Mark Jackson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Coaching Rumors: Jackson, T’Wolves, Adelman

March 27th, 2014 at 8:45pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The topic of Mark Jackson’s job security with the Warriors is riddled with complexity, and ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez and J.A. Adande discuss how this year’s struggles may affect the third-year head coach’s future in Oakland. Gutierrez suggests that Jackson bears some responsibility for Golden State’s frustrating play at times this year, while Adande surmises that Jackson will be in big trouble if the Warriors fail to improve on their six playoff wins from last season. Adande adds that ownership has spent nearly half of a billion dollars to purchase the team and upgrade the arena, and doesn’t think that patience accompanies those types of expenditures.

You can find additional coaching-related links below, including more from the above piece:

Adande believes that a contract extension for Jackson would imply a significant vouch of support from management; however, the fact that there hasn’t been one yet makes him wonder if anyone within the organization’s hierarchy has Jackson’s back.
Gutierrez thinks the Warriors are hastily trying to figure out Jackson’s potential as a head coach, and that Jackson could be heading into the postseason with his future in Golden State on the line.
Timberwolves executive Flip Saunders is close to college coaches Fred Hoiberg and Tom Izzo, both of whom owner Glen Taylor admires, notes Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Walters senses that the chances of Rick Adelman returning to coach the Wolves are “remote” and points to the team’s coaching search from six years ago, when the team was willing to give the job to Izzo. Still, Izzo was strident in saying this week that he has no interest in coaching the Pistons. Saunders will be in New York to watch both Hoiberg and Izzo coach in the NCAA tournament this week, Walters adds via Twitter.
Aside from Mark Jackson, there are many other coaches are in worse situations, notes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Toronto’s Dwane Casey, Washington’s Randy Wittman , Portland’s Terry Stotts, and Utah’s Tyrone Corbin are all finishing up their contracts this year and have yet to receive extensions.
Deveney also groups Knicks coach Mike Woodson with Corbin as two contract-year coaches who are on “ice that is thin as ice can get”, though it’s worth mentioning that Woodson actually had his 2014/15 contract option picked up last September.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Warriors Rumors: Jackson, Barnes, O’Neal, Green

March 27th, 2014 at 1:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Impatience from the ownership suite is at the root of much of the tension surrounding the Warriors, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes in his NBA AM piece. The front office is under pressure, and that affects coach Mark Jackson and his coaching staff, according to Kyler, who says the owners often push for roster changes when the team isn’t performing well. The principal owners of the Warriors are Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, but Kyler doesn’t specify whether it’s one or both of them or someone else within the ownership group who is putting the squeeze on. Still, Kyler has other specifics about the uneasiness in Golden State, as we detail below amid our look at the latest from the Pacific Division:

Harrison Barnes was the subject of trade rumors before the deadline, and Kyler hears that Warriors ownership started those talks in hope of flipping Barnes for a veteran big man who could help the team win in the short-term. For what it’s worth, Lacob said in February that he wasn’t anxious to move Barnes.
Jackson previously denied that there’s dysfunction within the Warriors, and Wednesday he also tried to shoot down the idea that he sought head coaching jobs with the Clippers and Nets, among other teams. Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com has the details.
Jackson is an ordained nondenominational Christian minister, and that’s a draw for many players, including Jermaine O’Neal, who said it was one of the primary reasons he signed with the Warriors, and Draymond Green, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News observes.
The Warriors expected to contend for the Western Conference title this year, and if they reach the conference finals, Jackson will “almost certainly” return as coach, but if they lose in the first round, he’s a goner, Deveney believes.

Coaching Rumors: Jackson, Adelman, Fisher

March 26th, 2014 at 7:13pm CST by Cray Allred

The drama in Golden State continues to unfold, with more speculation about Warriors coach Mark Jackson reaching the media. Golden State’s All-Star point guard Steph Curry spoke up on behalf of Jackson today, telling reporters including Marcus Thompson of Bay Area News Group, “I love coach and everything he’s about.” Curry also said he wanted management to consult with him before deciding what to do with Jackson in the future.

