2021 | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Anthony, Yurtseven, Dedmon, Hornets

December 4th, 2021 at 1:16pm CST by JD Shaw

Magic guard Cole Anthony is an early-season candidate for Most Improved Player, Josh Cohen of NBA.com writes. Anthony is averaging 20.2 points and 6.0 assists per game on 43% shooting from the floor, up from last season’s averages of 12.9 points, 4.1 assists and 40% shooting.

“I think it is a reflection of his work ethic,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “It’s a reflection of his confidence, and it’s also the confidence that his teammates have in him to be willing to take those shots.

“But again, you also have a group of guys on the floor that are willing to take shots, That’s what we’ve created and it’s the equalness of each guy willing to want to step in to be able to make the big play, so whoever it is they’re willing to have their number called and step in and make a play.”

Anthony is averaging 34.4 minutes per game (compared to 27.1 MPG in 2020/21), but his shooting marks have also improved across the board. The Magic drafted the 21-year-old with the No. 15 pick in 2020.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Heat rookie Omer Yurtseven stepped up in the absence of Bam Adebayo against the Pacers on Friday, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. Yurtseven received a season-high 19 minutes, recording 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks. His production allowed P.J. Tucker to remain at power forward for most of the contest.
Heat center Dewayne Dedmon is prepared to continue starting until Adebayo returns, Winderman writes in a separate article for the Sun Sentinel. Dedmon registered a team-high +11 net rating against Indiana. Despite losing by 26 to Cleveland two days prior, the team still managed to outscore the Cavs by two points in the 31 minutes Dedmon played.
The Hornets are recalling Kai Jones, James Bouknight and Vernon Carey Jr. from the team’s G League affiliate, according to Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link). Boone also notes in a separate tweet that two-way players Arnoldas Kulboka and Scottie Lewis are being recalled. As we previously relayed, Charlotte is missing four players due to the health and safety protocols.

Pacific Notes: James, Batum, Young, Iguodala

December 4th, 2021 at 10:41am CST by Dana Gauruder

Lakers superstar LeBron James returned to action on Friday after clearing health and safety protocols and felt the process was “handled poorly,” Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes. James entered protocols on Tuesday, missing a game, then was cleared on Thursday after a series of negative tests.

“Usually when you have a positive test, they’ll test you right away to make sure,” James said. “There was not a follow-up test after my positive test. It was straight to isolation and you’ve been put into protocol. That’s the part that kind of angered me. I had to figure out a way to get home from Sacramento by myself. They wouldn’t allow anyone to travel with me, no security, no anything, when I traveled back from Sacramento. And then I had to put my kids in isolation for the time being, the people in my household in isolation for the time being, so it was just a big-time inconvenience.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Nicolas Batum missed his seventh consecutive game on Friday and the Clippers have suffered without his defensive versatility, according to Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register. The Clippers had the league’s second-best defensive rating before losing Batum, who has remained in the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Their defensive rating has sagged dramatically since he tested positive. “He’s very valuable to what we do,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. Batum re-signed with the Clippers in August on a two-year deal.
Suns lead assistant Kevin Young didn’t travel with the team for the showdown with Golden State because he’s in the health and safety protocols, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reports. Young, who has missed three games after testing positive for COVID-19, became Phoenix’s associate head coach under Monty Williams after Willie Green departed to become head coach of the Pelicans.
Warriors veteran forward Andre Iguodala participated in pregame warmups on Friday but isn’t expected to return until next week, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets. If he doesn’t play against San Antonio on Saturday, he’ll have missed nine straight missed games due to right knee swelling.

Nuggets Sign Davon Reed

December 4th, 2021 at 9:27am CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 4: Reed has officially signed a 10-day contract, the team’s PR department tweets.

DECEMBER 2: The Nuggets plan to sign forward Davon Reed via the hardship exception, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The exception allows a team to add a 16th player to its standard “15-man” roster without waiving anyone.

Reed has been playing for the team’s new G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold. Reed has NBA experience as a 2017 second-round pick. He appeared in 21 games for Phoenix during the 2017/18 season and 1o more for Indiana the following season. In seven games with the Gold, Reed has averaged 12.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 3.8 APG.

The Nuggets have been decimated in recent days by injuries and COVID-19 issues. Michael Porter Jr. underwent back surgery on Wednesday and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Jamal Murray and PJ Dozier are also sidelined with long-term injuries. Austin Rivers, Bones Hyland and Bol Bol are currently out of action after being placed under the league’s health and safety protocols.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks noted (Twitter link), the Nuggets were able to apply for the hardship exception immediately since they had at least one player test positive for COVID-19 and three other players who have already missed three games with an injury and are deemed out for at least another two weeks.

