Welcome to Around the Realm! This will be a new ongoing feature where we do a quick roundup of the day’s news that isn’t Kings-centric. For Kings-specific stories we’ll continue to provide the full coverage you’ve come to expect, but there’s a lot of NBA news worth talking about even if it isn’t always worth a full post. If I ever overlook a story worth discussing, drop it in the comments!
Daryl Morey steps down
Today’s biggest NBA news was Houston’s Daryl Morey unexpectedly stepping down as GM of the Rockets.
ESPN Sources: Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is stepping down. https://t.co/NTmplVtWcl
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2020
New Kings GM Monte McNair would have been a strong candidate to replace Morey if he’d still been in Houston, as the Rockets are promoting from within to fill the void.
The Rockets are planning to promote Executive VP of Basketball Operations Rafael Stone to general manager, sources said. Stone has played a significant part in the Rockets’ team building throughout his tenure with the organization. https://t.co/SmBlhaCIu8
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2020
Dave Joerger joins the 76ers
Former Kings coach Dave Joerger is joining the Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant coach on Doc Rivers’ staff. Joerger had been a candidate for several other jobs around the league and at one point seemed likely to join the Indiana Pacers before other candidates became the frontrunners.
Former Kings and Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger has agreed to join Doc Rivers' staff as an assistant coach, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2020
This suggests Joerger no longer saw a path to a head coach opening. If Rivers and, by extension, Joerger can help the Sixers improve next season, he could quickly become a hot candidate for another head coaching job.
The Clippers hired Ty Lue
Ty Lue will be the new head coach of the Clippers, signing a 5-year deal according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
ESPN story on the Clippers finalizing a five-year deal to hire Ty Lue as the franchise's new head coach: https://t.co/RyFqCxZPgO
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2020
(Note: This feature will not just be a daily feed of Woj tweets, but he happened to be the one breaking a lot of news today)
Lue was assistant coach under Doc Rivers and reportedly had the support of the roster, but it’s interesting that it took so long for the Clippers to decide to promote the internal candidate.
Anthony Davis is opting out and will re-sign with the Lakers
One of the questions surrounding the Lakers offseason was whether or not Anthony Davis would remain on his current contract or opt out and begin anew. We didn’t need to wait very long for an answer.
Sources: Anthony Davis plans to opt out of contract and re-sign with the Lakers.
Inside Pass on Davis, Lakers/Heat offseasons and more across league at @TheAthleticNBA: https://t.co/P5YRf3Fbzb
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 15, 2020
Now the question that remains is how long a contract he’ll sign. He could sign a 1+1, a 2+1, or a 4 year deal, with each length having advantages and disadvantages. I’d guess he aligns his Lakers contract with the remaining years on LeBron James’ deal.
NBA and NBPA extend CBA deadline
The league and the player’s union agreed once again to extend the deadline to opt out of the current CBA.
As the NBA and NBPA negotiate adjustments to the CBA because of the coronavirus pandemic, each side has until October 30 to give 45 days notice on terminating CBA. While that's still on table, there's optimism an agreement on adjusted terms will be in place prior to Nov 18 draft. https://t.co/YsiY8XlxgK
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2020
The two sides are attempting to negotiate modifications to the cap based on the impacts of coronavirus. If either side decided to terminate the current CBA, a lockout would likely follow and neither side wants that.
That’s a smart move by the Clippers, Joerger will be an asset toDoc.
I do think Joerger’s strengths line up well with Doc’s weaker points. Seems like a great move by the Sixers. I hope Dave can learn a bit from Doc too, and polish up some of his rough edges personality wise.
Congrats for the new opportunity, Dave.
Happy for Joerger. He’s a good basketball mind that makes the NBA better with him around the game. Still wish he was our coach….
Glad to hear DJ found a landing spot.
He’s a good coach– growing communication and people skills takes constant effort. Especially in an ego driven league like the NBA.
Would Vivek think there is something wrong with this headline…”Ranadive condemns ethnic cleansing in China.” ?
If you really wanted to criticize Vivek’s stance on ethnic cleansing, then you could do it much more easily by criticizing his cozy relationship with PM Modi.
Nah, I am more interested in Vivek answering the question Cuban was asked. Though I must say the Indians I work with all seem to like Modi.
So you don’t actually care about ethnic cleansing as an issue. You just want to dislike the nba because they aren’t consistent in what they criticize. Got it.
For some reason you seem to believe your straw man arguments are reason and logic.
First it is the “what-about deflection” now it is the “I can put words in your mouth deflection…” Just a boor and a bore. Try again.
Lol the logic professor has logged in.
Psst. Reddit is ——> that way.
I see… made uncomfortable by a question your apparent solution is to try and silence the questioner.
You came in playing coy, so ya gets what ya gets.
You could just put the big boy pants on and say what’s on your mind.
I said exactly what was on my mind.
your mind appears to be vacuous. Telling you a place that your vacuousness is more welcome is not ‘silencing’ you.
weak minded people play victim quickly.
Of course in 2020 you see the end of the Billy Beane era in Oakland AND the Morey era in Houston.
Much of the entire personalities of both organizations were associated with their respective executive leaders.
Oh the times they are a-changin’!
I kind of think Morey is gone due to China. Memories are long.
I’m really curious about the Billy Beane thing as it relates to the Kings. Luke Bornn is EVP of Beane’s company (Redball) that purchased a stake in the Sox and Liverpool. Bornn was head of analytics for a European soccer club (too lazy to google the name) before coming to the Kings. I could see him being involved in applying analytics in the transfer market with Liverpool. That’s just me speculating, but I just doubt Bornn will have much time to focus on the Kings if his day job is EVP of an acquisition company.
He stepped back to a consultant role. My guess is we make some full time analytics hires. No disrespect to Bronn, but McNair probably has his own ideas and will want his team. And Bronn who basically had free reign under Vlade will probably prefer to focus on his other venture.
Yeah I’m just curious because they didn’t announce any new analytics hires. I love that they’re bulking up on scouting, but it seems like they still need to make a few more hires before the executive bball ops team is fully-staffed. Technically they have a director of analytics, but he was just an analyst a couple of years ago.
One guy who might be an interesting hire would be Ben Falk at Cleaning the Glass. He was Hinkie’s VP of basketball strategy which is technically the position Bornn had in Sacramento before he became an advisor. I have to believe Falk’s still interested in being in a front office. The tag line for his site is towards a clearer view of basketball decisions. That’s the type of thing I would say if I wanted to influence a decision before it’s made. Also, I like that he built a site to help simplify analytics for us common folk. That’s the type of skill that’s important when working with coaches and players.
You mention bulking up on scouting. It looks like McNair hired to fill his weaknesses first. Which is smart. He may even take on the bulk of the analytics load personally, at least in the beginning.
Yeah I mean I would just think McNair would want to have a neutral role, and then be advised by various department heads.
I think he’ll settle into a neutral role, but probably is eager to get his hands dirty at first. Remember his vaunted strength is being hands on with players and the coaching staff.
Wow I’m really surprised that having basically another job with another organization is even something that happens at the level that Bornn is at
Well I think Bornn became a transitional advisor in name only for the Kings once he took the job with Beane. For all intents and purposes, Bornn probably hasn’t performed an official duty in his role with the kings in months. That’s why it’s curious that McNair didn’t announce his replacement this week. I don’t think it really means anything other than McNair probably isn’t done hiring his lieutenants.
He’s got the second in command (Wilcox), the cap guru (Catanella), the scouting guy (Jabour), the develop dude (Johnson) and the connected consigliere (Dumars).
That leave analytics nerd position left to be filled.
Listening to the Zach Lowe Podcast yesterday, and they are thinking that part of the reason was all of the issues with what happened in China and he feels a degree of responsibility for what happened as a result of his tweet. He also may see he has taken this team as far as he can take it, an older roster with no draft picks.
I suspect McNair saw as a possibility which lead him being open to the Kings opportunity
Good for Lue to land that position with the Clips. I don’t blame either Lue or the Clippers for looking elsewhere before ultimately making this decision. There are a lot of coaching vacancies and a lot of quality coaching candidates out there.
It’s hard to know what to make of a guy who keeps getting handed teams with likely Hall of Fame players. Can Tyronn Lue actually coach? Honestly, it doesn’t feel like it, but it may still be awhile til we find out.
Next season will be extremely tough for the Clippers. If things don’t go well enough George and Kawhi can split. Kawhi likely doesn’t leave because he signed his deal to line up with the 10 year mega max (or whateverthefuck you call it). But PG could definitely leave for greener pastures and the team would need to rebuild around Leonard again.
After seeing what happened in the playoffs, I almost wonder if the Clips are thinking they should try and upgrade or at least move George. They really need an upgrade at guard or center if they’re going to focus on matching up with the Lakers/Nuggets.
