- J.B. Bickerstaff deserves Coach of the Year consideration for holding together a Cavaliers team that has been wrecked by injuries, argues Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Cleveland is still in contention for a top six spot in the East despite losing Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio early in the season and Jarrett Allen more recently. Vardon also says former Cavs coach Tyronn Lue should be recognized for the job he has done with the Clippers.
Cavaliers All-Star center Jarrett Allen has decided against surgically treating his fractured left middle finger, writes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
An exact timeline for Allen remains undetermined, as he continues to deal with swelling on the finger. However, according to Haynes, there’s optimism that he’ll make it back prior to the start of the 2022 playoffs.
The 23-year-old big man first injured the digit on March 6, in a 104-96 victory against the Raptors. Through 56 games this year, the 6’11” Allen is averaging 16.1 PPG on 67.7% shooting from the field, 10.8 boards and 1.3 blocks.
With Allen sidelined, the Cavaliers opted to shift rookie big man Evan Mobley from power forward to center in their starting lineup. The Cavaliers have gone 2-2 without Allen.
Along with Mobley, Allen and fellow Cleveland All-Star Darius Garland are on track to lead the club to its first playoff-bound season since LeBron James departed for Los Angeles in 2018. The Cavs currently boast a 39-29 record, good for the sixth seed in the stacked Eastern Conference.
Cavaliers swingman Caris LeVert returned to action on Monday after a nine-game absence, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. LeVert sprained his right foot last month. LeVert averaged 13.3 PPG and 3.8 APG in his first four games since he was traded from Indiana to Cleveland.
- As the season has progressed, Cavaliers guard Darius Garland has received more attention from opposing defenses, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Garland has become a franchise cornerstone for the Cavaliers, averaging 21.0 points and 8.3 assists per game in his first All-Star season. As Fedor notes, it’ll be important for Cleveland to counter those defenses, especially with the playoffs roughly a month away.
- Caris LeVert won’t play against Miami on Friday but he’s making some progress from the right foot sprain he suffered last month. He went through a portion of the Cavaliers’ practice in Miami on Thursday and took some shots on the court afterward, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets.
- Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff believes Moses Brown can help the team with his interior presence, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic tweets. Brown was signed to a 10-day contract on Thursday. “He’s long. He’s rangy. He has good athleticism,” Bickerstaff said. “He knows how to patrol the paint at both ends of the floor. Really good rim roller and lob threat, so he’s a similar build to what we have and what we value.”
MARCH 10: Cleveland has officially signed Brown, the team announced in a press release.
MARCH 9: The Cavaliers are signing Moses Brown to a 10-day deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The young center played for the Mavericks this season but was waived as part of the two-for-one trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Washington in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
Brown, 22, had his $1,701,593 salary guaranteed for 2021/22 ahead of the January 10 deadline despite playing a very limited role for Dallas. He appeared in 26 games for the Mavs, averaging a modest 6.5 MPG. He was productive last season for the Thunder, averaging 8.6 PPG, 8.9 RPG and 1.1 BPG in 43 games (21.4 MPG).
Brown has shown he’s a strong rebounder, but possesses very limited ball skills and is often slow to rotate defensively. He’s definitely a raw, unfinished product at this stage of his career, but he’s flashed some upside and could develop with time.
It’s basically a no-risk flier on an intriguing 7’2″ prospect for the Cavs, who will be without All-Star center Jarrett Allen for an indefinite period after he suffered a fractured finger on Sunday. I’m skeptical that Brown will actually crack Cleveland’s rotation once the signing becomes official, given that the team is trying to make the playoffs for the first time in four seasons
Coach J.B. Bickerstaff has relied on Dean Wade, Kevin Love, Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens when the team has dealt with frontcourt injuries this season, with occasional spot minutes to veteran Ed Davis. However, the Cavs have an open roster spot and if Brown impresses during his 10 days, they could sign him for the remainder of the season as injury insurance if Allen is out for an extended period.
Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweets that the Brown will meet the team in Miami and the plan is for him to be available for Friday’s contest against the Heat.
Several of the NBA teams that had open roster spots following the trade deadline have since filled them, either with free agent signings, such as DeMarcus Cousins (Nuggets) and DeAndre Jordan (Sixers), or with promoted two-way players, like Caleb Martin (Heat) and Daishen Nix (Rockets).
However, there are still a number of clubs around the league with openings available, either on their standard 15-man roster or among their two-way contract slots.
