December 23rd, 2020 at 10:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum
Though new Pelicans starting point guard Eric Bledsoe faces a tall task in replacing fan favorite guard Jrue Holiday, he still will prove a dependable starter for a New Orleans team with a good chance to at least qualify for a play-in game, as William Guillory of the Athletic details.
“The same role (Holiday) had here, I’m kind of in. But at the same time, I’ve still got to play my game,” Bledsoe said. “(My role is) defense, helping guys get better … trying to be a leader and going out there to help them win games.”
Guillory expects Bledsoe, a two-time All-Defensive Team selection who relies on a killer first step to score, to help lead a supercharged backcourt alongside Lonzo Ball. That tandem scored a combined 34 points on a 10-of-21 shooting from the floor tonight in a 113-99 defeat of the Raptors.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
Ahead of the Spurs‘ 2020/21 season, John Hollinger of the Athletic previewed the club’s outlook. Hollinger notes that 30-something veterans LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay could control the ball for extended stretches of possessions, though the advanced age and short-term contracts of most of those players are increasingly at odds with the timeline for the team’s younger prospects.
Rockets big man Bruno Caboclo agreed to push back the deadline for his 2020/21 salary to become fully guaranteed to February 27, 2021 (the league-wide deadline), according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). It had previously been scheduled to become guaranteed today.
Now on his third team in three seasons, new Mavericks swingman Josh Richardson will be expected to guard the opposing team’s toughest perimeter players, according to Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News. Richardson has the length and speed to convincingly defend several positions.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder
Mavericks guard Josh Richardson plans to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times. Richardson is eligible to sign an extension at any point this season but apparently doesn’t plan to take that path (Twitterlinks). The Sixers dealt Richardson to Dallas last month along with second-round pick Tyler Bey for Seth Curry. Richardson holds an $11.6MM option for the 2021/22 season, the final year of his current contract.
The 2020/21 NBA regular season will get underway on Tuesday, so it’s time to get serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign.
With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
Of course, there are plenty of wild cards to take into account this season. For one, teams are scheduled to play 72 games instead of 82, so if you’re picking a team to win 41 games, you’re not just expecting them to be a .500 club — you’re projecting them to finish 10 games above .500. For each team’s over/under below, we’ve noted the record they’d have to achieve to finish “over” their projection, as a reminder.
It’s also worth noting that the coronavirus pandemic could cause some games to be canceled in 2020/21. We don’t want you to have to take possible cancellations into account when making your picks though, so don’t let that stop you from taking the “over.” If a team has a couple games canceled, we’ll adjust their over/under figure downward, so you’re essentially just projecting that team’s winning percentage.
Former William & Mary guard Daniel Dixon has retired from professional basketball and will join the Hornets as a video coordinator and basketball operations assistant this season, he told Hoops Rumors.
Dixon holds NBA G League experience with Maine (Celtics), Northern Arizona (Suns) and Windy City (Bulls), spending four years in college before going undrafted in 2017. He also signed a contract in France during the summer of 2018.
At just 26 years old, Dixon joins a revamped Hornets franchise for the 2020/21 season. Charlotte drafted LaMelo Ball at No. 3 overall and signedGordon Hayward to a four-year, $120MM deal this offseason, working to become competitive in the Eastern Conference. The team last made the postseason in 2016.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz obtained footage of both G League Ignite scrimmages from last week, dissecting how each player performed against the veterans and what’s ahead for the team. The decision-makers within the G League curiously opted not to publicly live-stream the games or release any footage, though the pair of ESPN scribes managed to examine the pros and cons for top 2021 prospects such as Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Isaiah Todd.
Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic explores which team owners are the NBA’s best and worst, tallying opinions from various league insiders. Steve Ballmer (Clippers), Micky Arison (Heat) and Mark Cuban (Mavericks) ranked in the top three, while Vivek Ranadive (Kings), Robert Sarver (Suns) and James Dolan (Knicks) finished in the bottom three. Among the league insiders polled were front office members and agents from around the league.
Ben Pickman of Sports Illustrated takes a deep dive into the NBA’s rookie transition program, which, like many other things, has been complicated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Things are all moving parts right now, but you just gotta kinda go on the fly and that’s all us rookies have been used to the whole time,” Kings rookie Tyrese Haliburton explained. “We’ve been going on the fly since March. It’s just kinda a part of it.”
