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USA, Serbia Advance To World Cup Semifinals

September 5th, 2023 at 9:30am CST by Luke Adams

After their first loss of the summer against Lithuania on Sunday, Team USA bounced back in convincing fashion on Tuesday, blowing out Italy in a quarterfinal matchup that was never close. The U.S. won by a final score of 100-63, led by Nets forward Mikal Bridges (24 points, seven rebounds) and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (18 points, five assists).

The victory lines up Team USA for a semifinal showdown on Friday against the winner of Wednesday’s quarterfinal between Germany and Latvia. The German team – which includes NBAers like Dennis Schröder, Daniel Theis, and Moritz Wagner – is undefeated in the World Cup and will be the favorite to win Wednesday’s game, though Latvia has exceeded expectations and is a legitimate threat to make it to the final four.

Meanwhile, the Lithuanian squad that defeated the U.S. on Sunday had a disappointing follow-up contest vs. Serbia on Tuesday, losing by a score of 87-68 in another one-sided quarterfinal.

Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic was Serbia’s best player, pouring in 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting, while Sixers big man Filip Petrusev had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting in just 17 minutes of action. Heat forward Nikola Jovic also chipped in with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting.

Serbia will face the winner of Wednesday’s Canada/Slovenia game in Friday’s semifinal, while Lithuania and Italy move into the consolation games to determine the fifth-through-eighth place finishers.

Lithuania and Italy will now have to win qualifying tournaments next summer in order to earn one of the final four spots in the 2024 Olympics, while Serbia remains in the running to claim one of the two FIBA Europe Olympic berths up for grabs in the World Cup.

The winner of Germany/Latvia on Wednesday would join Serbia as the two European Olympic qualifiers if Slovenia falls to Canada; if Slovenia wins, three European teams would still be alive for two Olympic berths heading into the semifinals.

Eastern Notes: DeRozan, Turner, Simmons, Powell

September 3rd, 2023 at 3:14pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

All-Star Bulls small forward DeMar DeRozan is eligible for a four-year contract extension worth up to $179MM, prompting K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago to consider the case for Chicago’s retention of the 34-year-old wing.

Across his two seasons with the Bulls, DeRozan has posted impressive regular season averages of 26.2 PPG, 5.0 APG and 4.9 RPG. Chicago returned to the playoffs in one of those two seasons, falling in five quick games to the Bucks in 2022.

Johnson believes that the Bulls might want to consider keeping DeRozan on a deal closer to Khris Middleton‘s new three-year, $102MM agreement with Milwaukee, and wonders if the three-time All-NBA honoree and Chicago could come to terms on a new contract that would make both sides happy.

There’s more out of the East:

Three-and-D Pacers center Myles Turner is hoping to elevate his shooting to an elite level this season. The 6’11” big man indicated in a new conversation with hosts Alex Golden and Michael Facci on their Setting The Pace podcast (h/t to Tony East of All Pacers for the transcription) that he wants to join the 50/40/90 shooting club, something few players in league history have ever done. “Working on multiple things,” Turner said. “Obviously, still improving my shot. Get my numbers up there. I really strive to be like a 50/40/90 guy… I think it’s possible… a lofty goal at that, but something I know I’m capable of doing.” In 2022/23, Turner averaged 18.0 PPG on .548/.373/.783 shooting splits, along with 7.5 RPG, 2.3 BPG, 1.4 APG and 0.6 SPG. He has never shot better than 80.9% from the charity stripe in a single season, or better than 38.8% on three-pointers.
The revamped Nets are hoping that former All-Star point guard Ben Simmons can return to his winning ways. Simmons was out of the team’s rotation by the end of the year. Per Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily, a recent site survey shows that a majority of fans (62%) are optimistic Simmons will be the club’s starting point guard in April. 87% of Brooklyn fans are also convinced that the team will win more than 38 contests in 2023/24.
Clippers reserve guard Norman Powell recently looked back on the 2021 trade that sent him from the Raptors to the Trail Blazers (Twitter video link via Basketball On X). “I didn’t want to leave Toronto,” Powell revealed. “I wanted to stay. The core that we had with Fred [VanVleet], Pascal [Siakam], OG [Anunoby], me, could’ve been what Boston Celtics are today.”

Atlantic Notes: Giles, Adams, Knicks Roster, Hart, Quickley

September 2nd, 2023 at 9:37am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Nets are signing Harry Giles to a contract and, according to SNY’s Ian Begley and Garrett Stepien, Giles picked Brooklyn over two other suitors who had strong interest in the big man. It’s unclear who those two suitors were, but his agent Daniel Hazan of Hazan Sports Management said the Nets showed interest in his client all offseason.

