George Karl Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Morris, Pierce, Karl

December 29th, 2015 at 2:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Suspended power forward Markieff Morris could be allowed to return to practice with the Suns today after he meets with members of the front office, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. Morris has also been asked to apologize to his coaches and teammates, make a renewed commitment to the team for games, practices, weight-training sessions and treatment sessions and attend all NBA and Suns community appearances, a source close to the situation relayed to Wojnarowski.

Though Morris is expected to comply, the source also informed the Yahoo scribe that some within Morris’ camp are puzzled by the organization’s requests since the player already apologized via Twitter and sent an apologetic text to coach Jeff Hornacek, at whom Morris threw a towel during a game, prompting his suspension. Morris has also reportedly spoken with his teammates regularly during the suspension that cost him $145,455 in earnings, Wojnarowski adds.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Though Clippers small forward Paul Pierce hasn’t made up his mind about returning for another season or retiring after this campaign, he did drop a hint to which way he may be leaning after Monday’s contest in Washington D.C. when he popped into the Wizards’ locker room and told his former teammates, “This could be my last time in D.C. — as a player,” Ben Standig of CSNWashington.com relays (via Twitter).
Kings coach George Karl is attempting to motivate his team without resorting to the shouting and bluster that he became known for during his coaching tenure in Denver, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. “Just tell stories,” Karl said when asked what tactics he’s utilizing. “You try to bring up situations. My explanation is the last couple of weeks is just trying to explain to them how difficult this league is, how tough it is to be successful in this league.”

Pacific Notes: Kerr, Monroe, Kobe, Lieberman

December 16th, 2015 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Steve Kerr isn’t thinking at all about sitting out the entire season and believes he’ll return from his leave of absence at some point before it’s over, as he said to Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. The progress the Warriors coach has made of late in his recovery from two back surgeries is plain to see, observes Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“He’s acting more like himself and joking more like himself,” interim coach Luke Walton said Tuesday, as Simmons relays. “As far as what that means for his return, we still have no idea — but it’s nice to see more of his old self.”

See more from the Pacific Division:

The Lakers focused on basketball in their free agent pitch to Greg Monroe, unlike their ill-fated business-oriented approach to LaMarcus Aldridge, Byron Scott said Tuesday, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News relays (Twitter link). “There wasn’t anything they did wrong. I just made the best decision for me,” Monroe said to Medina about his choice of the Bucks over the Lakers and others. “It wasn’t anything they didn’t do or did do.”
Kobe Bryant is playing much better of late, and that has to do with his greater comfort with the Lakers‘ young players, Scott believes, as Bill Oram of the Orange County Register details. No. 2 overall pick D’Angelo Russell is also looking improved, and that has Scott looking smart, at least for now, Oram writes. “So [Kobe]’s kind of … stepping to the side a little bit and letting them have a little more say in what they do out there,” Scott said. “There’s a lot of times in the game where he just kind of defers to those guys.”
George Karl had thought about hiring a female assistant coach for years before he and the Kings brought Nancy Lieberman onto the staff this past summer, notes Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. “I think it’s been good,” Karl said. “Sometimes I think we [head coaches] have been too macho about this for too long. Everybody connects with people differently, and some players communicate better with women. That’s why you want three or four assistants. With Nancy, obviously she knows the game. But the best thing she does is connect one-on-one with the players. She can take hard subjects and go to a player, and that’s very unusual in a young coach.”

And-Ones: Brand, Martin, D-League

December 11th, 2015 at 10:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Sixers are now likely to look to add veterans to the roster for additional leadership now that Jerry Colangelo is officially a member of the front office, and one name to keep an eye on is veteran power forward Elton Brand, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com opines. The 36-year-old was pessimistic about his chances for playing a 17th season in the NBA back in August, when he told Al Coqueran of The Examiner News, “I could get in shape if I got the call but this looks like the end of the run for me, right now it is family time.” Brand made 36 appearances for the Hawks last season, averaging 2.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 13.5 minutes of action per contest.

Here’s more from around the league:

Cartier Martin, who was cut by the Pistons during the preseason and is currently a member of the Grizzlies‘ D-League affiliate in Iowa, is expected to miss several months due to a wrist injury, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (via Twitter).
Knicks combo forward Derrick Williams indicated that communication between he and coach Derek Fisher isn’t great, which is something he misses about George Karl, who took over as Kings coach late last season, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. Williams appreciates the brief time he had under Karl, saying, “He’s a good coach. He wasn’t really tough like that. That was one game. He expects a lot of things out of me. I think that’s always good, when you have a coach that really expects things out of you, wants to bring out the best in you. Myself and him, we talked about it. It was no hard feelings with the quotes. That happens when a coach expects a lot of you. At the end of the day, he wasn’t too, too hard on me. He wanted the best out of me.“
The Grizzlies have assigned small forward James Ennis to their D-League affiliate in Iowa, the team announced. This will be Ennis’ third stint with the Energy on the season, as our D-League tracker shows.
The Mavericks have assigned Justin Anderson, Jeremy Evans and Salah Mejri to the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com relays (Twitter link). This is the second jaunt to the D-League on the season for both Anderson and Mejri, while Evans is making his initial trip.
Mitch McGary has been assigned to the Thunder‘s D-League affiliate, the team announced (on Twitter). This is McGary’s third assignment to the Blue on the season.
The Pacers have assigned Joe Young to their D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne, the team announced.

And-Ones: Karl, Rondo, Thibodeau, Dunn

December 1st, 2015 at 10:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings coach George Karl met last week with Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins at the players’ request, and all parties describe the interaction as being extremely positive, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reports. “It was a powerful meeting for all three of us,” Rondo told Spears. “We asked him to just sit with us so we can pick his brain and share our thoughts. What I love about [Karl] is he’s very open. George is not a dictator. ‘What can we do positively? What can we do to improve?’ If you can come into a meeting with no egos and everyone was humble, it just works out for the better.”

Rondo is also trying to impart some of the wisdom he received from former teammate Kevin Garnett to Cousins, Spears adds. When discussing the tirade Cousins unleashed upon Karl a few weeks ago, Rondo told the big man, “There is always a time and place. “[Cousins] saying what he was saying in front of the team. … The concept of what he was saying may not have been wrong, it’s just the delivery. I’ve had a lot of blowups and I’ve learned from them. I told him, ‘You’re wrong on how you did it. Your [message] might be right, but that’s when you go in his office and talk to him.’”

Here’s more from around the league:

Despite Rondo being eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after the season ends, Cousins expects the point guard to re-sign with the Kings and remain in Sacramento, Spears also relays in the same piece. “He ain’t going nowhere. I will kidnap him myself,” Cousins told Spears.
The Rockets must make a run at former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau this offseason if the franchise hopes to maximize the roster’s potential, opines Chris Mannix of SI.com. Despite the obvious questions regarding how well Thibodeau’s coaching style would mesh with James Harden and Dwight Howard, the team needs a change of direction, especially on the defensive side, Mannix notes.
Providence senior point guard Kris Dunn is solidifying himself as a potential top 10 selection in the 2016 NBA draft, with some scouts noting that Dunn belongs in the top five, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes. The biggest knock on Dunn is his age, 21, which potentially lowers his ceiling in relation to some of the younger players who will be available, but Dunn’s maturity level could be seen as a positive by some NBA executives, Kennedy adds. Dunn is currently ranked as the No. 7 prospect overall by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.

Pacific Notes: Rondo, Butler, Kobe, Dawson, Wilcox

December 1st, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The negative experience he had with the Mavericks left Rajon Rondo “hungrier” than before, though he never doubted himself, as he told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Rondo contends the back injury the Mavs said he suffered in the playoffs this past spring, reportedly a ruse that Rondo and the Mavs concocted to allow Rondo to save face, was legitimate, though he admitted to MacMahon that he probably could have played through it. The point guard who signed with the Kings on a one-year deal has “nothing but love” for the Dallas organization, he said to MacMahon, and doesn’t hold a grudge even toward Rick Carlisle, with whom he clashed.

“Every relationship doesn’t work,” Rondo said to MacMahon. “It just didn’t work. No excuses. No pointing the finger at anybody. It made me stronger, made me appreciate just playing the game, especially playing at a high level. I never doubted myself. It just didn’t work. Try to keep staying positive, but things just didn’t work out for the best for either side. And that’s just part of it. Every player, every coach doesn’t always see eye to eye. Every team doesn’t fit every person’s style of play.”

See more out of the Pacific Division here:

Caron Butler grew up in Wisconsin as an admirer of George Karl‘s turn-of-the-century Bucks teams and sees a lot of the rumors surrounding Karl and DeMarcus Cousins as hype, as the Kings small forward told Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. “Everybody is not going to be comfortable with everything, whether it’s with their roles or whatever,” Butler said. “But if you come together and find the median in it, you can find ways to win. And that’s what’s we’re trying to do and that’s what all NBA teams try to do. Opinions are going to be voiced at times and sometimes they’re well-documented because they come from certain people. I don’t think that’s fair all the time. We had a great team meeting and got things together and have been moving forward ever since.’’
Kobe Bryant‘s accomplishments on the basketball court speak for themselves, but it’s his relentless will that sets him apart, observes Eric Koreen of The National Post.
The Clippers recalled C.J. Wilcox and Branden Dawson from the D-League late Monday, the Suns affiliate announced. Wilcox and Dawson went to Phoenix’s D-League team because the Clippers don’t have an affiliate of their own, and the pair hooked up with the Suns through the league’s flexible assignment system.

Pacific Notes: Kobe, Lieberman, Walton, Green

November 25th, 2015 at 9:29am CST by Chuck Myron

The Warriors keep on rolling, but the same can’t be said for Kobe Bryant, whose game has fallen off sharply in what figures to be his final season. Bryant matched the worst shooting performance of his career, going 1 for 14 Tuesday as the Lakers fell to the Warriors, 111-77, sending Golden State to the first 16-0 mark in NBA history. Bryant is shooting just 31.1% this season, a career low, but he leads the Lakers in field goal attempts per game.

“I’m not really worried about it, honestly,” Bryant said, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). “My shooting will be better. I could’ve scored 80 tonight. It wouldn’t have made a [expletive] difference. We just have bigger problems. I could be out there averaging 35 points a game. We’d be what, 3-11? We’ve got to figure out how to play systematically in a position that’s going to keep us in ballgames.”

The Lakers are 2-12, but coach Byron Scott said he still has “so much confidence” in Bryant, his former teammate, who remains the NBA’s highest-paid player at $25MM this season, as Bill Oram of the Orange County Register relays. See more from the Pacific Division:

An agent with ties to the Kings predicts chaos if the team were to make Nancy Lieberman the interim coach in the event of a George Karl firing, reports Chris Mannix of SI.com, who writes in his Open Floor column. Mannix finds it difficult to envision Lieberman getting the nod, despite a report that owner Vivek Ranadive would favor such a move if he dismisses Karl.
Warriors interim coach Luke Walton reached out to Phil Jackson before the 2014/15 season to ask whether he should reach out to Steve Kerr, and Jackson, who’d wanted to hire Kerr for the Knicks, told Walton to do so, notes Marcia C. Smith of the Orange County Register. Kerr wound up hiring Walton as an assistant coach, setting in motion the events that would put Walton in charge of the team’s historic run.
Draymond Green is one of the six or seven most valuable players in the NBA, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group observed Tuesday before Golden State’s game. Green re-signed with the Warriors for $82MM over five years this summer, more than $14MM less than his five-year max.

