Kerr sounded just as intrigued about Cousins for different reasons. While the Warriors’ young reserves have questions about their long-term potential after losing veteran reserves in JaVale McGee, David West and Nick Young, Cousins has questions both about his recovery and if he can adapt to the Warriors’ fast pace. Still, Kerr envisioned showing “a lot of interesting stuff we can do with DeMarcus,” including featuring him as a post player, screen setter, jump shooter and facilitator. “DeMarcus gives us a dynamic we haven’t really had, a really dominant big man,” Kerr said. “I think our players will take a lot of joy out of helping DeMarcus come back from the injury and helping him rebound and get his career back on track and in turn lean on him to help us win again. I think it’s going to be a really good scene for our season.”
Kerr sounded just as intrigued about Cousins for differ…
May 27, 2020 | 6:57 pm EDT Update
Mike Fisher: #Mavs coach Rick Carlisle tells me: ‘ @Mark Cuban has made the correct decision waiting to be one of the last teams to open their facility. We have studied the trends and want to make sure every effort is made to keep our players, coaches and support staff safe.’ pic.twitter.com/LyErrMWMjF
Enes Kanter: In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be ANTI-racist. pic.twitter.com/w1iS4jEdsU
Jon Krawczynski: Wolves Coach Ryan Saunders is almost never on social media. He took to Instagram today to speak out on George Floyd’s death pic.twitter.com/tZyoqG4v7y
May 27, 2020 | 5:17 pm EDT Update
Former NBA star Stephen Jackson is calling for the death penalty for the four Minnesota cops he says killed his longtime friend, George Floyd, as seen in a violent arrest video that went viral on Monday, sparking outrage and accusations of racist police brutality from across the country.
‘I honestly want the death penalty for the cops because he casually, hand in his pocket, killed my brother,’ Jackson, 42, told the Daily Mail. ‘No effort. He put no effort into killing him. Kneeled on his neck, had him cuffed, and just suffocated him. ‘The only way that people are gonna feel like there’s justice, and the only way these police are gonna stop killing people in broad daylight like it ain’t nothing, is if they start dying too.’
Reggie Miller: My heart just keeps aching, every time I want to move on from this I just keep seeing that PUNK ASS COP smug face murdering this young man.. I hope his family bankrupts the Minneapolis PD, DON’T SETTLE either!! It won’t bring Mr George Floyd back, but it’s something. Oh and how pic.twitter.com/XtOmEe4NU2
May 27, 2020 | 4:44 pm EDT Update
The Knicks won’t begin any coaching search until they find out whether their season is over, according to sources. That could come as soon as Friday night, should commissioner Adam Silver finalize a format for the season’s restart following a conference call with the team owners.
If the NBA brings back all 30 teams or just 24, the Knicks will be led by interim coach Mike Miller. Anything different and team president Leon Rose can go about a coaching search that still will include Miller, who is well-liked by the organization and figures to return in some capacity.
NBA Central: Austin Rivers talks about the time an unranked Kyrie showed up to Deron Williams’ camp and gave buckets to the top ranked HS players in the country “He wasn’t even supposed to be there…Guys were like ‘Who the f*ck is this guy?’” (🎥 @uninterrupted ) pic.twitter.com/2YHYeXx0AM
Steve Kerr can’t watch it, and Stan Van Gundy doesn’t need to. Many black people have to keep away from it, because watching yet another video of an African American being killed at the hands of the state strips away at their souls and state of mind — that it can happen at any point with very little recourse. A knee to the neck of George Floyd until his breath is taken away.
Kerr, three-time championship coach of the Golden State Warriors, isn’t black. Van Gundy, a successful coach at multiple stops, isn’t either. But that hasn’t stopped them from feeling outrage and doing something about it.
“I think all you have to do is read the story to understand that this was a horrific act and, unfortunately, a story that’s all too familiar in our country,” Kerr told Yahoo Sports recently. “We have to do something about it. I think in particular … white people need to stand up and say we’re not gonna stand for this. All we have to do is imagine if the roles were reversed, the races were reversed, it would be a completely different outcome.”
