Steve Mills Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Beasley, D-League, Dellavedova

July 26th, 2014 at 10:31pm CST by Cray Allred

Had Steve Mills not taken a front office job with the Knicks, he’d still be a leading candidate to take over the head of the NBA Player’s Association, writes Keith Schlosser of the Knicks Blog. The strong working relationship Mills has built with Phil Jackson seemingly makes it unlikely he’d consider bowing out from his job in New York to pursue an opportunity with the NBAPA, says Schlosser. Here’s a roundup from around the league:

Several teams have expressed interest in unrestricted free agent Michael Beasley, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Front offices are intrigued by the efficiency and maturity that the former second-overall pick put on display with the Heat last season, hears Kennedy.
One potential fit for Beasley might be the Lakers, opines Kennedy, who notes that the forward is currently working out with Kevin Durant in Los Angeles (Twitter link).
Two rule changes are being discussed that would further push the D-League toward a future where one-to-one affiliate relationships exist for every NBA team, sources tell Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com. One of the potential changes would expand the amount of players cut from training camp a team could protect with assignment rights, and the other would eliminate the ability for D-League clubs to add players by tryout, tipping the scales further toward one-to-one roster building that more closely resembles a minor league system.
Pilato adds that the outcome of the Thunder‘s handling of Josh Huestis is a significant factor in whether the D-League, currently without a president, will be further pressed into a one-to-one structure.
Matthew Dellavedova’s minimum salary went from non-guaranteed to fully guaranteed for this season when the Cavs elected to keep him through Friday, according to the data that Mark Deeks of ShamSports compiled.
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders looks at the few teams with the mid-level exception still at their disposal, and a handful of free agents that are hoping to be signed in that value range.

Charlie Adams and Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Love, Wiggins, Sterlings, Durant

July 21st, 2014 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs aren’t dangling Andrew Wiggins in trade talks with the Wolves about Kevin Love, at least for the time being, a source tells Bob Finnan of The News-Herald, who was the first to report last week that Cleveland was open to the idea of parting with Wiggins. So, while no one involved would guarantee Finnan that Wiggins wouldn’t wind up in a Love deal, it sounds like that idea is on the backburner for now. Here’s more from around the Association:

Testimony has resumed today in the probate trial between Clippers owners Donald and Shelly Sterling after the judge made a pair of decisions Friday that appear to help Shelly Sterling’s case, as USA Today’s David Leon Moore details. The judge has the power to allow Shelly Sterling to go forward with her sale of the Clippers to Steve Ballmer, if he rules in her favor, even if Donald Sterling decides to appeal, according to Moore.
A member of the players association’s executive committee told TNT’s David Aldridge that the union will discuss the idea of taking action should the Sterlings continue to own the Clippers at the start of next season, as Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
Thunder assistant coach Brian Keefe, whom Knicks head coach Derek Fisher has reportedly lured to serve as a Knicks assistant, was the member of the Oklahoma City staff whom Kevin Durant trusted the most, Aldridge notes in the same piece.
A source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that Knicks GM Steve Mills recently pulled his name from contention for the union’s executive director vacancy. Mills re-emerged as a candidate this spring after having been the apparent front-runner last summer prior to taking the Knicks job.
The final two seasons of the four-year contract between Devin Harris and the Mavs are a little more lucrative than previously reported. He’ll make nearly $4.728MM in year three and nearly $4.903MM in the final season, which is partially guaranteed for almost $1.34MM, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports details on his Mavs salary page.

Iannazzone’s Latest: Dolan, Jackson, Carmelo

June 3rd, 2014 at 8:42pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Earlier tonight, we briefly noted how James Dolan emphasized Phil Jackson‘s autonomy in running the Knicks’ head coaching search. In addition to saying that he had no idea who Jackson is talking to at this point, Dolan – in an interview with WFAN’s Mike Francesa – intimated that the only instance in which Phil would have to “check back” with him is when the negotiations begin to involve money, transcribes Al Iannazzone of Newsday. Otherwise, the Madison Square Garden chairman reiterated his laissez-faire approach to the process.

“I have not asked him about the coaching search on purpose. I have not asked him about it. I just told him I’m here for you if you need me. If you don’t need me, that’s fine, too. I got lots to do.”

