J.b. Bickerstaff Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Texas Notes: Matthews, Bickerstaff, Durant

November 29th, 2015 at 12:53pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Over the past few seasons, offense has been a major element in the Mavs‘ identity, but new addition Wes Matthews is helping to change the team’s perception, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. “We’ve had a spike in our defensive numbers,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “[Matthews] has been a significant part of that.”

Carlisle has had Matthews guard the opposing team’s best wing player on a nightly basis, but the shooting guard has also been asked to cover opposing big men at times. The 29-year-old’s versatility hasn’t gone unnoticed by his new teammates. “Wes is our go-to guy on defense,” said Dirk Nowitzki. “He can guard multiple positions. He’s just a fighter. We’ll live with him on the opposing best player all day.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

Interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff is making bold moves, like pairing Clint Capela and Dwight Howard in the starting lineup, and the team is embracing the changes, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “I just want to win,” Howard said. “The coaching staff is putting together the right guys with each other to make that happen.”
The Rockets will no doubt attempt to bring Kevin Durant aboard next summer, but with the current state of the franchise, Fran Blinebury of NBA.com wonders if Houston has any chance of landing the former MVP. Blinebury believes that if Durant is going to join the team, Bickerstaff needs to first mend the dysfunctional relationship between Howard and James Harden.

Southwest Notes: Morey, Williams, McGee, Gentry

November 23rd, 2015 at 3:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

It’s up to the players to pull the Rockets out of the malaise that cost former coach Kevin McHale his job, according to GM Daryl Morey, but Morey acknowledges to TNT’s David Aldridge that some of the fault lies at his own desk, as Aldridge relays in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.

“Except for Dwight Howard, there really isn’t anybody on the roster playing well, and those are all my decisions,” Morey said. “I can’t hide from that.”

The Rockets won their first game after switching from McHale to interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff but lost both of their games since, and they’re tied with the Kings at 5-9 for 12th place in the Western Conference. See more from the Southwest Division:

Chandler Parsons doesn’t understand why Deron Williams has a reputation as a negative locker room force, citing evidence of the opposite to Jake Fischer of SI.com. Wesley Matthews observes a positive attitude from Williams in the face of challenges, like the erosion of his game, a change Williams acknowledges, as Fischer adds. “My days of scoring 20 and 10 are over. I know that,” said Williams, who gave up nearly $16MM to buy his way off the Nets before signing with the Mavericks for $11MM over two years.
The return of JaVale McGee puts the squeeze on the minutes of early-season revelation Dwight Powell, notes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. The Mavs have until January 7th to decide whether to pay McGee his full salary of $1.27MM or waive him and pay only his $750K partial guarantee.
Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry was satisfied as the lead assistant for the Warriors last season and didn’t think he’d end up with another head coaching job until New Orleans came calling, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. “I was not going to take a job just to have a job as a head coach unless it was a situation that I thought was going to give you an opportunity to win and win big and compete for a championship,” Gentry said. “I really didn’t have any desire just to take another NBA job.”

Rockets Notes: Harden, Bickerstaff, Lawson, Howard

November 19th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

James Harden admits responsibility falls on him to play better defense, and getting him to stick to that notion is job one on a daunting list of tasks for Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, as Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle believes.

“That’s probably one of the reasons why the [team] energy has been so low,” Harden said. “Making shots or missing shots, I’ve got to bring my game.”

See more on the Rockets one day after they fired Kevin McHale:

