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Pacific Notes: Castleberry, James, Evans, Warriors

August 9th, 2019 at 5:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kawhi Leonard will have an ally on the Clippers’ coaching staff. His close friend Jeremy Castleberry will serve as an assistant under Doc Rivers, according to Jabari Young of The Athletic (Twitter link). Castleberry followed Leonard to Toronto after the Spurs traded him to the Raptors last summer. Castleberry played with the star forward in high school and at San Diego State. He was a player development coach in Toronto.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

The Lakers will do some team bonding ahead of training camp. LeBron James is organizing a team minicamp in September, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (video link).
Jacob Evans, the Warriors’ first-round pick in 2018, is honing his skills as a point guard. The former Cincinnati guard talked about his development in a team website post. “It’s been a great transition, honestly,” he said. “Just learning the offense, trying to learn different reads out of it, some different sets, different looks and just trying to put myself in an aggressive attack mentality.” Evans appeared in 30 regular-season games and seven postseason games last season.
Kris Weems will be promoted to head coach of the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days reports. Weems has been an assistant with Santa Cruz the past two years under Aaron Miles, who will be promoted to Golden State’s staff, Johnson continues. Ryan Atkinson, Santa Cruz’s assistant GM since 2016, will be named the team’s GM. He previously served as president of basketball operations for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

David Griffin Clarifies Comments On LeBron

August 2nd, 2019 at 6:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pelicans executive VP David Griffin clarified on Friday his comments in a Sports Illustrated article that indicated he was miserable running the Cavaliers when LeBron James was there, according to an ESPN report.

During an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, Griffin said he didn’t have any issues with James and that his problems in Cleveland were centered around the pressure of building a championship team.

In the SI story, Griffin was quoted as saying it was frustrating working for an organization where “LeBron is getting all the credit and none of the blame. And that’s not fun for people. They don’t like being part of that world.”

Griffin and a confidant of James spoke after the SI story was published, according to ESPN, and Griffin claimed some statements were taken out of context.

“The fact that there was so much scrutiny in everything that we did, when I was speaking about being uncomfortable and being miserable, it was my inability to deal with that media scrutiny,” Griffin said. “It wasn’t the man himself. It was everything that came with a team led by LeBron James. It had nothing to do with being miserable with LeBron. We had and have a very positive relationship.”

Another controversial part of the SI piece was that Griffin seemingly questioned the future Hall of Famer’s desire to win after the Cavaliers won the championship.

Griffin put the blame on himself during the TV interview for failing to instill a sense of urgency following the title run.

“My fear at that time was that [James] wouldn’t have that same animal-like desire to win. And what we’ve seen is he’s gone to multiple Finals since, so it was an unfounded fear,” Griffin said.

You can watch some of the Griffin interview here.

David Griffin: I Was “Miserable” During Time With Cavs

August 1st, 2019 at 9:10pm CST by Luke Adams

David Griffin enjoyed a successful run as the Cavaliers‘ general manager, winning a championship in 2016 and guiding the team to three consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals until his departure in 2017. However, he tells Jake Fischer of SI.com that the pressure he was under in Cleveland and his fixation on winning made him “miserable” and caused him to lose his love of the game during his time as the Cavs’ GM.

“Everything we did was so inorganic and unsustainable and, frankly, not fun. I was miserable,” Griffin said of building the Cavaliers into a contender. “Literally the moment we won the championship I knew I was gonna leave. There was no way I was gonna stay for any amount of money.”

Fischer’s story paints LeBron James‘ return to Cleveland and his year-to-year contracts as major factors that contributed to Griffin’s stress. The current Pelicans head of basketball operations acknowledged that James’ larger-than-life presence could contribute to what Fischer calls “combustible” conditions in the workplace.

“The reason is LeBron is getting all the credit and none of the blame. And that’s not fun for people,” Griffin said. “They don’t like being part of that world.”

Griffin also theorized that after the Cavaliers knocked off the Warriors to win the 2016 NBA Finals, James’ hunger to win championships may have waned to some extent.

