Dennis Schröder signed a one-year contract for the taxpayer mid-level exception in the hopes of building his value. So far, so good. Schröder erupted for 38 points on Friday in the Celtics’ victory over Milwaukee and elicited MVP chants from the home fans, Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes. Schröder is averaging 20.8 PPG and 5.8 APG as a starter.
“He’s finding his way,” Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said. “He’s brought his bench role to the starting lineup. He’s been very aggressive.”
Offseason re-acquisition Al Horford has been a bright spot for the Celtics, writes Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston.
At age 35, Horford says he’s used to people labeling him an elder statesman, but he’s not surprised by his strong play.
“For me, honestly, I’m kind of used to it because when I was 30 here, I feel like people were bringing it up like, ‘Oh, he’s 30!’ and all this stuff. I play how I play, I’ve kind of been kind — I feel really good, physically. I feel really good. I know where I’m at. I know what I can do. And, yeah, I’m 35, but I feel as long as I’m putting in the work — I am putting in the work — I’m doing everything that I need to do and I feel like I can keep playing at a high level,” Horford said.
Forberg writes that Horford has arguably been the team’s best two-way player to start the season, despite missing the first game after battling COVID-19. He’s averaging a career high 2.4 blocks per game, and his 9.0 rebounds are his highest mark in nine seasons.
Hoford is grateful for the time he spent with the Thunder last season, saying they have impressive medical and performance staffs who helped him get healthy.
“[The Thunder medical staff was] great. They just had great support systems, kind of like what we have here now, but they really — looking at my nutrition, helping me with treatments before or after practice, the lift, or the performance stuff, kind of mapping the schedule out and kind of making the player involved in everything that goes into playing the games, which is something that we’re doing here as well,” Horford said.
“And that, for me, that year was very beneficial, for me to feel good again, get healthy, and things like that. They have a great program over there. I was really impressed. And they really helped me be in this position, from a basketball standpoint, health-wise.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
A report stating that the Celtics have interest in Ben Simmons prompted Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe to explore whether Boston should aggressively pursue a deal for Simmons, and Jay King and Rich Hofmann of The Athletic to discuss whether the 25-year-old would make the C’s a better team.
Simmons’ play-making ability would make him an intriguing fit for the Celtics and Washburn hears from a league source that the three-time All-Star would be interested in coming to Boston. However, the general sense is that it would be very difficult for the two division rivals to find an agreement that works for both sides. The Sixers are unlikely to accept an offer that doesn’t include Jaylen Brown, whereas the Celtics are unlikely to include Brown in any offer.
In fact, multiple league sources who spoke to Brian Robb of MassLive.com were “adamant” that the Celtics don’t have any interest in moving Brown at all, either for Simmons or in any other deal. I’m sure Boston would reconsider that stance if a player a tier above Brown became available, but presumably the team doesn’t view Simmons as that sort of player.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
NOVEMBER 8: Brown will be out for “a week or two” due to his hamstring strain, head coach Ime Udoka said today (Twitter link via Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald).
If Brown is able to return a week from today, he’d miss Boston’s next three games. A two-week absence would cost him the team’s next seven or eight contests.
NOVEMBER 6: Celtics star Jaylen Brown could miss multiple games after suffering a hamstring injury on Thursday against Miami, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston tweets.
Brown exited the game at the end of the third quarter after experiencing tightness. He finished with 17 points, five rebounds and two assists on 5-of-14 shooting, logging just over 29 minutes.
“We’ll know more tomorrow about severity or length of time or whatever. .. They’re a little different with everybody and so, depending on the grade of the strain, it could be anywhere from a week to two weeks, depending on the person,” head coach Ime Udoka said.
Brown is coming off the first All-Star season of his professional career. The 25-year-old is averaging 25.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals through eight games this season, shooting 49% from the floor.
Boston started the campaign poorly on defense and recently dealt with some chemistry issues, but the team held Orlando to 79 points on Wednesday and Miami to 78 points in its last outing. The Celtics will be seeking their third straight win when they visit Dallas on Saturday night.
10:54am: A league source tells Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald (Twitter link) that the report of the Celtics discussing a trade for Simmons is “untrue.” This could be a matter of semantics — perhaps Boston checked in on Simmons, but isn’t actively engaged in discussions with Philadelphia.
