agents, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Although that means being ignored by Kevin Durant, Andre Drummond and Dwight Howard this summer and probably by Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook next year, the long-term goal is to turn Philadelphia into a contender for big-name free agents. “I think you have to create an atmosphere that is really attractive to free agents,” said chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo, “and you need to create a pool of players that others want to join, and they see the future and the potential. We could talk in theory about how that’s going to happen. But we just need to go out and start doing things. When we do, I think we will have a shot to become a destination.”

There’s more out of Philadelphia:

Colangelo will be evaluating his roster over the remainder of the regular season, Pompey writes in a separate story. Colangelo, who was hired to his current position in December, was in Philadelphia late this week to meet with coach Brett Brown and GM Sam Hinkie to plot strategy for the draft and free agency. “So right now the important thing is, and this is what we’re talking about: What can we get out of the last 25 games?” Colangelo said. “Find out as much as we can about what we have before you talk about what we’re going to be doing.”
Colangelo defended Brown’s performance and indicated the front office will continue to be patient with its coach, according to Brian Seltzer of Sixers.com. Brown has an ugly 45-177 record in nearly three years in Philadelphia, but Colangelo believes he is a solid coach because of what he has accomplished in other venues. “I’ve had chances to see him in action [as an assistant coach] in San Antonio, but more importantly, in U.S.A. Basketball world competition,” Colangelo said. “He coached the Australian team. I’ve seen what he can do.”

And-Ones: Celtics, Sixers, Bender, Free Agency

February 5th, 2016 at 4:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The unprotected first-rounder that the Nets owe the Celtics for this year’s draft is available for the right price, Boston president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday in an appearance on the “Dale & Holley with Thornton” show on WEEI radio. That price is high, Ainge cautioned. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News wrote earlier this week that the pick was “definitely not available,” but while that might not technically be true, it sounds like that’s effectively the case for all but the most enticing offers.

“It would have to be, certainly, a very good player. And also it probably wouldn’t be someone in their 30s,” Ainge said to the radio hosts. “That would have to be a good young player, because again, even if we had a 5% or a 10% or a 15% chance at one of the top picks in the draft, that’s worth keeping.”

The Nets pick is No. 3 in the lottery order for now, as our Reverse Standings show, so if that position holds, it would give the Celtics a 17.8% chance at the No. 1 pick and about 50-50 odds of picking somewhere in the top three. See more from around the NBA:

Brett Brown understands the Sixers front office has the task of improving the team for the future, and the roster he has isn’t exactly a coach’s dream, but he would prefer that Philadelphia stands pat at the trade deadline, as he told Tom Moore of Calkins Media. “All coaches beg for consistency,” Brown said. “You feel like your teaching message, your purpose, your points of emphasis have a chance to resonate and be delivered and improved upon better with time.”
Versatility and an underrated toughness are some of the qualities that make Dragan Bender easily the top overseas prospect for the 2016 draft, but as the draft’s youngest prospect, his frame isn’t close to being ready to handle the NBA, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Still, he’ll almost certainly enter the draft this year, Givony hears, and his vast potential has him No. 3 in Givony’s prospect rankings.
The ability to match competing bids in the summer, an understanding of the player’s contract demands from the extension window, and low rookie scale salaries are reasons why soon-to-be restricted free agents are intriguing trade candidates, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller posits, offering a few names as particularly interesting cases.

Sixers Notes: Marshall, Smith, Embiid, Brown

January 20th, 2016 at 11:49am CST by Chuck Myron

Nobody in Kendall Marshall‘s camp thought he would be ready for opening night, as Sixers GM Sam Hinkie predicted he would be, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, speaking in his latest “The Vertical” podcast (audio link, scroll to six-minute mark). Another team that considered signing Marshall this past summer told the point guard that it didn’t envision him returning to play from his torn ACL before January 1st, so Wojnarowski expressed surprise when Sixers coach and podcast guest Brett Brown said he, like Hinkie, thought Marshall would be ready for the start of the regular season. Marshall made his season debut December 11th after signing a four-year, $8MM contract that represents Philly’s largest free agent contract since Hinkie joined the team. See more on the Sixers from Brown’s conversation with Wojnarowski:

Brown believes the arrival via trade of point guard Ish Smith, who’s taken the starting job from Marshall, is directly related to the relative success the club has had since, adding that the unsettled point guard situation prior to that made it tougher to fuse Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel into an effective on-court duo. “I think it caught everybody off-guard to have to figure out that position with some of the young guys and sort of journeymen that we did,” Brown said to Wojnarowski (scroll to five-minute mark). “I think it no doubt hurt us.”
Hinkie and Brown were in agreement that it was worth it to draft an already-injured Joel Embiid at No. 3 overall in 2014, Brown told Wojnarowski in remarks that made it clear the coach hasn’t lost faith in the center’s potential. “I feel there is something uniquely special in him,” Brown said (scroll to 55-minute mark). “… I look at him, and I see his size, and I see how he carries himself, and I see [an] amazing competitor in all of it. So we get excited for Joel Embiid, no doubt.”
The coach admitted to Wojnarowski that the team’s rebuilding project has persisted longer than he imagined when he first took the job in 2013 (scroll to 12-minute mark) and explained how he ended negotiations with the Sixers for a brief time at that point when the team was hesitant to give him a four-year deal (scroll to 49-minute mark). Brown signed an extension in December that tacks two additional years onto the contract.

Atlantic Notes: Brand, Smith, Love, Wroten

January 6th, 2016 at 10:01am CST by Chuck Myron

It wasn’t initially clear whether the Sixers wanted Elton Brand as a player or for a non-playing role with the organization instead, but coach Brett Brown likes having the 17th-year veteran in uniform, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com relays. Brand became just the second Sixers player older than 27 when Philadelphia signed him Monday.

“Because you wouldn’t believe what goes on at halftime when a coaching staff is in another room,” Brown said, explaining the value of having a veteran presence on the playing roster. “And you wouldn’t believe what goes on on the bench when you’re down 20. And you wouldn’t believe what goes on in a player’s mind when it’s a two-point game with a minute and a half left and ‘Do they know their assignments?’”

See more on the Sixers amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:

Brown said earlier in the season that he felt it necessary to bear the responsibility that would normally go to veteran players, and just as Brand takes that burden off the Sixers coach, the acquisition of Ish Smith makes Brown’s job easier, too. Fellow CSNPhilly.com scribe Jessica Camerato has the details. “It allows me to coach less, which is good. I mean it,” Brown said. “There’s nothing worse than sitting on the sideline feeling like you’ve got to run the whole game, calling the play every single [time] — that’s not how I see the game. So when you’re playing with that pace, as long as you feel like you’ve got the right people on the floor and the spacing is the way that you want, then you let the game flow. I feel like he brings that to me, for me.”
The Celtics thought Kevin Love was legitimately interested in their organization, coach Brad Stevens, and the city of Boston before he chose to re-sign with the Cavs this past summer, Celtics team sources told MassLive’s Jay King. Isaiah Thomas, appearing on “The Vertical” podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (audio link via Twitter), said that he tried to recruit Love to the Celtics, “but I think he already had his mind made up,” Thomas said of his former AAU teammate.
The Knicks reportedly have interest in Tony Wroten, but the former Sixers combo guard is unlikely to wind up in New York, and he’s looking for someplace where he feels he has a better opportunity to stay for the long term, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.

Sixers Notes: Okafor, Hinkie, Colangelo, D’Antoni

December 27th, 2015 at 6:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jahlil Okafor‘s camp didn’t want him to end up with the Sixers before Philly drafted him in June, sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. GM Sam Hinkie wasn’t allowed to interview Kristaps Porzingis at his predraft workout in Las Vegas, Pompey also hears. An agent told the Inquirer scribe in October that he wouldn’t want his maximum-salary clientele signing in Philadelphia and would advise mid-tier clients to play for the Sixers only if the team offered to overpay them. It all points to Hinkie’s difficult dealing with agents, though the GM says to Pompey that new executive Jerry Colangelo is changing that.

“Yeah, he’s helped there, too,” Hinkie said. “I think he’s had lot of good advice and I had lots of questions there about ways in which we could do things better. And he’s helped on that front already.”

See more from Philly:

Colangelo implied that he doesn’t have as much power with the Sixers as some might assume, saying that this experience is different from his time with the Suns “because in the past, the buck always stopped with me,” notes Arizona Republic columnist Paula Boivin. Of course, Colangelo was in charge of the Suns as an owner, and he’s merely advising Sixers owner Josh Harris, so the comment isn’t necessarily about his role in Philly’s basketball operations.
Mike D’Antoni said he’s “happy as heck” to be back in coaching as the lead assistant for the Sixers, and referred to head coach Brett Brown as the top draw for him to come to Philly, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
Nerlens Noel explained some of the reasons why he’s such a fan of Sixers trade acquisition Ish Smith, who also played with the team at the end of last season. Brian Seltzer of Sixers.com has the details. “I think it’s his experience,” Noel said. “Him being as athletic as he is at the point guard position, and being able to create. Just a willing passer. He makes things a lot easier for the people around him. He makes them better.”