Western Notes: Rondo, D-League, Bledsoe

November 21st, 2015 at 11:31am CST by Eddie Scarito

The one-year, $9.5MM deal that the Kings inked Rajon Rondo to this past offseason looks like a bargain based on the point guard’s early season play, James Ham of CSNBayArea.com writes. Rondo gives much of the credit for his hot start to embattled coach George Karl, Ham notes. “Coach, it has to do with coach, it has to do with team, it has to do with freedom,” Rondo said. “They all play a role. I worked my butt off this summer and I’m continuing to get better.” Despite leading the NBA in triple-doubles, Rondo believes he can get better , the CSN scribe relays. “Now, I still have room to improve,” Rondo said. “I want to improve my shooting, my free-throw shooting, keeping my turnovers down. I still have a lot of room to grow. Like I said, it starts with your coach. If your coach doesn’t believe in you, then as you see, it can happen to anybody.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The Mavericks assigned swingman Justin Anderson and center Salah Mejri to the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, the team announced via a press release. These are the first D-League assignments of the season for Dallas.
The Suns‘ backcourt tandem of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight is beginning to show promise, with Bledsoe playing some of the best basketball of his career, something the front office credits to his offseason work ethic, writes Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic. “None of us were happy with the way last season ended, losing 10 of 11 games,” GM Ryan McDonough said. “But Eric was in the gym five days a week, showing up at eight in the morning during the dog days of summer. He told us, ‘Just let me know what you need me to work on.’ It’s something Eric really took seriously.”
Bledsoe’s maturation as a player has silenced a number of his critics, and McDonough believes the young point guard’s struggles of a season ago were directly related to the unsettled roster and personnel changes, Bickley notes in the same piece. “It’s important to remember last year was his first full season as a starter,” McDonough said. “I think he was just trying to figure it out. There was also a lot of turmoil with our team internally. Some players didn’t accept their roles as well as they should’ve and were shipped out at the trade deadline. So we put a lot on Eric’s shoulders. And I thought he handled it well. Eric kept his mouth shut and played hard, giving great effort defensively.“

Kings Would Make Lieberman Interim Coach?

November 20th, 2015 at 1:36pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:36pm: There’s “no way” the Kings would replace Karl with Lieberman, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. The team isn’t going after Calipari, either, a league source insists to Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV in Sacramento (Twitter link).

11:55pm: Kings owner Vivek Ranadive would like to make assistant coach Nancy Lieberman the interim head coach if the team elects to fire George Karl during the season, sources tell Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher for a video report. Such a move would make Lieberman the first woman ever to serve as head coach of an NBA team. Vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac would lean instead toward Corliss Williamson, another current Kings assistant, in the event of a Karl firing, Bucher adds, though Divac said last week that Karl would remain the coach throughout the season. Ranadive continues to eye John Calipari as a would-be long-term successor to Karl and plans to make the Kentucky coach an “offer that Calipari simply cannot refuse,” according to Bucher.

Lieberman became just the second female ever to hold a full-time assistant coaching position in the NBA when the Kings hired her over the summer. She previously served as head coach of the Mavs D-League affiliate, leading the Texas Legends to the D-League playoffs in 2010/11, the only time the team has ever made the postseason. She also served as a head coach and GM in the WNBA after a decorated playing career.

Williamson is a former Kings player and teammate of Divac who rejoined the franchise as an assistant in the summer of 2013, a few months after Ranadive bought the team. Williamson served as a head coach at the University of Central Arkansas prior to joining Sacramento’s staff.

Ranadive’s interest in Calipari has grown stronger in recent months, as Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead reported last week. The Kings denied a report this summer that they reached out to Calipari, and while the one-time Nets coach has insisted time and again that he doesn’t want to leave Kentucky, rumors that he wants back into the NBA have been persistent.