For what it’s worth, Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link) says the Celtics are “absolutely not” trading Brown for Simmons.
9:36am: The Celtics have expressed interest in Ben Simmons and have engaged in discussions with the Sixers, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Charania describes those talks as “fluid, with no traction as of yet.”
According to Charania, any Simmons trade between Boston and Philadelphia would have to include Celtics wing Jaylen Brown.
Presumably, that condition is coming from the Sixers, since it’s hard to imagine the C’s are eager to part with a 25-year-old who is posting career highs in PPG (25.6 PPG), RPG (6.1), FG% (.493), and several other categories, despite some early-season chemistry issues. If Philadelphia asks for Brown, I imagine the Celtics would seek other assets in addition to Simmons, assuming they’d still be interested at all.
Daryl Morey‘s asking price for Simmons has remained very high for several months, so it’s perhaps not surprising that the Sixers haven’t yet come close to completing a deal. There’s a belief that the team might have more options after December 15, when more players signed this past offseason become trade-eligible.
Charania’s latest report includes a number of other details on the standoff between Simmons and the Sixers, including the fact that the 25-year-old has provided the team with the names of his mental health professionals, but hasn’t shared any details on his treatment beyond that. Simmons has turned down the resources and professionals Philadelphia has offered, and the club has been frustrated by the lack of information he has provided about his status.
[RELATED: Sixers Resume Fining Ben Simmons]
As Charania outlines, the 76ers aren’t seeking out specific details about Simmons’ sessions, but want to know more about his treatment process and a possible return timeline. It seems that Simmons’ camp and the NBPA disagree with the franchise about how much information the three-time All-Star is obligated to provide to the team.
The Sixers have reportedly resumed fining Simmons for missing games and other team activities, but one NBPA source tells Charania that as long as Simmons has given the team basic information about the mental health professionals he’s working with, the club shouldn’t have grounds to withhold his salary. An arbitration process may ultimately be necessary to sort out the financial details of the dispute.
After weeks of drama, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has reasserted himself as the team’s leader, on and off the court, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
“My teammates, my coaches and everyone we play know what I’m capable of,” Tatum said on a night he scored 32 points but the Celtics lost 107-104 to the Mavericks. “It’s a long season and we have a lot of games to play, obviously. You see everything people say and you hear everything, but that’s part of it. I should be worried if you guys stop talking about me. That would be a problem. But it’s part of the business, part of what I do, and take it with a grain of salt.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
The Celtics held a players-only meeting in Orlando Tuesday following Marcus Smart‘s comments to the media on Monday night, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (video link).
Smart, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown discussed the team’s fourth-quarter collapse against the Bulls and Smart’s comments after the game, per Woj, who described the meeting as “emotional at times,” and “not a terribly productive meeting — maybe not even beneficial.”
On Monday, Smart was frustrated with Tatum and Brown not passing the ball enough, and he has a point. Through seven games, Tatum is averaging 24.6 shot attempts and just 3.7 assists, while Brown is averaging 20.2 shots and 2.5 assists in six games. Assists aren’t the only indication of passing, but a combined 44.8 shots against only 6.2 assists is not a great ratio for the team’s primary shot creators.
It will be interesting to see whether the meeting re-invigorates or potentially divides the team. The Celtics went 48-24 and made the Eastern Conference Finals two seasons ago, but struggled with injuries, illnesses, and inconsistency last season. They finished just 36-36 and lost in the first round of the playoffs, so the frustration may be mounting with the poor start to this season.
The Celtics are 3-5 after their 92-79 victory tonight over the Magic.
Though he sat for his seventh straight game to start the season Monday night in a 113-104 loss against the Raptors, reserve Knicks center Nerlens Noel appears poised for a return, and not a moment too soon, as third-string center Taj Gibson sprained his ankle during the game’s first half, writes Greg Joyce of the New York Post. Rookie big man Jericho Sims served as Gibson’s replacement during the second half.
The Knicks re-signed Noel to the tune of a three-year, $28MM contract this summer. Noel has been struggling with a knee/hamstring injury since the preseason. During the 2020/21 season, his first with the Knicks, the former lottery pick averaged 5.1 PPG, 6.4 RPG and 2.2 BPG, while starting in 41 of his 64 total games.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division: