Kawhi Leonard to skip USA Basketball mini-camp; George Hill, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added to the roster

By Brett PollakoffJul 16, 2013, 12:32 PM EDT
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USA Basketball will hold a four-day mini-camp in Las Vegas following the conclusion of Summer League beginning on July 22, and while the roster was originally set to include Kawhi Leonard, that will no longer be the case.

Leonard will miss the mini-camp “while rehabbing from a long season,” USA Basketball announced on Tuesday via official release. He started all 21 playoff games for the Spurs and played 36.9 minutes per contest in the postseason, so considering that the Finals wrapped up less than a month ago, sitting this event out to get some rest makes perfect sense.

The organization also announced that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and George Hill would be added to the roster, along with Marcus Smart from Oklahoma State University.

Hill was an important part of the Pacers’ playoff run this past season, while MKG and Smart come in with prior USA Basketball experience. Kidd-Gilchrist was a member of the 2011 USA Junior Select Team that won the 2011 Nike Hoop Summit, and was a part of the 2010 USA U17 World Championship Team that finished 8-0 and captured the gold medal.

The mini-camp roster now stands at 29 players, and is reprinted below in its entirety.

2013 USA Basketball Men’s National Team Mini-Camp Roster

NAME                                    POS       HGT       WGT      DOB       NBA TEAM / COLLEGE

Ryan Anderson                        F            6-10        240      05/06/88    New Orleans Pelicans / California

Harrison Barnes                       F            6-8          210      05/30/92    Golden State Warriors / North Carolina

Bradley Beal                             G           6-5          207      06/28/93    Washington Wizards / Florida

Mike Conley                            G            6-1          185      10/11/87    Memphis Grizzlies / Ohio State

DeMarcus Cousins                    C          6-11        270      08/13/90    Sacramento Kings / Kentucky

Anthony Davis                        F/C          6-10        220      03/11/93    New Orleans Pelicans / Kentucky

DeMar DeRozan                      G            6-7          216      08/07/89    Toronto Raptors / USC

Andre Drummond                    C            6-10        270      09/10/93    Detroit Pistons / Connecticut

Kenneth Faried                        F             6-8          228      11/19/89    Denver Nuggets / Morehead State

Derrick Favors                       F/C          6-10        248      07/15/91    Utah Jazz / Georgia Tech

Paul George                            F/G         6-8          221      05/02/90    Indiana Pacers / Fresno State

Taj Gibson                               F            6-9          225      06/24/85    Chicago Bulls / USC

Gordon Hayward                      F           6-8          210      03/23/90    Utah Jazz / Butler

George Hill                               G           6-2          190      05/04/86    Indiana Pacers / IUPUI

Jrue Holiday                             G           6-4          205      06/12/90    New Orleans Pelicans / UCLA

Kyrie Irving                             G           6-3          191      03/23/92    Cleveland Cavaliers / Duke

DeAndre Jordan                       C           6-11        265      07/21/88    Los Angeles Clippers / Texas A&M

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist             F           6-7          232      09/26/93    Charlotte Bobcats / Kentucky

Ty Lawson                               G           5-11        195      11/03/87    Denver Nuggets / North Carolina

Damian Lillard                         G           6-3          195      07/15/90    Portland Trail Blazers / Weber State

Greg Monroe                            C          6-11        250      06/04/90    Detroit Pistons / Georgetown

Chandler Parsons                     F           6-9          227      10/25/88    Houston Rockets / Florida

Larry Sanders                           C           6-11        235      11/21/88    Milwaukee Bucks / VCU

Marcus Smart                           G           6-4          200      03/06/94    Oklahoma State University (2016)

Klay Thompson                       G           6-7          205      02/08/90    Golden State Warriors / Washington State

Dion Waiters                           G            6-4          215      12/10/91    Cleveland Cavaliers / Syracuse

Kemba Walker                          G          6-1          184      05/08/90    Charlotte Bobcats / Connecticut

John Wall                                G            6-4          195      09/06/90    Washington Wizards / Kentucky

Tyler Zeller                             F/C          7-0          250      01/17/90    Cleveland Cavaliers / North Carolina

 

Managing Director:  Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball

Head Coach:  Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University

Assistant Coach:  Jim Boeheim, Syracuse University

Assistant Coach:  Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls

Assistant Coach:  Monty Williams, New Orleans Pelicans

Athletic Trainer:  Gregg Farnam, Minnesota Timberwolves

Athletic Trainer:  Joe Sharpe, Oklahoma City Thunder

Athletic Trainer:  Jon Ishop, New Orleans Pelicans

Report: Knicks to interview former Knicks coach Mike Woodson

Former Knicks coach Mike Woodson
Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
By Dan FeldmanJun 4, 2020, 1:22 PM EDT
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The Knicks appear set on both hiring Tom Thibodeau and conducting a coaching search.

