Mike D’Antoni Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kupchak On Kobe, D’Antoni, Jackson, Future

April 9th, 2014 at 9:16am CST by Chuck Myron

A GM usually isn’t on solid footing near the end of his team’s third straight season with a record worse than the year before. Mitch Kupchak breaks the mold, having just signed an extension that will keep him under contract with the Lakers for at least three more seasons. Kupchak isn’t the only one who makes basketball decisions for the team, with co-owner and executive vice president Jim Buss having final authority in that realm. Kobe Bryant, who signed his own extension through 2015/16 this past autumn, has seemed to have plenty of influence, and while the superstar reportedly wants to see the team make a coaching change, it doesn’t appear as though Kupchak is listening. The GM spoke to Sam Amick of USA Today shortly after the team announced the extension, and we’ll share a few highlights of Amick’s must-read piece for Lakers fans here:

On Bryant and his frustration with the team’s approach:

He had that one outburst, but I think he got caught up in all the sensation of the moment — is Phil [Jackson] going to stay or is he going to go? He wants the same thing we want, which is to win as much as possible as soon as possible. I meet with him. [It’s] not on a regular basis, but in the last two or three months we have met several times, and he gets it.

On whether Bryant will have input on the decision whether to retain Mike D’Antoni:

We won’t consult with him. Our decisions going forward — we’re not going to do knee-jerk stuff. We’ll let the season end, and take some time. We’ve got a lot of injuries and surgeries to sort through. That’s a lot to accomplish.

On whether the team has made its decision on D’Antoni, and the summer ahead:

No. No. In fact, I told Jimmy [Buss] let’s get to the end season, take some time off … then review the season. Look at our roster. I mean we have a plan. We’ve aligned our contracts in such a way where we’re at a position where we’re not financially stuck. But there’s a lot we don’t know. We don’t know where we’re going to get our pick. Are we going to be sixth, are we going to be eighth, are we going to be two or three? We don’t know. We know who may be a free agent, but we don’t know for sure until June 30.

On internal discussions about bringing Phil Jackson back to the Lakers:

Well I don’t know when the most recent one was. We discussed a year or two ago about how could we — and this was Jimmy and I and I know he may have discussed it with his family — and it was open for discussion. And it was kind of a standing understanding, but I think Jeanie [Buss] said it best two weeks ago. At the end of the day, there was no position for a person of his stature.

On rebuilding the Lakers:

Our goal is not to go 41-41. That’s not our goal. Our goal is to be considerably better than that. And maybe we can do it in a year, or maybe it takes two or three years, OK? Any of those scenarios would be wonderful scenarios. I mean there have been teams — seven or eight teams in the NBA who have never even been to the Finals of the NBA and they’ve been around 30 or 40 years.

Coaching Rumors: Knicks, Calipari, Ollie

April 8th, 2014 at 4:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks reached out in January through a third party to canvass John Calipari‘s interest in coaching the team next season, a source tells Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Kentucky coach was intrigued with the idea of working with fellow Creative Artists Agency client Carmelo Anthony, Begley adds, but the talks never proceeded from there. It’s “highly unlikely” a well-known coach like Calipari would take the job since, with Phil Jackson around, the team’s next coach won’t have any control over player personnel, Begley writes. There’s more insight on Calipari and another college coach perhaps more likely to come to the NBA, and we’ll round it up here:

Most NBA front office types see Calipari as a fine college coach, but they have their doubts about whether he’d perform well in the NBA, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. Calipari went 72-112 in parts of three seasons with the Nets in the late 1990s.
Multiple NBA executives tell Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, who writes in an Insider-only piece, that they expect Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie to become an NBA head coaching candidate. One exec suggests that the coach’s ties to former teammate Kevin Durant could prompt an NBA team to make a lucrative offer to bring Ollie to the pro sidelines.
Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni downplayed the notion that he and Marshall University, his alma mater, have mutual interest in him coaching the school’s team next season, as he tells Sam Amick of USA Today. “I love Marshall, and I’ve been so close to them for a long time – especially with the new [athletic director] and the new president, and people there,” D’Antoni said. “It’s a great thing. But my heart is here, and my head is here [with the Lakers]. This is what I know, so I don’t want to get distracted with that. I never have been. It always comes up when they’re looking, but they’re looking and I’m fine.”

