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Injury Notes: Porzingis, Beverley, Oladipo, J. Brown, Westbrook

August 19th, 2020 at 2:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis has been upgraded to probable for tonight’s game against the Clippers, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. He had been listed as questionable with irritation in his right knee, similar to the condition that forced him to miss 10 games in December and January, adds Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link). The ACL tear Porzingis suffered in 2018 was in his left knee.

Dallas may need a huge effort from Porzingis to even up the playoff series. He posted 14 points and six rebounds before being ejected early in the third quarter of Game 1, which may have been the turning point in L.A.’s victory.

There’s more injury news to pass along:

Clippers guard Patrick Beverley is listed as questionable for tonight with a left calf strain that forced him to miss the final five seeding games, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). Beverley was able to play 20 minutes in the series opener, but was limited by foul trouble.
The Pacers have “no immediate concerns” about guard Victor Oladipo, who was poked in the eye during Monday’s game, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN. Oladipo played just 8:34 in the loss, as the injury happened in the first quarter and coach Nate McMillan never considered putting him back in the game. “It wasn’t an option,” McMillan said. “His vision was really blurry, really couldn’t see out of his eye when we spoke to him at halftime, and he was going to get that checked out.” Oladipo, who is listed as day to day, was able to participate in today’s walkthrough (Twitter link from Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel).
The Celtics are listing Jaylen Brown as probable for today’s game with a right thigh bruise, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Brown suffered the injury in a collision with Sixers center Joel Embiid in the second half of Game 1 and was able to remain in the game.
Rockets guard Russell Westbrook continues to make progress in recovering from a strained quardriceps muscle, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle, but coach Mike D’Antoni said he’s still not cleared to take the court and there’s no timetable for him to return. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” D’Antoni said. “It’s going to take a little bit. He’s working hard and he’s feeling better every day. The images are looking better. But I think it’s too early to say how many days he’s out. I don’t think anybody knows.”

Joe Dumars Won’t Be A Candidate In Kings’ Front Office Search

August 19th, 2020 at 11:10am CST by Arthur Hill

Last week’s shakeup left Joe Dumars in charge of the Kings‘ front office, but that’s not a role he wants to keep long-term, according to Sam Amick and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Dumars has no interest in remaining Sacramento’s head of basketball operations and will not be a candidate in the upcoming search, the authors report. However, he will be included in the hiring process and will interview candidates along with owner Vivek Ranadive. The new GM will have full control of roster moves and will report directly to Ranadive, rather than Dumars.

The Kings haven’t determined what Dumars’ role with the franchise will be once a new GM is selected, which could become a “problematic component,” Amick and Charania add. There’s no timeline to fill the opening, so Dumars and assistant GM Ken Catanella could be making the draft and free agency decisions in October.

Mike Forde of Sportsology is expected to be the leader in the search for GM candidates. He formerly served as senior manager for Chelsea’s soccer franchise in the English Premier League, and his web site lists the Clippers, Spurs, Sixers and Nets as clients. He also worked as an adviser for the Wizards last spring after they fired Ernie Grunfeld as president of basketball operations.

When he hired Dumars, Ranadive reportedly envisioned a power-sharing arrangement in the front office with former GM Vlade Divac. However, Divac wasn’t willing to accept that and opted to resign, followed a day later by assistant GM Peja Stojakovic.

The authors note there is “significant interest” in the position around the league, despite concerns about what Dumars’ ultimate role might be. “A swell of support” has emerged for Knicks GM Scott Perry, who briefly served as VP of basketball operations in Sacramento before leaving for New York. Sources claim Ranadive and Perry are still on good terms and have remained in touch in the nearly three years since Perry’s departure.

Perry helped the Kings get an individual workout with De’Aaron Fox before the 2017 draft and improved the organization’s reputation through his close relationships with agents and executives. Perry still has a year left on his contract, but a source tells the authors he would be interested in returning to Sacramento as long as he’s guaranteed the final decision on personnel moves. The Kings would have to request permission from the Knicks to talk to Perry, which sources tell Amick and Charania they hadn’t done as of Tuesday night.