Mike Woodson, who coached New York from 2012-2014, will be part of the process.

Ian Begley of SNY:

New York also interviewed Woodson in 2018 before hiring David Fizdale. I understand why the Knicks can’t make up their mind on whether they want him as their coach.

Woodson won 58% of his games with New York, the third-best mark in franchise history (behind Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy). In 2012-13, Woodson did some really creative things with Carmelo Anthony at power forward and two-point guard lineups.

But by the end of that season, Woodson went away from what worked. His views became increasingly suspect the next season. When the Knicks fired him, it appeared to be time to move one.

Will New York return to Woodson? Probably not. The expectation remains Thibodeau will get this job. But Woodson will at least have an opportunity to make his case for a very-strange return.

When Charles Barkley tried to recruit Dirk Nowitzki to Auburn

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By Kurt HelinJun 4, 2020, 11:00 AM EDT
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Dirk Nowitzki was not headed to an American college before the NBA. Like most of the best European players — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, even going back to Tony Kukoc and others — he was taking a straight trip from his European team to the NBA.

That didn’t stop Charles Barkley from trying to get him to go to Auburn.

It wasn’t meant to be, but Saad Yousuf at the Athletic tells the story of Barkley trying.

The Auburn alum reflected on his first meeting with Nowitzki, in 1997 at a Nike exhibition game in Germany, in which the Big German put on an offensive clinic against a team featuring Barkley, Pippen, Michael Jordan and other NBA talents…

Barkley called Nike and made a strong push to get to Nowitzki through any channel, legal or not. “Just tell him, anything he wants, we’ll get it done,” Barkley recalled in 2012. “Just give him anything he wants; he’s got to go to Auburn.”

Barkley didn’t stop there, though. Nowitzki left such an impression on Auburn’s greatest hoops export that Barkley even talked to Cliff Ellis, Auburn’s coach at the time, to encourage the program to make a run at this relatively unknown teenager in Europe.

Ellis notes that in 1997 he couldn’t just jump on YouTube and find clips of a player, there wasn’t much film of European players. Still, the coach was willing to go on Barkley’s word and reached out.

Turns out Kentucky, Stanford and other colleges did as well, but to no avail. Nowitzki went straight into the 1988 NBA Draft, where the Bucks took him ninth overall then executed a draft-night trade sending the big German to Dallas for Robert “Tractor” Traylor. The rest is Hall of Fame history.

For Barkley, Ellis, and Auburn fans, it’s quite the “what if.” That was a 29-4 Auburn team in 1997-98 that was an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed led by a couple of future NBA players (Mamadou N’Diaye and Chris Porter). Add Nowitzki into that mix and… we will never know. But it could have been glorius.

 

How will, should player salaries be allocated as only some NBA teams resume?

Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns and Mavericks star Luka Doncic
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
By Dan FeldmanJun 4, 2020, 9:00 AM EDT
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The Timberwolves will play 64 games this season. The Mavericks will play 75-77 games before the traditional playoffs.

Should Dallas players get paid a higher percentage of their salaries than Minnesota players?

That’s one of the thorny questions as the NBA resumes its season.

Though players have individual contracts with defined salaries, there’s an overriding factor in determining actual wages. The Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for players and owners to split revenue approximately 50-50. Salaries are adjusted to reach that 50-50 split.

Each year, the salary cap is set to a number designed to get total player salaries to about 50% of league-wide revenue. Obviously, that’s a difficult target to hit precisely. So, there are mechanisms to adjust the distribution of money if necessary. If their total slated salaries are higher than 50% of revenue, players don’t receive their full salaries. If their total salaries are lower than 50% of revenue, players get a shortfall check from owners.

Coronavirus has disrupted that well-oiled system

The league is missing a major chunk of revenue. Players’ slated salaries would call for them to earn WAY more than 50% of revenue. That’s why the NBA has been withholding a portion of players’ salaries. Force majeure allows teams to reduce players salaries for games canceled due to an epidemic.

The NBA’s reported plan reveals the number of lost games. There were 259 regular-season games remaining when the season was suspended. The continued season includes 88 regular-season games (eight each for the 22 continuing teams) plus 0-4 play-in games.* No playoff games are being canceled.

*I’m counting play-in games as regular-season games. It’s a gray area. Perhaps, owners and players will agree to count them as postseason games. It probably doesn’t matter here, anyway. In terms of force majeure, regular-season and playoff games count equally. So, it’s simple enough to count them as regular-season games.

That’s 167-171 canceled games.

