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Western Notes: Nuggets, Collison, Johnson

February 3rd, 2015 at 10:41pm CST by Zachary Links

The Nuggets players revolted against coach Dan Issel in 2000 and they’re doing the same thing to Brian Shaw now, Nick Groke of The Denver Post opines. Shaw ripped into his players after Sunday’s 104-86 loss to the Hornets, saying that they “didn’t feel like playing tonight from the start.” Groke feels that’s exactly the case and, eventually, he thinks Shaw will be ousted if things continue on this course.

Here’s more from the West:

The contract extension that Nick Collison signed earlier today marks the eighth time in the past six years that a Thunder player has signed a contract extension and bypassed the chance at free agency, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com notes. “This organization shows a commitment to players, and it’s an everyday thing,” Collison said. “That is something the guys have valued, how we’ve been treated over the years. Guys appreciate it and we’ve wanted to be here. It’s a two-way street. This organization has always shown an interest in getting something done [before free agency]. When both sides feel good about the deal, then things get done. ”
The Nuggets’ prolific use of their depth used to be a source of pride for the team, as well as a necessity, thanks to Denver’s altitude and fast paced playing style, but it has now become a source of contention within the locker room, Adi Joseph of USA Today writes. Nuggets players are unsure of their roles with the team, which is one of the issues that is sinking Shaw as a coach, Joseph notes.
Lakers swingman Wesley Johnson has left agent Rob Pelinka and he has hired Octagon Basketball to represent him, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). Johnson, who is making $981,084 this season, will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Lamb, Young

February 3rd, 2015 at 10:08am CST by Chuck Myron

Nuggets GM Tim Connelly admitted that his team is “very, very aggressive” as it seeks changes to the roster, and team president Josh Kroenke hinted that it’s a matter of when, not if, Denver will make a move, as Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post details after speaking with both execs. Kroenke said he and the front office understand the problems and how to address them, as Hochman relays.

“Tim and the rest of our staff are working their tails off,” Kroenke said. “And I know exactly what they think and where everything stands with our coaches and players. From my chair, it’s just a matter of time when to make decisions [on possible moves]. A good portion of deals is timing, and unfortunately our time frame has been drawn out due to different circumstances, mostly injuries. But I must say it again, our current state is not acceptable and our fans deserve better.”

There’s more on the Nuggets amid the latest from around the Northwest Division:

Nuggets GM Tim Connelly told Hochman for the same piece that management is “firmly behind” coach Brian Shaw. Still, Hochman argues that Shaw’s ineffective lineup choices and public criticism of players should be grounds for termination if the team doesn’t become more competitive soon.
Jeremy Lamb would have been merely a “throw-in” if the Thunder, Hornets and Nets had emerged last month from their three-team talks regarding Brook Lopez with a deal, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Lamb wasn’t a player the Hornets necessarily wanted, Bonnell cautions, adding that the main thrust of the discussion from their end was to find a way to “gracefully” bring an end to Lance Stephenson‘s time in Charlotte (Twitter links).
Nets GM Billy King said Monday that he’s taking calls, not making them, but the Timberwolves would contend that Brooklyn initiated talks regarding Thaddeus Young, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Still, given the volume of routine calls that take place between executives from opposing teams, just who made the initial call isn’t necessarily an indication of the relative strength of interest that the respective teams have in doing a deal, argues Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
The Thunder have assigned Mitch McGary to the D-League, the team announced via press release. It’s the third time the No. 21 pick from the 2014 draft has gone to the D-League, but it’s his first assignment since December, as he’s been sidelined with left tibia inflammation.

