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And-Ones: Summer League, Stretch Candidates, Sloukas

May 7th, 2019 at 10:06am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League now features all 30 of the league’s teams and is the epicenter of NBA activity in July, but it’s not the only Summer League that remains active.

According to a press release, the Spurs, Grizzlies, and Cavaliers will join the Jazz for the 2019 Salt Lake City Summer League, which is scheduled to take place in Utah from July 1-3. Each of the four participating teams will play the other teams once, for a total of three games, before moving onto Vegas.

While Utah’s Summer League generally flies under the radar, it will represent an opportunity for young players and recent draftees on those four teams to get a head start on their professional careers. If the Cavaliers luck out in the lottery, we could even see a top prospect like Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, or R.J. Barrett make his debut that week in Salt Lake City.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

  • Which players around the league are the best candidates to be waived and stretched this offseason? Danny Leroux of The Athletic identifies several of them, including players with small partial guarantees – such as George Hill and Avery Bradley – and vets with overpriced contracts, like Tyler Johnson and Bismack Biyombo.
  • Jeremy Woo of SI.com takes a closer look at the stability of the eight remaining playoff teams, exploring which of those clubs could be in for major changes this summer once they’re eliminated from the postseason.
  • Greek guard Kostas Sloukas is said to be drawing interest from a pair of NBA teams, tweets journalist George Zakkas (hat tip to Sportando). Sloukas, who went undrafted back in 2012, has had an impressive career with Olympiacos and now Fenerbahce — the 29-year-old has three EuroLeague championships and three Turkish League titles under his belt.
  • The NBA recently issued a press release announcing that its 2019 Global Camp will take place in Monaco from May 30 to June 2. The event is a pre-draft showcase focusing on the top draft-eligible prospects from outside America.
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Draft Notes: Hampton, Elite Camp, Celtics, Simonds, Hawks

May 5th, 2019 at 9:56pm CST by JD Shaw

RJ Hampton has decided to graduate high school early and reclassify to the Class of 2019, he told ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Hampton is the No. 4 player in ESPN’s top-100 class of early 2020 rankings, explaining his major decision to reclassify to Givony.

“I’ve decided to reclassify to the 2019 class,” Hampton told ESPN. “I am doing this because I feel that from a development standpoint, this is the right move for me at this time in order to play against the highest level of competition possible. I am eager to test myself against older and more physically developed players in order to help improve my weaknesses and prepare me for reaching the ultimate goal of playing in the NBA.”

With his decision, Hampton will enroll for college this summer and be eligible for the 2020 NBA Draft. A 6-foot-5 versatile player at 188 pounds, Hampton is one of the most promising young point guards in high school, now shifting his focus to interested schools such as Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis and Texas Tech, according to ESPN.

“This is a move we’ve been contemplating for some time and we don’t take lightly,” Hampton’s father, Rod, told ESPN. “As someone that played in college as well as professionally in Europe, I know that you can’t skip steps in a player’s development. Thankfully, because of the hard work that RJ has put in in the classroom — achieving a 3.75 GPA and a 1280 SAT — he was able to have this option. This weekend playing against the top players in high school basketball at the Nike EYBL, as well as earlier this month at USA Basketball, my wife, Markita, and I realized that RJ is ready to take the next step and challenge himself by taking the next step in level of competition.”

Here are some other draft-related notes today:

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Texas Notes: Spurs, Milutinov, Walker, Bzdelik

May 5th, 2019 at 11:29am CST by Arthur Hill

Barring any surprises, the Spurs‘ starting five for next season appears set, writes Jeff McDonald of The Athletic. Dejounte Murray, returning from a torn right ACL, should take over at point guard, with Derrick White joining him in the backcourt. DeMar DeRozan will move to forward, alongside LaMarcus Aldridge and Jakob Poeltl, who impressed the coaching staff after a midseason move into the starting lineup.

