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Scotto’s Latest: Lowry, Aldridge, Oladipo, Wolves

March 14th, 2021 at 10:07am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat are among the teams that have reached out to the Raptors about veteran guard Kyle Lowry, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Some of the players discussed in a possible deal include Goran Dragic, Kelly Olynyk and Kendrick Nunn, according to Scotto.

Lowry, who will turn 35 this month, continues to remain productive, averaging 18.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.5 rebounds through 31 games. He recently pledged his loyalty to the franchise, but didn’t offer a guarantee that he will re-sign with Toronto when he becomes a free agent this summer.

As a one-year Bird player, Dragic has veto power over any trade, Scotto notes. If Dragic agrees to a deal and a new team declines his $19.44MM option for next season, his Bird rights will be reduced to Non-Bird when he enters free agency. Olynyk is headed for unrestricted free agency, while Nunn will be a restricted free agent if he receives a $4.7MM qualifying offer.

Scotto offers a few more tidbits in advance of the March 25 trade deadline:

  • The Heat have also talked to the Spurs about veteran big man LaMarcus Aldridge, who won’t play again until San Antonio can work out a deal. According to Scotto, Miami offered Avery Bradley, Maurice Harkless and Meyers Leonard to match salary and would be willing to include a minimum contract such as Chris Silva or KZ Okpala or possibly draft picks. The Spurs will have many suitors for Aldridge, and several league executives expect the Celtics to get involved with their $28.5MM trade exception, Scotto adds. Boston is about $19.9MM below the hard cap and would have to send at least $4.1MM in contracts to San Antonio in return.
  • Rockets guard Victor Oladipo may be the top player available before the deadline, a few executives tell Scotto. The Knicks and Heat are among the teams that are reportedly interested. Scotto adds that Christian Wood is the only player the rebuilding Rockets might consider untouchable.
  • Several teams have inquired about Timberwolves veterans Ed Davis, Ricky Rubio, Juan Hernangomez and Jake Layman. Minnesota would like to acquire a young forward such as the Hawks‘ John Collins or the Magic’s Aaron Gordon, Scotto notes, and has future first-rounders to offer starting in 2023.
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Timberwolves Notes: Collins, Taylor, Rosas, Fans

March 13th, 2021 at 3:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Timberwolves are “dying” to acquire Hawks forward John Collins, ESPN commentator Jackie McMullan said on The Bill Simmons Podcast (hat tip to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports). “Minnesota is dying to have him. Minnesota wants him bad,” McMullan said. “What will they offer? I don’t know. They really want him. I think there are other teams too, but Minnesota particularly.” Minnesota’s interest in Collins, who will be a restricted free agent after the season, has previously been reported.

We have more on the Timberwolves:

  • Owner Glen Taylor could get approximately $1.3 billion for the franchise if he sells the team now but the owner and the franchise have major image problems, as Jabari Young of CNBC details. Former franchise player Kevin Garnett is feuding again with Taylor and top executive Gersson Rosas stirred controversy by passing over popular in-house candidate David Vanterpool when he replaced head coach Ryan Saunders with Raptors assistant Chris Finch. Rosas has also tried to build around Karl-Anthony Towns but the roster is lacking 3-point shooters to make it work.
  • The Wolves will start allowing fans at Target Center on April 5, according to a team press release. Season ticket members will get priority for the final 12 games of the season, though the release doesn’t indicate how many people will be allowed in the building.
  • In case you missed it, Hoops Rumors had an exclusive interview with Jaylen Nowell. You can check it out here.
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Tony Snell Has Played Meaningful Role For Hawks

March 12th, 2021 at 8:30pm CST by Ben Stinar
  • Veteran wing Tony Snell looked like a salary throw-in when the Hawks acquired him from Detroit in the offseason, but he has played a meaningful role for the team, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic details. The 29-year-old, a free agent at season’s end, is knocking down a scorching 56.9% of his three-point attempts, including a last-second, game-winning buzzer beater on Thursday. Atlanta has now won its first three games since Nate McMillan took over as head coach for Lloyd Pierce.
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Cam Reddish Receives PRP Injection, Out At Least Two Weeks

March 9th, 2021 at 9:39am CST by Dana Gauruder

MARCH 9: Reddish received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection and will be sidelined for at least two weeks, general manager Travis Schlenk said during an appearance on 92.9 The Game on Tuesday morning (Twitter link).

