NBA Thread

[Cory]

Wolves turned down Wiggins/Bennett/1st round pick for Love. I guess they want Lebron.

[GM Franchise]

Lakers are going to hire Byron Scott as their new head coach.

[GM Franchise]

Scott gets 4 years, $17M from Lakers

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11270271/byron-scott-agrees-terms-los-angeles-lakers-become-head-coach

The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to terms on a four-year, $17 million contract with Byron Scott to be their next head coach, sources told ESPN.

The Lakers hold a team option on the final year of the deal.

Scott has been the front-runner for the job throughout most of the nearly three-month coaching search, which began when Mike D'Antoni resigned on April 30. His status as a three-time champion with the team during the Showtime era, close relationship with Kobe Bryant and familiarity with the current roster after having worked as an analyst all last season for the Lakers television station, Time Warner Cable SportsNet, gave him the early edge. Scott then impressed Lakers management during three interviews, the last of which took place after the team's roster had been filled out and Scott was given a chance to articulate his vision for the current roster.
The Lakers interviewed a handful of candidates for the job, but after making quick hires in their past two coaching searches, the franchise decided to prioritize the draft and free agency over hiring a coach.

Bryant, who played with Scott in 1996 during his rookie season, offered a key endorsement during his basketball camp in Santa Barbara, California, three weeks ago.

"He was my rookie mentor when I first came into the league," Bryant said. "So I had to do things like get his doughnuts and run errands for him and things like that. We've had a tremendously close relationship throughout the years. So, obviously, I know him extremely well. He knows me extremely well. I've always been a fan of his."/quote]

[GM Franchise]

Some good news...

The Associated Press @AP  ·  9m
BREAKING: Judge rules against Clippers owner Donald Sterling, OKs sale of team to ex-Microsoft CEO.

[GM Franchise]

Report: Suns' standoff with Eric Bledsoe has an 'ominous development'

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24642122/report-suns-standoff-with-eric-bledsoe-has-an-ominous-development

Restricted free agency can be sort of broken in the NBA. While the goal of protecting teams from losing good, young players is mostly working, the stall in negotiations with many restricted free agents risks ruining relationships between the player and the organization. If you're a team with a restricted free agent, there is zero reason for you to get out in front of signing your own player, unless you're worried about the price getting out of control too quickly. Otherwise, you know most teams won't tie up days of negotiations followed by the three-day waiting period for the offer sheet to be matched or passed over.

A perfect case for the matter this summer is what's happening between Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns. Bledsoe and the Suns are far apart on negotiations, but without a team to drive up the price for the young guard, the stall in negotiations is making things awkward between the two sides. Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com is reporting an "ominous development" has come up between Bledsoe and the Suns and things aren't looking good for a long-term relationship between the two.

Things aren't looking good when it comes to negotiations between the Phoenix Suns and their restricted free agent star guard Eric Bledsoe.

According to league sources, an "ominous development" has arisen with sides still "very far apart" in contract negotiations. It has even escalated to the point where the "relationship is on the express lane to being ruined," a source with knowledge of the situation informed CSNNW.com.

The Suns offered Bledsoe a four-year, $48 million deal with declining salaries each year, two sources said. That proposal was quickly turned down. Bledsoe's camp is putting a max price tag on the player Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek called "a Top-10 player in the NBA in coming years", another source said.

This is part of the business of restricted free agency. If you're not worried about another team setting the market for your player then you just wait for them to come to you with an offer sheet. The only other course of action someone like Bledsoe has is accepting the one-year qualifying offer and then becoming a restricted free agent in 2015. That's how you'd really show the Suns they're screwing up a good thing. But that course of action just doesn't happen. It's too much of a risk for the player in terms of guaranteed money. Considering Bledsoe just had a tough knee injury during the season, he'd be crazy to take the qualifying offer.

We've had issues between restricted free agents and players before. Josh Smith wanted to leave the Atlanta Hawks for the Memphis Grizzlies. Eric Gordon asked the New Orleans Pelicans to not match the max offer sheet he signed with the Suns. In both cases, it seemed like the relationship wasn't going to be great moving forward, both offer sheets were matched, and we didn't hear a whole lot about it after. More than likely, the Suns and Bledsoe will agree to a contract that is unlikely to drive the price far above what the Suns are offering. Then both sides will get along again and Bledsoe can deal with it as an unrestricted free agent next time around.

Bledsoe's agent Rich Paul was a little busy with another client named LeBron James early in free agency, but it's unclear if that had anything to do with the stalling of progress in negotiations between the Suns and Bledsoe.

