- Georgia Tech prospect Josh Okogie suffered a grade 1 right adductor strain during a workout with the Grizzlies last Wednesday, his agent tells ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link). The injury, which was diagnosed by the Spurs on Thursday, brought Okogie’s workout schedule to a temporary halt — he’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow.
The Raptors officially interviewed Spurs assistant coaches Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka for the team’s vacant head coaching position, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. Messia interviewed on Thursday while Udoka met with the Raptors on Friday, Wojnarowski notes.
With several teams seeking to fill head coaching vacancies, Messina and Udoka have been popular names this summer.
Messina interviewed with the Bucks and Hornets before those teams hired Mike Budenholzer and James Borrego, respectively. Messina received a second interview with Milwaukee before the team decided on Budenholzer. Long considered one of the top international coaches in basketball, the 58-year-old has served as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio the past four seasons. Messina stepped up to coach the Spurs for Game 3-5 during the first round of the playoffs after Popovich’s wife, Erin, passed away.
As for Udoka, he has interviewed with the Magic and Hornets about their openings. Udoka has been an assistant to Popovich the past six years after he finished his playing career with the Spurs in 2010/11. Udoka played seven NBA seasons, spending time with the Trail Blazers, Kings, Knicks and Lakers.
The Raptors fired Dwane Casey after another early postseason exit, despite finishing with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Casey, who was named Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches after his dismissal, is also one of three finalists for the official award. Budenholzer was reportedly a top target for the Raptors before he accepted the Bucks job.
Toronto recently interviewed Jerry Stackhouse –– a former assistant to Casey — who coached the organization’s G League squad this season. Stackhouse was one of three internal candidates considered by the Raptors as Nick Nurse and Rex Kalamian have also interviewed for the job.
Stay up to date with all the latest developments on the coaching front with our Coaching Search Tracker.
Kawhi Leonard‘s future with the Spurs remains a mystery as the organization ponders whether or not to keep its superstar player in San Antonio beyond next season. Leonard is set to hit free agency after 2018/19 and if he reaches the open market, he will have no shortage of suitors.
However, at least one teammate believes that the two-time Defensive Player of the Year wants to stay in San Antonio. Spurs guard Danny Green recently made an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up!, where he addressed his mercurial teammate (via San Antonio Express-News).
“It’s up in the air right now,” Green said of Leonard’s status with the Spurs. “But I think he wants to be in San Antonio. He’s let me know that, he let me know verbally he wanted to be there, so we’ll see what happens.”
Leonard, soon to be 27 years old, appeared in just nine regular season games with the Spurs as he battled a troublesome right quadriceps injury. There were various points where it seemed Leonard was on the verge of an on-court return late in the season, but it never happened. Instead, Leonard rehabbed his injury in New York — with little to no contact with the Spurs — while under the care of his own doctors.
As the Spurs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Warriors, Leonard was not even on the bench as a spectator.
Most recently, we relayed a report that the Spurs do not intend on trading Leonard and hope to mend the relationship. A healthy Leonard is a difference maker; he finished third in NBA Most Valuable Player award voting last season while averaging 25.5 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 4.7 APG in 74 games.
The NBA’s playoff pool money has increased to $20MM this season, up from $15MM for the last two years and $14MM for the two years before that, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. This pool represents money awarded to teams for certain achievements, which is then divvied up among the club’s players.
According to Zillgitt, the breakdown for 2018’s playoff pool money is as follows:
Regular season achievements:
- Best record in NBA (Rockets): $576,843
- No. 1 seeds in each conference (Rockets, Raptors): $504,737 each
- No. 2 seeds (Warriors, Celtics): $405,684 each
- No. 3 seeds (Trail Blazers, Sixers): $302,843 each
- No. 4 seeds (Thunder, Cavaliers): $238,001 each
- No. 5 seeds (Jazz, Pacers): $198,317 each
- No. 6 seeds (Pelicans, Heat): $135,263 each
Postseason achievements:
- Teams participating in first round (all playoff teams): $298,485 each
- Teams participating in Conference Semifinals (Rockets, Warriors, Jazz, Pelicans, Celtics, Cavaliers, Sixers, Raptors): $355,159 each
- Teams participating in Conference Finals (Rockets, Warriors, Celtics, Cavaliers): $586,898 each
- Losing team in NBA Finals (TBD): $2,346,947
- Winning team in NBA Finals (TBD): $3,541,896
The Grizzlies’ draft preparations won’t be interrupted by the departure of executive VP of basketball operations Ed Stefanski, according to Michael Wallace of the team’s website. Stefanski accepted a front-office position with the Pistons on Thursday.