MARCH 8: Hawks forward Cam Reddish underwent a non-surgical procedure on Monday, the team announced (via Twitter).

Reddish, who has missed the last six games due to right Achilles soreness, will be placed in a walking boot. He’ll be re-examined in approximately one week.

Reddish is averaging 11.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 1.3 APG in 26 games this season, including 21 starts. He’s struggled from the field, making just 36.5% of his shots overall and 26.2% of his 3-point attempts.

The Duke product was the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft. The Hawks will have to decide this fall whether to exercise their team option on him for the 2022/23 season. Prior to this season, Atlanta exercised its option on Reddish’s contract for next season.

Reddish was one of the players said to be unhappy with coach Lloyd Pierce, who was replaced by Nate McMillan on an interim basis last week.

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Hawks Notes: Hunter, Pierce, Collins, Oladipo, Young

March 6th, 2021 at 3:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter did not receive a second PRP injection in his right knee, which increases the possibility he could return to action this month, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Hunter was originally projected to return in late March or early April after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on February 8. With the decision that a second PRP injection wasn’t needed, his timeline could be accelerated 7-10 days.

Hunter has increased his rehabilitation activities to include unrestricted weight room work and progressive court reloading, according to a team press release. His status will be updated on March 19.

We have more on the Hawks:

  • In response to reports that several players lobbied for a coaching change, former head coach Lloyd Pierce said it’s the nature of the business on a SiriusXM NBA Radio interview (hat tip to the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Chris Vivlamore). “I understand as the head coach it’s always going to be on me to make sure I put my guys, my staff, in position to operate successfully. So the relationships aren’t great. They are never going to be great. I’m the guy who has to pull the guy out of the game when he doesn’t think he needs to come out. … My job is not to be best friends with these guys. My job is for them to understand me, to respect me, to know I have a plan and vision and I got to get them to try to execute that.
  • In a separate piece, Kirschner opines that the Hawks shouldn’t trade John Collins, arguing that the young big has gotten better each year, and there’s still room for improvement. He also fits well with Trae Young, though the front office doesn’t view Collins as a team’s second-best player on a championship-level squad. Kirschner also argues against pursuing Victor Oladipo in a trade, noting the team has already invested heavily in wing players.
  • Interim coach Nate McMillan and his potential successor will have to design an offense that empowers more than Young, Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer opines. The head coach will also have to get Young to buy in to a more balanced system.
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Hawks’ GM Schlenk Talks McMillan, Trade Market, Collins

March 4th, 2021 at 4:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk, who spoke today to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic and Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, acknowledged that a number of the team’s free agent additions “haven’t performed as well as they wanted to.”

However, Schlenk said that veterans like Danilo Gallinari and Rajon Rondo have had an impact on the team off the court and expressed confidence that they can turn things around on the court. He also reiterated that the Hawks’ goal is still to have a winning season and to make the playoffs.

New head coach Nate McMillan will be tasked with getting the squad – which currently has a 16-20 record, back into the postseason mix. And while leading the team to a second-half surge might improve McMillan’s chances of getting his interim tag removed at season’s end, Schlenk insists that the veteran head coach has nothing to prove and is already assured of receiving consideration for the permanent job.

“He’s certainly going to have the opportunity to be the permanent head coach,” Schlenk said, per Kirschner. “No doubt about it. You can certainly argue that he’s got the best chance because he’s here right now, and we’ll have the ability to work with him for the next three months. He’s going to have the opportunity to coach games. I don’t know that there’s necessarily anything that I need to see. He’s got a proven track record. He doesn’t need to prove to me that he can coach NBA basketball. I know that.”

