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Rick Adelman not rushing into his next coaching job

Chris Hagan of the Statesman Journal reports:

For the first time in five years Rick Adelman is going through his summer without an NBA coaching job, and for now he’s taking advantage of the free time.

“Right now I don’t plan on doing anything, just taking some time off,” Adelman said Monday at Illahe Hills Country Club in South Salem, hosting the 22nd Rick Adelman Golf Classic.

The event supports the Chemeketa Community College Foundation, which provides scholarships for Chemeketa student athletes.

“It’s a hard grind in the NBA and I’ve been doing it for 20-plus years,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to getting away from it.” …

Now back living in Portland, Adelman has been connected to a number of openings, including most recently the Minnesota Timberwolves and former Lake Oswego star Kevin Love. Still, the coach said he’s not planning on returning to the sidelines just yet.

“I don’t have any plans to next year, no,” Adelman said.

“They had me interviewing a couple of places that I never even went to,” he said. “It’s all part of it now. If you don’t have a job and you’ve coached in the league, the first thing that happens if a job opens up, they throw the same names out there.

“Sometimes you know things are happening, but until you hear from teams, I don’t believe a lot of things I read,” Adelman said.

Updated list of Raptors GM candidates

David Aldridge of NBA.com reports:

Don’t expect any movement on the Toronto general manager’s search for a couple of weeks. Team president Bryan Colangelo was in Europe last week and won’t start whittling down his group of candidates until the middle of the month. Sixers GM Ed Stefanski, former Hornets GM and coach Jeff Bower and Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey are among the candidates, but former Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard is also believed to be in the hunt and is a strong candidate. Pritchard took a player personnel job with the Pacers earlier this summer, but has an out in his deal that would allow him to leave if a GM job became available.

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Knicks will reportedly interview Mike Woodson for assistant coach spot

David Aldridge of NBA.com reports:

When Tom Gores (Detroit Pistons) came aboard in early June, he said part of his job isn’t to agree with whatever Joe Dumars wanted, but “to challenge Joe, and hopefully that will make the outcome better.” And though Dumars never publicly indicated whom he preferred to succeed John Kuester as coach, several people around the league believe he preferred former Hawks coach Mike Woodson to Frank. But Frank blew Gores and his people away during the interview process.

Yet a source insisted this weekend that Dumars concurred with Gores that Frank was the right choice for the job.

(For his part, Woodson has moved on, interviewing for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ vacancy. And a source indicates he’ll be in New York early this week to talk with the Knicks about becoming their defensive coordinator, a job that management has mandated coach Mike D’Antoni, entering the final year of his contract, accept for next season.)

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Basketball Hall of Fame immune to NBA lockout, declared safe-zone for players, owners

Lacy J. Banks of the Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Despite the NBA lockout, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ceremonies will go on as scheduled.

‘‘We have been declared a ‘safe zone’ in terms of current players interacting with NBA team managers,” Hall of Fame president and CEO John Doleva said in an interview Thursday. ‘‘We’re a separate entity from the NBA anyway. Our program is to always honor basketball at every level and the individuals who make it great.

‘‘So we have not been told there will be any restrictions about [management] and current players interacting or any seating restrictions at our reunion banquet, our pre-enshrinement cocktail and the enshrinement ceremony itself. NBA-TV cameras will be free to interview people, including current players.”

Doleva added that former Bulls assistant coach Tex Winter, severely hampered after a stroke in 2009, has said he will attend.

The three-day ceremonies in Springfield, Mass., will start Aug. 11.

Chris Bosh open to signing overseas should NBA lockout drag on

People, in general, are “open” to the idea of doing lots of things that involve making money for doing something fun.

NBA players are no different.

The latest player worth caring about to reportedly have interest in maybe, possibly going overseas should he feel like it is Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh.

The Miami Herald reports:

Not only is Dwyane Wade open to considering overseas overtures should the lockout extend into the season, but Chris Bosh is, too, according to their agent, Henry Thomas.

As InsideHoops.com has said many times, the vast majority of good or great NBA players will not be signing overseas anytime soon. Things only might start to get a bit more serious if September and October roll around and there’s still no inkling that the league lockout is close to ending.

