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Team USA Notes: Edwards, Hart, Banchero, Young

August 8th, 2023 at 2:18pm CST by Luke Adams

After completing its five-day training camp in Las Vegas, Team USA played its first official exhibition game ahead of this year’s World Cup on Monday and defeated Puerto Rico by a score of 117-74. The U.S. squad was up by just seven points at the half, but outscored the Puerto Ricans by 36 in a dominant second half.

As Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards earned a spot in the starting five for Team USA alongside Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Brandon Ingram, and Jaren Jackson Jr., and showed why he belonged in that group. Edwards scored a team-high 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting while also adding four assists and four steals.

“Anthony was great,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “He fits the FIBA game really well because of his physicality at both ends. He can get through contact. They allow a lot of contact on drives, so he can get through that contact with his strength and then using that same strength defensively, body people up and keep them from penetrating. So I thought he was great, but I thought the whole team really played well.”

The U.S. roster lacks an established scorer with FIBA experience whom the team could turn to for an important late-game basket, leading to speculation that Edwards could emerge as that player. Monday’s performance was a promising start.

Here’s more on Team USA as it prepares for upcoming tune-ups against Slovenia and Spain this weekend:

As Bontemps notes, Knicks forward Josh Hart was the only player who didn’t see any action on Monday vs. Puerto Rico. Team USA said he was out for “rest” purposes, but it’s probably no coincidence that Hart will become extension-eligible later this week — it will be interesting to see if he has an agreement on a new deal in place with New York by the time the U.S. faces Slovenia on Saturday.
Magic forward Paolo Banchero spent some time at center during Monday’s exhibition, and it sounds like Kerr plans to continue using him in that role going forward, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “He’s going to play some five,” Kerr said. “One of the things we really found in ’21 in the Tokyo Olympics was having a 5 that can push the ball in transition (as Bam Adebayo did) and create plays is very difficult for FIBA teams to handle. He can play some four, as he showed, but he’ll play plenty of five as well.”
In a separate ESPN.com story, Bontemps shares some early observations about Team USA’s starting five, its plan to lean on smaller lineups, and how using Banchero at the five could help create a “devastatingly effective” second unit offensively.
Within a larger discussion about Team USA during the latest episode of The Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), Bontemps, Tim MacMahon, and Brian Windhorst of ESPN express some skepticism that Trae Young will be part of the 12-man roster that represents the U.S. at the Paris Olympics next year, despite his desire to do so. “I heard Trae Young did not make a great case for himself during his previous time in the Team USA program,” MacMahon said.

Anthony Black, Jett Howard Look Forward To Training Camp

August 5th, 2023 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel examines how Magic lottery picks Anthony Black and Jett Howard are planning to spend the rest of the summer as they prepare for their first NBA training camp.

And-Ones: Kerr, Expansion, Team USA, Giles, Barea

August 5th, 2023 at 1:12pm CST by Rory Maher

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who is currently guiding Team USA as it prepares for the upcoming World Cup, is enthusiastic about the possibility of NBA expansion, particularly to Las Vegas and Seattle, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

“It feels right,” Kerr said. “Obviously it’s not my department, but Vegas and Seattle seem to be such smart franchises. It’s a shame that we ever lost the Sonics in the first place. But as you look forward and you think of what we need, we need a couple of Western time slots. Think about all the doubleheaders on TV you have where the second game is starting at 8:40 central time. We lost a couple of West Coast time slots back when Seattle and Vancouver left the league. It hurt the TV schedule, which hurt the whole league schedule.

“You factor in Vegas for the time slot. But also just how great of a venue this is for summer league, USA Basketball, the fans here have proven they’ll come out, they love the Aces. The Knights just won the Stanley Cup, the Raiders are filling it up every Sunday. So this seems like a really good next team.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

