Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball expressed his excitement to remain in New Orleans beyond the trade deadline and his enthusiasm for the club’s trajectory beyond this season, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN.
“I’m just comfortable here,” Ball said of the Pelicans. “I also love playing with [Zion Williamson] and [Brandon Ingram]. We have a lot of young guys. I think we can be good in the time coming.” The point guard, selected with the second pick in 2017, will be a restricted free agent this summer.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein and point guard Tyrell Terry remain indefinitely away from the club, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News tweets. Cauley-Stein is still in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, while Terry has been absent due to personal reasons for the past two weeks. “We don’t have timetables,” head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ll let you [reporters] know when we know something. Other than that, there’s not much we can talk about.”
- After trading away shooting guard Victor Oladipo, the 13-34 Rockets have clearly embraced their rebuild. In a happy surprise, 20-year-old new acquisition Kevin Porter Jr.‘s development has proven to be a bright spot just four games into his Houston tenure, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “He’s done everything that we need him to do,” head coach Stephen Silas said. “We have a lot of trust in him. There’s going to be ups and downs and conversations to be had just like every other player, but my door is always open and there’s a support system that can help him be successful on and off the floor.”
- Newly-signed Spurs center Gorgui Dieng sprained his shoulder during his San Antonio debut and will miss tonight’s contest against the Hawks, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News tweets. Head coach Gregg Popovich speculated that, while there was fortunately no structural damage to the shoulder, the big man will miss at least a week, per Orsborn (Twitter link). “I am just going to make a guess, which is probably not wise, but it’s pretty much going to be on pain tolerance,” Popovich said. “I think it’s going to be another good week before he is able to use that.”
Porter is going to be interesting guy to watch if the Rockets build around him. 25-28 avg points, 8-10 average assist, and decent defense seems to be where this guy will be at every season. Wall could be 1 piece, but one more piece that can be clutch in key situations, would put the Rockets where they need to be.
Wood should be their leading scorer to build around. And if they continue losing enough games the rest of the season to secure a top 4 pick in the draft that gives them another good player to go along with Wall, KP3, and Wood.
A) fifth?
of vodka. whatch u got?
The kid is talented, but 25-28 with 8-10 year in and year out after seeing him play four games? Never mind that Cleveland was willing to just give him away for off the court reasons. You may want to wait until the end of the 21-22 season to have enough of a track record to make claims like these.
If they wear a Rockets uniform. They are future stars to him. Build around a guy a team gave away. Like you said has done nothing yet. Be lucky if he developed into a rotation player. Unfortunately Rockets don’t have anyone to build around. Wood is a good piece, not a good defender. You only build around stars. That top 4 pick could be one.
Don’t see Ball staying in NO. Media talks about him having a great yr. I don’t see it. Might be his best yr. Don’t make it a great yr. That roster is better than their record shows. And PG play is one reason, closing out gms. And their D has not been a SVG defense. With Kira waiting . I see Ball gone. Think they waiting for best offer. Didn’t get it at TD. So now they will see who wants to sign him. And do sign n trade. Makes sense
If it plays out that way, it will be Bulls as they have the most need and $ available, and could send back Markannen and some filler.