NEW ORLEANS -- The Pelicans have hired Nets assistant general manager Trajan Langdon to serve as GM under new executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin, according to multiple reports.

The news was first reported by the Athletic.

Langdon, 43, is a former Duke and NBA player who also played professionally in Europe. He has served as the Nets' assistant GM since 2016 and has helped rebuild Brooklyn into a squad that qualified for the Eastern Conference playoffs as a sixth seed this season after finishing last in the East two seasons earlier.

Langdon interviewed with New Orleans for the top basketball operations job that went to Griffin in mid-April.

When Griffin was formally introduced by the Pelicans, he said he'd received a commitment from owner Gayle Benson to build up the management structure of the club. He has begun doing so by bringing in Langdon, and before that, hiring former Suns executive Aaron Nelson away from Phoenix to oversee injury prevention, rehabilitation, performance and recovery programs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

With a plan to partner him with new coach John Beilein, the Cleveland Cavaliers are hiring J.B. Bickerstaff as associate head coach, league sources told ESPN.

The Cavaliers will make Bickerstaff one of the NBA's top paid assistant coaches, league sources said.

Cleveland is working with Beilein -- a highly successfully 40-year college coach -- to ease his transition to the pro game and targeted Bickerstaff as a key to that education.

Bickerstaff, the Memphis Grizzlies head coach for the past year-plus, had discussed top assistant roles with Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Sacramento, but met with Beilein and general manager Koby Altman at the NBA's draft combine in Chicago and began to gravitate toward the Cavaliers recruitment, sources said.

Bickerstaff had interviewed for the Cavaliers head coaching job with Altman before the hiring of Beilein. Bickerstaff's father, Bernie, a longtime NBA coach and executive, works as a consultant for the Cavaliers.

Bickerstaff, 40, had been interim coach with the Houston Rockets (2015-16), leading them to the playoffs, and landed the Grizzlies job after spending most of 2017-18 as the interim after David Fizdale's firing. His career record is 85-131.

Cleveland hired Beilein, 66, on Friday after he coached for 12 seasons at the University of Michigan.

Houston Astros star outfielder George Springer left Sunday's game against the Boston Red Sox in the fifth inning with stiffness in his lower back.

Springer was replaced in right field by Tony Kemp at the start of the bottom of the fifth inning.

Springer appeared to grimace and grab at his back after swings on multiple occasions. He struck out three times against Red Sox starter Chris Sale.

He leads the American League with 17 home runs and 42 RBIs and began the day hitting .318.

The elite orienteer discusses her route into the sport and its crossover with running

Cat Taylor started orienteering at the age of seven and made her GB debut in 2012, going on to achieve results including bronze at the European Championships and a win at a World Cup round.

After seven years of living and training in Sweden, the South Yorkshire Orienteers athlete now lives in Sheffield and combines training with work as a translator. In the spring and summer she is often on the road for camps and competitions and is currently on a training camp in Norway.

Ahead of August’s World Orienteering Championships in Norway and as part of World Orienteering Week, Taylor shares some insight into her sport and its crossover with running.

Athletics Weekly: What was your route into orienteering? Were you a runner, or an orienteer, first?

Cat Taylor: I’ve been orienteering since I was tiny, I was definitely an orienteer first! I did cross country at school, along with lots of other sports, and I was okay but never great. Of course I do a lot of running now but it’s all as training for orienteering. I run a few fell races and have done a couple of 10km on the roads (my best is 35:32) but it’s never been a main focus. I do enjoy racing any kind of running where I can fit it in but I always have quite a packed programme.

AW: What do you love most about orienteering?

CT: I first got hooked when I started running off the paths, just straight through the forest. It’s a great feeling of freedom. I also like that the physical and technical challenge is really different from place to place. A track is the same anywhere but for example a forest near Stockholm is a lot different to one near Madrid and to be consistently good at orienteering you have to be very adaptable.

AW: How do you prepare for major championships? Do you have an ‘average’ training week?

CT: At home I try to do a good mix of running training – a bit of everything on all surfaces – and consistent technique training. It means quite a bit of variety but I do have a consistent week plan. The toughest thing with this sport is that specific preparation for a championship means travelling to terrain and race in similar conditions to those you’ll face on the big day. You’re not allowed to run or even visit the area you will race in before you actually start but can get a good idea of the kind of challenge by training in the forests nearby. So this year I’m spending altogether about five weeks on World Championships training camps (near Oslo, Norway). All the travel can sometimes disrupt training but it’s a necessary compromise.

