HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

Armed with their highest draft pick in more than a decade, the Mavericks are thinking strongly about trading the asset. And “strongly” means it is a virtual certainty. One source put the chances of the Mavericks having the 13th overall draft pick on their opening-day roster next season at 0 percent.

There is an 80-percent chance that the pick is traded before or, more likely, during the draft, the source said. There is at least a 15-percent chance that the pick is a foreign player who is under contract and can be left overseas for a year and not count against the Mavericks’ salary cap. There is less than a 5 percent chance that one of the top five or six players in the draft slips to No. 13 and the Mavericks take him, knowing fully that they can jettison that valuable chip easily for future considerations.

In every scenario, the No. 13 pick would not be a Maverick next season and, therefore, not count against the Mavericks’ cap, which would free up needed money to pursue a max-contract free agent like Dwight Howard.

via Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News

Mark Jackson is the Zen Don Nelson — similar Warriors success, much less frantic financial agitation.

So: Jackson is not going to scheme for a bigger, longer contract this summer after leading the Warriors to a surprise playoff run, though that’s exactly what Nelson did after the franchise’s previous postseason berth.

If a new deal for Jackson comes before the season starts, then fine.

If it doesn’t (and Jackson said there have been no serious talks as of yet this offseason) . . . well, Jackson might not be 100 percent thrilled with that, but he almost certainly won’t stage a Nelson-style hold out.

“I’m a guy with great faith. I know it’ll work out,” Jackson said.  ”So I don’t get caught up in it. This isn’t standard ‘coach line.’ It’s the truth. It’ll work out. I do know that.”

via Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News

The Minnesota Timberwolves have evaluated another group of draft prospects, highlighted by Lehigh guard C.J. McCollum. McCollum was watched by team officials at the Target Center practice court on Tuesday. McCollum worked out by himself.

McCollum is a potential top-10 pick. He is, though, a 6-foot-3 combo guard the Wolves have less of a need for than a reliable outside shooter on the wing. The Wolves have the ninth and 26th choices in the first round of next week’s draft.

via Associated Press

After living with uncertainty about their coach since the night the team was eliminated from the playoffs, the Celtics will hope to gain a better understanding when Doc Rivers meets tomorrow with Danny Ainge. According to a league source, Rivers hopes after that discussion to make his first public comments regarding his future since saying on May 3rd that he was uncertain if he would be on the Celtic bench for the 2013-14 season. Now the Celtics and Rivers must decide whether it is realistic for him to stay with the club after expressing interest in another job.

 ”I don’t know if anything will be decided tomorrow or if anything will be resolved,” said Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations. “I just know that I’m meeting with him.”

The discussion will come a day after talks broke down on complementary deals that would have allowed Rivers out of the remaining three years on his Celtic contract so he could coach the Clippers, sending Kevin Garnett to the same club in a separate but related move. In return, the C’s were looking to get a combination of players and draft picks, but the Clippers backed away some time this morning.

via Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald

Chicago Bulls star point guard Derrick Rose didn’t deserve to be criticized by fans for sitting out the entire 2012-13 season while rehabbing from a torn ACL in his left knee, Bulls Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen said.

“I was kind of surprised people turned on him knowing the difficulty of Derrick’s injury,” Pippen said at Nike’s basketball pro-am at Whitney Young High School on Saturday. “No one can justify what he’s going through. No one can make his decision as to when to get back on the basketball court. I thought he took a little bit of a hit for it.

“As a player that has played this game, I know at the end of the day I’ve had numerous amount of surgeries, and the doctors released me at numerous amount of times to go and play. But a lot of those times didn’t mean go and play against the best in the world right now, but to get yourself ready to compete again. Sometimes as a player, you’re not there yet. The doctor can tell you the headache is gone, but he don’t totally know that it is gone unless he can get in your head.”

via Scott Powers of ESPN Chicago

All-Star Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook posted a video on the Vine social media service earlier this week to announce he no longer needs to use crutches, a big milestone in his recovery from knee surgery in late April.

In the video, Westbrook hobbles out to his pool on a crutch but then takes the crutch and mockingly slams it over his knee and tosses it into the water. Then, holding a basketball in a shooting motion, he says, “I’m back.”

The team had said last month that it wouldn’t be until Westbrook got off of his crutches that a timetable for him to get back on the court would be established.

via Associated Press

The Los Angeles Clippers informed the Boston Celtics on Tuesday morning they are pulling out of talks to acquire Celtics forward Kevin Garnett and Head Coach Doc Rivers, sources told ESPN.com.The teams have no plans to speak again, the sources said, and the Clippers are preparing to move on and hire a coach this week. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, meanwhile, confirmed to The Boston Globe that the talks between the teams had ended.

After what sources described as “substantive” discussions on Monday, the talks broke down Tuesday morning when the Clippers “refused to budge” on Boston’s latest proposal that asked for DeAndre Jordan straight up for Garnett, and two first-round draft picks as compensation for allowing Rivers out of the final three years and $21 million of his contract.

via Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles

Living in Denver, the firing I have been closest to is that of George Karl. I have known Karl for about a decade and talked about nearly everything one could imagine with him. In short, I like him as a human being. However, there comes a time when a change can be mutually beneficial. The Nuggets and Karl had reached that time.