Some players have told Thompson that they were dismayed over Jackson’s treatment by management, and think he should be supported considering the team’s success over the last two years.
Players also told Thompson they could see Jackson leaving after the season, either by his own decision or management’s.
One possible source of the reported friction between Jackson and newly re-assigned, former assistant coach Brian Scalabrine was Scalabrine’s willingness to talk too specifically during an in-game interview about the Warriors‘ defensive strategy, opines Ethan Strauss of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The Wolves can expect to have some clarity on coach Rick Adelman within two weeks of the end of the season, since that’s the deadline for both sides on their mutual option for next season, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune notes.
There’s been speculation that Derek Fisher will be the next head coach of the Knicks, and some of his Thunder teammates say he’d make a fine coach, but the 39-year-old has said he has no interest in coaching, notes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Warriors Rumors: Jackson, Malone, Scalabrine

March 26th, 2014 at 5:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mark Jackson denied Tuesday’s report of conflict between him, management and his assistant coaches, but the story from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports appears to have some legs. Sources tell Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle that Jackson is “very insecure” about his assistants receiving credit. Jackson also felt certain that he’d receive a contract extension this past offseason, Simmons reports, but Jackson and the front office have yet to talk extension. Simmons has more in his piece, and Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group adds to the saga, too, as we highlight below:

Kings coach Michael Malone previously served as a Warriors assistant and reportedly went weeks without speaking to Jackson, but Malone tells Simmons he and his boss were actually on somewhat better terms. “Did Mark and I have great relationship? No. There was definitely some friction, but for him to say that we went weeks without speaking is crazy,” Malone said. “We spoke every day. We worked through it, and he eventually realized that I wasn’t out there self-promoting.”
Warriors GM Bob Myers was Brian Scalabrine‘s agent for most of Scalabrine’s playing career, Simmons notes. Golden State reassigned Scalabrine, who had been one of Jackson’s assistants, to a gig with the team’s D-League affiliate.
There were those in the Golden State locker room who thought the media was overstating Malone’s value to the Warriors, and that Malone was more focused on becoming a head coach than his job as an assistant, according to Thompson.
Jackson still has the support of several Warriors players, one of whom told Thompson that the coach is “absolutely not” losing control of the team, as Thompson writes in the same piece.

And-Ones: Jackson, Blake, Griffin, Brown

March 25th, 2014 at 10:24pm CST by Charlie Adams

Reports earlier today indicated that there was dysfunction within the Warriors organization, but Mark Jackson downplayed the speculation, reports Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group. “We are excited about what’s taken place up until this point — the culture, the environment with no dysfunction at all,” Jackson said, “That’s comical.” Here’s tonight’s look around the NBA:

Steve Blake was initially disappointed about the deadline deal that sent him to the Warriors, but he’s embraced his role as an important bench piece for a contending playoff team, writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com.
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is impressed with the job acting GM David Griffin has done in Cleveland, reveals Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Amico specifically mentions the trade that landed the Cavs Spencer Hawes in exchange for a second-round pick.
Although the Cavs are just 29-44, Raptors coach Dwane Casey thinks Mike Brown‘s defense-first coaching style is the best way to run a team, as Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer passes along. Cleveland bested Toronto 102-100 tonight.
Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insider takes a look at the NCAA coaches that appear most likely to jump into an NBA role. Koutroupis notes Fred Hoiberg‘s ties with the Timberwolves might have Minnesota calling his name this offseason if Rick Adelman steps down due to poor health.
League executives aren’t concerned with the perceived notion that some teams around the Association are tanking, says Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. “When you’re talking about tanking, you’re intimating teams are losing games on purpose, and that just isn’t true,” said Rod Thorn, the NBA’s president of basketball operations. “Every player, every coach is trying to do everything he can to win as many games as he can and to play as well as he possibly he can, because in both instances, your livelihood depends on how you do.”

Mark Jackson Sought Clippers, Nets Openings

March 25th, 2014 at 3:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:29pm: Scalabrine will work with the Santa Cruz Warriors, tweets Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.

