David Kahn Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Odds & Ends: Meeks, Kings, Clippers, Wolves

March 31st, 2013 at 10:46pm CST by Zachary Links

Jodie Meeks has been a critical role player for the Lakers this season under coach Mike D'Antoni after sitting on the pine for much of Mike Brown's tenure. The Lakers hold a team option on Meeks and he believes that it will be exericsed. “Yeah, I think so,” Meeks told Shams Charania of RealGM when asked if he believes he will be part of the Lakers next year. “You can’t really worry about that right now, just finish out this year. I’ll do that and see whatever happens.” Here's more from around the Association..

If Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman winds up walking away this summer due to family issues, J.B. Bickerstaff won't be considered a candidate for the job, according to Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (Sulia link). There are still hard feelings in the Minnesota office when Bickerstaff followed Kevin McHale to the Rockets that would keep him from being considered.
Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times rounds up the week's news on the future of the Kings, noting that Sacramento City Council's approval of an arena plan is non-binding, just like their endorsement of an ill-fated arena proposal last year (link via the Sacramento Bee).
The Clippers retooled bench worked hard in the offseason to become arguably the league's best bench, writes Derek Page of HoopsWorld. In order for everything to come together for L.A., it was essential for Jamal Crawford to check his ego at the door and accept being the club's sixth man.
While we have heard that the Wolves are set to exercise GM David Kahn's option for next season, owner Glen Taylor says that he hasn't made a decision yet, writes Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune.

David Kahn To Return As GM

March 30th, 2013 at 8:37am CST by Zachary Links

David Kahn's position as General Manager of the Timberwolves is secure and the the one-year option on his contract will be exercised shortly, if it has not been exercised already, sources tell Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (Sulia link). That presumably means that Flip Saunders won't return to the organization, as the club had interest in him as a possible replacement for Kahn.

Owner Glen Taylor insisted earlier this month that Kahn could return for 2013/14, despite a great deal of outside criticism for the exec. The Timberwolves have had the misfortune of being bit by the injury bug this season with Ricky Rubio missing the early part of the season and Kevin Love missing much of the second half. However, Kahn's personnel decisions during his time in Minnesota have led the club to a 58-172 record over the last three seasons.

Odds & Ends: Collins, Saunders, Martin, Jennings

March 29th, 2013 at 7:58pm CST by Alex Lee

With 22 NBA teams in action on Friday night, let's round up all of the odds and ends from around the league here:

Sam Amico of Fox Sports points out, via Twitter, that Sixers coach Doug Collins has never coached longer than three years in his coaching career, which includes stops in Detroit, Chicago and Washington. This is relevant, of course, because Collins in currently in his third year in Philly and the wreckage of the Andrew Bynum disaster has many wondering if he will return next season.
Flip Saunders is drawing interest from the University of Minnesota as well as the Timberwolves, tweets NBC's Ric Bucher. The return to the Gophers, Saunders' alma mater, would be as the team's head coach while the Wolves are interested in securing their former coach to replace current general manager David Kahn. While Bucher says that current Wolves owner Glen Taylor is tight with Saunders, he thinks that Saunders would rather coach, even in college, than enter an NBA front office.
The addition of Kenyon Martin has been the last of a series of successful moves by Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald, over the past few years, that have resulted in the team closing in on its first division title in 19 years, writes Moke Hamilton of Sheridan Hoops.
Brandon Jennings, a restricted free agent come summer, should hope to ink a new deal more commensurate with his potential than his performance, writes Sean Deveney of Sporting News. Jennings, who was recently benched, has had his moments over his four-year career and seemed to be nearing a breakout last year when he averaged 19.1 points.
The Los Angeles D-Fenders have acquired former UCLA Bruin Reeves Nelson, tweets Eric Pincus of the L.A. Times. Nelson hooked on with the Lakers and Houston in the preseason, but was waived by both teams prior to the season.

Wolves Rumors: Kahn, Pekovic, Ridnour, Curry

March 8th, 2013 at 1:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Amidst rumors that Flip Saunders might be next in line to run the Timberwolves' basketball operations and owner Glen Taylor's insistence that current GM David Kahn could still be retained beyond this season, Taylor tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities to expect a decision no later than the end of April.

"I owe it to David to get going," Taylor said. "I can't go on for a long time."

