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Month: November 2024

Bucks Notes: Brogdon, Monroe, Parker, Bolomboy

November 26th, 2017 at 9:17am CST by Arthur Hill

Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon is adjusting to a new role since the trade for Eric Bledsoe, writes Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Formerly the starting point guard and third scoring option, Brogdon now comes off the bench and plays in a variety of lineups.

The changes have taken a toll on Brogdon’s production. He was averaging 16.2 points and 4.9 assists while shooting 50.5% from the field in nine games before Bledsoe was acquired. In the first seven games since the deal, those numbers have fallen to 9.3/2.0/37.9% “Confidence for me has fluctuated a little bit, just being out of rhythm,” Brogdon admitted. “Playing a different role on this team is a total adjustment for me.”

There’s more this morning out of Milwaukee:

  • Another adjustment for Brogdon has been the loss of Greg Monroe, who was shipped to Phoenix in the Bledsoe deal. Monroe and Brogdon developed on-court chemistry, and the veteran big man served as a valuable confidant during Brogdon’s rookie season. Now that role has fallen to other players, who are helping Brogdon deal with his current situation. “I’ve been leaning on John Henson a lot, Khris [Middleton] has talked to me a lot,” he said. “Their advice is just to continue to play my game, regardless of my circumstance, regardless of my situation, because the team needs me to be aggressive, to play my game and be who I am.”
  • Jabari Parker is still a long way from his projected February return from a second ACL tear, but he is becoming more active with the team, relays Eric Woodyard of The Deseret News. Parker has been participating in practices, shootarounds and three-on-three games, as well as traveling with the team. A committed Mormon, he looks forward to the yearly trip to Utah that happened Saturday and relies on faith as he works his way back from the injury. “It’s the biggest thing that helps me every day and regardless of if I was hurt or not,” Parker said.
  • Joel Bolomboy wasn’t out of work very long after being waived by the Jazz before the start of the season, writes Mike Sorenson of The Deseret News. He joined the Bucks on a two-way contract and is trying to make the most of his second shot at the NBA. “I don’t think it was a disappointment at all,” he said of Utah’s decision. “It was just business. The way I see it, you just got to go with it, you can’t do anything about it. They let me go and I still get to play basketball and I was fortunate the Bucks signed me to a deal. It’s a real good opportunity over here and I like it a lot.”
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NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/25/17

November 25th, 2017 at 10:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

Here are the G League moves from around the NBA today:

  • The Cavaliers sent forward Cedi Osman and center Ante Zizic to their affiliate in Canton, the team announced on its website. This is Osman’s first trip to the G League, while Zizic has played one game for the Charge. Osman is averaging 1.5 points in 11 games with Cleveland, while Zizic is scoring 1.2 points in six games.
  • The Grizzlies assigned forward Jarell Martin to their Memphis Hustle affiliate, according to an email from the team. Martin has played 17 games for the Grizzlies, starting 12, and is averaging 4.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in 18.4 minutes.
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Kings Notes: Jackson, Kuzma, Papagiannis, Mason

November 25th, 2017 at 9:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

First-round pick Justin Jackson is falling out of the Kings’ rotation with DNPs in two straight games, and Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee explains why in a mailbag column. Sacramento has opted for a smaller starting lineup with two point guards, free agent addition George Hill and rookie De’Aaron Fox. Garrett Temple has moved to small forward, where he shares time with Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield.

That has cut into the minutes for Jackson, who started five games earlier in the season. Coach Dave Joerger has been using veteran Vince Carter off the bench ahead of Jackson, and the power forward minutes Jackson used to get are now going to Skal Labissiere and Willie Cauley-Stein. Jackson hasn’t performed terribly, averaging 6.7 points in about 19 minutes per night, but it looks like his playing time is going to be limited as long as Joerger relies on his veterans.
There’s more out of Sacramento:
  • The Kings could have solved their small forward problems by taking rookie sensation Kyle Kuzma in the draft, Jones states in the same piece. Sacramento brought Kuzma in for a pre-draft workout and saw his performance at the combine, but opted for Jackson with the 15th pick and Harry Giles at No. 20. Jones says fans should watch Giles in action before criticizing the pick. Giles is being held out until at least January because of his injury history with both knees.
  • Second-year center Georgios Papagiannis can expect to spend most of this season in the G League, Jones adds. Joerger wants the 20-year-old to get plenty of playing time, which won’t happen with the NBA squad, where he is behind Kosta Koufos and Zach Randolph. Jones thinks Papagiannis will get a chance to show the Kings what he can do once the G League season ends. He was the 13th pick in the 2016 draft, but played just 22 games for Sacramento last season and four so far this year.
  • Before earning his way into the Kings’ rotation four games ago, rookie point guard Frank Mason endured a lot of slights in his basketball career, Jones writes in a separate story. A second-round pick out of Kansas, Mason provides a defensive tenacity the team has lacked. “Even if they didn’t need a tough guy to come off the bench, that’s still who I am,” Mason said. “That’s what I bring to the team and I’ll continue to be that way and play that way forever.”
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Knicks Notes: Noah, Porzingis, Jack, Hernangomez

November 25th, 2017 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

For the second straight night, illness prevented Joakim Noah from making his season debut, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Kristaps Porzingis and Enes Kanter were both held out of tonight’s game in Houston because of back spasms, leaving the Knicks short-handed in the frontcourt. Noah, who was suspended for the first 12 games of the season and hasn’t been used since returning because of a logjam at center, didn’t travel with the team because he has the flu. The Knicks thought about flying him to the game, but he wasn’t well enough to make the trip.

There’s more tonight from New York:

  • The Knicks appear to be shielding Porzingis from playing in back-to-back games, Berman writes in the same piece. The NBA no longer allows teams to hold star players out of games for rest, but this is the second time Porzingis hasn’t played in that situation because of an injury. He claims his back tightened up after Friday’s contest in Atlanta. “After the game, once I cooled down, that’s when I really was feeling tightness in my back and knew it wasn’t getting better but worse,” Porzingis said. “[After] the flight, I woke up this morning, sleeping in a different bed, it didn’t help. It just got tighter.”
  • The loss to the Hawks displayed some of New York’s glaring weaknesses, Berman notes in a separate story. Jarrett Jack, who signed with the Knicks shortly before the start of camp, had 14 assists Friday but couldn’t control Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder, who finished with 26 points. Jack wasn’t aggressive on pick-and-roll defense, according to Berman, and backup Frank Ntilikina was a non-factor. Interior defense was also a problem, Berman observes, as Willy Hernangomez and Kyle O’Quinn were slow on rotations.
  • Hernangomez, who has been limited mostly to “garbage time” this season, said he wasn’t familiar with that phrase before the year began, Berman relays in another story. Playing time remains an issue for the second-year center, who has appeared in just 10 games and is averaging nine minutes per night. “If I get those minutes, I will use it,’’ Hernangomez said. “I think I can play more minutes than garbage minutes. Every time I go on the court, whether starting or the last two minutes, I enjoy playing basketball.’’
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Southeast Notes: Ross, Gordon, Howard, Batum

November 25th, 2017 at 7:28pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Magic have fallen on tough times after an 8-4 start, but they are just two and a half games out of a playoff spot and still qualify as one of this year’s early-season surprises. Coach Frank Vogel tells Nick Friedell of ESPN the team made a mistake at the start of last season by going against the small-ball trend, adding that things began to turn around with the trade of Serge Ibaka to Toronto for Terrence Ross. That created an opening for Aaron Gordon at power forward and Evan Fournier at small forward.

“I think last year we were trying to go big when the whole league was going small and it wasn’t really working,” agreed center Nikola Vucevic. “A lot of guys were out of their comfort zone, a lot of guys were out of position. It just wasn’t working, it wasn’t clicking. I think this year players’ roles are more clear.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • New GM John Hammond is confident that Gordon, a restricted free agent, will agree to a long-term contract next summer, Friedell relays in the same story. Orlando wasn’t able to work out an extension with Gordon before last month’s deadline, but Hammond believes his future will be with the Magic. “You look at a guy like that and say, ‘He’s one of those guys as you move forward with, that you got to have,'” Hammond said. “And we feel that way.” Gordon is off to the best start of his career, averaging 17.6 points and 8.1 rebounds in 17 games.
  • Early-season technical fouls are piling up for Hornets center Dwight Howard, notes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. The NBA announced today that Howard was fined $35K for an obscene gesture in Friday’s game at Cleveland. That’s his second fine this season and sixth technical in 18 games. There will be an automatic one-game suspension if he reaches 16, and the league could impose a separate suspension if the obscene gestures continue.
  • Nicolas Batum isn’t worried about any long-term effects from his latest elbow injury, Bonnell tweets. Batum was able to return to the Hornets‘ lineup tonight after sitting out Friday. He left Wednesday’s game with a contusion on his left elbow, the same one that caused him to miss the first 12 games of the season.
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Latest On Derrick Rose

November 25th, 2017 at 6:17pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers are being supportive of Derrick Rose‘s decision to take time away from the team to ponder his NBA future, but two sources tell Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports that the organization was blindsided by the news.

Cavs management considers his departure an excused absence and is marking it down as a “personal issue.” Rose is evaluating whether he wants to keep playing in the wake of his latest injury, a sprained left ankle that has sidelined him for the past eight games.

“I texted him and told him [that] we support him,” said coach Tyronn Lue. “He’s going through a tough time right now, but he’s still very talented. Take as long as he needs to take, we wish him well and we want him back.” Still, Lue admits he has no idea when Rose might return.

The Cavaliers have been significantly better without Rose, winning seven straight games to climb within a half game of the Central Division lead. That isn’t a coincidence, according to Mannix, as four knee surgeries have robbed Rose of his lateral movement and teams are exploiting him on pick-and-rolls. The offense has also functioned better in Rose’s absence.

Officially, the Cavaliers are saying they will welcome Rose back, but Mannix wonders if that’s true. And if Rose does decide to keep playing, it won’t be easy to win back the trust of his teammates, especially after his similar disappearance from the Knicks last year.

There’s no guarantee of an NBA future for Rose beyond this year, Mannix adds. Once his veterans’minimum contract expires at the end of the season, he may find no takers on the free agent market, with one executive comparing his situation to Deron Williams‘.

There’s more news on Rose as we wait to see what his future holds:

  • LeBron James and Dwyane Wade say they wish the best for Rose, but are confident his absence won’t affect the team, relays Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Neither player has talked to Rose since he left, but Lue sent a text assuring him that he still has a spot on the Cavs if he wants it. Wade said he also considered retirement because of injuries during the 2013/14 season. “Obviously I can’t say I understand what he’s going through, but I understand what he’s going through,” Wade said. “I definitely had a moment in my career a few years back where I was thinking about retiring myself. It’s hard when you’re dealing with injuries after injuries after injuries — it takes a toll on you mentally.”
  • Rose may not have a steady role on the team if he does return, Vardon notes in the same story. Isaiah Thomas will be the starting point guard once he recovers from his hip injury, while Wade runs the offense with the second team.
  • The Timberwolves gave strong consideration to signing Rose in the offseason, but decided against it because of concerns about his durability, tweets Jerry Zgoda of The Minneapolis Star Tribune. Minnesota coach/executive Tom Thibodeau was Rose’s coach in Chicago for his MVP season in 2010/11. The Wolves opted to pursue Jeff Teague instead.
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Wizards Don’t Plan Roster Addition To Replace Wall

November 25th, 2017 at 5:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards will be without star guard John Wall for about two weeks, but probably won’t make a roster move to replace him, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.

Washington has a roster opening, but coach Scott Brooks told reporters tonight that he does “not anticipate bringing anyone in.” The team has been carrying 14 players since waiving Carrick Felix at the start of the month.

Wall has been diagnosed with inflammation in his left knee and will get platelet-rich plasma injections to try to ease the pain. He received the first one today, along with a viscosupplementation shot (Twitter link). Wall has been dealing with soreness since November 7 in the wake of “knee-to-knee contact” during a game with the Mavericks. His earliest return date is probably December 9 against the Clippers in Los Angeles (Twitter link).

Brooks said he hopes rest, along with the injections, will “calm the knee down” enough for Wall to return by then (Twitter link). He added that “guys are ready to play bigger roles,” specifically Otto Porter and Markieff Morris, who has been taken off his minutes limit (Twitter link).

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Hoops Rumors Originals: 11/18/17 – 11/25/17

November 25th, 2017 at 3:20pm CST by clarkcrum

Every week, the writers here at Hoops Rumors strive to create interesting original content to complement our news feed.  Here are those segments and features from the last 7 days:

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Five Key Stories: 11/18/17 – 11/25/17

November 25th, 2017 at 1:38pm CST by clarkcrum

Hoops Rumors has you covered in case you missed any of this past week’s NBA headlines. Below are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last 7 days.

After undergoing surgery on his right knee, Clippers guard Patrick Beverly has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2017/18 season. Beverly’s surgery included a microfracture and meniscus repair, leaving his estimated recovery time at nine months. The Clippers are now free to apply for a disabled player exception worth about $2.76MM.

Upset with being hurt and unable to play, Cavaliers guard Derrick Rose has (permissibly) left the team while he evaluates his future in the NBA. Rose, who has been plagued by health problems since winning the NBA’s MVP award in 2011, signed a one-year, minimum salary contract with the Cavaliers over the summer. There is no timetable for his return to the team.

Paul Millsap will be sidelined for approximately the next three months after undergoing surgery for a torn ligament in his left wrist. Millsap, who signed a three-year, $90MM deal with the Nuggets this past offseason, injured his wrist during this past Sunday’s game against the Lakers.

The Orlando Magic will not be hosting their annual summer league in 2018, opting instead to join other franchises in the Las Vegas Summer League. New management believes that among other factors, having a large crowd will help better prepare young players for NBA life, as the Orlando league was always closed to the public.

Two-time NBA All-Star David Lee has announced his retirement from the NBA. Lee, a first-round draft pick in 2005, declined his player option for the 2017/18 season in June, and was unable to find his way back onto another NBA roster. Lee finishes his career with averages of 13.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.

Here are 10 more NBA headlines from the last week.

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John Wall To Miss Two Weeks Due To Left Knee Inflammation

November 25th, 2017 at 11:45am CST by marksuleymanov

Wizards point guard John Wall will miss approximately two weeks to undergo platelet-rich plasma injections to reduce inflammation in his left knee, the team announced in a press release on Saturday.

Wall, 27, initially suffered “knee-to-knee contact” during the Wizards’ November 7 matchup against the Mavericks, per the release.  Washington was concerned Wall would miss this weekend, but Friday’s MRI revealed that the point guard will not return until December at the earliest.

In 16 games this season, Wall still posted productive totals of 20.3 PPG and 9.2 APG, but his lack of mobility due to the knee injury has been noticeable. Knee injuries are not new to Wall, as he underwent surgery last May on the same knee to remove calcium deposits.

As pointed out by Candance Bucker of The Washington Post (link via Twitter), the Wizards’ release noted that Wall not only consulted with the team physician but also the doctor who performed that surgery last year.

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