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Grizzlies OK Wolves To Interview Dave Joerger

May 21st, 2014 at 1:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:45pm: The Grizzlies will probably seek compensation if the Wolves decide to hire Joerger, but it wouldn’t be a first-round draft pick, Zgoda tweets, and Memphis isn’t looking to stand in the way, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

12:59pm: The Timberwolves spoke with Izzo last night, but there’s no chance now that he’ll take the Minnesota job, according to Dan Barreiro of KFAN (Twitter link; hat tip to Zgoda).

12:53pm: The Wolves made their request for permission to speak with Joerger prior to this week’s front office chaos in Memphis, though it’s unclear if the Grizzlies gave Minnesota the green light before the turmoil began, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter links). Joerger is set to interview with the Wolves on Thursday, Amick adds.

12:19pm: Joerger is scheduled to interview with the Wolves within the next 24 hours, Wojnarowski tweets.

11:23am: It appears Joerger is at odds with Grizzlies scouting director David Mincberg, as they share mutual “hate,” tweets Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal.

10:27am: Joerger appears to be the favorite at this point, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link), and his affection for the state of Minnesota runs deep, Stein tweets.

9:59am: The Grizzlies have granted the Wolves permission to interview coach Dave Joerger for their coaching vacancy, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Joerger is eager to leave Memphis and Grizzlies ownership wants him out, too, but neither side wants to vacate his multiyear contract, according to Zgoda. Joerger has two years left on a three-year deal with Memphis that’s worth approximately $6MM. Joerger apparently received assurances from the attorney for Grizzlies owner Robert Pera that he would remain as coach of the team in the wake of the front office turmoil in Memphis, but it seems there’s mutual interest in a parting of ways. Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders has a longstanding relationship with Joerger, who grew up in Minnesota, and the interview will probably take place later this week, Zgoda hears.

Joerger just finished his first season as Grizzlies coach, overcoming concerns about his readiness for the job early in the season and an injury to Marc Gasol to complete a late run at 50 wins. Memphis pushed the Thunder to seven games in the opening round of the playoffs, but the success masked turmoil within the organization that’s come to light this week.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com first suggested earlier this week that Joerger would become a coaching candidate for the Wolves if the Grizzlies let him go. The club had reportedly been waiting on Tuesday’s draft lottery for clarity, and with the No. 13 picked locked in, it seems Saunders and company are ready to move forward. The same weekend report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that noted openness toward trading Kevin Love identified Sam Mitchell as a coaching candidate. Saunders interviewed Lionel Hollins several weeks ago, and though a report two weeks ago indicated that the team was waiting on an answer from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo before proceeding, the team isn’t holding back from looking at others.

And-Ones: Jackson, Pistons, Izzo, Lakers

May 18th, 2014 at 9:29pm CST by Zachary Links

The playoffs haven’t been pretty for the Pacers so far, but they clawed their way to the Eastern Conference Finals and today they reminded the Heat that they’re ready to give them another tough fight. The Pacers took Game 1 107-96 behind 24 points and seven assists from Paul George and 19 points and seven boards from David West. Here’s tonight’s look around the NBA..

Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson told Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter) that he’s yet to hear from an NBA team about a coaching job. He went on to say that he’s “relaxing and enjoying life.”
Despite a report to the contrary, the Pistons never offered the head coaching job to Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, writes Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News. Michigan coach John Beilein was also on the list, but didn’t get much further. Of course, Stan Van Gundy wound up signing on as coach and president of basketball operations.
With the Lakers season in the books, Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com looks at MarShon Brooks‘ time in L.A. Ever since breaking into the league as a promising rookie for the Nets, Brooks has played for three different teams in two seasons. While Kent Bazemore, the other asset coming over in the Steve Blake deal, hit it off with the Lakers, Brooks never found his groove.