Brooklyn’s persistent interest has been a factor in free agent decisions this summer, with Dennis Smith Jr. also picking the Nets over other offers because the team made him a priority.

Giles, the No. 20 overall pick in the 2017 draft, hasn’t played in the NBA since 2021. Still just 25 years old, he joins a rotation of centers that include Nic Claxton, Day’Ron Sharpe and Noah Clowney.

As SNY points out, and we wrote Friday, Giles is eligible for a two-way deal this season due to a change to the Collective Bargaining Agreement despite the fact that he has four years of NBA service, since he missed a full year to injury. It’s still unclear whether his deal includes Exhibit 10 language, but if it does, Giles could have the deal converted to a two-way contract. Currently, Brooklyn has no spots open on its 15-man standard roster but has one two-way spot available.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Former Sixers assistant Brian Adams is leaving Philadelphia to accept a head coaching job with the Taipei Taishin Mars of Taiwan’s T1 league, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Wojnarowski notes that Adams had a storied history with former Sixers head coach Doc Rivers, with whom he coached for each of the past nine seasons with the Clippers and Sixers. Adams was also the head coach of the Agua Caliente Clippers, L.A.’s G League affiliate, from 2018 to 2020, before he joined Rivers in Philly.
While the Knicks have just 14 players on standard contracts and room under their hard cap of $172.34MM to add a 15th, Begley doesn’t see New York signing another rotation-level player. Begley writes that prior to the World Cup, Knicks decision-makers wanted Josh Hart to play more of the power forward position next season. While it wouldn’t surprise Begley to see the Knicks add someone who can have a positive impact on team culture (he mentions Taj Gibson and Ryan Arcidiacono), Begley writes New York could look to keep the roster flexible for someone who interests them mid-season.
The deadline to sign a rookie scale extension is one day before the regular season, or Oct. 24, and Immanuel Quickley is in line for a new deal. Begley writes that he would be surprised if Quickley and New York don’t reach an agreement before opening night. However, Begley notes that if the Knicks sign Quickley to an extension, it would make the Sixth Man of the Year runner-up difficult to trade in 2023/24 due to the poison pill provision. If the former Kentucky guard and New York don’t agree to a deal this year, he’ll reach restricted free agency in 2024.

Atlantic Notes: G League Trades, Celtics Fan Survey, Sixers

August 31st, 2023 at 6:25pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Raptors 905, the G League affiliate of Toronto, acquired Derrick Walton, Tremont Waters and a future first-round pick in exchange for David Johnson and a second-round pick from the Grizzlies‘ affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, according to Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy (Twitter link).

The trade marks an end for Johnson’s Raptors organization tenure after being selected with the No. 47 overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Louisville. Johnson played for the Raptors in his rookie season on a two-way deal. After that expired, he signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Toronto last season but didn’t crack the opening-day roster. He spent the remainder of the 2022/23 season with the 905. There were hopes that Johnson could develop into a lead guard off the bench for the Raptors, but that didn’t happen in Toronto and now he’ll get a chance to develop in Memphis.

Walton and Waters are both guards with 40 or more games of NBA experience. Walton made his debut in ’17/18 with the Heat and had stints with the Clippers and Pistons. He averaged 16.8 points and 9.4 assists in his last season in the G League, ’21/22, in 25 regular season games.

Waters played on a two-way deal with the Celtics for two seasons in a row as the No. 51 overall pick in the 2019 draft. He spent some time with the Raptors and Wizards on 10-day deals as well. The 5’10” guard holds career NBA averages of 3.7 points and 2.1 assists. Waters is currently tearing it up for Puerto Rico in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, averaging 16.7 points and 8.7 assists through three games.

G League trades that happen before the NBA’s training camps are worth noting. Usually, a trade such as this indicates one or more of the players involved will sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the parent club of the team trading for them. For example, Alondes Williams was traded from the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s affiliate, to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the affiliate of the Heat, and then signed a training camp deal with Miami about two weeks later.