Schlenk also addressed a handful of other topics today, confirming that the Hawks hope Kris Dunn can make his debut with the team at some point later this month and discussing Atlanta’s approach to the trade deadline. Here, via Kirschner and Spencer, are a few of the highlights from the Hawks’ GM:

On whether the Hawks are actively exploring trade scenarios:

“Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything on the horizon, but that can change. You rarely get teams’ best offers. Nobody gets real serious until you get down to the last week or two. It’s hard to gauge. We certainly will look to do anything we can to do anything we can that feels like, is going to make us a better team in the short-term and the long-term. Those sometimes don’t go hand-in-hand, but we’ll look at any situation we think that will help us.”

On the team’s plan for John Collins:

“John’s a big part of our team… He’s made the decision this fall to go to restricted free agency, and that was his choice and obviously we respect it. But we’re going to have the opportunity to match any offer he gets. We’ll certainly make him an offer in free agency as well, and he’ll have the ability to see if he can get an offer from another team. But at the end of the day, we view him as part of our team, and I don’t see a restricted free agency situation where we would just let him walk for nothing.”

On whether Collins could be moved before the trade deadline:

“We listen about all our guys, that’s our job, to see what the value of all our guys are. John is a good young player, and teams have interest in him, no question about it. But we listen on all our guys, I guess is the short answer.”

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Kris Dunn Expected To Make Hawks Debut In March

March 4th, 2021 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hawks are expecting veteran guard Kris Dunn to appear in his first game for the team before the end of the month, as Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.

Dunn, who signed a two-year, $9.8MM with Atlanta in November, had his Hawks debut delayed after he went under the knife in December to address an ankle injury. According to general manager Travis Schlenk, the team was fully on board with Dunn’s decision to undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his ankle, knowing it would keep him sidelined until the second half.

“He made the decision, and we fully supported him to get that fixed, knowing that it would put us in a situation where he would miss the first half of the season and we’d get him back later on this month,” Schlenk said, per Spencer. “So we’re always going to support the players when it comes to doing the right thing for them, medically.”

Dunn is one of many Hawks 2020 free agent additions who has missed time due to an injury this season. Danilo Gallinari has been sidelined for 12 of Atlanta’s 36 games, while Rajon Rondo has missed 16 and Bogdan Bogdanovic has been out for 25.

The hope is that Dunn, who has a reputation as a strong perimeter defender, can help shore up a unit whose 112.5 defensive rating ranks 13th in the Eastern Conference and 23rd in the NBA.

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Wolves Eye John Collins, Aaron Gordon

March 4th, 2021 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves continue to explore ways to address their power forward position and have shown interest in the likes of Hawks big man John Collins and Magic forward Aaron Gordon, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The Hawks’ and Magic’s asking prices for Collins and Gordon will be substantial, Charania adds. Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas hasn’t been shy about shaking up the roster since assuming control of the basketball operations department in 2019, but it remains to be seen how aggressive he’ll be at this year’s deadline with Minnesota holding the league’s worst record and at risk of losing its 2021 first-round pick (which is top-three protected).

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NBA Announces 2020/21 Rising Stars Rosters

March 3rd, 2021 at 1:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the pared-down nature of the NBA’s 2021 All-Star weekend, a Rising Stars Game showcasing the league’s top rookies and sophomores won’t be played this year.

However, the league has still announced the rosters for the event, via NBA Top Shot, naming the 20 players who would have been selected to participate if the game was taking place. Here are those rosters:

U.S. Team:

World Team:

The 20-man group includes eight rookies and 11 sophomores. The 20th player, Porter, made the cut as a sophomore since he missed his entire rookie season in 2018/19 due to an injury — this is technically his third year of NBA service.

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Pierce Told McMillan To Take Job

March 2nd, 2021 at 5:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Nate McMillan, who was named interim head coach of the Hawks on Monday, confirmed that Lloyd Pierce talked him into being his replacement, according to Charles Odum of The Associated Press. McMillan initially rebuffed GM Travis Schlenk’s offer to take the reins. “We had a conversation about the team and the move … and he just felt he didn’t think this would happen but he felt I could step in and do a good job with the team,” McMillan said. “He basically felt I should take this opportunity.”
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