“There wasn’t a lot else for him,” Griffin told Fischer. “I don’t think he’s the same animal anymore about winning.”

While Griffin’s quotes appear somewhat incendiary on the surface, it’s worth noting that James himself has said multiple times since 2016 that he feels he has nothing left to prove as a basketball player. In one interview, he referred to any future accomplishments as “icing on the cake,” and Fischer notes that many people around the league believe LeBron’s top priorities now are to eventually play in the NBA with his son and to own a franchise. That doesn’t mean that he’s no longer driven to win championships, but it provides some added context for Griffin’s comments.

Additionally, a source familiar with Griffin’s thinking tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN that the Pelicans executive had no intention of blaming James for creating an unfavorable atmosphere in Cleveland — he was instead referring to the “media machine” surrounding the four-time MVP. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter) that the joylessness Griffin felt during the Cavs’ title run was related to “the scrutiny and unforgiving pressure” of the job — not to LeBron.

Still, sources close to James told ESPN that they were “shocked” by Griffin’s characterization of the Lakers star. According to McMenamin, a person close to LeBron spoke to Griffin after the SI story was published and Griffin said in that conversation that some context was missing from his comments. Sources tell ESPN that James’ camp encouraged the Pelicans’ top executive to issue an on-the-record clarification.

Here are a few more items of note related to Griffin, the Cavs, and the Pelicans:

Referring to the roster-building process and the culture in Cleveland, Griffin offered the following assessment, via Fischer: “We won despite our culture to a huge degree. And I knew it. I knew what we weren’t doing. There were so many things during that period of time that I wanted to do differently. If you make everything about, ‘It’s a destination. Damn the torpedoes, I gotta get there,’ that might be the only time you get there.”
Pivoting to his current team, Griffin told Fischer that the Pelicans – despite being perceived as a rebuilding club – are ready to potentially be a buyer at the 2020 trade deadline if the playoffs are within sight. “People are gonna be like, ‘What the f— are they doing?'” Griffin said. “We’re trying to win basketball games!”
According to Fischer, some members of the Pelicans’ scouting department had Nickeil Alexander-Walker ranked as high as fourth on their boards entering the 2019 draft. New Orleans selected him with the No. 17 overall pick.

Pacific Notes: Kerr/Davis, Rubio, Harding, Vogel

July 24th, 2019 at 5:32pm CST by clarkcrum

As if the Pacific Division wasn’t already exciting enough after a summer that saw Kevin Durant leave and Anthony Davis, Paul George, and 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard arrive to join LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr added some fuel to the divisional fire today when he criticized Davis’ public trade demand out of New Orleans.

Appearing on NBC Sports’ Warriors Insider Podcast (h/t to ESPN), Kerr said there is a troubling trend in the NBA right now wherein players who are healthy and still have a couple of years left on their deal (e.g. Davis) publicly request a trade. Kerr said that situations like that are both a “real problem” and “bad for the league.”

“I’m talking more about the Anthony Davis situation… where a guy is perfectly healthy and has a couple years left on his deal and says, ‘I want to leave.’ That’s a real problem that the league has to address and that the players have to be careful with.”

“When you sign on that dotted line, you owe your effort and your play to that team, to that city, to the fans… (and) if you sign the contract, then you should be bound to that contract… (Now) If you come to an agreement with the team that, ‘Hey, it’s probably best for us to part ways,’ that’s one thing, (b)ut the Davis stuff was really kind of groundbreaking — and hopefully not a trend, because it’s bad for the league.”

There’s more out of the Pacific Division this evening:

The Suns have been searching for a point guard to help lead them back up from the bottom of the Western Conference standings for years now, and the three qualities that veteran Ricky Rubio possesses that makes Phoenix think he’s the guy are playmaking, defense, and leadership, writes Cody Cunningham of Suns.com.
Lindsey Harding, recently hired as an assistant coach for the Kings under head coach Luke Walton, says that fear of the unknown is more of a factor than a lack of respect for women coaches when it comes to the absence of a female head coach in the NBA today (per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN).
New Lakers head coach Frank Vogel plans to incorporate a similar style of play incorporated by Walton, telling Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated that he will continue preaching pace, attacking the basket, and shooting a lot of free throws. But more importantly, Vogel’s goal will be to put shooters at all four positions around James, including center, a la Brook Lopez surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.