“I’ve never met a single black parent that doesn’t have to sit their kids down and talk to them very directly about how you deal with the police if you’re stopped,” Van Gundy said. “‘You do this, this and this, so you come home alive.’ I started getting more of that in my career. I’m like holy [expletive]. I’ve never once talked to my kids about that or felt the need to. If my kid got pulled over, it was because they deserved to get pulled over. Even if they mouthed off, nobody was gonna shoot them.”
Moe Harkless: Somebody talk to their rook please
May 27, 2020 | 3:48 pm EDT Update
Family members would be subjected to the same safety and testing protocols as everyone else living in the NBA’s biosphere, sources said. Many players are eager to have family join them in Orlando, especially those on contending teams who anticipate lengthy stays in the playoffs. It is expected that teams would start to arrive in Orlando sometime in mid-July, but those timetables are still under discussion.
Discussions were continuing Wednesday within the league on how the NBA plans to structure a return-to-play scenario. The league has no current expectation that a decision on a finalized plan will emerge off of Friday afternoon’s call with the NBA’s Board of Governors, sources said.
May 27, 2020 | 3:40 pm EDT Update
Some overseas players have an NBA-buyout clause in their contract (also known as an NBA-out) that allows them to leave their international team if they get an offer from an NBA franchise. Some NBA-outs are monetary buyouts, but many of these buyouts give players a certain date in which they are allowed to test the free-agent market and secure an NBA offer. “Every year, there are a number of overseas players who exercise their buyout clause to sign with an NBA team, and the deadline for those buyout clauses is normally between July 10 and July 20,” one international agent said. “That way, it’s during the free-agency period and the player has the option of participating in Summer League beforehand to see if an NBA team is going to offer him a guaranteed deal or a two-way contract.”
“We’re in limbo because the dates no longer match the NBA’s schedule,” one agent said. “It seems like the NBA doesn’t understand that moving free agency by several months will prevent most overseas players from coming over to the NBA because their contract only allows them to exercise their buyout clause in July.” Also, some NBA-buyout clauses “are based on a certain number of days after the team’s last game,” according to another agent. These could present some unique challenges as well.
Some agents are hopeful that logic will prevail and the involved parties will be able to adjust the contract language without any trouble. “FIBA released some overarching guidelines and one of them is that they expect teams and players to engage in what they call ‘good-faith negotiations’ on these kinds of topics,” one agent said. “They’re basically encouraging teams and players to compromise and figure these things out. They don’t want to have to resolve a thousand disputes like this. Let’s say a player had an NBA buyout set for July 15, which is 15 days after the start of free agency. The logical argument is that the new buyout date should still be 15 days after the start of free agency. So, if NBA free agency begins on October 1, the new buyout date should be October 15. The hope is that a lot of these situations can be sorted out logically.”
It could also mean that the summer of 2021 features more overseas talent than usual since it would essentially have two offseasons’ worth of free agents who are looking to exercise their NBA-out. “The NBA is focused on so many other things right now, so I think this just slipped their mind,” one international agent said. “But this could have a big impact on teams that are targeting overseas players.”
Even if the NBA did find a way to have a 2020 Summer League, it couldn’t start until September or October. By then, many overseas leagues would have already wrapped up their free-agency period, meaning most fringe players would’ve already signed with a team overseas and wouldn’t be able to participate in Summer League. “If Summer League isn’t until September or October, everyone would just skip it and take a guaranteed deal with an overseas team instead,” one agent said. “Who is going to jeopardize a guaranteed deal for the entire season just to play in the Summer League for two weeks?”
According to research in which we looked at every team’s path to their eventual championship wins (we only examined champions who had to win four playoff series during their postseason runs), Hakeem Olajuwon’s 1994-95 Houston Rockets had the toughest road ever to winning a title. The worst team they beat had a 57-25 record, and that was their Finals opponent, the Orlando Magic, who boasted a lineup featuring Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardway, amongst many valuable role players.
