Jeff Van Gundy Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Latest On Kidd, Bucks’ Coaching Job

January 22nd, 2018 at 8:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former Grizzlies coach David Fizdale is considered the early favorite to get the Bucks job after this season but there are some other viable candidates, according to Hoops Hype’s Bryan Kalbrosky.

Milwaukee fired Jason Kidd on Monday and replaced him on an interim basis with lead assistant Joe Prunty. Fizdale was fired in late November, in part because of a strained relationship with the team’s star, Marc Gasol.

Former Pelicans coach Monty Williams, Raptors G-League coach Jerry Stackhouse, Hawks assistant Darvin Ham, Thunder assistant Adrian Griffin, Clippers assistant Sam Cassell and Spurs assistants Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka are some of the other candidates that Milwaukee may consider, Kalbrosky adds.

Here are some nuggets regarding Kidd and the Bucks job:

Bucks franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo offered to help Kidd save his job, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tweets. Kidd and the All-Star starter spoke 15 minutes before Kidd was officially notified he’d been fired, Shelburne adds.
Milwaukee’s front office had been mulling over a coaching change for at least two weeks, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports.
Williams, who has been working in the Spurs’ front office, has been patiently waiting for another opportunity and is a name to remember, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets.
Kidd leaves with no regrets and added “we took an organization that was in a bad place and shined a light on it,” according to another Shelburne tweet.
Tensions between Kidd and the front office had been building for months, according to the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps. There was friction between Kidd and forward Jabari Parker, Bontemps continues. Kidd also rubbed management the wrong way by lobbying for roster changes and harping on the lack on experience among the front office staff, Bontemps adds.
Jeff Van Gundy and Rick Pitino are two other candidates the Bucks might consider, Forbes’ Mitch Lawrence reports. However, the organization does not have a stellar reputation and potential replacements for Kidd will likely want to know who’s calling the shots on personnel, Lawrence adds.

Coaching Shakeup May Be On The Way

January 20th, 2018 at 6:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

Coming off a rare season in which no coaches were fired, the NBA may be preparing for a shakeup that will affect a third of the league, writes Frank Isola of The New York Daily News.

Isola suggests as many as 10 teams could be looking at coaching changes at the end of the season, if not sooner. The actual number will depend on how things play out, but several more names may join David Fizdale of Memphis and Earl Watson of Phoenix as coaching casualties for 2017/18.

Both Los Angeles teams could be open to changes, with the Lakers far out of the playoff race at 16-29. The front office was slow to defend Luke Walton after recent derogatory comments by LaVar Ball, and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst recently suggested that hiring former Fizdale, a former assistant with the Heat, would give the organization a better shot at LeBron James. However, Walton still has an important ally in majority owner Jeanie Buss.

Across town, Doc Rivers is doing a remarkable job with a depleted roster, but he may not remain with the Clippers if they decide to rebuild by following through with rumored trades involving DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams. Rivers, who has one more year left on the extension he signed in 2014, was removed from his front office duties before the start of the season. Isola says Rivers may return to television if he leaves the Clippers, though he would become a candidate for possible openings in New York and Orlando.

There will be no shortage of prominent candidates if the Knicks decide to move on from Jeff Hornacek. Isola identifies ABC/ESPN analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy as potential replacements, along with former Pelicans coach and Knicks player Monty Williams, reigning G League Coach of the Year Jerry Stackhouse and Villanova coach Jay Wright, although there is speculation that Wright would only leave the college ranks to take the Sixers’ job.

USA Basketball Announces Roster For First World Cup Qualifiers

November 14th, 2017 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has announced its 12-man roster for the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers, bringing back four members of the squad that won gold earlier this year in FIBA’s AmeriCup tournament.

Here’s Team USA’s full 12-man roster:

Semaj Christon, PG (FA)
Larry Drew II, PG (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Reggie Hearn, SG (Reno Bighorns)
Elijah Millsap, SG (Iowa Wolves)
Xavier Munford, SG (Wisconsin Herd)
Markel Brown, G (Oklahoma City Blue)
Donald Sloan, G (Texas Legends)
Jarell Eddie, SF (Windy City Bulls)
Amile Jefferson, PF (Iowa Wolves)
Jameel Warney, PF (Texas Legends)
Travis Wear, F (South Bay Lakers)
Kennedy Meeks, C (Raptors 905)

The squad, which will be coached once again by Jeff Van Gundy, is comprised almost entirely of G League players, since most of the qualifying tournaments take place during the NBA season, preventing NBA players from participating. Team USA’s goal is for Van Gundy’s squad of G Leaguers to qualify for the 2019 World Cup, which will take place in August and September, when NBA players will be free to participate.

The new-look USA Basketball program is off to a good start, having gone 5-0 this summer to win a gold medal at the AmeriCup tournament. Drew, Hearn, Munford, and Warney were all part of that team.

This time around, Team USA will face Puerto Rico on November 23 and then Mexico on November 26. After those contests, the first round of World Cup qualifiers will resume in February before concluding in July. The top three teams in each first-round group will advance to the second round, which begins in September 2018 and concludes in February 2019, so the qualifying process will take some time to play out.

Meanwhile, the G League teams temporarily losing players to Team USA will be permitted one free move per lost player from the available player pool, tweets Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days.

And-Ones: Van Gundy, NBA Calendar, Two-Way Contracts

September 2nd, 2017 at 9:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jeff Van Gundy is getting his first taste of coaching in more than a decade, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The former Knicks and Rockets head coach is guiding the U.S. men’s basketball team through the qualifying stages for the 2019 World Cup. Gregg Popovich will take a star-studded team into that competition, but first Van Gundy has to get through the AmeriCup tournament with a young, unheralded roster.

Van Gundy has settled into a job as an outspoken analyst on ABC and ESPN, but the urge to coach hasn’t gone away. Wojnarowski states that he repeatedly turned down offers so his family wouldn’t have to move out of Houston, but in the last few years he has become more open to a return. He interviewed for a few jobs, but the right situation hasn’t happened. “One thing you can’t recreate, the competition and camaraderie,” Van Gundy said. “No matter what you do, you’re not going to have that same feeling of a great win. To me, coming into the locker room for the first five minutes after a great win, with a staff you love, and a team you respected, there was nothing like that. That’s what you miss.”

There’s more news from around the world of basketball:

ESPN’s Bobby Marks has compiled a list of all the significant dates on the NBA calendar from now through the end of the regular season. Some important ones include the first team practices on September 26, the deadline for accepting qualifying offers on October 1, the deadline for extensions to rookie contracts on October 16, the day all contracts become guaranteed on January 7 and the trade deadline on February 8.
Many fans are uncertain about the details of the two-way contracts introduced in the new collective bargaining agreement, so Chris Reichert of 2 Ways and 10 Days has answered a list of frequently asked questions. Among them: two-way deals are open to players with three years or fewer of NBA service, they don’t count against the salary cap and they can be used even by the four teams without direct G League affiliates.

And-Ones: G League Expansion, Mayo, Van Gundy

August 25th, 2017 at 9:01pm CST by Austin Kent

The G League held its expansion draft to accommodate for the association’s four new franchises and Chris Reichert of 2 Ways, 10 Days has broken down the results, recapping the nuances of the developmental league’s various processes.

As Reichert lays out, teams made their bids for each player’s returning rights for a period of two seasons. What that means is that the G League clubs will effectively reserve those players should they ever find themselves back in the league. Many currently ply their trade either for NBA squads or for teams overseas.

The current NBA crop selected in the G League expansion draft is headlined by Sean Kilpatrick and Okaro White. The big league rotation players, however, are unlikely to return to the G League, at least in 2017/18, rendering them ineffective selections.

There’s more from around the NBA:

Speaking of G League peculiarities, the Oklahoma City Blue (the G League affiliate of the Thunder) made a trade with the SLC Stars (Jazz affiliate) for the rights to Marcus Paige but, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer explains, Paige will actually suit up for the Greensboro Swarm (Hornets affiliate). Earlier this month the Hornets signed Paige to a two-way deal and that supersedes whichever team owns his G League rights.
With one more year left on his suspension, former Bucks guard O.J. Mayo could consider a gig in the G League, Adam Johnson of 2 Ways, 10 Days opines. There is, however, no guarantee that he would be permitted to do so.
It’s been a decade since he coached the Rockets, which makes Jeff Van Gundy‘s return to the bench with Team USA all that much more exciting. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN recently spoke with Van Gundy about his role with the USA Basketball World Cup qualifying team.