Except not every team will have the same number of games canceled.

There’s a four-game spread in the number of games each team has played so far. The Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Pistons, Hawks, Knicks, Bulls and Hornets are done now. Every other team will play at least eight more games. The Mavericks, Grizzlies, Nets, Magic, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, Suns and Wizards could play up to two play-in games.

Based strictly on games played, here’s how much players on each team stand to lose in salary:

  • Timberwolves: 19%
  • Hornets: 18%
  • Bulls: 18%
  • Cavaliers: 18%
  • Warriors: 18%
  • Pistons: 17%
  • Knicks: 17%
  • Hawks: 16%
  • Lakers: 12%
  • Spurs: 10%-12%
  • Celtics: 11%
  • Rockets: 11%
  • Clippers: 11%
  • Thunder: 11%
  • Raptors: 11%
  • Jazz: 11%
  • Nets: 9%-11%
  • Pelicans: 9%-11%
  • Kings: 9%-11%
  • Wizards: 9%-11%
  • Nuggets: 10%
  • Pacers: 10%
  • Heat: 10%
  • Bucks: 10%
  • 76ers: 10%
  • Grizzlies: 8%-10%
  • Magic: 8%-10%
  • Suns: 8%-10%
  • Trail Blazers: 6%-9%
  • Mavericks: 5%-8%

Is that fair to players on the eight done teams? They didn’t ask for their season to end prematurely.

On the other hand, they don’t have to do any more work. Other players must travel to Orlando, live under restrictions, play games with heightened injury concerns and risk contracting coronavirus just so the league can increase its revenue. Should eliminated players reap the rewards while sitting home?

This tension also exists in normal times. Players across 16 playoff teams divvied up just $20 million total for competing in the 2018 playoffs, and the amount was similar last year. Player income is largely earned on the regular season, even though the players playing in the playoffs disproportionately draw the revenue that funds everyone.

But the disparity feels sharper now – with the worst teams not even finishing the regular season and playoff teams facing a far larger burden just to keep playing.

To a certain degree, this is a player problem. Owners are going to pay approximately 50% of league revenue to players. The CBA dictates how players on each team should have their salaries cut through force majeure. If players want to share the losses more evenly among each other, owners should accommodate.

Consider this similar to cap smoothing, which the union infamously rejected. Except in that case, it was more just luck which players were in the favored class. Now, the players who could earn more will actually be the ones putting in the additional work. Then again, there could be a push for everyone to share the losses more equally.

Like many things disrupted by coronavirus, there are no good answers.

Report: NBA planning to start next season on Christmas

NBA Christmas
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By Dan FeldmanJun 3, 2020, 11:48 PM EDT
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The current NBA season – interrupted by coronavirus – could extend as late as Oct. 12. That means the league must delay next season. How long past the normal mid-October start? December was the popular notion, but that’s still a wide timeframe.

Now, we can pinpoint it.

Marc Stein of The New York Times:

If the N.B.A. can successfully complete the 2019-20 season under this structure, it is expected that the 2020 N.B.A. draft would be moved to October, with free agency to follow shortly thereafter and a tentative plan to establish Dec. 25 as opening day for the 2020-21 season.

Coronavirus can ruin the best-laid plans. Though NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said play would continue around a positive test, it’s unclear whether that would delay this season’s schedule – then the offseason then next season. It’s also unknown how the country will be handling coronavirus in December. The cold weather, pushing people indoors, could increase cases.

But it’s still interesting to know the plan, even if it’s tentative.

People fondly recall the NBA season starting on Christmas in 2011. Many have pointed to Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin’s idea of permanently opening in December to avoid overlap with the NFL, though he suggested mid-December – not Christmas.

That’s quite late.

This year, coronavirus has forced radical changes. A Christmas start might be totally reasonable for the 2020-21 season.

What about beyond?

If the NBA wants to begin each season on Christmas, this is the simplest time to shift. A different start date for future seasons would require altering the calendar to get on track.

There are plenty of issues with opening on Christmas in normal times, though:

  • Historically, TV viewership is down during the summer. That might be changing, but people might find other activities while it’s warm rather than attending or watching an indoor NBA game.
  • Would people really watch more NBA games just because fewer of them would compete with the highly popular NFL? The NBA regular season might just be too long to capture attention, no matter when it’s held.
  • By starting on Christmas, the NBA would reduce two marquee regular-season dates – opening day and Christmas – to one.
  • Many regional TV networks that carry NBA games also carry MLB games. Many of those networks already carry NHL games. But with baseball teams playing more games, there would be more conflicts.
  • With schools out, the American system is built on summer being more of a vacation time. People within the league – including players, especially those with children – might object to working during that time.