Quin Snyder Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Eighth Seed, Denver’s Defense, Towns

March 10th, 2017 at 11:11pm CST by Milo Taibi

Jazz coach Quin Snyder is receiving contributions from seldom-used players Jeff Withey and Raul Neto, Jody Genessy of Deseret News writes.

“To be honest, we’ve been in these situations a lot, so there are different guys each night,” Snyder said. “When you have the right spirit, the game rewards you and that’s what happened with those two guys tonight. It’s easy to say, ‘Stay ready,’ and we say that stuff as coaches, but it’s hard to do. For those guys to literally be ready and contribute like they did, it was pretty good.”

The Jazz have won seven of their last 10, enjoying a successful 2016/17 campaign despite occasional injuries to George Hill, Derrick Favors, and Gordon Hayward.

“It’s tough because you never know when your name will be called, so you have to be ready,” Withey said. “On days off, I’m always in the gym running, trying to stay in shape, get shots up and stuff. It’s tough mentally also. It’s part of the business. It’s part of the job.”

Western Notes: Exum, Wroten, Rubio, Bjelica

July 17th, 2016 at 10:20am CST by Arthur Hill

Jazz coach Quin Snyder isn’t sure how much Dante Exum will be able to contribute after missing an entire season with a torn ACL, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Exum, who averaged 4.8 points and 2.4 assists as a rookie in 2014/15, was cleared for full-contact basketball activity last month. He decided not to join the Australian team for the Olympics and will concentrate on getting ready for training camp. “I think that’s an injury that he’ll be back from, but it’s not a simple thing,” Snyder said. “… We don’t really have a specific timetable on that as far as where he is, but I know he’s missed playing. He loves to play and I think this will be an opportunity for him to start doing that again and I know he’s excited and we’re excited for him.” Exum will face competition for playing time from George Hill, who was acquired in a trade from the Pacers last month, and Shelvin Mack, who became the team’s starting point guard late in the season after joining the team in a deal with the Hawks.

There’s more from the Western Conference:

Point guard Tony Wroten could agree to return to the Grizzlies, tweets international journalist David Pick. Memphis waived Wroten on Tuesday, but Pick hears that a reunion is still possible. It was the second trip to the waiver wire this summer for Wroten, who was cut loose by the Knicks after the Derrick Rose deal.
Trade rumors involving Ricky Rubio have been simmering since the Timberwolves drafted Kris Dunn, but owner Glen Taylor expects the team to hold on to the Spanish point guard, relays Sid Hartman of The Star Tribune. “I don’t see that as a likely possibility,” Taylor said of a deal. “I just think the coach, everybody, likes Ricky. I think we want him to come in and improve on his shooting. But his other things, he plays defense, he gets assists, he helps the others get better. He has some wonderful qualities. I think the coach wants to bring an assistant coach to help Ricky on his shooting and I think that’s where we’re going to start out and go and we’ll see how good Kris Dunn is.” Rubio has spent his entire five-year NBA career in Minnesota and is under contract through 2018/19.
Wolves power forward Nemanja Bjelica will have to miss the Olympics as he rehabs an injury to his right foot, according to Eurohoops. Doctors say the Serbian star needs at least three more weeks to heal before trying to play again. Opening ceremonies for the games in Rio de Janeiro are August 5th.

Jazz Sign Quin Snyder To Extension

May 6th, 2016 at 12:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports Images

12:50pm: The Jazz had already picked up Snyder’s option, so he wouldn’t have been a lame-duck without the extension, a member of the front office told Spencer Checketts of KZNS-AM (See all of the Twitter links right here). Jazz president Steve Starks, rather than Lindsey, negotiated the extension, with Lindsey preferring not to let contract talks affect his working relationship with the coach, as Checketts also heard.

“Our relationship with Quin, and this extension, reflect our shared passion for building a championship team,” Starks said in the team statement. “With long-term contracts now in place for Quin, Dennis and other key front office personnel, we are well-positioned for the future.”

It doesn’t appear as though the extension includes any option years, Genessy adds (on Twitter).

12:37pm: The extension runs through the 2020/21 season, as Jody Genessy of The Deseret News hears (Twitter link).

11:19am: The Jazz have signed coach Quin Snyder to an extension, the team announced. Next season had reportedly been the final guaranteed year of the contract he signed when Utah hired him in 2014. It’s unclear how many seasons the extension covers, though the team refers to it as a long-term arrangement.

“With this contract extension, we are declaring our confidence in Coach Snyder’s ability to continue to develop the Utah Jazz into a championship team,” owner Gail Miller said in the team’s statement. “The Miller family recognizes the significant progress made under his leadership and we are excited about the direction we are headed.”

