After a knee injury prevented him from suiting up for the Grizzlies during the NBA’s summer restart, backup point guard Tyus Jones is finally returning to the court for Memphis during the preseason, according to Chris Hine of the Star Tribune.
“I’m a competitor, so I wanted to be out there on the court,” Jones said. “That motivated me this offseason to attack rehab, get back healthy, get in great shape and be ready to go when this season got started.” Without Jones, the Grizzlies finished as the No. 9 seed and lost a play-in game against the Trail Blazers to qualify for the 2020 playoffs in the West.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is hopeful that center Jakob Poeltl will commit to scoring more during the upcoming 2020/21 season, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. Popovich wants Poeltl to channel his experiences as a chief scoring option for the Utah Utes into more offensive production this year. “Maybe he’s gotten the impression I don’t want him to score,” Popovich joked. “Maybe that’s my fault.”
- After perennial Rockets MVP contender James Harden apparently requested a trade out of Houston, the club will need to finesse its relationship with the guard if it hopes to retain him, per Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle. As teams prepare appetizing trade packages for the eight-time All-Star, the Rockets should certainly have plenty of options should they opt to move on.
- Mavericks rookie shooting guard Nate Hinton had a solid preseason debut for this Dallas, writes Dwain Price of Mavs.com. The former University of Houston guard scored eight points, pulled down eight rebounds, and logged four assists. “It’s more spacing on the court (than on the collegiate level), so there’s more opportunities to get into the paint and just make plays and just be a ball player,” Hinton said. “I work hard, and just being around guys like Luka (Doncic) and the vets, and Tim Hardaway and all those guys in practice kind of makes it easier and makes it better for me to play and watch to see how the pace of the game is.”
Trade him.
I ran into Nate Hinton on spring break in Galveston and he seemed to be having fun. He ordered spaghetti I think? Was happy with his friends. Cherish the college years…
Unless any of those “appetizing trade packages” contain players like Giannis, Embiid, or Jimmy Butler it ain’t happening.
I am starting to think about reality
The reality is everyone is offering the 30% value of Harden
Tobias Harris huge bad contract plus little value of 2 Firsts and fake Swaps- result of no swaps
Herro Robinson Nunn and salary
You can sign free agents Nunn and Robinson
I appreciate where you’re coming from, but you need to let that notion go. The odds of getting a superstar back are low.
Pass on Butler and the Rockets are not going to get Giannis. I wouldn’t mind Embiid but we’ll see if the Rockets even get a trade done with the Sixers.
But that gun is still loaded and sitting on the table, right? It’s just a matter of time before the Rockets wake up and realize they can’t win with Harden, and he apparently doesn’t have much, if any, respect for that organization and wants out.
14 years ago of today
76ers traded 30 years old mvp Allen Iverson to Nuggets for 2007 26th and 28th picks plus expiring contracts
That was 20% value of Iverson
Holiday and George traded for 5 future first round picks each
Rockets can demand 10 future first round picks for Harden
But Heat have no available First for trade so they can give Rockets 0
Not that I would do it, but what would a Harden/Knicks deal look like? RJ Barrett, Randle(salary matching), and two unprotected #1s?
George was about getting Kawahi to sign. Holiday was about showing Giannis they are committed to win now. Both those teams were in corners. Also the George trade was done discreetly and Holiday was happy where he was.
No one is in a corner and the whole league knows Harden wants out and probably won’t sign an extension. Houston has 0 leverage
Kawhi + Green for DeRozan, Poetl and a heavily protected first. I am expecting Houston to get that kind of offers. But if Harden is really disgruntled, they’d better accept the least bad.