Uncategorized Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: NBPA, Jackson, Irving, Stevens

April 7th, 2014 at 9:30pm CST by Zachary Links

The National Basketball Player’s Association announced tonight that they have hired Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson to head a search committee to find a new executive director, tweets Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. The NBPA also announced that Kyle Korver has been elected to take over for Matt Bonner on the executive committee after his term expired (link). The press release indicates that the union’s goal is to have a new executive director in place by the start of next season, which would give them a new leader 20 months after firing Billy Hunter. More from around the league..

If the Knicks are going to replace Mike Woodson as head coach, they should put Phil Jackson in his place, Larry Brown opined in an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio.”You’re not going to make the Knicks better by living in L.A. and being there half the time and not talking to your coach,” Brown said, according to Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press. “Let him coach. He was the best coach probably ever. Let him coach.“
Cavs guards Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters are downplaying talk of a rift, writes Bob Finnan of The News-Herald. “I just think, man, throughout this whole year with us two not liking each other, it’s total BS,” Waiters said. “We’ve been friends before we even made the NBA, before any of this. I just think y’all saying we don’t like playing with one another. … Yeah, we still need to learn certain things, but I think at the end of the day, we’re genuinely friends. I love him as a friend, teammate, everything. I just want everybody to know that. I don’t hate this guy.“
People around the league have had doubts from the beginning of Brad Stevens‘ tenure with the Celtics that he’ll want to stay for his entire six-year deal, but the coach tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald that he intends to fulfill his contract.
Former Spurs guard Nando De Colo is making an impact with his new team, writes the Toronto Sun’s Frank Zicarelli. De Colo came to the Raptors in an under-the-radar deadline move, but he’s been anything but since February. “[I’m] just being aggressive and playing my game,” said De Colo. “When a shot is open, you have to take it. Whether I’m playing the one (point guard) or two (shooting guard), staying focused on my job and nothing more.“
The Cavs believe Scotty Hopson can play a role for next year’s team, particularly if C.J. Miles signs elsewhere, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said he and team president Flip Saunders would talk about signing a player, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star-Tribune. The club now has an open roster spot following the release of A.J. Price last week.
Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News writes that Mark Jackson‘s greatest strength is also one of his trouble spots: a dead certainty that he’s doing everything exactly right. Jackson’s contends that the recent staff shakeup doesn’t have anything to do with him, but Kawakami argues that the dispatching of Brian Scalabrine after a philosophical dispute followed by the dismissal of Darren Erman must have something to do with the Warriors head coach.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Magic Up For Sale Soon?

April 6th, 2014 at 4:03pm CST by Cray Allred

SUNDAY, 4:03pm: The Magic aren’t for sale, chairman Dan DeVos tells Josh Robbins of Orlando Sentinel.

“As a family, the topic of selling the team has not come up,” DeVos wrote in an e-mail. “In fact, we are enjoying the team more than ever. Especially my father. We are very excited about our focus on winning a NBA championship. The family is fully engaged and active with the team. All four generations. The Magic are not for sale.”

SATURDAY, 8:43am: A league source tells A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com that in addition to the Bucks, the Orlando Magic might become available for purchase in the near future. Blakely is referring to a majority ownership sale potential, as he doesn’t mention the Hawks, who have already made a minority share in team ownership available. Rich DeVos is the Magic’s principal owner, who has previously stated he intended for his children to manage the team after him.

Aside from the affects an ownership change could mean for the team itself, another majority ownership changing hands in the league also raises the possibility of a relocation. Chris Hansen’s ownership group lost out in the sale of the Kings last year, nearly succeeding in purchasing the team and moving it to Seattle. The Bucks haven’t officially opened up bidding for a majority ownership purchase, and current owner Herb Kohl has repeatedly made it clear that he will do everything in his power to leave the Bucks in the hands of an ownership group that won’t move the team from Milwaukee. Hansen said on Thursday that his investor group is still on the prowl, and in even better shape to win league approval to bring the next available team to Seattle to replace the void left from the sale of the Supersonics, who were bought and moved to Oklahoma City, becoming the Thunder.

Blakely details that former NBA player Leon Powe is putting together an ownership group to be active in a future team sale. Other names rumored to be interested in ownership include Arn Tellem and David Kahn, although they have exclusively been linked to the Bucks.

