Category: NBA Teams

NBA teams blog

Knicks will keep general manager Scott Perry for next season

The Knicks will keep roster decision-maker Scott Perry next season. Here’s New York Newsday reporting:

The Leon Rose era will begin with a familiar face: The Knicks have decided to retain Scott Perry as general manager.

They confirmed that Perry will remain with a statement from Rose, the new team president.

“Scott is a well-respected basketball executive who I have known for more than 20 years, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him as we look to build a winning team in New York,” Rose said.

While the season remains in limbo right now because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Knicks needed to make a decision on Perry because of a mutual option set to trigger on May 1.

The Knicks roster will likely undergo huge changes in the next offseason. Perry’s main goal at this point is to find long-term building blocks, and to avoid giving superstar-level free agent contracts to players who are not superstars.

Checking in with Heat guard Tyler Herro

Here’s ESPN.com checking in on young Heat guard Tyler Herro:

For the season, Herro ranks eighth among rookies in scoring (12.9 points), seventh in 20-point games (9) and tied for first with 2.1 3-pointers per game.

His seven made 3-pointers on Jan. 22 against the Washington Wizards were the most in a game by a Heat rookie in franchise history and tied for the most by any rookie this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information. However, Herro is still not satisfied.

“I just hope that they open as soon as possible,” Herro said of practice facilities possibly reopening soon. “Obviously, hoping everybody stays safe … but we would all love to get back into the facilities and start working out and stuff like that again on a normal routine.”

The NBA season is on hold, but there’s still hope that either it will resume — likely in condensed form — or some sort of playoffs can take place.

To Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the NBA season feels over

The NBA season has been put on hold since mid March. But it hasn’t officially been canceled. Though, it certainly won’t surprise anyone if that’s what winds up happening. And soon. Here’s ESPN.com reporting what Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said on Tuesday:

As the NBA continues to try to find ways to salvage the end of its season as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr acknowledged that his team is operating as if its season is over.

“It feels like the offseason,” Kerr said during a video conference call in conjunction with the University of San Francisco on Tuesday. “And, in fact, we had a Zoom call, Bob Myers and I got on a Zoom with our players, our whole roster last week. And it was just a chance to check in, but it was also a chance for Bob to update the players on his contact with the league and the latest news, but it also kind of felt like our annual team exit meeting. Our coaching staff and I have been undergoing staff evaluations, offseason plans, so we are absolutely in offseason mode right now.”

As other teams in playoff contention try to keep their teams focused on a possible resumption of play, Kerr said that though the Warriors remain in communication with all their players and staffers, the team isn’t concerned about a possible resumption, given that Golden State had a league-worst 15-50 record when the season was suspended on March 11.

Clarity on the matter will likely come sometime in May.

Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon now fully healed

There’s no pro basketball about to be played anytime soon, but here’s some good news on the Pacers front from the Indianapolis Star:

Malcolm Brogdon is ready to go if the NBA season resumes. Saturday, the Indiana Pacers posted a video from their starting point guard on their social media accounts that he’s fully healed from a hip/thigh injury that kept him out the last three games before the hiatus because of COVID-19.

“I’m doing great. I’ve been doing as much as I can under this quarantine but I’m 100%,” Brogdon said in the video. “I’ve been on my Peleton bike and I’ve been running hills in my backyard.”

The Pacers were 39-26 when league play was put on hold in mid March.

Memphis forward Precious Achiuwa to enter 2020 NBA draft

Here’s ESPN.com reporting on a top prospect for the next NBA draft:

Memphis freshman forward Precious Achiuwa is entering the 2020 NBA draft, he told ESPN on Friday…

Achiuwa, the No. 12 prospect in the ESPN Top 100, emerged as one of the most productive freshmen in college basketball, winning American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors.

He averaged 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.1 steals for the Tigers, establishing himself as one of the most versatile defenders in the country.

Achiuwa is listed at 6-foot-9, 225 lbs, and was born in Queens, New York.

The draft is scheduled for its usual time — late June — though the NBA may issue some scheduling updates in May that could change just about anything as far as 2020 events are concerned.

Kobe Bryant’s final NBA season was documented by a film crew

It sounds like we’ll eventually get some really good behind-the-scenes Kobe Bryant footage someday. Here’s ESPN.com reporting:

And just as the camera crew had unprecedented access to chronicle every moment of Jordan’s final season with the Bulls, the same holds true for Bryant’s final NBA season. The crew expanded in size during his last campaign, and as many as six personal camera crews were present during his 60-point finale.

Bryant’s camera crew, several Lakers staffers from that season said, had unparalleled access in locker rooms both at home and on the road, in the training room, throughout the team’s practice facility and even on the team’s charter plane…

There were key differences, of course — the biggest being that Jordan’s Bulls were pushing for their sixth title in eight seasons while Bryant’s team ultimately posted a 17-65 season, the worst record in franchise history.