Winning 57 games in the regular season was a bit of fool’s gold. Karl overachieved with a good but not great team that was probably more of a 50-win team. That over-achievement in the regular season juxtaposed to what happened in the playoffs only further highlighted his postseason struggles.

via Travis Heath of HOOPSWORLD 

In an interview with Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto on Good Day New York Monday, Jason Kidd touched on a number of the same issues he talked about at last week’s press conference, including his recruitment of Lawrence Frank as his lead assistant.

“I’m working as hard as I can,” said Kidd. “So, hopefully he does joint the staff because he would be great.”

Kidd also said that “communication” is the most critical element of coaching…”communication with all the guys, not just the stars.”

via Net Income via Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto of Good Day New York

For the Los Angeles Clippers to bring Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers to chase the franchise’s first NBA championship, the price to complete a deal could come down to a willingness to include an additional first-round draft pick in the package to the Boston Celtics, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Monday night.

After pushing for the Clippers to take back long-term contracts, the Celtics relented and have shown willingness to complete the deal for DeAndre Jordan and two first-round draft picks, sources said. The Clippers are willing to give the Celtics Jordan and one draft pick, but were resisting a second future pick, sources said.

The two teams are planning to talk again on Tuesday morning, and the fragile negotiations could climax over the draft pick compensation, sources said.

via Adrian Wojnarowski of YAHOO! Sports

After being impressed by (Pete) D’Alessandro, (Vivek) Ranadive called Chris Mullin, who was the candidate’s boss at Golden State.

Mullin, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer as a player with Golden State and Indiana who became an executive with the Warriors, endorsed D’Alessandro.

Mullin has been offered a job as a consultant with the Kings.

“We’ll have to look at how we can have Mully help us,” Ranadive said. “He’s a legend in the area, and we all know him well, and it would be great to have his help.”

via Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee

In moments like these for the Miami Heat — when a victory is absolutely necessary — Coach Erik Spoelstra falls back on two ideas.

One, his players play their best when the lights are the brightest. It is paramount for LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to have strong performances in Game 6 if the Heat want to extend the NBA Finals to a seventh game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Two, Spoelstra says “everything is on the table” in a must-win game, and down 3-2 to the Spurs, there is no bigger must-win than Tuesday’s game (9 p.m. ET, ABC). That means most players are available to play and starting lineup changes are possible.

And now, it might be time for Spoelstra to again tinker with his starting lineup. Would he put Haslem back in and move Miller back to the bench?

“We’ll see,” he said.

via Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today

Norvel Pelle’s odyssey to reach the NBA just got at least one year longer.

The former Los Angeles Price High star who twice failed to meet college academic entrance requirements withdrew from the NBA draft on Monday because of a foot issue that forced him to miss workouts for four teams.

Pelle has a severe blister/wart that needs to be surgically removed, according to a representative for his agent, Greg Nunn.

The 6-foot-10 power forward largely remains a mystery because he has not played against high-level competition since he starred at Price more than two years ago. He’s spent most of his time since then bouncing from prep school to prep school while attempting to qualify for college, playing only part of one season at L.A. College Preparatory Academy.

via Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times

The Brooklyn Nets are interested in adding Roy Rogers as an assistant coach on Jason Kidd’s staff and will be talking with Rogers this week, according to a source.

Rogers worked as an assistant coach with the Nets for two seasons (2008-10) — working under Lawrence Frank until the head coach was fired following an 0-16 start in 2009-10 — and also served as an advance scout. Rogers also served under Frank while Frank was coaching the Detroit Pistons.

via Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com

Derrick Rose didn’t deserve to be criticized by fans for sitting out the entire 2012-13 season while rehabbing from a torn ACL in his left knee, Bulls Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen said.

“I was kind of surprised people turned on him knowing the difficulty of Derrick’s injury,” Pippen said at Nike’s basketball pro-am at Whitney Young High School on Saturday. “No one can justify what he’s going through. No one can make his decision as to when to get back on the basketball court. I thought he took a little bit of a hit for it.

via Scott Powers of ESPNChicago.com

Bob Bender and Nick Van Exel are following Larry Drew to Milwaukee.

The Bucks announced Monday that Bender and Van Exel will be assistants on Drew’s staff. Bender also was an assistant during Drew’s three years as head coach in Atlanta, while Van Exel was the Hawks’ player development instructor from 2010-12.

Drew says the two were ”important pieces” of his staff in Atlanta and will be dedicated to teaching Milwaukee’s young players.

via The Associated Press

Meanwhile, a source close to Rivers told the Globe that Rivers is still grappling with the decision, especially as the trade gets more complicated and negotiations more contentious. The talk of the Clippers acquiring Paul Pierce in the trade are remote, especially since the Celtics would have to honor his deal and send him to the Clippers with a $15 million salary.

And don’t expect the Celtics to waive Pierce just to see him sign with the Clippers during free agency. If they decide to trade Pierce, and NBA sources said the team is open to the possibility, they want a return for his services unless waiving him will allow him enough salary cap space to sign a solid free agent.

via Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe