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Northwest Notes: Faried, Jazz, Monroe, Reed

December 29th, 2021 at 11:53am CST by Luke Adams

Kenneth Faried is joining the Grand Rapids Gold for the coming NBA G League season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Although Grand Rapids is the Nuggets‘ affiliate, Faried will remain an NBA free agent and will have the ability to join any team. If he doesn’t receive any NBA offers in the coming days, we should expect to see the 32-year-old in action for the Gold when the G League regular season begins on January 5.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • In the latest episode of the HoopsHype podcast, Michael Scotto and The Athletic’s Tony Jones spoke about potential trade options for the Jazz, Danny Ainge‘s role with the franchise, and more. Jones expects Utah to be “really aggressive” in exploring the trade market for potential upgrades, reiterating that the team is definitely looking for one more perimeter player who can defend at a high level.
  • Veteran guard Patrick Beverley is a big fan of what Greg Monroe brings to the Timberwolves and said on Tuesday that he’d like to see the team retain Monroe for the entire season, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Monroe has averaged 9.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 5.0 APG, and 2.0 SPG in two games since joining Minnesota on a 10-day deal.
  • Davon Reed‘s second 10-day contract expired overnight, so he’s technically no longer on the Nuggets‘ roster, but the team is considering how to keep him in the mix, as we relayed on Tuesday. With no players currently in the health and safety protocols, Denver’s options for keeping Reed would be to waive someone on the standard 17-man roster or to apply for a non-COVID hardship exception based on the team’s four injured players.
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Team Exploring Ways To Retain Reed

December 28th, 2021 at 9:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nuggets are exploring ways to keep Davon Reed beyond his second 10-day contract, Mike Singer of the Denver Post reports. Coach Michael Malone confirmed Singer’s report on Tuesday, Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports tweets.

“Hopefully there’s a way we keep Davon in a Nuggets uniform for a while moving forward,” Malone said.

Reed has appeared in eight games since joining the Nuggets, averaging 5.1 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 17.0 MPG. His second 10-day deal expires on Tuesday night.

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Michael Porter Jr., Bol Bol Clear Protocols But Remain Unavailable

December 28th, 2021 at 1:41pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nuggets forwards Bol Bol and Michael Porter Jr. have both cleared the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, per Mike Singer of the Denver Post. Singer adds that neither player will be available tonight for the team’s game against the Warriors.

After playing just nine games this season, Porter underwent a back surgery and is expected to remain out for the year. Singer notes that Bol, who has re-joined the team, continues to recover from his tenure in the league’s coronavirus protocols. This sounds like Bol will need to finesse his conditioning before his return to the court.

The 22-year-old Bol, a third-year player out of Oregon, has yet to carve out meaningful rotation minutes with the team this year. Across 11 games, he is averaging just 4.6 MPG.

Denver is currently grappling with a slew of absences which have adversely impacted their contender status this season. The Nuggets are just 16-16 this year. Porter, one of the team’s most important contributors when healthy, is out for the year. Guard Jamal Murray, the team’s best player behind MVP center Nikola Jokic, has been sidelined all year as he recovers from an ACL tear, though he may return in the spring. Wing PJ Dozier is expected to miss the season with an ACL tear of his own.

The availability of guard Monte Morris for tonight’s game has been downgraded to questionable as he grapples with left knee soreness, per Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (via Twitter).

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Northwest Notes: Wolves, Mitchell, Nuggets, Jokic

December 26th, 2021 at 8:54pm CST by JD Shaw

Three Timberwolves players took advantage of their expanded roles in the team’s game against the Jazz on Thursday, Chris Hine of the Star Tribune writes. Malik Beasley, Jaden McDaniels and Jake Layman all gave a solid effort, but the team still lost 128-116 without Karl-Anthony Towns or Anthony Edwards available.

Beasley finished with 33 points on 13-of-25 shooting, while McDaniels (16 points and nine rebounds) and Layman (13 points and seven rebounds) provided respectable contributions. Minnesota struggled to contain Utah’s star players, however, also letting the Jazz shoot 16-of-39 (41%) from deep.

“He’s shooting at a high level from three and getting a lot of good looks and staying really committed to it,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said of Beasley, whose 33 points led all scorers in the game. “There’s no second-guessing his shot. He’s locked in. He’s been really, really good. Mostly it’s just his shot selection is leading to good shots.”

Here are some other notes from the Northwest tonight:

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Murray Won't Return In Next Two Months

December 23rd, 2021 at 8:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nuggets coach Michael Malone has tempered expectations about Jamal Murray‘s return date, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets. Malone said on a radio interview with 92.5 FM Altitude Sports that fans shouldn’t expect to see Murray return from his knee injury in January or February. The organization is taking it very cautious with their franchise point guard.

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Northwest Notes: Rivers, Hyland, Bazley, Wolves

December 19th, 2021 at 2:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Following his first-hand experience with COVID-19, Nuggets guard Austin Rivers is worried about the increased effect it’s having on the league, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Rivers, who was asymptomatic at first, eventually developed body aches, headaches and breathing issues. He was able to return to the court Friday and expressed concern about the toll the virus is taking on many rosters.

“It’s getting a little bit out of hand in the NBA, to be honest with you,” Rivers said. “I don’t know what we gotta do, whether it’s go back to limiting who’s in the arena, or we gotta test every day. We definitely gotta go back, obviously, to testing every day. I think that’s what we’re doing. The numbers are just getting scary at this point. They’ve got all types of variants.”

