Mike D’Antoni Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Sixers To Hire D’Antoni As Associate Head Coach?

December 14th, 2015 at 11:58am CST by Eddie Scarito

MONDAY, 11:58am: The Sixers plan to have D’Antoni join their staff within the next few weeks, writes TNT’s David Aldridge in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.

SUNDAY, 2:47pm: The Sixers confirmed that they are talking to D’Antoni about joining the team as an associate head coach, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

SATURDAY, 8:39am: The Sixers and Mike D’Antoni are involved in discussions that could see the former NBA head coach join coach Brett Brown‘s staff as associate head coach, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. New team executive Jerry Colangelo and Brown have been speaking with D’Antoni about a role with the team that could begin later this month, Wojnarowski adds.

The move to hire D’Antoni, who has a longstanding relationship with Colangelo that includes time spent together with the Suns as well as USA Basketball, shows that the new executive is beginning to impose his influence on the franchise immediately, as the Yahoo scribe notes. The offseason departure of top assistant Chad Iske to the Kings left the concern that Brown needed to add more experience to his staff, Wojnarowski relays. The addition of the offensive-minded D’Antoni would certainly accomplish that, though how much of a difference he could make with the point guard situation in Philly so unsettled is debatable.

In many circumstances the move by a new executive to bring in one his former coaches would be a concern for the current head man. The team certainly alleviated many of those worries with the announcement on Friday that Brown and the team had agreed to a two-year contract extension. “Brett has been everything we anticipated – and more – both as a basketball coach and a partner in building this program,” GM Sam Hinkie said in the team’s official statement. “His tireless work ethic, his daily desire to consistently improve, and his resiliency line up with our core values as an organization. It was not difficult to come to the decision to formally say we want to work with Brett Brown even longer.”

D’Antoni has been a head coach for the Nuggets, Suns, Knicks and Lakers, and he owns a career regular season mark of 455-426. He has a career postseason record of 26-33, and has twice made it to the Western Conference Finals, both with Phoenix. With D’Antoni desiring another head coaching position in the league, returning to an NBA bench could serve to increase his marketability, Wojnarowski writes. If D’Antoni can do for T.J. McConnell‘s career what he did for Jeremy Lin‘s when the duo were paired up in New York, he would certainly make a strong argument for another shot at leading a team, though that is merely my speculation, of course.

Atlantic Notes: D’Antoni, Thomas, Knicks

December 13th, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Will Joseph

Sixers head coach Brett Brown said the franchise reaching out to Mike D’Antoni is unrelated to last week’s hiring of Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. What’s more, Brown said the team has been thinking about adding a veteran coach “for a while,” Pompey relays. Of course, and as Pompey points out, Colangelo and D’Antoni have a history together. Colangelo is the former Suns owner and D’Antoni went 253-156 in five seasons as the Suns coach. The Sixers confirmed reports that they are talking to D’Antoni about joining the team as an associate head coach, Pompey notes.

“This is a good thing,” Brown said in regards to D’Antoni, per Pompey. “That name is a good thing. How could that not be a good thing?”

Here’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

The Celtics have been a different team since the arrival of Isaiah Thomas in last February’s trade deadline and the point guard is emerging as a possible all-star this season, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes. Boston owns a .627 winning percentage in his Thomas’ first 51 games in Boston, according to Forsberg. After making only one start last season with the Celtics, Thomas has started 21 times this year and is averaging 20.8 points per game.
In order to turn their season around, the Knicks need more out of Carmelo Anthony despite the star coming off surgery, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News opines. Bondy compares Anthony to Rajon Rondo of the Kings because they are both polarizing figures, and writes that Anthony needs to have the kind of season that Rondo is experiencing before Kristaps Porzingis becomes the clear face of the franchise.
Kendall Marshall, who played in his first game of the season Friday night, should provide the Sixers stability at the point guard position with his ability to take care of the ball and 3-point shooting, Derek Bodner of Phillymag.com details.

Pacific Notes: Lin, Walton, Goodwin

November 17th, 2015 at 2:36pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Warriors were among the teams to show interest in Jeremy Lin while he was a free agent this summer, as he told reporters, including Marc Berman of the New York Post. Lin instead wound up signing with the Hornets, a team that wasn’t initially within the top six among his preferences, the point guard added, as Berman relays.