I don’t know if they go that far, but I wouldn’t completely rule it out. George is a superstar, but he also does the little things that typically lead to winning. They definitely need more 3pt shooting out there. They probably let Harrell walk as he will be too expensive for a backup Center in a saturated big market.
I really wonder if McNair had any idea that Morey was on his way out. I don’t hear great things about Houston’s owner, but a GM position still may have been enough for him to stay there.
Like I said in the previous thread, the writing was on the wall in Houston. They are a hellscape of bad contracts, no future assets and the most broke owner in the NBA. I feel McNair saw a much better plate of assets in Sacramento to shape a franchise.
More likely that McNair knew he was not going to be promoted !
Maybe the time line was unclear, the Kings option came open and like musical chairs sometimes you take the seat as if you don’t you might miss out altogether?
After listening to Jared Dudley on the ringer pod today, it’s clear the AD/Lebron thing is working the way they both hoped it would.
I…. almost don’t hate this laker team? WTF is wrong with me?
Because it’s not a real Lakers team, it’s not like their stars gelled together after a few years and won a championship. This isn’t Kobe or any actual Laker’s team, this is the two best players in the league planning behind the scenes to join the big market team and cop a title. Kuzma is the only Laker on the team, everyone else wasn’t there 18 months ago, it’s just Lebrons all-star tour. If I was a Lakers fan this would be a hollow victory. It’s not even a great team really… Maybe one of the least compete championship teams I can remember. Who’s the third best player? Old Rondo? The Kobe Shaq teams or many other championship teams would have destroyed this conglomeration of all-stars and stiffs.
I think it is more because there is no rivalry and there are no players left from the previous rivalry.
It has gone from hate to grudge and envy, IMO.
I don’t hate any of the players anymore. I can’t hate LeBron for going back to Cleveland to win a title, then bolting. He certainly didn’t have to do that.
But I still hate the concept of Laker exceptionalism. The fact that they are the only franchise that doesn’t have to build a team like the rest. Magic is already publicly campaigning for Luka to join the Lakers. It’s like he sees it as inevitable or something.
I loooooved rooting against LeBron during the GSW run, but especially after all his off-the court work and role-modeling, find myself rooting for him, even in that ugly laundry.
For me, LeBron is right where Jordan was in the mid 90s. It’s like I’m rooting for him to retire because he’s won enough and he needs to let someone else have a turn. It’s completely selfish of me to think that way, but I hate seeing the same teams (or in this case player) win over and over again.
I hate to be that guy, but Shaq wasn’t drafted by the Lakers. They paid him an IMMENSE (at the time) amount of money as a free agent.
And there ain’t a team in league history that would have destroyed this Lakers team. LBJ and AD are just too good.
I wanna ask when we’ll be reading the Luke Walton is Fired headline.
As the self appointed leader of the Walton haters I approve of this message. I’ll do you one better and promote we hang a we fired Luke! banner in the G1C on that glorious day.
Everybody should listen to the Ryen Rusillo pod from today with Brian Windhorst. Windy goes into detail about the NBA’s looming revenue apocalypse.
That is what happens when the most marketed players are the least likable.
thanks bill
Or a global pandemic.
Jeebus.
Nah, it’s probably the marketing.
But seriously, I wonder who (s)he is referring to. I mean, I’d say the most marketed players are guys like LeBron, Giannis, Steph, Luka, etc. all of which are highly likable IMO.
Agree, you might prefer some of their styles or personalities more – but there’s not a single player on that list who is unlikable.
Almost all of them are great influences who have not only had zero off court issues, but who have also done a lot for the community. It’s a far cry from the true, but less family friendly “I am not a role model” days when the league did have more drug abuse, fighting, and other issues.
The only two stars at all with somewhat difficult or odd personalities are probably CP3 and Durant. And CP3 is an intensely competitive arse, but is also great with fans. Durant seems like a bit of an introvert (wouldn’t be completely surprised if he had some Greinke like anxiety issues, though not for me to diagnose), but he’s more quirky and gets into off Twitter scuffles. But again, if I had kids who looked up to him, he’s perfectly likable and hasn’t had any issues like DUIs, domestic violence, etc.
So the comment makes zero sense to me. Seems like someone who wants to pin any NBA struggles on the very mild social justice work the league and players are doing, which frankly I don’t have a lot of patience for indulging [he says as he writes a 200 word comment about it].
Not really, since game 6 of finals in 1998 drew 38 million and this game 6 less than 6 million and TVRatings have been going down each year since early 2000’s ! Huge fall and league heading in wrong direction with pandemic a factor for certain but not the only issue !
