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Atlantic Notes: Horford, Knox, Boucher, Barnes, Anunoby

November 12th, 2021 at 10:00pm CST by Rory Maher

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:

In his latest mailbag, Fred Katz of The Athletic says there’s no clear path to Kevin Knox getting minutes for the Knicks anytime soon. Katz notes that Knox is behind Obi Toppin on the team’s depth chart, and even if they wanted to utilize Knox’s three-point shooting, the Knicks would probably be more inclined to play rookie Quentin Grimes, who Katz says is a superior defender. Knox will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season if the Knicks tender him a qualifying offer, which seems pretty unlikely at this point. If they choose not to, he’ll become unrestricted.
Chris Boucher has had a poor start to the season for the Raptors, but he’s starting to turn things around, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Boucher says it’s been tough to get acclimated with his new teammates after undergoing hand surgery in the preseason. “I was doing so good in training camp, and then you get hurt in preseason (and) the team gets chemistry (when) you’re out of it,” said Boucher, “you’ve got to find a way to introduce yourself to the team. … I’m sure a lot of people were disappointed in the way that I’ve been playing and what I’ve been giving this year. I have a good circle and they help me stay within myself and focus on the right things, knowing every day is a new day and coming in with the same energy and being ready to change some games.” Boucher was one of the most improved players in the league last season and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2022.
Strong play from Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby suggests a bright future for the Raptors, according to Dan Devine of The Ringer. Devine provides stats and video breakdowns of the two Toronto forwards with enormous wingspans.

Atlantic Notes: Simmons, Brown, Schröder, VanVleet, Bonga, Claxton

November 10th, 2021 at 9:34am CST by Luke Adams

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:

The Celtics intend to keep Dennis Schröder in their starting lineup while Brown recovers from his hamstring strain in order to have Josh Richardson and the club’s young wings remain in their bench roles, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
Besides wanting to get back to the playoffs, Raptors guard Fred VanVleet has a series of individual goals that he’d like to achieve, as he said on The Raptors Show with Will Lou (link via Sportsnet.ca).“I definitely would like to be an All-Star,” VanVleet said. “I want to win all the awards. I want to be All-Defensive … Those are all goals that I have. The good thing for me is that I probably won’t achieve any of those if we aren’t a good team or a top team.”
Raptors forward Isaac Bonga has accepted a G League assignment, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links). Because he’s in his fourth NBA season, Bonga had to sign off on being sent to the NBAGL. The 22-year-old has only logged seven minutes across three games in Toronto so far, but should get a chance to play a starring role for the Raptors 905 when they open their season on Thursday.
The Nets recalled center Nicolas Claxton from the G League on Tuesday, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Despite being back with Brooklyn, Claxton has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game and there’s still no indication he’s closer to returning from the illness that has sidelined him since October 25.

Jaylen Brown Will Miss Several Games With Hamstring Injury

November 8th, 2021 at 11:09am CST by JD Shaw

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.

Celtics Have Talked To Sixers About Ben Simmons

November 8th, 2021 at 10:54am CST by Luke Adams

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.

Atlantic Notes: Tatum, Griffin, Doc, Rose, Walker

November 7th, 2021 at 1:45pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

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:

Nets starting center Blake Griffin enjoyed his best night of the season against his former club, the Pistons. Griffin, who scored 13 points and five rebounds, appears to be overcoming his early struggles in the season, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “We love that Blake brings it and gives us that physicality,” said head coach Steve Nash. “He’s also a very intelligent player, so he’s taking charges, fighting on the glass and understands our concepts defensively.”
With the Sixers‘ 114-105 victory over the Bulls, head coach Doc Rivers earned his 1,000th win as a coach, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Across his 23 combined seasons coaching the Magic, Celtics, Clippers and now Philadelphia, Rivers has posted a 1,000-706 record. The Sixers currently lead the Eastern Conference with an 8-2 record on the young season, despite several key player absences for multiple games.
The impressive play of Knicks reserve guard Derrick Rose could result in fewer minutes for starter Kemba Walker, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Head coach Tom Thibodeau most recently played Rose for 31 minutes while restricting Walker to just 15 in a 113-98 comeback win over the Bucks. Walker, who has struggled with knee injuries in recent years, will be resting tonight against the Cavaliers in the first of New York’s back-to-back games this season, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).

Udoka Explains Players-Only Meeting; Richardson Returns From Foot Contusion

November 6th, 2021 at 6:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

Celtics coach Ime Udoka clarified reports of a players-only meeting that his team had before Wednesday’s game in Orlando, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Udoka said the gathering, which came in the wake of complaints by Marcus Smart that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown aren’t passing the ball enough, was less dramatic that the media made it seem. “It wasn’t really a players-only meeting,” Udoka said. “We had a team dinner scheduled way before anything happened, so that was planned for some weeks now. And we gave the players their time before the coaching staff and everybody else came down. So they had about 30 minutes on their own, but it wasn’t anything scheduled. It wasn’t anything scheduled by them.”
Celtics swingman Josh Richardson is back in the lineup tonight after missing Thursday’s game with a left foot contusion, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Richardson underwent an X-ray on the foot to make sure there’s no structural damage, Weiss reports in a separate story. It’s welcome news for Boston, which could be without Brown for several games.

Celtics Hold Players-Only Meeting Following Smart’s Comments

November 3rd, 2021 at 8:21pm CST by Rory Maher

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.

Stevens: "We're Going To Find Out" If We Have Right Group

November 3rd, 2021 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Asked by Michael Holley of NBC Sports Boston (video link) if the Celtics have the “right group” of players to contend this season, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens replied, “We’re going to find out.” Stevens added that he feels like the team is better “from a structural standpoint” than its 2-5 record suggests.

Atlantic Notes: Knicks Centers, Thibodeau, Stevens, Durant

November 2nd, 2021 at 10:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

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:

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is reluctant to blame New York’s defensive issues this season on its increased pace, writes Greg Joyce of the New York Post. “It’s probably too early to really tell,” Tom Thibodeau said of a link between the pace and the defense. “You see it in the league all the time, teams that play with an edge usually have an advantage. Oftentimes, it’s teams that have guys that are out, that they play with great intensity. We should understand that better than anyone.” The Knicks are currently ranked 20th in the NBA with a defensive rating of 109.
During an interview with NBC Sports Boston (Twitter video link), Celtics team president Brad Stevens addressed starting point guard Marcus Smart‘s criticism of All-Star teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown following a 128-114 come-from-ahead loss to the Bulls on Monday night. “When you see (Smart) and (Tatum) sitting down eating breakfast together today and talking about how to find our solution for our team… those guys want to win.”
Despite the 4-3 Nets grappling with a variety of on- and off-court problems, All-Star forward Kevin Durant looks as great as ever, per Zach Braziller of the New York Post. Durant is averaging 27.7 PPG while shooting 58.3% from the floor and averaging 8.9 RPG. “He’s our guy — he’s The Guy,” new reserve power forward Paul Millsap said. “We feed off of him and what he does. He carries our team a lot. We kind of need him to do that. We need him to be him.”

Celtics’ Smart Calls On Tatum, Brown To Pass More

November 2nd, 2021 at 8:12am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics dropped their third consecutive game on Monday, falling to 2-5 on the season, and veteran guard Marcus Smart expressed some frustration in his media session following the loss to Chicago. As Brian Robb of MassLive.com details, Smart called out teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown when discussing the club’s ineffective late-game offense.

“I would just like to play basketball,” Smart said. “Every team knows we are trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen and every team is programmed and studies to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody’s scouting report is to make those guys try to pass the ball. They don’t want to pass the ball and that’s something that they’re going to learn.”

Smart added that the team is “proud of the progress” Tatum and Brown have made. However, he suggested the two young stars need to develop further as play-makers for others, rather than just looking to create their own shots.

“It’s something that we’ve been asking for them to do and they’re learning,” Smart said. “We just got to continue to help those guys do that and to help our team.”

The Celtics made a head coaching change over the offseason, with Brad Stevens moving to the front office and hiring Ime Udoka as his replacement. A highly-regarded assistant who is getting his first head coaching opportunity, Udoka may need to make some adjustments to a Boston offense that currently ranks 19th in the NBA.

“There’s only so much I can do without the ball in my hands, I’m just standing in the corner,” Smart said, per Robb. “We’re running plays for our best players, every team knows that. They do a good job of shutting that down. We can’t allow that. When they shut that down, we can’t keep trying to go to those guys. We gotta avoid that and find another way to give them the ball in the spots where they need the ball.

“Like I said for me, I can only do so much just standing there in the corner or when I give the ball away. I do everything I can on the other end to try to combat that. I try to talk, I try to make plays, get those guys the ball where they need it, where they want it.”

As Robb details, Brown declined to speak to reporters after Monday’s game. Tatum wasn’t scheduled to meet with the media.