“I entertained it,’’ Lin said. “I just felt like they had something great going there, and if I went there, it would be a very limited role. I felt like, ‘I’m 27 now.’ I want to find where I can be as big a part of a successful team as I can.’’

Hornets coach Steve Clifford calls Lin a bargain on his two-year deal worth more than $4.374MM and said that when he was an assistant coach with the Lakers in 2012/13, head coach Mike D’Antoni wanted the Lakers to try to acquire Lin, whom D’Antoni coached on the Knicks, Berman notes. Ironically, Lin played for the Lakers last season, right after D’Antoni left. See more from the Pacific Division:

Klay Thompson, in the first season of his four-year extension, says he prefers being on a winner over putting up gaudy stats on a losing team, and interim coach Luke Walton doesn’t see signs of the Warriors growing anxious to see what they could do on their own, observes Chris Mannix of SI.com. I don’t see this team having any of those type of issues,” Walton said to Mannix. “There’s no way to tell, obviously. Contract stuff can come up. But that’s not the type of locker room that it looks like. If I were betting, I’d say it won’t happen.”
Archie Goodwin made some noise about his lack of playing time last season, but he’s been a part of the rotation for the Suns the past two games, and Jeff Hornacek won’t rule out making that a permanent role for him, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. “He’s played pretty well through the preseason and practices,” Hornacek said. “He’s earned the opportunity. He’s long. He’s quick so he can cover some ground. Now that he’s gotten stronger, he doesn’t get pushed around as much.”

Nuggets Interview David Vanterpool

June 9th, 2015 at 9:51am CST by Chuck Myron

Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool has interviewed for the Nuggets head coaching job, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who first identified Vanterpool as a candidate for the vacancy in April. Vanterpool is nonetheless not among the favorites for the position, Wojnarowski writes, pointing instead to the interview itself as a boon for the 42-year-old who has just three years of experience as an NBA assistant coach. Wojnarowski refers to interim coach Melvin Hunt, Michael Malone and Mike D’Antoni as strong candidates for the job, the same three names Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post identified as known candidates in a story from overnight.

Other names have nonetheless emerged as well, as the team has interviewed Wizards assistant Don Newman, according to Shams Charania of RealGM, while Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe heard that Mike Woodson might get an interview, too. The Nuggets are believed to want their next coach in place soon so that the new hire can help the team prepare for the draft, Dempsey writes, and an increasing number of coaches around the league foresee the team going with Hunt, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported. Hunt would seemingly have the advantage of incumbency, and it’s clear that the Nuggets players are behind him. Malone is so far the only candidate reported to have drawn a second interview, though the Nuggets are clearly familiar with Hunt’s credentials.

Vanterpool interviewed for the Sixers head coaching job in 2013 and seemingly became the front-runner for that position at one point. That came just one year after he joined the Blazers, a gig that Vanterpool landed after he served in the Thunder’s front office as director of player personnel, Wojnarowski notes. Before that, he was an assistant coach for CSKA Moscow under European coaching icon and current Spurs assistant Ettore Messina, as Wojnarowski also points out.

Malone Gets Second Interview With Nuggets

June 7th, 2015 at 6:17pm CST by Will Joseph

Michael Malone has landed a second interview with the Nuggets for their head coaching vacancy, tweets ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, who cites sources. Stein also tweets that he expects Mike D’Antoni to secure a second interview with the team, and that interim coach Melvin Hunt remains firmly in the mix to keep the job on a full-time basis. It is not clear when Malone’s second interview with the Nuggets will take place.

The Nuggets initially interviewed Malone, primarily known as a defensive coach, on Tuesday. Malone was fired as coach of the Kings in December. Malone’s regular season coaching record with the Kings was 39-67.

Hunt reportedly emerged as the front-runner to land the job on a more permanent basis in late May. Denver interviewed D’Antoni, who is known for running up-tempo offenses, on Tuesday as well. The Nuggets received permission to interview Wizards assistant Don Newman, who has been an NBA assistant coach for 16 NBA seasons, on Thursday. It also appears Denver is in line to interview Clippers assistant coach Mike Woodson. The Nuggets have the league’s only remaining coaching vacancy.

Nuggets Interview Mike D’Antoni, Eye Malone

June 3rd, 2015 at 5:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Mike D’Antoni met with the Nuggets on Tuesday regarding their head coaching position, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Denver’s post is the lone remaining coaching vacancy in the NBA now that Fred Hoiberg is in place in Chicago, Scott Skiles is on the job in Orlando, and Alvin Gentry has been hired to lead the Pelicans. Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported that D’Antoni would be a potential target of Denver’s.