December 20th, 2020 at 1:38pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum
Star Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis has been medically cleared to participate in non-contact defensive work and 5-on-0 play for the first time this season, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Porzingis will start practicing and travel with the team during the club’s upcoming road trip to Phoenix and L0s Angeles to open up the regular season, though he won’t play until January.
December 19th, 2020 at 1:06pm CST by Dana Gauruder
Veteran guard Courtney Lee has been waived by the Mavericks, head coach Rick Carlisle told Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
The move trims the Mavs’ roster to the 15-player opening-day limit, plus two others on two-way contracts. While Dallas will monitor roster cuts by other teams, it’s unlikely the team will make another move, Caplan adds.
Lee was signed on a training camp deal on December 11 but was a longshot to make the final roster. He played for the Mavericks last season but was not a consistent rotation presence. Lee appeared in just 24 games, averaging 4.5 PPG, 1.3 RPG, and 0.8 SPG in 14.4 MPG.
He didn’t participate in the restart due to a calf injury.
The 35-year-old out of Western Kentucky was an effective three-and-D perimeter player in his prime. Prior to Dallas, he played for the Magic, Nets, Rockets, Celtics, Grizzlies, Hornets, and Knicks across a 12-year NBA career.
Both players are rookies who signed with Dallas after going undrafted last month. Gillespie played his college ball at Baylor, while Patterson came out of Prairie View. They saw limited action during the Mavericks’ preseason games.
Typically, Gillespie and Patterson would probably be on track to join the Texas Legends as G League affiliate players, but if Dallas’ NBAGL team doesn’t participate in the proposed bubble this season, that won’t be an option for the duo.
The Mavericks are now carrying 18 players and will have to make one more cut to set their roster for the regular season. Courtney Lee, who is on a non-guaranteed deal, is expected to be the odd man out.
The NBA’s general managers liked the Lakers‘ offseason moves and are bullish on the team’s chances to repeat as champions in 2020/21, as John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes in his annual survey of the league’s GMs.
An impressive 81% of the responding general managers picked the Lakers to win the championship in 2021, which is the third-highest percentage any team has received since Schuhmann began conducting his annual GM survey 19 years ago. The Clippers ranked second at 11%, while the Nets and Heat received one vote apiece.
Meanwhile, the Lakers (37%) beat out the Suns (22%) and Thunder (15%) in the voting for best offseason roster moves. The Hawks, Bucks, and Sixers each received two votes, while the Trail Blazers got one too.
Here are a few more of the interesting responses from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:
The Suns‘ acquisition of Chris Paul (44%) and the Bucks‘ trade for Jrue Holiday (33%) were voted the moves that will have the biggest impact this season. The Clippers‘ signing of Serge Ibaka (15%), the Pelicans‘ deal for Steven Adams (11%), and the Trail Blazers‘ trade for Robert Covington (11%) were the front-runners for the most underrated offseason player acquisition. Gordon Hayward‘s $120MM contract with the Hornets (54%) was voted the most surprising offseason move.
While NBA GMs view Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (39%) as the favorite to win Rookie of the Year over Warriors big man James Wiseman (29%), Wiseman received the most votes (36%) among this year’s rookies to be the best player in five years, followed by Ball (25%). Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton, meanwhile, was voted the biggest steal in the 2020 draft (43%).
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic were the top choices as the player GMs would want to start a franchise with today. They each received 43% of the vote, with Lakers stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James and Pelicans youngster Zion Williamson also picking up votes.
Speaking of Williamson, he helped the Pelicans receive the nod for the team with the most promising young core (41%). The Grizzlies (22%), Hawks (11%), Celtics (11%), and Nuggets (11%) also got multiple votes.
The Mavericks achieved their offseason goals of improving their defense and gaining more future cap flexibility, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who surprisingly projects the club to finish with the second-best record in the Western Conference (47-25).
December 13th, 2020 at 3:59pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum
Mavericks rookie shooting guard Nate Hinton had a solid preseason debut for this Dallas, writes Dwain Price of Mavs.com. The former University of Houston guard scored eight points, pulled down eight rebounds, and logged four assists. “It’s more spacing on the court (than on the collegiate level), so there’s more opportunities to get into the paint and just make plays and just be a ball player,” Hinton said. “I work hard, and just being around guys like Luka (Doncic) and the vets, and Tim Hardaway and all those guys in practice kind of makes it easier and makes it better for me to play and watch to see how the pace of the game is.”