The Heat offered Tyler Johnson so much money in 2016 free agency, he puked.
Yeah, Johnson – since traded to the Suns – would like to stay on his current contract.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Johnson’s $19,245,370 salary was an expected burden for Phoenix. At least Johnson is a rotation-caliber player.
He can help next season with whatever the Suns are doing.
NBA owners have decided to finish the season by holding games between July 31 and Oct. 12.
Now, the surrounding key dates are filling in.
Shams Charania of The Athletic:
Sources: The NBA informed the Board of Governors of scheduled dates:
– Training camp: June 30, July 7 travel to Orlando
– 2019-20 season: July 31
– Free agency: Oct. 18
– 2020-21 targets: Nov. 10 training camp, Dec. 1 opening night (can remain fluid)— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 4, 2020
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
NBA has set an August 25 Draft Lottery and October 15 Draft, sources say.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 4, 2020
The NBA’s reported tentative plan to open next season on Christmas? It was apparently pretty tentative.
A Dec. 1 start to next season would mean an incredibly short break for teams that advance deep in the playoffs. But the NBA is already spending a lot of time not playing games and making money. There’s an urgency to getting revenue flowing.
There will also be a massive disparity in time off between the eight done teams and continuing teams. Who knows how that will affect next season? This is an unprecedented situation.
Which is a good reminder: Coronavirus can disrupt the best-laid plans.
We already knew many key details of the NBA’s plan for resuming the season:
Now, that plan is one step closer to becoming reality.
Shams Charania of The Athletic:
The NBA's Board of Governors have approved the 22-team format to resume 2019-20 season, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 4, 2020
Sources: Portland was the lone team that voted against the 22-team format. https://t.co/WxxADXEkNb
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 4, 2020
It’s shocking the Trail Blazers, owned by Jody Allen, cast the protest vote. Portland – currently outside playoff position – will resume with a real chance to make the playoffs. What more did the Trail Blazers want?
Players must still approve the plan. National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said they wouldn’t necessarily vote on it. Union leadership has worked closely with NBA commissioner Adam Silver, certainly agreeing on the system before having owners vote on it.
However, given the NBPA’s haphazard methods for polling the larger membership, I’m not sure how widespread support is. There is room for significant disagreement on how players – continuing vs. non-continuing – will have their salaries affected.
Still, I expect players approve the plan, maybe tomorrow.
Marc Stein of The New York Times:
The NBA Players Association has scheduled a virtual meeting for its membership Friday to discuss the NBA's 22-team return plan that owners are scheduled to approve today, @NYTSports has learned
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 4, 2020
Everything is just too far down the road to turn back now. The financial incentives are too high not to keep trying to play. Silver has successfully rallied nearly everyone toward uniting.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Among teams left out of Orlando resumption, some members of NBA’s Board of Governors disagree with 22-team format – but do plan to cast “yes” votes on call starting soon, sources tell ESPN. Proposal requires three-fourths support. It's expected to clear that hurdle with ease.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 4, 2020
Most of the remaining issues are minor details… like codifying a plan for health and safety.
Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press:
AP Source: The National Basketball Players Association and the NBA are working on a "lengthy" medical protocols document, the details of which will be shared with teams once those discussions are completed — and in plenty of time for teams to prepare for the Disney/ESPN arrival.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 4, 2020
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:
In addition to Tom Thibodeau, Kenny Atkinson & interim HC Mike Miller, the Knicks are planning to interview former head coach Mike Woodson for their vacancy, per SNY sources. Woodson won 54 games with NYK in 2012-13 and won a playoff series that season, their only one since 2000
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) June 4, 2020
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.
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.