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Month: November 2024

Knicks Notes: Randle, Barrett, Ntilikina, More

February 18th, 2021 at 8:38am CST by Luke Adams

While Knicks forward Julius Randle has been viewed as a potential trade candidate for most of the last year, Ian Begley of SNY.tv (video link) says there “prominent members” of the organization that view Randle as part of the team’s young core going forward.

Having said that, Begley notes that the Knicks will still probably explore possible trades for Randle before this year’s deadline, if only to gauge his value around the league. Based on Begley’s report, it sounds like the team is more likely to consider incoming inquiries on the 26-year-old than to actively shop him themselves.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

  • RJ Barrett‘s role is worth keeping an eye on, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who observes that the second-year forward has logged 27 or more minutes just once in the Knicks’ last six games after leading the league in minutes played earlier in the season. Asked about Barrett’s dip in playing time, head coach Tom Thibodeau cited New York’s depth and a need to try different lineup combinations when the team falls behind early, as it did vs. Orlando on Wednesday.
  • While Barrett continues to start and play a rotation role, that’s not the case for another former Knicks lottery pick — Frank Ntilikina hasn’t appeared in a game since December 29. According to Berman, Ntilikina is still working on his conditioning after spending a week in the health and safety protocols, but isn’t a great bet to return to the rotation even when he’s back to full speed, as he appears to be “mostly trade bait” at this point.
  • Given the Knicks’ need for star power, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic considers 42 potential targets around the league, beginning with the presumably untouchable stars before moving onto some impact players who could be more realistic options, including Zach LaVine and Kyle Lowry.
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Southwest Notes: Green, Tate, Rockets, Grizzlies

February 17th, 2021 at 10:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Mavericks announced today (via Twitter) that they are sending rookie shooting guard Josh Green to join the Salt Lake City Stars, the G League affiliate of the Jazz, in the NBAGL’s ongoing Orlando “bubble” campus.

Dallas’s own G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, is not participating in this year’s G League season. Green started in five games for the Mavericks earlier this season, but has been riding the bench recently. He is averaging 12.5 MPG across 17 contests.

There’s more out of the Southwest:

  • Rookie Rockets forward Jae’Sean Tate has proven to be Houston’s iron man this season, the only player to suit up for every game after P.J. Tucker sat with a bruised thigh, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Tate has been an important element of the Rockets’ frontcourt given the recent injuries to Christian Wood, Tucker, and Ray Spalding.
  • Long-injured young Grizzlies players Jaren Jackson Jr. and Justise Winslow have joined their teammates in portions of practice, according to Evan Barnes of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Jackson is recovering from a torn left meniscus and Winslow is working his way back from a left hip displacement.
  • Despite severe winter weather in Texas, the Rockets still intend to return to Houston ahead of their scheduled contests on Friday (against the Mavericks) and Saturday (against the Pacers), according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. There is a chance these games are ultimately postponed as a result of continuing water and power trouble in Texas, Feigen notes. “If playing basketball games makes sense we will,” head coach Stephen Silas said about the situation. “If it doesn’t, Houstonians are most important and the thing that we should all be thinking about as we go home.”
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Northwest Notes: Diallo, KAT/D-Lo, MPJ, Lillard

February 17th, 2021 at 9:15pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Thunder wing Hamidou Diallo has displayed such improvement this season that he could be a leading candidate for Most Improved Player honors, argues Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman.

Diallo’s output has dramatically increased across the board. The third-year swingman out of Kentucky is averaging career-highs in points (12.7), rebounds (5.5), assists (2.4), field goal percentage (48.9%) and minutes (24.2) for a chippy Thunder squad. “I would say the biggest thing is just opportunity,” he said of his progress this year. “Sometimes, when you have opportunity and you have people around you that believe in you, it just makes the game much easier.”

