Saturday's Late News & Notes: Bucks & Bulls Want To Trade Up In Draft, Knicks Interested In Derek Fisher, & More

 --  The New York Knicks are apparently interested in Oklahoma City Thunder reserve point guard Derek Fisher, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.


The 16-year NBA veteran has played extremely well for the Thunder in recent weeks and looks as though he has at least a couple more years left in the tank.

The Knicks could definitely use someone with Fisher's veteran experience and leadership to help create chemistry for a team that clearly lacked it for much of this past season.


While they will have major interest in the guard, they won't be able to offer him any major money if they do pursue him, as New York won't be able to offer him more than a $1.4 million veteran minimum contract.


After the way Fisher has played in the postseason, there definitely won't be a shortage of offers for his services, and if the Knicks want to convince him to come to the Big Apple, they will need to make a heck of a sales pitch.


One factor that may not work in their favor, if it plays a role at all, is the fact that Fisher's former head coach Phil Jackson currently appears to have a little bit of an issue with the team.


While Jackson recently said the Knicks roster was "clumsy" (verifying that he meant the chemistry between Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire wasn't there) and that he wouldn't have taken the teams' head coaching job even if it had been offered to him, the fact remains that team owner James Dolan apparently never even considered the thought of offering it to the Zen Master.


I highly doubt Jackson will play any type of role in where Fisher ends up signing in free agency, however, I still can't see Fisher going to the Knicks when he could stay with Oklahoma City, who definitely has better odds of seeing another Finals appearance over the next two years than the Knicks do.


Which team do you think would be the best fit for Fisher next season? Will he retire if the Thunder win a championship, giving him a seventh ring?
-- The Chicago Bulls are keeping their options open this summer when it comes to improving their roster, and according to Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio, one of those options includes potentially trading up in this month's NBA Draft, possibly all the way into the lottery.

The Bulls won the Eastern Conference during the regular season, finishing with a 50-16 record, tied with the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the NBA.

However, Chicago lost superstar Derrick Rose in the opening game of their first round series against the Philadelphia 76ers to a torn ACL and the Bulls went on to lose the series in six games.

Although the Bulls have some quality talent surrounding Rose already, including Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng, they could definitely use some more depth behind them.

Chicago currently owns the #29 pick in the draft so they would almost certainly have to include a player or two to make a deal to get them in the lottery.

Luckily for the Bulls, they have the contracts of Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver (both around $5 million) to offer in any potential trades, as both are valuable assets with expiring contracts.

According to sources close to the team, the Bulls are rumored to be interested in guards such as Austin Rivers, Dion Waiters, or Jeremy Lamb.

-- The Milwaukee Bucks are also moving up in the NBA Draft, although their climb won't be nearly as far as Chicago's if the Bulls can somehow make it into the lottery.

Milwaukee, who currently owns the #12 selection, is rumored to be interested in moving up into the top ten.

According to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal-Times, the Bucks have spoken to the Charlotte Bobcats about acquiring their #2 pick, although Milwaukee doesn't have much to bargain with beyond Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis (neither of whom are going anywhere).

The Bucks are apparently looking for a big guard even though they already have one of the top backcourts in the NBA in Jennings and Ellis.

“They told me they could use a big guard like me,” said Will Barton, who played in college at Memphis and recently worked out for Milwaukee. “We’ll see what happens.”

Also of note, according to the same article, the Bucks and Jennings' agent, Bill Duffy, have yet to have any meaningful discussions about an extension for the team's starting point guard.

Could that be a sign they might consider taking another point guard with their lottery selection?


-- Which team do you think would be the best fit for Derek Fisher in free agency? Who should the Bulls target if they trade for a lottery pick? How far up in the draft will Milwaukee go if they can make a trade? Share your thoughts below in the comments section.

Charlotte Bobcats Narrow Their Coaching Search To Three Candidates

It appears the Charlotte Bobcats are finally entering the final stages of selecting their next head coach, as Chris Broussard of ESPN reports they have narrowed their search to three candidates: Brian Shaw, Jerry Sloan, and Quin Snyder.

Each of the three will meet with team owner Michael Jordan within the next week or so according to the report, and then a decision will likely be made soon thereafter.

Recent Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Sloan is the only candidate with prior head coaching experience, resigning midseason during his 23rd season leading the Utah Jazz.