It’s to be determined whether or not any of these players will spend training camps with NBA teams, but it is something to monitor going forward.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

A second G League trade took place on Thursday, with Long Island trading the returning player rights to RaiQuan Gray in exchange for the returning player rights to Jordan Hall from the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s affiliate, according to a press release. Gray signed a two-year, two-way contract with Brooklyn at the end of the ’22/23 season but was waived this offseason. In his lone appearance with the Nets, he put up 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Hall began last year with San Antonio on a two-way deal but he was cut shortly after the season began. He was then re-signed by the Spurs and subsequently waived again later that season. Hall averaged 3.1 points in nine NBA games last year.
The Celtics made several big moves this offseason after being eliminated from the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals. Jay King and Jared Weiss of The Athletic are taking the pulse of Celtics fans entering a season with high expectations in their annual survey. King and Weiss pose 30 questions in an expansive survey that’s open to The Athletic subscribers, including how fans feel about the Marcus Smart trade and Kristaps Porzingis‘ fit with the team. The results of the survey will be shared soon.
In a recent mailbag, Kyle Neubeck of the PhillyVoice discussed several topics related to what has shaped up to be a busy Sixers offseason. Despite Ben Simmons recently leaving the door open for a possible reunion with the Sixers, Neubeck doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. Neubeck also goes over Tyrese Maxey‘s All-Star candidacy for next season and beyond, as well as how he thinks Nick Nurse will develop the team’s young players like Jaden Springer.

Gardner Anticipates Ticket To G League

August 29th, 2023 at 9:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Center Patrick Gardner agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Nets last month. He’s expecting to end up in the G League this season but hopes to make a major impression during training camp.

“I was fortunate enough to get a training camp invite for the Nets, then depending how I do here and in general, hopefully I could just keep moving up from there. I think I’m gonna be with the G League team, but you never know what could happen, just got to be prepared for all options,” Gardner told FIBA.Basketball.

Gardner is playing for Egypt during the World Cup and was on the Heat’s summer league squad. The Nets reached an agreement with him shortly after he went undrafted out of Marist.

In case you missed it, the Nets’ Ben Simmons plans to come back with a vengeance during the upcoming season. Get the details here.

Ben Simmons Eager To “Come Back And Dominate”

August 29th, 2023 at 4:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Nets guard Ben Simmons is feeling as good as he has in years and is “excited” about the upcoming season, he tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape. A three-time All-Star from 2019-21, Simmons has missed 122 games over the last two seasons due to mental and physical issues and didn’t look his old self when he was active, but he says he “definitely” thinks he’ll be ready for opening night.

“For me to come back and dominate people will be great,” Simmons said. “I don’t intend to come back the same player I was last [season], because that’s not even close to where I am. I get excited because I’m like, ‘Damn, I would [expletive] on the player I was last year.'”

Simmons, who was traded from Philadelphia to Brooklyn during the 2021/22 season following a lengthy holdout, was unable to play for the Nets that year due to back problems. He went under the knife in May 2022 to address a herniated disc and wasn’t fully recovered from the procedure when last season began — he played in 42 games, but was shut down in the second half and didn’t see the court after February 15.

Speaking to Spears, Simmons admitted that he was playing last season when he probably shouldn’t have been and suggested he was trying to “please people” after being sidelined for all of 2021/22. The 27-year-old managed to avoid a second back surgery and underwent an extended rehab process this offseason, which he’s feeling positive about. He said he has been doing 2-on-2 work for the last couple weeks and is progressing well.

“I don’t think people realize how bad it was in terms of physically how I was feeling and what I was able to do on the floor,” he said of his back issues. “… I remember my brother came to watch me work out one day, and he was just like, ‘You’re not OK, are you?’ I was looking at him, I was like, ‘Obviously not. This is not how I should be moving.’ But I’m happy I’m in this place now. I’m grateful I didn’t do anything to have another surgery.

“… Being able to sit down now and not have to lean or slouch one way, it’s kind of crazy for me. But I feel I’m at 100% now. Right now, I’m just building back to where I’m playing. I haven’t played in a while. Just taking hits and getting my body used to that.”

Here are a few other items of interest from Spears’ interview with Simmons:

Simmons says he “100%” wants to be part of Australia’s roster for the 2024 Olympics, assuming the Boomers qualify. “There hasn’t really been a time where I’ve been prepared and ready physically,” he said. “But next year, my goal is to be on the Olympic team.”
Asked if he felt any desire to ask out of Brooklyn last season like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving did, Simmons dismissed the idea: “I love Brooklyn. I don’t have an issue with Brooklyn. For me, I want to get healthy. The only thing I could do was get healthy. I couldn’t complain about anything. I’m in a great city, a great organization, great owners, great coach, great GM. It’s all good people around, and they want to win and do it the right way. Also, I don’t have specific teams I want to go to. This is a job. I’m not going to ask to be put somewhere specific, I just want to play.”
Simmons admitted that his relationship with head coach Jacque Vaughn got off to a rocky start when he was first traded to Brooklyn, but he feels as if he’s gotten closer to Vaughn, who has visited him multiple times in Miami this offseason. “We’re in a great place,” Simmons said. “I speak to him every other day. And I’m excited because I think Coach is great. Great as a person, great coach. That’s the main thing, just being a good human. He can relate to a lot of players, he’s played the game.”
Asked about his 2023/24 position, Simmons indicated that he doesn’t expect to be used as a power forward or center. “Point guard. That’s who I am,” he told Spears, adding that he has talked to Vaughn about his role. “As much as people say, ‘Fix this, fix that.’ No, I’m a point guard. When I was playing at that [high] level, nobody was really saying anything to me.”
Despite the way his tenure with the Sixers ended, Simmons will “always have love for Philly” and even left the door open for an eventual return to the city. “People always ask me like, ‘If you were to get traded again where you want it to be?'” he said. “I always say, ‘Just Philly. Philly is a second home to me.’ And in time, you learn and grow as people. I don’t really have anything bad to say about Philly. It was a crazy situation at the end, but it is what it is.”

Marks Excited To See Young Roster Come Together

August 28th, 2023 at 8:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets no longer have the superstar power but they’ve got a lot of interesting young pieces and GM Sean Marks is excited to see how they’ll fit together, Anthony Puccio of Nets Daily relays. “We have all put ourselves in a position to have an exciting few years here where we’ve got a much younger roster than we’ve had in the past and a lot of guys have chips on their shoulders which I think is pretty important,” Marks told Jason Prime of New Zealand’s Weekend Sport on OMNY FM. “They’re pretty self-motivated. They don’t need to listen to me or anyone else for that matter for motivation. They’ve got something to prove.”

Atlantic Notes: Clowney, Embiid, Beverley, Hauser

August 28th, 2023 at 10:42am CST by Arthur Hill

Summer League gave Nets rookie Noah Clowney a chance to adjust to the speed of the NBA game before his first training camp, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Clowney struggled with his shot in Las Vegas, connecting at just 22.6% from the field and 23.5% beyond the arc, but he considers the experience a valuable one.

“Obviously the game is faster,” Clowney said. “It’s really all a bunch of small details, really — like screening angles, getting into screens faster, then getting out faster and things like that. What shots are good shots, if you don’t (have) a shot, get right into the next action. … You learn from it, and I think the only way you can learn from it is by going through the experience of that Summer League. So I’m glad I played in it. It was fun. I didn’t play my best, obviously. (My shooting) percentages were horrible. But it was a learning experience. I feel like that’s what it was supposed to be. So I’m happy with it.”

One of the youngest players in this year’s draft, Clowney just turned 19 in July, so he may spend much of his first season in the G League. He has drawn comparisons to starting center Nic Claxton, and Nets officials are optimistic about his long-term potential.

“I love the intangibles. I love how hard he competes. I love the length that he has,” general manager Sean Marks said. “When you have a 7-foot-3-inch wingspan, I can’t teach that. Our coaches can teach a lot of things, but they can’t teach that. I love the fact that he doesn’t shy away from shooting from the outside. He’s very versatile, can play a couple of different positions out there.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

France’s disappointment in this year’s World Cup doesn’t mean national team general manager Boris Diaw will be any more aggressive in recruiting Sixers center Joel Embiid for the 2024 Olympics, per Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops. Embiid has both French and U.S. citizenship, but he hasn’t committed to representing either country. “I don’t think it’s a pursuit. It’s about people who want to come,” Diaw said. “Some people come or don’t come to the national team for different reasons. He’s a special case for his own reasons. I don’t think there’s a way to be aggressive on our part.”
Sixers guard Patrick Beverley doesn’t believe the Celtics can win a title with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as the core of the team, relays Kaley Brown of Boston.com. “No – too much of the same player,” Beverley said on his podcast. “They don’t complement each other enough … they complement each other, but not enough.” Even so, Beverley added that Boston shouldn’t get rid of either player and said the team got “a lot better” by trading for Kristaps Porzingis.
Grant Williams‘ departure creates an opportunity for Celtics forward Sam Hauser to earn consistent minutes moving into his third NBA season, observes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Hauser briefly moved ahead of Williams in the rotation last season, and Weiss examines how he can best fit into coach Joe Mazzulla’s offense.

