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Central Notes: Mitchell, Cavs, Osman, Ingles, Caruso, Ivey

March 15th, 2023 at 7:10pm CST by Rory Maher

Donovan Mitchell says the Cavaliers believe they can make a deep playoff run this season, as he tells Chris Mannix of SI.com.

“You got to get there and see it,” Mitchell said. “We’ve put the work in. It’s tough going from the hunter last year to the hunted. But you see the progression. That tells you the mindset is there. That tells you this team believes.”

Mannix notes that there are signs Cleveland should be viewed as a contender — the team is first in net rating, second in defense, and Mitchell is having a career year and is surrounded by talented young players. However, only Mitchell and Jarrett Allen have postseason experience among the starters, and inexperienced teams rarely advance far in an initial playoff run.

Here’s more from the Central:

Cavaliers forward Cedi Osman has been in and out of the rotation in recent weeks, but he provided a major spark on Tuesday with Mitchell out, finishing with 24 points and six three-pointers in the victory over Charlotte. He admits the inconsistent playing time has been a challenge, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscriber link). “It’s tough. It’s not easy,” Osman said. “I feel like when you don’t play and then you do play, sometimes you’re trying to do more than you would normally do because you’re trying to stay in the game, you’re trying to show you deserve to be out there and that’s what is best for the team. I’ve learned how to deal with that throughout the season. I would say it’s going better for me now.”
Joe Ingles signed with the Bucks for the taxpayer mid-level exception last offseason, which was a risk by Milwaukee considering he was coming off a torn ACL suffered in February 2022. The veteran forward showed his worth at the end of Tuesday’s victory over Phoenix, with point guard Jrue Holiday calling on Ingles to handle the play-making duties. As Eric Nehm of The Athletic writes, the Bucks went on a 17-4 run once Ingles started running the show. “He just gives us a presence in the locker room, practices,” Budenholzer said of Ingles. “As a coach, you have to figure out how to best put him in his spots and the spacing around it and the players, they gotta keep developing that chemistry, so it’s still growing. I wish you could just snap your fingers and have it immediately, but that’s just not how basketball works, but he’s been invaluable to us, especially recently.”
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan says Alex Caruso has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game against Sacramento, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter links). The defensive stalwart had previously been listed as questionable with an illness. The Bulls are competing for a spot in the play-in tournament, so Caruso will certainly be missed versus the Kings.
Pistons guard Jaden Ivey, who entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols last Friday, is listed as probable for Thursday’s matchup with Denver, tweets Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. The No. 5 overall pick of last June’s draft, Ivey is averaging 15.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG and 4.9 APG on .415/.331/.732 shooting through 62 games (30.2 MPG) as a rookie.

Injury Notes: Nance, Mitchell, Kuzma, LeBron, Suns

March 14th, 2023 at 1:10pm CST by Luke Adams

After missing six games due to a left ankle sprain, Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. returned to action on Sunday vs. Portland. However, Nance logged just eight minutes and acknowledged after the game that he isn’t at full strength yet.

“I think it was pretty clear that I’m not 100%,” Nance said, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “For me, it’s more about if I can play, you’re going to get what I got at all times. We got a win. I did my job.”

Even though Nance – who has averaged 22.0 minutes per game off the bench this season – couldn’t reclaim his usual rotation role in his first game back, head coach Willie Green appreciates the 30-year-old’s willingness to play through pain with New Orleans in the thick of a playoff race.

“Larry is a leader,” Green said. “He wants to be out there on the floor. He has been talking about it the last three, four days. These guys understand that coming down the stretch, it’s going to be a tight race for the playoffs. He’s trying to get himself ready for the last 14 games. It was huge to have him on the floor. His presence was felt.”