It’s a shame they weren’t even mentioned in The Last Dance, even though they were champions when Michael Jordan made his midseason return to the NBA. Some of the other toughest roads faced on the way to a title, per our research, include Jordan’s 1996-97 Chicago Bulls, LeBron James’ 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers, who had to face the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in the Finals, and the Shaq-and-Kobe–Bryant 2001-02 squad.
Gilbert Arenas: my game was in the lines of James Harden w/out the evolution of the great scoring he’s been doing. i was 25 when i got hurt so i did get to evolve into the great scoring he is. w/the rules today i would have done a lot more driving since everyone is so intrigued w/the 3 point line. no one is protecting the rim. no one like Shaq there now.
Gilbert Arenas: my only regret is i didn’t take my injuries seriously. for a guy who had never been injured i was training like any other summer instead of properly rehabbing.
May 27, 2020 | 3:31 pm EDT Update
Shams Charania: Sources: The NBA is working on multi-phase medical/safety protocols toward restart of play. Current projections have in-market training camps in July, then camps/scrimmages in Orlando, then resume play late July/early August.
Last week, ESPN came up with the all-time starting five for every NBA team. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Wilt Chamberlain made the cut for the Warriors. Hey Rick Barry — does that bother you at all? “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” the Hall of Famer said Tuesday on 95.7 The Game. “And that’s all it is — the opinion of some people. It is what it is. I know who I am. I know who I was as a player, and that doesn’t change. Who cares. “Bottom line is — I have my championship ring sitting on my finger that I’m looking at right now.”
In 1975, Barry helped bring the franchise its first NBA title since it relocated from Philadelphia to the Bay Area in 1962. He averaged 29.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.5 steals in the NBA Finals that year, as the Warriors swept the heavily-favored Washington Bullets. “We won as a team. We didn’t win because of any one individual,” Barry explained. “We won because we made a commitment to playing the game the right way, and everybody was a major contributor. “That’s what made it so very special. We were like a family.”
Trae Young: There is some things that go on in this world that are absolutely sickening & just sad😔
May 27, 2020 | 2:04 pm EDT Update
Knicks interested in Kenny Atkinson
Former Brooklyn Nets coach Kenny Atkinson likely will also receive an interview, sources said. Atkinson and the Nets parted ways in March with the team at 28-34 and on the way to the postseason during a difficult fourth season at the helm. Atkinson helped turn the franchise around during his tenure, taking it from a 20-win team in 2016-17 to a playoff team last season and one that proved to be an attractive destination for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency. He was a Knicks assistant for four seasons under head coach Mike D’Antoni.
In Hartenstein’s case, the relationship with Brase had strengthened during Summer League in Las Vegas, with Brase as the head coach and Hartenstein as the team leader. Lucas has a unique way of connecting with players, and his bond with Hartenstein was no different. Being a young player who’s not getting a lot of playing time is one thing, but living alone is another. It’s important to keep players’ spirits up, especially during times like these, and Lucas is well versed in the mental aspect of the game. “More optimistic,” Hartenstein told The Athletic about his attitude toward the league’s progress. “I mean, just seeing that everything was getting closer and closer to opening up and maybe having a chance to start the season.”
As one of the first players in the league to attempt such a workout, Hartenstein was quick with a reminder that these are simply voluntary. Players are well within their right to avoid the facility and carry on whatever they’ve been doing to stay fit and ready on their own. This is just a way to get guys back in touch with the spaces they frequent after having to stay away for two months. “I mean, there will definitely be change,” Hartenstein said of league protocols as resumption talks progress. “But in the sense of what the Rockets are doing, they’re doing a great job. I don’t feel like they were uncomfortable and (they) made sure everything was safe.”