The authors list Clippers assistant GMs Mark Hughes and Trent Redden as other candidates to watch, along with Raptors GM Bobby Webster, Celtics VP of basketball operations Mike Zarren, Pelicans executive VP of basketball operations Trajan Langdon, Timberwolves executive VP of basketball operations Sachin Gupta, Spurs VP of basketball operations Brent Barry, and Rockets assistant GM Eli Witus.

Latest On Kings’ GM Search

August 18th, 2020 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings appear likely to hire an executive search firm to help them find a new permanent general manager following Vlade Divac‘s departure, league sources tell Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. However, according to Anderson, several names have already been connected to the position as possible targets for Saramento.

Anderson identifies Spurs VP of basketball operations Brent Barry, Raptors general manager Bobby Webster, Knicks GM Scott Perry, Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren, Heat assistant GM Adam Simon, and Clippers assistant GM Trent Redden as executives who may be on the Kings’ preliminary list of candidates.

Sean Cunningham of ABC10, who singled out many of those same execs as ones to watch, mentioned veteran agent Bill Duffy as another possibility (Twitter link). However, Duffy indicated today that he currently has no plans to follow in the footsteps of Bob Myers, Leon Rose, and other agents who have made the move to a team’s front office.

“There’s no truth to me joining an NBA organization,” Duffy told Jason Jones and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). “I’m fully committed to my clients and their success.”

Joe Dumars, who is the Kings’ interim head of basketball operations, will be involved in the search for a new GM, though team owner Vivek Ranadive and COO Matina Kolokotronis are “viewed as the ultimate decision makers,” Anderson writes.

Anderson also notes that it will be interesting to see what sort of role Dumars ultimately retains in the front office, since Divac’s departure stemmed from Ranadive’s desire to have the former Pistons GM take on a larger role and to have the final say on the roster. Sources tell Anderson that some qualified candidates may be reluctant to fill Sacramento’s GM opening if it doesn’t come with full control over the roster.

Gordon Hayward Expected To Miss Four Weeks With Ankle Injury

August 18th, 2020 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics expect to be without Gordon Hayward for approximately the next four weeks, announcing today (via Twitter) that the forward suffered a Grade III sprain of his right ankle during the fourth quarter of Monday’s Game 1 win over Philadelphia.

Hayward was battling with 76ers center Joel Embiid for position late in the fourth quarter on Monday when he appeared to twisted his right foot and fell to the floor. He was able to limp off the court and back to the locker room, but left the arena on crutches, per Malika Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link). The veteran later underwent an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

It’s a tough blow for Hayward – who has been plagued by injuries since arriving in Boston in 2017 – and for the Celtics, whose already lean pretty heavily on their top few rotation players.

As Tim Bontemps of ESPN observes, Marcus Smart will likely replace Hayward in the starting lineup, joining Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, and Daniel Theis. That would leave players like Robert Williams, Enes Kanter, Brad Wanamaker, Romeo Langford, and Grant Williams as Boston’s top bench options.

A four-week recovery timetable for Hayward would rule him out for the rest of the Celtics’ first-round series vs. Philadelphia. Assuming Boston advances to the second round, the 30-year-old may not be available against the team’s next opponent (presumably Toronto) either, since the conference semifinals are scheduled to take place during the first two weeks of September.

Further complicating Hayward’s future availability are his plans to leave the NBA campus at some point in September for the birth of his fourth child. It’s not clear whether that will happen early or late in the month.

Grizzlies Notes: Morant, Tolliver, Cap Room, Draft Pick

August 16th, 2020 at 12:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Ja Morant‘s 35-point performance against the Trail Blazers Saturday was even more remarkable considering he was playing with a fractured right thumb, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The likely Rookie of the Year told reporters he suffered the injury four games ago.

It’s the latest in a series of mishaps that left the Grizzlies fighting for their playoff life in Orlando after holding a 3 1/2-game lead for the eighth seed when the hiatus began. Jaren Jackson Jr., Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow were all unavailable as the team tried to hang on. Still, Memphis was among the league’s biggest surprises this year and is already looking forward to next season.