Nance isn’t on the Pelicans’ injury report for Tuesday’s game against the Lakers, so he’ll be available for that one, even if his minutes are once again limited.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

The Cavaliers have ruled out Donovan Mitchell (finger sprain injury management) for Tuesday’s contest vs. Charlotte, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Starting center Jarrett Allen (right eye contusion) is also unavailable for a second straight game.
Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game against Detroit due to a sore right knee, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Washington is currently a half-game back of Chicago for the No. 10 spot in the East.
Lakers star LeBron James, who is making his way back from a right foot injury, did his first on-court activity at a Tuesday shootaround, taking a few free throws after he completed his weight lifting and rehab work, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter links).
Suns head coach Monty Williams called it a “good sign” that GM James Jones said Kevin Durant would probably be available now if the playoffs had begun. “With those kind of injuries, you tend to get better every day, and he’s getting around-the-clock treatment,” Williams said of KD (link via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). The Suns’ coach added that Landry Shamet‘s return from a right foot injury isn’t imminent: “He’s just been getting up shots. He’s about the same. He’s just getting more treatment. Just trying to figure it out. How can we get back to a place he can get back to a full practice and then progress from there.”

Cavaliers Sign Sam Merrill To Multiyear Contract

March 14th, 2023 at 11:55am CST by Luke Adams

11:55am: Merrill’s multiyear contract is now official, the Cavs confirmed in a press release.

10:14am: The Cavaliers will bring back swingman Sam Merrill following the expiration of his 10-day contract, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). According to Fedor, the Cavs and Merrill have agreed to a new multiyear deal.

Merrill, 26, signed a 10-day pact with Cleveland earlier in the month and only appeared in one game with the team before that contract expired on Sunday night. He scored two points in four minutes in garbage time vs. Detroit on March 4.

While Merrill didn’t appear in any of his last four games with the Cavaliers, the club must have liked what it saw from the former No. 60 overall pick, who has also spent time in Milwaukee, Memphis, and Sacramento since entering the NBA in 2020.

The Cavs’ organization has gotten a chance to take a look at Merrill in the G League for much of the 2022/23 campaign, as he was playing with the Cleveland Charge before he received a promotion to the NBA level. He averaged 17.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.6 APG and 1.3 SPG on an excellent .469/.437/.852 shooting line in 18 NBAGL regular season games (33.8 MPG) for the Charge.

While the full details of Merrill’s contract aren’t yet known, it will almost certainly only be fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2022/23 season, with next year’s salary mostly or entirely non-guaranteed. A two-year deal is the likeliest outcome, but the Cavs could technically offer three or four years using a remaining portion of their mid-level exception.

Officially signing Merrill will give Cleveland a full 17-man roster, with 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals.

Cavs' Lopez Sees Rare Action; Bickerstaff Praises Merrill

March 14th, 2023 at 11:41am CST by Luke Adams

Robin Lopez hasn’t had much of a role this season after signing with the Cavaliers as a free agent last summer, but his nine minutes in Sunday’s win over Charlotte with Jarrett Allen out were the most he has played in a game since January. “Just trying to put some size out there,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff explained (Twitter link via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com). “With Jarrett being out, we are limited with size. I thought RoLo was good, played hard. Everybody is going to be called upon.”
Within his Cleveland.com story on the Cavaliers‘ new multiyear deal for Sam Merrill, Fedor notes that the club views the swingman as more than just a “one-dimensional” sharpshooter. “I think he was leading or near the top of the G League in taking charges, so he’s got a willingness to scrap, a willingness to help on the defensive end of the floor,” Bickerstaff said. “Can create shots and make shots.”

Allen's Eye Injury Isn't Long-Term Concern

March 12th, 2023 at 9:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

“We’re extremely fortunate and he’s extremely fortunate,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Any time you take a shot to the eye like that, there are so many different things that can happen. There’s the other guy’s fingernail and the placement of the hit and all those things that come to mind that it could have been. … It’s something we believe he will recover from pretty quickly.”

Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen didn’t suffer any structural damage to his right eye after getting hit in the face by Miami’s Bam Adebayo on Friday, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Allen’s eye is bloodshot and puffy but he shouldn’t miss significant time.

Checking In On Active, Expired 10-Day Contracts

March 12th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Lester Quinones‘ 10-day contract with the Warriors expired after Saturday’s game, opening up a spot on Golden State’s 15-man roster.

Quinones remained with the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League for most of the 10 days he spent under contract with Golden State. He was recalled to the NBA on Saturday and was technically active for last night’s game vs. Milwaukee, but didn’t play at all and has yet to make his NBA debut.