Lakers Introduce Anthony Davis

July 13th, 2019 at 6:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

After months of waiting for a trade, Anthony Davis learned about the deal that sent him to the Lakers on Instagram, writes Chris Bumbaca of USA Today. Speaking today at his introductory press conference, Davis explained that he was watching a movie when the news broke and he missed two calls from his agent, Rich Paul. After a return call was unsuccessful, Davis tried social media, where he found out he was headed to L.A.

The deal was no surprise for Davis, who submitted a trade request to the Pelicans in January. The Lakers were one of his preferred destinations, offering the chance to team up with fellow Klutch Sports client LeBron James. Even so, Davis is happy that the process is finally over.

“That’s the biggest thing for me,” he said. “The relief of not knowing the unknown anymore and not knowing where I was going to be next season.”

GM Rob Pelinka, who closed the deal by offering New Orleans Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and a package of draft picks, called Davis’ introduction “a history-shifting day for the Los Angeles Lakers” and said organization is hoping for “a decade of dominance” from its new big man. Right now, L.A. is guaranteed just one year out of Davis, who is expected to opt out of his current contract next summer.

There’s more from today’s press conference:

Davis doesn’t regret waiving his $4MM trade kicker, even though the move was designed to help land Kawhi Leonard, who wound up choosing the Clippers. “Any time you’re able to able to acquire a player like Kawhi, you have to do almost everything to get a guy like that,” he said. “Obviously, it didn’t work out for us, but I still wanted to do everything I could to help the team. That $4MM was to add more money to a player’s contract or get another guy, and by all means I was willing to do that.”
Pelinka frequently sought input from Davis and James as the front office filled out the roster with free agent signings. Once Leonard was off the market, the Lakers focused on making the most of their cap space to build as much depth as possible. “I like our roster,” Davis said. “I like every player that we have, from one through 14. I’m excited about it. I would put our roster against anybody. I think that in a seven-game series we would come out victorious.”
Davis turned aside a question about his long-term future in L.A., saying he’s “focused on this season,” tweets Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. “When that time comes around next year, you can ask me that question and we can revisit it,” Davis responded. “Right now my focus is on this year and figuring out how I can help this team and help this organization become a championship team.”
Davis isn’t bothered by negative reaction he got from fans and the media after requesting a trade, relays Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll (Twitter link). “As long as I can sleep at night and live with the decisions that I made, then I’m happy and I don’t really care what anyone else thinks,” he explained. “I have a great team around me who I can talk to about things that’s going on, and they give me great advice and at the end of the day I’ll live with the decisions I make.”

Lakers Notes: Pelinka, Contracts, Green, Cousins

July 12th, 2019 at 6:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers are taking an all-or-nothing mentality into next season with the acquisition of Anthony Davis and numerous veteran free agents, including DeMarcus Cousins. GM Rob Pelinka said there’s only one goal for next season, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “For us, anything short of a championship is not success,” Pelinka said. “So we have to learn from last season, because we didn’t win a championship. And a lot of that went into the construction of the roster this year.”

We have more on the Lakers:

Pelinka notes the benefit of signing players to short-term contracts. While Davis is expected to be a long-term Lakers, only James (player option) is currently on the books beyond 2021, Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times relays. “It gives us the ability to not only contend in the short term with the players we wanted, but also add a superstar or max player in that July of 2021,” Pelinka said.
Shooting guard Danny Green, another off-season free agent addition, said he waited for Raptors teammate Kawhi Leonard to make his decision before he chose his destination, according to another Ganguli story. Green may have stayed in Toronto or gone to Dallas if Leonard hadn’t joined the Clippers. “Those five days seemed like five months. … You think a day, it goes by pretty fast but the way it was happening, the way I was talking to him, you would think it was a week. Like, ‘I got to wait another day, dude? Like, come on!’” Green said.
The Cousins signing will only work if he’s willing to come off the bench and split the center spot with JaVale McGee, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times opines. That could be a tough for Cousins to accept, given that he was a premier player prior to rupturing his Achilles two seasons ago, Woike notes. Cousins is thrilled to be reunited with former Pelicans teammate Davis, Youngmisuk writes in a separate story. “We realized how much better we made one another and how much we made the game easier for each other. We both appreciate each other’s presence,” Cousins said. “To add LeBron James to the mix, his résumé speaks for itself.”

Lakers Plan To Start LeBron James At Point Guard

July 8th, 2019 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

With a new-look roster surrounding their star player next season, the Lakers plan to try LeBron James at a new position. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, the club will head into 2019/20 with the intention of starting James at point guard.

James had frequently assumed ball-handling duties and operated as a point forward throughout his Hall-of-Fame career, but it sounds like this arrangement will look a little different, since he won’t be opening games alongside a traditional point guard. Sources tell Haynes that James and Danny Green are expected to start in the backcourt for the Lakers.

While point guards like Rajon Rondo, Quinn Cook, and even Alex Caruso should see plenty of action for the Lakers over the course of the season, putting James at the point could allow the club to trot out a starting lineup with a ton of size.

Theoretically, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kyle Kuzma could fill out the starting five, though I’m not sure that’d be the best way to optimize the rotation. We’ll have to wait to see which direction the team goes — and if the LeBron-as-point-guard plan is one that sticks.

Details On Kawhi Leonard’s Decision, Free Agent Meetings

July 7th, 2019 at 10:07pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kawhi Leonard‘s camp spoke to the Raptors about the possibility of acquiring Paul George or Bradley Beal, Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star reports. The franchise considered the request, though Masai Ujiri & Co. began to believe in the final days leading up to Leonard’s decision that Kawhi, who was in Toronto from Wednesday to Friday, was not serious about rejoining the defending champs.

Leonard was focused on the Clippers even as his championship run with the Raptors was ongoing, Arthur writes. His camp gauged Jimmy Butler‘s interest in teaming up with him in Los Angeles throughout the postseason and the Clippers had planned to go after the pairing. Butler ended up landing in Miami and it appeared that the title and the inability to get Butler had closed the gap between the Raptors and the Southern California franchise.

The Raptors engaged in trade talks with the Thunder, though Arthur cautions that Toronto never came close to acquiring George and writes that Russell Westbrook was not involved in those discussions. It was previously reported that Westbrook and George both could have been included in a potential package to the Raptors. Westbrook was open to the idea of playing with Leonard, Arthur hears.

Here’s more buzz surrounding the Final MVP’s decision to move to California:

The location for the Lakers’ meeting with Leonard was switched last minute to Westlake Village and only owner Jeanie Buss and GM Rob Pelinka were there, as per Leonard’s request, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com tweets. Shelburne adds that Leonard met with George near that location on the same day.
The Lakers knew their typical pitch, promising stardom and off-court fame, would not appeal to Leonard, Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times details. The team stuck to basketball in their hotel meeting with Leonard, attempting to sell him on winning a championship with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The meeting only lasted two hours.
Leonard and his uncle spoke to Magic Johnson prior to the Lakers‘ meeting, Ganguli adds. They had questions about Johnson’s recent comments on Pelinka where Johnson accused the former agent of betraying him. Johnson responded with praise for the organization and spoke highly of the Lakers’ front office. Johnson’s comments were not brought up in the Lakers’ short meeting, Ganguli hears.
The Lakers had no idea that Leonard wanted George as a teammate, per Ganguli. It was inconsequential, as Los Angeles had no real means of acquiring him from Oklahoma City since the club had already given up so many assets in the Anthony Davis deal.