Here are a few more of the latest Wolves rumblings from Wolfson:

Taylor tells Wolfson that he hopes the team can work out an agreement with restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic this summer, but Wolfson continues to hear from team and league sources that Taylor likely won't go up to $12MM+ annually for the big man.
Taylor expects Rick Adelman to return to the Wolves' bench as head coach next season.
According to Taylor, Adelman had no interest in moving Luke Ridnour at the trade deadline, leading Wolfson to speculate that Kahn was more open to a Ridnour or J.J. Barea trade than the head coach was.
As the Wolves debate whether to add a big man on a 10-day contract, Eddy Curry is one name the club has discussed internally, says Wolfson.

Wolves May Retain David Kahn

March 4th, 2013 at 6:01pm CST by Zachary Links

Despite mounting criticism surrounding his tenure as GM, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor says that David Kahn could "absolutely" return in 2013/14, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. Taylor will evaluate Kahn's performance and decide his future after the season.

Recently, Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote that there indications that former coach Flip Saunders could be in line for the job. Taylor confirmed that two did in fact meet, but said that Saunders was representing a group interested in buying the team (Twitter link). There are now a couple of new parties interested in purchasing the T'Wolves, but Taylor says that there's "no timetable" for a sale, Wolfson tweets.

Zgoda On Roy, Gelabale, Johnson, Trades, Kahn

January 26th, 2013 at 9:58pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune opined that Brandon Roy's current rehab treatment could be a way for the Timberwolves to bide time in case they need his $5MM contract in a trade near the deadline, noting that it couldn't be used in a deal if he were to retire. In the rest of tonight's column, Zgoda addressed a few more hot topics that have been brewing in Minnesota:

He also clarifies that if the team wants to keep both Mickael Gelabale and Chris Johnson, they'd have to find a way to free up a roster spot as a player can only sign two 10-day contracts before his next deal becomes fully guaranteed. Dealing Louis Amundson for a future draft pick or waiving a player could also be considered.
On the trade front, he identifies Derrick Williams as the best piece they can offer in a meaningful deal by the trade deadline unless they deem Nikola Pekovic expendable.
To expand on Pekovic, Zgoda notes that the Montenegrin center is set to hit the free agent market this summer and could be dealt by the deadline or in an offseason sign-and-trade if management doesn't want to commit to the $12MM-$14MM that he could command on the free agent market.
With this season being GM David Kahn's final of a four year deal, Zgoda wonders if Kahn will be considered the right fit to continue to lead the front office.
Rick Adelman's return to the team is dependent on the continued improvement of his wife's health, which could allow him to rejoin the team as soon as this Wednesday.

Odds & Ends: Martin, Roy, Allen, Brooks

December 29th, 2012 at 8:56pm CST by Ryan Raroque

If Kevin Martin has his way, anyone other than the Thunder will have a tough time signing him this summer, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The ninth-year veteran is averaging career bests in three point shooting (45.7%) and free throw shooting (93.2%) in addition to producing 15.8 PPG in 30.0 MPG. He is currently in the final year of his contract, and is slated to make nearly $12.4MM this season. Here are some more of tonight's miscellaneous notes from around the Association:

Despite recent reports that Phil Jackson wouldn't be interested in coaching the Nets, Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops talks about why we probably haven't seen the last of the Zen Master just yet.
Cavaliers coach Byron Scott is confident about the front office's patience with him, writes Jodie Valade of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler tweeted that an Andrea Bargnani trade is inevitable since he is no longer in Toronto's long-term plans, and that the Raptors will only play him when he comes back in order to prove that he's healthy.
Kyler (via Twitter) also says that the Lakers aren't currently looking to trade any of their bench players and are more focused on continuing to establish rhythm, Bargnani's elbow injury effectively hurts any if not all of his trade value right now, and that the current feeling around Brooklyn is that P.J. Carlesimo will get a chance to finish the season if none of the candidates they want are available.
Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune shared some of David Kahn's comments on Brandon Roy's decision to undergo non-invasive treatment, noting that it would not be the same Regenokine therapy that Roy underwent last spring and that the upcoming process could take three to four weeks (Twitter links).
Shams Charania of RealGM says that Ray Allen was not contacted by the Bucks during the free agency period this past summer and admitted that he probably would not have considered a return to Milwaukee regardless.
Nets guard MarShon Brooks is hoping to capitalize on what appears to be a fresh start with coach P.J. Carlesimo after not being able to mesh with Avery Johnson, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
Without much practice time, Carlesimo will have to rely on much of the same offensive schemes that the Nets players have been familiar with up to this point along with additional help from the assistant coaches as he continues to make a transition into his interim head coaching role (Roderick Boone of Newsday reports).
While the departure of Joe Johnson might have signaled a rebuilding year to some, the Hawks' climb to 3rd place in the East after 27 games has definitely contradicted that notion, writes Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM.

