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Wizards Announce Changes To Coaching Staff

August 1st, 2019 at 5:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards have formally announced a series of changes to Scott Brooks‘ coaching staff, issuing a press release to confirm the moves.

Tony Brown, who has been an assistant on Brooks’ staff since 2016, has been promoted to associate head coach, making him the lead assistant in Washington. The team also hired Mike Longabardi, Corey Gaines, and Dean Oliver as assistants.

Longabardi, a veteran coach who served as an assistant for the Rockets, Celtics, Suns, and Cavaliers, has won titles with Boston and Cleveland. Gaines served as a coaching consultant for the Pistons last season after spending time as an assistant for the Knicks and Suns. Oliver, whom the Wizards call a “pioneer in sports analytics,” comes to D.C. from Sacramento.

Ryan Richman, an assistant coach for Brooks last season, has been named the head coach of the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate. Jarell Christian, the Go-Go’s head coach in 2018/19, has joined the Wizards’ staff as an assistant. Interestingly, the Go-Go’s press release refers to both moves as “promotions.”

Despite all the incoming hires, the Wizards are also bringing back several members of last year’s staff, including assistants Robert Pack and Mike Terpstra, and developmental coach Kristi Toliver.

“Coach Brooks and I worked closely to pinpoint what areas we needed to improve and identify the best candidates, both internally and externally, to make the appropriate changes,” new permanent Wizards GM Tommy Sheppard said in a statement. “We’re very confident that we have a strong staff in place that is in line with the vision we have for our rebuilding our culture and focusing on the overall development of our players.”

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Southeast Notes: Heat, Clifford, McRae, Wizards

October 18th, 2018 at 8:55pm CST by JD Shaw

Heat president Pat Riley met with the team’s players this week and explained that he is “pulling the plug” on a potential Jimmy Butler trade, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. Riley did not state a future trade was completely off the table.

The Heat and Timberwolves have discussed several packages centered around Butler in recent weeks, with Minnesota eager to acquire young players Josh Richardson and Bam Adebayo in any potential deal. The Athletic’s Shams Charania (link) first reported the Heat’s plans to start the season with its current roster.

Butler played in the Timberwolves’ season opener in San Antonio on Wednesday, competing alongside Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns in the starting five. His grit-and-grind style appeals to a hardworking team like the Heat, explaining their longstanding interest in his services. It’s unclear whether Miami will revisit these discussions with Minnesota before the NBA’s trading deadline.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

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Robert Pack Agrees To Join Wizards’ Staff

June 29th, 2018 at 9:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Robert Pack has agreed to join the Wizards as an assistant to Scott Brooks, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

Pack has been an assistant coach with the Pelicans since the 2015/16 season. He’s also coached with the Clippers and Thunder after beginning his coaching career with New Orleans in 2009.

Pack should be a good influence on Wizards star guard John Wall, David Aldridge of NBA.com tweets. Pack, 49, had a long NBA career than began in 1991 and included stops with seven different franchises.

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Western Notes: Divac, Grizzlies, Pack

June 11th, 2015 at 7:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

One of the strangest aspects of the Kings‘ hiring of Vlade Divac as the team’s president of basketball and franchise operations is that no one but Divac and team owner Vivek Ranadive actually understood he’d be in a powerful basketball operations position until a few days after the announcement, Tom Ziller of SBNation writes. It was assumed that because Divac had extremely limited prior front office experience, he would be more of a figurehead than being actively involved in personnel decisions, Ziller notes. There were even members of Sacramento’s front office who didn’t realize that Divac had the power to make personnel moves until Divac and Randive relayed that information to the media, the SBNation scribe adds.

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

  • The Grizzlies have workouts scheduled on Sunday for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Arizona), Cady Lalanne (Massachusetts), Denzel Livingston (Incarnate Word), Norman Powell (UCLA), J.P. Tokoto (North Carolina), and Maurice Walker (Minnesota), the team announced via a press release.
  • The Nuggets are expected to work out Murray State point guard Cameron Payne, who is rocketing up draft boards, this Monday, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post tweets.
  • Robert Pack has signed on to be an assistant on the staff of new Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link).
  • Working out for the Suns today were Bryce Dejean-Jones (Iowa State), Mouhammadou Jaiteh (France), Derrick Marks (Boise State), Michael Qualls (Arkansas), Chasson Randle (Stanford), and TaShawn Thomas (Oklahoma), Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic notes (Twitter links). Qualls suffered an undisclosed injury during the workout, Coro relays, and was replaced by Polish guard Mateusz Ponitka.
  • The Kings have added John Welch and Chad Iske as assistants on George Karl‘s coaching staff, Spears reports (on Twitter). Both men were previously with Karl when he coached in Denver, Spears adds.
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Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Mavs, Grizzlies

