The Atlanta Hawks are aggressively pursuing Stan Van Gundy for the franchise's head-coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Stan Van Gundy was let go as the Magic's coach after the 2011-12 season. (AP)General manager Danny Ferry has made Van Gundy his top target to replace Larry Drew, sources said.

There has been contact between Ferry and Van Gundy, but the two sides have yet to meet in person.

The Hawks plan to make a hard push for free-agent center Dwight Howard on July 1, and there's some belief that Van Gundy could actually turn out to be a benefit in recruiting Howard back to his hometown.

[Also: Bucks interview J.B. Bickerstaff in coach search]

Howard has expressed some sentiment that he better appreciates Van Gundy as a head coach, despite their clashes together in Orlando that ultimately led to the coach's firing after the 2011-12 season.

Van Gundy hasn't made a decision about returning to coaching this year, but he holds Ferry in high regard, league sources said. Van Gundy has declined interest in the Milwaukee Bucks' head-coaching job.

In parts

The Philadelphia 76ers have hired Houston Rockets executive Sam Hinkie to be the franchise's new president and general manager, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Hinkie will replace Tony DiLeo with the 76ers and assume full control of basketball operations.

Hinkie, who had been the Rockets' vice president of basketball operations since 2007, met with 76ers officials a year about the job, but the team ultimately promoted DiLeo to the GM role. Philadelphia president Rod Thorn is retiring this spring and assuming a consultant's role with the organization. Doug Collins resigned as coach at season's end.

Hinkie has had a major influence in reshaping the Rockets franchise, bringing an analytics background to the organization's strong run of draft picks, trades and free-agent signings. Houston GM Daryl Morey finished third in the voting among his peers for Executive of the Year.

Hinkie will spearhead the organization's search for a new head coach. The 76ers have several significant decisions

The Minnesota Timberwolves are formalizing the release of Brandon Roy, ridding themselves of the $5.3 million owed him in the 2013-14 season, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Brandon Roy played in just five games this season. (Getty Images)An announcement is expected in the near future.

After seven career knee surgeries for Roy, this is likely the end of a career once destined for greatness.

Roy's two-year contract allows for the franchise to cut him if his chronically injured knees are no longer playable. Roy played five games for the Wolves this season.

Minnesota's new general manager, Flip Saunders, inherited Roy from his predecessor, David Kahn. One of the final downfalls of Kahn's failed run as GM was the two-year, $10.4 million deal with Roy. Minnesota guaranteed Roy his $5.1 million salary in the 2012-13 season, despite little examination of his troubled knees, sources said.

Roy, 28, started the T'wolves' first five games of the 2012-13 season, but never recovered from a mid-November knee procedure. Roy was the 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year

Houston Rockets assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff is interviewing with Milwaukee Bucks officials on Friday for the franchise's head coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff has interviewed with the Bucks and Pistons. (Getty Images)This is Bickerstaff's second interview for a head coaching job this week. He met with Detroit general manager Joe Dumars on Tuesday.

Bickerstaff, 34, is likely to be among the coaching considerations for new Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough, league sources said.

Milwaukee has also met with Nate McMillan and another Houston assistant, Kelvin Sampson. Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford is likely to get an interview with the Bucks in the near future too, sources said.

As the son of longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff, J.B. Bickerstaff has been around the profession most of his life. Before joining Kevin McHale's coaching staff in 2011 in Houston, he spent four years as an assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves (2007-11) and three years with the Charlotte Bobcats (2004-07).

Other

SAN ANTONIO – There were two days until the 2011 NBA draft and a call had come into Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers informing him of a most disturbing development: Under the cloak of secrecy, the San Antonio Spurs had flown in Klay Thompson for a workout and meeting with coach Gregg Popovich.

Myers knew the Spurs had been pursuing a trade into the Toronto Raptors' fifth spot to select center Jonas Valanciunas, because Golden State had been trying to do it, too. Nevertheless, the Raptors' price remained steep and Myers' fresh fear was that the Spurs were cutting a deal to leap over the Warriors' No. 11 pick and take Thompson.

The Warriors wanted Thompson so badly, but the Spurs were lurking, and Golden State knew that Milwaukee wanted to take him at 10. All those Golden State voices in the room – the owner, the legendary consultant, the new coach, the scouting staff and, yes, the agent-turned-GM, Myers – made agreement a difficult proposition.

"Consensus was hard with our

Phil Jackson has rejected the Brooklyn Nets' overtures to take over as coach, a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

Phil Jackson would prefer to return to the NBA in a front-office role. (Getty Images)Nets general manager Billy King talked with Jackson on Tuesday, and Jackson, the 11-time champion coach, reaffirmed his desire to pursue a broader front-office role over coaching in his return to the NBA.

Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets' billionaire owner, was believed to be prepared to make Jackson the highest-paid coach in team history.

Jackson is consulting with the Detroit Pistons on their coaching search, and could ultimately receive an offer from the Toronto Raptors to run that organization.

The Nets had waited for a response from Jackson before embarking on their coaching search, and now will soon start reaching out to candidates.

The Nets lost in seven games to the Chicago Bulls in an Eastern Conference first-round series.

The New York Post first reported Jackson's decision with the Nets.

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Houston Rockets assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff will interview for the Detroit Pistons' head coaching job on Wednesday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Bickerstaff, 34, has risen rapidly in the eyes of NBA executives as a head coaching candidate.

Bickerstaff will be the fourth known candidate to interview for the Detroit opening. Ex-Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan, San Antonio Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, and Phoenix Suns interim coach Lindsey Hunter have met with Pistons GM Joe Dumars so far.

As the son of longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff, J.B. Bickerstaff has long been immersed in the profession. Before joining the Rockets in 2011, he spent four years as an assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves (2007-'11) and three years under his father with the Charlotte Bobcats (2004-'07).

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SAN ANTONIO – Everyone else on these Golden State Warriors had marched grudgingly into the huddle now, but Stephen Curry's eyes stayed with the shooter. As Manu Ginobili left the floor with 1.2 seconds left in double overtime, he leaped into the arms of Tim Duncan on the San Antonio Spurs' sideline.

All this noise tumbled down onto the AT&T Center floor, all these years washed away, and there Curry stood marveling over the magnificence of Manu's magical moment. All this noise tumbled down out of the rafters, out of those four championship banners, and Curry had begun to consider the consequences of leaving him too much time on the clock, leaving him one more shot to transform this hysteria into a stunned silence.

Stephen Curry had gone for 44 points, had gone within a whisper of Kobe Bryant's playoff record of 45 on the Spurs. Curry had gone wild on the Spurs, but he wouldn't get the final shot, nor the final word on Monday night.

"Yeah, I'll be thinking about the one I didn't get to