ESPN latest on Kevin Durant & Giannis BLOCKBUSTER Trade? – Knicks’ “unorthodox” head coach search?

ESPN latest on Kevin Durant & Giannis BLOCKBUSTER Trade? – Knicks’ “unorthodox” head coach search?

action around trade scenarios with kevin durant and i’m told the suns have really focused on three teams over the last 24 hours on a kevin durant trade and that’s the houston rockets minnesota timber wolves in the miami heat and there’s some other wildcard suitors as well but during the last 24 hours it’s really been about getting a deal done sooner rather than later potentially for some of the teams just based on their motivation so we’ll see could a deal happen within the next few days or does this go closer to the june 25th nba draft but one of the biggest wrinkles in all this is he’s got one year and about $54 million left on his contract so will the team trade for him with the commitment of a contract extension or will this be a team uh or will there be a team that trades for him and just takes a swing and sees just how far can you get with kevin durant about to be 37 september still an allnba all-star caliber player on your roster can you make a real run we’re really whittling this down because when we talked to you a couple days ago it was five teams now it’s three so perk between those three teams that we heard shams just mention who are sort of leading the charge what do you think is the best fit for kd the team that finished second in the western conference the houston rockets that have ema udoka a guy that kevin durant is going to respect and here’s the unique thing about the houston rockets they could actually give up a lot and still keep enough to be legit title contenders while adding kevin durant right long as you’re able to keep aean thompson and shane goon right you’re right where you need to be and i could see the i could see the rockets making an offer for making a package deal for uh jaylen green uh jabari smith some picks right and when you think about what the rockets needed last year they needed a closer kevin durant could be that closer what did they struggle at last season they were one of the worst teams not only in the postseason but in the regular season far as making three-point shots that’s what kevin durant brings to the table so if i’m kd i’m looking at the houston rockets that finished second that took golden state seven games and i’m saying i need to go to the eighth time yeah right now they had the 10th best odds of winning the nba championship you got to imagine those odds climbed considerably if kevin durant finds himself in houston by the way this is not an optical illusion k perk is actually wearing a jacket it’s just that it is skin tone and so he’s not he is not it’s actually really nice and really velvety you’ve been around the game enough to know you know teams are i’m not going to say tampering but teams are always having conversations about things and so you know but to do it in a way where you’re reaching out to teams requesting permission you know teams with current head coaches uh they’ve been denied by five teams this week uh i mean there was a 24hour stretch where they were rejected four times by teams then billy donovan with the bulls was the latest so billy donovan with the bulls quinn snider with the hawks chris finch with the timberwolves emma udoka with the rockets and then jason kidd with the dallas mavericks and so i think you know it gives you an idea that those are the types of coaches that they wanted to see fill that seat and now i i i think what the knicks mindset is is continue to be patient with the search they’re the only vacancy right now in the nba so they have time on their side and they to my knowledge they’re using that process as really uh you know an educational tool to see who could be available who could we talk to who could we go get clearly neither of those five so i i would expect this weekend they’re going to continue to do due diligence and potentially hone in more on these available coaches that are out there free agent coaches that are out there maybe some assistant coaches around the league as well you think about names that are out there like taylor jenkins mike brown michael malone there’s going to be some assistance with other teams potentially you could see that that that make fits so uh it’s definitely unorthodox to put it least well the issue is if they do introduce one of those uh coaches and you know michael malone uh his dad has history with the knicks um and obviously he’s from the area and he’s won a championship shams and obviously the guy’s got a great resume but on the resume would now be clearly the sixth choice of the new york knicks right like that’s the problem and that’s the thing i don’t understand is wouldn’t they i mean you you know the association uh better than most wouldn’t they at least have a an inkling through agents or through somebody that they would know in these organizations that does that mean there was interest from these head coaches and they knocked on the door you know thinking that the knock on the door would pry the coach loose i mean what do they think one of these teams would actually say “yeah take chris finch.” like really like what’s up with that yeah it’s it’s definitely something where if you’re firing a coach like tom thibido who took you to four playoff runs in five years as head coach that took you to the eastern conference finals for the first time in 25 years a quarter century in new york that’s a big deal and you fire a coach like that you would think that they have a person lined up that they have a a course of action in place and so for sure this process shows that they they probably were flying more in the dark than a lot of us thought they were that they were really still searching that this was going to be a true search i think there was definitely some skepticism that when you fire a coach like tom thibido they probably know they’re going to go with you know michael malone or they’re they’re going to have this coach lined up so it’s it’s unorthodox you talk to