Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell won the 2019/20 NBA Hustle Award on Wednesday, the NBA announced in a press release. The award honors the player who makes the energy and effort plays necessary to help his respective team.
This is the second award that the veteran forward was won this season. Last month, Harrell earned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award for the first time. He averaged a career-high 18.6 PPG and 7.1 RPG in 27.8 MPG.
Past winners of the league’s Hustle Award include Marcus Smart, Patrick Beverley, and Amir Johnson.
Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- John Hollinger of The Athletic takes a look at how the Lakers’ bench hasn’t been an issue and is actually one of the reasons why they are up 3-1 in the NBA Finals. In the minutes that LeBron James and/or Anthony Davis have not played, Los Angeles has performed surprisingly well. According to Hollinger, the Lakers have been +13 when James hasn’t been on the floor and have played Miami to a draw without Davis on the court.
- The Warriors could be looking to address the center position this offseason. If they choose to do so, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area believes that Golden State should go after Dwight Howard. Poole explains that Howard would bring a defensive presence in the middle and could share minutes with Marquese Chriss, Kevon Looney, and Draymond Green. Additionally, he adds that the 34-year-old center might not cost a lot, which would be good news for the Warriors.
- The Suns had a great run in the bubble this summer, going undefeated (8-0) and putting them in a great spot heading into next season. The team will be looking to upgrade its roster further this fall, prompting Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic to explore whether Fred VanVleet or Jerami Grant would be a better fit for Phoenix. Both players are reportedly on the team’s radar and expected to be highly sought after in free agency. VanVleet’s price tag could be $20MM per year, while Grant’s might be around $16MM per year.
so are you saying a bench plus AD is better than a bench plus lebron?
Yes.
No, because the Lakers are about the same plus/minus whether either is in or out.
Mostly it proves the merits of a big-2 format. That setup creates a stronger TEAM among the players not the two stars. A big-3 chokes that out.
Teams with two clear stars should not go for a third! Anyway I doubt any other team will evaluate Danny Green at $15 mil… He’s best where he is.
Hollinger’s is a super article.
i say grant would be a better fit since he can fill in at PF. where would vanfleet play if he doesnt repalce rubio at pg
From what I understand,
2020-21 season,
Total team salary for Lakers are $130.5 million, therefore Lakers won’t be able to use 9.7 MLE for 3 players
Howard, Morris and Rondo
Warriors can only offer 3 years 19.8 million to Howard or Rondo.
Suns fall in love with VanVleet. Make VanVleet price great again!
The teams that might offer 3 years 19.8 million contracts to Howard are
Clippers
Celtics
Warriors
Pelicans
and any teams want to make playoffs.
This list is totally meaningless since no one is going to pay Dwight Howard $6.6M/year anyway, especially on a 3-year deal. He will be 35 in a couple of months and there isn’t a team in the NBA that’s going to make that type of long-term commitment, it’s completely absurd. He will get a 1-year deal, most likely for the veteran minimum of around $3M.
Howard is not a good fit on the Warriors. Any team gives him a 3 year deal will regret it.
No team is going to offer 3 and 20 to Howard. Good Lord dude.
Warriors are hard capped. Their team salary is over 145 million. Are there different rules for them?
They won’t be hard capped next season. They were only hard capped because of the sign and trade of DLo/KD
You answered the question a lot better than I did. I wish there was a delete button LOL.
Lol, all good man.
How are they going to get below 145-150M?
They don’t have to. Nba is soft salary cap, so they can still sign players using the MLE and minimum salary contracts
How can the Warriors be hard capped at 145 when the salary cap is going to be a lot less than that? Please use proper terminology and don’t attempt to do so if you don’t want to know what the terms mean. Hard cap means they can’t go over the salary cap. That was last year for the Warriors, they’re free to go now.
Wrong. link to spotrac.com
Link no go. 158M, according to sportrac 2021-2022 season.
Steph 45
Klay 39
Wiggins 31
Green over 20.
Total: Over 150 guaranteed.
Again how does that make them “free to go now”.