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!!!!!
Don’t you agree?
Lol in 1998 my TV had channels 2, 3, 5, 10, 12, 13, 32, 35, 58. We have more individual streaming options than we had cable channels to watch in the 90s. Is it not surprising that millions of people would choose watching the NBA finals over a Ron Popeil infomercial for food dehydrators?
Game 6 of the 1998 NBA finals? Interesting place to drop the pin.
Sorry, I’m part Lab and I’m hearing dog whistles.
it’s 100% a dog whistle. Maybe Bill123134234234 thought he was on another site where that happens more often?
Sorry your attempt to bully has no affect upon me. It is just a sad exposure of your ignorance.
Tweeeeeet! Foul on DeMarcus Cousins!
There was a graphic going around on Twitter about how ratings are down across most major sports / sporting events during the pandemic (attached to this comment).
But sure, it’s because LeBron has those really “unlikable” taco Tuesday videos with his family and opens schools for underprivileged kids or players are writing “highly political and controversial” statements on their jerseys like “black lives matter” and “equality” that are the reason. All those people who are so disgusted by the idea of equality they won’t watch their favorite sport anymore.
not to mention that none of the detractors are taking into consideration digital ratings, only TV. Admittedly, digital fanfare is harder to track because of so many different avenues.
I think it is potentially a financial issue for the NBA because so much of their revenue is tied to TV ratings. But that has very little to do with actual viewership.
It seems that with each TV deal the prices paid seem to keep going up, which is some what informative. It makes you reasoning of the keep politics out of sports crowd who take the lower rankings as proof of that disconnect
Along those lines I wonder if the Napaer podcast will be viable long term
I thing the changing media market with all kinds of digital streaming options and the younger generations who watch games differently will take a while to shake out. I really think that live sports will always have a market It will fluctuate with the current big stars in each sport, say like Tiger spiked interest in golf and Jordan in Basketball
Bill2455 and his microscopic… dogwhistle.
Grow some balls kiddo.
Chubby little keyboard warriors acting tough are funny. Thanks for the chuckle Mookie.
Must be the ratings you’ve gotten lately. Good news is that by calling me names you stopped blowing your whistle, so that’s some progress.
No time like the present for some expansion revenue to current owners. 2 new teams might be a worthy gamble.
This is a terrific feature Greg.
I wonder if this complicates a Buddy Hield trade to Philly? Joerger might whisper the Hield drama in someone’s ear, and although Hield is a great shooter he has a lot of weaknesses in his game,now they have someone on the inside who knows all there is to know about that.
If it was Luke Walton, possibly. But Joerger has Buddy playing good basketball. I think he’d be willing to deal with Buddy’s personality to pick up a shooter of his quality given that roster.
I can’t imagine Joerger having one iota of impact on the dealings of the Philly front office.
I don’t think that Hield is getting traded to Philly, but not because of Joerger’s presence. I just don’t think that McNair will sell low on one of the best 3-point shooters in the league.
Agreed. I would think most front offices who would be interested in Buddy feel like they could do a better job with him than Walton did last year. I trust McNair to know his real value around the league.
Yep. And I think that Walton is still here because of ownership and not McNair, under the umbrella that McNair needs to give Walton the season. It will be incumbent on Walton to adjust to McNair’s thinking if he wants to stay here, and if he doesn’t, McNair will likely take that into account.
I could almost envision McNair dealing Bogi on a S&T and forcing Walton to go with Hield in the starting lineup, thus bolstering his value. McNair has zero emotional attachment to any of these guys – it is pure asset management in a year where this team would have to shock the world to compete for the playoffs. If he can get a younger, cheaper asset for Bogi and then flip Hield at the deadline for more assets, we have the beginning of his rebuild. And if by some miracle Bagley arrives this year and Hield returns to his level of play under Joerger, maybe you have a bit of a core there with Fox? It is the longest of stretches that it works, but it at least gives McNair time to kick tires?
Ya I’d imagine McNair is campaigning for Hield to give it one more shot, noting how well he and Fox did the year before in a faster pace offense.
in my “Ultra-petty-Kangzy” way of thinking I’m glad Joerger didn’t get a head coaching gig elsewhere so I don’t have to feel like shit when he gets into the playoffs coaching another team.
In my “be the bigger person” mindset, I wish Joerger the best in his new gig. Hope they can get the 76ers over the hump for DJs sake.
Badge Legend