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Former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan interviewed in Utah for the Charlotte Bobcats coaching position on Friday, meeting with Michael Jordan and other front office staff members.
Asked what made him want to coach the seven-win Bobcats, Sloan dryly replied: “Work.”
He went on to say, “They’ve got a young team, and it will be interesting to see what happens.”
Sloan said he hadn’t been offered the job. “They might come back, they might not,” he said.
— Reported by Brad Rock of the Deseret News
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Bucks guard Brandon Jennings is eligible for a contract extension this summer, as he enters the fourth and final year of his rookie-scale contract.
But the team’s leading scorer reiterated Friday that he’s not worried about his contract situation.
“I will let (agent) Bill Duffy handle that,” Jennings said from Los Angeles on Friday. “That’s what he does. I will leave it up to Bill Duffy and (Bucks general manager) John Hammond. It’s really not my department.”
Jennings recently returned from southern China where he participated in a league-sponsored event in Guangzhou. He and Toronto Raptors forward DeMar DeRozan served as coaches for celebrity teams and appeared along with former NBA stars Horace Grant and Gary Payton.
“They just go all out for the game of basketball,” Jennings said of the fans in China.
— Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Barely three weeks after surgery to repair a sports hernia and torn abductor muscles, Rockets guard Kyle Lowry returned to the Toyota Center weight rooms and went through shooting drills on the practice court.
But as he leaves town Saturday, he does not know if he’ll return to those familiar facilities or if he wants to be back.
Lowry does not believe he and Goran Dragic, his successor as the starting point guard this season, will both return to the roster next season. Lowry was even less confident he and Rockets coach Kevin McHale can successfully coexist.
“I don’t think so,” Lowry, 26, said. “I honestly think it would be tough. Things have to be addressed. The situation would have to be addressed.
“If things aren’t addressed coaching-wise, I guess I have to be moved.”
— Reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle Blog
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But honestly, the Heat will not be rooting for the Celtics on Saturday. It may have less poetry and glamour, but the Heat most likely would much rather see the 76ers pull the upset.
It is true that the 76ers are younger, more athletic, deeper and healthier than the Celtics at this point. But the Heat have dominated Philadelphia like no other team in the East over the past two seasons; the two teams have played 12 times, including the first round of last year’s playoffs. Eleven times the Heat have won, including sweeping this season’s series 4-0.
The Heat haven’t beaten Boston since the first week of the season back in late December in their home opener. The Celtics are 3-0 against Miami since, though the last meeting was in the final week of the season and neither team played its full lineup. Boston beat the Heat twice in a two-week span in April as Rajon Rondo exploited them in both games. Even with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce limping and Avery Bradley out for the season, it’s not a comfortable matchup for the Heat.
Meanwhile, Miami used the 76ers like an elixir, beating them coming off losses all four times. The Heat held what proved to be a pivotal early-season team meeting on Philly’s own practice court. The last time the teams played, also in April, the Heat gave Wade the night off to rest ahead of a big game with Oklahoma City and won anyway.
— Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com
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Dwyane Wade has been battling knee soreness. LeBron James was hobbling after a falling into a courtside cameraman. Chris Bosh remains sidelined indefinitely with an abdominal strain. Mike Miller looks to be in agony whenever he moves.
An extra day of rest doesn’t sound like much, but it means plenty right now to the Miami Heat.
Now halfway to their goal of an NBA championship, the Heat took a welcomed — and needed — day off Friday after closing out their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with the Indiana Pacers.
The East finals open Monday in Miami against either Philadelphia or Boston, teams that will settle their second-round series with a Game 7 on Saturday night.
“We can use it,” James said after the Heat ousted the Pacers with a Game 6 win in Indianapolis on Thursday. “Any team in the postseason, any extra day that you can get, it definitely helps us. So we’re going to take advantage of it.”
— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press
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According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the Clippers are interested in re-signing Nick Young this offseason.
The Clippers acquired Young this past season right before the trade deadline, picking up the 6-foot-6 swingman from Washington for Brian Cook and a future second round pick as part of a three-team trade. In 22 games with the Clippers’ this regular season, Young averaged 9.7 points.
In the playoffs, Young helped lead the Clippers to a 27-point comeback win over Memphis, scoring nine quick points in the fourth quarter. In 11 postseason games, Young drained over half (17-33) of his three-point shots.
— Reported by Dan Woike of the Orange County Register
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Kevin Durant was just three minutes into his 10-minute session with reporters Wednesday when he grew a bit testy.
Of the first seven questions lobbed at him, Durant was forced to field five about the San Antonio Spurs.
And he didn’t like it. Didn’t like it one bit.
Once that fifth question came — a reasonable query about what he anticipates from the Spurs defensively against him — Durant tried to supply an answer but soon found himself swerving off script.
“I’m just going to play my game,” Durant started. “I can’t really think about how those guys are going to defend me. They’re a tough defensive group. But every question is about how the Spurs are going to come and how the Spurs are going to play. But you got to ask me how we’re going to come at them. We’re a tough team as well. We come out and play hard. We have a lot of weapons as well. I know they’re the No. 1 seed, they’re a tough group and they haven’t lost in a couple of months but I think that we bring another dimension to the table as well. And we can come out and compete.”
— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman (Blog)
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A person familiar with the situation says the Charlotte Bobcats will interview Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan on Friday for their vacant head coaching position.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team hasn’t made its list of candidates public.
The 70-year-old Sloan spent 23 seasons with the Utah Jazz before resigning in February 2011. He hasn’t coached since.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Although he’ll turn 40 during next fall’s training camp, Hill has zero plans to end his career while on the mend. One of the few Suns who hasn’t skipped town this offseason, Hill has been a consistent visitor of the the team’s training and weight rooms throughout the week.
“I’m just focusing on being healthy,” the veteran small forward said. “One of the exciting things of being able to spend most of my time here this summer is that I could work with our training staff and get myself right and ready for next season.”
Most of the games that he missed came in late March, when Hill underwent minor right knee surgery to repair a medial meniscus tear. He also had surgery on that same knee last offseason, which hampered him during training camp and the beginning of the season.
Despite the surgery, the former Dukie worked diligently to return to the lineup by the end of the season, as the Suns fought for one of the final playoff positions. However, he never became completely comfortable.
— Reported by Stefan Swiat of Suns.com
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The fate of Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro won’t be known until next week at the earliest, according to sources close to the situation.
But Del Negro’s status must be resolved by next Friday at the latest thanks to the June 1 deadline in his contract for the Clippers to either pick up or decline their third-year team option.
Sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com that the decision rests largely with Clippers owner Donald Sterling, which could help Del Negro. The embattled coach has enjoyed a largely positive relationship with Sterling over the past two seasons, with Sterling issuing a public vote of confidence in Del Negro in March after an ESPN.com report that his job was in jeopardy.
The Clippers then followed up Sterling’s backing by winning 14 of their final 19 regular-season games and toppled the No. 4-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs in a grueling seven-game series before getting swept in the second round by the San Antonio Spurs with the star duo of Chris Paul (hip) and Blake Griffin (knee) trying to play through injuries.
— Reported by Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein of ESPN.com