The U.S. Select Team outplayed Team USA in a scrimmage on Friday, emerging victorious by a final score of 47-39 after two 10-minute periods. According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Kerr was unfazed by the senior team’s defeat. “It’s a time-honored tradition of USA Basketball,” Kerr said. “Everybody knows the Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley story from ’92 (defeating the Dream Team in a scrimmage ahead of the Barcelona Olympics). In 2019, for the last World Cup, the Select Team came in, kicked our butts, and that’s the whole point. You want to get great talent to come in and challenge you and that’s what the Select Team did today.”
Harry Giles‘ agent, Daniel Hazan, tells Ian Begley of SNY.tv that the free agent big man recently worked out for the Magic and has a workout scheduled with the Warriors next week (Twitter link). Giles will be in Miami on Saturday working out for Brooklyn. The former first-round pick is eligible for a two-way contract and all three clubs have at least one two-way spot available, as our tracker shows. Giles, who dealt with major knee injuries early in his career, last played for Portland in 2020/21.
Former NBA veteran J.J. Barea will be the new head coach of Puerto Rico’s Guaynabo Mets, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). It will be the longtime guard’s first coaching stint, Charania adds.

Team USA Notes: Lineup, Kerr, Edwards, Banchero

August 4th, 2023 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

Team USA head coach Steve Kerr isn’t prepared to name a starting five for this summer’s World Cup squad, telling reporters on Thursday at the U.S. training camp that things will “shake out over the next week or two,” as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays.

Although Team USA’s roster features plenty of talent, it’s primarily made up of younger players who don’t have a long list of postseason awards and/or playoff achievements on their respective résumés. Most of the roster also doesn’t have much – if any – international experience, so Kerr and his staff will have to figure out quickly which players are best suited for the international game and who fits together the best.

“It’s not easy, because usually you’re talking about 12 starters in the NBA. … These guys are all starters and great players,” Kerr said. “Part of the FIBA commitment is none of that stuff matters. There’s no contracts on the line. Nobody’s getting traded. This is just us for six weeks, and I expect the same thing to happen here is what happened in [2021, for the Olympics] and in [2019, for the World Cup], in terms of the buy-in and the effort and the energy and the intensity, and, we’ll see what happens.”

Here’s more on Team USA as it begins to prepare for the 2023 World Cup, which will take place in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia:

In a separate ESPN.com story, Bontemps explores how the 2023 U.S. team can draw inspiration from the 2010 iteration of Team USA, which didn’t feature anyone from the 2008 Olympic roster and was derisively nicknamed the “B-Team.” Bontemps draws parallels between rising Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and the 2010 version of Kevin Durant, who helped lead the U.S. to World Cup gold 13 years ago during his ascension to NBA superstardom. Edwards has a chance to follow a similar trajectory, as Bontemps outlines.
Despite its relative inexperience, this U.S. squad appears better positioned for World Cup success than the 2019 group, which finished a disappointing seventh, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, who predicts that Team USA will come away with a gold medal this time around. Vardon predicts that Jaren Jackson, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Brandon Ingram will be starters, with Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and Austin Reaves vying for the final starting slot.
Team USA forward Paolo Banchero tells Vardon that his decision on whether to represent the U.S. or the Italian national team was a difficult, “drawn-out process.” The recruitment of Banchero by former Magic star Grant Hill – now Team USA’s managing director – and the fact that Paolo’s mother played for the U.S. women’s team in the 1990s helped tip the scales in favor of Team USA, as the reigning Rookie of The Year explains.
Banchero also told Vardon that he recognizes he may have a limited role on a talented U.S. roster and he’s prepared to do whatever is asked of him. “With Orlando, I’m the leading scorer, kind of the main guy,” he said. “But here, and I’m able to do other things, whether it is affecting the game defensively, on the glass, with my passing, whatever it may be. … I think I can showcase the other parts of my game. Whatever the team needs, I would try to show that.”

Players Who Signed July 1 Are Now Eligible To Be Traded

July 31st, 2023 at 9:22am CST by Arthur Hill

The peak of the NBA’s transactions season has calmed down after an active start to July, but a few more players have become eligible to be traded on the final day of the month, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).

The 30-day trade restriction window has expired for draft picks who signed their contracts on July 1, along with six players who inked two-way contracts on that date.

The designation won’t matter for those at the very top of the draft, as the Spurs and Trail Blazers obviously won’t consider trading Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, respectively. However, it could come into play for a few others, especially if more big-name players are on the move as the summer winds down.