Snyder, 49, has helped the Jazz make strides in their rebuilding effort, inheriting a team that went 25-57 in 2013/14 and winning 38 and 40 games the past two seasons, respectively. The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski recently pointed to the way that Snyder increases Utah’s appeal as a free agent destination through his ability to get the most out of players and inflate their market value. Rudy Gobert is perhaps the most prominent example, as the 27th pick in the 2013 draft has gone from playing 9.6 minutes per game as a rookie to a contender for a max extension when he becomes eligible to sign one this summer.

“We have continued to take significant steps as a team under Quin’s direction,” GM Dennis Lindsey said in the statement. “His work ethic, basketball intelligence and ability to connect with and develop our players make him the ideal head coach of the Jazz.”

Still, the Jazz haven’t landed any marquee free agent from elsewhere and have so far constructed their roster primarily through the draft and trades, including the swap involving Enes Kanter in February 2015 that opened playing time for Gobert. Expectations for this season were high for the Jazz after they went 19-10 following the Kanter trade, but the torn ACL that Dante Exum suffered this past summer dampened hopes and helped keep Utah from the postseason this spring. The Jazz nonetheless came close, and it wasn’t until the final night of the regular season that they were eliminated from contention for a playoff spot. The inability for Snyder to coax more out of Trey Burke loomed large. Burke, the ninth pick from the 2013 draft, was the logical choice to replace Exum as a starter this season, but the former Michigan player didn’t make a single start as Snyder instead favored wing-heavy lineups.

Regardless, the Jazz have shown enough progress for the front office to deem Snyder worthy of continued job security. The position is his first as an NBA head coach. He previously served as an assistant to Mike Budenholzer on the Hawks for one season and as an assistant to Ettore Messina on CSKA Moscow the year before that. Budenholzer was a longtime Spurs assistant and Messina is currently on San Antonio’s staff, giving Snyder multiple connections to the Gregg Popovich tree. Lindsey came to the team after five seasons with the Spurs.

Eastern Notes: Durant, Brooks, Clifford

April 29th, 2016 at 1:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Celtics believe they’ll get a meeting with Kevin Durant this summer, but they understand they won’t have any realistic shot at him if they don’t secure a commitment to acquire another star first, The Vertical’s Chris Mannix writes. Boston is on the fringes of the race for the former MVP who’s poised to hit free agency this summer, though the belief has been widespread that come July the Celtics will end up on Durant’s radar, at least, as Mannix has previously reported.

See more from the Eastern Conference:

Scott Brooks had already decided he wanted the Wizards job if it were to be offered to him when team executives Ernie Grunfeld and Tommy Sheppard flew to California to recruit him in what turned out to be a 10-hour meeting, writes Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. “I got everything I wanted, and I wasn’t looking for anything else,” said Brooks, whom the Wizards officially hired this week. “This is where I wanted to be.”
The identity of the coach means little in free agent recruiting, but muted though it may be, the presence of Steve Clifford has a positive impact on the way players view the Hornets, observes Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Clifford, like Terry Stotts of the Trail Blazers and Quin Snyder of the Jazz, makes a small-market team attractive through his ability to get the most out of players and increase their market value, Wojnarowski writes. The Hornets signed Clifford in November to an extension that ties him to Charlotte through at least the 2018/19 season.
T.J. McConnell‘s contract with the Sixers is non-guaranteed for next year, and he wound up seeing less than 20 minutes per game after a revelatory start to the season, but he was a bright spot and has a fan in coach Brett Brown, notes Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly. “The thing that I respect most about him is that he epitomizes that quality that I think might be the No. 1 thing that we need: day-to-day guys, people that you know what you’re getting,” Brown said. “He’s steady, he’s stable, he’s personality, he’s tough, he brings that edge to a game, to a practice, to a locker room. I just respect him. That’s just how he’s wired.”

Western Notes: Bogut, Duncan, Green, Burks

March 21st, 2016 at 4:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors and Andrew Bogut have a lot of money riding on whether the center earns a spot on the All-Defensive team, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Bogut’s contract states that he must play at least 65 games and become a member of either the first or second All-Defensive team to collect a $1.8MM bonus. If he earns the bonus, Golden State would be on the hook for nearly $4MM in additional tax penalties, bringing the team’s total tax bill to an estimated $18.8MM. Bogut’s cap hit for next season would fall from $12.6MM to $11MM if he doesn’t get the bonus, giving the Warriors an extra $1.6MM to spend over the summer. Bogut needs to play in five more games to satisfy that part of the bonus requirement. Golden State tweeted that he will miss tonight’s contest with a left foot issue, but coach Steve Kerr said Bogut underwent an MRI and isn’t expected to be out long, tweets Ethan Strauss of ESPN.com.