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Reggie Jackson stopped draft workouts due to injury

Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman reports:

Around these parts the Thunder’s mysterious pre-draft dealings with 24th overall pick Reggie Jackson stands as one of the most fascinating occurrences in the franchise’s short history.

Already owning a reputation for his draft night wheeling and dealings and seemingly a yearly propensity to pluck a sleeper pick, Thunder general manager Sam Presti added another dimension to his unpredictable draft strategy when he allegedly promised Jackson he’d be a Thunder if he was still around at 24…

The part where conspiracy theorists feast is when Jackson shut down all private workouts and interviews shortly after a workout in Oklahoma City. Jackson pulled the plug on his other stops because of a knee injury, leading many to think it was simply a smokescreen. But Jackson swears it was legitimate.

“After a workout for Oklahoma City, I came back and played pickup at my school,” Jackson said. “My knee, normally I could feel it tweaking, but it always got better. But it got worse. I went to the doctor and found out I couldn’t go for about a month. I was supposed to come back. I tried to and I just couldn’t compete, so I had to shut it down. That’s about it. I was supposed to have workouts for other teams, but I honestly couldn’t go. And that was that.”

Jackson had tendinitis in his knee, something he says he played with since his sophomore season at Boston College. He just always played through the pain.

Rumor: Kobe Bryant closer to signing in China than Turkey, wants $1.5 million a month if he goes overseas

Marc J. Spears and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo report:

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is engaged in far more substantive contract talks with teams in China than he is Turkish team Besiktas, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Besiktas coach Ergin Ataman tweeted Sunday that the team made an official offer to Bryant last week and plans to meet with Bryant’s agent in Los Angeles this week. However, a source close to Bryant said he hasn’t had conversations with the Turkish team in two weeks, and labeled Bryant’s chances of playing with Besiktas at “zero percent.”

Bryant, sources said, is still listening to offers to play overseas during the NBA’s lockout, and considers China a more likely option. He has exchanged proposals with Chinese teams, and one source said it’s unlikely Bryant would accept any deal that pays him less than $1.5 million per month. Bryant would be free to rejoin the Lakers as soon as the lockout ends.

Shawn Marion turns down offer to appear on Dancing With the Stars

TMZ reports:

Dallas Mavericks star Shawn Marion isn’t taking any chances with the NBA lockout — in fact, he just turned down “Dancing with the Stars” … to make sure he’s free to practice with his team this fall.

Sources close to Shawn tell TMZ, “Dancing” sent him an official offer to appear on the show, but the NBA champ wants to make sure he’s 100% available in case the lockout ends early … so it’s a no go.

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Ron Artest should officially become Metta World Peace in late August

TMZ reports:

Long story short — anyone looking to officially change their name in the State of California has to get a public declaration of the name change PRINTED in a local newspaper 4 times — once a week, 4 weeks in a row.

On July 19th, Ron’s LAST declaration to become Metta World Peace was published in the L.A. Daily Commerce — but the name change won’t become official until August 26th … when a judge is scheduled to sign the order.

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Marbury thinks Melo, Stoudemire would not cut it in China

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports:

Chinese basketball stalwart Stephon Marbury told The Post yesterday he does not think either Carmelo Anthony or Amar’e Stoudemire could cut it in China because they may not have the right mindset for the grittiness of the country’s basketball scene…

Citing the tough travel and rigorous training methods, Marbury said he doesn’t see the stars going to China, where the Coney Islander has spent the past two seasons.

“I don’t think those guys will want to go through it,” said Marbury, who is training in Los Angeles. “China is not for everybody — a whole ‘nother world. I don’t think they’re going to go there, not the big-time guys. Maybe they’d come for a little bit, but if the season is cancelled for the year, I don’t think they’d want to stay. They’ll want to go home.

“I don’t think Carmelo Anthony is going to run like they want to run in practice,” Marbury added. “They want to run you to death. The first time I got there, they ran in practice for two straight hours. I said, ‘Is that what we have to do every practice?’ “