Does Lieberman deserve a shot as an NBA head coach? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Pacific Rumors: Kings, Bryant, Bogut

November 16th, 2015 at 9:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t trust coach George Karl, and they simply don’t get along, writes TNT’s David Aldridge in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. The relationship is beyond repair, Aldridge believes, and while he thinks Cousins is the best center in the game, the Kings should trade him anyway, he posits, offering a suggestion for a deal he thinks would help Sacramento and send a message that GM Vlade Divac and Karl will be around for the long term. The criticism of Karl’s energy level is unfair, and the Kings should empower one of the best coaches ever, Aldridge opines.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

Numerous league executives doubt that Kobe Bryant will last the season, Sam Amico of SamAmicoBasketball.com reports. One unnamed GM told Amico that Bryant’s body can no longer hold up to the rigors of an 82-game NBA season. “I hope I’m wrong, because who doesn’t admire an old warrior — but he has nowhere to go but down at this stage of his playing career,” the GM said. “The body doesn’t want to be argued with, and it’s telling him it’s time to go.” Bryant played 36 minutes on Sunday, an indication that Lakers have two priorities regarding their aging superstar: allowing him to do what he wants, and winning during a supposed rebuilding season, Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com argues. By leaving Bryant on the court that long, coach Byron Scott showed that he will let Bryant play as much as he wants when he’s in uniform, Holmes continues. Bryant’s power over the Lakers organization is greater than ever and Scott, being one of his biggest supporters, will let him dictate the terms of his farewell tour, Holmes adds.
Andrew Bogut was surprised when interim Warriors coach Luke Walton told the media he would return to the starting lineup as soon as Tuesday, Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group reports. The undefeated Warriors have utilized Festus Ezeli as the starting center while Bogut recovered from a concussion and Bogut has no problem with keeping things status quo, Leung continues. “Like I’ve said from the start, I’ve been starting my whole career, but I understand I missed [six] games there, and we won all of them,” Bogut told Leung. “Maybe the starters are used to having Festus there the first six, seven minutes and get their rhythm that way.”

Kings Notes: Cousins, Divac, Karl, Casspi, Dukan

November 13th, 2015 at 1:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings fined DeMarcus Cousins for his tirade after Monday’s game, though he didn’t aim the outburst directly at the coaching staff, team and league sources tell Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. That’s in contrast to a report indicating that Cousins specifically lashed out at George Karl. Vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac denies that he asked the players in a Tuesday meeting if the team should fire Karl, Voisin adds, and Divac has said Karl will be sticking around until the end of the season. That ties much of the executive’s fate to the coach, as Divac himself is on “little more than a one-year deal” with the Kings and hopes to sign a long-term deal this summer, according to Voisin. The Kings hired Divac in March, shortly after they hired Karl, but Divac recommended Karl to the Kings before they hired the coach, Voisin writes. See more from Sacramento:

If Cousins wanted the Kings to fire Karl, the coach would already be gone, sources tell Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher. The star center has made it clear to team management that he doesn’t want Karl fired, as Chris Mannix of SI.com reported.
Karl speaks more with the media than he does with his team, and players find his frank talk with reporters unnerving, sources tell James Ham of CSNCalifornia.com. Players are “confused and frustrated” over Karl’s constant lineup changes, Ham writes.
Amid the turmoil, Omri Casspi is off to a strong start after re-signing this past summer, in part because of Karl’s system, as Matt Kawahara of The Sacramento Bee examines. “I think he understands flow; he understands the pace of the game,” Karl said. “He’s one of our faster runners and gets in the open court in a good way many times. And he knows how to play off of good players. He knows how to find open shots when Cuz is being double-teamed, or when there’s an isolation with Rudy [Gay]. He knows how to get open by figuring out the player the defense is tilting toward.”
The Kings have assigned rookie Duje Dukan to the D-League, the team announced. The undrafted combo forward has yet to appear in a regular season game for Sacramento.