That means, if he returns, Rudy Gay will continue in a bench role, along with Bryn Forbes, who started much of this season. Coach Gregg Popovich wants DeRozan to become more proficient from 3-point territory to make up for not having Forbes as a starter.

“That’s what the league is all about now,” Popovich said. “End of the game, the first thing that you look at is 3-point shooting, and it covers up a whole lot of warts. You can get beat on the boards —  I mean, in one of the games that we beat Denver, they had 28 second-chance points, but they shot horribly, and we shot very well. Game over. It’s not very interesting. It’s not much fun. But that’s the way the league is.”

There’s more NBA news from Texas:

  • The Spurs may be ready to add draft-and-stash project Nikola Milutinov to their roster, McDonald adds. The 26th pick in 2015, Milutinov has been playing for Olympiacos B.C. of the Greek Basketball League, where he averaged 10.7 PPG and 6.8 RPG this season. The Spurs will explore the 24-year-old center’s market value before bringing him to the U.S., and McDonald expects them to let him adjust to the league gradually, just as they did with Boban Marjanovic and Davis Bertans.
  • Kemba Walker appears to be the Mavericks‘ most realistic option in free agency, Marc Stein of the New York Times said in a recent radio interview in Dallas. Stein said the Mavs are “legitimately intrigued” by Walker, and he believes they will get a meeting with him when free agency begins in July.
  • Rockets associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik has found a way to balance basketball and family after briefly walking away from the game last fall, relays Brian T. Smith of The Houston Chronicle. Houston convinced him to return in November and he helped fix the defense after a disastrous start. “He was kind of resolute for a little while,” said Rockets CEO Tad Brown. “Fortunately for us, we were able to wear him down and end up bringing him back. The first thing was always, let’s make sure everything is OK, personally, with he and his family. And then, secondarily, how do we handle this, how do we move forward? But at the same time, he’s a key part of what we do. How do we get him back to (our) family?”
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Cavs Secure Permission To Interview Ettore Messina

May 4th, 2019 at 9:19am CST by JD Shaw

The Cavaliers have received permission to interview Spurs assistant Ettore Messina for their vacant head coaching job, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter link).

Messina adds to a long list of coaches who have registered interest from Cleveland, including Blazers assistants David Vanterpool and Nate Tibbetts, Nuggets assistants Jordi Fernandez and Wes Unseld Jr., Mavs assistant Jamahl Mosley, Jazz assistant Alex Jensen, Heat assistant Juwan Howard, Spurs assistant Ime Udoka and former Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

Among the group, only Mosley, Howard, Bickerstaff, and Jensen have interviewed to date. The Cavs are conducting a wide-ranging search in wake of their mutual parting with former coach Larry Drew, but the team has yet to ask for permission to interview any college coaching candidates, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Messina holds several years of coaching experience and started with the Spurs in 2014. Before that, he spent over two decades coaching overseas and eventually agreed to become a consultant for the Lakers in 2011-12.

“Coach Messina is one of the finest coaches we have in the business, and hopefully he will get a shot to show that (as a head coach) in the NBA at some point” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said this season, as relayed by Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.

This would be the second head coaching gig Messina has interviewed for in the past calendar year. He pursued the Suns’ job last spring and ultimately lost to the recently fired Igor Kokoskov, also receiving interest from teams such as the Kings and Lakers in their coaching searches at the time.

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Cavs To Meet With Spurs Assistant Udoka

May 3rd, 2019 at 8:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers will interview Spurs assistant Ime Udoka this weekend for their head coaching vacancy, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

Udoka was a candidate for the Pistons’ head coaching job last summer before Detroit owner Tom Gores chose Dwane Casey.

Udoka joins a growing list of possible replacements for Larry Drew, who mutually agreed to part ways with the organization after the season.

Former Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff interviewed for the position on Tuesday and Jazz assistant coach and former Canton Charge assistant Alex Jensen was interviewed on Friday. Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley sat down with Cleveland’s brass last week. Nuggets assistants Jordi Fernandez and Wes Unseld Jr. are also expected to be interviewed.

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Spurs, Rudy Gay Have Mutual Interest In New Deal

May 2nd, 2019 at 6:57pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Rudy Gay has transitioned from a top-flight scorer to a veteran mentor ready to take on whatever role is best for the team. The combo forward has been particularly helpful with the Spurs‘ young prospects.

“He’s a very outgoing individual,” coach Gregg Popovich said (via Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News). “He’s an easy teammate to be with, so he makes people feel comfortable. For young guys just starting out like Lonnie [Walker], it’s important to see the vets and be able to sit down and have a meal with them and laugh. [Gay] does that well.”

Gay appreciates how the organization has treated him and his family, and likes the city of San Antonio, Orsborn writes. Gay will be a free agent this offseason, but both he and the Spurs have a mutual interest in a new deal.

“We are hoping we can figure out a way to keep him here,” Popovich said.

San Antonio has a reputation for cohesiveness even as the franchise shuffles its roster. Gay said he has never experienced a unit as close as this year’s Spurs team.

“We had a lot of new pieces, played through a lot of adversity, the media saying we weren’t going to the playoffs,” he said. “We played through a lot. That forced us to be a tight team.”

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Southwest Notes: Nene, Pelicans, Gay, Guards

April 30th, 2019 at 6:37pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Nene didn’t play in the Rockets first four playoff games but he saw action in the team’s closeout win over the Jazz and Game 1 loss to the Warriors, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes.

“It’s a man’s game and he’s a man,” coach Mike D’Antoni said of Nene’s play. “He’s effective for limited minutes. We have to be careful with him because we like for him to last the whole time. But he was good.”

Nene only suited up in 42 games for the Rockets this season. He’s made all six of his attempts over the past two playoff games, giving Houston 22 minutes of solid play.

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • The Pelicans have poached athletic trainer Aaron Nelson from the Suns, Marc Stein of the New York Times reports (Twitter link). Vice president of basketball operations David Griffin worked with Nelson while the two were in Phoenix together.
  • Rudy Gay is the only free agent of “significance” in San Antonio, Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes in his Spurs offseason preview, adding that Gay would like to stay with the Spurs on a “team-friendly” deal. The combo forward made slightly over $10MM this past season.
  • The Spurs could look to trade either Bryn Forbes of Marco Belinelli, Deveney contends in the same piece. The team has a logjam at their guard spots and both Dejounte Murray and Derrick White have too much upside for Spurs to think about moving either of them. Deveney also adds that coach Gregg Popovich, who’s expected to sign a new deal with San Antonio, values Patty Mills as a leader, making his departure unlikely.
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Spurs, Popovich Expected To Complete Three-Year Deal

April 30th, 2019 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Once head coach Gregg Popovich officially commits to returning to the Spurs‘ bench for next season, he and the team are expected to finalize a three-year contract that will ensure he remains the NBA’s highest-paid coach, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Despite some speculation that Popovich may elect to retire after the 2018/19 season, all recent signs have pointed toward him continuing his coaching career. A report over the weekend suggested as much, and Popovich himself dropped plenty of hints that he’d return during his end-of-season session with reporters on Monday.

According to Wojnarowski, Popovich’s new deal won’t change the fact that he’ll continue to evaluate his future on a year-to-year basis. Spurs ownership feels that the sport’s longest-tenured coach is entitled to manage his future however he wants, sources tell Woj.

In addition to remaining on the sidelines for the Spurs, Popovich will be the head coach for Team USA at the 2019 World Cup in China and at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. As Wojnarowski notes, the idea of Popovich retiring after next year’s Olympics has also been a popular theory, but there’s no indication at this point that the 70-year-old is leaning in that direction.

Although Popovich’s Spurs couldn’t get by the Nuggets in the first round of this year’s playoffs, it was another impressive season for the veteran head coach, who led San Antonio to the postseason for the 22nd straight year.