1:56pm: Mark Jackson has attempted to become a candidate for several head coaching vacancies over the past several months, including the Clippers and Nets openings, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. A dispute over assistant coach Brian Scalabrine is the latest in a series of disagreements between the Warriors and Jackson, who’s come under increased scrutiny from the front office. The coach’s contract runs through 2014/15, but there have been no extension talks, and none are expected to occur, Wojnarowski writes.

The Warriors are reassigning Scalabrine at the behest of Jackson, in spite of the assistant’s popularity with the front office and ownership, Wojnarowski reports. It’s unclear what Scalabrine’s new role will be, but Warriors management wants to keep him within the organization. The Warriors have decided that they want to let Jackson have decision-making power regarding his staff, but Jackson’s struggles to manage the staff and foster a functional working environment threaten his job security, sources tell Wojnarowski. Kings coach Michael Malone, a former Warriors assistant, went weeks without speaking to Jackson last season, Wojnarowski hears.

Jackson has drawn mention as a possible candidate for the Knicks job, but it’s unclear if that holds true now that Phil Jackson is in charge of basketball decisions for New York. Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob recently said there was “pressure” on Mark Jackson, but it’s unclear if he meant to imply that it was related to his job security or just the common, day-to-day pressure inherent with an NBA head coaching gig. Lacob recently told Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group that he would evaluate the coach after the season.

“I do think our coach has done a good job; we have had some big wins, a lot of wins on the road, and that’s usually a sign of good coaching,” Lacob said to Kawakami. “But some things are a little disturbing; the lack of being up for some of these games at home, that’s a concern to me.”

The Warriors picked up Jackson’s team option for 2014/15 this past July, and Lacob said at the time that he envisioned Jackson remaining his coach for the long-term. That was after the Nets hired Jason Kidd and the Clippers brought in Doc Rivers, but just how much Lacob knew about Jackson’s reported desire for other jobs is not clear.

And-Ones: Jeanie, Celtics, LeBron

March 18th, 2014 at 10:16pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Lakers president Jeanie Buss appeared on TWC Sports Net in Los Angeles tonight, addressing today’s most popular topic: “it was clear that (Phil Jackson) wanted to go back to work, but there was no role for him with the Lakers…He was not offered an official position… There (was) no role in the front office for him.”

As Jackson’s fiancee, Buss said that she recently met with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to discuss a potential conflict of interest now that Phil is running the front office in New York. With regard to the Buss family’s ownership of the Lakers, Jeanie asserted that they aren’t going anywhere soon: “This is the family business and the family is going to own the team for as long as the family is together” (All Twitter links via ESPN LA’s Ramona Shelburne).

Here are more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes:

Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck recently hinted at major roster changes this summer, telling Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe that there could be “fireworks” this June, as Holmes notes within a story on the challenges of playing for a team with so much uncertainty,
LeBron James sidestepped a question about a potential return to the Cavaliers earlier tonight: “For me to take my mind somewhere else when I know what’s on its way [postseason] is almost impossible” (Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel via Twitter). Tonight marked LeBron’s final appearance in Cleveland before he can opt out this summer, and the Heat superstar didn’t count anything out: “Only time will tell” (Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio relayed on Twitter).
Though Mark Jackson has been a target for ridicule in Golden State, the missteps of Warriors owner Joe Lacob and GM Bob Myers can’t be ignored either, writes Ric Bucher of the Bleacher Report.
Bucher adds that it was Lacob who made the call to amnesty Charlie Bell‘s $4MM contract so the team could pursue then-free agent Tyson Chandler, who never planned on playing for the Warriors. Additionally, top management – whether intentional or not – provided the grist which brought forth questions about Jackson’s job security this year, specifically when Lacob expressed disappointment about certain losses and Myers suggested that Jackson has been given all he needs to succeed. The team is currently sixth in the Western Conference and holds just a three-and-a-half-game lead over the ninth-seeded Suns.

Phil Jackson Rumors: Tuesday

March 11th, 2014 at 10:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Monday it appeared that the Knicks felt they were close to a deal with Phil Jackson, but the Zen Master’s camp didn’t see the talks as nearing completion. We rounded up all the latest from Monday in a single post, and we’ll keep track of today’s updates on Jackson and the Knicks here.