Community Shootaround: Ben Simmons

August 23rd, 2023 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Throughout the offseason, there have been indications that Nets guard Ben Simmons has overcome the physical issues that cut short his 2022/23 season and that he’ll be healthy and ready to go when training camp opens.

Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks started the speculation at his end-of-season press conference after the team was eliminated from the playoffs in April. Marks told reporters that Simmons didn’t appear to need another back surgery and would likely be fully healthy by the start of September.

Simmons got some social media buzz in June when he posted workout photos on Instagram, and a month later, Marc J. Spears of Andscape shared a quote from a source who said Simmons is “as healthy as he has ever been since his last year in Philly.” A day later, Ian Begley of SNY.tv reported that Simmons had fully completed rehab following a back nerve impingement that sidelined him for the last six weeks of the season.

In early August, teammate Cameron Johnson said in an interview that he expects Simmons to be “if not full form, pretty close to it.” He added that he had recently talked to Simmons and believes he’s in “a good place.”

A healthy Simmons would obviously make a huge difference for the Nets, who are trying to establish a new identity after trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in February. Johnson, Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton are the foundation of the team, and Simmons could turn them into a legitimate contender if he becomes anything close to the All-Star that he was in Philadelphia.

Of course, there are caveats. Simmons decided not to join the Australian team for the World Cup after raising the possibility in May. He came to an agreement with the national team that he would skip the tournament while continuing to prepare for the upcoming NBA season while leaving open the possibility of playing in the 2024 Olympics.

Anyone who has followed the Nets since Simmons was acquired in February of 2022 knows there have been other encouraging health reports, which are eventually followed by setbacks.

Simmons is owed $37.9MM for the upcoming season and $40.3MM for 2024/25. The contract is considered among the worst in the league, but only because Simmons hasn’t been able to play. It becomes much more reasonable — and possibly even tradable — if he gets to be healthy and productive again.

We want to know what you think. Will Simmons be able to get back to normal after two straight seasons marred by injuries and off-court issues, or is the All-Star version of Simmons gone forever? Please leave your comments in the space below.

Nets Notes: Whitehead, Claxton, Wilson, Schedule

August 21st, 2023 at 9:22am CST by Arthur Hill

Dariq Whitehead‘s appearance at the Nets’ Plaza Party on Sunday provided another reason for optimism that he’ll be ready when training camp opens, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The first-round pick out of Duke underwent a second surgery on his right foot this summer, but Lewis states that he was able to walk without a limp or a boot. While Whitehead didn’t provide any specifics about the operation or his projected return, he indicated that he’s making progress.

“Rehab is going great. Foot feeling good. Definitely not trying to give it a definite timetable right now, just trying to take it day by day,” Whitehead said. “But everything’s feeling good, and just looking forward to approaching the season, getting back to 100 percent.”

Whitehead was the second-ranked high school player in the nation and was hoping to be a top-five pick in the draft. But issues with his foot disrupted his college career and caused him to slip to No. 22. The surgery prevented Whitehead from playing in Summer League, so he’s eager to get started with preparations for his rookie season.

“When you’re injured, you always have that urge to want to get out there and be out there on the court with the guys,” Whitehead said. “But that’s something coach Jacque (Vaughn) has preached to me since the first day I stepped in the door, about it’s a marathon not a (sprint) race. So just knowing that I’ve got to be patient and take my time with it, and hearing that come from him, makes it a little more assuring that, all right, just take my time, get back to where I need to be, and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”

There’s more from Brooklyn:

The Nets need Nic Claxton to expand his game this season, even though it could raise his asking price when he becomes a free agent next summer, Lewis adds in another Post story. Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype told Lewis that Claxton is already in position to land a contract similar to Jakob Poeltl, who got $78MM over four years from the Raptors.
Second-round pick Jalen Wilson tells Ian Begley of SNY.tv that spending four years in college made him more ready for the NBA than he would have been if he had left early. “I know I’m a rookie but being 22, about to be 23 years old, I feel like I’m mature enough to be able to share my experiences and understand that when you have a culture, you have a foundation that you can do anything (from),” Wilson said. “Me being able to present that and being able to execute it on and off the floor, I feel like that’s an advantage I have.”
With the Big Three era over, the Nets only have 11 nationally televised games this season, with six of those on NBA TV, Lewis observes in an overview of the schedule. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who both asked to be traded in February, will return to the Barclays Center in the same week, with the Suns visiting on January 31 and the Mavericks following on February 6.