Clippers center Serge Ibaka underwent surgery to address his troublesome back injury on Thursday in Los Angeles, the club announced today in a press release.
The Clippers said in their statement that Ibaka is expected to make a full recovery, but he’ll miss the rest of the 2021 postseason, regardless of how far L.A. advances.
It’s a tough break for Ibaka and for the Clippers, who had been counting on the big man’s two-way versatility and championship experience to be valuable in the postseason. His back issues have been a persistent issues this year though.
Ibaka played two games late in the regular season after being sidelined for two months due to that injury. The 31-year-old admitted to the media just after the regular season ended that he’s been dealing with a nerve issue in his back all season and that it hasn’t fully healed.
Ibaka has a player option worth $9.7MM for 2021/22. If he were 100% healthy, he’d likely turn down that option in search of a raise, but in the wake of his surgery, picking it up looks like the safer play.
With Ibaka on the shelf, Ivica Zubac and DeMarcus Cousins should continue to see minutes at the five. However, Zubac and Cousins have only combined for about 24-25 minutes in each of the first two games vs. the Jazz, as head coach Tyronn Lue has used smaller, forward-heavy lineups without a true center.
Initially listed as doubtful for Game 2, Clippers center Serge Ibaka has since been ruled out, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. The big man, who missed most of the second half of the regular season due to back problems, returned briefly at the end of the season and start of the postseason, but hasn’t played since Game 2 of the Dallas series.
Appearing on the HoopsHype podcast alongside Yossi Gozlan, Michael Scotto identified Nets assistant Ime Udoka and former Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson as potential candidates to watch for the Magic‘s open head coaching position.
Clippers assistant Dan Craig and Bucks assistant Darvin Ham are among the other names Scotto has heard linked to the job in Orlando. If the Bucks lose their second-round series to Brooklyn, it could be the end of the road in Milwaukee not just for Mike Budenholzer, but for several members of his staff, including Ham, Scotto notes.
Here’s more from the podcast:
Scotto says Cavaliers big man Isaiah Hartenstein plans to turn down his player option, after hinting as much last month. Hartenstein will be eligible for restricted free agency and is a good bet to remain in Cleveland, either on a multiyear contract or on his qualifying offer, according to Scotto.
Some executives around the NBA believe the Hornets and/or Mavericks could pursue Jarrett Allen, but Scotto expects the RFA center to ultimately remain with the Cavaliers, who gave up a first-round pick for him earlier this year.
James Ennis, who has played for seven teams since entering the NBA in 2014, will be seeking some stability as a free agent this offseason, per Scotto, who says Ennis is hoping for a deal that covers three years, or at least two. After knocking down 43.3% of his three-pointers in 2020/21, the veteran forward will be looking for a salary worth at least the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, Scotto adds.
Scotto has heard from people around the league that free agent center Daniel Theis could command a deal worth at least the mid-level exception. Theis would like to join a winning team, but also wants the opportunity to play regularly.
The Jazz will be without their starting point guard again on Thursday night, having officially ruled out Mike Conley for Game 2 against the Clippers, tweets Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Conley has been sidelined since suffering a mild right hamstring strain in Game 5 of Utah’s first-round series vs. Memphis. However, the Jazz haven’t missed a beat without him so far, finishing off the Grizzlies and then winning Game 1 against Los Angeles.
With Conley out on Tuesday, the Jazz leaned more heavily on Donovan Mitchell, who scored 45 points in 37 minutes. Mitchell had averaged a little less than 30 minutes per game since returning from his ankle sprain in Game 2 vs. the Grizzlies, so Tuesday’s workload represented a significant uptick in minutes for him. Joe Ingles also took on more of a play-making role in Game 1 against the Clippers, recording seven assists.
Conley is considered day-to-day and – before being ruled out – has been listed as questionable leading up to each of the first two games of this series. It seems like he may not be far off from a return, but the Jazz won’t rush him back before he’s ready.
Prior to the 2021 trade deadline, J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star reported that the Hornets, Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, and Pelicans were among the teams to express interest in Pacers big man Myles Turner. With Turner possibly available again this summer in trade talks, many of those teams could renew their interest in the NBA’s shot-blocking leader.
Exploring that possibility, Michael tweets that the Hornets and Timberwolves are the teams that seem to “really” want Turner. Michael speculates (via Twitter) that Charlotte would be the team most likely to make an aggressive trade offer for the 25-year-old if the Pacers are willing to move him.
