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Community Shootaround: Who Could Benefit From Change Of Scenery?

November 22nd, 2022 at 9:25am CST by Luke Adams

We’re at the five-week mark of the NBA season and a number of players who expected to play key roles for their respective teams have found themselves out of the rotation this fall.

Knicks wing Evan Fournier, for instance, began the season as a starter, was moved into a reserve role, and then was taken off the court altogether — he hasn’t appeared in any of New York’s last five games. Kings big man Richaun Holmes, who opened the season as the team’s primary backup center, has since ceded that role to Chimezie Metu and has played just six garbage-time minutes in Sacramento’s last seven contests.

Fournier and Holmes are two of the veterans named by John Hollinger of The Athletic as players who could benefit from a change of scenery. However, both are on eight-figure multiyear contracts that won’t necessarily be easy to move. Heat forward Duncan Robinson, another player on Hollinger’s list, fits into that category too.

Many of the other players Hollinger identifies as potential change-of-scenery candidates are younger and cheaper. Sixers swingman Matisse Thybulle and Pelicans big man Jaxson Hayes were both eligible for rookie scale extensions prior to this season, but didn’t sign them and are now on track for restricted free agency in 2023. Hayes has barely played for New Orleans, while Thybulle’s minutes have been inconsistent, even as several Philadelphia players battle the injury bug.

Magic wing R.J. Hampton is another former first-round pick on Hollinger’s list who is in a contract year, though it’s because Orlando turned down its 2023/24 team option, not because he’s in his fourth year. As Hollinger observes, Hampton has actually played reasonably well when given the chance this season, knocking down 43.8% of his three-point attempts, but the Magic’s option decision signals that he’s probably not in the club’s long-term plans, and it’s unclear how often he’ll get to play once Orlando’s injured guards (including Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz) get healthy.

The other players mentioned by Hollinger include Hawks big man John Collins, once again the subject of trade rumors; Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, a victim of a deep backcourt who could be a trade chip if Boston seeks frontcourt help; Rockets guard Eric Gordon, stuck on one of the NBA’s worst teams for a third straight year; and Hornets center Mark Williams, a lottery pick who has been tearing up the G League but has only played 13 minutes in three games at the NBA level (Hollinger doesn’t expect Charlotte to trade Williams, but would like to see the struggling club give him a shot at the NBA level).

We want to know what you think. Which players on Hollinger’s list would benefit most from a change of scenery? And which other players around the NBA are good candidates to flourish if given a new opportunity?

Head below to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts!

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11 Players Affected By Poison Pill Provision In 2022/23

November 22nd, 2022 at 7:58am CST by Luke Adams

The term “poison pill” doesn’t actually show up in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, but it’s used colloquially to refer to a provision in the CBA that affects players who recently signed rookie scale contract extensions.

As we explain in our glossary entry, the so-called poison pill provision applies when a player who signed a rookie scale extension is traded before the extension takes effect.

In that scenario, the player’s incoming value for the receiving team for matching purposes is determined by averaging his current-year salary and the salaries in each year of his new extension. His current team, on the other hand, simply treats his current-year salary as the outgoing figure for matching purposes.

For instance, Heat guard Tyler Herro is earning a $5,722,116 salary in 2022/23, but signed a four-year, $120MM extension that will begin in ’23/24. Therefore, if Miami wanted to trade Herro this season, his outgoing value for salary-matching purposes would be $5,722,116 (this year’s salary), while his incoming value for the team acquiring him would be $25,144,423 (this year’s salary, plus the $120MM extension, divided by five years).

[RELATED: 2022 NBA Rookie Scale Extension Recap]

Most of the players who signed rookie scale extensions aren’t candidates to be traded anytime soon. But even in the event that a team does want to look into trading one of these recently extended players, the gap between the player’s incoming trade value and outgoing trade value could make it a real challenge to find a deal that works for both sides.

The “poison pill” provision applies to 11 players who signed rookie scale extensions in 2022. Here are those players, along with their outgoing salaries and incoming salaries for trade purposes:

Player Team Outgoing trade value Incoming trade value
Zion Williamson NOP $13,534,817 $34,639,136
Ja Morant MEM $12,119,440 $34,403,240
RJ Barrett NYK $10,900,635 $23,580,127
De’Andre Hunter ATL $9,835,881 $19,967,176
Darius Garland CLE $8,920,795 $33,870,133
Tyler Herro MIA $5,722,116 $25,144,423
Brandon Clarke MEM $4,343,920 $10,868,784
Nassir Little POR $4,171,548 $6,434,310
Jordan Poole GSW $3,901,399 $26,380,280
Keldon Johnson SAS $3,873,025 $15,574,605
Kevin Porter Jr. HOU $3,217,631 $15,234,726

Once the 2023/24 league year begins, the poison pill provision will no longer apply to these players. At that time, the player’s ’23/24 salary would represent both his outgoing and incoming value.