Western Notes: Lakers, Saunders, Henry

April 4th, 2014 at 7:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Lakers know their fans and Kobe Bryant aren’t sold on Mike D’Antoni, but with the team’s free agency focus on 2015, they’re hesitant to bring on a new coach who might not mesh with the players they target then, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding writes. They’re also not sure that D’Antoni has performed poorly enough to warrant his dismissal, Ding adds, suggesting assistant Kurt Rambis as a possible replacement if D’Antoni is ousted.

Lakers Leaning Toward Keeping Mike D’Antoni

April 2nd, 2014 at 12:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mike D’Antoni has come under fire from Kobe Bryant and other Lakers players this season, and while the team hasn’t decided whether to keep the coach for next season, they’re leaning toward retaining him, according to Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding. The Lakers will apparently make their final decision quickly after the regular season, which ends two weeks from tonight.

Bryant was vague in his assessment of D’Antoni in a recent radio interview, saying that he didn’t know whether the coach deserved to return but adding that D’Antoni hasn’t gotten “a fair shake” because of all the injuries the club has dealt with during his tenure. An earlier report indicated that Bryant had “no interest” in playing for the coach any longer. Jordan Hill and Pau Gasol, both free agents at season’s end, also reportedly would like to see D’Antoni go, and Hill said Tuesday that he won’t return unless his role changes. Chris Kaman, another of the many soon-to-be free agents on the Lakers, has been critical of his limited playing time on multiple occasions, but a chat with D’Antoni’s agent Tuesday prompted the center to offer defense of the coach Tuesday, as Ding passes along.

D’Antoni and his alma mater, Marshall University, are said to have mutual interest, but it would seem highly unlikely that D’Antoni would walk away from the final guaranteed year of his contract with the Lakers if they decide to bring him back. It’s nonetheless been a trying time in L.A. for the one-time darling of the coaching profession, whose vaunted small-ball attack has failed to deliver wins and bred resentment from players who don’t fit with the scheme.

The Lakers hired D’Antoni instead of popular former coach Phil Jackson early last season, drawing the ire of their fans, and the team failed to recover from a slow start that cost Mike Brown his job after only five games in 2012/13. The Spurs swept the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last season, and the Lakers tumbled to new lows this year, as they sit at 25-49, in danger of setting a franchise record for losses. D’Antoni is 65-81 as coach of the team.

Lakers Plan To Keep Nash, Marshall

March 31st, 2014 at 12:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers have plenty of time before they’ll be under pressure to make a decision about retaining Steve Nash and Kendall Marshall for next season, but for now the team plans on keeping both point guards, reports Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. There’s been lots of speculation, some of it coming from Nash himself, that the Lakers would waive the 40-year-old this summer and use the stretch provision, but the Lakers instead envision taking the full $9.701MM cap hit next season for his 2014/15 salary. Marshall’s minimum salary contract is non-guaranteed for next season.

The deadline for the Lakers to use the stretch provision on Nash is August 31st, so if they wind up with a chance to sign a desirable free agent and need extra cap space to accommodate such a deal, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them reverse course with Nash. Still, it appears that for now, Nash is on track to continue his career with the Lakers. He’s admitted he’s sticking around in part because he doesn’t want to forfeit his salary, though he would still earn the money even if he walked away. Nash’s salary is guaranteed and he’s already played in his 10th game this season, washing away the chance of a medical retirement.

It’s no surprise that the team wants to keep Marshall, who’s blossomed since the team signed him in December. The 13th overall pick in the 2012 draft spent most of the first two months of this season out of the NBA, but he’s since averaged 8.9 assists and just 2.8 turnovers in 29.4 minutes per game for the Lakers.

Nash and Marshall are two of just five Lakers on the roster with contracts that run through next season. Coach Mike D’Antoni is also under contract for 2014/15, but there’s less certainty surrounding the team’s plans with him. The Lakers nonetheless won’t let his fate linger, as they’ll decide soon after the end of the regular season whether to retain him, Bresnahan writes.