Atlantic Notes: Odom, Sixers, Patterson

April 5th, 2014 at 9:02pm CST by Cray Allred

Knicks president Phil Jackson met with Lamar Odom recently, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. The conversation could have been about a potential signing, but the nature of the meeting is unclear. Odom, who played for Jackson when both were with the Lakers, had his NBA comeback stalled due to an injury while signed overseas. Jackson earlier met with Metta World Peace, another former Laker from his coaching past who is currently without a team. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Sixers coach Brett Brown says having multiple players on 10-day contracts is a challenge, telling reporters including Tom Moore of Calkins Media it’s hard on everyone (Twitter links). “I want to help them audition, whether it’s for me here or somewhere else,” Brown said.
James Nunnally‘s second 10-day deal with the Sixers expires today. He told Moore, “You’ve just got to be confident in what you did and what you’re doing.” (Twitter link)
In a separate piece, Moore looks at the possibility of the Sixers not getting the top-overall pick in this year’s draft lottery, going through some of the players GM Sam Hinkie could target.
Patrick Patterson is back on the court for the Raptors after a tough injury sidelined him for weeks, and he tells Holly McKenzie of Raptors.com that he’s glad to make it back for the postseason run. Patterson was traded away from the Rockets last year to forestall what would have been his first playoff stretch, but was sent from the Kings to playoff-bound Toronto this season. “Not a lot of guys on this team have been to the playoffs. Those guys who have been to the playoffs have talked to us and told us what it’s like and I think that’s motivation for the rest of us to continue doing what we have been doing,” said Patterson, who has been impressed by the Raptors fan base. “Canada, I figured, of course it’s hockey. I never would have imagined that the fans would pretty much sell out every game we play here. Probably the most surprising thing I’ve seen here since I’ve been here, [is] the fan support.”

Draft Rumors: Payton, Baker, Walker

April 5th, 2014 at 12:04pm CST by Cray Allred

Oscar Robertson doesn’t agree with the league’s desire to increase the age limit for draft entry, telling Genaro C. Armas of The Associated Press that “one-and-done” players aren’t hurting the college game. “These colleges are greedy, man. They want to keep a kid … in school if they start to win,” Robertson said. “They want to keep them in school because it helps them — it helps the coach, it helps the winning percentage.” Here’s a roundup of more draft rumors:

Wichita State’s Ron Baker will return to school for his junior year, sources tell Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. Baker explored his draft potential before making the decision, and multiple NBA executives tell Goodman he would have been a second round pick had he chosen to declare for this year’s draft.
An NBA executive told Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders that Louisiana-Lafayette’s Elfrid Payton could go as high as the late teens in the draft should he declare. The junior hasn’t yet decided whether to forgo his last year of college to enter the draft.
Florida freshman Chris Walker says he will make a decision regarding this year’s draft after the Final Four, telling reporters including Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv he’s focused on the tournament for now. “I haven’t really been thinking about it,” Walker said. “I’m just thinking about winning this UConn game and staying in the moment and hopefully winning that and advance to the championship game. And then after the season, me and coach [Billy Donovan] will sit down and talk about everything and all the options.” Walker has been considered by many to be a premier 2015 draft prospect, so it would be interesting to see where he would stack up if he declared for this summer’s draft.
In a subscription-only piece, ESPN Insiders Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton look at the draft stocks for Shabazz Napier, Frank Kaminsky, and Patric Young, who are all playing for Final Four teams this weekend.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports discussed the draft prospects of Kentucky’s freshmen in a video from yesterday.
We profiled Doug McDermott earlier today.

Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors

April 2nd, 2014 at 9:30am CST by Chuck Myron

There are a number of different ways to follow Hoops Rumors via Facebook, Twitter, and RSS, as we’ve outlined before. If you don’t want to follow all the site’s updates, you can subscribe to team-specific or transaction-only Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds. Although we don’t have Facebook pages or Twitter feeds for specific players, you can also easily follow all our updates on your favorite player.

If, for instance, you want to keep track of all the latest news and rumors on Carmelo Anthony as his free agency approaches, you can visit this page. If you’re interested in keeping tabs on a potential offseason trade candidate like Kevin Love, you can find Love’s page right here.

Every player we’ve written about has his own rumors page. You can find any player by using our search box (located in the right sidebar); by clicking his tag at the bottom of a post in which he’s discussed; or, by simply typing his name in your address bar after hoopsrumors.com, substituting dashes for spaces. For example, Carmelo’s page is located at hoopsrumors.com/carmelo-anthony.

You can also set up an RSS feed for any of our player pages by adding /feed to the end of the page URL, like this: hoopsrumors.com/carmelo-anthony/feed. Entering that URL into the reader of your choice should enable you to get updates whenever we write about Anthony. It works for teams, too. If you’re a Bulls fan, you can enter hoopsrumors.com/chicago-bulls/feed into your reader and stay on top of all the latest on the Bulls.

In addition to players and teams, there are a number of other subjects you can track by clicking on the tags we use at the bottom of posts. You can track coaches and executives under fire, like Mark Jackson and Joe Dumars. Items related to the NBA D-League, for instance, can be found on this rumors page. If you want to follow updates on the 2014 NBA draft, those are all available here. Again, you can set up a feed with any of these pages by adding /feed to the end of the URL.