people with the knicks and and the response that i get is this is all part of the process that this is something it’s an educational process for us to do due diligence see which coaches could be available see if we can do more research on some of these coaches so you have to take them at their word they are the only vacancy there technically there is no deadline for them the only deadline is before training camp opens up in late september so they’re not really under any type of a gun or pressure there and so i i really do believe the knicks are going to be patient now and they went through this this process and we listen there’s always moments to see first right this is a first in the nba where a coach where a team is going to fire a coach that made it to the conference finals for the first time in franchise in 25 years and then there’s going to be calling around the league for current sitting head coaches we we we have never seen that happen in the league okay so this is i’m i’m so excited to have you here because i got an answer to a question uh that i’ve been asking into this microphone since i saw your tweet uh about jason kidd in particular saying that dallas gave a firm rejection what is a firm rejection shams can yeah yeah yeah i i’ll give you some examples i’m not going to say that was this one but out of the five rejections some of the scenarios that i heard was you know teams would just hang up they would say no and hang up teams would have maybe some profanity maybe there’s some f no you know and and in in other in other situations it’s the owners calling the team and and being the one to be like you’re not talking to our guy and so listen the knicks probably expected some of these responses anytime you reach out to other teams for their head coaches you are susceptible for that team to have some kind of a reaction and the knicks went through this exercise an educational process in their mind to see which coaches they could potentially talk to and out of all five of those coaches there was really one coach with just one year left on his deal an expiring contract that was billy donovan with the bulls and i think there was some optimism that maybe they could pry him out uh but billy donovan wants to stay in chicago he believes in their future there so you think about it the bulls and hawks two teams that are really fringe play in tournament teams and then the other three coaches are on contending teams going in next year so whether it’s a contender or a playin type team the knicks just did not have success in that lane that they were on and then in terms of again your predecessor woge shams uh had a way with words certainly when it came to tipping picks he had a he had a he had a whole thesaurus on how to come up with different ways to announce that somebody was about to be selected i noticed in the quinn snyder post of yours shams you didn’t say firm rejection you said firmly denied is there a difference between a denial and a rejection or they’re the same thing in your estimation in in in my mind it’s it’s the same thing but i i do think i think i think once once it’s once it started to become known that other teams were firmly denying i think firmly rejecting i think other teams are like you know what we we also got to be a lot more firm with our guys okay shams see at least i’m paying attention right i’m paying attention to your word choice firmly rejected it sounded like uh my prom night uh sean shirania here on the rich eisen show okay so did giannis shut the door on a trade from milwaukee this past week did he say i’m staying pretty much or what i i i didn’t see him uh did he say that i i i didn’t see that no he was basically talking about how he loves milwaukee and he’s he’s uh he’s you know he he’s as uh i guess as committed as ever to to loving the he’s loyal to the city is is that where he is in private or where where do where do things stand right now with giannis it’s a great way to say yeah things stand where the bucks are operating under the belief that jantmpo will remain a buck going into next season that that they’re going to have him they they’ve they’ve had discussions on you know playing him more on the ball having him be more part of the ball be be the focus of the offense more with the ball in his hands not playing off the ball as much as he he potentially did alongside damen lillard the last couple of seasons and doc rivers and john horst there they they really believe that this team has a chance to contend in the eastern conference next season uh you know potentially you you you look around the league people look at the eastern conference a certain way clearly but indiana up 2-1 in the series on oklahoma city so uh with with those two factors and at the end of day jiannis and denmpo has been there for 12 years so you’re banking on the equity that you built with them but i reported during nba draft lottery and combine week that jon and dak koopmpo was open to exploring his options outside of milwaukee and there were some serious conversations uh you know with his representatives internally uh there was a lot of chatter around the nba no doubt and so i i definitely stand by that but you know again there’s going to be a level of skepticism just based on the fact that giannis antono has been there for 12 years he’s shown nothing but loyalty there he’s spoken though about how much he wants to win a championship he wants you know he doesn’t want to be a guy that only wins one ring like he he’s going to have tough time sleeping at night after his career is over so those are his words he has said that on the record and so if he believes that this bucks team is a championship team next season and for years to come and that doc rivers uh and john horse have sold him on a championship vision next season that’s certainly his prerogative and there’s definitely a belief around the nba that you know jans and to dmpo will he be on the board will he not be on the board that it might be that he is is bought into what’s going on in milwaukee right now so i you also were saying i saw