- Cavaliers big men Lauri Markkanen and Jarrett Allen are set to return on Monday against the Nets, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). Markkanen has missed nine games due to the league’s health and safety protocols, while Allen has missed three due to an illness. Cedi Osman (back) and Lamar Stevens (ankle) are doubtful for the contest, Fedor adds.
- Speaking of the Cavaliers, the team plans to be cautious with rookie Evan Mobley in his recovery from a sprained elbow, Fedor writes in a story for Cleveland.com. Mobley is making progress, but he was given a two-to-four-week timetable just under a week ago. In 15 starts this season, the 20-year-old has averaged 14.6 points, eight rebounds and 33.7 minutes.
The Cavaliers‘ fast start has raised expectations in Cleveland, Jarrett Allen tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Coming off a 22-50 season, the Cavs were hoping to improve enough to contend for a spot in the play-in round, but the team is now 9-8 and has started to aim a little higher.
“We’re definitely shooting for the playoffs,” Allen said. “First, I think people thought, let’s just get in for the play-in game, be one of those ninth or tenth seeds. But now, I guess you’ve got to be in the play-in if you’re seven or eight, but we want to be in one of the old seven or eight playoff spots.”
Allen covers several topics in the interview, including the five-year, $100MM contract he signed during the offseason. Although he was a restricted free agent and the Cavaliers could have waited to match any offer on the open market, they were aggressive and reached a deal quickly to keep him in Cleveland.
“I never thought that would happen,” Allen said of being a $100MM player. “I’m not saying that I didn’t believe in my basketball abilities. I didn’t know that people saw that in me on the court. And you know, now that I have it, nothing’s really changed. I’m still who I am. I’m still going to be who I am on the court. There’s a reason I got the $100 million. I don’t think I need to go out there and shoot 20 threes a game. It’s a dream, and we’ll keep it that way.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Cavaliers‘ offseason addition of Ricky Rubio has become more important with the loss of Collin Sexton for the rest of the season, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN. Rubio has ranked second on the team in minutes played in the four games since Sexton was injured.
- Recent rumors about a possible Ben Simmons trade don’t make sense for the Pistons, according to Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Primarily a ball-handler on offense, Simmons isn’t a good fit for a team that already has Killian Hayes and Cade Cunningham, Beard points out. There are also questions about how Simmons would affect the culture of a young team and concerns about taking on his hefty contract.
- Part of the Bulls‘ improvement on defense stems from more playing time for Javonte Green and the trade for Derrick Jones Jr., since both Green and Jones can guard multiple positions, observes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. They have been asked to contribute more to the team’s interior defense while Nikola Vucevic is sidelined with COVID-19. ‘‘Position-less basketball, right?’’ Green said. ‘‘That’s our job. We’re not here to completely shut down anybody; we’re here to do our part in making life hard on (opposing big men) while (center Nikola Vucevic) is out.”
Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The team first announced Sexton’s injury on November 8, but there was no recovery timeline mentioned at the time. Now we know he’ll miss the remainder of the season.
It’s a devastating blow for the fourth-year guard, who’s eligible to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season. The Cavs were reportedly interested in a long-term contract with Sexton, but missing the rest of the season will hurt his leverage in negotiations.
Sexton had been quite healthy his first three seasons; he played in all 82 games as a rookie, all 65 of the team’s games in his second season, and 60 out of 72 games last season.
The eighth overall pick in 2018, Sexton was the Cavaliers’ leading scorer in each of the last two seasons, having put up a career-best 24.3 PPG in 60 games in 2020/21 with a solid .475/.371/.815 shooting line. He was off to a slower start this season, with his shooting line dipping to .453/.244/.744, but his 16.0 PPG is still the second-highest mark on the team, only trailing the 17.8 PPG of point guard Darius Garland.
Obviously it’s bad news for the Cavs as well, who are very undermanned at the moment. Rookie Evan Mobley, who looked like a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year, will miss the next two-to-four weeks with a right elbow sprain. Kevin Love just returned from a bout of COVID-19, while Lauri Markkanen is working his way back to shape after battling the virus. Starting center Jarrett Allen has missed the past three games as well with a non-COVID illness, so the Cavs have been without four of their five original starters the past two games.
The Cavs started the season 9-5 (7-4 with Sexton), but have lost their last three games and now sit at 9-8. Their next game is Monday, Nov. 22 against Brooklyn.
With Sexton on the shelf, Cleveland has leaned more heavily on Garland and veteran point guard Ricky Rubio, with Dylan Windler and Denzel Valentine receiving rotation minutes in recent games. Second-year wing Isaac Okoro has also seen heavy minutes since returning from injury.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), the Cavs could eligible for a disabled player exception worth approximately $3.2MM (roughly half of Sexton’s salary) if Sexton is deemed likely to be out through June 15th.