Sloan took the Jazz to the NBA Finals twice during his tenure as their coach, however, he was denied of a championship both times by the Chicago Bulls and his potential future boss, Michael Jordan.

Although Shaw doesn't have any previous head coaching experience, he was a protege of the legendary Phil Jackson and has been an assistant head coach with the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers.

He has been an assistant coach since 2004-05 and was considered for the Lakers and Orlando Magic's head coaching vacancies over the past two seasons.

Quin Snyder was an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers this past season (he still likely will be if he doesn't land the Bobcats job) and coached in the NBDL for three seasons prior to that with the Austin Toros.

Snyder was also interviewed for the Minnesota Timberwolves job last summer, before they had even fired Kurt Rambis.

The narrowing of candidates comes after the team originally had ten people interview with team executives Rod Higgins and Rich Cho for the position.

Including the three finalists, the others that were interviewed were Orlando assistant Patrick Ewing, former Portland coach Nate McMillan, Golden State assistant Michael Malone, Cleveland assistant Nate Tibbetts, Charlotte assistant Stephen Silas, Memphis assistant Dave Joerger and St. John's University assistant Mike Dunlap.

In my opinion, Sloan would probably be the best choice for the job if the Bobcats were closer to being a championship contender, but considering the fact that he is 70-years old will probably mean he won't be coaching long enough to see the transformation through.

With that being said, I think the Bobcats will likely pick Shaw when all three of the meetings with Jordan are complete, as he is widely considered to be the best assistant coach in the league right now.

Shaw spent plenty of time learning coaching tactics from Jackson and has first-hand experience with the Triangle Offense, which with the right players, can be one of the most successful offenses in basketball.

I think Shaw is ready at this point in his coaching career to take a head coaching position, and a spot with the Charlotte Bobcats would be the perfect place to begin his career in the lead role on the bench.

Regardless of who lands the vacant job, they will have a massive task on their hands of turning around a franchise that finished with the worst winning percentage in NBA history last season (.106).

Which coach do you think would be the best fit with the Charlotte Bobcats? Do you think they left someone out of their final three that would've made a better coach? Share what you think about their coaching vacancy down below in the comments section.

NBA Players React to Manny Pacquiao's Controversial Loss

By: Stephen Patterson

It seems like everyone has an opinion on the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight from Saturday night that ended with one of the most controversial split-decisions in recent boxing history.

Pacquiao, who is a huge fan of the Boston Celtics, landed nearly 100 more punches, with ringside punching statistics showing Pacquiao land 253 punches compared to only 159 by Bradley.

And while the three ringside judges had two scorecards with Bradley winning 115-113 and a third with him winning by the same margin, the Associated Press had Pacquiao winning 117-111, a pretty huge difference than what the judges scored it.

Bradley even fractured his left foot in the second round, apparently bad enough for him to hear it snap, and sprained his right ankle in the fifth.

Yet, somehow, through all of that, Bradley is the new owner of the WBO welterweight title and Pacquiao is still trying to figure out how his seven-year winning streak is now a thing of the past.

Plenty of NBA players weighed in with their opinions through their Twitter accounts, many of them angry that Pacquiao, who waited to start the fight until after the conclusion of Game 7 of the Heat/Celtics series, was blatantly "robbed".

Here is what they had to say:

• Earl Barron: Chris Paul somewhere watching the fight like I guess the NBA blocking my trade ain't so bad. #SMH

• Tyson Chandler: My Boy PAC-MaN just got robbed without a GUN!!!

• Richard Hamilton: I'm done watching boxing. WWF

• David West: This is why MMA has taken over...

• Jared Dudley: This is crazy.. Those judges n vegas need to be fired ASAP!!!! I never felt so cheated of my money in my Life!!!!

• Kyle Lowry: I'm not watching boxing ever!! Wow!! Please overturn this judgement

• Mark Jackson: I think I’m DONE with boxing!!! Manny just got ROBBED! What a JOKE!

• LaMarcus Aldridge: Pac man got robbed !

• Al Horford: Are you kidding me?? They gave the fight to this other dude. PAC-Man is the best. Terrible judges... #SMH

• Roger Mason: Where's the instrant replay when you need it? #gotitallwrong

• Deron Williams: Boxing is now the worst sport in the history of the world Im never buying a fight again

• Brandon Jennings: Welp go ahead and retire Mayweather.... No reason to fight him now!!!!