Bickerstaff understands the impatience around the franchise and his limited window of opportunity, and he plans to push the team harder than McHale had, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports examines. Still, Bickerstaff feels he owes a debt of gratitude to his predecessor, who brought him to Houston, promoted him, and gave him raises, Wojnarowski writes. “He did everything in his power to protect me, to protect my family,” Bickerstaff said of McHale. “He went out on a limb to support me.”
The Rockets moved Ty Lawson to the bench for Wednesday’s game, just as McHale said before his ouster that he was thinking about doing, and it’s a move that the point guard said he’s on board with, as ClutchFans relays on Twitter. “Whatever for the team to win, I’m ready to do,” Lawson said.
Lawson, who called for Tuesday’s players-only meeting, has been dreadful thus far for Houston, symbolizing the team’s sluggish start, writes Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
Dwight Howard believes he had a strong relationship with McHale and feels down about the team’s decision to let him go, as Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle relays. “We can’t control what ownership does,” Howard said. “If they want to get rid of a player or a coach, that’s their decision. None of us had a clue what was going on. That [players-only] meeting was all about us. We didn’t even mention the coaches.”
Corey Brewer feels responsible for the firing, and said the blame shouldn’t be on McHale for the team’s slow start, as Creech notes in the same piece. “I don’t think [McHale] lost the locker room,” Brewer said. “This isn’t a fractured locker room. We just haven’t been playing like we should be. We have new pieces, different things to put together, but right now it’s about being men, looking in the mirror and coming out and playing hard every night.”
Owner Leslie Alexander’s fervent desire for a title has driven the Rockets to become overeager to find solutions, like the hasty decision to fire McHale, an old-school denizen whose open-mindedness to GM Daryl Morey‘s analytics had made their working relationship function, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding opines.

Reactions To Rockets Firing Kevin McHale

November 18th, 2015 at 5:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Rockets fired coach Kevin McHale earlier today and installed J.B Bickerstaff as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. GM Daryl Morey said that he has not lost faith in the team’s ability to contend, and cited the lack of time to dally in the rugged Western Conference as reasoning for making the coaching move. Here’s what is being said around the league regarding McHale and Houston parting ways:

James Harden‘s “style” has created tension within the Rockets, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, and while that’s short on specifics, a follow-up tweet from Zillgitt suggests that it’s Harden’s playing style that’s irking some on the team. Still, Harden and Dwight Howard were both upbeat following Tuesday’s players-only meeting, which preceded the team’s coaching change today.
McHale admits that his situation in Houston was growing untenable, though he does believe that he could have turned things around, writes Jonathan Feigen of he Houston Chronicle. “We probably had more meetings in last six weeks than in my previous four years here,” said McHale. “It wasn’t working.”
The coach understood that a change could be coming after the Rockets’ loss to the Nuggets last Friday, and McHale wasn’t surprised by the team’s decision to let him go, Brian Geltzeiler of HoopsCritic.com tweets.
An opposing GM placed the blame for McHale’s departure on Howard and Harden, saying, “A team with James Harden and Dwight Howard as the stars had to fire the coach? Gee, shocking,” Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.com relays (Twitter link).
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle called McHale’s firing, “preposterous,” Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets. “It’s very disappointing to hear, but Kevin will be fine,” Carlisle added.
Rockets team owner Leslie Alexander notes that it was Bickerstaff’s defensive acumen and the players’ familiarity with him that led to his appointment as interim coach, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “We spoke to him and we think he’s a good young coach with a lot of experience,” Alexander told Watkins. “He is on the defensive end which we really need a lot of help on. We have a good offensive coordinator [Chris Finch] so at the same time we have both. J.B. has a good relationship with the players, which I think is very important. If they didn’t know him it would be tough in the adjustment process. Now it’s much quicker.“
The Rockets appear to have demonstrated conflicting priorities with the team’s coaching staff, continually adding offensive-minded players while eschewing team defense, write Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. “Is this the first crack in the analytics revolution, where they start hanging the revolutionaries themselves?” [The Rockets] still haven’t figured out chemistry. They keep adding and adding, but none of it fits,” an NBA coach told Berger.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

J.B. Bickerstaff To Coach Rockets For Rest Of Season

November 18th, 2015 at 12:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rockets interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will remain in that position for the rest of the season following the dismissal of Kevin McHale, owner Leslie Alexander said to both Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston and Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (Twitter links). GM Daryl Morey, while praising Bickerstaff’s leadership ability, had shown hesitance to say that he would remain in place all season in an interview with USA Today’s Sam Amick, but sources told Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that Bickerstaff will at least have a chance to vie for the long-term job (Twitter link).

“For the season he’s going to be the interim coach. We’ll worry about coaching searches later,” Alexander told Berman (Twitter link).

Alexander, who purchased the club in July 1993, ripped the performance of the team as he spoke with Berman, saying the team has never played quite so poorly in his time as owner (Twitter link). Still, he called McHale a “tremendous” coach and admitted firing him was difficult, Berman relays (Twitter links). Alexander told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that he doesn’t regret breaking with tradition to sign an in-season extension with McHale last December, and Feigen notes that McHale likely would have received a new deal after last season anyway (Twitter link). Instead, the owner seemed to direct his ire at the players.