Until then though, the gap between those outgoing and incoming figures will make it tricky for these players to be moved, with one or two exceptions.

The small difference between Little’s incoming and outgoing trade figures, for instance, wouldn’t be very problematic if the Blazers wanted to trade him. But the much larger divide between Poole’s incoming and outgoing numbers means there’s virtually no chance he could be moved to an over-the-cap team in 2022/23, even if the Warriors wanted to.

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Community Shootaround: Sacramento Kings

November 17th, 2022 at 10:36am CST by Luke Adams

After missing the playoffs for a 16th straight season in 2021/22, the Kings entered the offseason focused on hiring a new head coach and adding complementary pieces around De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.

While Fox and Sabonis are supremely talented offensive players, neither is an elite three-point marksman or a shut-down defender, so shooting and defense were Sacramento’s top summer priorities.

The Kings addressed their outside shooting in all sorts of different ways, drafting Keegan Murray with the fourth overall pick in June, then signing Malik Monk in free agency and acquiring Kevin Huerter in a trade with the Hawks.

Unfortunately, of those three players, only Murray is considered a strong defender, but the Kings did hire a head coach – Mike Brown – who built his reputation on his defensive acumen, so the hope was that he could get more out of the personnel than another coach might have.

Of course, if the personnel isn’t right, there’s only so much that a head coach and a rookie can do to upgrade a defense, so it’s perhaps no surprise that the Kings haven’t made major strides on that end of the floor so far this season — their 114.0 defensive rating ranks 26th out of 30 teams.

However, as Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports writes, Sacramento’s offense has emerged as one of the league’s most explosive units — the team’s 116.5 offensive rating leads all Western Conference clubs and ranks second in the entire NBA. That offense was firing on all cylinders in a statement game on Tuesday, as the Kings racked up 153 points – a league-high so far this season – and blew out the Nets in their first TNT home game since 2018, notes Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

The Kings, who were missing Murray to open the season, got off to an 0-4 start, but have been one of the NBA’s most impressive teams since then. They’ve won seven of their last nine games, and their only two losses were by a single basket in Miami and Golden State. As Devine observes, both losses also featured controversial late-game calls, as the Heat benefited from a missed travel on Tyler Herro, while the Warriors got away with a missed Klay Thompson foul on Huerter’s last-second attempt to tie the game.

While the subpar defense remains a concern, Sacramento’s high-powered offense could make up for it, allowing the Kings to outscore their opponents in shootouts on any given night.

Breaking down the team’s offensive performance so far, Devine cautions that some regression is probably coming — Huerter’s 52.6% three-point mark and Fox’s 84.0% conversion rate at the rim are among the numbers unlikely to stay that high.

Still, it looks like the pieces fit together well, with shooters like Huerter, Monk, Murray, Harrison Barnes, and Terence Davis proving to be ideal complements to Fox and Sabonis. Sacramento currently ranks fourth in three-pointers per game and seventh in three-point percentage — last season, the team was 25th and 24th, respectively, in those categories.

Kevin Durant, who was with Brown in Golden State for three years, was impressed by what he saw on Tuesday and understands why the former Warriors assistant wanted to coach the Kings.

“They got a deep team,” Durant said, per Slater. “They got a lot of guys that can play real minutes on any NBA team. They got 10, 11 guys that can do that so you step into a situation like that, you got two All-Star caliber in Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox, that’s a great, great team to build with. So It was a great choice by Mike to choose the Sacramento Kings and it was great by Sacramento to give Mike a chance. He’s been a part of championship groups the last six, seven years. Just a perfect pairing, I think.”

Of course, the big question is whether this version of the Kings is good enough to end the longest active playoff drought in the four major U.S. sports. While some playoff hopefuls have gotten off to shaky starts, the Western Conference is still deep and competitive, especially with clubs like the Trail Blazers and Jazz outperforming expectations in the early going.

The Kings’ 7-6 record puts them eighth in the conference for the time being, but the Clippers, Timberwolves, and Warriors are all behind them, with the potential to play a whole lot better than they have so far.

We want to know what you think. Has the Kings’ recent run turned you into a believer, or are the defensive holes still a major concern? Do you view Sacramento as a probable play-in team? Do you expect them to be one of the eight playoff teams in the West for the first time since 2006?

Head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts on the Kings!

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Hoops Rumors Glossary: Renegotiations

November 16th, 2022 at 3:18pm CST by Luke Adams

It’s common practice in the National Football League for a team to renegotiate its contract with a player, but we hear far less about the concept in the NBA. So can an NBA team actually renegotiate a contract with one of its players?

The answer is almost always no, and it’s a firm no if the follow-up question is whether the sides can renegotiate the value of the contract downward. Unlike NFL teams, an NBA club can’t create extra cap flexibility by renegotiating a contract to push present-day cap hits into future years.

However, renegotiations are allowed to make an NBA contract more lucrative, and they can happen as long as a specific set of circumstances are in place:

  • Only contracts that cover four or more seasons can be renegotiated, though that rule doesn’t apply to rookie scale deals — even though they run for four years, they can’t be renegotiated.
  • Renegotiations can only occur after the third anniversary of a contract signing, an extension, or a previous renegotiation (assuming the previous renegotiation increased the salary in any season by 5% or more).
  • Perhaps most importantly, teams can’t renegotiate any contracts if they’re over the cap, and they can only increase the player’s salary in the current season by the amount of cap room that they have (or to the player’s maximum salary).

The raises for any seasons that follow the first renegotiated season in a contract are limited to 8%. That’s also true of salary decreases, though if a renegotiation happens at the same time as an extension, the player’s salary can decrease by as much as 40% from the last season of the existing contract to the first season of the extension.

Here are a few other rules related to contract renegotiations:

  • Teams can’t renegotiate contracts between March 1 and June 30, so the last day of February is always the deadline to complete renegotiations in a given league year.
  • Renegotiations can’t occur as part of a trade, and if a player waives some or all of his trade kicker to facilitate a trade, he’s ineligible to renegotiate his contract for the next six months.
  • In order for a signing bonus to be included in a renegotiation, the contract must be extended as well.
  • Two-way contracts can’t be renegotiated.

Renegotiating a contract to include a significant raise for the current season can be a clever way of incentivizing a long-term extension for a player who would otherwise reach free agency. However, an extensive set of rules limits the appeal of that sort of deal, and teams generally require substantial cap room to pull it off, so contract renegotiations are rare.

The last NBA contract to be renegotiated was Robert Covington‘s with the Sixers in November 2017. At the time, Covington was earning a minimum salary of approximately $1.6MM and the 76ers had just over $15MM in cap room available.

Since Covington had outperformed that contract and Philadelphia wanted to lock him up long-term, the team used its remaining cap room to renegotiate his deal, giving him a raise to nearly $16.7MM for the 2017/18 season, then tacking on four more years, the first of which was worth just over $10MM, representing a 40% dip.

Because two NBA teams – San Antonio and Indiana – currently have substantial cap room available, the renegotiation tactic is worth keeping in the back of our minds this season.

Unfortunately for the Spurs, the team’s top extension candidates – Jakob Poeltl and Tre Jones – signed three-year contracts during the 2020 offseason. That makes them ineligible for a renegotiation, since only contracts covering four or more seasons can be renegotiated.

The Pacers, on the other hand, have one renegotiation candidate in Myles Turner, who signed a four-year rookie scale extension in 2018. Turner has an $18MM cap hit this season, so veteran extension rules would typically restrict the Pacers from offering more than a 20% raise, which would work out to a $21.6MM starting salary in 2023/24.

However, by renegotiating his contract, the Pacers could get more creative if they want to try to extend Turner, offering him a big raise on this year’s $18MM salary — in theory, they could double that figure and still have a chunk of cap room (approximately $10MM) left over. Doing so would reduce the trade opportunities the Pacers’ cap room affords them at the trade deadline, but they’ll need to spend that money somehow in order to reach this season’s salary floor.

Additionally, because a renegotiation in conjunction with an extension allows for a 40% dip in the first year of the extension, the Pacers could still start an extension offer for Turner at $21.6MM even after increasing his current-year salary to $36MM. It’s not as if a big salary bump for this season would force them to keep increasing that cap number in future years — a Turner extension could theoretically look the same beyond this season as it would without a renegotiation.

