Stan Van Gundy Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Caldwell-Pope, Gortat, Noah

January 20th, 2016 at 9:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pistons shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who engaged in a shouting match with coach/executive Stan Van Gundy after the player was ejected from Monday night’s contest, says their relationship is fine, David Mayo of MLive notes. “We’re good,” Caldwell-Pope said of he and his coach. “We had a talk before we got to Houston, so we’re good. Everything’s squared away. Everything was in the heat of the moment. We talked about it and squared it out.”

For his part, Van Gundy wasn’t concerned about the incident, Mayo adds. “I don’t care about that,” Van Gundy said. “Look, I used to go through that with guys a lot more than this. I’m worried about how they play and what kind of people they are. The guy was really frustrated. If you’re going to say something to a guy, in a situation where he’s already frustrated, any of us would do the same thing. I mean, I shouldn’t have said what I said to him. No, I shouldn’t have, because it wasn’t the time, it wasn’t productive, because I couldn’t keep him in the game. He and I had a good talk yesterday. Look, he’s a great guy, he works his [tail] off, he’s not a hothead or anything like that. He had a bad day in terms of that and he got frustrated, and that’s all it was. He yelled something back at me and that part was actually meaningless. The tough part was him getting thrown out.”

Here’s more from the East:

The Wizards have been hit hard by injuries this season, something that center Marcin Gortat says the players are to blame for, Gene Wang of The Washington Post writes. “It’s not easy,” Gortat said. “We’ve got a lot of vets. We’ve got a lot of older guys. They’ve got to take care of their bodies. At the end of the day it’s the players’ responsibility. I personally can’t understand how this is possible, how people can get constantly hurt. You’ve got to do something. You’ve got to change something in your routine to become a bigger pro, to become a better player and more professional about stuff you do.”
No player better epitomizes Chicago sports than Joakim Noah, whose pending free agency could see him playing elsewhere next season, writes David Haugh of The Chicago Tribune. The Tribune scribe also opines that the Bulls‘ worst-case scenario involving Noah is that he makes a full recovery and joins Tom Thibodeau, who is reportedly on Brooklyn’s radar for its next coach, with the Nets.

Eastern Notes: Raptors, Casey, Noah, Pistons

January 13th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Raptors GM Masai Ujiri can’t envision the team using all of the four of the first-round picks ticketed to come the team’s way in the next two years, as he told Zach Lowe of ESPN.com, essentially confirming an earlier report from Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun that the team doesn’t plan to add four rookies.

“We already have so many young players,” Ujiri said to Lowe. “And those extra picks over the next two years — we can’t use all those picks. So [a trade] is always something you’re looking at.”

Still, most signs point to the Raptors standing pat for now, with Ujiri believing that increased parity will reduce the volume of swaps, Lowe writes. See more on the Raptors amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:

Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are advocates for Dwane Casey‘s continued presence as Raptors coach, Lowe notes in the same piece. Toronto has a team option for next season on Casey’s contract.
Joakim Noah has returned from his shoulder injury, but he isn’t playing much, and he remains displeased with where he stands in the eyes of the Bulls, a source tells Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, adding that the center isn’t enamored with coach Fred Hoiberg. The source cautioned that Noah hasn’t been a distraction. The Bulls have reportedly made Noah available for a trade, and I examined his trade candidacy last month.
Reggie Jackson is entrenched as the starter, Brandon Jennings and Steve Blake are on expiring contracts and Spencer Dinwiddie appears poised to stay on D-League assignment for the long haul, but Stan Van Gundy is once more casting doubt on the idea of trading a point guard, notes MLive’s David Mayo. “I think there’s a very good chance that we don’t move any of those guys before the trade deadline,” Van Gundy said. The Pistons coach/executive added that the team still has hopes for Dinwiddie, who said GM Jeff Bower told him he’ll be in the D-League for the rest of the season, but Dinwiddie has to show he’s “better than just being a roster guy,” Van Gundy said, as Mayo relays.

And-Ones: Bryant, Van Gundy, Nets

December 29th, 2015 at 10:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kobe Bryant claims that former Hornets coach Dave Cowens told him that Charlotte wasn’t interested in him during the 1996 draft, Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com reports. Bryant was shipped to the Lakers for Vlade Divac soon after the draft. “Cowens told me he didn’t want me,” Bryant told reporters in Charlotte. “It wasn’t a question of me even playing here. They had a couple of guards already, a couple small forwards already.” Cowens refuted Bryant’s account of his draft-night odyssey to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. Cowens told Himmelsbach that the Hornets were more concerned at the time that Bryant would play professionally in Italy, as his camp threatened if he didn’t wind up with the Lakers or Knicks. Cowens also denied telling Bryant the Hornets didn’t have a spot for him. “I’d never say anything like that to a player,” Cowens told Himmelsbach. “I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. It wasn’t about him not being able to play for us. It was just [the trade] was already worked out.”