Here’s more from Iannazzone’s piece:

As for Carmelo Anthony‘s potential opt-out this summer, the Knicks owner maintained that Jackson will have full control in handling the situation. “I made a commitment to Phil that he was going to run it…Unless he asks me to help, it’s his to run.”
Dolan said that the Knicks will be easier to run with Jackson in charge now, citing the success of the NHL’s New York Rangers under president and general manager Glen Sather, who also operates under Dolan’s ownership. “I’m very happy that Phil’s with us now because I think he brings the same thing (that Glen brings) to the table…I think he can do the job, and I’m looking forward to watching what he does.”
Steve Mills, per Dolan, has appeared to find his niche while working as the team’s general manager alongside Jackson. “(Phil) and Steve are working really well together. That was a big piece for me because there are a lot of the pieces of the operation that have to be run. I knew that Phil wasn’t going to have the time for it…Having Steve in there, things like the D-League and the development of players and everything down to the medical staff, (etc). Phil has a great guy underneath him, actually right next to him. I think I got the right team in place managing it. We’ll see how it turns out.”

Lowe’s Latest: Bucks, Knicks, Grizzlies, Pelicans

May 20th, 2014 at 10:17am CST by Chuck Myron

Grantland’s Zach Lowe looks at instability in the executive suite, profiling the NBA’s six most volatile front offices in the wake of yesterday’s shakeup in Memphis. As usual, Lowe’s work is required reading, but we’ll hit some highlights here:

Bucks owners Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens have held preliminary talks about potential replacements for GM John Hammond and assistant GM David Morway, but the more likely outcome appears to be that they stay for at least one more year, Lowe writes.
Former Raptors and Suns GM Bryan Colangelo is open to once more becoming an NBA GM, Lowe hears, but that’s no surprise, given that he was reportedly a candidate for the Cavs and Pistons front office searches. Lowe mentions him within his look at the Bucks, which is coincidental given an earlier report that linked him to an ownership group looking to buy the franchise when it was for sale. Still, it doesn’t appear as though there’s any particular link between the Bucks and Colangelo at this point.
The Knicks will likely hire someone within the next year to replace Steve Mills as general manager and shunt Mills off into some other role with the organization, according to Lowe.
Some high-level executives on teams around the league hadn’t heard about Grizzlies attorney David Mincberg, who’s reportedly assumed some power in the basketball operations department, Lowe hears.
The job of Memphis GM Chris Wallace, whom the team has restored to a prominent role after the departures of CEO Jason Levien and assistant GM Stu Lash, is safe “until he wants to leave,” Lowe writes.
There have been few reports alleging that GM Dell Demps is on shaky ground to return next year, but people around the league have been curious about whether the team would bring him back for 2014/15, according to Lowe. There have been disagreements between Demps and coach Monty Williams, and the team’s owners favor Williams, Lowe hears. In any case, he’ll probably return, though there will be pressure on him for the team to improve and perhaps make the playoffs next season, Lowe writes.
Louisiana native Joe Dumars is close to executives with the New Orleans Saints, the NFL franchise that Pelicans owner Tom Benson also owns. That would make him a likely candidate for Pelicans GM job should the team decide to oust Demps, Lowe asserts.
Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy says that the team’s ownership will have just as much say as he does in whom they hire as GM, as he tells Lowe.

And-Ones: Daniels, Robinson, Mills

April 26th, 2014 at 12:46pm CST by Cray Allred

Hoops Rumors readers are some of the few wise enough to keep close track of the D-League’s impact on the NBA game, but last night the D-League made a big splash on the national stage. Troy Daniels, recalled by the Rockets two weeks ago, stepped up and hit a game-winning three to keep Houston from going down 0-3 to the Blazers. “To be honest, the D-League has prepared me for this moment,” Daniels told reporters after the game, including Sam Amick of USA Today Sports. “You can say whatever you want about the D-League, but I wouldn’t have hit that shot if I wasn’t in the D-League a couple weeks ago… It’s a dream come true. Plain and simple.” Here’s more from around the league:

League sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM that the Bulls, Bucks, and Magic all closely monitored Daniels as a prospect, but Rockets GM Daryl Morey made the necessary moves to accommodate bringing the unproven guard’s talents to Houston.
Thomas Robinson tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle that he is happy to play his current role with the Blazers, but won’t be content until he improves his game. “Right now, I do what I’m supposed to do for my team,” Robinson said. “My game will evolve. I love what I am right now. It’s not what I’m going to settle for. That’s when the summer time comes in. I can stay in the league doing what I do now, but I want to be at the top of the league by progressing, improving my game. I plan to be an All-Star.”
The NBPA isn’t close to hiring an executive director, and Steve Mills is just one candidate among many at this point, per a tweet from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Mills re-emerged as a strong candidate for the job yesterday.
Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report talked with Isiah Thomas about the decision players face each postseason: to play hurt in high-stakes playoff games and jeopardize their long-term health, or to rest and hurt their team’s chances to advance.

Steve Mills Again In Running For Top Union Job

April 25th, 2014 at 9:25am CST by Chuck Myron

Knicks GM Steve Mills is once more a strong candidate to become the next executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Many around the league had considered it a foregone conclusion that Mills would head the players union last summer, but that changed when the Knicks pulled off a September surprise and hired Mills to run their front office.

Mills lost his title of team president to Phil Jackson when the Knicks brought aboard the Zen Master last month, and Howard Beck of Bleacher Report wrote earlier this week that it was likely that Mills would cut loose or reassigned from his role as GM. Still, Jackson said Wednesday that hiring someone new for the front office is “not a priority.”

The union recently formed a search committee, headed by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, to come up with a replacement for Billy Hunter, who was ousted in February 2013. Screen Actors Guild executive director David White and attorney Michele Roberts appeared to be the finalists for the position as of this past February, but the committee is to come up with a new list of three to five finalists by early June.

And-Ones: Hoiberg, Knicks, Pelicans, Magic

April 11th, 2014 at 4:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

The final Friday night of the NBA’s regular season features 13 games, and 12 of them have some sort of playoff implications. The other is a key contest for the Bucks, who can clinch pole position for the NBA draft lottery with a loss and a Sixers win. Here’s the latest from around the Association:

Iowa State has hiked coach Fred Hoiberg‘s annual salaries to $2.6MM from $2MM in an effort to keep him, writes Luke Meredith of The Associated Press. The sought-after NBA head coaching candidate is unlikely to take the Wolves job, as we noted earlier today.
Knicks GM Steve Mills said in Thursday’s radio interview that owner James Dolan wanted to make sure he and Phil Jackson could work together before the team hired the Zen Master, and Marc Berman of the New York Post takes that as a positive sign for Mills’ job security.
James Southerland‘s contract with the Pelicans only runs through the end of the season, but coach Monty Williams isn’t ruling the small forward out of the team’s plans for the future, notes Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com. “If he plays well here [in the last week of the season], he could be in our discussions come summer league, if it works out,” Williams said. “We’ll see.”
E’Twaun Moore is set to become a restricted free agent in the offseason, but he says he “most definitely” would like to return to the Magic, observes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
The desire for maximum flexibility probably played a significant role in the Rockets‘ decision to waive Greg Smith, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports explains in a piece for the Score.
The Oregonian’s Mike Tokito explains how the NBA divvies up the $14MM it awards in playoff bonuses.

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Celtics, Booker, Cavs

April 10th, 2014 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Knicks GM Steve Mills denies last month’s report that he met with Phil Jackson about the possibility of the Zen Master coaching the team, though he admits that the team’s pursuit of Jackson, now team president, caused “problems” with coach Mike Woodson. Mills made his comments to Spike Lee in an interview airing tonight on SiriusXM NBA Radio, and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com provides an early peek. Mills also said that he feels he and Jackson can “do something special” as they work together in the Knicks front office. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Danny Ainge wants to “blow off some fireworks” with splashy moves this summer, but he isn’t making promises, as he said today in his weekly radio appearance on 98.5 the Sports Hub (transcription via Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com). Ainge reiterated that he’s looking for rim protection and said he’s also seeking a “closer.” The Celtics boss also expressed concern about the injury history of soon-to-be free agent Avery Bradley, though Ainge once more spoke of the team’s interest in the guard.
Trevor Booker started his 41st game for the Wizards on Wednesday, so the value of the qualifying offer the Wizards must make to keep him from unrestricted free agency this summer has risen from $3,420,443 to $4,677,708. I explained last month that Booker was approaching the league’s “starter criteria” for restricted free agents.
The Cavs have assigned Sergey Karasev and Scotty Hopson to their D-League affiliate in Canton, the D-League team announced (Twitter link). Karasev and Hopson, who’d just been recalled to Cleveland on Wednesday, will be available for Canton’s playoff game tonight.
We rounded up more on the Cavs and other Central Division news earlier today.