Typically, NBA teams aren’t permitted to sign players to 10-day contracts until January 5, but the league tweaked its rules last season to allow them before then as long as they’re completed using the hardship exception. As such, Reed figures to get a 10-day deal.

Four Hornets Players, Including LaMelo Ball, Placed Under Protocols

December 4th, 2021 at 8:44am CST by Dana Gauruder

Hornets starting guards LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier have entered the league’s health and safety protocols and are expected to miss several games, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Frontcourt players Jalen McDaniels and Mason Plumlee have also been placed under protocols, the team’s PR department tweets.

Those players will be sidelined for at least 10 days unless they record two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart. Charlotte is scheduled to play five games over the next 10 days — Sunday at Atlanta; two home games vs. Philadelphia Monday and Wednesday; another home game vs. Sacramento on Friday; and a road test against Dallas next Monday.

The team sent players and staff members home from the practice facility as a precautionary measure, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. If all have tested positive, the Hornets could sign another player under the hardship exception, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.

Charlotte is in the midst of a three-game losing streak but still has a winning record at 13-11. Ball had 36 points and nine assists against Milwaukee on Wednesday and is averaging 20.0 PPG, 8.3 APG and 7.7 RPG in his second NBA campaign. Rozier is the team’s third-leading scorer at 17.7 PPG, 3.6 APG and 3.5 RPG.

Until the duo returns, the Hornets will have to improvise in the backcourt with Ish Smith and Kelly Oubre likely to move into the starting lineup and Cody Martin and James Bouknight backing them up.

Plumlee has been sidelined with a calf injury since November 24 but was expected to return on Sunday. He’s averaging 6.8 PPG and 7.3 RPG as a starter. McDaniels is averaging 5.5 PPG and 3.3 RPG off the bench.

Additional Testing Required For Players Who Haven’t Received Booster By Dec. 17

December 3rd, 2021 at 10:13pm CST by Rory Maher

Sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter) that starting December 17, the NBA will require game-day testing for players who haven’t received a COVID-19 booster shot.

Charania adds that “tier one” team personnel who haven’t received the shot will will no long be able to interact with players, travel with their respective teams, or continue as tier one.

COVID-19 vaccines are required for team personnel, but not for players unless under a local mandate. This change only affects players who are fully vaccinated, as unvaccinated players have already been subject to additional testing.

Categories:
COVID-19

Blazers Notes: Billups, Olshey, Roster Moves, Lillard, Eversley, Perry, Prince

December 3rd, 2021 at 9:35pm CST by Rory Maher

In a fascinating piece released mere minutes before former president and general manager Neil Olshey was fired by the Trail Blazers, Jason Quick of The Athletic details how he views head coach Chauncey Billups as a poor schematic fit with Portland’s flawed roster — constructed by Olshey.

Even before star Damian Lillard was announced as being injured, it was clear that Portland was not functioning as a cohesive unit. Quite the opposite, in fact. Quick writes that the team had grown accustomed to ex-coach Terry Stotts‘ freedom on both ends of the court, and Billups wants to instill more structure and accountability, with a more aggressive defense and more ball movement on offense.

However, Billups’ stern exchanges have seemingly demoralized the group, and Quick asked Billups how he thought it was going over with the players.

“I think pretty good, but at the end of the day, it’s not easy,” Billups said. “It’s not easy all the time to hear when you are not doing what you are supposed to do, especially from the coach. All I care about is I believe we should play one way. I know what wins, I know what’s important. When we don’t do it, obviously I’m going to always bring it to the table, to those players, to those people. And I know it’s not always going to be well received.

“But I know it’s the best thing for the team, it’s the best thing for the player and at the end of the day, if you are mad or upset, if you actually really want to win and be a good teammate, you go home and think about that, look yourself in the mirror, and you are going to realize what I was saying was right, you know? With no agenda at all other than for us to try and get better. So, I can ride with that. That’s just kind of who I was as a player, who I am as a person, and I will be consistent there.”

Quick believes that while it is a talented group of players, the roster that Olshey built doesn’t make sense under Billups. He mentions the fact that the Blazers have three 6’3″ guards (Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Norman Powell) all starting, which leads to them being exploited defensively. Quick also says that Olshey’s infatuation with McCollum and refusal to trade him hurt the team. He thinks a roster shakeup is absolutely necessary in order to break the team out of its early season funk. The Blazers are currently 11-12.

It’s a great article from Quick and worth reading in full for subscribers of The Athletic.

