Author: Inside Hoops

InsideHoops.com has been a world leader in NBA basketball coverage for over 20 years. Read our blog, but also be sure to read our main website on www.insidehoops.com

Blake Ahearn named head coach of Austin Spurs

The Spurs announced today that they have named Blake Ahearn head coach of the Austin Spurs, their G League team.

Ahearn joins the Spurs after serving one season as the head coach of his high school alma mater, De Smet Jesuit in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to that he spent one season as the head coach at Clayton High School in St. Louis.

Ahearn played professionally for eight seasons, including a three-game stint with the San Antonio Spurs during the 2008-09 season. Over the course of three seasons he appeared in a total of 22 NBA games between San Antonio, Miami and Utah. Ahearn also spent time in the NBA G League where he was a two-time First Team selection (2009 and 2012) and was named the 2008 Rookie of the Year. In 2015 he won an NBA G League Championship with the Santa Cruz Warriors. Ahearn also played professionally in Spain, Italy, China, Ukraine and Puerto Rico.

The St. Louis native played collegiately at Missouri State University from 2003–07. He is the NCAA’s all-time leader in free throw percentage, connecting on 94.6 percent (435-460) of his shots from the foul line. Ahearn also holds the single-season record, shooting 97.5 percent (117-120) from the free throw line during the 2003-04 season as a freshman. He was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2004 and earned All-MVC First Team honors his junior and senior seasons.

Bulls sign Ryan Arcidiacono to two-way contract

Bulls sign Ryan Arcidiacono to two-day contract

The Chicago Bulls have signed guard Ryan Arcidiacono (pronounced “ar-chee-dee-ACK-uh-no”) to a two-way contract.

Arcidiacono (6-3, 195) appeared in five games for the Bulls’ Summer League squad this year and averaged 5.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.80 steals and 24.0 minutes per contest.

Arcidiacono played four seasons at Villanova and was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in the Wildcats’ championship run in 2016. He was named First-Team All-Big East and Big East Co-Player of the Year in 2015. He averaged 11.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.7 apg and 1.17 spg for his college career and shot .397 from the field, .358 from long range and .800 from the foul line. Arcidiacono went undrafted in 2016 and appeared in three preseason games for the San Antonio Spurs and eight games for the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League.

Per NBA rules, teams are permitted to have two Two-Way players on their roster at any given time, in addition to their 15-man regular season roster. A Two-Way player for the Bulls will provide services to the team’s G League affiliate – the Windy City Bulls – but can spend up to 45 days with Chicago, not including any time prior to the start of Windy City’s training camp and at the conclusion of their season.

Bucks re-sign Tony Snell

The Milwaukee Bucks have re-signed restricted free agent guard Tony Snell.

“Tony was an integral part of our team’s improvement last season and we’re excited to re-sign him,” said General Manager Jon Horst. “He is a tireless worker, a terrific teammate and a man of great character. We look forward to having him back with the Bucks as we continue to build toward a championship.”

Snell had the best season of his four-year NBA career in 2016-17 – his first with the Bucks – as he set new career-highs in points (8.5), rebounds (3.1), assists (1.2) and minutes (29.2) per game while playing and starting a career-high 80 games. Snell also set new personal bests in 3-point percentage (.406) and field goal percentage (.455) during the 2016-17 season after he was acquired by the Bucks in October.

“I’m grateful to the Bucks ownership and everyone in the organization for believing in me,” Snell said. “We’re building something special here and I’m fortunate to work with great coaches and teammates. I can’t wait to get the season started and continue our positive momentum from last season.”

A 6-foot-7 guard, Snell has career averages of 6.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 21.4 minutes per game. Originally selected out of New Mexico with the 20th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls, Snell has appeared in 293 games (147 starts) in four seasons.

On the development of Otto Porter

Here’s CSN Mid Atlantic reporting on Otto Porter, who the Wizards just rewarded with a huge new contact. Specifically on what Porter will be working on as he continues his development:

On the development of Otto Porter

During the press conference to announce Porter’s new deal, the Wizards small forward outlined the specific areas he hopes to improve in the next few years:

“I want to continue to improve in getting stronger and being able to defend bigger guys. I definitely want to be able to do that. I’m going to continue working on my midrange and my three-point, extending my range out. The big thing for me is my ballhandling. I want to make sure I keep my ballhandling real tight, whether I get the rebound and push it up the floor myself, I just want to be able to maintain my skills.”

If Porter can get better at defending big forwards, that would be excellent for the Wizards in terms of playing small and switching on defense.

Heat face contract decisions by Tuesday

Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting on the Heat, who have some decisions to make by tomorrow, as an extension possibility also opens up on Thursday:

Heat face contract decisions by Tuesday

The Heat must decide by the end of the day Tuesday whether to guarantee $453,000 each for 2017-18 to Rodney McGruder and Okaro White, with the two otherwise to become free agents.

August 1 guarantee deadlines are not unusual in the NBA, allowing teams time to sort through both summer league and free agency before making such decisions. The Charlotte Hornets recently cut former Heat guard Briante Weber when faced with such a deadline…

In addition, on Thursday, the two-year anniversary of when he signed his rookie contract as a second-round pick out of Tennessee in 2015, [Josh] Richardson becomes eligible for an extension. The combo guard otherwise would stand as a restricted free agent next summer.

Kings hire Brandon D. Williams as Assistant General Manager

Kings hire Brandon D. Williams as Assistant General Manager

The Sacramento Kings today hired Brandon D. Williams as Assistant General Manager, according to General Manager Vlade Divac. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In his new role with Sacramento, Williams will support all facets of the day-to-day operation of the Kings front office, including roster composition, player evaluation and development, contractual negotiations, free agency procurement, collegiate, G-League and NBA scouting processes and player personnel matters.