Marks also relays that the Cavs are currently $3.1MM below the luxury tax threshold and have no open roster spots. Using a disabled player exception does not free up a roster spot, and if used, it counts against the cap. So, even if they were granted a DPE, there’s certainly no guarantee the Cavs would actually use it.
Since USA Basketball announced its 12-man roster earlier this week for the first qualifying games for the 2023 World Cup, two players have been removed from the squad — DaQuan Jeffries withdrew due to an injury, and Frank Mason wasn’t cleared to participate.
NBA veterans Isaiah Thomas and Justin Anderson will replace Jeffries and Mason on the Team USA roster, according to a press release. Thomas, who continues to pursue an NBA roster spot, represented the U.S. in the AmeriCup qualifiers back in January, so he’s no stranger to international competition.
The same is true of Anderson — the veteran swingman, who has appeared in 226 NBA games, played for Team USA in the AmeriCup qualifiers in 2020 and was part of the Select Team that scrimmaged against the U.S. team prior to the 2019 World Cup.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks identifies some of the offseason moves that been the most impactful during the first month of the 2021/22 NBA season, including the Cavaliers‘ acquisition of Ricky Rubio and Tommy Sheppard‘s reshaping of the Wizards‘ roster.
- The NBA plans to increase COVID-19 testing during the Thanksgiving holidays next week, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. As Wojnarowski explains, the league is trying to avoid risking any team-wide breakouts after players participate in family celebrations.
- Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link) breaks down the pros and cons of the various pathways to the NBA for top prospects, taking an in-depth look at the G League, Overtime Elite, National Basketball League (Australia), and college basketball. As Givony writes, the NCAA remains “the most bankable path to the NBA” for top prospects, but those players have more options than ever to choose from.
The Cavaliers are hopeful they’ll be closer to full strength by Monday, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Jarrett Allen missed the team’s game against the Lakers on Thursday with an illness. Lamar Stevens is rehabbing from a right ankle sprain and Lauri Markkanen is reconditioning after a bout with COVID-19, but there’s a belief that all three players could return early next week.
- Cavaliers forward Kevin Love didn’t require hospitalization but his bout with COVID-19 was a rough one, according to Fedor. “I went through it,” Love said. “The first four or five days were pretty tough. All the usual symptoms that I think people might get. Crazy muscle aches, sensitive skin, can’t smell, taste, muscle spasms, fatigue. Then just chest and head got hit pretty tough as well.” Love had 11 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes while playing for the first time this month on Wednesday.
11:45am: Mobley will miss two to four weeks, the team announced in a press release. According to the Cavs, today’s MRI confirmed the diagnosis of a right elbow sprain and Mobley will undergo treatment and rehabilitation.
8:03am: Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley left Monday’s loss to Boston in the second half due to an injury that has been diagnosed as a sprained right elbow. According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, Mobley will undergo an MRI on Tuesday morning to determine the severity of the ailment.
Mobley, 20, has been perhaps the NBA’s most impressive rookie during the first month of the season, averaging 14.6 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.6 BPG in 15 games (33.7 MPG).
Although Jarrett Allen (illness), Kevin Love (health and safety protocols), and Lauri Markkanen (health and safety protocols) all remain day-to-day, the Cavs’ frontcourt is relatively deep overall. Still, losing Mobley for an extended period would be a major blow to a team that’s off to a surprisingly good start at 9-6.
Fedor writes that the organization is “holding its breath” and hoping that today’s MRI won’t reveal any sort of significant injury. For what it’s worth, the No. 3 overall pick was able to remain in the game after suffering the injury late in the third quarter on Monday — he didn’t exit for good until early in the fourth.
Veteran big man Norvel Pelle has signed a G League contract, according to our JD Shaw, who reports (via Twitter) that Pelle will join the Cleveland Charge. The Cavaliers‘ NBAGL affiliate holds Pelle’s returning rights.
Pelle, 28, has appeared in a total of 37 NBA games for four teams since the start of the 2019/20 season. In ’20/21, he had stints with Brooklyn, Sacramento, and New York, finishing the season with the Knicks. His deal with New York included a non-guaranteed salary for ’21/22, but the club waived him in July just before free agency began.
A strong defender, Pelle has appeared in a total of 86 G League games across his professional career and has showed off his rim-protecting prowess at that level, averaging 2.3 blocks in just 18.3 minutes per contest. In a brief stint with the Charge in the G League bubble last season, he put up a double-double (10.0 PPG and 10.7 RPG) to go along with 3.0 BPG in three games (24.3 MPG).
While Pelle didn’t catch on with an NBA team this fall, he’ll be hoping that a strong performance in the G League once again earns him a shot from a club in need of frontcourt help.
Cavaliers rookie Evan Mobley and third-year shooting guard Darius Garland have developed strong chemistry in the early part of a surprisingly successful 2021/22 season, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. At 9-5, Cleveland is currently the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. According to Fedor, the duo’s chemistry extends beyond the hardwood too, as they frequently grab dinner together during road trips.