“Some guys obviously aren’t playing hard enough,” Alexander said to Berman (Twitter link). “If they don’t respond and play hard they’re not going to stay here.”

Morey said earlier today that the team would “make changes until we win.” The Rockets are just 4-7 so far this season, with a game tonight at home against the Trail Blazers.

McHale was grooming Chris Finch to ultimately succeed him, but the Rockets passed him over to make Bickerstaff the interim coach, with Finch becoming his top assistant, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Bickerstaff’s defensive acumen helped him win the job, as did his relationship with the team’s players, Berger writes, though Finch has bonded with the players, too, Watkins tweets.

What do the Rockets need to do to play better? Leave a comment to let us know.

Daryl Morey On Rockets Coaching Change

November 18th, 2015 at 12:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rockets GM Daryl Morey hasn’t lost faith in his roster’s ability to contend for a title, notes Jason Quick of CSNNW.com (on Twitter), but he quickly ran out of patience with coach Kevin McHale, citing the lack of time to dally in the rugged Western Conference as he explained the team’s decision to fire McHale to reporters today. Morey hinted at further moves if the club doesn’t improve on its 4-7 record.

“We know this team can win and we are going to make changes until we win,” Morey said, according to Quick (Twitter link).

Houston returns to action tonight against the Trail Blazers. See more from the GM’s visit with the media:

Morey wouldn’t directly answer a question about whether Bickerstaff would remain in charge of the team for the rest of the season, but he elaborated on his confidence in the interim coach in an interview with USA Today’s Sam Amick. “J.B. is great with players, great with schemes, and he’s been preparing for this his whole life,” Morey said to Amick. “He obviously has a great pedigree, and was critical to our winning over the last four years with Kevin. He ‘architected’ the defense last year that was top 10 overall and top five when Dwight [Howard] played. Job One, really, is we’ve got to shore up our defense, and I believe J.B. can do it.”

Earlier updates:

Morey insisted that the team didn’t rush into the decision, even though the Rockets are coming off 56 wins and a trip to the Western Conference Finals. Hints emerged Tuesday, when Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported that he’d heard from sources close to the team who wondered if the players had stopped listening to McHale. Morey had no comment about the team’s struggles when ESPN’s Marc Stein asked earlier this week. “It was tough. This is not something we take lightly,” Morey said today, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays (Twitter link). “This is a decision we thought about a long time. We knew we’re under the gun.”
The team’s poor record wasn’t the only factor, Morey added, as Feigen tweets. “It’s not just losing. It’s not just 4-7. It’s the way we’re losing, by how much, by how the team is responding,” Morey said.
Morey lauded the leadership ability of interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, notes Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (on Twitter), though the team is making no promises to Bickerstaff for the long term, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports wrote earlier today.

Latest On Wolves Coaching Search

May 2nd, 2014 at 9:33am CST by Chuck Myron

9:33am: Izzo is still “very high” on Saunders’ list of candidates, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who seconds Zgoda’s take that the Michigan State coach’s denial of interest in taking an NBA job this year left some wiggle room (Twitter link).

FRIDAY, 9:02am: The Wolves haven’t yet abandoned their pursuit of Hoiberg, Wolfson tweets. That’s in spite of Saunders saying last week that Hoiberg wouldn’t be jumping to the NBA. Wolfson doesn’t expect the team to pursue Karl (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 12:22pm: A source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that Stan Van Gundy won’t reciprocate the Timberwolves’ interest in him for their coaching vacancy, and Tom Izzo says he’s not jumping to the NBA this year. There are other candidates for the job, but the search has been slow-going, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reports.

The Wolves have been primarily eyeing college coaches, though top targets Izzo and, as we passed along earlier, Fred Hoiberg are apparently out of the running. There are candidates with NBA experience in the mix, too, including George Karl, and Wolfson hears that Karl would indeed have interest and is hoping that the Wolves contact him, contradicting an earlier report that he wouldn’t want the job. Still, the Wolves haven’t reached out to Karl or Lionel Hollins, another among the previously mentioned candidates for the position, Wolfson writes.