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Eastern Notes: Cavs, Sixers, Bucks

March 30th, 2014 at 10:14pm CST by Cray Allred

DeMar DeRozan tells Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe the Raptors trade that sent Rudy Gay to the Kings is working out for everyone involved. “The move was a good situation for both of us,” said DeRozan. “When he got traded, the first thing he told me was, ‘This is your time and it’s time to take advantage.’ That meant a lot, just coming from somebody like that.” Here’s more from the East:

The Cavs have been surging, and even have a slim chance at making the playoffs. Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio says coach Mike Brown‘s message has finally broken through, and credits the top-down culture change to interim GM David Griffin, who took the reigns when Cleveland was underperforming and dealing with reported locker room issues.
Sixers coach Brett Brown thanked Philadelphia fans for their patience, telling Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer that the team’s transparency during their rebuild has been reciprocated with good will. “You may not agree with it,” Brown said. “But this is our path. This is our plan. And I think that the city’s patience has been remarkable. We’re grateful.”
Kate Fagan of ESPN.com doesn’t think the Sixers can become competitive in the near future, writing that fans shouldn’t expect a competitor in Philadelphia for a few more years.
Bucks coach Larry Drew tells Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel that he has no interest in tanking games to keep Milwaukee’s odds the highest for securing the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft lottery. “I know people are looking at the future, as far as the draft is concerned. They’ve already got their eyes pinpointed on players of the future. And that’s normal,” said Drew. “But I just let it be known I don’t pay too much attention to that. I just go out and try to coach this team, and wherever we end up, that’s where we are.”
Ramon Sessions has taken being traded to the worst NBA team in stride, and Drew tells Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel that Sessions’ professionalism has been welcome with the Bucks. “He’s been unbelievable,” Drew said. “He’s just been a real pro in his whole approach in coming into this situation. He really has reached out to our young guys and is helping them.”

Pacific Notes: Jackson, Kings, Cap Space

March 29th, 2014 at 12:54pm CST by Cray Allred

Both Tim Kawakami of Bay Area News Group and Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report believe the Warriors players and coaches made a statement of support for coach Mark Jackson with their effort and emotion in a win against the Grizzlies last night, with both Andrew Bogut and David Lee injured (Twitter links). Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

After the game, Warriors forward Draymond Green told Kawakami that the team is in fact unified behind Jackson. “Coach is a guy we fight for and we’re going to continue to fight for,” said Green. “He’s given his all to us and we’re going to continue to give our all to him.”
Marcus Thompson of Bay Area News Group thinks that the Warriors would be more at risk by parting ways with Jackson than the coach would be (Twitter link). Thompson says that Jackson would land another job, but the team might not find a suitable replacement as easily.
The Kings don’t plan to use their open roster spot on a guard yet as they monitor the health of injured Isaiah Thomas, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. The roster spot remains vacant after the team opted not to sign Royce White for the rest of the year following his second 10-day contract with Sacramento.
The Kings struggled in a loss to the Thunder while Thomas sat another game, but Jones finds a bright side to the situation: opportunity and development for Sacramento’s rookie backcourt pairing of Ben McLemore and Ray McCallum. Both players said they were excited to see more minutes. “I’ll take all the minutes I can get,” McCallum said. “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity all year and getting a good opportunity to go out here and get some good experience and go out there and play.”
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders takes a look at the projected cap space for teams in the Pacific, and how each team might use its cap space this summer.
We looked at the latest with the Lakers in an earlier roundup.

Draft Rumors: Wiggins, Robinson, Harrison

March 29th, 2014 at 8:50am CST by Cray Allred

Chris Mannix of SI.com released a new mock draft, with Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, and Jabari Parker in the top three spots. Here are more rumors surrounding the draft:

Several executives tell Mannix that the poor tournament performances of Wiggins and Parker won’t impact their draft stock, but that concerns over Embiid’s back injury could significantly affect his value.
Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times discusses how Wiggins would fit with the Bucks in a video interview.
Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com thinks Zach LaVine is over-hyped as a prospect, saying that the guard out of UCLA looks like a D-League player despite his first-round projections (Twitter link).
Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com thinks that Michigan’s Glenn Robinson III needs to finish the tournament with a big performance, because his lack of assertiveness and spotty play has caused him to slip down draft boards from a potential lottery pick to a late first-rounder.
Scouts tell Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that Kentucky’s Andrew Harrison would go in the 25-30 range in the draft, and that he needs to stay for another year and improve his stock (Twitter link).
Chris Mannix agrees with that take, tweeting that Harrison has the tools to become a lottery pick in the 2015 draft.
An NBA scout tells Mannix that UConn’s Shabazz Napier already has better ball handling ability than a lot of NBA backup point guards (Twitter link).
An NBA executive tells Mannix that Baylor’s Isaiah Austin is another player who should stay in school for another year, pegging the center as a late first rounder at best in the 2014 draft class (Twitter link).
Louisville’s Russ Smith made the right choice to stay in college after last year’s national championship, writes Adi Joseph of USA Today. Smith will likely be selected in the second round of the draft, and Joseph envisions him as a bench player who could eventually earn a starting job in the NBA.