Rivers played in the bubble setting in Orlando at the end of the 2019/20 season and said no one wants to bring that back. The Nuggets have emphasized responsible behavior to their players and staff members, but Rivers fears that the virus may be uncontrollable.

“What can we do to minimize chances of spread?” he said. “The problem is, a lot of this is on the onus of what you do when you leave the facility. No matter if we test, or mask, no mask, fans, no fans, at the end of the day, when guys go home, you don’t know what they’re doing, you don’t know whether they’re going out. … You’re gonna stop guys from going out? It’s impossible.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • Rookie guard Bones Hyland said he learned a lesson after being benched for the Nuggets‘ game on Wednesday because of a violation of team rules, Singer adds in a separate story. Hyland and coach Michael Malone didn’t reveal any details about the infraction, but they both indicated it’s part of learning how to be an NBA player. “We’re a better team when Bones Hyland is available,” Malone said Friday. “He knows that. This is a learning process for all young men. Tonight, he’s back with the team, he learned his lesson, and he helps us get a really important road win.”
  • The Thunder pulled Darius Bazley from the starting lineup Saturday for the first time since he was a rookie, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Coach Mark Daigneault said Bazley accepted the decision “professionally” when he was told about it (Twitter link). “Anytime we make a decision, it’s under the presumption that it’s going to work,” Daigneault said. “If we didn’t think this had the potential to kickstart him and help him reach the capability he has a player, we wouldn’t do it.” (Twitter link)
  • The Timberwolves need another big man next to Karl-Anthony Towns and should be aggressive about pursuing Pacers center Myles Turner, contends La Velle E. Neal III of The Star-Tribune.
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NBA Postpones Three Sunday Games

December 19th, 2021 at 12:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

12:30pm: The NBA has officially postponed three games on Sunday: Cavs-Hawks, Nets-Nuggets, and Pelicans-Sixers, the league announced (via Twitter).

11:30am: The NBA has decided to postpone tonight’s game between the Cavaliers and Hawks, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The contest between the Nets and Nuggets has been called off as well, Woj adds (Twitter link), and others may be in jeopardy, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The league is still considering whether to postpone tonight’s matchup between the Pelicans and Sixers, Wojnarowski tweets.

The news comes amid another day of numerous players being put into health and safety protocols, including Cleveland center Jarrett Allen and four of his teammates, along with Atlanta All-Star guard Trae Young. Philadelphia lost Andre Drummond and Shake Milton and already has a depleted roster.

COVID-19 forced multiple postponements last season, especially early on, but the league was able to avoid any schedule interruptions until earlier this week when the short-handed Bulls had games postponed against the Pistons and Raptors.

Multiple teams have seen their rosters decimated by the virus over the past few days, so more postponements could be coming. It’s particularly distressing for the league that this outbreak is happening so close to Christmas Day, which is an annual showcase. Among the teams scheduled to play on December 25, the Knicks, Celtics, Bucks, Nets and Lakers are especially short-handed.

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Nuggets Re-Sign Davon Reed

December 19th, 2021 at 9:49am CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 19: The move is official, the Nuggets announced (via Twitter).

DECEMBER 18: The Nuggets are re-signing guard Davon Reed to another 10-day contract via the hardship exemption, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

The exemption has been granted to teams with COVID-19 and/or injury issues. It allows a team to add a 16th player to its standard “15-man” roster without waiving anyone.

According to our latest count, the team still has two players in health and safety protocols, though one (Michael Porter Jr.) is injured. The other player still sidelined by protocols is Bol Bol. They also have two other players out of action due to long-term injuries.

Reed signed on December 4. He’s averaged 3.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 1.5 SPG in 16.5 MPG while appearing in six games.

Reed had previously been playing for the team’s new G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold. A 2017 second-rounder, Reed appeared in 21 games for Phoenix during the 2017/18 season and 1o more for Indiana the following season. In seven games with the Gold, he averaged 12.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 3.8 APG.

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Nuggets’ Howard Out At Least Six Weeks Due To Knee Injury

December 17th, 2021 at 1:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Nuggets guard Markus Howard, who left Wednesday’s loss to Minnesota in the fourth quarter due to a left knee injury, has been diagnosed with a sprained knee and will be reevaluated in six weeks, the team announced today (via Twitter).

While it’s a relief that Howard didn’t sustain a more significant injury, it’s still tough news for the second-year guard, who is playing on a two-way contract with Denver for a second consecutive year.

After logging limited minutes in 37 games as a rookie in 2020/21, Howard has averaged 4.3 PPG on .355/.391/.875 shooting in 16 games (7.3 MPG) this season. He had recently entered the team’s regular rotation, averaging 16.7 MPG in the last three games, so the timing is unfortunate — he’ll likely have to earn those minutes back when he eventually returns to action.

Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter links) notes that Howard’s absence could reopen the door for the Nuggets to be granted a hardship exception, since Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and PJ Dozier are also out with long-term injuries. In that scenario, Denver could circle back to Davon Reed, who made a positive impression during his 10 days with the club earlier this month, says Singer.

According to Singer (Twitter link), the Nuggets have also placed Porter in the health and safety protocols. That won’t have any tangible effect on the team’s lineup or rotation, since MPJ is expected to remain on the shelf all season as he recovers from back surgery.

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