- Celtics small forward Jae Crowder believes the high right ankle sprain he suffered in March caused his shooting numbers to take a tumble late last season, Taylor C. Snow of Celtics.com reports. Crowder shots 45.3% from the field and 35.4& from 3-point range during the first 65 games and 32.9% and 24.0%, respectively, following his injury. “My ankle was more fatigued than I really realized,” Crowder told Snow. “The way the season ended really gave me a chip on my shoulder to get better and to get in the lab and work and get better at the things I needed to work on.”
- Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com, new big man Al Horford said that it “feels right” to be playing for the Celtics, adding that he feels like the club is capable of winning a championship.
- The Celtics signed Damion Lee to a two-year, minimum-salary contract that features $50K in guaranteed money, while Jalen Jones got a one-year deal with a $25K guarantee, per Pincus (Twitter link).
1:12pm: Responding today to Noel’s comments, Colangelo reiterated that he’s not shopping any specific players, suggesting that – as a new GM – he was simply gauging league-wide interest in his players (Twitter link via Derek Bodner of PhillyMag.com). Colangelo added that the situation shouldn’t be affected by Noel’s comments, and that Embiid’s health will be a major factor in the Sixers’ plans (Twitter links via Bodner and Pompey). The team isn’t in a rush to make any moves, per Colangelo (Twitter link via Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com).
Meanwhile, Noel doubled down on his earlier comments this afternoon. While he stressed he isn’t unhappy in Philadelphia, the big man said he doesn’t see “any way of it working” when asked again about the center logjam (Twitter link via Bodner).
8:37am: With Joel Embiid poised to make his NBA debut this season, the Sixers are stacked at the center position, as Embiid joins Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor in the rotation. The logjam at the position has resulted in plenty of trade rumors involving Noel and Okafor this offseason, but the team has yet to make a move. And as Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Noel is starting to publicly question when a move will happen.
“I think it’s just silly… this situation that we are in now with three starting centers,” Noel said. “With the departure of [former GM] Sam Hinkie, I would have figured that management would be able to get something done this summer. … I think something needs to happen.”
According to Noel, he’s not asking to be traded himself, or demanding that the Sixers make a move immediately. However, it sounds as if he views a deal as inevitable, since it doesn’t make sense for the club to play out the season with all three players, assuming they all stay healthy. According to Noel, it’s the equivalent of having “three starting quarterbacks.”
“I feel like it definitely needs to be figured out,” Noel said. “I think at the end of the day, again, you have three starting-caliber centers. And it’s just not going to work to anybody’s advantage having that on the same team. That’s how I’m looking at it. I’m not opposed to anything, but things need to be situated.”
Although GM Bryan Colangelo has suggested in the past that heading into the season with Okafor, Noel, and Embiid all on the roster isn’t necessarily ideal, the Sixers also like all three players and don’t want to sell one of them for below market value. Appearing on Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast last week, Colangelo denied aggressively shopping Okafor and Noel, adding that the team’s desire to make a deal has been overstated and calling it a “high-class problem” to have three promising young centers.
Noel tells Pompey that he knows he “was shopped,” though that could be a question of semantics — it’s not clear whether the Sixers were instigating trade discussions or simply talking to teams that called to ask about their bigs. According to Pompey, Noel’s name has come up in trade talks with the Celtics, Suns, Hawks, and Rockets, but Philadelphia turned down multiple offers for the 22-year-old. Another source tells Pompey that the Sixers have also spoken to the Raptors and Spurs.
While it remains possible that the Sixers will make a move prior to the regular season, the club had been hoping to make it until at least December 15, per Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). That would give Okafor and Embiid time to prove they’re fully healthy, and it would allow players who signed new deals this offseason to become trade-eligible, opening the door for more possible scenarios.
- James Young is ready to battle for a roster spot as the Celtics open camp, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Boston has 16 players with guaranteed contracts, and the competition for the final slot is expected to come down to Young, second-year guard R.J. Hunter and rookie forward Ben Bentil. Young, a 6’6″ shooting guard, has been with the Celtics for two seasons but has played in just a combined 60 games. He will make more than $1.8MM this season, but may be in the organization’s dog house after being benched during summer league for his poor play. “I’m not thinking about contracts or the next year,” Young said. “I’m just staying in the present right now, gotten a lot better, still getting better. And there’s a lot better for me to come, so I’m not even thinking about the future, who they got coming up or what’s going on. I’m staying right here in the present.”
Jared Dudley was interested in joining the Celtics in free agency this summer, but the team didn’t reach out to him, relays Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Dudley, who averaged 7.9 points per game and shot 42% from 3-point range last season with the Wizards, has ties to the area as a Boston College alumnus. Instead, he accepted a three-year, $30MM offer from Phoenix. “Boston never contacted me, but I made it known I was interested in them,” Dudley said. He added that the Celtics may not have believed they had a role for him because they want to give playing time to first-round pick Jaylen Brown.
- The crew over at Basketball Insiders previewed the Celtics‘ upcoming season, with the general opinion being that Boston will finish first or second in the Atlantic Division in 2016/17.
Nearly a month and a half ago, Matt Bonner expressed a desire to continue his NBA playing career, despite the fact that it didn’t look like the Spurs had interest in bringing him back. With training camps right around the corner, Bonner still hasn’t given up on the idea of playing another NBA season, as he tells Ray Duckler of The Concord Monitor.
“I’m going to fight to get into the league,” Bonner said. “I’m going to fight to play one more year. … There’s been interest, but nothing concrete. A lot of teams are like, ‘We like Matt, we just don’t have a roster space right now, but if anything changes, he’s in the mix.’ There’s a long way to go until opening night, so I’m remaining optimistic.”
Bonner, 36, has been a Spur for the last decade, appearing in 726 total regular-season and playoff games with the team during those 10 years. While his PPG average has been mostly on the decline since 2008/09, he’s still extremely accurate from long range — he made 44.1% of his three-point attempts last season, to improve his career mark to 41.4%.
Still, the Spurs don’t appear to have interest in bringing back Bonner, and the veteran big man tells Duckler that the local Celtics aren’t interested either. Bonner is determined to play for as long as he possibly can before calling it a career, but he isn’t sure whether he’d consider playing in a league besides the NBA for the 2016/17 season.
“Wow, you’re asking tough questions,” Bonner said, when Duckler asked if he’d consider playing in Europe. “That’s one of those where I would cross that bridge when I came to it.”
- A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com identifies Terry Rozier as a Celtics player worth keeping an eye on in camp. Rozier is one of 16 players with guaranteed contracts heading into camp, and Blakely thinks Rozier may be a potential trade candidate if the C’s don’t plan on having him get regular playing time this season.
While nothing appears imminent, Kelly Olynyk is “very much a player to keep an eye on” regarding trade possibilities for the Celtics, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays. Some teams like the Raptors will likely reach out about acquiring the big man once the season progresses, Blakely writes. That’s because while Olynyk has shown flashes of promise, it remains unclear how consistent he can play at a high level and be utilized effectively in Boston, Blakely adds.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Realizing that they do not possess the same level of talent as other teams do, the Nets believe their best bet to win games is to be willing to outwork teams, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. The Nets’ staff epitomizes that, Lewis adds, because of their traveling to see players and work with them, which is a reflection of coach Kenny Atkinson, who is known for player development.
- Dario Saric is only 22 and has yet to play in a regular season game, but Sixers coach Brett Brown thinks Saric’s experience overseas is more important than his age, Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com relays. Saric started his pro career in 2009, and at the age of 15, he played for Zrinjevac in his native country Croatia, as Camerato points out.