Odds & Ends: LeBron, Balkman, Magic, Millsap

December 27th, 2012 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The teams with the best records in the NBA are hosting the only two games on the schedule tonight, as the 21-6 Thunder, facing the Mavericks, will look to bounce back from a Christmas Day loss, while the 22-6 Clippers set sights on their 15th straight win with the Celtics in town. As we look forward to those contests, let's round up a few odds and ends from around the NBA:

While many people around the NBA believe that LeBron James is considering an eventual return to the Cavaliers, SI.com's Ian Thomsen doesn't think that would necessarily be the best move for LeBron's career.
Ex-Knick Renaldo Balkman appears on his way to play in the Philippines in the new year, according to agent Sheryl Reyes (link via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel looks back on 12 months of drastic change for the Magic.
Within his preview of a few 2013 NBA storylines, Tom Ziller of SBNation.com focuses on the big decisions coming in Los Angeles and David Stern's last full year as NBA commissioner.
Michael Scotto of RealGM.com talks to Paul Millsap about his contract situation, and speculates about possible suitors for the power forward next summer in free agency.
Russell Westbrook's five-year extension kicks in this season, and The Oklahoman's Jenni Carlson argues that his ability to overcome lapses is the key to the future for the Thunder.
Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game takes to Sulia to explore why GMs like the Rockets' Daryl Morey receive more praise than less media-friendly GMs with comparable track records like David Kahn of the Timberwolves.
Dwight Jaynes of CSNNW.com warns Trail Blazers fans not to get too attached to J.J. Hickson, suggesting the team's best move may involve moving him before the trade deadline. We rounded up a few rumors relating to Hickson and the Blazers this morning.

Timberwolves Work Out Hayward, Anderson On Radar

December 22nd, 2012 at 7:54pm CST by Ryan Raroque

7:54pm: Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that today's workout was indeed with Hayward, adding that James Anderson is also now on Minnesota's radar.

7:37pm: Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press reports that although the Timberwolves held a workout today and plan for another one this upcoming Wednesday, GM David Kahn won't look to add another wing player until after the Christmas holiday. Although Kahn did not identify the players on their workout list, Richardson mentions that Lazar Hayward could be one of the team's targets.

After losing guard/forward Josh Howard and Malcolm Lee to season-ending injuries, Minnesota has been reportedly flooded with calls from agents and players looking for an opportunity.

Northwest Notes: Love, Lindsey, Blazers, Lawson

December 11th, 2012 at 10:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

The most significant news coming out of the Northwest today was Kevin Love's criticism of the Wolves, and there's plenty of reaction to that along with other notes from the division.

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com surmises that Wolves GM David Kahn is at the center of Love's frustration with the franchise, and believes owner Glen Taylor may be forced to choose between the two at some point.
Taylor remains a fan of Kahn, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN, who points out the team holds an option on Kahn's contract for next season.
The timing of Love's comments could have been much better for a team on the verge of creating excitement in Minnesota for the first time in a while, opines Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune agrees with Love's remarks, based on what he's heard from others inside the Wolves organization, and believes that if Love departs in the summer of 2015, it will represent the most significant mistake of Kahn's tenure.
New Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey is slowly implementing some of the principles he learned while working with the Spurs, but plenty of similarities already existed between the two franchises, as Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune examines.
Blazers GM Neil Olshey hinted at a move around the trade deadline that would help the team's rebounding, but The Oregonian's Jason Quick doesn't think the Blazers have enough assets for a swap, believing the team must instead look to the draft and free agency (Twitter links).
Jim Cavan of The New York Times examines how Jrue Holiday, who got a four-year, $41MM extension from the Sixers before the season, has outplayed fellow point guard Ty Lawson, who's fresh off a four-year, $48MM extension from the Nuggets.