- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores whether the Bulls should trade Zach LaVine or Lauri Markkanen. Chicago has opened the campaign at 7-9 under new head coach Billy Donovan after finishing 11th in the Eastern Conference last season.
The Bulls–Grizzlies game on Wednesday night has been postponed in accordance with the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the league announced in a press release.
The postponement is a result of contact tracing within the Grizzlies and the length of time preceding the game during which Memphis will be unable to practice, the release said. This marks the Grizzlies’ fifth straight postponed game (Wednesday and Friday against Portland, plus Sunday and Monday against Sacramento).
Although another game has been postponed, Memphis still has no new players entered into the health and safety protocols, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
As our NBA Game Postponement Tracker shows, this is the 21st game suspended by the NBA this season. The Grizzlies (7-6) currently own the sixth-best record in the Western Conference, while the Bulls (7-9) own the tenth-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Bulls forward Thaddeus Young confirmed a report from the New York Times about purchasing a minority stake in the Brisbane Bullets, a team that competes in Australia’s National Basketball League, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes.
Young, who has spent the past 14 seasons in the NBA, expects the deal to be finalized soon. The 32-year-old was originally contacted by Kevin Martin, his former teammate and current majority owner of the Bullets, about the possibility.
“I look at that league as primed for growth with young talent,” Young said of the NBL. “More than just a value add through capital, with my expertise and knowledge around the game and relationships I have in the business world, I thought that was a really good move for me.
“I see that as a league where guys can go if they don’t want to go to college and want to come out of high school and be able to grow their games a little.”
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former Celtics and Raptors center Jared Sullinger is eyeing an NBA comeback, Ben Stinar of Forbes writes. Sullinger, 28, last played in the NBA with Toronto during the 2016/17 season. “I’m definitely trying to get back to the NBA,” he said. “I feel like I’ve still got a lot of basketball left, I can help a team, I feel like me being not the biggest guy but still strong enough to guard a five and be able to stretch the floor, I’m in better shape.”
- Bobby Marks of ESPN.com (Insider link) explores six underrated transactions that have had a major impact this season. Among them is Gordon Hayward, who signed a four-year deal to join the Hornets in free agency and is currently averaging 23.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
- The NBA will soon have nine teams hosting a reduced amount of fans in their buildings, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Both Miami and Atlanta plan to allow fans into their arenas this week, with Indiana, Memphis, Cleveland, Houston, New Orleans, Orlando and Utah already choosing to do so.
A handful of NBA players who reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this season are close to returning to action, including Bulls veterans Tomas Satoransky and Chandler Hutchison. Head coach Billy Donovan said today that both players practiced and are on track to being available for Friday’s game vs. Charlotte (Twitter link).
- The jury’s still out on whether Coby White can be the Bulls‘ long-term answer at point guard, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
The frustration for the Bulls and new head coach Billy Donovan is mounting over their penchant for blowing big leads. Chicago squandered a 10-point cushion in the final two minutes of regulation and lost in overtime on Friday to the Thunder, prompting Donovan to make some pointed comments about his team’s psyche.
“This is a hard-working group. It’s a good group of guys. They want to win,” the Bulls’ coach said, per Royce Young of ESPN. “They don’t know how to. They are learning how to.
The Bulls have committed a league-worst 18.3 turnovers per game and Donovan believes that’s the crux of their problem. “We’ve gotten destroyed in the turnover battle the whole entire year,” he said.
Following injuries to rookie Killian Hayes and veteran reserve Derrick Rose, two-way Pistons point guard Frank Jackson, a late addition to Detroit’s roster last month, has stepped up in an expanded role, according to Rod Beard of The Detroit News.
Pistons head coach Dwane Casey commended the 22-year-old. “I really like Frank,” Casey said. “He’s a quick-twitch kid, an offensive player who’s tough on the ball and he has a lot of toughness about him.”
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Bulls forward Otto Porter Jr., recovering from a lower back strain incurred on January 8, returned to team practice today, according to Rob Schaeffer of NBC Sports Chicago. Reserves Tomas Satoransky and Chandler Hutchison, having tested positive for COVID-19 at the beginning of the month, are in different stages of their recovery. Coach Billy Donovan noted that Hutchison, who had symptoms while ill with the virus, can return to Chicago’s practice facility. Satoransky remains in isolation, though Donovan said he was “a day or two away” from being permitted to use the Advocate Center.
