Rumors

Michael Scotto: BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls are hiring Tiago Splitter as their head coach, league sources told @hoopshype . Splitter had a 42-39 record and advanced to the first round of the playoffs as the interim head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers after taking over for Chauncey Billups.

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Shams Charania: The Bulls landed on Splitter due to his ability to lead the team’s player development, organizational alignment on the franchise's direction and vision, and his leadership and knowledge base as a coach rising through the ranks since 2018 as well as a seven-year NBA player with one championship with the San Antonio Spurs. Splitter, 41, guided the Trail Blazers to a 42-40 record and a postseason berth as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference amid adversity stemming from Chauncey Billups’ federal charges. Sources said top Bulls officials, including Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham and his front-office staff, met with four finalists for the head coaching job last week in Chicago: Splitter, Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, Atlanta Hawks assistant Ryan Schmidt and current Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr.

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Alex Schiffer: At a status hearing today in the federal gambling trial, Chauncey Billups attorney said he and his client “love” the judge’s push for a Nov. 2 trial date. Doesn’t sound like he is taking a plea agreement. Billups is part of the rigged poker game case.

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Lauren Conlin: SPOTTED: Chauncey Billups walking into Brooklyn Federal Court ahead of his status hearing with attorneys, Marc Mukasey and Tori Young. I asked whether Chauncey maintains his innocence, and Marc turned around and told me, “Yes.”

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I've also been advised that Chicago is likely to formally request to interview Tiago Splitter, who is still under contract with Portland for next season even as the Trail Blazers actively speak to external candidates about their coaching job. Splitter went 42-39 as Portland's interim coach this season and steered the team to its first playoff berth in five years after Chauncey Billups was placed on indefinite leave due to a federal gambling probe just one game into the season.

marcstein.substack.com

Tiago Splitter took over as interim head coach in October after Chauncey Billups was arrested as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling activities. In Billups’ absence, Splitter coached the Trail Blazers to a 42-40 record and the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2021. While Splitter remains a candidate for the full-time job, the franchise opened its search before the season ended, a practice that is frowned upon league-wide. “The amount of disrespect (toward Splitter) that’s going on is beyond description,” a league source told Quick. “It’s like, every day, a new name is coming up. It’s the most vicious thing I’ve encountered in 30-plus years.”

New York Times

Brenna Greene: More from Lillard on Chauncey Billups: "It was tough for me. I didn't even think about it from a basketball standpoint... I just felt bad for him having to experience that and that it had come to that."

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To wit: The Blazers are the only NBA team in the playoffs who are not traveling their two-way players, a move to save on hotels and food first reported by The Rose Garden Report. Also, the team’s traveling party of support staff was trimmed — the award-winning team photographer and digital reporter did not travel with the team for its playoff series in San Antonio. And as Splitter has done an admirable job as interim coach — he was thrust into the position before the season’s second game when Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI in a gambling probe — Dundon has conducted a phone-book’s worth of interviews with college and pro coaches, breaching the etiquette that sitting NBA coaches are usually afforded.

New York Times

Sean Highkin: "(Shaedon Sharpe)’s the most talented player on the entire roster. The athleticism, the dunks, the highlights, he's gotten more efficient as a shooter year over year. He has the physical tools to be a really elite defender. But the issue has been general effort and focus. Last season, the day that their second-half run started, Chauncey (Billups) told us he was moving Shaedon to the bench and putting Kris Murray in the starting lineup. He said publicly he hadn't liked the way Shaedon had been engaged on defense. Shaedon responded, won his job back, but it's kind of come and gone since then. If you put Scoot (Henderson)'s attitude, mentality, and work ethic in his body, he would be Anthony Edwards."

HoopsHype

League sources say Dundon has been actively exploring the coaching market to get a better sense of Portland's potential options at season's end. Tiago Splitter entered Sunday's play with a record of 40-37 as Portland's interim coach after Chauncey Billups — following the Blazers' Opening Night loss to Minnesota — was placed on indefinite leave by the NBA with Billups under investigation as part of a federal gambling probe.

marcstein.substack.com

Chauncey Billups was back in court Wednesday, along with multiple other defendants, for a status hearing in the federal case against an alleged poker-rigging scheme -- or Operation Royal Flush, as the Department of Justice announced in October. Billups, who was alleged to be a "face card" in the scheme, a well-known person used to attract players to rigged games, pleaded not guilty in November. On Wednesday, as he returned to court for an update on the case, his former backcourt-mate with the Detroit Pistons, Richard Hamilton, voiced his full support for Billups. "Chauncey's in a good place. We always have his back. Spoke to him multiple times," Hamilton told BetFTW and USA TODAY Sports. "So we're here to support him, but this ain't Chauncey. I know Chaunc. This ain't him. So, hopefully everything works out and everybody in the world realizes that Chauncey's one of the better people in this world."

USA Today

Sean Highkin: The judge in the poker case involving Chauncey Billups said during today's hearing that the proposed start date for the trial is November 2. Prosecutors say they're in the process of offering plea agreements to many of the defendants. Next status hearing is scheduled for June 11.

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While Chauncey Billups and 30 others await the latest news about their case when they return to a Brooklyn federal courthouse Wednesday, federal prosecutors told the judge they could reach plea deals with nearly two dozen people charged in October for their alleged roles in a nationwide rigged poker ring.

New York Times

Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier will return to court this week in Brooklyn as they and more than 30 other people indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice appear in front of federal judges for updates on their cases. Billups, a Basketball Hall of Famer, and Rozier, a Miami Heat guard, have seen their cases move slowly toward trials as their lawyers and federal prosecutors trade legal filings and discovery.

New York Times