Coaching Rumors: D’Antoni, Warriors, Stotts

March 28th, 2014 at 12:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mike D’Antoni was exasperated when reporters asked him Thursday about an ESPN.com report that Marshall University, his alma mater, wants him to coach its team. He appeared to downplay the idea, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News observes, but he didn’t completely dismiss it.

“I hear from them all the time,” D’Antoni said. “I’m the head of their capital [fundraising] campaign. I’m close friends to them. Whatever they need, I try to do. But who knows.”

It’s obvious that D’Antoni would prefer to coach the Lakers, Medina writes, though his continued employment in L.A. is uncertain, given his unpopularity with Kobe Bryant and other Lakers players. Here’s more on the coaching market:

Steve Kerr “could make Warriors owner Joe Lacob’s dreams come true” if the team lets go of coach Mark Jackson in the offseason, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). Lacob held Kerr in high regard as an executive when Kerr left his post as Suns GM in 2010, as Amick notes in a second tweet. Grantland’s Zach Lowe also believes that Kerr could be in the mix to coach the Warriors (on Twitter).
The Warriors would be unlikely to seek a big-name, established coach, tweets Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Warriors brass wanted more of an X’s-and-O’s coach to take over as lead assistant when Michael Malone left, but Jackson, who’s sensitive to the notion he’s not strong at in-game tactics, chose Pete Myers instead, Kawakami writes in a full piece.
The Blazers and Terry Stotts haven’t had any talks about an extension, nor have they discussed the team picking up its 2014/15 option on his contract, according to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, who explains that it’s no surprise. GM Neil Olshey has a longstanding policy against negotiating contracts during the season, Haynes writes. Olshey, then Clippers GM, retained Vinny Del Negro when he was at precisely the same point in his contract in which Stotts now finds himself.

Lakers Rumors: Jeanie Buss, Jackson, Kobe

March 25th, 2014 at 3:17pm CST by Chuck Myron

The draft is the major story for most of the teams surrouding the Lakers in our Reverse Standings, but the drama is always multifaceted in L.A. Here’s the latest:

Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss is the team’s governor and ultimate decision-maker, and commissioner Adam Silver recently told her that she should be more assertive in exerting her authority over the team, according to Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding. That’s somewhat surprising, given that the league has also acknowledged concerns about a conflict of interest between Buss and her fiance, Knicks president Phil Jackson.
Four of the six Buss siblings, each of whom owns a share of the Lakers, were in favor of bringing Jackson back to the organization, but Jim and Johnny Buss were not, Ding adds in the same piece. It’s unclear at what point the four siblings wanted Jackson to return.
Privately, the Lakers, Jeanie Buss included, are relieved that Jackson is off to New York and that he no longer casts a shadow over the organization, Ding observes.
Jackson never seemed to understand how much of an intimidating presence he is to the Buss family, helping forestall any reunion between Jackson and the Lakers, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
There was talk among the Buss family of bringing Jackson back to the Lakers in an informal role, but the team never approached Jackson with the idea, Shelburne reports in the same piece.
Steve Nash “doesn’t disagree” that Kobe Bryant and Mike D’Antoni aren’t a good fit with each other, as the point guard told ESPN radio’s Colin Cowherd on Monday (transcription via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News). Nash nonetheless added that he doesn’t think Bryant and D’Antoni have had enough of a chance to decide how they feel about each other.
Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com, in an Insider-only piece, weighs the rebuilding jobs facing the Lakers and the Knicks, concluding that New York’s road is easier, given Jackson’s presence and superior existing talent.

Lakers Notes: D’Antoni, Jackson, Henry

March 20th, 2014 at 10:07am CST by Chuck Myron

A recent report suggested that Kobe Bryant wants Mike D’Antoni out as Lakers coach, but Bryant didn’t quite put it that way in a radio interview Wednesday. He still said he’s not sure if D’Antoni deserves to return as coach next season, and another Lakers figure is similarly reticent to make that sort of statement, as we note in a look at the latest on the purple-and-gold:

Mitch Kupchak stopped short of saying that D’Antoni should remain coach of the Lakers, but the GM nonetheless backed the sideline boss in an interview with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “I don’t want to get into that with those kind of questions,” Kupchak said. “He’s done a great job and dealt with a year last year when he was here part-time and a ridiculous amount of injuries this year.”
Kupchak told Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he never spoke at length with Phil Jackson during the Zen Master’s negotiations to join the Knicks, and Kupchak characterized the New York job as “too good to be true and too good to pass up” for Jackson. Earlier today, we heard that the Lakers initially thought Jackson would merely be taking a consulting gig with the Knicks.
Xavier Henry, a free agent at season’s end, is playing through pain to solidify his value as an NBA player after his early-season breakthrough, as McMenamin details in separate piece.

