- Both Jaylen Brown (California) and Gary Payton II (Oregon State) described their interviews with Kings executive Vlade Divac as “fun,” with Brown also noting that the mood was lighter and less stressful than other interviews he has participated in, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays (Twitter links).
The Celtics have a tentative workout scheduled with Duke small forward Brandon Ingram, a prime contender to become the No. 1 pick, reports Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). The outcome of the lottery will determine whether it takes place, according to Murphy, and presumably, the Celtics will have to land one of the top two selections. Ingram is the top prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and second in the listings Chad Ford of ESPN.com compiles.
See more draft news on day three of the combine:
- Syracuse shooting guard Malachi Richardson and Kansas forward/center Cheick Diallo have told teams they’ve decided to stay in the draft rather than pull out by May 25th to retain their college eligibility, reports Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- The Pacers, Warriors, Spurs, Wizards, Rockets and Mavericks are among the teams that have spoken with Syracuse swingman Michael Gbinije, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
- Notre Dame point guard Demetrius Jackson has interviewed with the Suns, Spurs, Kings, Trail Blazers and Bucks, observes Rod Beard of The Detroit News, who also cites Jackson’s previously reported interview with the Pistons.
- Villanova shooting guard Josh Hart has worked out for the Clippers and has another workout scheduled with the Hawks on May 24th, as Zagoria relays. He’ll also work out for the Celtics and Spurs, and his previously reported workout with the Sixers takes place Monday, Zagoria reveals. The Knicks, Wizards, Thunder, Trail Blazers, Pacers, Grizzlies and Jazz interviewed Hart at the combine, according to Zagoria.
- Purdue big man Caleb Swanigan has the Pistons, Hawks, Wizards and Suns among the teams on his interview list, Zagoria tweets.
Skal Labissiere‘s impressive private workout on Wednesday didn’t quite measure up to the hype, contends Chad Ford of ESPN.com in an Insider-only piece, who pegs the draft range for the Kentucky big man as No. 9 to No. 20. The Suns and Kings are among the teams Labissiere has interviewed with at the combine, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, echoing previous reports about interviews with Philadelphia and New Orleans. Ford’s sources remain solidly in the camp of Ben Simmons over Brandon Ingram for the top overall pick, while it appears it’s a battle between Jamal Murray and Kris Dunn for the No. 3 pick, Ford hears. Still, no one had a more impressive combine showing Thursday than Cheick Diallo, a high second-round prospect, according to Ford. Both his strengths and weaknesses were on display, as Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz of DraftExpress detail. The Kansas center/forward says he’ll probably remain in the draft, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv details, adding the Warriors, Mavericks, Nets, Sixers, Knicks and Raptors to the list of teams he’s interviewing with at the combine.
See more updates as the combine continues:
- The Lakers interviewed Ingram, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
- The Bulls, Hawks, Kings, Spurs and Rockets are among the teams interviewing Cal swingman Jaylen Brown, as he told reporters and as Basketball Insiders relays in a video. Also on the list are Boston and Minnesota, as we passed along earlier.
- UNLV shooting guard Patrick McCaw listed the Raptors, Bucks, Hornets, Cavaliers and Heat, as well as a previously reported meeting with Boston, among his interviews, as Basketball Insiders relays in another video.
- Wisconsin power forward Nigel Hayes will work out for the Suns, Celtics and Knicks, reports Sean Deveney of The Sporting News (Twitter link). Ford heard some negativity surrounding his performance Thursday.
- The Pelicans, Knicks, Mavericks, Hornets and Lakers are the previously unreported teams on the interview list for Maryland point guard Melo Trimble, as J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic relays. Ford heard from NBA types down on Trimble’s showing Thursday.
- Former Iona combo guard A.J. English met with the Pelicans and will do so with the Wizards and Nets, Zagoria tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
- The Spurs, Warriors, Nuggets and Grizzlies are the previously unreported teams interviewing Seton Hall shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead, Zagoria relays (Twitter link). He’ll work out for the Sixers on Monday, the Pacers on Wednesday, the Celtics on May 20th and the Bulls on May 23rd, a source tells Zach Braziller of the New York Post (Twitter links). Boston, Indiana and Chicago are particularly interested in him, Braziller hears.
- Vlade Divac said Tuesday that DeMarcus Cousins needs rules and structure, but the hiring of player-friendly Dave Joerger as coach doesn’t jibe with that, observes Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Still, the Kings found Joerger’s postseason experience with the Grizzlies his most attractive asset, and Divac, who said he won’t trade Cousins this year, insisted the days of constant turmoil are over in Sacramento, Voisin writes.
The Kings don’t intend to trade volatile center DeMarcus Cousins this offseason, Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV relays (via Twitter). According to team executive Vlade Divac, the organization intends to hang onto the big man, with Divac saying, “He’s not going to be traded — this year for sure.”