Here, with the help of our roster counts page, is a look at the teams that have open roster spots as of March 10:
Teams with open 15-man roster spots:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Boston Celtics (2) *
- Charlotte Hornets *
- Cleveland Cavaliers *
- Detroit Pistons
- Indiana Pacers
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New Orleans Pelicans *
- Orlando Magic
- Toronto Raptors *
- Utah Jazz
* The teams marked with an asterisk each technically have full rosters as of today, but are carrying at least one player on a 10-day contract. We’re considering those roster spots “open” because those 10-day deals will soon expire.
Despite a series of signings since last month’s trade deadline, there are still 12 NBA teams that aren’t carrying 15 players on full-season standard contracts. However, four of those clubs have filled their open roster spot(s) with 10-day signings, and a fifth will join that group when the Cavaliers complete their reported 10-day deal with Moses Brown.
The Celtics are one team to watch here. When the second 10-day contracts for Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin expire next Monday night, Boston will either have to sign at least one of them to a rest-of-season contract or add another player within the next two weeks in order to get back to the league-mandated minimum of 14 players on standard deals.
Teams with open two-way spots:
- Houston Rockets
- Phoenix Suns
- Sacramento Kings
Following the trade deadline, five teams had open two-way contract slots. Four of those teams have since filled them — the Suns are the only holdout, having not carried a second two-way player since they released Chandler Hutchison in early January.
The Rockets have had an open two-way slot since they promoted Nix to the 15-man roster nearly a month ago, while the Kings‘ opening has existed since they waived Louis King on February 17.
MARCH 7: The Cavaliers have confirmed that Allen, who left Sunday’s game due to a left quad contusion, was later diagnosed with a fracture in his left middle finger (Twitter link). That’s his non-shooting hand.
The big man will undergo additional evaluation and treatment, according to the Cavs, who add that no timetable has been set for his return to basketball.
MARCH 6: Cavaliers All-Star center Jarrett Allen has sustained a fractured finger and is expected to be out indefinitely, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Allen suffered the injury during Cleveland’s game against Toronto on Sunday. He exited the contest due to a left quad contusion, however, finishing the night with six points and two rebounds in 10 minutes. The Cavaliers ended up winning the game 104-96.
Allen has appeared in 55 of the team’s 64 games this season. He has averaged a career-high 16.3 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks during his first All-Star campaign, shooting an efficient 68% from the floor.
The Cavaliers have upcoming games against the Pacers on Tuesday, Heat on Friday and Bulls on Saturday. Should Allen miss multiple games, big men Kevin Love, Dean Wade and Ed Davis are candidates to receive more playing time.
Nets guard Ben Simmons won’t play on Thursday in Philadelphia, but he’s expected to be with the team at Wells Fargo Center, reports Shams Charania of Stadium (video link). Simmons figures to face plenty of vitriol from the Sixers faithful, but it will likely be diluted to some extent by the fact that he’ll be on the bench rather than on the court. According to Charania, there’s optimism that Simmons will make his Nets debut later this month.
- If the Nets were to win a title this year, it would be bad for the NBA, argues Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Brooklyn has “blatantly treated the regular season as a waste of time,” according to Bondy, who notes that Kyrie Irving essentially chose not to play in over half of this season’s games, while the team traded a superstar for a player (Simmons) who will require a ramp-up process of more than a month.
- Having sustained both a quad contusion and a fractured finger in Sunday’s game, Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen has reportedly been ruled out indefinitely. While the team hasn’t issued an update on Allen’s status, Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen sound prepared to adjust their roles if the All-Star big man misses time, as Kelsey Russo of The Athletic relays. “Kevin Love would play in my position; it would just shift down the line,” Mobley said. “Lauri could also play four more often because it would be less. But we still got like three bigs, me, K-Love and Lauri. So we’re still a very big team, and I feel like we can still play a similar way as we have.”
- Pacers center Goga Bitadze had a career night on Sunday with 20 points on 7-of-7 shooting, as James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star writes. The third-year center, who hasn’t been a regular part of Indiana’s rotation since being drafted in the first round in 2019, has a chance to prove his value down the stretch before becoming extension-eligible this summer.
- Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com examines how Kevin Love — a strong candidate for Sixth Man of the Year — found his basketball joy again. Love has revitalized his career with the Cavaliers this season, averaging 13.9 points and 7.1 rebounds in 22.1 minutes per game. He’s also shot 38.9% from three-point range, which is his highest mark since the 2017/18 campaign.