Keith Smith of Spotrac explores the concept of a possible Turner renegotiation and extension in more detail.

Turner may prefer to test the free agent market next summer; perhaps the Pacers would prefer to trade him before this season’s deadline. But if there’s any mutual interest in a long-term deal, the two sides would be wise to explore the renegotiate-and-extend route, since this could represent a rare instance where it makes sense to take that path.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier version of this post were published in 2015 and 2017.

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Community Shootaround: Early Impressions Of 2022 Rookie Class

November 13th, 2022 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Up until about 24 hours before the 2022 NBA draft, it was widely believed that Paolo Banchero would be the third player off the board, with Jabari Smith considered likely to be the Magic‘s pick at No. 1 and Chet Holmgren the favorite to follow him at No. 2. Banchero was expected to be selected third overall by the Rockets.

Instead, it was Banchero who was the first player drafted, while Holmgren still went to the Thunder and Smith headed to Houston rather than Orlando.

Through the first month of the 2022/23 regular season, it’s looking like the Magic made the right call.

Banchero has been one of the NBA’s most productive rookies in years in the early going, averaging an impressive 23.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 34.7 minutes per game. Smith, meanwhile, has struggled mightily, making just 31.3% of his shots from the field en route to modest averages of 10.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG in 29.7 MPG. And while it may be unfair to dock Holmgren for having suffered a season-ending foot injury before training camps begin, his slight frame was considered a possible red flag for teams picking at the top of the draft.

Banchero is the odds-on favorite for the Rookie of the Year award at this point, but it looks like he’ll face some stiff competition from a couple players selected just outside of the top three.

Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin has arguably been just as impressive as Banchero in his first 12 NBA games, averaging 19.9 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 2.3 APG with a sparkling .456/.453/.831 shooting line in just 28.1 MPG. If Indiana continues to bring him off the bench and he keeps playing at his current level, he could be a legitimate threat to win two end-of-season awards — Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year.

Pistons guard Jaden Ivey, meanwhile, hasn’t been scoring at quite the same rate as Banchero or Mathurin, but he ranks third among rookies in points per game (15.8 PPG), fourth in rebounding (5.1 RPG), and first in assists (3.8 APG). It’s not just a case of him benefiting from a high usage rate either, as his shooting percentages (.446/.352/.727) are very solid for a 20-year-old adjusting to the NBA.

No. 4 overall pick Keegan Murray is off to a slightly slower start after returning from a bout with COVID-19, but the Kings forward has averaged 11.9 PPG on .446/.361/.778 shooting and could continue to boost those numbers as the season progresses.

It’s still very early in the season, and as we saw a year ago with Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green, it sometimes takes highly touted rookies a little time to adjust to the NBA and begin scoring efficiently, so we could see youngsters like Smith and Murray come on strong in the second half.

For now though, we want to know your initial thoughts on this year’s rookie class.

Did you expect Banchero and Mathurin to be this good this fast, or have they surprised you? Do you think they’ll come back to earth while other rookies get hot, or will the Rookie of the Year race ultimately come down to the Magic forward and the Pacers guard? Are you worried about Smith, or do you expect him to be fine after he endures some growing pains? Are there other rookies in this class – including perhaps Shaedon Sharpe, Jeremy Sochan, or Tari Eason – who have impressed you so far?

Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

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Largest Trade Exceptions Available This Season

November 13th, 2022 at 9:04am CST by Luke Adams

As the NBA’s 2022/23 trade deadline approaches, it’s worth keeping in mind which teams hold traded player exceptions that could come in handy to grease the wheels on an in-season deal.

As we explain in our glossary, a traded player exception allows a team to take on salary in a trade without sending out any salary in return. The amount of the exception plus $100K is the amount of salary the team is permitted to take back without salary-matching – either in a single deal or in multiple trades – for one year.

For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception could acquire a player earning $4MM and a player earning $6.1MM without having to worry about sending out any outgoing salary.

In recent years, sizable traded player exceptions have been major wild cards that helped accommodate both pre-deadline and offseason deals. For example, after creating a $28.6MM trade exception in a sign-and-trade sending Gordon Hayward to Charlotte in 2020, the Celtics used that TPE to acquire Evan Fournier at the following deadline and then to acquire Josh Richardson during the 2021 offseason.

However, as our tracker shows, there are currently no trade exceptions worth anywhere near $28MM. In fact, the largest current TPE barely eclipses the $10MM mark.

