The Thunder and coach Scott Brooks have finalized a new four-year deal with coach Scott Brooks, the team announced. It's a four-year deal worth about $18MM, reports Royce Young of DailyThunder.com. The team will hold a press conference to announce the signing Tuesday.
JUNE 29TH, 11:06pm: The Thunder and Brooks are finally "getting close" to a deal, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports.
3:26pm: According to Ric Bucher of ESPN.com, the Thunder have increased their offer to roughly $16MM for four years. But a source familiar with the negotiations tells Bucher, "We're not close, and the clock is ticking."
On Friday, we provided an update on the latest rumblings in the Scott Brooks extension talks, in which apparently the Thunder and Brooks remain far apart. Within that post we heard from Marc Stein that should those talks reach an impasse, two names that have surfaced as back up plans are Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy.
Earlier today, we heard that Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti addressed their draft position and luxury tax situation. According to Royce King from Daily Thunder, Presti also dismissed the Jackson/Van Gundy rumors pretty adamantly when he talked to the media. Presti insisted that settling Brooks' contract situation was at the top of the Thunder's offseason checklist:
When Patrick Mills returned from China this season, he signed a two-year deal with the Spurs that included a player option for the second year. Mills will have to make a decision soon, and tells Chris Dutton of The Age that he wants to finalize his NBA future before heading to the Olympics.
"I feel like I need to do my due diligence and really go and see what there is, to make sure I explore every option," Mills said. ''But in saying that, I really enjoy being in San Antonio and being part of that program."
Mills' decision could have an effect on whether or not the Spurs need to pursue a point guard in free agency, as I discussed in my preview of the team's offseason earlier this afternoon. Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
Thunder General Manager Sam Presti has offered head coach Scott Brooks a three-year deal worth just under $11MM in the past, but he and his agent weren't willing to accept it, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The two sides have set aside talks for the playoffs and a guaranteed fourth year could make a new contract happen.
It was easy to miss in the midst of our flurry of draft updates on Wednesday, but Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times weighed in yesterday to discuss the Bucks' options with the 12th overall pick. According to Woelfel, Milwaukee has zeroed in on a short list of prospects, mostly big men, for pick No. 12 — Meyers Leonard, Tyler Zeller, John Henson, Perry Jones III, and Terrence Ross are among the team's targets.
Woelfel also shared a few more tidbits from around the NBA in his column, so let's dive in….
While Los Angeles residents may have loved to see a Clippers/Lakers Western Conference Final, it wasn't meant to be, given how strong the Spurs and Thunder look this season. As the L.A. clubs look to make roster improvements this summer to make another run in 2012/13, let's check in on the latest out of the city:
- A decision on Vinny Del Negro's job status will have to be made by next week, according to Marc Stein and Ramona Shelbourne of ESPN.com. The Clippers have until June 1st to decide whether or not to exercise the coach's option for next year, and the decision could rest largely in the hands of owner Donald Sterling. That's probably good news for Del Negro, given his positive relationship with Sterling.
- If Del Negro doesn't return, the Clippers may look to currently-employed coaches rather than the strong crop of free agent candidates. Two potential targets are Thunder coach Scott Brooks and Hornets coach Monty Williams, according to Stein and Shelbourne. However, Brooks is widely expected to re-up with Oklahoma City, and the Clips would have to get permission from New Orleans to talk to Williams, which is no sure thing.
- Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times proposes five potential roster moves for the Lakers. While the list includes the usual Andrew Bynum/Dwight Howard proposal, many of the other suggestions are new ones, such as trading for Al Harrington or Beno Udrih.
With Tuesday night's second playoff game winding down, let's take a quick break from the action and catch up on the latest stories and headlines from across the league…
- The Bulls will sit down with Luol Deng to discuss his intentions of playing for Team Great Britain during the Olympics this summer in London, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com.
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says the Magic's evaluation of general manager Otis Smith and head coach Stan Van Gundy is still ongoing as the organization has yet to make a decision about their fates for next season.
- Serge Ibaka continues to make impressive strides as the Thunder's starting power forward, reports Susan Bible of HoopsWorld.
- The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel says Metta World Peace and Thunder head coach Scott Brooks have forged an unlikely relationship over the years thanks to their time spent together in Sacramento.
- Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld offers his latest NBA mock draft where he has Austin Rivers cracking the top 10 and heading to the Big Easy.
The series between the Thunder and Mavericks has arguably been the most competitive playoff matchup in the first round, with both games coming down to the final possession. Game 3 is tomorrow night in Dallas, where the Mavericks enter with a 23-10 home record. The Thunder come in having won 21 games on the road this season, which is recognized as the third-best in the league. John Rohde of NewsOK tackled a few miscellaneous topics about an Oklahoma City team that appears primed to make another deep playoff run:
- The arrival of Kendrick Perkins in addition to the development and maturity of the team's younger players has solidified the Thunder's repuation as a tougher team.
- Derek Fisher spoke about the key to winning on the road and the team's mental toughness in a brief Q&A with Rohde.
- Head coach Scott Brooks touched on a variety of topics, including how much his team studied last year's conference finals matchup with Dallas in preparation of this series, the Thunder's success on the road, and the need for improvement in spacing the floor.
While the city of Sacramento, the Kings, and the NBA have reached a tentative deal to keep the team in Sacramento, the franchise isn't quite out of the woods yet, as David Aldridge of NBA.com writes. Sacramento city council will vote Tuesday on whether or not to approve the framework of the arena deal, and councilman Robert King Fong is confident they'll get the required votes:
"I think we certainly have enough votes to pass it," Fong said. "I think it would be nice to have more than enough. It would be good optics. But I think we'll pass it."
Here are some other notes from Aldridge's column:
- There are some questions about how the Maloof brothers will come up with their contribution to the Sacramento arena. "I don't think anybody expected they had that kind of money," said Jack Robinson, editor of the Sacramento Business Journal. "But we presume that since David Stern was sitting right next to them that the NBA is going to make sure that they have that kind of money… the NBA seems to be satisfied and seems to be putting its weight behind the Maloofs."
- It's surprising that the Thunder have yet to extend the contract of coach Scott Brooks, says Aldridge. GM Sam Presti says he hopes Brooks will coach the team for "many, many years," but declined to comment further on the coach's contract status. However, Brooks' agent, Warren LeGarie, suggested that extension talks may not be revisited until after the season.
- While acknowledging that he was told Rajon Rondo is "a personality challenge," Aldridge questions the logic of trading the star point guard. Aldridge spoke to one GM who thinks Celtics GM Danny Ainge was only seriously interested in trading Rondo when Chris Paul was on the table, but hasn't delved too deeply into talks since then.