Northwest Notes: Burks, Aldridge, Shaw

December 6th, 2014 at 4:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jazz guard Alec Burks met with specialists on Friday to have his injured left shoulder examined and the results were positive, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski’s sources, Burks won’t require surgery and will undergo rehab that could allow him to return in as little as two weeks. Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link) has heard differently, and his sources inform him that Burks will definitely require surgery, either now or at the end of the season.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

LaMarcus Aldridge is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, and has said that his comfort level with the Blazers organization, the city, and the media, will play a big factor in making his ultimate decision, Jason Quick of The Oregonian writes. “The relationship I’ve built here is invaluable,” Aldridge said. “I definitely value it a lot because it took work on both ends. I’m definitely comfortable here, but this is all I know. I can’t say I would be uncomfortable in those other environments you talk about, but I can say I’m comfortable here, because I’ve been here so long and I understand this market, this city, this organization. So there’s that extra level of comfort here.”
Aldridge’s teammates say that his legacy might be a factor in making his free agent decision as well, Quick adds. “We haven’t talked about this stuff, but I’m just speaking if I were him,” Wesley Matthews said. “If I were him, seeing my name creeping up on the ranks in the all-time lists … that changes stuff. That’s big time. That’s legacy. I don’t know. I can’t speak for him. But that might be a factor, a role.”
Brian Shaw‘s 100th game as Nuggets head coach was Tuesday night, and the former player reflected on how the league has changed since he last put on a uniform, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “Understanding that it’s a different day and age that we live in,” Shaw said. “Some of the things that we have to deal with that weren’t around. For instance, when I played, cell phones, social media, things of that nature that are just different.I tell the guys that when I first got in the league in 1988, we didn’t have cell phones; I don’t even know if we had computers. “

Western Notes: Nash, Len, Gay, Shaw

November 19th, 2014 at 10:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Steve Nash has finally touched base with Lakers coach Byron Scott, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. Last week it was reported that Nash wasn’t returning his coach’s phone calls while he was away from the team nursing his injured back. Nash is expected to have a presence around the team and hopefully serve as a mentor for some of the franchise’s younger players, notes Medina.

Nash didn’t speak with Scott, but instead left a voicemail, Medina adds. “He [Nash] did say on his message that he’s definitely going to come back and see everybody,” Scott said. “He just needed some time, which we all understood. But he didn’t give me a set time. It was a very simple message: ‘I heard that you called me. I don’t check my voicemail, but I’m calling you back. Hope everything is well. Hang in there. See you guys soon.’ ”

Here’s more from the west:

With the Nuggets off to a 3-7 start to begin the season there has been some speculation about head coach Brian Shaw‘s job being in jeopardy. In his weekly mailbag Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post asserted that Shaw is unlikely to be fired during the season, though he also believes that Shaw needs to settle on a regular rotation as soon as possible.
Rudy Gay‘s contract extension with the Kings will pay him $12,403,101 for the 2015/16 season, $13,333,333 for 2016/17, and it includes a player option for 2017/18 worth $14,263,566, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link).
Alex Len‘s improved play this season could serve as redemption for Suns GM Ryan McDonough‘s decision to draft Len over Nerlens Noel and Ben McLemore in 2013, Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic writes. “I really felt bad for Alex a year ago,” McDonough said. “As people tend to do in our society, there was a rush to judgment way too quickly on who he was as a player and what he could become. He’s very mobile for his size, and now that he’s healthy, he has his agility back. And he’s gotten a lot stronger.”
Nuggets GM Tim Connelly is shouldering a healthy share of the blame for the team’s woes, but it is former GM Masai Ujiri who is actually responsible for most of Denver’s problematic contracts, Tom Ziller of SB Nation writes. Ziller cites the deals given to JaVale McGee, Wilson Chandler, and Danilo Gallinari as examples of burdensome holdovers from Ujiri’s tenure.

Renounced Players: Thursday

July 17th, 2014 at 11:30pm CST by Alex Lee

We may be no longer in the early stages of free agency, but teams continue to clear cap space by renouncing their Non-Bird, Early Bird or full Bird rights to their own free agents to remove their cap holds from the books. Teams that renounce those rights no longer have the ability to exceed the cap to re-sign those players unless they use an exception like the mid-level or the biannual. Some of those decisions are more notable than others, but for completion’s sake, we’ll track the latest of these cap-clearing moves right here:

The Bulls have renounced their rights to Daequan Cook, Vladimir Radmanovic, Nazr Mohammed, Brian Scalabrine and Jimmer Fredette, reports Mark Deeks of Sham Sports (via Twitter).
The Mavericks have expunged the cap hold of Petteri Koponen and renounced their rights to Bernard James, reports Deeks (via Twitter).
The Lakers have renounced their rights to MarShon Brooks and Andrew Goudelock, according to Deeks (via Twitter).
The Lakers have also renounced the rights to John Salley, Karl Malone, Brian Shaw and other players not on the team last season, according to ESPN salary cap guru Larry Coon (via Twitter).
As Coon explains, the old CBA allowed Bird rights of players not on a team the previous year to be used in sign-and-trades. With that no longer the case under the current CBA, the rights to players like Salley, Malone and Shaw are no longer useful. The teams must still go through the formality of renouncing the rights, but tend not to do so until they actually need the cap space which, like in this case, could be years later (Twitter links are here).
With Salley’s rights renounced, Coon believes the oldest Bird rights still on the books might be Roshown McLeod with the Celtics (Twitter link).

Western Notes: Nuggets, Blazers, Wolves

June 27th, 2014 at 10:36pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey will be busy once the free agent signing period begins, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Olshey will look to upgrade his bench and he will have the team’s mid level exception which would allow Olshey to spend as much as $5.305MM on a player for up to four years, and a biannual exception that will allow him to spend roughly $2.1MM on a player for up to two years, the article notes. Freeman also looks at some of the free agent possibilities the team might entertain signing this summer.

Knicks Rumors: Kerr, Jackson, Shaw, Felton

May 30th, 2014 at 11:27am CST by Chuck Myron

Phil Jackson said Steve Kerr told him he’d take the Knicks coaching job the day before the Warriors fired Mark Jackson, notes Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter links). Jackson acknowledged that he told Carmelo Anthony that Kerr would coach the team, Herring also tweets, so Kerr’s decision left the Zen Master in quite a spot. Anthony reportedly supports Mark Jackson as a would-be Knicks coach. However, the man Kerr replaced in Golden State wouldn’t fit Phil Jackson’s desire for a coach with whom he has a prior relationship, a quality which the Knicks president identified today as one he’ll look for, observes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (on Twitter).

We passed along Jackson’s comments about Anthony’s contract situation earlier, and we’ll round up the rest from the Zen Master’s confab with reporters here:

Jackson said he’d be interested in coaching the team himself, but he added that “unless the Lord heals me,” he wouldn’t be physically capable of doing so, as Herring and Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com pass along (Twitter links). Jackson added that the notion of coaching for just one season on a temporary basis “doesn’t sit right” with him, as Herring tweets.
Some “unnamed people” have interviewed with Jackson for the coaching job, but none of them were Derek Fisher or Brian Shaw, the Zen Master said, as Newsday’s Al Iannazzone observes (Twitter link).
Jackson isn’t interested in trying to pry Shaw from the Nuggets, Herring notes (on Twitter). “Denver has everything we’ve owned [already],” Jackson said.
Jackson said he has yet to tell any players that they’ll be jettisoned this summer, contradicting a report that he’d informed Raymond Felton that he’s going to trade him, Herring tweets.

Lawrence On Thibs, Irving, Love, Knicks

May 24th, 2014 at 2:54pm CST by Zachary Links

The Grizzlies are on a shoestring budget and don’t have the room necessary to bring coach Tom Thibodeau over from the Bulls, writes Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News. “Do they realize how much that will cost?’” said one Chicago official, when word surfaced that the Grizzlies will look at Thibs if Memphis winds up allowing Dave Joerger to take the Timberwolves’ head coaching position. An Eastern Conference president, factoring in Stan Van Gundy’s $7MM/year deal in Detroit, estimated that it would cost Memphis $8MM per year to have Thibodeau serve as their coach and president. Here’s more from today’s column…