Knicks owner James Dolan has reportedly solicited the help of Bill Bradley as an intermediary in the team’s negotiations with Jackson, says Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Bradley is Jackson’s longtime friend and former teammate.
Isola adds that Dolan and Bradley have been working together to finalize an agreement that would make Jackson the highest-paid executive in NBA history, with a deal that could pay in excess of $15MM annually.
A source close to Jackson indicates that the two sides have had preliminary discussions about Jackson possibly owning a minority stake in the team.

Earlier updates:

The Knicks have competition for Jackson, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who hears that the Pistons are “very much in the mix” for the Zen Master with Joe Dumars unlikely to return. The Cavs have reached out as well, although their interest is “somewhat muddied” at present, Kyler writes.
Still, it’s “highly unlikely” that Jackson will return to the Lakers, Kyler adds.
Steve Kerr reiterated to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv today that he would like to coach in the NBA, though he didn’t address the Knicks specifically. If Jackson hires Kerr, Kyler suggests he’ll go after Cavs interim GM David Griffin to run the day-to-day operations for the Knicks.
Reports that Jackson is strongly leaning toward taking the Knicks job are “greatly exaggerated,” a source close to Jackson tells Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
The Knicks are “very confident” they’ll finalize a deal with Jackson by the end of the week, though a formal announcement might not come until next week, a source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. The Knicks don’t feel as though Jackson would take a job with the Lakers or another club at this point. Jackson would gain control of the Knicks basketball operations department, displacing Mills, but Mills would remain an “integral” part of the team even if Jackson is hired, Broussard writes.
A source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that the meeting in which Steve Mills spoke to Jackson about coaching the team was a “disaster.” Jackson doesn’t want to work with Mills, the source says. Mills would retain a role of some sort within the organization if Jackson came aboard, but he wouldn’t be active in day-to-day operations, according to Isola. Mills has been committed to the idea of firing Mike Woodson, though he’s against hiring an interim coach and would prefer to go after marquee names in the offseason. Isola identifies John Calipari, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson and Tom Thibodeau as likely candidates for a Mills-led search, but it’s unclear if Jackson would go after any of the same.
In any case, it’s clear that owner James Dolan, and not Mills or anyone else in the Knicks organization, is negotiating with Jackson now, Isola writes in a separate piece, adding that the salary on the table for the Zen Master is believed to be $12MM a year. Isola suggests that if Jackson takes the job, he’s “destined” to bring in his own front office staff, including a new general manager to run the day-to-day operations. Isola speculates that Byron Scott and Kurt Rambis could become coaching candidates in this scenario. Still, the Daily News scribe wonders if Jackson is using the Knicks offer to finagle a job with the Lakers, citing general managers from around the league who say that his heart lies with the purple-and-gold.
Marc Berman of the New York Post contradicts Isola with regard to Mills, writing that the current Knicks president and general manager would retain a similar role if Jackson came aboard because of Mills’ aplomb with handling agents. Agents question Jackson’s sincerity, Isola notes.
Berman also writes in his piece that Woodson will probably have to make the second round of the playoffs to keep his job.

Odds & Ends: Cavs, Jackson, Gordon, Ennis

February 12th, 2014 at 11:41pm CST by Cray Allred

The Cavs have won four straight since firing former GM Chris Grant. One of interim GM David Griffin‘s priorities was to improve the rumored chaos in the Cleveland locker room according to Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (via Twitter). Amico says that Griffin told both Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters they would not be traded, and urged the team to have fun and avoid stress (Twitter link), which could explain some of the team’s sudden positivity. Here are the rest of the notes from around the league:

Mark Jackson took some critical comments made earlier by Warriors owner Joe Lacob in stride, per Tim Kawakami of Bay Area News Group. Jackson said he “understands” why the owner is disappointed with the team’s performance, adding, with a laugh: “I stopped reading [Lacob’s comments]. I was getting depressed.”
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders said he wouldn’t be surprised if Ben Gordon wound up on the Suns before the upcoming trade deadline, in response to a tweeted question he received (Twitter link). This would fall in line with the Suns’ reported preference of landing a perimeter player.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim doesn’t think consensus top-10 draft prospect Tyler Ennis will enter the draft this summer, per Seth Davis of SI.com. “I think he knows and his father knows that he’s a really good college player. He has to become a better shooter and get stronger to go to the next level,” said Boeheim. “He’d go in the first round, but look at the number of first-round picks who are already out of the league in the last two years. It’s a huge number.” (hat tip to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv)
Representatives from the Bulls attended a Eurobasket game to get a look at Nolan Smith, per David Pick of Eurobasket.com. The 25-year-old point guard spent two years with the Blazers, and was expected to join the Celtics for training camp this summer before heading overseas. Smith has averaged 9.9 minutes per game in his NBA career, and declined in nearly every statistical category last year.
Free agent Brian Cook is attempting to make an NBA return, according to a source for Shams Charania of RealGM.com (via Twitter). The 33-year-old has nine years of NBA experience, but he hasn’t played in the NBA since splitting time with the Clippers and Wizards in the 2011/12 season.

Warriors Owner On Jackson, Thompson, Barnes

February 12th, 2014 at 8:36am CST by Chuck Myron

Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob didn’t necessarily expect to contend for a title this year, but he did envision the team becoming a “serious competitor” for a top-four finish in the Western Conference, as he tells Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Golden State is in sixth place, four games back of the Clippers and Rockets, who are tied for fourth. The Warriors are just two and a half games up on ninth place Memphis. It’s left Lacob a “little disappointed,” but “not overly concerned yet,” he says. With plenty of trade rumors surrounding the Warriors, Lacob had much more to say to Kawakami, and while the entire piece is worth a read, we’ll share the highlights here:

On coach Mark Jackson:

“Of course there’s pressure on him. Just like there’s pressure on the players, there’s pressure on Mark, too. There’s on me, pressure on (GM) Bob Myers … and you know what? We should all be happy we have that pressure, because the truth is that means we’re relevant. If there’s no pressure and no expectations, that means we’re in rebuild mode and still coming. I don’t think that’s the case. We’re good. Whether we are achieving our expectations or not, we’ll look at the end of the year and see what we did. Maybe he is feeling it a little and he should be feeling pressure. That’s a good thing. I feel the pressure for this team to perform. We’ve invested a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of thinking, a lot of effort, and we’re going to continue to do so. I certainly feel pressure and some weight of expectation and I’m very happy to feel those things because it means we’ re getting somewhere.”

On how he’ll assess Jackson and others:

“I think you’re always evaluating everybody, whether it be the players, the coaches … it’s hard to know, if you don’t quite win a few games you should, is it the coach’s fault? Is it the players’ fault? It’s hard to say. I think we’ll have to look back on a body of work at the end of the season and look at that and make an evaluation. I do think our coach has done a good job; we have had some big wins, a lot of wins on the road, and that’s usually a sign of good coaching. But some things are a little disturbing; the lack of being up for some of these games at home, that’s a concern to me.”

On the team’s approach to the trade deadline:

“Very aggressive. I don’t think I would answer that differently any year. Honestly, I don’t even know how you think about it any other way. You should always be very aggressive, should always be looking to improve your team. Now it’s not clear we’ll be able to do that. There’ve been a lot of discussions, that’s what I hear around the league, but we’ll just have wait and see. We’re not going to make a move just to make a move. Certainly there are certain parts of the roster that we’d like to improve. No matter how good we are, we’d probably have that attitude. There’s no real limit on what we can do. Bob Myers has the ability, he knows, to propose anything to ownership, even if it means going into luxury tax, if means using those trade exceptions. We’ll consider all things.”

On the assertion that everyone except Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut is available for a trade:

“That specific statement has been out there. But I think we’d be very reluctant to trade any of our core pieces; we like our core. And our young core players–Curry, Klay (Thompson) and (Harrison) Barnes — a lot of teams like them because we’re getting specific trade proposals on a daily basis about those players. We are not anxious nor are we likely to make a move involving those players. Everyone wants what we have, young pieces. And we also have some important veteran players in our core and you need a mix of the two. … It’s obvious we need to get a little better, need a little more bench production and we need to jell a little more. We just haven’t quite hit our stride. Hopefully we hit that; we’ve got 30 games left to do it and make a strong run to the playoffs.”