In other news around the league:

Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy expects a lot of volatility in the Eastern Conference standings this season. Detroit is among 10 conference teams above the .500 mark. “Cleveland hasn’t created a lot of space but they’ve sort of separated themselves as the team at the top of the East. But then everybody else, it’s sort of gone up and down,” he told the assembled media, including Hoops Rumors, last week. “The standings change every single day. We’ve played enough now to say there’s a good chance it stays like that throughout most of the rest of the year. There’s a lot of parity.”
The D-League’s experiment with coaches challenging an official’s call is still a work in progress, as Adam Johnson of the D-League Digest examines. In its current structure, a coach can only challenge fourth-quarter calls. They lose a timeout if the challenge fails. Limiting challenges to the final quarter is just one of the complaints about the system, Johnson adds.
The Nets are expected to play more than a dozen doubleheaders next season with their new D-League affiliate’s games preceding the NBA game at Barclays Center, team officials told NetsDaily. The Long Island Nets will begin their inaugural season next November. Barclays will curtain off parts of the arena during D-League games, the report adds.

Pistons Notes: Van Gundy, Morris, Ilyasova

December 19th, 2015 at 6:40pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Pistons added many new pieces during the offseason and the team is just starting to gel, but President of Basketball Operations/coach Stan Van Gundy is always keeping an eye out for upgrades, Rod Beard of the Detroit News writes.

“You’re always on the lookout for a guy that you think either now or for the future appreciably changes your talent,” Van Gundy said. “You really approach it the same way you always do — you’re talking and seeing what’s out there, but there hasn’t been anything that’s even made us take a second look, at this point.”

Still, Van Gundy values continuity and he’s happy with the team as currently constructed.

“I don’t think you can truly get good until you have some continuity to what you’re doing,” Van Gundy said. “We’ll be pretty careful — not to say we’re not looking. Jeff’s on the phone every day and you’re always looking. You’re doing your diligence, but at the same time, we like our group.”

Here’s more out of Detroit:

Offense has been a huge improvement for the Pistons this season, as they are averaging 101.8 points per game, up from 98.5 points per game last season. The next step in the team’s progression is getting offseason acquisitions Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova more involved, Aaron McMann of Mlive.com writes. “We know what Marcus can do, we’ve still got to find and he’s got to find better ways to get the ball in his spot,” Van Gundy said. “I think Ersan has fit very well. He’s been able to find his shots without us doing a whole lot for him.”
Keith Langlois of NBA.com examines the Van Gundy tenure in Detroit and notes that only three players — Andre Drummond, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brandon Jennings — remain from when he took over front office duties in May of 2014.

Central Notes: Jennings, Ellis, Bucks

December 17th, 2015 at 9:29am CST by Chuck Myron

Brandon Jennings plans to return to the lineup for the Pistons on December 29th in a game against the Knicks in New York, according to Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com (Twitter link), but Jennings said Wednesday that an 80% chance exists that he plays on D-League assignment first, notes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy has appeared to publicly encourage Jennings to accept a D-League assignment, which would require both Jennings and the union to consent because he has more than two years of experience, but the point guard appears willing.

“I don’t care. I just want to play, man. I just want to get out there and hoop and see where it’s at,” Jennings said, according to Ellis.

A D-League trip for Jennings would represent the fifth time this season that a veteran player and the union have given the OK to a D-League trip. That happened with three Sixers, as I noted earlier this month, and this past weekend with Jeremy Evans of the Mavericks. See more from the Central Division:

Pacers free agent signee Monta Ellis is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, he told Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star, and he and assistant coach Nate McMillan are confident he’ll start playing better as the season goes on, as Buckner details. Head coach Frank Vogel believes the struggles of Ellis are a result of adjusting to a new role, not his advancing age, Buckner adds.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd said he spoke with Greg Monroe, Khris Middleton, O.J. Mayo and Miles Plumlee, all of whom showed up in TMZ Sports videos depicting them in a Los Angeles strip club late at night before the team’s loss to the Lakers this week, relays Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Kidd said he didn’t think their partying was a contributing factor to the loss, but, coincidentally or otherwise, the Bucks are reportedly the likely trade destination for veteran leader Caron Butler.
Bucks preseason cut Marcus Landry has signed with San Sebastián Gipuzkoa of Spain, a source told international journalist David Pick. Radio Marca Donostia first reported the signing would take place (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).