Here are the all of the current trade exceptions worth more than $4MM, along with their expiry dates in parentheses:

  1. Oklahoma City Thunder: $10,183,800 (10/2/23)
  2. Utah Jazz: $9,774,884 (2/9/23)
  3. Los Angeles Clippers: $9,720,900 (2/10/23)
  4. Utah Jazz: $9,614,379 (7/6/23)
  5. Denver Nuggets: $9,125,000 (7/6/23)
  6. Boston Celtics: $6,907,815 (1/19/23)
  7. Utah Jazz: $6,745,122 (9/22/23)
  8. Portland Trail Blazers: $6,519,792 (2/6/23)
  9. Boston Celtics: $5,890,000 (2/10/23)
  10. Toronto Raptors: $5,250,000 (2/10/23)
  11. Washington Wizards: $5,220,900 (2/10/23)
  12. Atlanta Hawks: $4,564,980 (9/27/23)
  13. Minnesota Timberwolves: $4,374,000 (7/6/23)
  14. Oklahoma City Thunder: $4,220,057 (10/2/23)
  15. Sacramento Kings: $4,023,600 (2/8/23)

These trade exceptions aren’t useless. For instance, if Detroit made point guard Cory Joseph available, any of the top 11 TPEs on this list could be used to absorb Joseph’s $5,155,500 salary. The non-Utah TPEs in the top eight could be used to acquire Rudy Gay and his $6,184,500 cap hit from the Jazz. All 15 of them are big enough to take on the $3.5MM salary of Thunder big man Mike Muscala.

But these exceptions will ultimately be of no consequence when considering trade candidates who earn salaries well into the eight figures, since TPEs can’t be combined with other players or exceptions. There’s no scenario in which any of these trade exceptions could be used to take on the $18MM salary of Pacers center Myles Turner, for example.

That’s not the only factor working against the odds of most of these exceptions being used. All of the top 10 largest TPEs are controlled by teams that are rebuilding (the Thunder and Jazz), teams in the tax (the Clippers, Nuggets, and Celtics), or teams that are just below the tax line and likely want to stay that way (the Trail Blazers and Raptors). In other words, they don’t fit the profile of clubs that are looking to take on additional salary without sending any out.

That doesn’t mean that none of these trade exceptions will be used — after all, it sometimes makes sense to take advantage of them even in a deal that a team could complete using salary matching (for instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception that swaps one $8MM player for another could use the exception to take on the incoming player and create a new $8MM exception using the outgoing player). However, it does mean that it’s unlikely any TPEs will be game-changers on this season’s trade market.

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Players Eligible For In-Season Veteran Extensions In 2022/23

November 12th, 2022 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

As we explain in our glossary entry on veteran contract extensions, rookie scale extensions have historically been the most common form of contract extension in the NBA. However, the league’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement loosened the rules on eligibility for veteran extensions and made them more financially advantageous, especially for players who don’t expect mega-deals.

As a result, we’ve seen a substantial bump in veteran contract extensions in recent seasons. During the 2021/22 league year, 21 players signed them, and there’s a chance that number will be eclipsed in ’22/23.

[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]

Certain extension-eligible players, including perhaps Fred VanVleet, may prefer to wait until free agency to sign a new contract, since the biggest raise VanVleet can receive on an extension would be far less than the maximum contract he’d be eligible to earn on the open market.

The maximum starting salary a player like VanVleet can receive in a veteran extension is up to 120% of his current salary. A player on a more modest contract can receive a maximum starting salary worth up to 120% of the NBA’s estimated average salary.

For this season, 120% of the estimated average salary would work out to a $12,950,400 salary in the first year of a contract extension. A player who signs an extension that fits that bill could get up to four years and $58,017,792. Jakob Poeltl and Naz Reid are among the players eligible for that sort of deal.

Now that the regular season is underway, the number of veterans eligible for contract extensions has shrunk, since players with more than one year left on their contracts aren’t permitted to sign an in-season extension. But there are still a number of veterans in the final year of their respective contracts who remain eligible for extensions right up until the last day of the current league year.

Listed below are the players who meet the criteria for a veteran extension. Players who were recently traded can be extended, but they have to wait for six months after the trade to sign a contract longer than three total years (including the current season) with a raise exceeding 5%. If a player below is noted as having “limited” eligibility until a certain date, that’s why.

