Clippers Deal Barnes/Hawes For Stephenson

The second sizable pre-draft trade went down on Monday night as the Clippers acquired Lance Stephenson from the Hornets for veterans Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes.

Charlotte washing their hands of Stephenson after just one season isn’t surprising, but what they got in return is certainly a bit of a head-scratcher. It’s been reported that the Hornets may choose to cut Barnes and eat the remaining $3 million of his salary, leaving the issue of adding an expensive Hawes to an already packed front court. 

2015 NBA Finals Preview & Prediction

Even with the Super Bowl-esque nine day break between Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals and Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the buzz surrounding the Golden State and Cleveland matchup has not wavered one bit. There are a myriad of storylines and outcomes that this Finals will produce one way or another that will have a rippling effect felt around the NBA.

Bulls Fire Tom Thibodeau

The Chicago Bulls have informed head coach Tom Thibodeau that he will be relieved of his duties in a meeting this afternoon. The news is not surprising, as it was well known prior to this report that the Bulls front office and Thibodeau had a long growing rift between them and that the coach had spent his last game on the sidelines in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Cavaliers.

The New Orleans Pelicans are rumored to be interested in hiring Thibodeau for their head coaching vacancy.

Thibodeau was 255-139 in five seasons with the Bulls, and won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 2010-11.

The Bulls now look to fill the newest job opening in the league. Early candidates are reportedly Warriors associate head coach Alvin Gentry and Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg. Gentry most recently was the head coach for the Phoenix Suns, and has also coached the Pistons, Heat and Clippers, amassing a 335-370 record in 12 seasons.

What’s Next For San Antonio?

It’s going to be an unusually long summer for the Spurs, which will certainly benefit the players, who played approximately an extra season’s worth of playoff games in the last four years. The question on everyone’s mind is just which players will be back from this season’s roster.

Going into the 2015 draft, the Spurs will only have five players under contract, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, Patty Mills and 2014 first round pick Kyle Anderson. It’s been reported that Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are expected to return and the Spurs front office is operating under that assumption. But we are still about two weeks away from Ginobili’s self imposed month-long reflection period on what he’s going to do next year. So until then, all we can do is wait. However, there will be one player the team will add to their roster for sure, and he will be selected on June 25th at the 2015 NBA Draft. San Antonio will select 26th in the upcoming draft, and the direction they go may foreshadow what they expect to happen once free agency opens on July 1.

Multiple draft prospects that the Spurs have been linked to for their first round choice are big men. From Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell to Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton, there are certainly some very talented prospects that could bolster the future of the San Antonio front court.

The other position expected to be addressed in the draft is point guard. With the good possibility that the Spurs cannot retain Cory Joseph in free agency, they surely are planning on addressing that rotational piece.

As the draft approaches there will be more reports about potential targets that will no doubt shed a little more light on who San Antonio is hoping to select in June. With the stellar drafting history of GM R.C. Buford and Coach Gregg Popovich, the routine late-first round draft pick is usually the most interesting offseason move for the Spurs.

But this year won’t be the normal summer for Spurs, as the team will certainly have some big changes to the roster compared to last season, when San Antonio returned their entire title winning roster. The first domino to drop will be the decisions of Duncan and Ginobili, and if they return, what they will be paid. After that, the team will be able to move on to (hopefully) targeting big name free agents like LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, and Brook Lopez, before getting defensive player of the year Kawhi Leonard inked to his maximum salary five-year contract.

Minnesota Wins The NBA Draft Lottery

The Minnesota Timberwolves have won the 2015 NBA Draft Lottery. They had a 25% chance to win the first overall pick, marking just the fourth time since the current format began in 1994 that the team with the best chance to get the top pick has seen the correct ping pong ball combination pop up out of the machine. The consensus number one overall draft prospect is currently Karl-Anthony Towns from Kentucky.

The Lakers drew the second overall pick, after having the fourth best chance at the first pick. Philadelphia saw their number combo pop up for the third pick, as the Knicks were pushed out of the top three selections.

Philadelphia did not pick up either one of the conditional first round picks they stood to gain from the Lakers or Heat.

Spurs Are Planning For Duncan & Ginobili Return, Targeting Lopez?

Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher is reporting that even though sides have not sat down formally yet, the San Antonio front office is expecting future hall-of-famers Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to re-sign with the team.

Personally, I’ll believe it when I see it. As long as there’s nothing official from the Spurs, it’s not a certainty.

Insider buzz: Manu Ginobili & Tim Duncan will return to the Spurs to “keep the band together” http://t.co/bRQsjkhsyP pic.twitter.com/dYeRm0RXXk

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 18, 2015

However, Bleacher Report also reported that the Spurs could potentially be targeting Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez this summer. Lopez has a player option on his deal, be he will surely test the waters outside of Brooklyn, a franchise that looks to be in a rebuilding process for years to come. He makes for an interesting name to throw into the free agent discussion next to LaMarcus Aldridge and Marc Gasol.

The former All-Star averaged 17.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks last season for Brooklyn. The 26 year old is entering his eighth NBA season and it could very well be his first not playing for the Nets.

NBA Conference Finals Previews and Predictions

Despite the thrilling seven-game series that the Clippers and Spurs finished off two weeks ago, the first round as a whole was nearly useless, as five of the eight matchups didn’t go past five games. But the second round produced four nailbiting series, and even though only one went the distance (in extraordinary fashion), the semi-finals were just about everything the NBA fan base could ask for.