Here’s more out of Indiana:
If the Bucks decide to move on from Mike Budenholzer after their season ends, he’d move to the top of the Pacers’ list of potential head coaching candidates, league sources tell J. Michael. Michael adds that G League Ignite coach Brian Shaw, formerly a Pacers assistant, is also expected to be a serious candidate for the job.
In a subscriber-only piece for The Indianapolis Star, Michael takes a look at the factors that led to Nate Bjorkgren‘s ouster after just one season. One league executive described Bjorkgren’s coaching style as “fake positivity,” according to Michael, who also provides details on Bjorkgren’s tendency to micro-manage and his failure to hold players accountable. Michael adds that the first-year coach “made sure those beneath him knew their place,” which lines up with a May report that stated Bjorkgren didn’t treat his assistants particularly well.
Although the Pacers haven’t ruled out blowing up their roster, team owner Herb Simon may be averse to that idea, according to Michael, who suggests the club seems likely to bring back Domantas Sabonis, Caris LeVert, Malcolm Brogdon, and T.J. Warren.
Jazz guard Mike Conley is listed as questionable to play in Game 2 of the team’s second-round series against the Clippers on Thursday night, per the NBA’s official injury report. Conley, who suffered a mild right hamstring strain in Game 5 of the first round against Memphis, was also listed as questionable leading up to Game 1 vs. the Clippers on Tuesday before being ruled out.
The Jazz have a reputation for being careful with injuries. The team held Donovan Mitchell out of the first game of the postseason last month, much to Mitchell’s dismay. So while it seems like Conley is getting closer to returning to action, we shouldn’t expect to see him on the court until the club is confident he’s 100% or close to it.
Here’s more out of Utah:
The contributions of Bojan Bogdanovic are crucial to Utah’s title hopes, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. Bogdanovic’s decision to sign a four-year contract with the Jazz as a free agent in 2019 represented a big win for the franchise both from a basketball perspective and a symbolic one, as Jones details. “We were glad that he chose us because he had options,” Jazz executive VP of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey told Jones. “Him choosing us was a sign that we could be a destination market, and it’s just been an excellent marriage. He’s met our level defensively. He’s such a versatile scorer and he’s a huge weapon for us because of how many ways he can score and shoot the ball.”
Even if the Jazz advance to the NBA Finals and don’t finish their season until July 22, don’t expect Joe Ingles to skip the Olympics this summer, tweets Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “I’ll get on a plane the next day and I’ll make my way over to Japan,” said Ingles, who will represent Australia at the Tokyo games.
The Jazz haven’t forgotten the way the Clippers seemingly tanked at the end of the regular season to get into the No. 4 seed, avoiding a possible matchup with the Lakers in the Western Semifinals and lining one a series with Utah instead. Entering the second round, it sounded like Utah was using that as motivation, as Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register writes. “Obviously, we’re a matchup that the Clippers felt like was an advantageous matchup for them,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder told reporters on Tuesday.
New Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has begun reaching out to other organizations for permission to interview coaching candidates, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojanarowski.
The early group of candidates will likely be expansive, according to Woj. A few names he has heard from sources include Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups, Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee, Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley, and Nets assistant Ime Udoka.
Billups and Udoka have been mentioned before in relation to Boston, but the other three names are new. Ham, who played 12 NBA seasons, has been an assistant coach for the past decade, starting with the Lakers and then working under Mike Budenholzer in both Atlanta and Milwaukee. Lee is also a former NBA player with seven years as an assistant, all under Budenholzer. Mosley started his coaching career with the Nuggets in 2005 and has been with Dallas since 2014.
Stevens, who is in the unusual position of hiring his own replacement, recently completed interviews with several assistants who were on his staff this season. Prominent names in that group include Jay Larranaga, Scott Morrison, Jerome Allen, and Joe Mazzulla.
Follow the developments on all the coaching vacancies throughout the league with our Head Coaching Search Tracker.
Whichever team wins the second-round series between the Jazz and Clippers, which gets underway on Tuesday night, is viewed as the betting favorite to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. But even just winning one more round would represent a major step forward for these two franchises.
The Jazz are in the postseason for a fifth consecutive year, but they haven’t advanced past the Western Conference Semifinals since the 2006/07 season, and haven’t appeared in the NBA Finals since being defeated by Michael Jordan‘s Bulls in back-to-back years in 1997 and 1998.
The Clippers have a far more extensive track record of playoff disappointments. Since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984, the Clippers have made it beyond the first round only five times and have never made it past the second round. If they can win this series, the Clippers will be in the Western Finals for the first time ever.
Of course, while advancing to the Western Finals will be huge for the team that makes it through, losing this series would represent a major disappointment for the team that falls short.
The Jazz had the NBA’s best regular season record in 2020/21 and are nearly at full strength entering the second round (Mike Conley is listed as questionable for Game 1 with a mild right hamstring strain). The Clippers went all-in two summers ago to land Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, with aspirations of winning the first title in franchise history. Neither team entered the postseason expecting to only win one series.
The Jazz will enter the series as slight favorites, per BetOnline.ag, but as John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, it’s not the most comfortable matchup for Utah. The Clippers don’t rely on getting to the rim to score, which will nullify the impact of star rim protector Rudy Gobert to some extent. And the Jazz’s options for guarding Leonard and George are limited beyond Royce O’Neale and Bojan Bogdanovic.
Still, Gobert is capable of punishing smaller Clippers lineups, and the Jazz have the offensive firepower necessary to take advantage of switches, as Hollinger writes. Additionally, the Clips had to push their key players much harder to get out of the first round. Leonard and George played big minutes in elimination games on Friday and Sunday, while Conley, Donovan Mitchell (who returned from an ankle sprain in round one), and the rest of the Jazz got a few days of much-needed rest.
This series seems like a strong candidate to be a seven-gamer. But we want to know what you think. Which team are you picking to advance to the Western Conference Finals, the Jazz or the Clippers? How many games do you expect the series to last?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your predictions!
Serge Ibaka has been listed as doubtful to play in Game 1 against Utah on Tuesday and he didn’t even travel with the Clippers to Salt Lake City, Mark Medina of USA Today tweets. Ibaka, who has battled a back injury during the second half of the season, played only 19 minutes in the first round.
The Clippers needed seven games to get out of the first round and Paul George won’t mind doing the same against the Jazz as long as his team prevails, Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register writes. “It’s a marathon,” he said. “We’re not worried about how long it takes to get to what we want to get to. We’ve just got to get it done. We’ve got to be the best team in any seven-game series, that’s just what it comes down to. It’s not going to be easy, and I think (Dallas) did a great job of reiterating that, that this isn’t going to be easy.”
As the Celtics transition from the Danny Ainge era to the Brad Stevens (presidential) era, they will have a lot of decisions to make, both in regards to the front office and the coaching staff. Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer suggests that two names to watch in regards to the front office are current assistant general manager Mike Zarren and director of player personnel Dave Lewin. Both are long-time members of the Celtics organization and seem set to move up the organizational hierarchy.
Fischer writes that Zarren has long been the primary voice in trade negotiations, and that there is belief that Stevens will out-rank him as a decision maker more in name than in practice. If Zarren is promoted to general manager, it’s believed that Lewin will be promoted to assistant general manager.
Another name Fischer mentions is Hawks assistant general manager Landry Fields, who has previously been cited as a potential front office candidate for the Celtics.
“All teams are monitoring Landry Fields,” said a Western Conference executive, “because he’s going to get a real shot here to run his own team soon.”
Here’s more from Fischer:
While the possibility of Ainge joining the Jazz has been previously reported, Fischer adds that Ainge has also been linked by league sources to the Trail Blazers in some capacity. The Blazers have already fired longtime coach Terry Stotts after the team’s first round exit, and more shake-ups may be on the way.
Chauncey Billups may not have experience as a head coach, but Fischer says Billups has been considered the lead candidate among league personnel to replace Stotts as the Trail Blazers‘ head coach for weeks now. The former Pistons point guard – and current Clippers assistant – is considered one of the top head coach candidates on the market.
Mike Brown is on the lookout for another head coaching job after five years as an assistant coach with the Warriors, according to Fischer’s sources. Brown is a veteran who has previously been the head coach for the Cavaliers and Lakers, but he hasn’t had a team of his own since the 2013-2014 season.
With so many options on the market, it seems unlikely that the Celtics head coach will come from the team’s bench, according to Fischer, who says people around the league don’t expect the Celtics to promote an assistant coach with no prior experience head coaching in the NBA.