There are some more advanced chefs, namely Celtics center Enes Kanter, who is more familiar with food in the kitchen. He was growing up in Turkey, and as a child his mom told him to learn how to cook and he never really took her advice seriously until he got into the NBA and he started having to cook for himself. But now he experiments with all different kinds of Turkish spices and has actually turned his teammates on to a number of Turkish meals. So he’s very familiar in the kitchen. And you can see on his social media feeds all the lamb chops and steaks and chicken wings and more authentic Turkish food that he’s cooking during the hiatus.
Michael Porter Jr: As much as you pray for George family, gotta also pray for the police officer(s) who were involved in this evil. As hard as it is, pray for them instead of hate them…Pray that God changes their hearts.
Quincy Pondexter: End racism and hate!
May 27, 2020 | 1:45 pm EDT Update
Knicks coaching search: Thibodeau the top candidate
The New York Knicks and president of basketball operations Leon Rose will soon embark on the search process for a new head coach and Tom Thibodeau is atop the list of targets, sources told The Athletic. The Knicks are believed to be targeting a decision in the next few weeks, sources said. Interim coach Mike Miller has left a strong impression throughout the franchise, including in his time since Rose assumed control of the front office. Miller is expected to receive an interview when the Knicks do start formally talking to prospective head coaches, according to league sources, after stabilizing the team following a 4-18 start that led to David Fizdale’s firing.
“What I proposed is that we extend the playoff format to 10 teams from each conference, and play at least five games prior to going into playoffs,” Cuban said laying out is plan to NBC’s Mike Tirico on “Lunch Talk Live.” And if we do that, every team in the Eastern Conference would have a chance to make the playoffs, and all but two in the Western Conference would do it [Ed. note: Golden State and Minnesota].
“Then, what I would do, once we got 10 and 10, I would reseed them, and 17 would play 20, and 18 would play 19, in a one-game series. The winner then would take on the eighth-place seed in a five-game series, while the No. 1 seed in each conference would get a bye. Then you go ahead normally from there. “That gives us a chance to have more meaningful games, it gives almost every team a chance when we come back for whatever is left of our regular season. I think we’ve got to change it up some, I don’t think we can go the old tried and true way.”
Walt Disney World plans to reopen July 11, according to a presentation the company made to an economic recovery task force Wednesday. Disney’s Florida theme parks have been closed since March 15 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and their reopening will follow its Florida rival, Universal Orlando, which is set to reopen June 5. SeaWorld Orlando also presented its plan to Orange County’s Economic Recovery Task Force and plans to reopen for employees as soon as June 10, and the public on June 11.
Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler is depicted as one of the archrivals of fellow NBA legend Michael Jordan in the final few episodes of “The Last Dance.” In the docuseries, Jordan says he was “offended” when the media compared him to Drexler, and the latter has just clapped back at Jordan with his own response. According to Drexler, it’s all part of the game: “That’s Michael’s documentary so obviously it’s going to be from his perspective,” Drexler said on a recent interview with the “The A-Team” on SportsTalk 790. “Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. A lot of times guys didn’t like each other from other teams, but as you get older, you’ve got to get beyond all of that and show some love and some respect for the people you played with and against.”
Drexler then went on to take a bit of a shot at Jordan, taking aim at the Chicago Bulls legend’s knack for taking matters into his own hands: “This is a team game, it’s not one guy. You can have 50 points and 40 rebounds but if you lose, are you less of a player than anybody on the other team? No, it’s a team game. “So I hate when people act like it’s an individual competition. I didn’t take 35 shots and get 20 free throws a night, so I wasn’t going to score 40 points a night.”
May 27, 2020 | 12:22 pm EDT Update
Marc J. Spears: The Knicks announce Brock Aller as vice president, basketball and strategic planning, Walt Perrin as assistant general manager – college scouting and Frank Zanin as assistant general manager – pro scouting. NYK also say GM Scott Perry signed an extension for the 2020-21 season.