As we outlined when Quinones first signed his 10-day deal, his addition to the 15-man roster allowed the Warriors to continue using both of their two-way players, Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome. Lamb has since reached his limit of 50 games on the active roster, while Jerome is now at 47 games and will be ineligible to play his final three unless Golden State fills its 15th roster spot again.

It will be interesting to see how the Warriors manage their two-way contracts and their 15-man roster going forward. Promoting Lamb to the standard roster would make him eligible to play in the rest of the team’s regular season games and in any postseason contests, in addition to freeing up Jerome for three more games. However, it would limit Golden State’s roster flexibility going forward and would force the club to waive a player on a guaranteed contract in order to sign anyone else before the end of the season.

Quinones is one of two players whose 10-day contract expired this week, joining Willie Cauley-Stein of the Rockets. Houston is now carrying just 13 players on standard deals and must add a 14th man (Cauley-Stein again or someone else) by March 23 to meet the NBA’s minimum roster requirements.

Three more players on 10-day contracts will see their deals expire tonight, while two others will expire on Monday night. Here’s the breakdown of the 10-day contracts currently active around the NBA:

Jamaree Bouyea, Wizards (runs through 3/12)
Sam Merrill, Cavaliers (3/12)
Eugene Omoruyi, Pistons (3/12)
Kris Dunn, Jazz (3/13) *^
Meyers Leonard, Bucks (3/13) *
DaQuan Jeffries, Knicks (3/14) ^
Nerlens Noel, Nets (3/15)

Players marked with an asterisk (*) are on their second 10-day deals with their respective teams. That means Dunn and Leonard would have to be signed for the rest of the season if their clubs want to retain them beyond Monday night, since they aren’t permitted to sign three standard 10-day contracts with the same team.

Players marked with a caret (^) are on clubs that don’t currently have full 15-man rosters. The Jazz are actually currently carrying just 13 players and will need to get back up to at least 14 by March 18. So even if they lock up Dunn to a full-season contract, they’ll need to sign one more player before next Saturday.

The Knicks, meanwhile, would be at 13 players on their standard roster if they don’t re-sign Jeffries to a second 10-day deal and would have up to two weeks to add a new 14th man.

Cavaliers Notes: Allen, Garland, Bench, Mitchell

March 11th, 2023 at 6:23pm CST by Arthur Hill

A right eye injury that Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen suffered in Friday’s loss at Miami may not be as bad as the team originally feared, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Allen walked to the locker room with a towel over his eye after being swiped by Bam Adebayo during a battle for a rebound late in the fourth quarter. He’s listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game at Charlotte, but a source told Fedor that the eye “looked better than expected,” adding that Allen will “hopefully be back sooner rather than later.”

In his game story Friday night, Fedor asked coach J.B. Bickerstaff what a prolonged absence for Allen would mean to a team that’s battling to hang onto home-court advantage in the playoffs.

“Obviously, we would miss him,” Bickerstaff said. “We would miss all the things that he brings on both sides of the court. His ability to protect the paint, anchor our defense and just his spirit. Everyone would have to step up. A lot of that would put Evan (Mobley) at more of the 5 spot and he would have to take over those responsibilities. But we believe Evan is capable of doing so and we have other guys who can help as well. It’ll be opportunities for other guys to go and contribute, which is what they will want to do.”

There’s more on the Cavaliers:

A quad injury that forced Darius Garland to miss the game in Miami is considered minor, but it could prevent him from playing again Sunday, Fedor adds. Garland suffered the injury in the second half of Wednesday’s game and wasn’t able to take part in the team’s shootaround or his pregame workout on Friday.
The Cavaliers agreed to a buyout with Kevin Love because he fell out of their rotation, but Joe Vardon of The Athletic notes that several prominent bench players haven’t been as productive since Love left. Dean Wade, Caris LeVert, Ricky Rubio and Cedi Osman are all playing fewer minutes than their season averages and have struggled to contribute since the buyout occurred.
Playing two straight games in Miami allowed the Cavaliers to experience something close to a playoff atmosphere, per Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. Cleveland won on Wednesday and the teams had an off day to make adjustments before playing again Friday. “That’s what the playoffs are going to be,” said Donovan Mitchell, one of just two Cavs starters with playoff experience. “If this was a playoff series, we still won one, and that’s kind of the mindset.”