There’s more news from the Western Conference:

At least two other Western teams are also waiting to see if players collect significant bonuses, Marks writes in the same piece. Tim Duncan is due to get an additional $750K once the Spurs reach 62 wins, which will raise his salary for this season to $6MM and push San Antonio’s tax bill from about $3.8MM to $4.9MM. The Clippers can save $1.1MM in luxury taxes relating to a Jeff Green bonus if they fail to reach 56 wins. He will receive $450K if L.A. gets to that victory total.
The Jazz are debating whether to let Alec Burks return to action before the end of the season, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Burks has been out since breaking his left fibula in December. He has been traveling and working out with the team, but it’s not clear if he’ll be ready before the season is over. “We don’t want to box him in or box ourselves in as far as what makes sense [for Burks’ return],” said coach Quin Snyder. “There’s so many other variables that could be included in that, but it’s certainly possible [he won’t return]. Hopefully, he could be back soon.”

And-Ones: Morris Twins, Gerald Green, Hardaway

February 22nd, 2016 at 5:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris thought their close relationship with Suns owner Robert Sarver, which included invitations to Sarver’s home to work out on his basketball court, would ensure advance warning of the trade that sent Marcus to the Pistons, the twins told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher. It’s not simply a matter of the trade having separated them, Marcus insists, saying to Bucher that he also would have pulled off the deal that sent him to the Pistons if he thought, as the Suns did, that it would give them a better shot at LaMarcus Aldridge.

“Everybody thinking that we’re upset because we don’t get to play with each other,” Marcus said. “Kieff can’t deal with adversity? We’re from north Philadelphia. This isn’t adversity. This is betrayal.”

The Magic offered Channing Frye for Markieff shortly after the deal that sent Marcus to the Pistons this summer, a league source told Bucher, and the Cavaliers and Bulls were interested in Markieff, too, Bucher hears, also confirming an earlier report that the Pistons held interest in reuniting the brothers. Bucher indicates that the twins were closer with former Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby than with Suns GM Ryan McDonough, suggesting that that the reduction in Babby’s role played a part in the end of the run for the Morrises in Phoenix. See more from around the NBA:

Gerald Green said to Bucher for the same piece that the Suns told him they would re-sign him this past summer but never called his agent back. The Kenton Edelin client instead signed with the Heat, telling Bucher that he holds the Heat organization in a much higher regard than the Suns.
Some Knicks players thought the offseason trade that sent away Tim Hardaway Jr. came about because the organization wanted to avoid an odd dynamic in the locker room between Hardaway and then-coach Derek Fisher, who are rumored to have been involved with the same woman, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
Shelvin Mack recorded season highs in minutes, points and assists Sunday in his debut for the Jazz, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Quin Snyder‘s familiarity with and endorsement of the point guard and a rave review from former Hawks GM Danny Ferry helped convince the Jazz to trade for Mack on Thursday, as Genessy details in a separate piece.

Southwest Notes: Withey, Cunningham, Green

January 13th, 2016 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Former 39th overall pick Jeff Withey is seeing significant minutes with the Jazz this season after a parting of ways with the Pelicans that cast him into uncertainty, as Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders details. Executives from other teams have speculated about whether the Pelicans dealt fairly with the center, who said GM Dell Demps told him during the playoffs that the team wanted him back, Dowsett reports. The team made a qualifying offer to him but withdrew it shortly before re-signing Alexis Ajinca, making Withey an unrestricted free agent and leaving him “really confused,” as he said to Dowsett. Withey ultimately landed with Utah on a partially guaranteed deal that last week became fully guaranteed for the rest of this season, and he’s pleased with his new surroudings.

“In New Orleans, it was a tough place for me, just because the coach [Monty Williams], he didn’t really give me a shot, you know what I mean?” Withey said to Dowsett. “Even if I was playing, if I screwed up one time or anything like that, he would just take me right out. Here, Coach [Quin Snyder], he’ll come to you … it’s just a different type of coaching. More player-friendly, for sure.”

Withey has one more year left on his deal, with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season. See more on the Pelicans and the rest of the Southwest Division:

Dante Cunningham is shooting more 3-pointers than ever this season, and while he’s making a passable 30% of them, it’s still not enough to give the Pelicans the spacing necessary to prevent double teams on Anthony Davis, as John Reid of The Times Picayune examines. New Orleans re-signed Cunningham in the offseason to a three-year deal worth nearly $8.935MM. Backup and fellow offseason signee Alonzo Gee is nailing just 27.3% of his 3-point looks, compounding the absence of Pondexter, as Justin Verrier of ESPN.com examines.
The Raptors were one of the teams that pursued Danny Green this summer, according to Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News. Given the four-year, $58MM deal that Toronto gave fellow wing player DeMarre Carroll, it seems Green was liable to end up with much more than the $40MM over four years he got from the Spurs, Harvey writes. However, unlike other places in the NBA, San Antonio affords him the comfort of knowing the team has a history of supporting him through slumps like the one he’s in now, as Harvey details.
Baron Davis, who’s set to play in the D-League, reportedly worked out for the Mavs recently, but coach Rick Carlisle laughed off the notion and owner Mark Cuban clarified that the team has an “open door” as far as its D-League affiliate goes but doesn’t harbor NBA-level interest in him. Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News relays Cuban’s comment.