“I’m proud of everybody — our whole staff, our players. I mean, we played through a lot of adversities,” Morant said. “We faced injuries early in the season — starting with me and then Brandon (Clarke) and then Jaren. Coming here, we still faced some injuries to some key guys on the team. But we never gave up. I’m proud of our fight.”

There’s more on the Grizzlies:

Anthony Tolliver, who started the season with Portland, told Morant to use Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard as an example as he develops his game, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Tolliver is most impressed by the way Lillard bounces back after failure. “I told Ja that has to be in your DNA,” Tolliver said. “If you want to be the best guard in this league, which you have the potential to be, that has to be in your DNA, the ability to learn to respond and lead your team when you need it.”
Memphis has its entire projected starting five under contract through at least 2021/22, so it won’t need to make any major moves this offseason, writes Bobby Marks of ESPN. The addition of Winslow and Gorgui Dieng at the trade deadline, along with the decision to take on Dion Waiters‘ $12.7MM salary, means the Grizzlies won’t have any cap room to work with. They will have an estimated $9.3MM mid-level exception, part of which may be used to re-sign De’Anthony Melton and Josh Jackson.
Saturday’s loss puts the Grizzlies in the lottery, but their pick will go to the Celtics unless they land a top-four selection in Thursday’s drawing, Marks tweets. If Memphis holds onto the pick, it will become unprotected next year (Twitter link).

Romeo Langford Sidelined With Torn Wrist Ligaments

August 15th, 2020 at 3:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

An injured right wrist may keep Celtics rookie Romeo Langford out of the playoffs, writes Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. Coach Brad Stevens said Langford suffered torn ligaments in his shooting wrist Thursday during the team’s final seeding game.

“He will probably have to do something about [the injury] at some time. But we’re still going through the process of determining the next step with him,” Stevens told reporters today. “I don’t know if that means that, down the road, he’ll have to take time off, if that means he’ll have to have it worked on, but they’re determining and we’re still in the process of determining how he feels and whether or not he’ll be available or not.”

Forsberg notes that injuries have been a frequent issue for Langford, who played with an injured thumb last season at Indiana University. He had surgery on the thumb that forced him to miss the start of training camp and sat out 13 total games this year as a result of a sore right knee, a right ankle sprain and an illness.

Langford still showed some promise during his first NBA season, particularly during the seeding games, and Stevens suggested that he might have seen regular minutes in the playoffs.

“He’d be better able to answer the emotional roller coaster you go on when you experience those injuries and those setbacks, and it’s always been significant enough that it’s been at least a portion of time, not just a day here or there. So that stinks,” Stevens said. “I feel for him. He is a hard-working guy, he’s a tough guy, and I think he’s got a bright, bright future. Again, I hope that he’s able to play, but that’s going to be totally dependent on our doctors, and dependent on his, probably, pain. So he’s going to have to test that and get used to it and see what it feels like. If not, then we’ll have him back when we have him back.”

Seven Of Eight First-Round Playoff Matchups Set

August 13th, 2020 at 6:59am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 13: Following wins by the Thunder and Clippers on Wednesday night, three Western Conference first-round matchups have now been set, with only the Lakers still awaiting their opponent. Those first-round series are as follows:

Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs. Play-in winner (8)
Los Angeles Clippers (2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (7)
Denver Nuggets (3) vs. Utah Jazz (6)
Oklahoma City Thunder (4/5) vs. Houston Rockets (4/5)

We’ll know by the end of Thursday which two teams out of the Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Suns, and Spurs will be participating in the play-in tournament in the West, but it may be Sunday before the Lakers know their first-round opponent.

AUGUST 12: As a result of the Pacers’ 108-104 win over Houston this afternoon, the four Eastern Conference matchups for the first round of the postseason have been set. They are as follows:

Milwaukee Bucks (1) vs. Orlando Magic (8)
Toronto Raptors (2) vs. Brooklyn Nets (7)
Boston Celtics (3) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (6)
Miami Heat (4/5) vs. Indiana Pacers (4/5)

Typically, the Heat and Pacers would be continuing to fight for home court advantage in their series, but the unusual nature of this season means claiming the No. 4 seed instead of No. 5 won’t make much of a difference.