Central Notes: Cavs, D-League, Bullock

October 30th, 2015 at 9:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pistons owner Tom Gores is excited about the culture change that executive/coach Stan Van Gundy has executed in Detroit, writes Keith Langlois of NBA.com. Gores noticed how different the mood around the team was this season during a team event prior to the regular season opening, Langlois notes. “They were interacting in a way that I haven’t seen players interact before,” Gores told Langlois. “They wanted to be here. They were enjoying each other. And if they didn’t have a game in a couple of days, they would’ve stayed late, late, late. There’s something special going on. I give so much credit to Stan Van Gundy on this. I could speak about culture, I could speak about chemistry. But that has to get done every single day and that has to get done on the floor. It’s really kind of walking the talk and I feel like, right now, my vision is able to walk the talk because of the people on the ground.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

The Bulls are looking to start up their own D-League affiliate that would play in the Sears Center, which is located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, team officials have informed Mike McGraw of The Daily Herald (via Twitter). “A Bulls NBADL team will create tremendous opportunities to promote the game of basketball in our surrounding communities,” the Bulls noted in their official statement, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune relays (Twitter link). Chicago is currently one of 11 NBA teams without its own D-League affiliate.
The Cavaliers have taken up a two-tiered approach to team-building, not only concentrating on securing an NBA title this season, but also focusing on constructing the roster to maintain success in the seasons ahead, Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer writes. “We’re very cognizant of that fact that you don’t get these opportunities very often and you need to capitalize while you can,” said GM David Griffin. “But we also want to win in a way that is sustainable [for the next few seasons].“
When the Pistons exercised their 2016/17 option on Reggie Bullock it created a logjam at shooting guard with four players at the position possessing fully guaranteed pacts for next season, writes David Mayo of MLive.com. “The way that he played and the fact that it’s really a value contract,” Van Gundy said about picking up the option on Bullock. “It’s low-cost and the whole thing. We really like him. It’s always hard to be making decisions for down the road based on the preseason. But we just like everything about him, what we’ve seen in practice, his whole approach, his attitude, so we’ve been really, really happy with him.“

Central Notes: Noah, Tellem, LeBron, Harris

October 30th, 2015 at 12:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

Joakim Noah set the record straight Friday, telling reporters that he didn’t ask Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg to remove him from the starting lineup. Hoiberg indicated in an interview with Grantland’s Zach Lowe that Noah had done so, as Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com and K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune relay (Twitter links).

“I never said I want to come off the bench,” Noah said. “I said I will do what’s best for the team.”

The coach didn’t directly say that Noah had requested the move, though that was the interpretation that Lowe took from the remark (Twitter link). In any case, Noah, a 2016 free agent, obviously would prefer to start, but in spite of the benching and Hoiberg’s comment, he isn’t upset with the coach, Johnson notes (All Twitter links). “The truth is I think I’m more effective playing the 5. And Pau [Gasol] is the same. And we have two very good 4s. So this makes sense,” Noah also said. See more from the Central Division:

Pistons owner Tom Gores continues to enthusiastically support coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, and he also suggested that owners around the league regard the addition of former agent Arn Tellem as a coup, citing comments his fellow owners made to him, notes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Tellem became vice chairman of Palace Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Pistons, over the offseason. “Most of the owners were wondering, how the heck did we get Arn? He lives in great weather, he’s probably the most renowned NBA agent ever, he knows everybody in basketball – and we convinced him to come to Detroit,” Gores said. “That was the good secret in the room. ‘How the hell did you do that, Tom?”
The upgrades the Cavs made to their bench during the offseason stand to give LeBron James a better chance to rest, but he still expects to play in 82 games after appearing in only 69 last year, observes Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net.
The Cavs appear to be questioning the potential of Joe Harris after an up-and-down preseason, Amico adds in the same piece. Harris has a fully guaranteed deal for this season, but next season’s salary is non-guaranteed.