- Pistons are playing the long game with 20-year-old second-year forward Sekou Doumbouya, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Doumbouya has yet to earn rotation minutes behind veteran starters Jerami Grant and Blake Griffin. “It’s a process,” head coach Dwane Casey said of Doumbouya’s minutes. Doumbouya is also slotted behind young forwards Saddiq Bey and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.
- Joe Vardon and Kelsey Russo of The Athletic posit that the Cavaliers have been winning their recent trades. They suggest that, following the acquisition of former Nets center Jarrett Allen yesterday, veteran center Andre Drummond, on an expiring deal, will now become a candidate for a trade or buyout. The team also added small forward Taurean Prince from Brooklyn. Russo and Vardon applaud the team’s various acquisitions of draft picks, young talent, and solid veterans.
The Sixers have been hit hard recently by absences related to the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. As of this afternoon, they’ve added a sixth player to their list of those who are out due to the league’s COVID-19 protocols.
Terrance Ferguson, who was previously sidelined for personal reasons, has apparently returned to the 76ers, but will need to undergo a quarantine period before he’s cleared to play, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN notes (Twitter links).
Despite the team finding itself shorthanded, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers isn’t sure that expanding rosters for this season is the answer, telling reporters on Monday that he “probably would not be” in favor of that solution (Twitter link via Bontemps). While having more players available might help teams reach the eight-player minimum, adding back-of-the-roster guys won’t necessarily make a shorthanded club more competitive, Rivers observed.
Here are a few more items from around the NBA related to COVID-19:
- Ryan Arcidiacono and Lauri Markkanen, who have been out since December due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, are back with the Bulls, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN (Twitter links). Both players tested negative for the coronavirus during their respective contract-tracing quarantines.
- After Shams Charania of The Athletic reported earlier this week that one player tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time in the last year, Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe of ESPN say that multiple players have now registered repeat positive tests. Although the CDC has said it expects some coronavirus reinfections, there’s uncertainty about whether that’s the case here, according to ESPN’s duo — there were higher rates of false positives early in the pandemic, meaning some players who were believed to have the virus back in the spring could have been false positives.
- Jabari Young of CNBC takes a look at the financial impact of postponed NBA games and the problems that pausing the season may cause for the league’s advertisers and partners.
- In case you missed it, the NBA and NBPA announced this afternoon that they’ve tightened a number of COVID-19 protocols that apply to players and staffers. NBPA executive director Michele Roberts told Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter links) that imposing more restrictions on players isn’t ideal, but was deemed necessary. “Our experts have concluded that these new procedures will add to our arsenal of weapons against the virus,” she said. “It would be irresponsible and unacceptable to not employ new measures aimed at better promoting and protecting our players’ safety.”
The NBA has postponed Tuesday’s game between the Celtics and Bulls due to the health and safety protocols, the league announced today. A source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that Boston is short on the minimum number of players.
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Grant Williams, Tristan Thompson, Robert Williams, Javonte Green, and Semi Ojeleye are all out due to the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, while Kemba Walker and Romeo Langford are sidelined with injuries.
It’s the second postponement announced today – along with Monday’s Mavericks/Pelicans contest – and the NBA’s third in the last two days. The Celtics’ game against the Heat on Sunday was also postponed.
Despite a growing number of teams and games being impacted by the COVID-19 protocols, NBA spokesman Mike Bass told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN on Sunday that there are no plans to pause the season. Bass said the league had anticipated postponements and “planned the schedule accordingly.”
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently conveyed a similar sentiment to a group of team owners, executives, coaches, and NBPA leaders. Silver suggested that January would likely be the worst month for the league and the virus, but expressed optimism about things improving in February and beyond, especially once vaccinations are more widespread.
“They tell us it’ll be better later in the season, but I just hope this doesn’t break the league in the next few weeks,” one general manager told Wojnarowski.
In today’s press release, the NBA said that it will be meeting today with the NBPA to discuss the possibility of modifying the league’s health and safety protocols. The NBA also has a conference call lined up today with the league’s general managers to discuss these issues, sources tell Woj (Twitter link).
- The Bulls are hoping to return several protocol-impacted players soon, Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago writes. As Schaefer notes, Chandler Hutchison, Tomas Satoransky, Lauri Markkanen and Ryan Arcidiacono haven’t been active in almost two weeks. “There’s nothing normal,” head coach Billy Donovan said. “Guys are pretty much just locked up in their rooms, there’s very very little anybody can do. The days are long for these guys. It’s just a lot different.”