While D’Antoni’s fast-paced offensive style fits perfectly into what Denver wishes to transition to, interim coach Melvin Hunt, who was reported to have emerged as the front-runner to land the post on a more permanent basis, still remains a strong contender for the position, Wojnarowski adds. Also reported to be in the mix for Denver’s coaching billet is former Hawks and Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who could land an interview in the near future, and former Kings coach Michael Malone, who has had conversations with GM Tim Connelly, and Malone could warrant an interview as well, Wojnarowski notes.

D’Antoni, 64, spent less than a season as the interim head coach with the Nuggets during the 1998/99 campaign, and he has also been a head coach for the Suns, Knicks , and the Lakers. Through 881 career regular season contests his record is 455-426, with a postseason mark of 26-33.

Melvin Hunt Front-Runner For Nuggets Job

May 28th, 2015 at 1:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt is the front-runner to take the job on a formal basis, a source tells Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling (Twitter link). The chances that Hunt would fill the vacancy have improved since season’s end, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last week, and while Stein wrote that Mike D’Antoni was still in the mix, the long-ago Nuggets coach has yet to interview for the vacancy Denver created when it fired Brian Shaw, Zwerling adds.

The Nuggets are “not an option” for Tom Thibodeau, sources told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com last week, even though it had earlier seemed as though he would be the favorite once the Bulls let him go, as they finally did today. Alvin Gentry is reportedly a candidate for the Denver job, but reports have linked him to all four current NBA head coaching vacancies. Michael Malone, Scott Skiles, Fred Hoiberg and David Vanterpool are others who’ve been in contention, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Denver’s brass sees Hunt as a viable coach for a rebuilding team, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders wrote this week. The Nuggets are apparently contemplating major changes, but Hunt drew strong support from existing Nuggets players after he took over the team for the stretch run. That included plaudits from Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried, who are otherwise losing confidence in the team and have let the Nuggets know that unless they make the right kind of coaching hire or pull off a significant trade, they’d rather be traded themselves than go through rebuilding, Kyler wrote.

Melvin Hunt’s Chances At Nuggets Job Improving

May 20th, 2015 at 2:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:45pm: The Nuggets are “not an option” for Thibodeau, sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, though it’s unclear if there’s a lack of interest from Denver’s side, from Thibodeau’s, or both.

12:46pm: The odds that the Nuggets will formally fill their head coaching vacancy with interim coach Melvin Hunt are getting better, though Mike D’Antoni remains in the mix, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Scott Brooks has dropped out of the running, as Adrian Wojnarowski reported today, and while the field of potential coaching candidates remains wide, the emergence of the Pelicans on the coaching market last week has given Denver more competition.

The Nuggets are apparently willing to spend, as Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post heard, and it’s believed that Tom Thibodeau is the front-runner if he becomes available, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Of course, Thibs appears to be the front-runner elsewhere, too, so there are plenty of obstacles between the Nuggets and him. Alvin Gentry is a Nuggets candidate, too, but he’s already interviewed with the Pelicans, according to Wojnarowski. Gentry’s also an apparent favorite to replace Thibodeau in Chicago if he and the Bulls indeed part ways. Michael Malone, Scott Skiles, Fred Hoiberg and David Vanterpool are others who’ve been in contention for the job, as Wojnarowski reported last month.

The team’s search was to have intensified within the last couple of weeks, Dempsey wrote earlier this month, though it still seemed likely then that it would run through May. The Nuggets apparently prefer a veteran, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, but GM Tim Connelly said last month that the team would indeed consider Hunt, who had never held an NBA head coaching job before taking over for the fired Brian Shaw in March.

D’Antoni has spent parts of a dozen seasons, including one with Denver, as an NBA head coach, and Stein first identified him as a likely candidate in the immediate wake of Shaw’s dismissal. Other names that surfaced at that time include Mark Jackson, Adrian Griffin, Avery Johnson, Vinny Del Negro, Nate McMillan, Pelicans assistant Brian Gates and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, though there hasn’t been much to advance the idea that any of them are indeed in the picture for Denver.