17 Players Vying For Spots On USA’s AmeriCup Roster

August 17th, 2017 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has begun the process of selecting its roster for the AmeriCup 2017, the first of a series of qualifying tournaments under FIBA’s new format. As Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press details, Team USA doesn’t need to win the AmeriCup to qualify for the next World Cup and Olympics, but it’s a tournament the U.S. must participate in to eventually play in more crucial events.

Because upcoming qualifiers will take place during the NBA season, Team USA is putting together a roster primarily made up of G League players and veterans who have been playing overseas, as we previously learned. With training camp set to begin on Thursday, 17 hopefuls are suiting up for Team USA, with the program poised to eventually pare that group down to a 12-man roster.

Here are Team USA’s training camp participants, via USA Basketball:

Billy Baron (UCAM Murcia, Spain)
Rod Benson (Wonju Dongbu Promy, South Korea)
Alec Brown (Windy City Bulls)
Will Davis II (Reno Bighorns)
Larry Drew II (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Reggie Hearn (Reno Bighorns)
Darrun Hilliard (Detroit Pistons)
Jonathan Holmes (Canton Charge)
Ra’Shad James (Cedevita Zagreb, Croatia)
Kendall Marshall (Reno Bighorns)
Darius Morris (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Xavier Munford (Greensboro Swarm)
Marshall Plumlee (New York Knicks)
Jameel Warney (Texas Legends)
C.J. Williams (Texas Legends)
Reggie Williams (Oklahoma City Blue)
Derek Willis (University of Kentucky)

Although there are no high-profile names in this group, several players have some NBA experience. Hilliard is currently a free agent, but appeared in 77 games over the last two seasons for the Pistons. Drew, Munford, and Plumlee have all played in at least a dozen NBA games.

Marshall, Morris, and Reggie Williams are perhaps the most notable names on the list, having played regular rotation roles for various NBA teams in recent years. Marshall was a lottery pick in the 2012 draft, while Williams has appeared in more than 200 NBA games since 2010.

None of the players on Team USA’s training camp roster are currently under contract with an NBA club, but Willis – the only player of the group who has yet to play professional ball – has reportedly agreed to a training camp deal with the Pistons.

The club will be coached by Jeff Van Gundy, an international rookie himself, and will eventually participate in preliminary round games in Uruguay later this month. If Team USA wins its group – which also includes Panama, the Dominican Republic, and host Uruguay – it would advance to the semifinals in Argentina in early September.

As Mahoney outlines in his report, Team USA won’t face real pressure to win until November, when the club need a top-three finish in a pool that includes Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Cuba in order to start advancing to later qualifiers. For more in-depth details on how those qualifiers work, be sure to check out FIBA’s breakdowns for the 2019 World Cup and the 2020 Olympics.

And-Ones: JVG, Award Votes, Singleton, Wanamaker

June 27th, 2017 at 12:32pm CST by Luke Adams

After a decade of rumors about his possible return to the sidelines, ABC and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy has finally landed a new coaching gig — but it’s not an NBA job. As Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical details, Van Gundy has agreed to coach USA Basketball as Team USA attempts to qualify for the 2019 World Cup.

Last month, we heard that the Team USA roster for the World Cup qualifiers wouldn’t feature NBA players. Instead, USA Basketball will put together a squad primarily made up of G League players. Wojnarowski notes that the roster may also include Americans playing in international leagues. Assuming Team USA qualifies for the 2019 World Cup, which shouldn’t be an issue, NBA players figure to take it from there, while Gregg Popovich will take over for Van Gundy as the club’s coach.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The NBA has published the full voting results for all of its 2016/17 awards, so if you’re dying to know who gave Isaiah Thomas his only All-Defensive vote, you can find out right here.
EuroLeague star Chris Singleton has interviews lined up with two NBA teams, and is poised to opt out of his contract with Panathinaikos if he receives an NBA opportunity, tweets international reporter David Pick. However, Singleton’s teammate Kenny Gabriel will remain with Panathinaikos, having opted to pass on a non-guaranteed NBA offer, per Pick (Twitter link).
Pick also provides an update on Brad Wanamaker, reporting (via Twitter) that Brad Wanamaker is putting Euroleague offers on hold in the hopes of securing an NBA deal with the Pelicans or Celtics. Wanamaker, who played for Turkey’s Darussafaka last season, was voted to 2016/17’s All-EuroLeague team.
Bobby Marks of The Vertical identifies his top 20 free agents for 2017, with a pair of Warriors topping the list.