“We are so excited that Brandon is joining our front office team,” said Divac. “He is an experienced and talented basketball executive. His knowledge of player development and basketball operations combined with his legal skills will be a strong addition to our team.”

Williams joins the Kings organization after spending the previous four seasons as an executive with Philadelphia, most recently serving as Vice President of Basketball Administration and General Manager of the NBA G-League’s Delaware 87ers. In addition to aiding the 76ers front office in matters regarding prospect evaluation, player development, staffing recruitment and contract negotiations, the former Davidson Wildcat standout helped facilitate several NBA call-ups and coaching promotions as the 87ers General Manager.

Before working in basketball operations from a team perspective, Williams spent nine seasons in the league office as Director of NBA Player Development (2005-07) and Associate Vice President of Basketball Operations (2007-13), overseeing standards relating to on-court operations, quality of game play, monitoring conduct and discipline and officiating performance via the Standard Observers Program. During early development of the contemporary NBA minor league system thriving today, Williams was regularly consulted on various issues to improve synergy in the league’s affiliation and assignment systems. In 2012, the Louisiana native obtained a law degree from Rutgers University.

A veteran of nine professional seasons in the NBA, CBA, D-League and abroad, Williams’ playing career was punctuated by championships with the San Antonio Spurs (1998-99) and Sioux Falls Skyforce (2004-05)—where he played for current Kings Head Coach Dave Joerger. His playing resume includes appearances with the Golden State Warriors (1997-98), San Antonio Spurs, Huntsville Flight (G-League), Atlanta Hawks (2002-03), Sioux Falls and significant experience oversees in France, Greece, Germany, Italy and Israel.

Lakers sign Thomas Bryant

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed center Thomas Bryant, it was announced today by General Manager Rob Pelinka.

Bryant, the 42nd overall selection in the 2017 NBA Draft, acquired via trade with the Utah Jazz on draft night, averaged 12.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 assists in 34 games (all starts) for Indiana University last season.

In eight games played for the Lakers in the 2017 Las Vegas Summer League, Bryant notched 5.1 points (.667 FG%) and 3.3 rebounds in 13.4 minutes.

Andre Roberson working on body and mind

Here’s the Norman Transcript with the latest on a key member of the OKC Thunder:

Andre Roberson working on body and mind

Now, Roberson has turned his mind and his body into his top two offseason priorities.

He can maintain more consistent shooting form if he is less tired at the end of games. And maybe more importantly, the rest of his game can remain unaffected when he’s missing free throws once the mind gets right.

“This don’t have nothing to do with nobody else but myself,” he said. “I’m the only one out there shooting those free throws. I got to go out there, put myself in fatigue situations or do a couple sets of pushups before a go [practice] a free throw…And then try to knock it down.”

Still, it’s not like 42 percent free-throw shooting during last year’s regular season was an anomaly. Roberson made only 24 percent of his 3-pointers last year, the third-worst percentage of anyone who’s taken as many attempts in a single season.

Kings sign JaKarr Sampson and Jack Cooley

Kings sign JaKarr Sampson and Jack Cooley

The Kings have signed forward JaKarr Sampson and forward Jack Cooley to two-way contracts.

Sampson, a 6-9, 207-pound forward and 2017 NBA G-League Western Conference All-Star joins the Kings as a two-way player after spending last season with the Iowa Energy, where he accrued averages of 15.1 points (.489 FG%, .287 3pt%, .688 FT%), 5.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 25.7 minutes in 47 games (22 starts).

Sampson recently appeared with the Kings NBA Summer League team in Las Vegas, posting 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in four contests, including nine points, seven rebounds, and one assist in 23 minutes versus Milwaukee (7/12/17).

Undrafted after two noteworthy seasons at St. John’s, Sampson earned 2013 Big East Rookie of the Year honors after logging 14.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks in 33 contests. The Ohio native signed with Philadelphia after his sophomore season, playing for both the 76ers and their G-League affiliate, Delaware 76ers until 2016. Sampson posted 5.2 points (.422 FG%, .670 FT%), 2.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists as an NBA rookie in 2014-15, appearing in 74 games (started 32). He accrued similar averages with the Denver Nuggets during his most recent NBA stint in 2015-16 prior to an All-Star caliber campaign in the G-League last season.

Cooley joins the Kings after a productive tournament during the 2017 NBA Las Vegas Summer League in Las Vegas, where the 6-10, 274-pound forward registered 9.2 points (.640 FG%, 1-1 3pt, .619 FT%), 6.6 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 17 minutes in five games. He posted two double-doubles, highlighted by 11 points (4-5 FG, 3-5 FT), 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal and a block against Phoenix (7/7/17) and 13 points (4-8 FG, 1-4 3pt, 4-8 FT), a game-high 11 rebounds, two steals and one block versus the Suns (7/14/17). The 2017 Summer League marked Cooley’s fourth consecutive year competing in the event.

A former Notre Dame standout, Cooley spent last season with German club MHP Risen Ludwigsburg, accruing averages of 13.0 points (.569 FG%, 1-1 3pt, .697 FT%) and 6.8 rebounds per game in 37 contests, pacing the team in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.

Undrafted in 2013 after four years in South Bend, Cooley averaged 13.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest his senior season, earning First-Team All Big East accolades en route to helping the Fighting Irish reach the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in his collegiate career. He went on to play in both the Orlando and Las Vegas Summer Leagues before signing with Trabzonspor of the Turkish League for the 2013-14 campaign.