The Wolves wouldn’t have interest in Scott Brooks of the Thunder, if he came available, and Wolfson reiterates that Minnesota wouldn’t want Frank Vogel, either. Former Raptors coach Sam Mitchell would like the Wolves job, but Minnesota isn’t interested, Wolfson writes. The Wolves probably won’t go after Warriors assistant Lindsey Hunter, Wizards assistant Sam Cassell, or Rockets assistant J.B. Bickerstaff in spite of their ties to the organization, according to Wolfson.

President of basketball operations Flip Saunders is still a “name to monitor,” Wolfson writes, even though he’s downplayed the idea that he’d take over the coaching position. He’s said he’d “never say never” to the job on multiple occasions. Saunders and, even in his comments today, Izzo have been somewhat vague in their insistence that they won’t be on an NBA bench next season, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune notes (on Twitter).

Latest On Pistons Coaching Search

May 23rd, 2013 at 2:20pm CST by Luke Adams

After interviewing Maurice Cheeks yesterday, it appears the Pistons are done bringing in coaching candidates, reports Vince Goodwill of the Detroit News. According to Goodwill, Detroit's front office appears likely to decide on a new head coach "relatively soon."

In addition to Cheeks, the Pistons have interviewed a list of candidates that is believed to include Nate McMillan, Lindsey Hunter, Mike Budenholzer, J.B. Bickerstaff, and Darrell Walker. One report suggested the team also planned to interview Brian Shaw, but the Pacers reportedly aren't allowing Shaw to formally meet with any clubs until after Indiana's playoff run ends.

According to Goodwill, the Pistons likely won't wait for the Eastern Conference finals to finish to formally interview Shaw or Heat assistant David Fizdale, though that won't necessarily preclude the club from talking to one or both candidates via phone.

Goodwill also notes that there could have been mutual interest between the Pistons and Larry Drew. Drew, who technically remains under contract with the Hawks for a few more weeks, impressed the Pistons by taking a roster with nine expiring contracts to the playoffs, says Goodwill.

As for Phil Jackon's involvement in the process, Goodwill speculates that the advisory role may have merely been a way for Jackson to get his name back out there, as opposed to an attempt to push one of his preferred candidates to Detroit or strong-arm his way into the Pistons' front office.

"He was in town for a couple days, we spent time together in those couple days," Pistons GM Joe Dumars said of the Zen Master. "We've had a couple conversations since he left town."

Latest On Suns Coaching Search

May 22nd, 2013 at 7:03pm CST by Michael Pina

The Suns just hired a new, young general manager, and now they're onto finding a new coach. The latest has the Rockets granting Phoenix permission to interview their assistant coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, according to a tweet from Yahoo! NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.

The team has also asked to speak with Lakers assistant Steve Clifford. Los Angeles has granted permission for the interview. Clifford has also interviewed with the Bobcats on Tuesday and the Bucks last Monday, according to InsideSoCal.com's Mark Medina.

Bucks Interview Bickerstaff, Stan Van Gundy

May 10th, 2013 at 6:21pm CST by Luke Adams

6:21pm: Stan Van Gundy is also in Milwaukee to interview with the Bucks, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal-Times.

2:08pm: Yesterday, we heard that ex-Blazers head coach Nate McMillan and current Rockets assistant Kelvin Sampson were the first two candidates to interview for the Bucks' head coach opening. Today, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports adds another name to the list of interviewees, reporting that J.B. Bickerstaff, Sampson's fellow assistant in Houston, is meeting with the Bucks today.

Although we hadn't heard much buzz about Bickerstaff before this month, the Rockets assistant appears to be drawing plenty of interest lately. Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 Twin Cities reported a week ago that Bickerstaff would receive consideration if Flip Saunders eventually decided to bring in his own coach in Minnesota, but it seem as if another team could beat the Timberwolves to him. Bickerstaff also interviewed for the Pistons' head coach position this week, and Wojnarowski reports that he's likely to be among the Suns' candidates as well.

The Bucks, who are reportedly prioritizing "strong-willed" candidates who can control a locker room, are also expected to interview Lakers assistant Steve Clifford in the near future, says Wojnarowski.