SH Blog: Raptors pursue Ujiri; Coach K to coach USA again?

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reggiemillerchokeWell, the Knicks are done. Kind of anti-climactically, as well, at least compared to previous playoff series against Indiana (see right). Now it’s up to the Pacers, who are kind of like the anti-Heat, to stop the Miami freight train that seems destined to roll right on through to the finals.

For all the gory details on just what went wrong in the Knicks’ elimination, I’ll point you over to Chris Sheridan’s latest column.

In the West, we’ve got the Grizzlies and the Spurs starting tomorrow night, in a series that should push the Spurs in an entirely different manner from the way the Warriors pushed them. If the Grizzlies get their way, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol will suffocate Tim Duncan in the low post and Tony Allen will shut down Tony Parker and/or Manu Ginobili. But the Spurs don’t make a habit of letting their opponents get their way. In fact, as Jan Hubbard writes in his latest column, the Spurs are all about doing it their way, and not anybody else’s.

Today’s blog actually doesn’t focus much on the playoffs, though. There’s lots of draft stuff in here, since the combine just happened. Check out all the links below, of course, but also be sure to read Jeremy Bauman’s roundup of the biggest news from the combine.

  • Mike Krzyzewski is considering a return as Team USA’s head coach. Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated reports: “Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski acknowledged in a phone interview Saturday that he’s in discussions to return as head coach of USA Basketball through the 2016 Olympics. “There’s a chance,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s correct.” Krzyzewski said he hasn’t made a final decision, but his openness to the position represents a significant change. For eight months, Krzyzewski has maintained he’s not returning as USA Basketball’s head coach. On Saturday, Krzyzewski said he and USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo have been talking about his return “quite a bit.” Colangelo said Saturday he and Krzyzewski have been discussing his return “in installments.” “I think it’s very close to being resolved,” Colangelo said. “That’s all I can say for sure.” He added: “Give it another week and it should be resolved.”

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SH Blog: Raptors, Sixers decide on GMs; Hollins declines credit for stopping Durant

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The Warriors knocked off the Spurs today to knot their series back up, 2-2. And they did it with Steph Curry on a balky ankle. Tomorrow night, the Thunder and Bulls will try to even up their series as well. If you know who’s going to win each of these series, you could probably make a fortune. The NBA future is about as unclear as it ever gets right about now.

For a couple teams, though, the future is getting a little clearer. Or at least the major players in that future. In today’s blog, we’ve got news on two NBA teams making up their minds on who will be their GM heading into the offseason. Before we start that, though, check out our Euroleague final report for a heads-up on what’s going on across the pond.

Now here’s all the latest news and rumors from around the NBA.

  • There’s a new boss in Philly: former Rockets assistant GM Sam Hinkie. John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer tells us a little about him: “One thing I’ve learned about Hinkie in the last 48 hours is that he’s not just all about crunching numbers. Yes, he’s big on ascribing value to shots taken at the basket vs. long two-pointers that should be threes, but perhaps there is more here. In three conversations with people in Houston who have worked with him and watched him work, the common thread is that while Hinkie and former boss Daryl Morey, the Houston general manager, have hired a slew of MIT MBAs to analyze everything, Hinkie is a relentless worker who will “scout talent as much as anyone in the league.” Hinkie joined the Rockets in 2005, two years before Morey did. During that time, the Rockets more than doubled their scouting department – not including advance scouts – to six.”
  • Kevin DurantThe Grizzlies are playing their style of basketball, and it’s been troubling the Thunder quite a bit so far. But Lionel Hollins is being modest about it, reports Jeff Caplan of NBA.com: ‘The reality of All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook – Allen’s more natural counterpart –being shelved is in full effect and it’s not pretty. The Grizzlies are doing all they can to grit-and-grind their way to making life as uncomfortable as possible for Durant, forcing his teammates to step up, and especially late in these games, each of which have been up for grabs in the final three minutes. “I’ve said it before, when a guy has the ball and has to score like that it takes energy, and the more you make him work, that’s the best you can do,” Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. “You can’t stop Kevin Durant, he’s a great player, but he played 45, 46 minutes and he’s asked to carry a huge load for them. As the game goes on other people for them, they start taking the load away from him a little bit, but I don’t think that we can stop him. I’m not attributing it to us.” “

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SH Blog: Parker to play Sunday, Curry questionable; Phil waiting on Seattle?