“Our draft process moves forward at this time,” Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace told Michael Wallace. “In due time, we’ll get to if we’re going to do something else in our front office. But our draft (process) rolls on. And we know who (Stefanski) likes already.”
The Grizzlies didn’t get lucky in the lottery but still have the No. 4 overall pick, as well as the No. 32 pick in the second round.
In other news around the Southwest Division:
- Swingman Alessandro Gentile will play for the Rockets in the Vegas Summer League, he indicated in an interview with Il Corriere dello Sport that was relayed by Sportando. Gentile, who has been playing in the Italian League, will be a free agent this summer. The Rockets acquired his draft rights in 2014 after he was selected in the second round.
- Signing Mavericks free agent Nerlens Noel might be a worthwhile gamble for the Hawks, Frank Urbina of Hoops Hype opines. Noel’s skill set could complement Atlanta’s promising power forward, John Collins, because of his defensive versatility. The Spurs, Wizards and Warriors are some other potential landing spots for Noel, who signed his qualifying offer after a disappointing foray into restricted free agency last summer.
- It’s unlikely the Mavericks will trade the No. 5 overall pick, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. They would have to get some prime assets to trade down below the No. 7 or No. 8 slot, Sefko continues. If Dallas wants to move up, it would likely have to give up a future first-rounder as well as the No. 5 pick and possibly one of its top young players, Sefko adds.
The NBA has formally announced the All-NBA First, Second, and Third Teams for the 2017/18 season, with James Harden and LeBron James leading the way as the two unanimous selections for the First Team.
The voting results will have major financial implications for the three All-NBA centers, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, and Karl-Anthony Towns. As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), Davis is now eligible for a supermax extension from the Pelicans next summer. Davis will be eligible to sign that deal, which projects to be worth $230MM, as of July 1, 2019.
As for Embiid, missing out on a First Team nod means his maximum-salary contract will remain at 25% of the cap rather than being bumped up to 30%. That means he’ll miss out on approximately $29MM over the next five years, as Dan Feldman of NBC Sports details.
Towns, meanwhile, will be eligible for an extension worth 30% of the cap this summer, Marks tweets. An extension of that sort, which would make the cap outlook in Minnesota very interesting, would go into effect for the 2019/20 season.
The full All-NBA teams are listed below, with their vote totals in parentheses. Players received five points for a First Team vote, three points for a Second Team vote, and one point for a Third Team vote, so Harden and James scored a perfect 500 — First Team nods from all 100 voters.
First Team
- Guard: James Harden, Rockets (500)
- Guard: Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers (432)
- Forward: LeBron James, Cavaliers (500)
- Forward: Kevin Durant, Warriors (426)
- Center: Anthony Davis, Pelicans (492)
Second Team
- Guard: Russell Westbrook, Thunder (322)
- Guard: DeMar DeRozan, Raptors (165)
- Forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks (354)
- Forward: LaMarcus Aldridge, Spurs (236)
- Center: Joel Embiid, Sixers (294)
Third Team
- Guard: Stephen Curry, Warriors (164)
- Guard: Victor Oladipo, Pacers (105)
- Forward: Jimmy Butler, Timberwolves (81)
- Forward: Paul George, Thunder (54)
- Center: Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves (99)
Among those results, the tightest race saw DeRozan edge Curry by a single point for a spot on the All-NBA Second Team. Both players received two First Team votes and 39 Second Team votes, with DeRozan grabbing one extra Third Team vote (38 to 37) to bump him up to the Second Team ahead of Curry.
As for the players who didn’t quite make the cut, Rockets point guard Chris Paul (54 points), Jazz center Rudy Gobert (51), Celtics guard Kyrie Irving (42), and Sixers guard/forward Ben Simmons (36) received the most support.
Al Horford (Celtics), Nikola Jokic (Nuggets), Andre Drummond (Pistons), Clint Capela (Rockets), Draymond Green (Warriors), Kyle Lowry (Raptors), Steven Adams (Thunder), Donovan Mitchell (Jazz), Klay Thompson (Warriors), Trevor Ariza (Rockets), DeMarcus Cousins (Pelicans), Dwight Howard (Hornets), Kevin Love (Cavaliers), and Kristaps Porzingis (Knicks) also each received at least one All-NBA vote.
While the Grizzlies hold the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, the group of prospects working out for the team on Thursday won’t be candidates to come off the board that early. Memphis also holds the No. 32 selection, so today’s workout participants will vie to receive consideration at that spot. According to a team release, Braian Angola (Florida State), Justin Bibbs (Virginia Tech), Chris Chiozza (Florida), Josh Okogie (Georgia Tech), Admiral Schofield (Tennessee), and Jonathan Stark (Murray State) are getting a look today from the Grizzlies.