Once a player regains his full extension eligibility, he becomes eligible to sign an extension of up to five total years (including the current season) with a 20% first-year raise (or 20% of the estimated average salary).

Additionally, extension-eligible players with a player or team option for 2023/24 would have to eliminate that option year as part of an extension agreement in order to meet the necessary criteria.

Here’s the full list of veterans currently eligible for contract extensions:

Atlanta Hawks

  • None

Boston Celtics

  • None

Brooklyn Nets

Charlotte Hornets

  • None

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets

  • None

Detroit Pistons

  • None

Golden State Warriors

Houston Rockets

Indiana Pacers

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Lakers

Memphis Grizzlies

Miami Heat

  • None

Milwaukee Bucks

Minnesota Timberwolves

New Orleans Pelicans

New York Knicks

  • None

Oklahoma City Thunder

Orlando Magic

  • None

Philadelphia 76ers

Phoenix Suns

  • None

Portland Trail Blazers

Sacramento Kings

San Antonio Spurs

Toronto Raptors

Utah Jazz

Washington Wizards

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Community Shootaround: Utah Jazz

November 9th, 2022 at 10:17am CST by Luke Adams

When our readers voted on teams’ win totals for the 2022/23 season in September, the Jazz were given an over/under of 25.5 wins and voters overwhelmingly took the “under” on that number. After trading away Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Royce O’Neale in the offseason, Utah was considered one of the frontrunners in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes, with a good chance to be a bottom-five team in the NBA.

Instead, three weeks into the regular season, the Jazz hold the top spot in the Western Conference, with their 9-3 record putting them a full game ahead of Phoenix, Denver, and Portland, all of whom are 7-3.

And it’s not as if Utah has been beating up on fellow lottery-bound teams. The Jazz have road wins in Minnesota, New Orleans, and Los Angeles (over both the Lakers and Clippers). They’ve beaten Memphis twice and Denver once, and they’re undefeated (5-0) at home.

As Ryan McDonald of The Deseret News notes, the Jazz’s offense has been one of the NBA’s best, ranking third in the league in points per 100 possessions. And that offensive production is coming from newcomers and incumbents alike.

Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton, acquired in the Mitchell blockbuster, are two of the team’s top three scorers, with Markkanen (21.9 PPG) leading the way. Jordan Clarkson (18.3 PPG on .444/.421/.731 shooting) and Mike Conley (12.5 PPG, 7.5 APG, .426 3PT%) have also been important contributors, with Kelly Olynyk, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt playing key roles too.

According to Tony Jones of The Athletic, the fact that the Jazz are having some success instead of bottoming out in the early part of the season hasn’t come as a surprise to Utah players, who believed there was still plenty of talent on the revamped roster.

“We just kind of looked around (in training camp) and said we’re not anything what they say we are,” Conley said. “We have too many good players to tank. We knew from day one. This wasn’t a rebuild. We told ourselves that we aren’t that bad, and the guys locked in on that. We had a collective belief system and we knew we had a chance to have a good start.”

“Mike was preaching that to us,” Sexton told Jones. “It gave us a lot of confidence. Plus, there were so many people writing us off that we wanted to come out and play with a chip on our shoulders.”

Conley, who describes the Jazz as “gritty and mean and carefree at the same time,” joked to Tim MacMahon of ESPN that if the front office wants to lose, “They’ve got to get rid of me too.” While the veteran guard made the statement in jest, it raises an interesting question: What’s next for the NBA’s most surprising team?

If CEO Danny Ainge, general manager Justin Zanik, and Jazz management are committed to securing a top pick in the 2023 draft, perhaps more moves could be coming — Clarkson and Conley are the returning veterans who are the most obvious trade candidates, and it’s possible the team could flip some of the newly added pieces, such as Olynyk and Beasley.

But continuing the roster teardown would risk upsetting the positive culture and chemistry that new head coach Will Hardy and the new Jazzmen are building in Utah. Perhaps the front office will look at the roster, recognize there’s still not enough talent there to make the Jazz a legitimate contender this season, and count on the team coming down to earth on its own after a hot start.

Remaining in the play-in mix for the rest of the season could create some positive vibes heading into 2023/24 while still putting the team in position to land a pick in the top half of what should be a deep 2023 draft.