There was a sense within the Kings organization that Divac would be willing to gauge the market for Cousins this summer, having become increasingly frustrated with the mercurial big man, according to an earlier report from Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. In April, Divac wouldn’t directly answer when asked whether the firing of George Karl meant he’s committed to Cousins. “Anything about the players and how we are going to do in the summer,” Divac said, “I don’t want to talk about right now because our focus is to find a new coach.”
Divac’s phrasing about not dealing Cousins is certainly interesting, and it’s unclear if his indication that the center wouldn’t be traded “this year” means the entirety of the 2016/17 campaign or merely the calendar year of 2016. If it was the latter, then that still leaves the door wide open for speculation that Cousins is a candidate to be flipped by next February’s trade deadline. It remains to be seen if new head coach Dave Joerger will be able to reach Cousins and earn his respect, which will certainly be a major determining factor for whether the big man remains in Sacramento, though that is merely my speculation.
Cousins is certainly one of the most talented centers in the NBA, though his disciplinary problems and frequent outbursts often overshadow his immense physical skills. After the ouster of Karl, with whom the center was seemingly in conflict from day one of his coaching tenure, Cousins indicated that he’d prefer to remain in Sacramento. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve grown an attachment to the city, like, the way these people treat me, the love they give out to me, and vice versa,” Cousins said. “I feel like I have an attachment, and it’s something that I do owe to this city. I want to be the person to bring this city back to the glory days. I want to grow myself and this city all together. I want to bring us back to those glory days. So, that’s where I’m at with it. This is like a personal vendetta for me.”
The 25-year-old has two seasons remaining on his current deal. He’s scheduled to earn $16,957,900 next season and $18,063,850 in 2017/18. He appeared in 65 games this past season for the Kings and averaged 26.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 34.6 minutes per outing.
New Kings coach Dave Joerger pledged today that he’d work in concert with GM Vlade Divac, in contrast to the discord between coach and front office that marked George Karl‘s Sacramento tenure and Joerger’s time in Memphis, as ESPN.com notes. The Kings haven’t made the playoffs in 10 years, but Joerger, who took the Sacramento job despite openings in Houston and Indiana, is optimistic about the future for Sacramento, observes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “The team’s on the rise,” Joerger said. “There’s still some heavy lifting to do but some of the heavy lifting has been done. This is not a blow it up, let’s start all over again situation. We’re on the road to recovery.”
See more from Sacramento:
- Miscommunication disrupted the process that led to the hiring of Ken Catanella as Kings assistant GM, several league sources told Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. A confused narrative exists on whether Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace was a candidate, and it seemed former Bucks and Pacers executive David Morway was headed for the job before talks broke off.
- Some of the candidates for the head coaching job pulled out before the search was over, while others simply used the team’s interest to bolster their resumes, according to Lowe.
- The Kings dismissed assistant coaches Chad Iske and John Welch but will keep fellow assistants Nancy Lieberman and Corliss Williamson, as Jones and The Bee’s Ailene Voisin relay (Twitter links).
- One of the candidates who interviewed for the head coaching job gave Jake Fischer of SI.com an anonymous rundown of the visit, providing insight on the team’s approach and telling Fischer that before Joerger emerged, the Kings originally planned to narrow the field to two finalists who would meet with Ranadive. That essentially jibes with earlier reporting from Jones, who heard the team intended to name three finalists.
Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports Images
3:30pm: The hiring is official, the team announced.
“I am thrilled to welcome Dave to the Sacramento Kings,” Divac said. “He is a strong and passionate leader with a proven track record of producing results. Dave shares our focus on creating a long-term culture of winning and I look forward to a bright future ahead for the Kings with his leadership on the court.”
1:22pm: The Kings and Dave Joerger have struck agreement on a four-year deal worth $16MM that will make him the team’s head coach, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter links). The fourth season will be a team option, Wojnarowski adds. Sacramento had hoped to come to terms today on that very contract structure, as Wojnarowski reported just minutes ago. Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported the framework of a four-year arrangement with a team option, and Wojnarowski first reported that Sacramento had Joerger atop its wish list in the wake of the Grizzlies’ decision to fire him Saturday.
Joerger and the Kings moved quickly, as the coach met with GM Vlade Divac on Sunday and did the same with owner Vivek Ranadive today, Wojnarowski notes. The Kings had reportedly been telling other candidates that they’d wait to speak again with three finalists in the coming days, but apparently the prospect of securing Joerger proved too tempting. The ex-Memphis coach had planned to wait to hear from the Rockets, with whom he reportedly held mutual interest, but it’s unclear if Joerger and Houston ever touched base.
The 42-year-old Joerger is expected to bring Grizzlies assistant Elston Turner with him to Sacramento and is likely to hire veteran NBA and college assistant Bill Bayno for the staff, too, according to Wojnarowski. Turner is one of a lengthy list of names attached to the Kings job over the past few weeks, though it wasn’t clear whether he was indeed a head coaching candidate or merely an assistant coaching option all along.
Sacramento conducted by far the most wide-ranging coaching search in the league this year with Kevin McHale, Frank Vogel, Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks, Kenny Atkinson, Luke Walton, Sam Mitchell, Vinny Del Negro, Mike Woodson, David Blatt, Mark Jackson, Ettore Messina, James Borrego, Henry Bibby, Patrick Ewing, Mark Jackson, Nate McMillan, Jeff Hornacek, Corliss Williamson, Jay Larranaga, Brian Shaw, Ime Udoka, Jeff Van Gundy and Monty Williams all drawing Sacramento’s eye at one point or another, according to previous reports.
Joerger carries a 147-99 regular season record and a 9-13 postseason mark to Sacramento from his time with Memphis, but he’ll be hard-pressed to duplicate that sort of success for the Kings, who haven’t made the postseason since 2006. He’ll be Sacramento’s ninth coach since the team fired Rick Adelman after that playoff run, and the sixth who’ll try to get the most out of talented but fiery superstar DeMarcus Cousins, assuming the Kings don’t trade the big man this summer. Divac is reportedly willing to gauge the market for Cousins in the months ahead.
Is Joerger the right choice for the Kings? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
- Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace has acknowledged speaking with Kings GM Vlade Divac about a job in Sacramento’s front office, but he told Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal and others that the talk didn’t constitute an interview and that he didn’t pursue the gig. Conflicting reports have painted a confused picture of the Kings-Wallace connection, though Wallace appears to suggest it’s all a matter of semantics, as Herrington examines.
12:48pm: The deal would indeed be a four-year arrangement with a team option on the fourth season, sources tell Wojnarowski, so the reports on contract length now align (Twitter link).
11:29am: The Kings hope they’ll finalize a deal with Joerger today, Stein hears (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 7:56am: Joerger is just one of three finalists, Divac said, according to Voisin (Twitter link). The identity of the other finalists is unclear. The Kings plan to meet with each of the finalists in the coming days and hope to make a decision by the end of the week, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
The deal the Kings and Joerger are discussing involves a team option on the fourth season, Stein writes. That would seem to account for the difference between the three- and four-year offers Stein and Wojnarowski referred to earlier.
SUNDAY, 11:55pm: A meeting with owner Vivek Ranadive set for Monday is the last obstacle between Dave Joerger and a deal to become Kings coach, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The team flew Joerger and his family to Sacramento, and the sides have made significant progress toward a three-year deal worth about $4MM a year, Wojnarowski hears, though sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com that they’ve been discussing a four-year arrangement for the same annual salary (Twitter link).
Regardless, GM Vlade Divac still plans to compose a list of finalists, and that’s the message that the team has communicated to its candidates even since Joerger’s arrival for today’s face-to-face with Divac, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, (Twitter links). That suggests Sacramento hasn’t ruled out hiring someone other than Joerger just yet. Joerger, too, has held mutual interest with the Rockets, as USA Today’s Sam Amick noted earlier, and his plan was to wait to hear from Houston before making a decision, according to TNT’s David Aldridge, but whether the Rockets are still in the picture for him after today’s meeting with Divac is unknown.
Joerger spoke at length with Divac today and would have the authority to hire his own assistants, though doubt exists about whether he wants to bring his Grizzlies staff with him, as Wojnarowski details. Still, it’s expected that Joerger would hire Grizzlies assistant Elston Turner, and he’d also likely to bring aboard Bill Bayno, a longtime college and NBA assistant who wasn’t with the Grizzlies, according to Wojnarowski. Turner has already interviewed with the Kings, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee noted earlier, but it’s unclear if that was for an assistant job or the head coaching job.
Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace didn’t speak with the Kings about the front office job that ultimately went to Ken Catanella, a Grizzlies source told Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal, who nonetheless heard from a Kings source that Wallace went so far as to engage in contract negotiations with Sacramento. Wallace denied that he spoke with the Kings, as Chris Vernon of WMFS-FM relays (Twitter links), with Wallace telling Vernon he has no reason to leave amid what he calls the best run of his career. “I never interviewed for a job with Kings,” Wallace said. “I’ve been in Memphis 9 years. I’m not interested [in] going anywhere.”
The notion that Wallace would leave the top front office job in Memphis for the No. 2 post under Vlade Divac in Sacramento would be troubling if accurate, Calkins posits. See more from Tennessee:
- Grizzlies management wanted to keep Joerger, but the coach forced the issue, Calkins writes in the same piece. Still, Joerger wasn’t Wallace’s guy, as Calkins points out.
- Key players on the Grizzlies as well as the team’s front office weren’t in Dave Joerger‘s corner, and Marc Gasol and Mike Conley never embraced Joerger’s style in his three seasons as head coach, according to Peter Edmiston of WHBQ-FM and The Commercial Appeal (Twitter links).
- The Grizzlies are in the middle of the pack, NBA’s no-man’s land, and the imperative this summer is that they acquire players who fit with a long-range plan, The Vertical’s Bobby Marks opines.
- To see the latest on the Grizzlies coaching search, click here.