Here’s more pre-draft workout news:
- Seton Hall big man Angel Delgado and Maryland guard Kevin Huerter each have workouts on tap with the Lakers and then the Jazz, per Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com (Twitter links).
- In addition to his previously reported workouts, Arizona guard Rawle Alkins has an audition with the Suns scheduled for next week, according to Zagoria, who adds that Alkins will also have a Pro Day next Thursday.
- Zagoria provides another workout update, tweeting that Miami’s Dewan Huell has auditioned for the Thunder, Cavaliers, Bucks, Hawks, and Grizzlies so far. Huell, who is testing the waters without an agent, remains undecided about whether or not to stay in the draft.
- After working out for Washington this week, Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham will work out for the Suns, Hawks, Rockets, Grizzlies, and about six or seven teams after that, he tells Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link).
- Xavier’s J.P. Macura, who has a workout lined up with the Spurs, met with the Bucks, Clippers, Magic, and Pacers at this week’s Pro Basketball Combine, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.
The NBA has officially announced its 2017/18 All-Defensive First and Second Teams, with Defensive Player of the Year candidates Rudy Gobert and Anthony Davis headlining the First Team.
Gobert led the way in voting, receiving 94 of 100 potential First Team votes. He also received four Second Team votes, and was left off of just two ballots, earning him 192 total points (two points per First Team vote; one point per Second Team vote). It’s his second All-Defensive First Team nod.
[RELATED: NBA Announces 2017/18 All-Rookie Teams]
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), the All-Defensive recognition will pay off financially for Gobert, who earns a $500K bonus as a result of his spot on the First Team. Meanwhile, Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday will receive a more modest $100K bonus for being named to the All-Defensive First Team.
Here are the full voting results for the All-Defensive First and Second Teams, with each player’s point total noted in parentheses:
First Team
- Rudy Gobert, C, Jazz (192)
- Anthony Davis, F/C, Pelicans (163)
- Victor Oladipo, G, Pacers (136)
- Jrue Holiday, G, Pelicans (105)
- Robert Covington, F, Sixers (90)
Second Team
- Joel Embiid, C, Sixers (90)
- Draymond Green, F, Warriors (86)
- Al Horford, F/C, Celtics (85)
- Dejounte Murray, G, Spurs (80)
- Jimmy Butler, G/F, Timberwolves (79)
Rockets point guard Chris Paul (74 points) and Thunder forward Paul George (69) narrowly missed earning spots on the All-Defensive Second Team. A total of 29 other players received at least one vote, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson.
You can find the full voting results right here.
Lakers guard Lonzo Ball is focused on gaining strength and stamina to become less injury-prone next season, teammate Kyle Kuzma told ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk and other media members on Tuesday. Ball played in only 52 games during his rookie campaign due to a variety of ailments.
“He has been in there pretty much every day I have been in here around this time,” Kuzma said of Ball’s weight training. “You can tell he is taking the weight room a lot more serious and that is going to help him by allowing him to recover faster and hopefully next year be on the court more because of that weight room.”
In other news regarding the Lakers:
- West Virginia guard Jevon Carter is among six prospects the Lakers will work out on Wednesday, the team announced on its website. Carter is ranked No. 44 on ESPN Jonathan Givony’s Top 100 list. Kostas Antetokounmpo (Dayton), Elijah Bryant (BYU), Trey Kell (San Diego State) and Omari Spellman (Villanova) will join Carter. Gary Trent Jr. of Duke will also be there, as previously reported.
- The Spurs are a logical candidate to pursue free agent shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Frank Urbina of Hoops Hype speculates. San Antonio could lose Danny Green if he opts out of his contract. Caldwell-Pope could replace him and the Spurs have their mid-level exception to offer him, Urbina continues. The Clippers and Grizzlies may also be in the market for a starting shooting guard, though it’s possible KCP could get another one-year offer from the Lakers if they don’t land two top-level free agents, Urbina adds.
- Kuzma was named to the league’s All-Rookie First Team while Ball earned Second Team honors. You can see the All-Rookie teams here.
- Kawhi Leonard‘s image has taken a big hit but it won’t be difficult to repair, according to Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express News. Marketing experts believe Leonard can patch things up with Spurs fans if he remains with the team and tells them that his past issues with the staff and front office are behind him. Doing charitable work in the community would also hel mend fences, Orsborn adds. Leonard only played nine games this past season due to a quad injury, even though the team’s medical staff cleared him to play the second half of the season.