Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is defending Grayson Allen after he committed a Flagrant 2 foul Friday night that caused Bulls guard Alex Caruso to suffer a fractured wrist, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Allen has been accused of dirty play since he was in college, and Chicago coach Billy Donovan raised those allegations after Friday’s incident, saying that Allen “has a history of this.”
Speaking to reporters before tonight’s game, Budenholzer offered condolences for the injury, but said he doesn’t believe Allen did anything to purposefully put Caruso at risk.
“Competition is tough and there are things that happen in the games that are unfortunate,” Budenholzer said. “And I know that Caruso is going to miss some time and I feel for him. I don’t want that for any of our opponents, for anybody, but there was nothing that was done intentionally.”
The league office is still reviewing the play to determine if there will be further punishment for Allen, according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Caruso didn’t think his injury was serious when he left the arena Friday night, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. He and the Bulls found out this morning that the wrist is broken, which will sideline him for at least six-to-eight weeks. Johnson points out that this was only the second game back for Caruso after weeks of dealing with hamstring and foot injuries, along with a lengthy stretch in the health and safety protocols.
- Despite being one of the league’s best shot blockers and part of the Pacers‘ foundation for the last six and a half years, Myles Turner is no stranger to trade rumors. In an interview with Mark Haynes of ClutchPoints, Turner says he has gotten accustomed to hearing his name thrown around. “I would say the first time I’ve dealt with trade rumors was probably like four years ago,” Turner said. “I didn’t know what to think of it. As the summers progressed, I kept hearing more things, and that stuff was almost getting done. I kind of got used to hearing it all the time. I just took it as part of the business.”
- Lauri Markkanen‘s versatility has enabled the Cavaliers to succeed while starting three big men, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “People get so caught up in his offensive game — shot-making, shot-taking — that they don’t pay attention to all the other things that he does for us,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We would not be able to play the lineup and the size that we play without him. Us being unique and different is because of him and his ability to do that. We don’t lose sight of that. We don’t let him lose sight of that.”
Can’t wait for Grayson Allen to become the head coach at Duke
No lie, I did a double take and thought that was Ted Cruz. Had never seen Grayson’s picture before lol.
Son of a Biscuit Eater!
The Bulls luck has gone from Cinderella team to MASH unit!
Coach Bud, just another Grayson Allen enabler. Why would he change his behavior when he has tacit and explicit support?
Ypu mean Allen of the BUCKS who also got Portis.
Needs to be suspended. You can’t go after a guy in the air. Unless you get ball. He literally pulled him down. NBA has to make a statement here.
If it was Giannis, Budenholzer would be calling for a public execution so he can shut his face.
Coach Bud is just telling the truth as it is, it hurts people, nonetheless still the truth!
Okay I need to mention something here. I’m not defending Grayson Allen but please consider this.
I have a buddy who accuses me of INTENTIONALLY doing things on the basketball court to hurt him. This is a very close friend, I thought, who I’ve known 30 years.
But here’s the thing. I’m clumsy, I sometimes play as hard as I can and can’t change directions or slow down as well as others, and in my Zeal to be a better player I sometimes miss the ball and hit someone in the face or in the arm a little too roughly.
That’s unfortunate and I feel horrible when that stuff happens occasionally. Perhaps once a year or once every two years I’ll nail a guy real hard. I hate when that happens and I slow right down and become a non-player. Less involved. Don’t go for a rebound Etc. But it’s definitely not intentional.
When my buddy receives an errant elbow because he’s behind me in the paint I’m not doing it on purpose. If I jump in the air to try and block a shot and the guy falls down hard I’m not doing it on purpose. I’m just clumsy.
Take that for what you will, again I’m not defending Grayson Allen. He’s done stuff that is douchy, especially in college, but sometimes things happen that look bad but it’s not intentional. Just my take.
Pro athletes know that clumsiness can lead to injury. It’s no excuse. Different than it being intentional, but as pro athletes, you have to have the wherewithal to not ensure you’re not putting others at risk. Allen has to know that his second block attempt (wild swing/hack), even if the outcome wasn’t intentional, unnecessarily put another player’s well-being at a much higher risk
Let me add this other thought if I may. If you saw the play last night between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers where Dort swings his elbow into Kevin Love and was ejected for it, what I saw was it “could have,” “might have” been UNINTENTIONAL.
If you watch the play, Dort was hit on the arms a couple of times by a Cav guard and when the defender reached in AFTER the whistle to take the ball from Dort, Luguentz yanked it away from that guard and Love happened to be right there to receive the elbow.
All I’m saying is that it “could have” been unintentional. If you heard the broadcast, Austin Carr was going nuts about the intention of the elbow and had to be an egregious act needing ejection. What a homer call that was because it was easy to see Dort was yanking the ball from the defender and Love just happened to be there.
The only flaw in my argument is that after elbowing Love, you could see Dort’s eyes shift towards Love without moving his head in that he felt a little guilty for being over aggressive? Anyway all I’m saying is that sometimes in basketball things are not always intentional as they may look to the average fan.
Yep… all 20 times Allen has hit or tripped somebody… ALL inadvertent
Tripping is different. I’m just saying everything that looks intentional might not be. Maybe exclude Grayson Allen from the discussion because of his history? That could be.
@Gary
No sir. Not a big deal but incorrect. watch it again. Garland was in front of Dort, Love behind. Garland had his hand on the ball with Love reaching in from side. The whistle was blown, Garland let go, Love stood up, dropped his hands to his side and was turning his head and body towards his left and away from Dort’s body. Dead ball. Dort, out of frustration pulled his elbow back and exploded it in his follow thru CLEARLY after the whistle and after Garland and Love stopped contesting for the ball. Maybe he was caught in the moment. Wasn’t worthy of a flagrant but clearly Loves arm was removed from his body and down towards his side as he started to move away which is the only way he didn’t eat that elbow.
Good take.
Allen smiled after the play, and as he walked out to serve his ejection. This was not inadvertent. Players with a history of this type of play are not clumsy (remember, this is the top level of the sport, played by the elite professionsls). Players with a history of this type of play need to be suspended and if infractions continue, banned from the league – intentionallly injuring players cannot be tolerated.
Yeah Allen has a history so he’s probably out of the equation of clumsy and unintentional. His reputation follows him and unfortunately for him he’ll probably be labeled as dirty forever.
Bill Laimbeer raised me. So whatever.