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

  • A variety of health and injury problems have conspired to limit marquee Timberwolves players Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell to just five games together since Minnesota acquired Russell last season. Towns recently vented his frustration, as Chris Hine of the Star Tribune details. “Obviously we want to play with each other,” Towns said. “I finally come back [from a COVID-19 absence] and now he’s out [with a knee injury], so he was emotional too because it’s been bothering him, wanting to play together.” Britt Robson of The Athletic wonders if the Towns-Russell tandem, light on defense, will live up to fan expectations once it finally does appear more consistently.
  • Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. has shown off his impressive scoring abilities this season, but his defensive flaws (especially at the rim) are clear too, writes Michael Pina of Sports Illustrated. Porter, 22, is averaging 13.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.2 BPG and 1.0 SPG this season. He is also shooting well, with a slash line of .475/.379/.786.
  • Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard is set to compete three-point shooting contest at this year’s Atlanta All-Star Game, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Haynes notes that Lillard currently ranks third in the league when it comes to made three-pointers this season. Lillard’s 105 made triples rank behind only Buddy Hield (106) and Stephen Curry (140).
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California Notes: Looney, Wiseman, Lakers, Santa Cruz Warriors

February 17th, 2021 at 7:49pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Warriors center Kevon Looney, sidelined since spraining his left ankle in a February 2 loss to the Celtics, has rejoined the Warriors for “segments of practice” and is planning on suiting up with the club during Golden State’s impending road trip, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link).

Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle details the import of the big man’s return to the lineup in a new piece. “I always joked that I never hurt my ankle,” Looney said after incurring the injury. “I guess karma caught up with me.”

There’s more out of California:

  • Warriors rookie center James Wiseman, out with a left wrist injury suffered on January 30,  rejoined Golden State for practice on Tuesday, according to Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports Bay Area. The No. 2 overall draft pick out of Memphis, Wiseman has a chance to return to the court for the Warriors as soon as Friday against a depleted Magic team. “With a sprained wrist you don’t know if it will be one week, two weeks or three, so I’m just following each procedure, but there are no setbacks,” Wiseman said.
  • The Lakers are seeing their frontcourt depth tested with the extended absence of All-Star power forward/center Anthony Davis, according to Bill Oram of The Athletic. Kyle Kuzma has taken over starting duties, and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell is seeing expanded minutes as a super-sub. Starting center Marc Gasol and reserve power forward Markieff Morris have also seen more run in the rotation.
  • Warriors.com spoke to Santa Cruz Warriors broadcaster Kevin Dana about how Golden State’s G League affiliate team is adjusting to life in the 2021 NBAGL Orlando “bubble.” Dana lauded the output thus far of young prospects Nico Mannion and Jordan Poole.
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Ish Smith Suffers Quad Injury, Out 6-8 Weeks

February 17th, 2021 at 5:25pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Wizards reserve point guard Ish Smith has suffered a right proximal quadriceps injury, and is expected to be sidelined for the next six to eight weeks, per an official team tweet. Washington will reassess his status after three weeks of rehabilitation.

Smith inked a two-year, $12MM contract with the Wizards in the summer of 2019. He will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. In 19 games with the Wizards this season, Smith is averaging 5.2 PPG, 4.7 APG, and 3.5 RPG across 20.6 MPG.

The 6’0″ veteran guard out of Wake Forest has already been unavailable for the past two Wizards games with the injury, as Fred Katz of The Athletic notes (Twitter link). In his stead, Raul Neto and Troy Brown have compensated for his minutes behind starter Russell Westbrook.

“It’s tough news,” head coach Scott Brooks said of the Smith injury, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link). “He does things that we’re not going to be able to replace in the second unit. He gives us that instant change of pace.”

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Five New Positive COVID-19 Tests Among Players Since Feb. 10

February 17th, 2021 at 4:37pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has announced that five new NBA players, among the 454 who have been tested for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 since February 10, yielded a confirmed positive test result.

This tally marks a jump from the last time COVID-19 test results were announced, when just one player among 470 recorded a confirmed positive test between February 3-9. It’s also the first time since January 20 that the league has had a week with more than one new positive confirmed test.