Injury Notes: Garland, Powell, Simons, Shamet, Mavs

March 10th, 2023 at 7:34pm CST by Rory Maher

Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland will be sidelined for Friday’s rematch with the Heat in Miami, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Garland was originally listed as questionable with a right quad contusion, but was unable to go through shootaround. The injury is considered relatively minor, sources tell Fedor.

Garland appeared to suffer the contusion early in the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s initial matchup with Miami on Wednesday, notes Danny Cunningham of ESPN Cleveland (Twitter video link). He was hit in the leg by Bam Adebayo‘s moving screen, which was called a foul.

The Cavs confirmed (via Twitter) that Garland would be sidelined on Friday, with Caris LeVert taking his place in the starting lineup. Garland is having an outstanding fourth season, averaging 22.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 7.9 APG and 1.3 SPG on an excellent .471/.430/.860 shooting line through 58 games (35.2 MPG).

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Clippers guard Norman Powell will miss at least one more week, which is when he’ll be reeavaluated, tweets ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. The eight-year veteran continues to receive treatment for his left shoulder subluxation. He is the team’s third-leading scorer at 16.6 PPG, posting a strong shooting line of .475/.410/.803 through 54 games (25.8 MPG), primarily as a reserve.
Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons returned to the starting lineup for Friday’s matchup in Philadelphia, the team announced (via Twitter). He had missed the previous four games after aggravating an ankle sprain.
Backup guard Landry Shamet continues to be hampered by right foot soreness, having last played on January 16. He will be reevaluated in one week, the Suns announced (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports).
The Mavericks might be without their two star players on Saturday in Memphis, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Luka Doncic (left thigh strain) has already been ruled out, while Kyrie Irving is questionable with right foot soreness. Irving missed Friday’s practice for personal reasons, per MacMahon, but head coach Jason Kidd was hopeful he might be able to rejoin the team on Saturday. Doncic is considered day-to-day after his MRI results showed no damage, MacMahon adds.

Kevin Love: Leaving Cavaliers Was “Incredibly Hard”

March 9th, 2023 at 10:07am CST by Arthur Hill

Kevin Love ended his time with the Cavaliers after nearly nine seasons when he accepted a buyout last month, but leaving Cleveland wasn’t an easy choice, he tells Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Love, who signed with the Heat, talked about the decision to move on after facing his former team for the first time Wednesday night.

“Professionally, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do without question,” Love said. “I think you guys know how much I love Cleveland and Ohio. All the fans there have always supported me and the team. Naturally, winning there makes it bigger than guys like myself, Kyrie (Irving), Bron (LeBron James). Even here I look up and see the championship banners and I’m like, ‘That’s special.’ I go back to Brecksville and I’m like, ‘We did that. We really did that.’ That was incredibly hard to do after eight and a half seasons.”

Although Love still feels a strong attachment to Cleveland, he wanted to find a situation where he could still play. Love had been out of the Cavs’ lineup since January 24, missing several games due to lower back pain and then being pulled from the rotation when Dean Wade returned from injury.

Love wasn’t effective this season and it became harder for coach J.B. Bickerstaff to find minutes for him. The 34-year-old forward shot just 38.9% from the floor in 41 games and was a glaring liability on defense as rival teams targeted him in the pick-and-roll. A lingering thumb injury also limited his effectiveness.

“I think it was a really tough decision for him to take me out of the lineup,” Love said of Bickerstaff. “I think they wanted to go young and stick with those guys, especially Ricky (Rubio) and Dean getting back from injury. They wanted to get the guys more minutes. But the natural frustration is you want to be out there, you want to have those conversations in the locker room, you want to be in those timeouts, those type of situations.

“I think it like all came so fast for me and there wasn’t any prospect of me going back out there and playing — and I wanted that. I was hungry for that. I was foaming at the mouth for that. Those were really tough conversations, but those are ones that I’m grateful they had with me so I was able to find something else and find a place where I could be happy and play.”

According to Fedor, Love reached out to Wade after finalizing his buyout to let him know there was no animosity and to encourage him to take advantage of his opportunity. He also talked to Rubio, his teammate in Minnesota before they reunited in Clevland, about taking over as the team’s veteran leader.