Eastern Notes: Cherry, Pistons, Wittman

September 1st, 2015 at 8:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Unrestricted free agent Will Cherry has officially signed with the German club Alba Berlin, the team announced (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). International journalist David Pick first reported the team’s interest and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports was the first to relay that a signing was imminent. Cherry played in Lithuania last season after he was waived by the Cavaliers. The point guard saw action in eight games while with Cleveland and averaged 1.9 points, 1.0 assist and 0.8 steals in 8.6 minutes per contest.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Stan Van Gundy wanted to hire a shooting coach for his first season with the Pistons, but he didn’t get around to it until this summer, when he brought on Dave Hopla, who’s wasted no time getting to work, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Hopla is working with extension candidate Andre Drummond and others and using analytics to enhance their strokes, as Langlois chronicles.
Justise Winslow, who was selected No. 10 overall by the Heat in this year’s draft, blew away team executives during the predraft interview process, Zach Lowe of Grantland relays. The swingman was projected by a number of mock drafts to be a potential top five selection, but he surprisingly fell to Miami with the final pick in the top 10 this past June.
The Wizards will have to make a tough decision regarding whether or not coach Randy Wittman is the right man to continue leading the franchise on the court, J. Michael of CSNMid-Atlantic writes. Wittman, who owns a 137-158 record overall with Washington, is entering the second season of his three-year pact, and his contract is only partially guaranteed for the 2016/17 campaign, Michael notes.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pistons Notes: Thomas, Jennings, Jackson

August 27th, 2015 at 11:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pistons have a dilemma with 17 players signed to fully guaranteed contracts and only 15 regular season roster spots available, as I examined Wednesday, and the situation would appear to make it especially challenging for Adonis Thomas to stick for opening night. The free agent signee is the only player on the team without a full guarantee, with only $60K promised to him. Still, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy assured him he’ll have a shot, as MLive’s David Mayo chronicles.

“The day I signed my contract, he told me, ‘Hey, I know you’re looking at the roster, at 17 guaranteed guys, and you’re the only non-guaranteed guy or partially guaranteed guy.'” Thomas said. “He said that anything can change. He said, ‘We’re looking to make some changes soon. We’re not really focused in on who’s on the roster right now. We’re going to let go of maybe some guaranteed guys, or we’re making some changes soon, or trades could be made.'”

Indeed, the Pistons will have to make a trade before opening night or use the stretch provision no later than this coming Monday to avoid eating two full guarantees this season, or three if they want to keep Thomas. There’s more on Thomas amid the latest from the Motor City:

The Pistons starting thinking of signing Thomas late last season, when he was playing for their D-League affiliate, Mayo writes in the same piece. “I think them having a D-League team is going to be something special,” Thomas said to Mayo. “It’s a great chance to develop guys. And I can even speak for myself, being able to be in the system, being able to be ready, you can be on call at any time.”
Brandon Jennings, whose health looms over Detroit’s roster decisions, said he’s unsure if he’ll be recovered from his torn Achilles tendon in time for the start of training camp, adding that he doesn’t envision returning to his usual level of play until December at the earliest. The point guard made his comments on The Point Game Podcast with Vincent Goodwill and Jabari Young of Comcast Sports Net, as Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press transcribes. A report from July said that Jennings expected to be ready for camp, so it appears his thinking has changed.
Jennings also told Goodwill and Young that he’d accept a backup role behind Reggie Jackson. “Bringing in Reggie Jackson was smart,” said Jennings, who’s set for free agency after the season. “I’m supposed to be out, really, for nine months, and they need a point guard. … My main thing is just to get healthy. Hey, if I have to come off the bench and be the sixth man or whatever, I’m fine with that. Man, I just want to play basketball again. I just want to get back on the court and have fun.”

Central Notes: James, Jackson, Bucks

July 4th, 2015 at 8:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

LeBron James won’t begin contract talks with the Cavaliers until negotiations with Tristan Thompson are completed, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Cleveland is trying to reach a new deal with the 24-year-old, but talks are currently stalled. Thompson and the Cavaliers discussed a deal this week worth more than $80MM.

There’s more from the Central Division:

Free agent guard Reggie Jackson was part of the crowd for the Pistons‘ summer league opener today in Orlando, writes Terry Foster of The Detroit News. Coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said there is no indication Jackson is negotiating with other teams and the team hopes to meet with him soon to work out a new contract. He took Jackson’s presence today as a positive step. “It is a sign he wants to be here,” Van Gundy said.
After they agreed to terms with Greg Monroe earlier this week, Zach Lowe of Grantland believes the Bucks will look to trade away one of their frontcourt players.
The agreement between Khris Middleton and the Bucks came together so fast that other teams didn’t even get a real chance to speak with the 23-year-old, Lowe writes in a separate piece.

Chris Crouse contributed to this post