And-Ones: Williams, Carmelo, Leonard, Isiah

March 27th, 2014 at 10:51pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Jazz forward Marvin Williams hasn’t had any discussions with management about his future, writes Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. However, Falk reminds that Utah rejected a deadline deal that would have sent Williams out in an exchange for a first round pick, hoping that the 6’9 forward would eventually re-sign this summer. Williams is finishing up the final year of a deal that will pay him $7.5MM this season, and based on glowing approbation from his teammates and coaches recently, it’d appear that Utah remains strongly interested in keeping him for the long-term.

Here are more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes:

Carmelo Anthony finally had his first conversation with Phil Jackson before the Knicks‘ loss to the Lakers on Tuesday, though the 29-year-old forward tells Newsday’s Al Iannazzone that it was nothing more than small talk: “He told me to get ready, go out there and play, try to finish the season off strong, that’s it…We didn’t really talk about too much. Talked about him being in New York, him coming back out to L.A., the weather. Just generic. We really didn’t talk about nothing.”
There’s an argument to be made that Kawhi Leonard is the most valuable player on the league’s best team, writes Sam Amick of USA today, who also thinks it’s safe to assume that securing Leonard’s services will be a top priority for the Spurs this summer. The 6’7 forward will be eligible for a contract extension in July.
Isiah Thomas neither confirmed nor denied an interest in taking a job with the Pistons in the near future, but he did intimate his strong loyalty to the franchise: “My heart has never left this organization…I don’t think you will find a person on this earth that loves the Pistons more than I do” (Eric Lacy of MLive.com reports).
Bill Laimbeer was also asked about a potential role with the Pistons but declined comment.
At the recommendation of a Los Angeles-based ankle specialist, Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova will sit out the remainder of the 2013/14 season (Twitter links via the team’s official Twitter account).
Some may contend that Taj Gibson is a strong candidate to win the Sixth Man of the Year title, but Sam Smith of Bulls.com argues that the Bulls forward exemplifies the NBA’s Most Improved award.
Former 76ers swingman Rodney Carney is headed to Lebanon to play for Al Riyadi Beirut, reports Enea Trapani of Sportando.

Coaching Rumors: Jackson, T’Wolves, Adelman

March 27th, 2014 at 8:45pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The topic of Mark Jackson’s job security with the Warriors is riddled with complexity, and ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez and J.A. Adande discuss how this year’s struggles may affect the third-year head coach’s future in Oakland. Gutierrez suggests that Jackson bears some responsibility for Golden State’s frustrating play at times this year, while Adande surmises that Jackson will be in big trouble if the Warriors fail to improve on their six playoff wins from last season. Adande adds that ownership has spent nearly half of a billion dollars to purchase the team and upgrade the arena, and doesn’t think that patience accompanies those types of expenditures.

You can find additional coaching-related links below, including more from the above piece:

Adande believes that a contract extension for Jackson would imply a significant vouch of support from management; however, the fact that there hasn’t been one yet makes him wonder if anyone within the organization’s hierarchy has Jackson’s back.
Gutierrez thinks the Warriors are hastily trying to figure out Jackson’s potential as a head coach, and that Jackson could be heading into the postseason with his future in Golden State on the line.
Timberwolves executive Flip Saunders is close to college coaches Fred Hoiberg and Tom Izzo, both of whom owner Glen Taylor admires, notes Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Walters senses that the chances of Rick Adelman returning to coach the Wolves are “remote” and points to the team’s coaching search from six years ago, when the team was willing to give the job to Izzo. Still, Izzo was strident in saying this week that he has no interest in coaching the Pistons. Saunders will be in New York to watch both Hoiberg and Izzo coach in the NCAA tournament this week, Walters adds via Twitter.
Aside from Mark Jackson, there are many other coaches are in worse situations, notes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Toronto’s Dwane Casey, Washington’s Randy Wittman , Portland’s Terry Stotts, and Utah’s Tyrone Corbin are all finishing up their contracts this year and have yet to receive extensions.
Deveney also groups Knicks coach Mike Woodson with Corbin as two contract-year coaches who are on “ice that is thin as ice can get”, though it’s worth mentioning that Woodson actually had his 2014/15 contract option picked up last September.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.