The NBA noted that anyone who “has been identified as having been in close contact to an infected person, is isolated or quarantined.”

Four Spurs players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, prompting the postponement of four San Antonio games thus far due to contact tracing that left the team without the league-mandated minimum of eight players available. At least one of the Spurs players recorded a positive result in a confirmatory test.

Hornets forwards Cody Martin, Caleb Martin, and P.J. Washington all missed action due to the league’s health and safety protocols late last week, though it is unclear if they tested positive, registered an inconclusive test result, or were held out as a consequence of contact tracing.

Per our tracker, 29 regular season NBA games have been postponed so far during the 2020/21 season due to coronavirus-related absences, and a 30th was delayed due to extreme weather in Dallas this week.

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Hardship Exception An Option For Injury-Plagued Magic

February 17th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have a full 17-man roster, with 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way contracts, but should have a path to temporarily add an 18th man if they so choose.

The NBA’s hardship provision gives a team hit hard by injuries an opportunity to sign an extra player if at least four players have missed three or more games due to injury or illness and are expected to miss at least two more weeks. Once one of those injured players gets healthy, the team has to return to its usual roster limit.

The Magic have two players – Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac – out for the season due to ACL tears, and Cole Anthony will be sidelined through the All-Star break with a rib fracture. Additionally, Aaron Gordon was diagnosed on February 1 with a severe ankle sprain that was expected to keep him on the shelf for about four to six weeks.

Anthony has now missed three games, so unless the Magic anticipate Gordon will beat his projected recovery timeline and return within the next week or two, the team is eligible to apply for an extra roster spot via hardship provision.

An extra player would provide more depth to a roster that is also dealing with injuries to Evan Fournier (low back spasms), James Ennis (right groin strain), and Al-Farouq Aminu (right knee injury maintenance), all of whom are listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game vs. New York.

It’s not clear whether or not the Magic will look to take advantage of the opportunity. The team already made one change to its roster earlier this week, signing Chasson Randle to a two-way contract to replace injured point guard Frank Mason.

If Orlando does add a player, the team may prefer to promote someone from the G League (like Randle), since players at the NBAGL’s Walt Disney World bubble are subject to a less strict quarantine and testing process than a free agent off the street would be.

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Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Anunoby, Knicks, Pelle, T. Johnson

February 17th, 2021 at 2:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Failing to retain at least one of Serge Ibaka or Marc Gasol during the 2020 offseason is turning out to be a “rare misplay” by the Raptors‘ front office, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. As Grange points out, Toronto has been one of the NBA’s worst defensive rebounding teams, and the overall team defense has slipped to the middle of the pack after ranking within the top five in each of the last two years.

League sources tell Grange that the Raptors don’t actually have much interest in pursuing Cavaliers center Andre Drummond, but he acknowledges that it makes sense that Drummond was linked to Toronto, given the team’s deficiencies in the middle and on the glass.

As Grange writes, the Raptors will face some tough decisions in the coming weeks and months as they try to determine how to address the center position and figure out whether Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell, who are both eligible for free agency at season’s end, will be a part of their future.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • Raptors forward OG Anunoby, who returned on Tuesday after missing 10 games with a calf strain, showed why the team was willing to lock him up to a lucrative long-term extension prior to the season, making an impact on both ends of the court in the team’s win over Milwaukee, writes Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Interestingly, Anunoby replaced Aron Baynes – not Powell – in the starting lineup as Toronto opted for a small starting lineup with Anunoby and Pascal Siakam at the four and five.
  • With center Mitchell Robinson on the shelf, the Knicks have had internal talks about big man Norvel Pelle, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. However, New York has a full roster and would have to waive a player to make room for someone like Pelle, who will be a free agent on Thursday if he clears waivers after being cut by Brooklyn.
  • Tyler Johnson appeared in only seven of the Nets‘ first 24 games, logging over seven minutes in just one of them. However, he has reclaimed a rotation role in the team’s star-studded backcourt as of late, averaging 8.3 PPG on .486/.480/1.000 shooting in Brooklyn’s last six games (19.3 MPG). “I just love him as a person and a player, his competitive spirit is outstanding,” head coach Steve Nash said of Johnson, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “He’s been making some shots as well, and he’s very capable offensively, of course. But just that competitive nature I think is really important for our group.”
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Community Shootaround: Western All-Stars