Here’s more from Portland:

ESPN’s Bobby Marks thinks the Blazers should explore trading Lillard (video link). He believes Lillard may have peaked as a player, pointing to his age (31), huge contract, and the high number of minutes he’s played over the years. Marks thinks it could be worth it to try and extract maximum value for Lillard before it’s too late. However, he acknowledges that the situation will be very tricky for whomever takes over the front office, as Lillard is one of the best players in franchise history.
John Canzano of The Oregonian is happy the Blazers pulled the plug on the Olshey, and believes that it will galvanize the organization and fan base.
Bulls general manager Marc Eversley and Knicks general manager Scott Perry are both candidates to replace Olshey as GM, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
A source tells Quick of The Athletic that Grizzlies VP of basketball affairs Tayshaun Prince, who had previously been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Olshey, is not in the running for the role (Twitter link).

Injury Notes: Adebayo, Jalen Green, Warren, McConnell, Towns, Porzingis

December 3rd, 2021 at 7:33pm CST by Rory Maher

Heat star Bam Adebayo says he’s always been a positive person, but after learning of the thumb injury that will sideline him for roughly six weeks, he understandably had a tough day on Wednesday, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald relays.

“I’m not the type of person that will put out negative energy. So I always think positive. But today was a downer,” Adebayo said after watching Wednesday’s lopsided loss to the Cavaliers. “But for these six weeks, I can’t change nothing about it. That’s my only option.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra says there’s no way to replace what Adebayo does for Miami and the team needs to weather the storm until it gets healthier.

“We need a little bit of time just to assess everything and formulate a new plan, a new direction,” Spoelstra said. “… Collectively as a group, we’ll make the necessary adjustments. When you lose an All-Star player, it’s never easy. But this is the league.

“When I look around the league, I see a lot of teams dealing with injuries and guys out and guys coming back. There’s a lot of that going on right now and we just have to weather the storm and recalibrate and figure out a new plan, new direction, which our guys are very capable of doing.”

Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:

Rockets coach Stephen Silas says rookie Jalen Green isn’t close to returning from his strained hamstring, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “Nothing really new,” Silas said on Friday. “He is still injured. He is progressing in a good manner but slowly. We’re just going to continue to evaluate week-by-week. But he’s not going to play any time soon.”
Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, who was previously said to be out “a while,” is wearing a cast and is now expected to be out for “weeks, not days” according to coach Rick Carlisle, the team announced (via Twitter). The Pacers also tweeted that T.J. Warren will not be playing in December, per Carlisle. He will have more scans on his foot at the end of month or in early January. Warren has yet to play a game this season after playing in just four games last season.
Karl-Anthony Towns missed Friday’s game for the Timberwolves with a tailbone contusion, the team announced (Twitter link). Towns had a hard fall late Wednesday night. He did warm up for the game, which is a good sign that it should be a short-term injury.
Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis was also sidelined for Friday’s game, per a team public relations announcement (via Twitter). He has a knee contusion. It’s unclear how long he might be out.

Bucks Sign Wesley Matthews, Waive Georgios Kalaitzakis

December 3rd, 2021 at 6:14pm CST by Rory Maher

6:14pm: The Bucks have officially signed Matthews and requested waivers on Kalaitzakis, the team announced. Matthews’ contract is non-guaranteed, a source tells Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link).

4:07pm: The Bucks are signing veteran wing Wesley Matthews and waiving rookie forward Georgios Kalaitzakis in order to create a roster spot, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

It’s another win-now move for the defending champions, who signed center DeMarcus Cousins on Tuesday. The Bucks will be on the hook for the guaranteed portion of Kalaitzakis’ salary — he has a partial guarantee of $462,629. However, he’s already earned a good chunk of that amount by this point in the season, which makes it a very understandable move from both a basketball and financial perspective.

Matthews, 35, is entering his 13th season in the NBA. This will be a reunion for both player and team, as he spent the 2019/20 season with the Bucks, starting all 67 games he appeared in with averages of 7.4 PPG and 2.5 RPG on .396/.364/.765 shooting (24.4 MPG). He played for the Lakers last season, appearing in 58 contests (19.5 MPG) while averaging 4.8 PPG and 1.6 RPG on .353/.335/.854 shooting.

Matthews was a top-tier 3-and-D player in the early part of his career prior to tearing his Achilles tendon in 2015. He’s never put up the same type of efficient offensive numbers since suffering the injury, but he’s still regarded as a good defensive player and is a highly respected veteran. In 849 career games (739 starts), he holds career averages of 12.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, and 1.0 SPG on .421/.379/.824 shooting.