And-Ones: NBA Owners Ranked, Tomjanovich, NCAA Tournament

April 1st, 2017 at 2:09pm CST by Milo Taibi

ESPN concluded their management series with ownership rankings, citing the Spurs (Julianna Hawn Holt), Warriors (Joe Lacob, Peter Guber), and Celtics (Wyc Grousbeck) as teams with the best ownership in the league (article link). ESPN’s panel ranked owners in terms of “performance in guiding the franchise to overall on-court success, both in the short and long term.” To that end, it perhaps isn’t surprising to see the Kings (Vivek Ranadive) and Knicks (James Dolan) round out the list; two owners who have made unfortunate headlines for on-and-off the court stories this season.

And-Ones: Doncic, Seattle, Jeff Van Gundy, Draft

February 17th, 2017 at 2:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Seventeen-year-old Real Madrid star Luka Doncic has a new agent, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, who reports (via Twitter) that Doncic has signed on with BDA Sports, and will be represented by Bill Duffy. Doncic won’t be eligible for the 2017 draft, but the investment by BDA has a chance to pay off in a big way down the road — the Slovenian guard is considered one of the best European prospects in years, and is currently viewed as the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft.

Here are a few more odds and ends from across the basketball world:

Chris Hansen‘s efforts to build a new NBA- and NHL-ready arena in Seattle have been going on for more than five years, but the investor is still confident that it will eventually happen, according to an Associated Press report (link via USA Today). Hansen’s group has increased the private funding in its arena plan and re-submitted it to Seattle City Council, per The Associated Press.
Will ESPN and ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy ever return to the sidelines to coach an NBA team? His brother thinks it’s still a real possibility. “Yeah, with the right situation, absolutely. I don’t know if he will, but I definitely can see it,” Stan Van Gundy said, per Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times. “He misses parts of it (coaching), but he also has a real good job, so it goes both ways.”
Within his latest draft notebook for The Vertical, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress passes along several interesting notes, writing that player agents aren’t enthusiastic about the NBA’s new two-way contracts and suggesting that 2017 will be a weak draft class for NCAA upperclassmen and international players.
Terrance Ferguson is the mystery man of the 2017 draft class, according to Neil Johnson of ESPN.com, who takes a closer look at the 18-year-old who is playing professional ball in Australia.

And-Ones: Kalamian, Labissiere, Van Gundy, Udoh

June 5th, 2016 at 9:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Raptors assistant Rex Kalamian has turned down offers from the Rockets and Wizards and will remain in Toronto, tweets TNT’s David Aldridge. Kalamian just completed his first season with the Raptors after six years in Oklahoma City. A 20-year veteran, he has also been on the bench with the Clippers, Nuggets, Timberwolves and Kings.

There’s more news from around the basketball world:

Kentucky big man Skal Labissiere made an impression at the Relativity Sports Pro Day this afternoon at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Labissière now has workouts and meetings scheduled with nearly every team that owns a top 10 draft pick.
This marks Jeff Van Gundy’s 10th year as a broadcaster for the NBA Finals, and it seems unlikely he will ever return to coaching, writes Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press. Van Gundy was considered as a candidate for the Rockets‘ job that eventually went to Mike D’Antoni, but he and the team never formally discussed the position. After a decade away from coaching, Van Gundy admits a return would be difficult. “You don’t have the same feel for guys that you didn’t coach against or coach yourself. It’s not the same,” he said. “You can watch the games on TV, you can study in that way, but if you’re not competing against people, it’s hard to know as much as you do when you’re coaching.”
Isaiah Cousins will work out for the Clippers on Monday and the Lakers on Wednesday, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Zagoria hears the Oklahoma point guard’s “stock is rising.”
Iona guard A.J. English has workouts set for this week with the Bulls, Magic and Raptors, Zagoria tweets.
Former NBA player Ekpe Udoh is free to leave his Fenerbahce team in Turkey, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. The 29-year-old Udoh’s last NBA experience came in 2014/15 with the Clippers. “We will keep the roster intact. Only Udoh is waiting for the NBA,” said Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim. “He was afraid because of the attack which happened in Antep. There are 51% chances for him to stay. We will add two more players to that roster and we will keep all others.”