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Southwest Notes: Joerger, Simmons, Bickerstaff

December 14th, 2015 at 2:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

Marc Stein of ESPN.com points to comments that Dave Joerger made recently as “thinly veiled shots” at Joe Abadi (Twitter links), the liaison between owner Robert Pera and GM Chris Wallace, but Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal interprets Joerger’s criticism as somewhat more subtle. The Grizzlies coach has established a pattern of “muted but direct acknowledgement” of the roster’s shortcomings, and his job is not necessarily in more trouble than any other NBA coach’s job is at risk when the team isn’t performing up to expectations, Herrington contends. The Commercial Appeal scribe’s piece delves more into the changing times in Memphis, and we’ll share more on that amid the latest from the Southwest Division:

The Grizzlies have had few reasonable options to forestall the end of their “grit ‘n’ grind” run that countered the league’s small-ball trend, and Joerger’s decision to bench Zach Randolph and Tony Allen on Sunday signals the imminent death of the Grizzlies as we know them, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller opines. Ziller believes Joerger’s decision frees Memphis to explore trades for Randolph and Allen, both of whom have contracts that run through next season.
Jonathon Simmons is showing off his athleticism and has averaged double figures in points over his last four games for the Spurs, and coach/executive Gregg Popovich seems impressed so far, as Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio News-Express details. Simmons has a fully guaranteed salary this season, but next season’s minimum salary is non-guaranteed.
The Rockets have surged since new coach J.B. Bickerstaff moved Clint Capela and Patrick Beverley into the starting lineup, as the team has gone 7-2 with both of them present for the opening tip, observes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

Western Notes: Clippers, Henry, Grizzlies

July 29th, 2014 at 12:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

Attorneys for Donald Sterling plan to ask an appellate court for permission to appeal Monday’s probate court decision, even though the ruling doesn’t allow Sterling to seek a court order stopping the sale of the Clippers as he appeals, according to Brian Melley of The Associated Press. Dan Woike of the Orange County Register details three ways that Sterling can still prevent wife Shelly Sterling from completing the $2 billion sale of the Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Monday’s ruling left Donald Sterling unbowed, as his attorney Bobby Samini said to reporters, including Woike.

“His reaction was very calm,” Samini said. “He didn’t see this as the final battleground. This is one stage of a long war. This is one battle. We had hoped for a different result, but this is not the end.”

There’s more on the Sterling saga amid the latest from around the Western Conference:

Judge Michael Levanas accepted the contention of Shelly Sterling’s lawyers that it was unlikely that anyone would match Ballmer’s $2 billion bid for the Clippers, as Melley notes in his piece. “Ballmer paid an amazing price that cannot be explained by the market,” Levanas said.
Xavier Henry‘s one-year contract with the Lakers isn’t a minimum-salary arrangement, as first believed, and is instead worth the $1.082MM leftover portion of the team’s room exception, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The other part of the room exception went to Ryan Kelly.
Joe Abadi, a lawyer for Grizzlies owner Robert Pera, conducted the team’s interviews with candidates for the front office job that Ed Stefanski will fill, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Abadi has taken on a larger role in the organization while Pera has marginalized minority owners Stephen Kaplan and Daniel E. Straus, as Stein details.