The Cavs are making noises that they aren’t going to offer Kyrie Irving “max money’’ this summer via a long-term extension. They don’t want to deal the 2014 All-Star Game MVP, but it could come to that, especially if the guard and his family continue to tell people that he wants out. Irving hasn’t been a leader in his first three seasons and he’s also gained the unwelcomed reputation as a locker-room problem. “He was just handed too much, too soon,’’ said one source. “You’ve got to make these young guys earn it, and that’s where this team did a bad job with him.’’
The Cavs are not looking for a coach with a strong veteran presence who wants to do things only his way. That probably rules out Jeff Van Gundy, George Karl, and Lionel Hollins, although Lawrence is a fan of all three. New GM David Griffin is looking for a college or NBA coach who agrees to accept input and instructions from himself and hands-on owner Dan Gilbert.
The Cavs know they can’t get Kevin Love from the Wolves in a deal for the No. 1 pick. If they keep it, they’re expected to take Kansas big man Joel Embiid, unless the stress fracture in his back injury from last season has the chance to become a long-term issue. Meanwhile, agent Arn Tellem might not make his client’s medical records available to teams with which he doesn’t want Embiid to play.
The Nuggets aren’t going to allow coach Brian Shaw to come to the Knicks if they fail to land Derek Fisher, even if the Knicks offer compensation. “We didn’t hire Brian for a one-year position with our team,’’ Nuggets president Josh Kroenke said. “We see Brian being with us for years to come.’’ If Fisher turns Jackson down, Kurt Rambis is the next in line.
Just because Bucks GM John Hammond and Pelicans exec Dell Demps came to New York for the lottery doesn’t mean that they’re going to be around for the long haul. Lawrence gets the sense that both are on the hot seat.

Western Notes: Shaw, Nuggets, Pelicans

May 23rd, 2014 at 6:00pm CST by Cray Allred

Lester Munson of ESPN.com explains some of the ramifications of Donald Sterling’s decision to try and have Shelly Sterling handle the sale of the Clippers. Munson writes that Adam Silver still has all the leverage, and thinks it’s possible that Silver is able to reach a settlement with the Sterlings prior to the June 3 vote to strip them of the team. Here’s more from out West:

Nuggets GM Tim Connelly assured Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post that Brian Shaw will stay put as Denver’s coach, piggybacking on president Josh Kroenke’s assertion from earlier today. “Complete. Non. Story,” said Connelly.
Kiszla thinks that the Nuggets should swing big this offseason, including testing the waters on a Kevin Love trade, trying to trade for Cleveland’s No. 1 pick, and even exploring just what value Denver could get in return for Shaw.
Now that the pick sent by the Pelicans to the Sixers from last year’s Jrue Holiday/Nerlens Noel trade has settled at No. 10 in this year’s draft, Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune says that New Orleans is in a dangerous position following a one-sided deal. Smith worries that breakout star Anthony Davis will grow frustrated if the team stagnates, and the Times-Picayune scribe wonders if the Pelicans will find a way to move Eric Gordon‘s burdensome contract and trade their way back into the draft.

Nuggets President: Shaw Won’t Coach Knicks

May 22nd, 2014 at 9:52pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Nuggets president Josh Kroenke tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports that Brian Shaw will remain with the Nuggets and that he doesn’t foresee the 48-year-old head coach leaving anytime soon. This morning, we relayed that Knicks president Phil Jackson was still hopeful about finding a way to lure Shaw away from Denver; however, New York was reportedly in doubt about how they’d be able to compensate the Nuggets in return. Wojnarowski reports that the Knicks haven’t reached out for permission to speak with Shaw. Earlier tonight, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post that Shaw would have been willing to listen to Jackson’s pitch only if the Nuggets gave their blessing.

Nonetheless, Kroenke made it clear that the Nuggets and Shaw are mutually committed to each other. “Brian has said publicly – and privately to us – that his desire is to be here, and we feel strongly about him as our coach…I don’t foresee a scenario or circumstance where he’s going to be anywhere but with the Nuggets next season.”

With Shaw now out of the fold, Derek Fisher stands as the frontrunner to land the Knicks’ head coaching vacancy. The 39-year-old guard is also considered a candidate for the Lakers’ opening, although sources tell Wojnarowski that L.A. is leaning toward hiring a candidate with head coaching experience. Fisher has a strong interest in becoming a head coach next season, Wojnarowski hears, adding that Jackson wants to hire a coach whom he can mold and who’s willing to run the triangle. So, it appears that New York will be Fisher’s likeliest landing spot next season if he wants the job.