“They’re dynamic together,” Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “They put a threat on the floor, where it’s two-sided and it’s in a lot of space. Teams can’t really pick their poison in that. Both are such good playmakers, you’ve got a tough decision to make.”
“I enjoy it a lot,” Mobley said of his on-court fit with his Cavaliers teammate. “We always know where each other [is] on the floor. He knows where I want the ball and then vice versa. I feel like every game, we keep getting better. He does a great job throwing lobs as well. That lob today, that was tough.”
Both players were high lottery picks. The seven-foot Mobley, an early Rookie of the Year favorite, was the third pick out of USC this season, while the 6’1″ Garland was the fifth pick in the 2019 draft out of Vanderbilt.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- New Cavaliers point guard Ricky Rubio, thrust into a starting role due to the absence of incumbent Collin Sexton, has proven to be a game-changing veteran this year, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “He’s got the heart and grit and level of competition that isn’t matched many places,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “There is something special about him when it comes to impacting winning. He doesn’t have to shoot it great. He doesn’t have to get the stats or numbers. But he somehow impacts winning no matter when he’s on the floor.”
- Pacers swingman Justin Holiday has found a fit with the team coming off the bench, writes James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star. Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle spoke highly of Holiday’s willingness to accept a bench role with Caris LeVert back in the starting lineup. “Justin’s certainly a very good player as a starter in this league, but it’s better for us if we can have him coming off the bench,” Carlisle said. “He’s a real professional at doing that. He knows how to get into the game, he’s got the right mindset and experience for it, he’s just a total team guy.” Boyd notes that, off the bench, Holiday is averaging 12.8 PPG on 49.1% shooting from the field and 44.4% from long range. In his eight contests as a starter, Holiday has averaged 7.0 PPG while connecting on just 32.3% of his looks from the floor and 29.8% of his efforts from deep.
- Pacers reserve point guard T.J. McConnell is relishing his life as a bit of a bench pest with the Pacers, writes Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. McConnell has planted real roots in town after signing a four-year extension worth up to $35.2MM with the club in the offseason. “He’s like a little irritant,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers remarked on McConnell. “He’s just solid, high IQ. There’s a bunch of guys that play that role in our league and they all are tough, they’re pesky, but they’re good. They’re more than just a pain, they’re actually good players.”
- Pistons coach Dwane Casey offered high praise for Cavaliers rookie Evan Mobley, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press tweets. “The young man’s ceiling is off the charts, and not only that, he’s a great young man,” Casey said of the No. 3 overall pick. “He’s a student, he’s a sponge, he’s a quick-learner.” Mobley had 16 points, seven rebounds and three blocks against Detroit on Friday, while top pick Cade Cunningham committed seven turnovers in Detroit’s 20-point loss.
- Kevin Love has been cleared to return to the Cavaliers but it’s uncertain when he’ll suit up again, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Love entered the league’s health and safety protocols at the beginning of the month.
Coach J.B. Bickerstaff will explore his options as the Cavaliers try to survive without starting guard Collin Sexton, writes Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. Sexton was diagnosed Monday with a torn meniscus in his left knee, and the Cavs are still determining the best way to deal with the injury and how much time he might miss. Cleveland is one of the NBA’s surprise teams with a 7-4 start, and Sexton has been the top scorer at 16.0 points per game.
Bickerstaff doesn’t have a similar scoring threat at shooting guard, where Sexton has started all 11 games, so playing time might depend on nightly matchups. He said everyone will need to “tick up a couple of notches” until Sexton returns.
“So those guys that are stepping in and their minutes are going to increase, they’ve got to find ways to help,” Bickerstaff said. “Whether they create shots for other people, whether it’s the shots for them, on the defensive end of the floor, they take those challenges. So it’s going to be everybody that’s got to contribute a little bit more. The guys that are taking those minutes and then the guys who are playing as well. They’re going to have to find a way to help us more as well.”
There’s more from Cleveland:
- Sexton’s absence could result in more minutes for Dylan Windler, who is fully healthy after injuries limited him to 31 games in his first two seasons, Russo adds. Windler is playing just 9.9 minutes per night, but he’s shooting 50% from three-point range. “I think he’s finding his way,” Bickerstaff said. “And the only way that happens in the league is by playing. You have to believe and have the confidence, but you’ve got to get the experience of being on the floor and playing against other NBA players and playing with your teammates so that they know where you’re going to be and what spots you like and all those things. So, the more and more he plays, the more comfortable he’ll get.”
- The Cavs are welcoming back swingman Isaac Okoro, who is returning tonight after missing seven games with a strained left hamstring, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Okoro will be on an undetermined minutes restriction, Fedor adds.
- Center Jarrett Allen, the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, is quickly building chemistry with new frontcourt partners Lauri Markkanen and Evan Mobley, writes Katie Heindl of Uproxx.