you said on pat show uh that the um the i guess off season for the lack of better phrase um is going to be off the hook with the nba do you still feel that way right now that you there’s going to be a remarkable amount of activity including some bold-faced names on the move shams you feel that way still right now for sure for sure i do yeah i mean obviously we have the kevin durant market uh you have the nba draft coming up you have free agency coming up there’s always going to be wild cards there’s always going to be some surprises is cooper flag going to be on the move or you just think the mavericks are are going to just take him and rip the knob off shams uh the mavericks are going to be taking cooper flag for sure okay so okay so he won’t wind up on the lakers with only them making a deal for him shams that’s not happening it’s no i i i i don’t expect that he’s actually going to go visit them this upcoming week after father’s day uh we’ll spend time with nico harrison jason kidd that organization so uh he’ll be there for a couple of days and uh i i think they have fully fully honed in on cooper flag as the number one overall pick in the nba draft but you think would the second overall pick be in play would that be in play do you think right now with the spurs the sixers are obviously sitting there at three what intrigue do you think is is involved with the draft coming up and uh and free agents to be sean i i i think i think i think we’re going to see a ton of draft pick movement uh you know if i if i had to uh you know pouch it for the for the spurs i think they probably keep that number two pick versus not it always when you when you think about the top three it always takes a a massive offer to go go you know come up on on you know come off it um and for a team to move up so they’re going to get a ton of calls between now and june 25th on offers to move up from teams 3 four five 6 7 8 uh we’ll see if there’s any traction on those conversations uh but listen dylan harper is a guy you have to look at at number two but the spurs are going to get plenty of of calls on it but i think you know there’s there’s going to be a ton of movement i think this year not only in the lottery picks moving up picks moving down uh throughout the nba draft okay and durant do you think is the first that could be moved what do you think sean kevin durant is is the best available domino right now he’s the guy that everyone’s got their eye on right now in the nba and and from my understanding there is some traction and conversations some significant conversations ongoing with the suns to move durant sooner rather than later i think there’s some motivation with some teams to get a deal done uh in the last 24 hours i’m told the focus with the suns conversations have been on the houston rockets the minnesota timberl and the miami heat so those are three teams that had interest in him at the deadline that could see whether they get a deal done bring him into the mix uh allow allow themselves to potentially have a better chance of competing for a championship and you know the biggest key there is the fact that he’s got one year left on his deal about $54 million and so does a team need to have a guaranteed understanding that he’s going to have an extension agreement locked in is there a team that just takes a swing for him there’s also some wildcard teams there’s been about 68 teams calling to the suns making offers reaching out so uh i i do think sooner rather than later uh there will be a move with kevin durant okay and last one for you here seam just to circle back you said that there’s no real deadline for the knicks to find their next head coach you you mentioned training camp so you’re saying that it’s possible as as as a possible uh midnight strike for for when they have to make that move you think the knicks could go through a draft um free agency make all these moves without a head coach offering any insight um and then once the roster set go find the right coach for it you think that that’s a possibility sean rich you you always want to have a coach locked in especially for the draft and pre- agency so so for sure i’m i’m i’m i’m positive that’s the preference for the knicks but the way they’re operating from my understanding they don’t believe they’re under a pressure point right now to make a higher they want they just want to get it right to give this chance the best this team the best chance to win a championship okay well i appreciate you coming on shams um and as a thank you uh we’re going to give you a scoop um shams cuz i keep talking about the knicks coaching search and what are they doing and why do they keep going after people who are taking and getting rejected did they did they reach out to you as well you rejected no shams i’ll put it up on the screen uh gilbert exiego uh who i you know a consumer of this show uh he turned down the nick’s job just let us know and i’m letting you know as well so take gilbert off the list okay will you do that along along with probably hundreds of others out there in in the twitter universe well the whole thing is it’s just that i i it it’s not like they’re these coaches are rejecting it’s the team’s basically saying you know pound sand you know and and that’s and maybe the knicks are hoping that one coach when they hear about the interest will try to force the issue is that part of this scenario as well you know potentially but so far no luck thank you sir appreciate the time have a great time uh at game four tonight taking it all in and thanks again and congrats on everything uh that you have built for yourself and i look forward to more chats with you shams thank you talk soon [Music] for [Music] foreign speech foreign speech foreign speech [Music] let me get my speech foreign speech i’m not in foreign speech foreign speech foreign speech [Music] window yeah what you can fore speech time to land we’ll get down 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ESPN latest on Kevin Durant & Giannis BLOCKBUSTER Trade? – Knicks’ “unorthodox” head coach search?