February 17th, 2021 at 1:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Voting for the NBA’s All-Star starters has now closed, and the league will reveal on TNT on Thursday night the 10 players who have been named starters for this year’s game, with an announcement on the All-Star reserves to follow next Tuesday.

Before that happens, we want to get your take on which 24 players deserve to make this year’s All-Star Game, starting today in the Western Conference.

This year’s Western Conference All-Stars, who will be represented by Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN, have six clear frontrunners for the five starting spots.

Lakers star LeBron James, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard are the odds-on favorites to claim the three frontcourt openings, while Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic will vie for the two backcourt spots.

While it remains to be seen which five players will earn starting spots, it’s safe to say that all six will safely make the team. That leaves six other spots up for grabs.

The general consensus among Marc Stein of The New York Times, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, and Josh Robbins of The Athletic – all of whom made their picks this week – is that four of those spots will be claimed by Anthony Davis, Paul George, and the Jazz duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, which would make sense, given those players’ importance to the top three clubs in the conference.

After that, there’s little consensus. Stein and Robbins have Jazz guard Mike Conley nabbing one of the last two spots, while Stein and O’Connor each penciled in Suns guard Chris Paul. O’Connor also has Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander making his team, while Robbins opted for Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan.

Suns guard Devin Booker, Pelicans forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, Rockets big man Christian Wood, and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant all merited consideration and/or honorable mention from Stein, O’Connor, and Robbins. Beyond that, it’s hard to find legitimate candidates whose cases haven’t been hurt by injuries or COVID-19, as is the case for Blazers guard CJ McCollum, among others.

Following the format of four guards, six frontcourt players, and two wild cards, my picks would be Curry, Doncic, LeBron, Jokic, and Kawhi in the starting lineup, with Lillard, Mitchell, Davis, George, Gobert, Paul, and DeRozan on the bench. If Davis remains sidelined through the All-Star break due to his calf injury, picking a frontcourt player to replace him would be tricky, but for now I’d lean toward Williamson.

What do you think? Which 12 Western Conference players would be on your All-Star squad for the 2020/21 season?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in!

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And-Ones: I. Thomas, Trades, Lin, Cunningham

February 17th, 2021 at 12:25pm CST by Luke Adams

While Isaiah Thomas is excited and honored to represent Team USA at the AmeriCup qualifiers in Puerto Rico this weekend, he admitted in a conversation with Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press that he’s also viewing the event as an opportunity to showcase himself for NBA teams.

“My ultimate goal is to play in the NBA as soon as possible,” Thomas said. “This allows me to compete against other professionals, represent my country at the same time — which is an honor and a privilege — and ultimately show NBA teams that I’m back to myself and I’m 100% healthy. That’s why I chose to come here. When Team USA brought it to me, it was a no-brainer.”

As Reynolds notes, the games themselves won’t mean much for Team USA, which has already qualified for the 2022 AmeriCup tournament by going undefeated in earlier qualifying games. But they’ll be significant for Thomas, who hasn’t played in an NBA game since being released by the Clippers last February. Veteran teammate Joe Johnson said Thomas has looked “great” in practices.

“One thing I’ll say: In pick and rolls, I think he’s probably going to be unstoppable,” Johnson said of Thomas. “Bigs, I don’t know what they’ll do. Do you get out and hedge? He’ll go around you and split you. Do you try to catch him? He’ll pull up for the jumper. He has a great arsenal. It’s been fun to watch him play, man. I will tell you that.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from across the basketball world:

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