June 2nd, 2015 at 1:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans and Celtics assistant coach Darren Erman have an agreement in principle for Erman to join Alvin Gentry‘s coaching staff in New Orleans, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported overnight that the Pelicans were aggressively pursuing Erman, a detail-oriented defensive whiz who complements Gentry’s offensive acumen. The Raptors also recently made a run at Erman, sources told Wojnarowski. New Orleans is poised to hire Thunder assistant coach Robert Pack for Gentry’s staff, too, as Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times hears (Twitter link). However, Wojnarowski, whose story appeared later, writes that the Pelicans and Pack are in talks but makes no mention of a deal. Regardless, new Thunder head coach Billy Donovan is unlikely to keep Pack on his staff, Wojnarowski adds. Here’s more from around the Southwest Division:

  • San Diego State small forward Dwayne Polee worked out for the Mavericks late last month, as he tells Zach Links of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link). Michigan State’s Travis Trice, Stanford’s Chasson Randle, Dayton’s Jordan Sibert and Harvard point guard Wesley Saunders showed off for Dallas today, tweets Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops.
  • Big men highlight the Grizzlies workout scheduled for Wednesday, with Kentucky center Dakari Johnson and French center Mouhammadou Jaiteh on the docket, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal in a subscription-only piece. Centers Youssou Ndoye from St. Bonaventure and Charles Jackson from Tennessee Tech, Connecticut point guard Ryan Boatright and Boise State shooting guard Derrick Marks are the others in the workout, as Tillery details.
  • Florida’s Michael Frazier is auditioning for the Spurs today, Scotto reports, and the team will also get a look at North Carolina’s J.P. Tokoto, according to Pincus (Twitter links).
  • Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders adds the Rockets to the list of teams working out N.C. State shooting guard Trevor Lacey (Twitter link).
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Odds & Ends: Wall, James, OKC, Haddadi

July 31st, 2013 at 9:05pm CST by Alex Lee

With John Wall's long-awaited max contract finally on the books for the Wizards, NBA writers around the league have already begun to weigh in.  Sean Highkin of USA Today writes that Wall is definitely worth the risk for the Wiz, while J. Michael of CSN Washington crunches the numbers to show why the team values Wall like they do.  There is sure to be more where that came from.  Until then, let's take a look at what else is going on in the Association on Wednesday night:

  • Free agent point guard Mike James, who spent last season with the Mavericks, will not retire at age 38 and is determined to play his 12th NBA season next year, tweets Chris Haynes of CSN Northwest.  James emerged as a viable backup, starting 23 of the 45 games he appeared in last season for Dallas and averaging 6.1 points and 3.1 assists per contest.
  • The Thunder have named Robert Pack and Mike Terpstra as assistant coaches, the team announced today in a press release.  Pack spent the past three years on the Clippers staff after a year in New Orleans.  This will be Terpstra's NBA coaching debut, but he has experience working in the D-League. “We’re excited to add Robert and Mike to our coaching staff for the upcoming season,” said head coach Scott Brooks in the release. “These additions bring diverse backgrounds to our group that will help the further development of our players.”
  • The Knicks have shown interest in center Hamed Haddadi, tweets Al Iannazzone of Newsday, adding that nothing is imminent.  Only able to offer minimum salary contracts, we heard today the Knicks were hoping to land Beno Udrih and yesterday that they had some interest in Delonte West.  Haddadi finished last season in Phoenix after more than four years with the Grizzlies. 
  • Alan Anderson, who signed with the Nets yesterday, says he took less money to join a winner, writes Iannazzone.  At 30 years old, it sounds like the veteran guard was more concerned with contention than playing time and therefore agreed to a contract in Brooklyn for the league minimum.  He was a double-digit scorer in Toronto last season for the first time in his career, but the Raptors missed the playoffs.  In his four NBA seasons, Anderson has yet to see the postseason. 
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