“It was interesting because, obviously, we weren’t winning, so that was frustrating. And the [cameras were always] in your face so, I don’t know, it was hard,” said Robert Sacre, a reserve center for the Lakers that season. “It didn’t feel real as a season.”

Considering the state of the Lakers in Kobe’s last season, the documentary would presumably focus more on Kobe’s personality and basketball life as an individual, rather than centering around the team. But with the tragic loss of Kobe in a horrible helicopter crash earlier this year, such footage would be more than welcome.

Kings coach Luke Walton has watched every episode of Tiger King on Netflix

Here’s the Sacramento Bee answering the question you’ve all been asking: how much of the Netflix show “Tiger King” has Sacramento Kings head coach Luke Walton watched?

During a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Walton offered his thoughts on social distancing, homeschooling, the threat of COVID-19 and two documentary series that are keeping America entertained: ESPN’s “The Last Dance” and Netflix’s “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.”

“I have watched every episode of ‘Tiger King,’” Walton said. “I had no idea what it was about, but it hooked me.”

Walton said he is sheltering in place with his family at their Sacramento-area home, where they are adhering to recommendations and orders from health officials. In his first press briefing since the NBA postponed the season March 11, Walton quipped that he was speaking to reporters from his car outside the house “because it’s the only place I can get any quiet in the quarantine life.”

Now you know.

I haven’t actually seen it yet. Because it’s been described as a car crash that people can’t look away from. Which isn’t exactly the best advertisement for a series. But like most of you, and like Walton, I’m sure at some point I’ll hit that Play button and struggle to look away.

Michael Jordan could have played for the Oakland A’s, says former GM

Here’s NBC Sports Chicago reporting on some interesting insight into a turn Michael Jordan’s brief pro baseball career could have taken:

Michael Jordan’s departure from his life as the greatest basketball player in the world to play minor league baseball with the White Sox is the stuff of Chicago legend.

But it might have gone quite differently. And with a different organization altogether.

Former Oakland Athletics general manager Sandy Alderson told ESPN’s Buster Olney on a recent edition of the Baseball Tonight podcast that he offered Jordan a spot on his major league roster in 1994.

“You recall when Jordan stopped playing basketball and decided to try baseball, and ultimately went down to the Birmingham Barons — the Chicago White Sox affiliate,” Alderson said. “When I heard that was happening, or about to happen, I called his agent right away and said, ‘Hey look, I understand he may be going to Double-A. I don’t even know who the 25th man is on our major league team right now, I will sign him and put him on the major league roster. He’ll be part of our 25-man team. Tomorrow.'”

Just speculating here, but unless Jordan had somehow magically been better at the major league level than he was in the minors, he’d still probably have wound up back in the NBA around the same time as he did. But this could have potentially been an even more fascinating detour.

Like the rest of us, Danny Ainge is waiting to see what happens

Here’s the Boston Herald with an update on what Celtics front office guru Danny Ainge is thinking these days as we all wait to see what happens with the NBA season and playoffs in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic:

“This is a time for the really self-motivated that are going to be able to take advantage of this opportunity in their career to get stronger, to get in greater condition,” [Ainge] said. “We’re approaching this like we’re going to return to play and that we’re going to be playing playoff basketball. And we are staying in touch. We are having conference calls where we have guest speakers, motivational speakers, that address all of our guys on Zoom. We are doing workouts with the coaches and with the strength coaches via Zoom and so forth.

“So we’re trying to do all we can. Some players are better than others at doing things on their own and doing extra work, and some players are more compliant than others, some are harder to reach than others, but for the most part, I’ve been impressed with how our players have bought in and the work that’s going on behind the scenes.”

The NBA regular season was suspended six weeks ago today. And the 2020 playoffs were due to start this past Saturday. But for now, everything remains on hold.

New Notre Dame coach is Niele Ivey, who had been with Memphis Grizzlies

Here’s the Memphis Commercial Appeal with some news on the coaching front:

Notre Dame named Niele Ivey its new women’s basketball coach Wednesday.

Ivey spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant coach on Taylor Jenkins’ Memphis Grizzlies staff, becoming the ninth active female coach in the NBA.

Ivey becomes the fourth women’s basketball coach in Notre Dame history, succeeding Muffet McGraw, who announced Wednesday she was stepping down after 33 seasons.

And per UND.com:

There’s no place like home under the Golden Dome. James E. Rohr Notre Dame Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick announced Niele Ivey (‘01) as the fourth head coach in women’s basketball history on Wednesday.

Ivey was the common link to all nine of the program’s Final Four appearances, two as a player and seven as an assistant coach, logging a combined 17 years on Notre Dame’s campus. Ivey spent the past season honing her craft as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies, before returning to follow in Muffet McGraw’s footsteps.