Lakers Rumors: Bryant, D’Antoni, Jeanie Buss

March 19th, 2014 at 2:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kobe Bryant has reportedly had enough of coach Mike D’Antoni, but in a radio appearance today on The Dan Patrick Show, Bryant gave an ambiguous answer in response to Patrick’s question about whether D’Antoni deserves another season as Lakers coach.

“I don’t know,” Bryant said. “It’s been tough on him. The two years that he’s been here, he’s been dealing with so many injuries left and right. He hasn’t really gotten a fair deal, a fair shake at it since he’s been here.”

Bryant also softened some of his recent public criticisms of Lakers management, expressing confidence that co-owners Jeanie and Jim Buss are cooperating with each other after having called upon them last week to resolve their differences. Jeanie Buss had much to say about that issue and plenty Lakers-related subjects in a one-on-one Tuesday night with Bill Macdonald on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, and Trevor Wong of Lakers.com provides a transcription. We covered a couple of snippets from the interview earlier, but there’s plenty more, as we highlight here:

Jeanie Buss doesn’t appear upset with Bryant for expressing his frustration with management during last week’s press conference. “I will talk to him and I will commiserate with him because I know how he feels,” Buss said.
Buss has no regrets over Bryant’s $48.5MM extension that kicks in for next season. “I don’t wear a hat and a t-shirt with ‘cap space’ on it,” she said. “I’m more interested in the players and how the players fit together and how the players come together and creating something than just the sum of their parts.”
Buss called the prospect of Bryant retiring a Laker “really important,” adding that she’s “thrilled.” Still, Bryant hasn’t definitively said that he’ll retire when his contract is up in the summer of 2016.
Commissioner Adam Silver told Buss in their meeting on Monday that he doesn’t see a conflict of interest with Phil Jackson, her fiance, joining the Knicks because Buss doesn’t make personnel moves, as Buss explained.
All six Buss siblings exercise some degree of control over the franchise, but Jeanie Buss told Macdonald that “the buck stops with me,” asserting her role as the ultimate decision-maker for the team. Still, Jim Buss continues to manage basketball operations.
The relationship between Jeanie and Jim is reportedly still rocky, but she said that “by and large,” the family is still on the same page.

Lakers Rumors: D’Antoni, Gasol, Jackson

March 14th, 2014 at 4:50pm CST by Zachary Links

The latest out of Los Angeles..

The Lakers lost 131-102 to the Thunder last night, but bigger problems are looming for L.A., writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Kobe Bryant reportedly isn’t wild about coach Mike D’Antoni, but the Lakers are reluctant to part ways for a number of reasons. First, they think he’s a capable coach and they don’t want to be known as a franchise without coach stability. Perhaps more importantly, the club doesn’t want to pay him $4MM to not coach them after making a similar move with Mike Brown. In another interesting wrinkle, many of the club’s younger players enjoy playing in D’Antoni’s offense because their inflated scoring totals give them more value as they look ahead to their next contract.
Pau Gasol supports Kobe’s open criticism of the Lakers, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “I’m glad that he spoke his mind,” Gasol said. “He wants to win. He’s got two years under contract with the franchise. He wants to be in the best possible position to win. Whether you do that publicly or internally, that’s totally up to you. He spoke his mind and you have to respect him for that.” The big man reportedly isn’t a fan of D’Antoni’s either.
On Wednesday, both Kobe and Magic Johnson made public pleas to Lakers management to hire Phil Jackson, but a Lakers source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that team VP Jim Buss has little interest in bringing back the Hall of Fame coach.