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Every remaining NBA team is banged up right now. It’s a fact of the playoffs that they are a  of endurance as much as skill. Since the start of the first round, the Thunder have lost Russell Westbrook and the Warriors have lost David Lee for effectively the remainder of the playoffs. The Knicks and Spurs have a number of nagging injuries.

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SH Blog: PJ Carlesimo out as Nets coach; Celtics need to figure out what to do with Pierce

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And just like that, the second round is upon us. If that felt a little abrupt, don’t worry: it was. Somehow the first series to be set is the last to get underway, which I’m sure Gregg Popovich and the Spurs won’t mind. Mark Jackson and the Warriors probably won’t mind too much either, with Andrew Bogut and Steph Curry’s ankle troubles. For more on the Warriors and Spurs, check out Jan Hubbard’s latest column.

Derrick RoseThe other series that starts tomorrow will be the Bulls and the Heat, and while it won’t be Derrick Rose vs. LeBron James, there’s plenty of intrigue with the Bulls if you can get over their All-Star point guard’s absence. Just watching them dig down to their deepest reserves of grit against the Nets should have done that. In another new column on Sheridan Hoops, Jeremy Bauman looks at what the Bulls have accomplished without their franchise player.

Still, the rumors will continue to abound over Rose, and not without reason: he still hasn’t ruled out that he’ll return, and it’s not unreasonable to presume that the best chance the Bulls have of knocking off Miami is with him in the lineup. So let’s start off today’s roundup of the latest news from around the NBA with an item on Rose:

  • Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports says what everyone in the NBA is thinking: “For the good of his franchise and fans, for everyone’s focus to be where it should belong now – Bulls-Heat, Game 1 on Monday – Rose needs to drop the illusion that his return in these playoffs remains a consideration. “Who knows?” Rose told reporters hours on Saturday. “It’s still up in the air.” Who knows? Derrick Rose knows. His choice has been made to sit out the season and it includes no provisions for turning back, sources with direct knowledge told Yahoo! Sports. Inside and outside of the organization, that isn’t much of a revelation. After all, the surgery to repair the torn ACL in his left knee was May 12, 2012. Doctors cleared him to start scrimmaging with the team in mid-February. After all that, he isn’t walking out for the first time with LeBron James and the Miami Heat waiting to jump him. … Of course, Derrick Rose could make everything easier and simply say so publicly. He refuses. So, Rose will still needlessly linger over this Heat-Bulls series.”

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SH Blog: Will Chris Paul and/or Vinny Del Negro be Clippers next season?

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Chris PaulSuddenly, everything is a whole lot clearer. Four teams were eliminated last night, and we’ve got just one more game in the first round of the playoffs. It’s tonight, between the Bulls and Nets, and the winner gets to face the Heat. So maybe not the best reward, but every team in the East knows they’ll have to go through the Heat if they want to reach the Finals.

The rest of the second round is set, and we’ve got previews all ready for you. First we’ve got the Grizzlies and the Thunder out west, and in the east we’ve got the Pacers and the Knicks.

Now here’s all the latest news from around the NBA:

  • With the Clippers’ season now over, they may be another team riding the coaching carousel, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com: “Clippers sources insist no decision has been made on (Vinny) Del Negro yet and that this early playoff exit won’t be the only basis upon which he’s judged. The team won a franchise-record 56 games this season and Del Negro has always had a good relationship with the team’s ownership. The team is expected to take “about a week” to evaluate the season before making a decision on Del Negro, according to one source. Officially Del Negro’s contract runs a few more months, and the Clippers have been known to take their time with such matters — interim coach Kim Hughes famously worked several months after he was dismissed as interim head coach — but “that’s not going to happen this time,” the source said.”
  • Ric Bucher of CSN Bay Area weighs in on the Clippers’ coaching situation: “A tantalizing candidate to be the Clippers’ next head coach posited by one NBA executive if the team would like to maximize its chances of Chris Paul re-signing with the franchise: Chauncey Billups. I can’t tell you if Billups is interested in retiring as a player at this point, or even if being a head coach is what he wants to do next, but he certainly knows the game well enough, has long held unusual authority among his peers on the court and in the locker room. Then there’s this: no one is closer on that team than Paul and Billups. I also know that Paul’s control of the franchise, by virtue of the fact the Clippers will do anything to keep him, is nearly absolute. As for the current head coach, Vinny Del Negro, the consensus around the NBA is that this first-round ouster is almost certain to cost him his job.”
  • Blake on CP3 re-signing: "He knows how we've done things, especially the last two years. I think he knows it's a great place to play."
    @ramonashelburne
    Ramona Shelburne

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