Despite the fact that several teams were within two or three games of one another in the standings when the restart began – or were even tied, like the Pacers and Sixers – the first-round matchups in the East look exactly the same as they did when the season was suspended on March 11.

Over in the West, a small number of teams – including the No. 1 Lakers – are locked into their playoff spots, but most matchups remain up in the air. For now, the most likely pairings are Lakers/play-in winner, Clippers/Mavericks, Nuggets/Jazz, and Rockets/Thunder, but one or more of those could change by Friday.

Celtics Extend Brad Stevens

August 12th, 2020 at 4:35pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, currently in the midst of his seventh season with the club, isn’t going anywhere any time soon. The team has announced today that it has extended Stevens’s contract. The specifics of the new deal have not been divulged.

After leading Butler to two NCAA Finals games, Stevens was brought on board by Celtics president Danny Ainge to replace Doc Rivers in 2013, initially signing a six-year, $22MM deal. The team extended its head coach’s initial contract in 2016.

Stevens sports a 318-245 (.565) regular season record for Boston. He has led the club to six playoff appearances during his seven seasons, including two runs to the Eastern Conference Finals. This season’s team is locked into the third seed in the East with a 48-23 record. The club has one Orlando seeding game left ahead of the 2019/20 playoffs.

“Brad is one of the most intelligent and hard-working coaches in the game today,” Ainge raved. “We are honored to have him with us as we continue to pursue our next championship.”

Stevens is the second Eastern Conference head coach to receive a contract extension today, as the Pacers also reached a new deal with Nate McMillan.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

New York Notes: Walker, Fine, Durant, Fizdale

August 7th, 2020 at 8:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kemba Walker‘s interest in signing with the Knicks as a free agent last summer was “very serious,” the Celtics guard said in a Ringer podcast (Twitter link). The New York native revealed that “before Boston actually came along, the Knicks were one of my top priorities. I was thinking they were going to get another player (top free agent) but it didn’t work out.” Walker wound up agreeing to a four-year, $141MM max contract with Boston.

We have more on the New York teams:

The Nets were fined $25K for failing to comply with league policies regarding the reporting of injuries, according to an NBA.com post. The fine was not related to public injury reports distributed to the media, but rather something related to its own internal database, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets.
If Kevin Durant has his way, he’ll be playing next season with Caris LeVert, Chris Chiozza and Jamal Crawford. Durant praised the trio on the Play for Keeps podcast, Lewis relays. That could influence the way the Nets approach roster changes in the offseason. LeVert is considered to be the Nets’ best asset to acquire a third star but Durant may feel differently. “[LeVert] is definitely better than I thought,” Durant said. Chiozza is on a two-way deal, while the veteran Crawford was signed as a substitute player for the restart.
Ex-Knicks coach David Fizdale endorses his former team’s selection of Tom Thibodeau as its new head coach, according to Ian Begley of SNY. Fizdale made his comments during a Sirius XM Radio interview. “I think (Thibs) is a great hire. I think Thibs is a hell of a coach,” Fizdale said. “He demands hard work and toughness out of his guys.”

2020 NBA Draft Lottery Update

August 6th, 2020 at 2:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2020 NBA draft lottery, originally scheduled for May 19, will now take place on August 20, two weeks from today. Besides happening three months later than usual, this year’s lottery also figures to look a little different, since the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will almost certainly make it impossible for the NBA to bring representatives from the bottom 14 teams to a single location.

As we wait to see what the league has in mind for this year’s event, here are a few updates and reminders on the 2020 NBA draft lottery:

The bottom eight teams are already locked into their lottery spots

Much has been made in the last 24 hours about the Wizards (24-44), who are participating in the NBA’s summer restart, slipping below the inactive Hornets (23-42) in the Eastern Conference standings.