And-Ones: Coaches, Wolves, Cavs

May 17th, 2014 at 10:45pm CST by Cray Allred

A league executive tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer that Dante Exum, who considers himself a point guard, will be taken high as a potential point guard despite his uncommon size and skill set for the position. The executive believes Exum will wind up a shooting guard, but says that Michael Carter-Williams‘ standout rookie performance as a 6’6″ point guard makes Exum more enticing for teams at the top of the draft. Here’s more from around the league:

Flip Saunders has conducted the Wolves coaching search with stealth, and Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reveals that Saunders interviewed rumored candidate Lionel Hollins three weeks ago.
Zgoda describes Hollins as “in the running” for the Cavs job. Hollins was named in earlier reports as a potential candidate.
Zgoda reports that Saunders also had informal discussions with Tom Izzo, Fred Hoiberg, and Stan Van Gundy, but the talks stalled in each case.
Izzo was first offered the five-year, $35MM offer to run the Pistons that Van Gundy eventually accepted, opting to stay in the college ranks, writes Zgoda.
Saunders isn’t interested in George Karl, who would prefer to coach the Cavs or, if Randy Wittman were fired, the Wizards over the Wolves, according to Zgoda.
Zgoda mentions Nate McMillan, Scott Skiles, and Sam Mitchell as intriguing possibilities for the Wolves head coaching vacancy in a separate piece. There hasn’t been any reported interest from the team toward McMillan or Skiles, and Minnesota is reportedly not interested in Mitchell.
During the combine, the Wolves met with enough power forwards and prospects projected in the top tier of the draft to make Zgoda wonder if a Kevin Love trade is a possibility (via Twitter). The Wolves have very little chance of moving above 13th in the first round, and obviously have no pressing need at power forward so long as Love is on the team.
LaQuinton Ross is scheduled to work out for the Cavs on Monday, reports Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal.
Tomas Satoranksy will join the Wizards summer league team for the second consecutive year, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington.com (H/T Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The shooting guard was selected as a “draft and stash” player in the second round of the 2012 draft, and could find his way onto the team next season if Washington loses perimeter talent to free agency, Michael writes.

Coaching Rumors: Jackson, Kerr, Karl, Izzo

May 7th, 2014 at 5:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Mark Jackson addressed the circumstances regarding his former Warriors assistant coaches Brian Scalabrine and Darren Erman in an interview with the NBA’s Sirius XM radio station earlier today (hat tip to Ben Golliver of SI.com). Of Scalabrine, Jackson said, “The one that was demoted [Scalabrine], I would have had handled it six weeks, a month, two months earlier. The things that took place from his side, I would have nipped it in the bud initially. That’s my fault for allowing it to go on. I’m pretty much a guy, just like ministry, I try to show you a different way of handling it. Hope that seeing me handle your disrespect, you’ll come around and realize this isn’t the way to handle it. Fortunately for me, it works for a lot of folks, there are some folks that just won’t get it and you have to handle them differently. I would do that differently.”

In regards to Erman, Jackson said, “As far as assistants, you have to pick people who are loyal and dedicated. It’s inexcusable what the second assistant [Erman] did. That cannot be tolerated. For folks to say, two situations, it’s obviously documented that they both were 100 percent wrong. The only fault I got is hiring those guys. I would use wisdom in who is around me.”

Woelfel On Pistons, Colangelo, Zarren, Izzo

May 7th, 2014 at 8:23am CST by Chuck Myron

Gary Woelfel of the The Journal Times has updates on the Pistons front office and coaching searches as well as the future of the Bucks. We’ll hit the highlights here:

Former Raptors and Suns GM Bryan Colangelo and current Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren are the front-runners for the top Pistons front office job, Woelfel hears. There’s talk that Detroit is targeting an experienced GM to serve as a mentor for the front office career of Chauncey Billups, Woelfel says, speculating that Bucks GM John Hammond, a former aide to Joe Dumars in the Pistons front office, could be a candidate.
Tom Izzo appeared to leave some wiggle room when he said last week that he didn’t want to coach in the NBA next season, and some around the league tell Woelfel that the Pistons could re-emerge as a suitor for the Michigan State bench boss. The Timberwolves aren’t counting themselves out of the running for Izzo either, as we passed along earlier, and Woelfel seconds that sentiment.
League approval of the sale of the Bucks to Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry could come as soon as a little more than a week from now, according to Woelfel. The wait has nonetheless left many within the Bucks in limbo, as several coaches and executives have said they haven’t been notified whether they’ll have their jobs next season, Woelfel writes.
The cost of a new Bucks arena in Milwaukee will be anywhere from $420MM to $500MM, a source tells Woelfel. Edens, Lasry and Kohl have committed a combined $200MM toward the arena’s construction.

Tom Izzo Won’t Coach In NBA Next Season

April 30th, 2014 at 11:24am CST by Chuck Myron

Tom Izzo said on ESPNU’s College Basketball podcast today that he’ll return to Michigan State next season rather than pursue interest from the NBA, as Andy Katz of ESPN.com writes. Izzo had reportedly been a candidate to coach the Wolves and Pistons, though he says he hasn’t heard from any NBA team this year.