What did you think of the outcome of the fight? Did the judges make the wrong call or did Bradley deserve the win? Share your thoughts below.

Ray Allen's Future Uncertain As Free Agency Looms

By: Stephen Patterson

After the Boston Celtics fell to the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the immediate question for Celtics' fans became "What's next?", as the future of the team they have fallen in love with over the past five seasons might be in store for a major shake-up this summer.

With Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett both set to hit the open market in free agency, it's extremely likely we have witnessed the end up of the "Big Three" era (really it's been the "Big Four" era, especially this season) in Boston.

While Celtics' GM Danny Ainge has said he isn't opposed to bringing back Allen and Garnett, it's hard to imagine the team being able to find the money to keep both of them while still bringing younger and more talented players in to build for the future.

"I really value having those guys around young players,'' a league source quoted Ainge as saying, according to an article on SI.com.

Garnett's status for next season is nearly impossible to predict right now, as there have been reports circulating for months that he was going to retire at the end of this season, while there have been just as many reports stating the opposite.

Head coach Doc Rivers has stated several times in recent weeks that he believes KG will play at least one more season, although there is also a decent chance he will choose to walk away on a high note, following a postseason in which he played a massive role in helping Boston make it as far as they did while Allen and Paul Pierce battled leg injuries for most of the playoffs. (For more on KG, check out this post from earlier in the week.)

Allen, who will turn 37 next month, is planning to undergo surgery as soon as possible to remove bone spurs from the ankle that bothered him throughout the postseason, causing him to miss Boston's first two playoff games against the Atlanta Hawks in the opening round.

"If I could do it tomorrow, I would do it tomorrow," he said. "That's probably my main concern right now, is taking care of that. My body feels good. That's my only issue."

Assuming everything goes well with the surgery and no other issues are discovered, Allen should return to full strength in plenty of time for the start of training camp. The only question is which teams' training camp will Allen be attending?

Contenders such as the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Memphis Grizzlies are rumored to be interested in pursuing Allen this summer according to Sports Illustrated.

According to Chris Mannox of SI, the Knicks and Miami Heat are reportedly the top two teams on Allen's wishlist of potential destinations if he leaves Boston.

The Memphis Grizzlies almost landed Allen at the trade deadline, having a deal in place with the Celtics that would have sent O.J. Mayo and a lottery pick to Boston in exchange for Allen before the Grizzlies backed out at the last second.

If Allen were to receive similar offers from Boston and a team such as the Bulls, who are on the cusp of being very serious title contenders once Derrick Rose returns from his torn ACL, it would be difficult for Allen to pass up a chance at a second title to return to the Celtics, although he does have serious respect for the organization and the players who played there prior to him.

“It’s always been somewhat intimidating,” Allen said when talking about playing in Boston. “You walk into a building every day and you see the banners and the retired jerseys in the building. It just always makes you work a little bit harder.  When [John] Havlicek is in the building, when [Bob] Cousy is around. Tommy [Heinsohn] is watching us every day. Bill Russell is at the games. Those are like our big brothers.  We knew that we had some big shoes to fill and a lot that we needed to do to try to compare to what they’ve done. We have definitely fallen short, but we’ve gone out trying to play as hard as we can every night.”

So don't completely rule out a possible return to Boston, especially if Garnett decides to retire or ends up signing with another team, which would leave a lot more salary cap flexibility for the Celtics to retain Allen while still bringing in some solid role players and young talents.

Then the Celtics could possibly make one final run at a title before fully transitioning into a new era with Rajon Rondo leading the charge and Pierce and Allen still having large roles while mentoring the younger guys in the locker room.

My personal guess is that Allen will probably end up in a new uniform after this summer, as I think he might have felt a little betrayed by the fact that Ainge almost dealt him to Memphis without even giving him a real heads up on the matter during the season.

Where he will end up signing what will likely be his final contract, I have no idea, although I'm almost positive Allen will sign with a team that has a very real chance at winning a championship next season.

Considering the fact that he pretty much carried the Celtics early in the season, along with Rondo, while Pierce and Garnett were adjusting to the condensed schedule and shot 45% from downtown during the regular season, there definitely won't be a lack of interest in the all-time leader in made three point attempts.

Which team do you think will end up signing Ray Allen this offseason? Will he return to Boston to finish out his career or will he go to a team that has a better chance of giving him another ring? Share your thoughts below.