NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Phil Jackson Was Helping Nets
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
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When Phil Jackson decided to take the job with the Knicks last week, it had two consequences for the Nets: It meant one of the most respected men in NBA history was joining their archrivals … and it ended a two-year long informal relationship between the Nets ownership and the NBA’s most successful coach.
Nets insiders tell NetsDaily that the team’s Russian owners and Jackson were often in contact over the last two years, as Mikhail Prokhorov, Dmitry Razumov, etc. found their way through the NBA thicket … and on more than one occasion, they discussed a job for Jackson in the Nets organization, but talks never progressed beyond the informal and were restricted to coaching.
Jackson had also done consulting work for the Detroit Pistons, but that was publicized. This went much more under the radar.
ESPN’s Marc Stein tweeted an interested point last week. Jackson has a wrap for picking his jobs strategically and positioning himself for success, whether it be with the Chicago Bulls just before the explosions of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen’s careers, or with the Los Angeles Lakers just as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant became a championship caliber duo. However, as an executive, he’s only worked with some of the league’s most difficult situations.
They don’t get much tougher than the Knicks’ gig. Clearly his time helping other franchise’s is done now, because his hands are quite full.
Kyrie Irving’s left biceps injury could be bad enough to end season. MRI on Monday in Cleveland.
Via Mary Schmitt Boyer/Jodie Valade of the Cleveland Plane Dealer on Twitter
This is a damning blow to the Cavaliers’ playoff chances, which were already slim to begin with. They’re four and a half games back of the eighth seeded Atlanta Hawks, who have won three straight. The Knicks are only three and a half behind them and have won six straight themselves. It was going to be quite difficult already, but with Irving out another trip to the lottery seems inevitable.
His third season will go down as great individually but extremely disappointing from a team perspective. The Cavaliers will try to offer him a max contract extension this summer. If Irving refutes things will get interesting, but with him only having the ability to become a restricted free agent next offseason, it could be a long, drawn out saga.
The Wizards quickly realized the mistake in rushing to obtain backup point guard Eric Maynor with a two-year deal – including a player option on the second year – last July on the first day of the free agent negotiating period. Maynor was out of Coach Randy Wittman’s rotation six weeks into the regular season and shipped off to the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 20 as part of a three-team trade that landed veteran point guard Andre Miller from Denver.
After eight games with the 76ers, Maynor is now out of the league.
The report said that Maynor is hoping to catch on a rebuilding team with a spot for him beyond this season, but with the regular season winding down Maynor will likely have to wait until this offseason before finding his next team. The market won’t be as strong as it was offseason, though, as he really had a disappointing campaign this season.