“If somebody made me an offer to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers that was so good that it would impress everybody, does that mean I would never say never? I’m not doing that anymore,” Izzo said. “I’ve seen too many people get stung that way. But put it this way, I’ve got a big-time recruit coming in an hour and if I was leaving I wouldn’t be recruiting.”

The 59-year-old Izzo strongly denied the rumors linking him to the Pistons last month, but the perception has remained that he had interest in a pro job. People close to the coach told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com last month that they thought he’d entertain NBA offers but that he wouldn’t leave this year. Fellow ESPN.com Marc Stein scribe suggested about a week ago that Izzo would listen to an offer from Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders, his friend, but it appears as though Saunders can cross Izzo off his list of candidates.

Izzo considered taking the Cavaliers coaching job in 2010, but decided against it. He’s expressed frustration with the changing dynamics of recruiting players for the Spartans, but it looks as though he’ll be doing that job for at least one more year.

And-Ones: Pacers, Izzo, Donovan, Kings

April 23rd, 2014 at 7:59pm CST by Alex Lee

With a trio of Game Threes on the schedule, let’s take a look at what is going on around the league on Wednesday night:

With Frank Vogel‘s job reportedly on the line in Indiana, Sean Deveney of Sporting News examines the caveats of the recent NBA trend of hiring younger, cheaper and less experienced head coaches in the mold of the Pacers’ front man. Speaking with several veteran coaches, Deveney writes that policing an NBA locker room is all the more difficult without extensive NBA experience, be it as a coach or a player.
There has never been more NBA-centric buzz about Tom Izzo, though the Michigan State head coach remains a long shot to leave East Lansing for a gig in the professional ranks. However should the Michigan-born Izzo need to hire an agent, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that it would likely be Minneapolis-based Gary O’Hagan. Wolfson confirms reports we’ve heard that the Timberwolves would love to land Izzo as their next head coach.
We know the Wolves are also interested in Florida’s Billy Donovan, who flirted with the NBA seven years ago before eventually backing out. Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who coached Donovan at Providence, said Wednesday morning on ESPN’s Mike & Mike that Donovan would make an excellent NBA head coach, though Pitino suspects his protege might again get cold feet before making the leap to the next level, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.
Heading into an important offseason in Sacramento, Ailene Voison of the Bee puts the microscope on the Kings‘ front office hierarchy, led by first-year general manager Pete D’Alessandro. As Voison opines, D’Alessandro is challenged with employing an effective small- to mid-market approach in the mold of the Spurs and Pacers, something the previous regime in Sacramento failed to do.

Latest On Wolves Coaching Candidates

April 23rd, 2014 at 12:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 12:41pm: Saunders reiterated his “never say never” approach to the idea of coaching the team, but said he doesn’t envision that scenario playing out as he spoke on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike” this morning (transcription via Marc Stein of ESPN.com). He did say his experience as a coach will allow the team to take its time with the search, since he’ll be able to oversee offseason training and development schedules for the players while the position remains open.

MONDAY, 2:58pm: Saunders poured cold water on the idea of Hoiberg’s candidacy for the job, telling Chad Hartman of WCCO-AM that, “He’s [Fred] not at a point where he’s ready to move to the NBA. That’s not happening,” as Wolfson notes via Twitter. Saunders also wouldn’t hire Frank Vogel were the Pacers coach to become available, Wolfson tweets.

1:21pm: Stein suggests that Donovan, Hoiberg and Izzo would all listen to entreaties from the Wolves, but the ESPN.com scribe acknowledges that it would be an uphill battle to convince any of them to take the job. There are mixed signals on whether Saunders wants to coach, and whether Taylor would allow him to, according to Stein, altering the narrative from previous reports about the idea. Stein also points to the lengthy search that Saunders is planning as reason that Van Gundy and brother Jeff Van Gundy may emerge as serious candidates.

1:03pm: A source close to Donovan tells Wolfson that while the Florida coach would consider the NBA, he doubts he’d go to Minnesota (Twitter link).

11:14am: University of Florida coach Billy Donovan is drawing interest from the Wolves as they search for a new head coach, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, while Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports adds former Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins to the list of candidates. Sam Amick of USA Today suggests George Karl is also a candidate, though last season’s NBA Coach of the Year reportedly wouldn’t have interest.

President of basketball operations Flip Saunders suggested today that the team will conduct an extensive search that might not be complete in time for the June 26th draft, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). He mentioned experience and clout as criteria he’s looking for in a new sideline boss, observes Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (on Twitter). Saunders said “never say never” about the notion that he’d become the next coach of the team, or that the Wolves might trade for a coach, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.

Saunders reportedly would like to coach the team, but owner Glen Taylor doesn’t want anyone to have the top front office and coaching responsibilities at the same time. Fred Hoiberg, Tom Izzo and Stan Van Gundy have also drawn mention as potential Wolves targets, though all three appear to be longshots. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio identified Suns assistant coach Jerry Sichting as a “name to really watch” in regard to the Wolves opening.

Donovan accepted the Magic’s head coaching job in 2007, but quickly backed out. He said in late 2012 that he wouldn’t rule out an eventual jump to the NBA. Hollins appeared to be a candidate for the Pistons coaching job after they fired Maurice Cheeks at midseason, and he had interest in that job. The team still hasn’t named a permanent head coach, with interim coach John Loyer having served as the team’s bench boss for the remainder of the season. It’s unclear if Hollins remains a candidate in Detroit.

Western Notes: Lakers, Faried, Corbin, Wolves

April 17th, 2014 at 9:43pm CST by Alex Lee

It is certainly no surprise that, after we rounded up the Lakers’ exit interviews earlier tonight, there is already more buzz coming out of Los Angeles. This is the Lakers, after all. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports is reporting that Pau Gasol would consider reuniting with former coach Phil Jackson, now running things with the Knicks. Citing a source, Spears hears that the interest is mutual.

Meanwhile, Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report mentions both Van Gundys, Stan and Jeff, as names that stand out to him should the Lakers part ways with Mike D’Antoni. Within the same story, Ding breaks down the team’s draft lottery odds as well as maps out the complicated status of their draft picks beyond this season. Here is what else is going on in the Western Conference:

Earlier this month it was Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly that had some kind words to say about Kenneth Faried. On Thursday, it was Brian Shaw’s turn. As Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post writes, the head coach wants and expects to have Faried in a Nuggets uniform next season. Faried was frequently mentioned in trade rumors this season.
The fate of Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin will hang in the balance just a little longer, according to Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune, who writes that the team will take a “decompression period” before making a decision on whether or not to bring the coach back. Luhm reports that a decision could come down as soon as this weekend.
With Rick Adelman’s departure imminent, the Wolves head coaching wish list includes Tom Izzo, Fred Hoiberg and Stan Van Gundy, reports Spears in his final power rankings column.
It’s a small silver lining in an otherwise ugly season in Minnesota, but ESPN’s Marc Stein tweets that the Wolves can take solace in the fact that they refused to deal rookie Gorgui Dieng at the trade deadline before they knew what they had (Twitter links). The Louisville product was a bright spot in Minnesota down the stretch and figures to be a key contributor in his second season.

No Chance Adelman Returns As Wolves Coach

April 17th, 2014 at 8:28am CST by Chuck Myron

There is no chance that Rick Adelman will be back as coach of the Timberwolves next season, one of the team’s decision-makers tells Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune. It’s certainly not a surprise, given that many around the Wolves have believed that the 67-year-old would retire after the season. Fellow Star Tribune scribe Jerry Zgoda said last month that if Adelman didn’t leave, the Wolves would turn down their mutual option to retain him. Still, it seemed at the time that there was at least a remote chance the longtime coach would be back with the team.

Adelman is set to meet today with owner Glen Taylor and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders, with a final decision on the coach’s future to come as soon as this week. Both the team and Adelman have two weeks to exercise the mutual option. The Wolves have reportedly discussed him staying on with the club as a consultant, though it’s unclear if that will happen. Adelman’s wife has suffered from seizures over the past few years, and her health weighed on his mind before he decided to coach this season.

The Wolves haven’t made the playoffs in three seasons under Adelman, even though they made a nine-game improvement this year. He’s otherwise been a successful NBA coach, compiling a 1,042-749 record and winning raves for his offensive innovations.

The Wolves had apparently envisioned a strong pursuit of Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, but he’s unlikely to join the Wolves, and while Taylor and Saunders like Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, too, he’s also a longshot, Hartman writes. Taylor doesn’t want Saunders to coach because he’d prefer his top basketball executive and his coach not to be the same person, Hartman writes. Saunders reportedly would like to return to the bench, and Hartman thinks Saunders can convince his boss to let him do so.