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Popovich Strongly Hints He’ll Remain Spurs’ Coach

April 29th, 2019 at 5:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Gregg Popovich plans to remains the Spurs coach for a 24th season and is currently in negotiations with the front office to finalize the deal, he hinted on Monday to the media, including the San Antonio Express News’ Tom Orsborn. “It’s one third Portofino, one third Positano, and one third San Antonio,” wine connoisseur Popovich quipped about contract talks.

Popovich’s contract expired at the end of the season. He is the longest-tenured coach in any of the four major professional sports leagues. The Spurs were eliminated by Denver on Saturday in the only opening-round playoff series that required seven games to determine a victor.

The Spurs finished the regular season with 48 victories despite a major roster overhaul during the offseason, including the blockbuster deal that sent starters Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to Toronto. San Antonio’s starting point guard Dejounte Murray suffered a season-ending knee injury prior to the regular-season opener.

With DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge along with promising young pieces, the 70-year-old Popovich indicated he’s eager to work again with the current mix.

“It’s just the beginning of a new culture for a new group,” he said. “So we will have a little bit of corporate knowledge going into next season, and they’ll show that, I think.”

Popovich will also have a busy summer coaching Team USA in the FIBA World Cup in China in August and September.

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Popovich Expected To Continue Coaching Spurs

April 28th, 2019 at 9:09am CST by Arthur Hill

Gregg Popovich is expected to return to the Spurs next season, with one member of the team’s staff telling Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express News that he has “no doubt” about the legendary coach’s future. Popovich’s current contract expired when San Antonio’s playoff run ended last night. He will coach Team USA in the FIBA World Cup this summer, but has remained guarded about his plans beyond that.

“I’m a head coach in the NBA,” Popovich said in response to a pre-game question Saturday on whether he was considering retirement. “I don’t think about what that means in the future.”

At age 70, Popovich still embraces the challenges of coaching and had a particularly good time this season, notes Jabari Young of The Athletic. In looking for clues about his future, Young cites a quote from Popovich before a March game in Boston.

“This is actually one of the more enjoyable seasons,” he said. “It’s been fun to watch Bryn Forbes develop, and Davis Bertans, and Derrick White and so forth. It’s satisfying.”

The chance to reach a milestone may also play into Popovich’s thought process. He moved into third place on the career victories list this season with 1,245 and is just 90 away from catching Don Nelson for the top spot.

There’s more on the offseason decisions facing the Spurs:

  • Rudy Gay will be the team’s only significant free agent this summer, but San Antonio has to decide how much it wants to invest in a player who will be 33 by the start of training camp. The Spurs will have Early Bird rights on Gay, Young notes, meaning they can offer up to a 75% raise on his $10MM contract. Gay will be eligible for a one- to four-year deal starting at about $17MM per season.
  • Regardless of what happens with Gay, San Antonio will likely be operating above the salary cap but under the tax line, Young adds. That will give the team a $9.2MM mid-level exception to use on the free agent market.
  • It’s not too early to start thinking about DeMar DeRozan‘s free agency, writes Bobby Marks of ESPN. DeRozan can decide next summer to opt out of his $27.7 million salary for 2020/21, and could join Draymond Green and possibly Anthony Davis as the top names in an otherwise sub-par free agent class. The Spurs can eliminate that possibility by reworking DeRozan’s contract when he becomes eligible for a four-year, $149.1MM extension on July 6.
  • The Spurs also face a difficult decision on Dejounte Murray, who will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension through October 21, according to Marks. Murray appears to have a bright future, but he is coming off a torn ACL that wiped virtually his entire season. Jakob Poeltl is also eligible for a rookie scale extension, but by waiting on both players and DeRozan, the Spurs could have up to $30MM in cap room to spend next summer.
  • Patty Mills will be eligible for a veteran extension on August 4, and LaMarcus Aldridge becomes eligible on October 1, Marks adds.
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