According to sportrac – 2021-2022 guaranteed contracts over 155. Heck between Green, Stephen, Klay and Wiggins alone it is over $145 million. So how does that make them “free to go now.”
I used inaccurate nomenclature to describe being over 8M over the luxury tax. But at least I know that 2021-2022 is next (upcoming) year.
The tax apron is only used in calculating the luxury tax. It does not mean the team is “hard capped”. Hard capped teams, meaning they cannot spend over a certain amount, does not happen very often in the nba. There are a few rules that determine whether or not a team is hard capped. The warriors were hard capped last season due to their using the sign and trade transaction as a team over the apron. The hard cap only lasts one season.
This season, the warriors can spend as much money as they want. They will get penalized heavily in the form of luxury tax payments, but they can still go over $150 million in total salary. The only restriction is they are limited to veteran minimum contracts and one MLE, as Luke explains to your comments below. They also have a trade exemption worth 17 million or so, which can be used to acquire a player making that much in salary.
I don’t understand this: Sign and Trade Harrell
Team total for now $110 million
Harrell projected $25M
Green projected $10M
Morris projected $15M
Rest $5M
Total $165M
Clippers are hard capped? How can they sign and trade Harrell?
This states total team salary for the warriors next season is a $149,000,000. How are they gonna sign Howard?
link to basketball-reference.com
They are limited, to maybe $3mil; there’s an HR article somewhere about bird rights this offseason.
Every team gets some form of mid-level exception. For teams in the tax, it’s worth less (this year it was about $5.72MM for taxpayers as opposed to $9.26MM for teams below the tax). But even if the Warriors’ team salary were $300MM, they’d still technically be able to use that taxpayer MLE.
They also have a trade exception they could use pretty big one too. And if they decide Wiggins isn’t a fit then maybe some form of trade for giannis who knows
Thanks
link to hoopsrumors.com
Rings or money, Howard can’t get both next year.
Regarding the Hollinger article:
Big2 vs big3 formats:
For 2020 teams: “Playoff Rondo” can come in and rule for big2 LAL; there’s “room at the top”. Comparatively, when LouW came in and ruled for big3 LAC, there was confusion and animosity, like the new was haunted by the old.
Big2s POR & HOU were unbalanced positionally, like MIL, so were doomed that way. PHL was embattled.
The EC side is messier to figure because of players not coming through: Walker, Olidipo, Sabonis, Siakam, and IMO, Vanvleet with a minus 15 on/off. Boston & Miami did okay as kind of big4s but BOS wound up too small, 214 lbs.max.
I would argue that for the run of CLE-GSW, CLE was a big2 and GSW (like BOS ’08) was a big4 (Rondo for BOS, and Iguodala being the most asset-sacrificing acquisition I think ever for GSW). Being a big4 is historically fine, if it can be worked out. GSW worked out theirs via the “Hampton lineup”: Iguodala was benched but prominent (like Dragic). For BOS ’08, supposedly the start of the big3 trend, Rondo in the beginning was quite young & not a leader (like Herro).
If this is legal, Hollinger beyond the paywall:
“One would be hard-pressed to name a single club in league annals with a wider gap between its second- and third-best players.
And yet … “top-heavy” does not necessarily mean “bottom-light.”
“Overall, L.A.’s second unit has kept pace with Miami on the counting stats and had a massively superior impact on the scoreboard [Lakers +62, Heat minus 82]. The Lakers are actually losing when their starters play – they’re -5 for the series…
“… they haven’t presented opponents with many openings to attack. In fact, this L.A. defense is one that sinks its teeth into teams the longer a series goes… [Good defenders are 10 deep]… Caruso is one the most underrated defenders in the league, and Rondo morphs from mildly interested observer to handsy pest once the playoffs start.
“After a desultory season in Detroit, Morris has been an unexpected delight at the defensive end, with pinpoint rotations that leave tape geeks hitting rewind [and has led in minutes as small-ball center]. That makes him a bit of a unicorn, the much-discussed in February but rarely witnessed in the wild “impact buyout guy.””