AW: Can you talk about the crossover between the two sports and the necessary skillsets?

CT: Once you’ve learned the basic navigation techniques you need to orienteer, it’s mainly about managing the balance between running quickly but still concentrating on navigation. The higher your aerobic threshold, the faster you can run without being in the “red zone” (where you need to concentrate hard on the running, meaning you can’t make decisions as well and risk getting lost!). My physical training works towards being as good an all-round runner as possible; you have to be strong up hills, down hills, in rough terrain, through marshes, over rocks and on flatter, fast surfaces.

The biggest difference for me is the feeling on the start line. Even in cross country you know exactly where the course will go, where it’s going to hurt, you can have a pretty exact plan for how to run each bit. In orienteering you can have very little idea of where you’ll be going until the clock starts, you pick up the map and run off. You’re also often alone all the way and have to be very good at pushing yourself and keeping positive, because it’s almost impossible to run completely without technical mistakes.

AW: What are your key 2019 targets in both running and orienteering?

CT: I’ve actually had a pretty rubbish time this last winter. I’ve been injured and doing a lot of alternative training but I’m still aiming to be back in top shape by August to fight for the very highest positions in the World Orienteering Championships (near Oslo, Norway). I’ve frustratingly had to reign in running plans while I recover but am gradually getting back into action. Because all the most important competitions this summer are in soft terrain I’ll not prioritise racing on the road or running much track at all, but I’ll hopefully have time for some local fell races in the coming months.

AW: What are you most proud of having achieved in your elite career so far?

CT: I’ve had a few good international results so far, including a win at a World Cup round and a bronze medal at the European Championships. I’m happy any time I feel like I’ve got the most from myself on an important day, it means that the project I’ve been working on for months or even more has been successful and it’s that feeling that makes all the pain and expense worthwhile!

A World Championships qualifying mark and a world record are among the stand-out performances at the Loughborough International

Younger sprinters were among those to impress in what seemed to be near perfect running conditions at the Loughborough International Athletics competition, as the European U20 and U23 Championships qualifying standards drew interest.

However, it was more experienced athletes who stole the show. Sophie McKinna was pleased to get the Doha World Championships qualifying shot put standard with 18.04m. Although not as far as her 18.23m in the Norfolk Championships the previous week, she was happy to make her point on her first throw.

A world record was broken on the track as Paralympic champion Sophie Hahn improved the T38 100m mark to 12.43 (1.3m/sec).

“I’m so surprised and I can’t believe that just happened,” she said. “I didn’t expect that time going into the race.

“This is only my third 100m race of the season and it shows that I’m in such great form.”

?Loughborough International Athletics

Paralympic champion @SophieHahnT38 smashes the competition as she claims first place in the Women's Para-Elite 100m#LIA2019 #Battleofthenations #WhereHistoryBegins pic.twitter.com/caf43jSz8R

— Loughborough Sport (@LboroSport) May 19, 2019

The women’s 3000m saw Jess Judd track Amelia Quirk before sprinting clear to win in 9:02.86 and confirm that her track ambitions lie over either 1500 or 5000m.

Amy Hunt took the 100m in a personal best of 11.31 and the 17-year-old sees the European U20 Championships as a serious possibility. It was a similar story for Jeremiah Azu in the men’s race as his recent 18th birthday passed during the week and her was rewarded with a 10.27 personal best.

Hunt added a 200m win in 23.17.

Also among the under-20s, Ethan Brown fancies a Europeans slot after his 46.88 400m win, while Josh Zeller’s 13.62 under-20 110m hurdles victory confirmed his top-ranked status and similar ambitions.

Among the more seasoned competitors, Meghan Beesley took the women’s 400m hurdles in 56.72, while Seb Rodger won the men’s race in 50.06, in his first outing of the season.

Shannon Hylton was another to come good, but had to battle a wind in her 23.42 200m, after an 11.59 guest 100m victory. These came after her Doha Diamond League 200m disqualification.

Phillipa Lowe said she wants a 400m individual berth in the World Championships after victory in Loughborough in 52.91.

In the field, Scott Lincoln continued his four-year No.1 ranking with a 19.23m shot victory, while Ben Hawkes won a close hammer with 70.52 from Craig Murch.

Harry Hughes impressed with 80.32m in the javelin, the first time a British athlete has thrown over 80 metres in seven years. That PB moves him to 11th on the UK all-time list.

Lucy Hadaway jumped 6.34m to win the women’s long jump, with Holly Mills leaping 6.29m to finish second and secure a European U20 Championships standard.

Charlotte Payne threw a hammer PB of 61.83m to move to third on the British all-time junior list and also achieve a European U20 qualifier.

World University Games qualification also drew interest as women’s 100m hurdles winner Jessica Hunter ran 13.54, just shy of the 13.40 qualifying standard.

For the under-23s, Shemar Boldizsar’s 20.81 200m in a guest race bettered that of Sam Miller’s 21.03 in the match event and was just 0.01 from the European U23 Championships standard.

British number one Johanna Konta's wait for a first WTA clay-court title continues after she lost to Karolina Pliskova in the Italian Open final.

Czech world number seven Pliskova won 6-3 6-4 in one hour 25 minutes in Rome for her second title of the season.

Konta, 28, beat two top-10 players to reach the final and earned a seeding at the French Open starting on 26 May.

"I'm super pleased with how I've been progressing this year and improving in every match," said Konta.

"This is my second biggest final after Miami. This is a big moment for me. I'm very pleased to be making that progress."

Konta was the first British woman to reach the Italian Open final since Virginia Wade in 1971, while Pliskova is the first Czech woman to win it since 1978.

Konta did not recover from being broken in her opening service game, and again at 3-3 in the second.

Pliskova required three match points to secure victory and claim her first title since the Brisbane International in January.

'What a week for Konta' - analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

Pliskova was the sharper player and allowed Konta a look at just one break point.

The serve remains the foundation of Pliskova's game, but she has developed into a very accomplished clay-court player, and will be the second seed at the French Open.

Konta could not reproduce the stunning form she found earlier in the tournament, but what a week - a season-changing week.

She will no longer be at the mercy of the draw come the French Open, and almost certainly Wimbledon too. As a seed, she cannot player anyone else in the world's top 32 until at least the third round.

Konta's tour results before April were unspectacular, but she now sits 13th in the annual rankings race. And she has also won six Fed Cup matches for her country, which aren't taken into consideration.

BBC Sport has launched #ChangeTheGame this summer to showcase female athletes in a way they never have been before. Through more live women's sport available to watch across the BBC this summer, complemented by our journalism, we are aiming to turn up the volume on women's sport and alter perceptions. Find out more here.

Rafael Nadal claimed his first title of the year by defeating world number one Novak Djokovic 6-0 4-6 6-1 in the Italian Open final in Rome.

The Spaniard raced through the opener in 39 minutes, the first 6-0 between the great rivals in 141 previous sets.

Djokovic battled back, but in the Rome sunshine Nadal sealed his ninth Italian Open title in two hours, 25 minutes.

It was his 81st tournament win and it takes him 34-33 ahead of Djokovic in Masters 1,000 Series titles.

Victory is a boost before the French Open for Nadal, who was beaten by Djokovic in the Australian Open final in January, and had lost at the semi-final stage in his past four tournaments.

Since 2005, Nadal has won at least one of the nine Masters 1,000 events in a season every year except 2015.

Djokovic had saved two match points in his quarter-final win over Juan Martin del Potro that finished at 1.05am local time on Saturday and then had another three-set encounter later that evening against Diego Schwartzman which lasted two hours, 31 minutes.

The 54th meeting between the world's top two players saw the Serb, perhaps sufferings the effects of those two gruelling matches, initially overwhelmed by Nadal, who was ruthless with his trademark forehand.

To tumultuous acclaim from the capacity crowd, Djokovic forged his first break point opportunity of the match in the fourth game of the second set, but a magnificent, whirling forehand into the corner from Nadal soon eradicated it.

However, the 31-year-old showed his famous powers of resolve, firing some fierce returns as he took the next chance to break, which sealed the set in 59 minutes.

Nadal broke in the opening game of the decider, prompting Djokovic to demolish his racquet in frustration and with the Serb continuing to falter with drop shot attempts, Nadal surged to a 58th clay-court title.

It reduced his career deficit against Djokovic to 28-26, improving his record on clay against him to 17-7.

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

A ninth title in Rome; a record 34th Masters title; but most significantly a first clay court title of the year for Nadal a week before the start of Roland Garros.

In fact, a first title anywhere since last August. He was irresistible in the first set, in a week in which he has won four sets 6-0 and only dropped serve twice.

But both should go to Paris in excellent heart.

A tiring Djokovic struck a useful psychological blow by dragging Nadal into a decider.

And this after winning the title in Madrid last weekend, and enduring a more gruelling week in Rome which included night shifts on both Friday and Saturday.

Gloucester and former Scotland prop Kyle Traynor has announced he is to retire from professional rugby union at the end of the Premiership season.

The 33-year-old will participate in the play-offs with the Cherry and Whites after they finished third this season.

Traynor, who also represented Bristol, Edinburgh and Leicester, won the last of his four Scotland caps in 2012.

"I have experienced so many amazing and unforgettable things and made some truly incredible friends," he said.

"To represent my country was a lifelong dream and I will never, ever forget the feeling of pulling on the Scotland jersey and wearing the Thistle."

Traynor says he will now start a career in management consulting.

"It was like a rugby team, the Dothraki rugby team."

Joe Naufahu had lights in his eyes, an iconic actress in front of him, and a backdrop of the Essos desert. His past life as a Glasgow Warriors centre could not be further away.

It was through turmoil and heartache that Naufahu, a New Zealander of Tongan descent, found salvation in fitness and more bizarrely acting, a pursuit that landed him a recurring role in Game of Thrones, the television epic which is brought to a conclusion this weekend after eight series.

Naufahu tells BBC Scotland of his tale, including nights out in Glasgow, the agony of retirement at the age of 26, and how he ended up in Spain as a protagonist in the battle for the Iron Throne.

'Emilia Clarke's standing in front of me'

The third instalment of the final series of Game of Thrones was apparently the most-tweeted-about television episode in history. In America alone, it is reported that more than 17 million people have watched the army of the dead march on Winterfell.

Naufahu landed a recurring role on this mother of all shows courtesy of a self-shot tape, sent off to the producers and consigned to memory until a call from his agent and the summons to attend a beard and wig fitting in London.

He played Khal Moro in the sixth series, a horse-riding warlord of the savage Dothraki, monstrous fighters who maraud, butcher and pillage their way through the desert. A "terrible man", as Naufahu puts it.

Khal Moro met a suitably grotesque end after three episodes when Emilia Clarke's character Daenerys roasted him alive inside a temple - but only after she had been brought chained before him in her guise as heir to the throne and a Dothraki captive.

"Emilia was lovely to work with, very humble and very funny," Naufahu says. "She's a very big star, so she enjoyed her privacy when we weren't shooting, but at the same time, she was just really nice and hung out with us. That first scene where I was in my temple and Emilia was brought up to me, that was probably the most memorable one and a bit of a wake-up call - you realise, 'man, I'm on the set of Game of Thrones'.

"I don't think I realised how big the show was until I had my first day on set in Spain, the cameras everywhere, the amount of extras, Emilia's standing in front of me shackled up and it's like, wow, okay, let's go. You get flown around the world, it's a huge operation. It was like a rugby team - the Dothraki rugby team. We had guys from England, France, Brazil - all good guys. No egos, no-one above anyone else.

"One minute you're staring down the barrel of retirement from the thing you love, the next you're on a set in Spain. Crazy."

'I'll come back and have a turbo shandy'

Naufahu was a bruiser of a centre reared at the Canterbury Crusaders with age-grade caps for New Zealand under his belt. Glasgow were a pretty modest operation when he arrived at Hughenden in 2002, playing in front of little crowds but still holding their own in the old Celtic League.

He was never able to leave the mark he wanted. A degenerative knee problem saw to that. Still, Naufahu loved the city and the people, the fervour of the fans, and the parties on the cobbles of Ashton Lane, typically propelled by a hideous-sounding concoction of lager and Smirnoff Ice known as a turbo shandy.

"I will come back one day and have a turbo shandy - you don't get older and wiser," Naufahu, now 41, says.

"The weather made for a different style of rugby to what I was used to back home, where there's generally a faster track and opportunities with defences being freer, but I had mad respect for the boys playing and coaching in Glasgow. For me, it was just a case of not enjoying the rugby so much because of injuries.

"As rugby players, you have a pre-built community that you walk into. You don't really have to go outside it, but at the same time it's a little bit of a bubble and when it pops you're like, 'what do I do now?'"

'When you can't play, you don't feel like you're enough'

Naufahu loved lifting weights, but the cold reality that he would never play again left him feeling ashamed of picking up a dumbbell.

He went back to New Zealand and worked on construction sites while reviving the adolescent interest that led him to Game of Thrones, and opening a gym with no mirrors in Auckland.

"When you can't play anymore, you don't feel like you're enough, you don't want to go to the gym," he says.

"I'd done a little acting as a teen. At the time, there weren't many Polynesian actors in New Zealand, so I got a small part when I was injured.

"I never went to formal drama school or whatever. But what acting did was give me a creative outlet which had been closed when I lost the ability to play rugby."