Kalaitzakis, the 60th pick in the 2021 draft, was signed to a partially guaranteed, three-year deal ahead of his rookie season. The Greece native appeared in nine games for the Bucks for a total of 48 minutes, putting up modest stats of 1.8 PPG and 0.9 RPG in 5.3 MPG. Evidently Milwaukee did not see enough from the 22-year-0ld to justify keeping him on a standard contract.

It’s very unlikely that he gets signed by a team with an open roster spot, as that list is comprised of either contending teams or teams right against the luxury tax, or both. Perhaps a two-way spot could be possible, but all 60 of those spots are taken right now, so that would require a team to waive a current two-way player. Kalaitzakis’ most realistic path back to the NBA is probably through the G League, but returning to Europe could be a viable possibility, too.

Rockets Notes: Wall, Mathews, Green, Augustin

December 3rd, 2021 at 3:46pm CST by Rory Maher

The Rockets and John Wall are still trying to figure out the next steps in his possible return to the court, but David Aldridge of The Athletic believes that Wall needs to maximize his window of opportunity and accept any role the club is offering.

Aldridge acknowledges that coming off the bench for a Rockets team that has struggled to win games (currently 5-16) would be very difficult for a competitor like Wall, but he thinks the only way for the point guard to show his value to other teams is by proving his effectiveness on the court — no matter the minutes.

Other teams are still interested in Wall as a player, but not with the enormous amount of money remaining on his contract ($44.31MM this season and a $47.37MM player option next season).

“He’s still really good,” a GM texted Aldridge. “Just not at the number he currently makes.”

Aldridge thinks the trade market for Wall could develop in the summer of 2022, once he picks up his player option. A huge expiring contract could create cap flexibility in the summer of 2023 for a team looking to pursue free top agents.

Aldridge writes that Wall should look at Derrick Rose‘s path in order to revive his career. Both players were extremely athletic and unfortunately derailed by injuries, but after bouncing around for a few seasons on minimum deals, Rose was able to rebuild contractual value by becoming a more efficient scorer off the bench. The Knicks re-signed Rose to a three-year, $43.5MM ($28MM guaranteed) contract last summer.

It’s an interesting piece and worth checking out in full for any Athletic subscribers — Aldridge knows Wall very well and covered him for years in Washington.

Here’s more from Houston:

Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle explores shooting guard Garrison Mathews‘ journey to the NBA. The Tennessee native has averaged 16.3 PPG and 3.0 RPG on .568/.516/.778 shooting during Houston’s four-game winning streak.
Number two overall pick Jalen Green may be sidelined at the moment, but if he’s been paying attention, it’s still an opportunity to learn and grow as a player, as Jerome Solomon of The Houston Chronicle details. The Rockets haven’t lost a game since Green was injured a week ago, so he’s been able to watch what it takes to win at the NBA level.
Backup point guard D.J. Augustin has been cleared to play Friday night against the Magic, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle writes. Augustin had been in the league’s health and safety protocols after COVID-19 a test came back inconclusive. Augustin is fully vaccinated, but his daughter contracted the virus and he was a close contact. Feigen writes that Augustin produced two negative tests 24 hours apart and thus was cleared to return.

Pelicans Sign Gary Clark To Non-Guaranteed Deal

December 3rd, 2021 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

December 3: The Pelicans have officially signed Clark, the team announced in a press release.

December 2: The Pelicans are signing forward Gary Clark to a non-guaranteed contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

New Orleans has a full 15-man roster, but will be able to move Didi Louzada to the suspended list now that he has served more than five games of his 25-game ban for violating the league’s anti-drug policy, as Christian Clark of NOLA.com confirms (via Twitter). When Louzada’s suspension ends, the Pelicans will have to get back down to 15 players by trading or waiving Clark or another player.

Clark, 27, has appeared in a total of 132 NBA regular season games since making his debut in 2018. Last season, he averaged 3.1 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 39 games (16.8 MPG) for the Magic, Nuggets, and Sixers. He’s known more for his defense, having put up very modest offensive numbers (3.2 PPG on .346/.311/.889 shooting) in his NBA career.

Clark had been playing for the Mexico City Capitanes in the G League this season, where he was averaging 14.4 PPG and 6.9 RPG with 1.5 SPG through eight games (31.3 MPG). While it’s a small sample, he has been letting it fly from beyond the three-point line in the NBA G League and has made 37.3% of 7.4 attempts per game so far.

Clark’s minimum-salary contract will pay him just over $9,900 per day.

Year: 2024