Jackson On Shumpert, Defense, Coaching

April 3rd, 2014 at 10:31pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Earlier today, we relayed some noteworthy comments from Phil Jackson about his willingness to do away with ties between the Knicks and Creative Artists Agency as well as his insistence that he won’t return to coaching. During his media session, the Zen master also praised Mike Woodson for how he’s handled the speculation about his future and shared more about the team’s recent performance. Here are a few more interesting things to relay from Jackson, transcribed by Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN New York:

On Iman Shumpert about what will be expected from him:

“I’m still a coach that believes in pressure, pressure defense, playing like we saw the Knicks play last night — anticipation, turnovers become run-outs…I was able to tell Iman today that’s what has to be seen on a basis that we’d like to see from game to game…It might not happen every game, but those are the things that break games open and give you opportunities to win when you have easy baskets. And defense can do that, so that’s a really important aspect.”

On the team’s defense:

“I think (Mike Woodson) has a philosophy,..It’s worked for him in the past. It’s worked for him in Atlanta. The big thing is you’ve got to have players buy into it. They have to believe in it…I think one of the reasons why they’ve been successful in the last month-and-a-half, whatever this run has been, has been their defense has improved…Mike likes to switch with bigs a lot of times and ends up rotating from the other side of the court, trying to get bigs on bigs and smalls on smalls. You know, that’s his style. Players have to buy into it. That’s what coaching is about.”

On whether or not he still gets the urge to coach:

“No, I don’t, but I do know that I can’t be too vocal about what I see going on all the time out there…If a flagrant foul happens, or there’s a couple of situations out there (that is) beyond the level of what is legitimate basketball, and I want to give my voice and my opinion to the referees, I don’t want to do that.”

On not traveling with the team for road games:

“My job is not to travel with the team…Mike is in control of this team, he’s the coach, he’s got that sculpt ahead of him, he knows what he is doing on the road. (Steve Mills) has chosen to go out there, and maybe (James Dolan) encouraged him to go out there…Steve has been away from the game a while so maybe that associated him back with the game…So he has traveled with the team but I don’t see general managers going on the road. However, in playoff situations, yes, I will be there at all games.”

Atlantic Notes: Young, Babb, Johnson, Knicks

March 22nd, 2014 at 2:14pm CST by Charlie Adams

While Thaddeus Young is focused on finishing the Sixers dismal season on a high note, he admits to Christopher A. Vito of The Delaware County Daily Times that his player option for the 2015/16 season has crossed his mind. “It’s a lot of money to leave on the table. At the end of the day, I’m not a guy that spends a lot of money,” Young said Friday. “Obviously, I want to be winning on a championship team. At the end of the day, like I said, it’s a card that could be played.” Young added that coach Brett Brown and GM Sam Hinkie have done their best to include the power forward on board with the rebuilding process. Here’s more from the Atlantic:

Celtics coach Brad Stevens says that the recently signed duo of Chris Babb and Chris Johnson were brought in to add character to the locker room and enhance practices with their good attitudes, writes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Babb and Johnson both hooked onto Boston with multi-year deals after each seeing a pair of 10-day contracts.
Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines the likelihood that the Celtics re-sign Jerryd Bayless for next season. Bayless will need to work on his defense if he wants to be in Boston long-term, says Forsberg.
Steve Mills’ new role in the Knicks organization will likely turn out to be only ceremonial, writes Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News. Team president Phil Jackson will look to bring in a different GM to handle day-to-day operations for the club, and Lawrence lists Kurt Rambis, Jim Cleamons, Ronnie Lester, and Mike Dunleavy as possible candidates for the job.
Crafting his front office team is only one of the tasks Jackson will face in the early stages of his new role for the Knicks. Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders discusses the other challenges the Zen Master will deal with in the early stages of his tenure in New York.
Harvery Araton of the New York Times thinks that the Knicks’ move to bring in Jackson has overshadowed the impressive recovery that the Nets have been able to make over the second half of the season. Brooklyn sits just one game back from third place in the East after an underwhelming start to the 2013/14 campaign.

Cray Allred contributed to this post.