Tom Thibodeau Rumors: Friday

May 15th, 2015 at 9:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls have been out of the playoffs for less than a day, but already plenty of rumors about Tom Thibodeau the future of their head coaching job are flying. We’ll round up today’s latest here, with any updates that come in added to the top:

Chicago won’t even begin to discuss what compensation they would require in exchange for Thibodeau until a clear succession plan is in place, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports. The Bulls want to find a coach who is not only the right fit, but also dynamic enough to justify letting Thibodeau out of his deal, Berger notes.

7:03pm update:

Several NBA executives believe that the Bulls will have difficulty getting compensation in return for Thibodeau since teams are aware of the dynamic between the coach and front office, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune tweets.

5:24pm update:

The consensus opinion amongst rival NBA executives at the draft combine is that the split between Thibodeau and the Bulls is going to be a protracted, and possibly ugly affair, Chris Mannix of SI.com tweets. One executive likened the situation to a “game of chicken,” Mannix adds.

12:05pm update:

Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck says that the same source who called Warriors assistant Alvin Gentry the favorite to succeed Thibodeau in Chicago expects a quick ending to the Thibs/Bulls drama, adding that the source pegs New Orleans as Thibodeau’s likely destination (Twitter link).
If Thibodeau isn’t coaching in Chicago next season, he’ll most likely be coaching the Pelicans, a source tells Johnson, largely echoing what Beck heard (Twitter link).

10:17am update:

Chicago will “absolutely” try to reap compensation for Thibodeau, with management viewing him as an asset, according to Johnson, who writes in a full piece. The Tribune scribe expects the Pelicans and Magic to request permission to talk with the coach and for the Bulls to grant that permission.

8:59am update:

One source put it bluntly to Marc Stein of ESPN.com: “Thibs is gone. They know it and he knows it.” Most people around the league have similar feelings, Stein adds, having heard from one source who indicates that Thibodeau and GM Gar Forman have barely talked since November.
The Bulls are optimistic about their chances to land Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, in spite of his heart ailments, Stein also writes.
Thibodeau won’t quit and walk away from the money in the remaining two years of his contract, a source close to him told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com Thursday night. That jibes with what K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune surmised last month when he wrote that he believed Thibodeau would stay if the choice were up to the coach.
Derrick Rose is rumored to be in Thibodeau’s corner, and he essentially confirmed that Thursday, making it clear he backs the coach, as David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune relays. “It’s not up to me, but if it was, he would be back,” Rose said. Taj Gibson also said that he wants Thibodeau to stay, as Berger notes in his piece.
Anthony Davis‘ “family and friends are already salivating at the idea” of Thibodeau joining the Pelicans, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher says (video link). Stein, in his report, emphasizes that Thibodeau’s interest in New Orleans is strong. Still, Bucher suggests that Mike D’Antoni and Mark Jackson are other coaches who would meet with the approval of Davis, and the Pelicans know that Davis is an unassuming type whom they don’t have to keep in the loop as they navigate their coaching search, Bucher says. New Orleans is confident that if it makes the right choice, Davis will be on board, according to Bucher.

Pacific Notes: Kobe, Cousins, Rondo, Whiteside

March 9th, 2015 at 1:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak insists the team won’t make building a team to win in the short-term around Kobe Bryant a priority at the expense of the future, and Bryant is on board with that, as the Lakers star told Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.

“It’s a balance of both,” Bryant said. “You always want to set the franchise up for the long term. Mitch and I are on the same page. What he said in the interview is not something that we haven’t talked about before. It’s nothing different. You don’t want to compromise the future of the franchise for one season. You try to balance that.”

There’s more on the Lakers amid the latest from around the Pacific Division:

Teams around the league are making plans to try to trade for DeMarcus Cousins in case he and George Karl don’t get along, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com said on ESPN radio Sunday and as ESPN colleague Marc Stein notes within his weekly power rankings. Cousins and Karl have nonetheless been complimentary of one another since the Kings put them together last month. Still, a source familiar with Karl’s thinking recently told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck that Sacramento wouldn’t rule out trading Cousins.
Lakers co-owner executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss is believed to be among those who like Rajon Rondo, as Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding writes as he argues that the Lakers and other teams shouldn’t pay a premium for the point guard.
The Lakers chose to sign Wayne Ellington instead of Hassan Whiteside after the big man auditioned for the team this past summer, Whiteside said to TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr has learned how better to navigate leadership boundaries since Mike D’Antoni‘s belief that Kerr wanted his job helped prompt D’Antoni to leave the Suns during Kerr’s tenure as GM in Phoenix, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.