Love remains close to his former teammates and is still on their group text chat, Fedor adds. He greeted several of them before Wednesday’s game and said it’s an odd feeling to see them on the opposing sideline.

Winding up in Miami was an unexpected development for Love, who was hoping to retire in Cleveland. Now he’s adjusting to a new team that could potentially meet the Cavs in a playoff series.

“That’s in my mind and my vision, I thought it would be Cleveland without a doubt, especially after last year and the start of this year,” Love said. “Now you’ve got to put that in the rearview. It is tough after eight and a half years, moving in the middle of the season and still living out of a hotel, but in terms of welcoming me with open arms and a class organization, the Miami Heat have been just unbelievable. I can see why they have that rich history and have had so much success because they have been so good to me.”

NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots

March 8th, 2023 at 9:16am CST by Luke Adams

It has been nearly a month since the NBA’s trade deadline passed, and the post-deadline transaction wire continues to be pretty busy, with teams that opened up roster spots at or since the deadline still working to fill them.

Clubs are also making plenty of roster moves with their players on two-way contracts, opening up two-way slots by either promoting those players to standard deals or by cutting them to take a flier on another prospect.

It has been a few weeks since we last checked in on which teams have open roster spots, so it’s worth taking a closer look at that today. If a team isn’t listed below, you can assume it has a full 17-man roster made up of 15 players on full-season standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals.

[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Roster Counts]

Let’s dive in…

Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:

Boston Celtics
Charlotte Hornets
Houston Rockets *
Los Angeles Lakers
New York Knicks *
Utah Jazz ^

* These teams have one open roster spot and one filled by a 10-day contract.
^ This team has two open roster spots and one filled by a 10-day contract.

The Celtics, Hornets, and Lakers have pretty straightforward roster situations — they’re carrying 14 players on standard, rest-of-season contracts, with open spot left to fill. The Celtics and Lakers may be more inclined to fill their openings with a veteran who could provide depth in the postseason if necessary. The Hornets, if they don’t re-sign restricted free agent Miles Bridges this season, will likely add a younger prospect on a team-friendly multiyear deal.

The Rockets and Knicks each have one open spot on their standard 15-man roster and are also carrying a player on a 10-day deal — Willie Cauley-Stein for Houston and DaQuan Jeffries for New York. Both players will be eligible for second 10-day contracts when their current pacts expire. If the Rockets and/or Knicks want to go in another direction, they’d have up to two weeks to sign a 14th man.

As for the Jazz, they’re only carrying 13 players on their standard roster and one of those players (Kris Dunn) is on his second 10-day contract with the club. Even if Utah intends to sign Dunn to a rest-of-season deal when his current contract is up, the team will need to make another signing before next weekend to adhere to the NBA’s minimum roster requirements.

Teams with full 15-man rosters that include a 10-day contract:

Brooklyn Nets
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors
Milwaukee Bucks
Washington Wizards

The Nets (Nerlens Noel), Cavaliers (Sam Merrill), Pistons (Eugene Omoruyi), Warriors (Lester Quinones), Bucks (Meyers Leonard), and Wizards (Jamaree Bouyea) all have a player on a 10-day contract occupying their 15th roster spot, so they could easily open up a roster spot if need be.

Of those players, only Leonard is on his second 10-day deal with the same team, so the others could all be re-signed for another 10 days. The Wizards, however, are reportedly set to sign NBL standout Xavier Cooks to fill the spot currently occupied by Bouyea.

Teams with an open two-way contract slot:

Charlotte Hornets
New York Knicks
Orlando Magic
Phoenix Suns

The Hornets (Bryce McGowens), Knicks (Jeffries), Magic (Admiral Schofield), and Suns (Ish Wainright) have all promoted two-way players to their standard roster since the trade deadline and have yet to fill those two-way openings.

Orlando’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, is fighting for an NBAGL spot, so there’s some incentive to fill that two-way opening sooner rather than later. Conversely, there’s probably not much urgency for Phoenix to sign another player to a two-way contract, since the Suns don’t have a G League affiliate of their own and two-way players won’t be eligible for the NBA postseason.

Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise if all four of these spots are filled in the coming weeks.