In addition to those top-three picks, first-rounders who signed on July 1 are the Magic’s Anthony Black and Jett Howard, the Pacers‘ Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard, the Trail Blazers‘ Kris Murray and the Heat’s Jaime Jaquez. The No. 18 pick out of UCLA, Jaquez has been mentioned as a potential asset in a trade to bring Damian Lillard to Miami.

Two-way players who signed on July 1, according to NBA.com’s transactions log, are the Sixers‘ Terquavion Smith and Ricky Council, the Heat‘s Dru Smith and Jamaree Bouyea, the Trail Blazers‘ Ibou Badji and the Rockets‘ Trevor Hudgins.

Most veteran free agents who signed this summer won’t become eligible to be traded by their teams until December 15 or January 15, depending on their circumstances. Those signings didn’t become official until July 6 or later because of the NBA’s summer moratorium.

Murphy Ready For G League Challenge

July 30th, 2023 at 9:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Dylan Murphy has moved on from an assistant coaching position with the Magic to being the head coach of their G League affiliate, now called the Osceola Magic. The G League team’s GM, Kevin Tiller, said Murphy is ready to show what he can do as a head coach. “Dylan came into the interview overly prepared,” Tiller told the Orlando Sentinel’s Jason Beede. “Knocked it out of the park. Every question we asked, he had a perfect answer. Not that we’re looking for a ‘perfect’ response but just the way he articulated everything, it showed us how much he’s been preparing for this. Longer than just, ‘Hey, you’re going to interview for this next Tuesday.’ This has been years in the making.”

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Sixers, T. Jones, Black

July 28th, 2023 at 8:23pm CST by Rory Maher

The Knicks might not be championship favorites entering 2023/24, but they’re in a strong financial position going forward, without any of the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.

As Bondy outlines, the Knicks’ top earners rank just outside the top 50, headlined by point guard Jalen Brunson ($26.3MM, No. 52) and forward Julius Randle ($25.7MM, No. 53). Bondy hears Josh Hart will receive an extension next month in the neighborhood of $75MM over four years (similar to what Ian Begley of SNY.tv reported three weeks ago), while Immanuel Quickley is looking for more than that on a rookie scale deal.

Having good players on reasonable long-term deals should help the Knicks avoid the restrictive second tax apron for the foreseeable future, Bondy notes, and could help the club swing trades in the future.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com answers several Sixers-related questions in his latest mailbag, writing that the Clippers have been “fairly unserious” in trade offers for James Harden to this point, a sign that teams around the league might not value the former MVP the same way they used to. Neubeck is skeptical Paul Reed will attempt many three-pointers in ’23/24, despite talk of a potential expanded role.
The Wizards‘ acquisition of Tyus Jones flew under the radar a bit due to the bigger names involved in the three-team deal, but he’s a solid player with plenty of desirable attributes. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington examined Jones’ career statistics to get an idea of what he might bring to the table next season.
Anthony Black, who was selected No. 6 overall last month by the Magic, recently spoke to Sam Yip of HoopsHype about a number of topics, including which NBA players he enjoys watching and what he needs to improve on entering his rookie season.

Hawks, Magic To Play Regular Season Game In Mexico City

July 26th, 2023 at 9:13am CST by Luke Adams

The Hawks and Magic will face one another in the NBA’s 2023 Mexico City Game, the league announced today in a press release. The regular season contest will take place on Thursday, November 9 at the Arena CDMX.

According to the NBA’s announcement, it will be the league’s 32nd game played in Mexico since 1992, including both the regular season and preseason. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, no country has hosted more NBA games during that time.

The Magic have competed a few times in Mexico City, including twice during the 2018/19 season, but it will be the Hawks’ first visit to the city.

Mexico City has been a frequent destination for NBA regular season games in recent years. The league held a pair of regular season contests in the city each year for four consecutive seasons from 2016-19. Following a COVID-related hiatus, the NBA returned to Mexico last December, when Miami faced San Antonio.

The Spurs participated in each of the two most recent games in Mexico City, but it appears that fans south of the border won’t get the opportunity to see No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama in person during his rookie year, assuming the league doesn’t have plans to separately announce a second Mexico City game.