Leonard’s Free Agency Could Go To End Of Week

July 1st, 2019 at 7:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kawhi Leonard may not make a commitment in free agency until late this week, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on the station’s Get Up program (Twitter link).

While the commitments of other top free agents Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler were made public before free agency officially began on Sunday night, Leonard will mull his options a little longer. The two Los Angeles teams and the Raptors are the contenders for his services.

“I’m told he is going to continue to take his time. … the teams who are involved are expecting that this could go even late into the week,” Wojnarowski said.

Leonard deliberation has already impacted the Lakers, who are looking to make a championship run next season. They’re interested in some lower-level free agents but have to await Leonard’s decision. Wojnarowski cited Seth Curry, who agreed to a contract with the Mavericks, as a player the Lakers were interested in signing.

“They’re going to keep losing guys off the board,” Wojnarowski said.

Leonard has spoken to Magic Johnson several times about the Lakers, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Broderick Turner, and there has also been a conversation with GM Rob Pelinka. Johnson can’t officially meet with Leonard on behalf of the organization after resigning his post as president of basketball operations but he’s free to speak in an unofficial capacity.

Turner told Spectrum Sportsnet that Leonard asked Johnson if the Lakers had make an attempt to trade for him prior to the Spurs’ deal with the Raptors (hat tip to SilverScreenAndRoll.com)

“There was one interesting question (Leonard) had for Magic: ‘Did you guys try to trade for me when I was in San Antonio?’ And the answer was ‘yes, but because it was Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, and our history, they were asking for 2,000 draft picks — well, not 2,000 — like four draft picks, first-round draft picks, and we just couldn’t do that.’ And that was one of his questions.”

Johnson told Leonard and his uncle, who participated in the conversations, that the disharmony within the front office is a thing of the past. Johnson also emphasized the storied history of the franchise, according to Turner.

“It’s about all those great players. You can be another one, you can join LeBron James and you can win more titles, and you don’t have to put as much stress on your body to do that. We have two stars to work with you,’” Johnson said.

Leonard also asked if he might be allowed to bring in his own trainer.

Durant, Kawhi Reportedly Discussing Playing Together

June 29th, 2019 at 10:45am CST by marksuleymanov

With free agency set to open on Sunday, the top two available players, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant, have discussed scenarios in which they could play together, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.

As Wojnarowski notes, if the two stars decide they want to team up, the two likeliest possibilities would be the Knicks or Clippers. The Knicks have the cap room necessary to offer both players maximum-salary contracts. The Clippers would have to do a little work to get there, but have a path if they can find a taker for Danilo Gallinari‘s expiring $22.6MM contract.

The Nets, Lakers, Warriors, and Raptors are among the other teams believed to be in pursuit of either Leonard or Durant. However, Golden State and Toronto could only re-sign their own respective stars, the Lakers only have room to sign one top free agent, and the Nets are believed to be zeroed in on Kyrie Irving, which would leave them with enough cap space for just one additional star.

Before Durant went down with a calf injury – and then an Achilles tear – in this year’s playoffs, he and Leonard were being discussed as the NBA’s top two players. Although KD is expected to miss the entire 2019/20 season as he recovers from his Achilles injury, a long-term pairing of Durant and Leonard could turn any franchise into a perennial championship contender.

ESPN’s report represents the second time today we’ve heard about the possibility of Durant and Leonard teaming up. Shams Charania of The Athletic wrote earlier this morning of a belief that KD had considered the possibility of joining forces with Kawhi, though Charania’s report gave no indication of how Leonard felt about the idea.

As we detailed this morning, Leonard’s free agency had long been viewed as a two-way race between the Raptors and Clippers, but that’s no longer the case, with the Lakers and Knicks both trying to get into the mix. Sam Amick of The Athletic wrote today about the pitch that LeBron James intends to make to Kawhi.

Many scenarios appear to remain in play for this summer’s top free agents. According to Wojnarowski and Shelburne, Leonard is expected to meet with the Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, and Raptors once free agency opens, while Durant plans to talk to the Clippers, Knicks, Nets, and Warriors.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.