At some point, a player is going to have to be confident and daring enough to sign the qualifying offer and show the team they made a mistake by not coming to terms in a timelier manner. Or they'll just have to wait until 2017 and find ways to speed up the process of restricted free agency so we don't approach August with a talented young player that would be heavily sought-after if he were an unrestricted free agent. Until then, players will have to do a better job of convincing other teams to set the market for their services because there's little incentive in many instances for the incumbent team to do it.

[Justin]

It's time for Bledsoe to realize he's not worth a max contract.

[GM Franchise]

It's time for Bledsoe to realize he's not worth a max contract.

Everyone seems to have figured that out but him.

[Gravedigger]

Seems to me like 4 years, 48 million is a better contract than 0 for 0.....

[¿PapaPancho?]

Seems to me like 4 years, 48 million is a better contract than 0 for 0.....

He can always take the 1 year tender offer to ensure himself that he becomes an UFA next year.

[GM Franchise]

He can always take the 1 year tender offer to ensure himself that he becomes an UFA next year.

I'm thinking it'll end up getting to this point by the time all is said and done.

[Gravedigger]

True, he can sign fir the tender, but he won't get max next year either.

[Reya Serra]

The Suns can wait him out.  They've already got like 5 other PGs.

[Justin]

The Suns can wait him out.  They've already got like 5 other PGs.

That's what he's not getting.  Sure, they would love to have him, but they truly don't need him.  He can accept the one year deal, but he's going to mess himself up in the long run in guaranteed money if he does that as opposed to taking the deal.

[GM Franchise]

Tony Parker signs extension

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11296467/san-antonio-spurs-sign-tony-parker-multiyear-extension

Tony Parker is by far the youngest of the San Antonio Spurs' Big Three, a fact that could have complicated things going forward as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili get closer to retirement.

As they are wont to do, the Spurs made things real easy.

The Spurs signed Parker to a multi-year contract extension on Friday, ensuring that the six-time All-Star point guard will be in the fold whether Duncan and Ginobili are able to continue their careers or not.

Terms were not announced, but a source confirmed to ESPN's Marc Stein that the extension is worth $43.3 million over three years.

"So happy," Parker told the San Antonio Express-News. "Spurs for life!"

Parker had been scheduled to make $12.5 million next season in the final year of his existing contract.

The San Antonio Express-News reported the terms of Parker's extension earlier Friday.

Parker has spent all of his 13 NBA seasons with the Spurs, blossoming from an erratic 19-year-old from France into one of the elite point guards in the game. He has helped the Spurs win four of their five NBA titles, the last one coming in June with a dominating victory over the defending champion Miami Heat.

Parker turned 32 in May, but has shown little sign of slowing down. He averaged 16.7 points and 5.7 assists in 29 minutes per game last season and still thrives by changing speeds to keep defenders off balance. The lightning quickness that got him noticed by the Spurs before he was drafted in 2002 is still there, and he can still blow by defenders at the top of the key to get into the paint for a floater or stop on a dime for one of the best pull-up jumpers in the league.

Duncan will turn 39 next season and Ginobili just turned 38, seemingly putting their careers much closer to the end than Parker's. But coach Gregg Popovich has done a masterful job of managing minutes and keeping the wear and tear on them to a minimum, so there really is no telling how long this championship-drenched trio can stick together.

Duncan opted in to the final year of his deal earlier this summer and Ginobili made the difficult decision to pull out of the FIBA World Cup so he could rest a stress fracture in his leg and be ready for training camp next season. Popovich signed a contract extension and the Spurs brought back Boris Diaw, Patty Mills and Matt Bonner to try to do just about the only thing this remarkably enduring franchise has yet to do -- repeat as champions.

Parker was set to enter next season on the final year of his contract at the bargain price of $12.5 million. But taking less money to keep the core together is something the Spurs' stars have been doing for years, so it's no surprise that the Spurs were able to retain Parker with a quiet negotiation and easy agreement on a deal that will take him through 2017-18.

With all the work the Spurs have done this offseason, there still is one big thing that needs to be addressed.

NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard is eligible for an extension on his rookie deal, and Popovich has already dubbed him the player who will take over the franchise when Duncan finally decides to retire.

There is plenty of time to address that issue. The Spurs have until Oct. 31 to sign Leonard to a new deal.

[GM Franchise]

Paul George suffered a serious leg injury at the Team USA practice scrimmage game today.