The NBA will play at least two regular season contests outside of the U.S. and Canada in 2023/24 — the league announced a week ago that Brooklyn and Cleveland would square off in Paris.

Southeast Notes: Ball, Highsmith, Muscala, Magic

July 20th, 2023 at 8:20pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Hornets star guard LaMelo Ball signed a five-year, maximum-salary designated rookie extension, worth up to a projected $260MM, with Charlotte earlier this summer.

During a press conference with gathered reporters, Ball and team president and general manager Mitch Kupchak spoke about the new agreement, as Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer reports.

“The decision, it wasn’t really hard,” Ball, the third draft pick in 2020, said. “All my years here I’ve had a good time. Life wasn’t bad. The basketball aspect, that’s not really going well. You kind of want to live your life and just have fun and just be living well. So in Charlotte I was doing that, so it just all felt like a great choice.”

Ball was limited to just 36 contests with the Hornets in 2022/23 due to ankle injuries, but was prolific on offense when he did play. The 6’7″ guard averaged 23.3 PPG on .411/.376/.836 shooting splits, along with 8.4 APG and 6.4 RPG. Charlotte has yet to make the playoffs during Ball’s NBA career.

“To have a player of LaMelo’s caliber with his game, with his youth, we know he is going to get better as a player,” Kupchak said. “He’s here every day. He certainly had a setback last year, but in terms of healing, he’s been 100 percent healed and he’s been on the court working out every single day trying to get better.”

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

Heat forward Haywood Highsmith recently saw his $1.9MM salary for the 2023/24 season become fully guaranteed, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “It’s a good step in the right direction for me,” Highsmith told Chiang. “Still developing, still trying to get better and big things coming for me, I hope. I’ve been working hard this offseason, so it’s definitely a good step in the right direction.” Former Miami teammate Udonis Haslem, now retired, unpacked how Highsmith approaches the game. “Undersized, not a guy who you’re going to run a lot of plays for, has to be efficient,” Haslem said. “His approach is a defensive-minded approach, so he takes the challenge every night. He’s just my guy.”
Despite a winless five-game 2023 Summer League run, the Magic were able to learn about their two rookie lottery selections, while in turn educating No. 6 pick Anthony Black and No. 11 pick Jett Howard about the team’s own approach to its internal dynamics, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. “From everybody in the front office to the coaching staff to the players, everybody’s locked in,” Howard said, “We just met each other but we still had the willingness to keep fighting and sticking together. “Even down the stretch when we’re losing, we’re still cognate for one another. We showed up and worked hard in training camp. All of those things just make a culture.”
On the cusp of his 11th NBA season, 32-year-old Wizards big man Mike Muscala isn’t taking his longevity for granted, writes Chip Scoggins of The Star Tribune. “As a young athlete, you’re always striving for something,” Muscala said. “It’s like, ‘I want to do this. I want to compete against this person.’ There’s still a lot of value in that. But once you kind of check those boxes, it’s like, now what? When you’re grateful for whatever situation you’re in and the opportunities you have, that’s been motivating me.”

Magic Sign Admiral Schofield To Two-Way Contract

July 20th, 2023 at 5:46pm CST by Rory Maher

5:46pm: The re-signing of Schofield to a two-way deal is now official, per a Magic press release (Twitter link).

12:15pm: Free agent forward Admiral Schofield is re-signing with the Magic on a two-way contract, agents Mark Bartelstein and George Roussakis tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

A second-round pick in 2019 out of Tennessee, Schofield began his professional career with the Wizards but spent most of the past two seasons with the Magic, providing depth in Orlando’s frontcourt.

In 2022/23, he averaged 4.2 PPG and 1.7 RPG on .451/.324/.913 shooting in 37 games (12.2 MPG).

The 26-year-old had been on a two-way contract for most of his time with Orlando until he was promoted to a standard deal in February. His multiyear contract included a team option for ’23/24, which the Magic declined in late June, making Schofield an unrestricted free agent.

Once Schofield’s new contract is official, the Magic will have 15 players on their standard roster and two of their three two-way spots filled. Guard Kevon Harris occupies the other two-way slot.

NBA teams are permitted to roster 21 players in the offseason as opposed to 18 once the regular season begins(15 on standard deals and three two-way contracts).