- Despite indications that Villanova wing Mikal Bridges wouldn’t visit the Cavaliers for a private workout, he said today that he hasn’t ruled out that possibility, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
JUNE 6, 6:59pm: Iguodala will play in Game 3 tonight, per Haynes.
JUNE 6, 6:26pm: Per Chris Haynes of ESPN, Iguodala will participate in pre-game warm ups before determining if he’s able to give it a go in Game 3.
JUNE 6, 11:57am: Iguodala will be a game-time decision for Game 3, Kerr said today (Twitter link via Mark Medina of The San Jose Mercury News). It sounds more likely than not that Iguodala will play, with Kerr suggesting it’s “leaning in the right direction” (Twitter link via Slater).
JUNE 5, 12:40pm: Iguodala has been upgraded to questionable for Game 3, Steve Kerr told reporters today, including Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). If he can’t play on Wednesday, Iguodala would target a Game 4 return.
JUNE 4, 12:26pm: Already holding a 2-0 lead over the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, the Warriors may soon re-add a key piece to their lineup. According to ESPN’s Chris Haynes, Andre Iguodala‘s injured left knee has been pain-free over the last few days, and the veteran forward intends to return sometime during the Finals.
Iguodala, who has been battling a bone bruise in his left knee, hasn’t played for Golden State since Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against Houston. However, he went through a full workout on Saturday, sprinting for the first time since sustaining the injury, sources tell Haynes. While Iguodala’s status for Game 3 remains up in the air, he hopes to play in that contest.
“I aim to play in Game 3, but I’ve aimed to play in Game 2 and Game 3,” Iguodala told ESPN. “We’ll just have to see.”
Although the Warriors haven’t needed Iguodala to pull out wins in the first two games of the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers have played much better on their home court during the postseason, so the Dubs would love to have Iguodala back in their rotation as the series heads to Cleveland.
If he’s healthy enough to play, Iguodala would be tasked with helping to slow down LeBron James, who is averaging 40.0 PPG, 10.5 APG, and 8.5 RPG so far in the Finals.
- While Villanova wing Mikal Bridges won’t visit the Cavaliers for an audition, Cleveland’s front office attended an earlier workout for Bridges hosted by agent Rich Paul, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
Rodney Hood hasn’t played meaningful minutes since early in the postseason, but with the Cavaliers backed against the wall, it appears they’ll make a lineup change, allowing the 25-year-old to see some additional court time.
“We’re going to give Hood a chance,” Tyronn Lue said Tuesday (via Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com). “He’ll get a shot, and see how he does. He’s been working, staying ready. So we’ll see.”
The Cavs acquired Hood mid-season in a three-team trade. In the deal:
- The Cavs acquired Hood (from Jazz) and George Hill (from Kings) along with the draft rights to Arturas Gudaitis (from Kings).
- The Jazz acquired Jae Crowder (from Cavs), Derrick Rose (from Cavs), and the right to swap 2024 second-round picks with the Cavs.
- Kings acquired Iman Shumpert (from Cavs), Joe Johnson (from Jazz), the Heat’s 2020 second-round pick (from Cavs), cash ($2.1MM from Cavs; $1.1MM from Jazz), and the draft rights to Dimitrios Agravanis (from Cavs).
Prior to the trade, Hood was playing well, making 38.9% of his three-pointers on nearly seven attempts per contest in Utah. He was sporting a player efficiency rating of 15.1 and appeared to be on his way to landing a solid second contract in the league, as he’ll be a restricted free agent this summer.
Once he arrived in his Cleveland, his performance took a hit. In 21 regular season games with the Cavs, he made just 35.2% of his shots from behind the arc and sported a player efficiency rating of 12.7. Among Cleveland’s five-man lineups that played at least 30 minutes together this season, none featuring Hood had a positive rating, per NBA.com.
Part of the issue could be fit. Hood has played 64% of his minutes at the three in Cleveland; He spent 63% of his time at the two spot in Utah, per Basketball-Reference’s positional data.
Hood has proven he can’t elevate the team while playing heavy minutes next to the Cavs’ rotation of guards with defensive liabilities, but perhaps Lue plays him alongside one guard, planting him next to LeBron James and a pair of frontcourt players. Maybe that’s enough of an adjustment to make the NBA Finals a competitive series. Or maybe there is no way for the Cavs to come close to beating the Warriors four times over the next five contests.
How many games will the Cavs win in this series? If Hood receives playing time, will it make a difference? What do the next few games mean for the future of Cleveland and Hood’s pending free agency?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!
The Heat are sometimes listed as a potential free agency destination for LeBron James, but team officials don’t believe there’s any chance he will return to Miami, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Among the entities that could see James back on South Beach is the WestGate Las Vegas sports book, which recently gave the Heat the fifth-best odds of winning next year’s title because of that possibility.
While Miami wouldn’t turn James away, there are too many obstacles to make the move realistic, Jackson notes. The Heat enter this summer with no cap space, so they would have to clear more than $55MM in salary while taking none in return to create the room to offer James a max contract. Cleveland could theoretically agree to a trade, but it’s hard to picture Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert working out a deal to ship James back to Miami.
Here are a few more Heat tidbits, courtesy of Jackson:
- Tyler Johnson‘s contract will escalate to $19.2MM in each of the next two seasons, and the Heat are probably stuck with that deal. Jackson states that there is little optimism in the organization about moving Johnson, whose contract includes a 15% trade kicker that would be worth an extra $2.9MM. Miami matched a back-loaded offer sheet from the Nets in 2016 that was structured to make Johnson much more expensive in the final two years.
- Also holding a trade kicker is Kelly Olynyk, who has a 5% bonus that would pay him $1.1MM if he’s traded. That money would be split over the next two seasons.
- The Heat, who don’t have a pick in either round of this year’s draft, are trying to acquire a second-rounder, according to a Western Conference executive whose team has spoken to Miami about a potential deal. This year’s first-round choice was sent to the Suns in the Goran Dragic trade, and the second-rounder was shipped to Memphis in a 2016 deal to clear cap room.
- Miami continues to monitor the Kawhi Leonard situation in San Antonio in hopes of pouncing if the Spurs decide a trade is necessary.
Potential lottery pick Kevin Knox worked out for the Magic today and confirmed that Orlando isn’t the only Eastern lottery team he’s auditioning for in the weeks leading up to the draft. According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link), Knox worked out last week for the Cavaliers, and will visit the Knicks over the weekend. He’ll also earn a look from the Bulls next Tuesday.
The four teams working out Knox have picks ranging from Nos. 6 to 9, which is probably the high end of the former Kentucky Wildcat’s range. Knox ranks 15th on Jonathan Givony’s big board at ESPN.com, and while he has boosted his stock leading up to the draft, he isn’t a lock to be drafted in the lottery.
Knox could eventually add more workouts to his pre-draft schedule, but if he doesn’t, interested teams will get an opportunity to see him at his upcoming pro day, which is expected take place prior to his Knicks workout, per Robbins. The Hornets, who hold the No. 11 pick, are among the teams likely to attend that pro day, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
A 6’9″ forward, Knox enjoyed a productive 2017/18 season at Kentucky, averaging 15.6 PPG and 5.4 RPG. His efficiency was somewhat lacking (.445 FG%), but that can be attributed – at least in part – to playing out of position, as Givony notes.
The Warriors barely survived Game 1, but as the 2018 NBA Finals head to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4, the results thus far have been predictable. Heavily favored Golden State held home court and carries a 2-0 lead to the Midwest.
LeBron James‘ monstrous 51-point game in the opener nearly allowed the Cavaliers to steal one at Oracle Arena. A controversial reversal of a block/charge call, along with J.R. Smith‘s brain lock after rebounding a free throw in the closing seconds of regulation, gave the Warriors a reprieve and they dominated the overtime session. Stephen Curry‘s 3-point barrage assured the Warriors wouldn’t have to sweat out the closing minutes of Game 2.
However, the Cavs have been tough at the Q this postseason, winning their last eight games at their cozy and noisy home arena. Also, as Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com notes, the Warriors are not as deep or as disciplined as they have been in past playoff runs.
What they do have, of course, is more superstar power. And they could back their defensive stalwart, Andre Iguodala, as soon as Game 3. Iguodala has missed the last six games with a knee injury.
Certainly, everyone outside of Golden State fans would like to see the Cavaliers make a stand and provide some suspense to the series. If the Warriors win on Wednesday, a sweep or a five-game series, as was the case last season, would seem inevitable.
That leads us to our question of the day: Can the Cavaliers climb back in the series or have the Warriors already established their dominance?
Please take to the comments section and voice your opinion.
Duke center Wendell Carter Jr. has workouts on tap with six lottery teams in this year’s draft, he told reporters today. Carter, whose first workout of the pre-draft process took place today with the Bulls, also has auditions lined up with the Mavericks, Grizzlies, Magic, Knicks, and Cavaliers, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
It’s not clear if Carter will ultimately add more workouts to his schedule after completing those six sessions, but the teams he named today present a pretty clear picture of when he can expect to be drafted. Each club on his list holds a top-10 selection, ranging from No. 4 (Memphis) to No. 9 (New York). Ian Begley of ESPN.com tweets that several people in the Knicks’ front office are “enamored” with Carter.
In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has Carter coming off the board at No. 7 to the Bulls. For his part, the young center said today he has heard he could be drafted anywhere from No. 3 to No. 12, Friedell notes.
A freshman for the Blue Devils last season, Carter averaged an impressive 13.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.1 BPG, and 2.0 APG in just 26.9 minutes per contest. He also recorded a solid .561/.413/.738 shooting line in his first and only year at Duke.
The Warriors have already been set as the favorites to win the 2018/19 title, relays Ben Fawkes of ESPN, but there’s a huge variable that hangs over the equation. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook gives Golden State 5-4 odds to capture the championship, followed at 7-2 by the Rockets and Sixers, two teams believed to be in the running to sign LeBron James.
“When you have LeBron in free agency, you have to be careful,” oddsmaker John Murray said. “You’ve got Philadelphia, Miami, the Lakers and even Houston as potential destinations [outside of Cleveland]. We cut all of those teams’ odds down, and we’ll raise back up the teams he doesn’t sign with.”
Murray adds that the Rockets would take over as favorites if they are able to add James and keep Chris Paul and Clint Capela. The Celtics, who come in at 8-1, will be favored to win the East if James leaves Cleveland and goes anywhere but Philadelphia. The Lakers and Heat are tied for fifth place at 20-1, followed by the Spurs at 25-1 and the Cavaliers at 30-1.
There’s more basketball-related news to pass along:
- Former lottery pick Jimmer Fredette hopes to use The Basketball Tournament this summer to get another shot at the NBA, writes Myron Medcalf of ESPN. The 10th selection in the 2011 draft, Fredette played for four teams in five years before heading overseas. “I would always love to get another chance in the NBA,” Fredette said. “I’ve gotten better in China and improved every year. … You hope somebody takes notice.” He has another year remaining on his Chinese Basketball Association contract.
- J.R. Hensley, a prominent NBA agent, has been placed on 18 months’ probation, tweets Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal. The action came because Hensley refused to fully cooperate in an investigation of potential violations, according to a press release from the NBPA.
- The USA Men’s Under 18 National Team made its first round of cuts this morning, trimming the squad from 33 players to 18. Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog has the complete list of players who advanced.
Even though he scored 51 points, LeBron James played much of Game 1 of the NBA Finals with blurred vision after being poked in the eye by Draymond Green. As the Cavaliers ran through their first practice today since Thursday’s loss, James reported that his eye has improved, relays Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
“It doesn’t look better, but the docs told me it’s better,” James said. “It’s just going through a stage right now of recovering. … I’m taking my medication that I’ve been given by the doctors. My eyedrops and my antibiotic to help me with the recovery as fast as possible. But it’s an eye. I mean, it’s going to recover as fast as it can on its own. There is nothing you can do. I can’t ice it or anything like that.”
James was attempting a dunk in the second quarter when Green contested it and hit him in the eye, recounts Jenna West of Sports Illustrated. That eye was seen bleeding during a close-up camera shot later in the game.
As we passed along earlier, Golden State guard Klay Thompson is hopeful about his chances to play in Game 2 after a collision with J.R. Smith that left him with a high ankle sprain. Thompson was limping at today’s practice, tweets Ethan Strauss of The Athletic, and said he’s not sure he could play if the game were tonight.
Thompson expressed frustration at Smith for what he considers a reckless play, relays Anthony Slater of The Athletic, who adds that Nick Young will probably start if Thompson can’t go.
“I’m going to do what I can in these next 24 hours or so to loosen it up as much as possible, get some stability back,” Thompson said. “I’m optimistic for tomorrow. That’s the hard part of the game we all have to endure. Got to let it go. It happens. I’ve just got to move on.”
While Thompson is listed as questionable for tomorrow, Andre Iguodala remains doubtful with a bruised knee he suffered in the Western Conference finals, West relays in a separate story. Iguodala continues to make progress, but still has pain in the knee and inflammation in the surrounding nerve.