We want to know what you think. How real is this 9-3 start in Utah? Can the Jazz be a playoff team this season? Should they stick to their offseason plan and keep selling, or is standing pat (or even exploring buying) the right call at this point?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

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Community Shootaround: Lottery Teams

November 7th, 2022 at 6:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Powerball lottery jackpot grew to a world record $1.9 billion on Monday. Coincidentally, four of the five NBA teams with the top picks in the June draft faced each other.

The Magic and top pick Paolo Banchero were matched up against the Rockets and No. 3 pick Jabari Smith. The Thunder, who won’t have No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren available until next season, played against the Pistons and No. 5 pick Jaden Ivey.

The Kings, who drafted Keegan Murray at No. 4, had a much different test facing the defending champion but struggling Warriors.

A few of those teams have habitually participated in the lottery. Orlando has finished 11th or worse in the Eastern Conference in eight of the past 10 seasons. Detroit hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008. Sacramento, of course, has gone 16 seasons without a postseason visit.

Oklahoma City got eliminated in the first round four straight years before going into a full rebuild. The Thunder have seemingly have stockpiled more draft picks than wins since the 2020/21 season. Houston has taken a similar approach.

How have these teams looked so far this season? Let’s break it down:

  • Magic — Banchero has lived up to his status, averaging 22.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists. It hasn’t translated into victories, as Orlando headed into Monday’s game with a 2-8 record.
  • Rockets — Last year’s No. 2 pick, Jalen Green, is averaging 19.5 points while Smith has posted averages of 10.8 points and 6.1 rebounds. They had only one win in their first 10 outings.
  • Thunder — With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander playing at an All-Star level (30.5 points, 5.9 assists), they headed into Detroit with a 4-5 record. Last year’s lottery selection, Josh Giddey, ranks second on the club in scoring (13.5).
  • Kings — Murray is averaging 13.9 points but, not surprisingly, De’Aaron Fox leads the team in scoring (26.3) and assists (4.6). Sacramento lost its first four games but has rebounded to win three of its last four outings.
  • Pistons — Ivey has scored in double digits in all but one game while averaging 15 points. Last year’s top pick, Cade Cunningham, is averaging 21.4 points and 6.3 assists. Yet wins have been scarce, as they entered the week with a 2-8 record.

That brings us to today’s question: Among the five teams with the highest lottery picks in the June draft — the Magic, Thunder, Rockets, Kings and Pistons — which franchise has the brightest future and is closest to becoming a perennial playoff team?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

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Community Shootaround: Milwaukee Bucks

November 4th, 2022 at 1:30pm CST by Luke Adams

Eighteen days into the 2022/23 NBA regular season, only one team remains undefeated. The Bucks have opened the season with seven straight victories and will put their 7-0 record on the line in a Friday night showdown vs. the Timberwolves in Minnesota.

The Bucks were viewed as one of this season’s top title contenders ahead of the season, so the fact that they’re off to a strong start comes as no surprise. Still, it’s an impressive feat for a team that’s missing several key rotation players.

All-Star forward Khris Middleton has yet to play at all while recovering from offseason wrist surgery. Pat Connaughton also hasn’t played yet for Milwaukee due to a calf strain, and Joe Ingles remains sidelined as he continues to rehab from an ACL tear.

In spite of their missing wing depth, the Bucks have an unblemished record in the early going thanks in large part to the usual MVP-caliber play of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is averaging an eye-popping 33.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in just 33.4 minutes per game.

Having a healthy Brook Lopez back in the starting lineup averaging 30-plus minutes per game has also been a boon for the Bucks, especially on defense. Milwaukee’s 101.3 defensive rating is easily the NBA’s best, and the team also ranks atop the league in rebounding rate (53.2%) and opponents’ field goal percentage (41.9%).

As impressive as the Bucks’ start has been, there are some caveats worth mentioning. Six of their seven games have been at home and only one of their wins has come against a team (Philadelphia) that finished in the top six of its conference last season. Milwaukee’s other victories have come against Atlanta, New York, Brooklyn, Houston, and Detroit (twice).

Still, if the Bucks can get by an up-and-down Wolves team on Friday, they’ll be in good position to keep their winning streak rolling. Three of their next four games after Friday will be against the Thunder and Spurs, two teams considered lottery-bound.

We want to know your early-season impressions of the Bucks and your expectations for the team going forward. How long can Milwaukee extend its undefeated run to open the season? When Middleton, Connaughton, and Ingles get healthy, should the Bucks be considered the favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference? Is Antetokounmpo the early MVP frontrunner?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents!

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