Northwest Notes: Saunders, Waiters, Gobert, Atkins

October 26th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Flip Saunders was in a coma for nearly six weeks before his death at age 60, writes Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune. He had one more treatment left for Hodgkin’s lymphoma when he came down with pneumonia, went into the hospital, and failed to recover, sources told Hartman. Saunders was optimistic in the months leading up to his death, about his own prognosis — saying that he thought he’d return to the team shortly after the New Year — and about the Timberwolves, as Hartman details. The coach/executive predicted a title for the team within three years, though close friends speculated that by that time, he hoped that he could turn over head coaching duties to son Ryan, a Wolves assistant coach, according to Hartman. Saunders was by far the winningest coach in Timberwolves history, going 427-392 over his two tenures in the job, and was the only coach ever to take the team to the playoffs, the Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda writes in an obituary. As the NBA mourns, see more from the Northwest Division:

The issue of whether or not the Thunder sign Dion Waiters to an extension could signal whether the team is committed to significant spending for years to come or if the Thunder’s recent high payrolls represent a temporary strategy, writes Keith P. Smith of RealGM. Oklahoma City is reportedly actively exploring an extension for the former No. 4 overall pick in advance of the November 2nd deadline.
Rudy Gobert credits the arrival of Jazz coach Quin Snyder last season with a renewed focus on defense and increased cohesion, as Gobert, optimistic about the season ahead, details to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
The deal that point guard Eric Atkins signed Sunday with the Jazz is non-guaranteed and for one year at the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link).

Atlantic Notes: Saric, Kaun, Jason Smith, Carroll

July 8th, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers apparently wanted to bring Dario Saric over for 2015/16, and Saric shared that desire, reports David Pick, writing for Basketball Insiders. However, the No. 12 pick in the 2014 draft doesn’t have a way to escape his contract with Turkey’s Anadolu Efes until next year. Saric was circumspect when Pick asked him about the idea of coming stateside and the situation with his overseas team.

“It’s really hard for me to answer that,” Saric said. “I can’t comment. I think I’m ready to compete in the NBA, against the best players, but we built a great team in Efes and I want to help the club win a championship.”

In any case, it would seem that Saric is anxious to sign with the Sixers as soon as he can, rather than wait until 2017, when he wouldn’t be bound by the rookie scale, though that’s just my observation. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

The most recent talks the Nets have had with the Cavaliers were about Cleveland draft-and-stash center Sasha Kaun, not Joe Johnson, as Chris Mannix of SI.com reports as part of a larger piece. The Nets and Kaun, a 6’11” 30-year-old, have had mutual interest for some time, tweets Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. The Spurs have also reportedly talked to the Cavs about him. The Johnson discussion is reportedly dormant.
The Knicks offered their $2.814MM room exception to Jason Smith, but he turned it down for more money from the Magic, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. New York could have offered as much as $3,933,600 via Non-Bird rights, but agent Mark Bartelstein made it clear there are no hard feelings, as Berman relays. “The Knicks made a great attempt to try to keep him,’’ Bartelstein said.
Soon-to-be Raptors signee DeMarre Carroll authored an homage to the Hawks, his former team, in The Players’ Tribune, giving credit to a handful of figures, especially former Hawks assistant Quin Snyder, who’s now head coach of the Jazz.
New Raptors D-League one-to-one affiliate Raptors 905 has named Dan Tolzman as its GM and Jesse Mermuys its head coach and assistant GM, the team announced. Both were already employed within the Raptors organization.

Northwest Notes: Snyder, Nuggets, Fisher

June 8th, 2014 at 11:47am CST by Eddie Scarito

In his introductory press conference, new Jazz coach Quin Snyder didn’t oversell the team’s goals, writes Brad Rock of the Deseret News. In regards to his team’s chances to contend, Snyder said, “You know, it’s hard to give specifics. I think (it’s) what I mentioned before about building an identity and not skipping stops in the process, and trying to do something that will last, where you can become a playoff team and become a playoff team for a long time.” When asked about the franchise’s ability to attract free agents, Snyder responded, “I mean, in a manner of speaking, I was a free agent.” He also applauded the Jazz ownership’s commitment, the practice facilities, and the tradition of loyalty, saying Utah is “an attractive place,” notes Rock.