Fortunately for Hornets fans – and unfortunately for Wizards backers – the lottery odds for those two teams won’t hinge on which team finishes with the better overall record. For the NBA’s bottom eight teams, one silver lining of not getting an invite to Orlando this summer for the restart is that their spot in the top eight of the lottery has been locked in, based on the league standings as of March 11.

The Hornets will have the eighth-best odds and the Bulls will have the seventh-best odds even if the Wizards go 0-8 this summer and fall below both teams in the standings.

The race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference could impact the lottery odds

With the non-Orlando teams frozen in the top eight lottery positions, the other six spots will be determined by two factors:

Which six teams in Orlando don’t make the playoffs.
What their records were as of March 11.

This is great news for a team like Phoenix. Having won their first three games in Orlando – as the Grizzlies lost their first four – the Suns are very much alive in the race for the No. 8 seed in the West. It will still take a strong finish and some luck for the Suns to qualify for a play-in tournament, but let’s suppose they do.

In that scenario, if the Suns win the play-in tournament and earn a postseason spot, their first-round pick would be 15th overall, best among the playoff teams, since they entered the hiatus with a 26-39 record, worse than Orlando or Brooklyn.

If they were to lose a play-in tournament, Phoenix would end up with the 10th-best lottery odds, ahead of the rest of Orlando’s non-playoff teams besides the Wizards, who were the only one of the 22 invited teams with a worse record than the Suns as of March 11.

Essentially, if you want to determine the back half of the lottery standings, you just have to sort the 22 teams in Orlando by their March 11 records, from worst to first, then remove the 16 teams that end up in the playoffs.

The Grizzlies could theoretically still keep their first-round pick

The Grizzlies owe their 2020 first-round pick to the Celtics, but it includes top-six protection.

As long as Memphis makes the playoffs, that protection doesn’t really matter — Boston would receive the pick. However, with the Grizzlies’ hold on the No. 8 seed slipping, there’s still an outside chance that they could keep the pick.

Let’s say Memphis falls out of the No. 8 spot and either loses a play-in tournament or altogether misses out on qualifying for a play-in. In that scenario, the Grizzlies would enter the lottery with the 14th-best odds, since they had a better record on March 11 than any of their fellow lottery teams. That would give them a 2.4% chance at moving into the top four, where their pick would be protected.

Those aren’t good odds. In all likelihood, missing the playoffs would just mean the Grizzlies sent the Celtics the No. 14 pick instead of a selection in the 15-17 range. Still, the outside chance at another top pick would at least be a small silver lining if Memphis can’t grab that No. 8 spot. If the Grizzlies do hang onto this year’s pick, they’d owe Boston an unprotected first-rounder in 2021.

Over in the East, the Nets owe a lottery-protected pick to the Timberwolves and would keep it if they fall out of the postseason. However, the Wizards’ struggles have essentially ruled out that possibility. One more Brooklyn win or Washington loss will ensure that the Nets make the playoffs and send their pick to Minnesota.

Current lottery odds

Listed here are the odds for the teams not invited to Orlando, who will hold the top eight spots in the lottery standings.

The numbers in the chart indicate percentages, so the Warriors, for example, have a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick and a 47.9% chance of ending up at No. 5. If a team’s odds are listed as >0, that percentage is below 0.1%.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
GSW	14	13.4	12.7	12	47.9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
CLE	14	13.4	12.7	12	27.8	20	–	–	–	–	–	–
MIN	14	13.4	12.7	12	14.8	26	7.1	–	–	–	–	–
ATL	12.5	12.2	11.9	11.5	7.2	25.7	16.8	2.2	–	–	–	–
DET	10.5	10.5	10.6	10.5	2.2	19.6	26.7	8.8	0.6	–	–	–
NYK	9	9.2	9.4	9.6	–	8.6	29.6	20.6	3.8	0.2	–	–
CHI	7.5	7.8	8.1	8.5	–	–	19.7	34.1	12.9	1.3	>0	–
CHA	6	6.3	6.7	7.2	–	–	–	34.5	32.1	6.7	0.4	>0

The tentative odds for the bottom six spots, assuming the Grizzlies hang onto the No. 8 seed, can be found right here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.