New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Randle, Knicks Grades, Celtics

December 9th, 2021 at 8:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Julius Randle signed a four-year extension with a base value of $106.4MM, along with numerous incentives, in August. The Knicks’ big man has struggled this season and feels responsible for the team’s disappointing play, Peter Botte of the New York Post writes.

“I have to be better,’’ Randle said. “Everybody has to be better. And I’ll take responsibility from the team. I’ll take responsibility for myself. That doesn’t bother me. At the end of the day, I just want to win. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and decide what we want the season to be. I know what I want it to be. I know what the guys want it to be. But we have to commit to it.”

Randle is averaging 19.8 PPG after posting a career-high 24.1 PPG last season and his field-goal percentages have dropped noticeably.

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Randle gets a C grade for the Knicks’ first trimester, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News opines in a report card. Benched point guard Kemba Walker gets an F, while fellow point man Derrick Rose is at the top of Bondy’s class with an A-minus.
The Celtics have a .500 record and their inconsistency has been maddening to players and coach Ime Udoka, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes. “I don’t know, you probably don’t know, and that’s why you’re asking me and I don’t know either,” Dennis Schröder said of the team’s inconsistency. “We’ve got to come out and do it for 48 minutes. It can’t happen that we just do it for two or three quarters.” Udoka admitted, “The effort and the inconsistency is frustrating at times.”
Detailing the same topic, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston believes changes might be forthcoming for the Celtics but there’s no clear-cut solution to all of their problems. They do need to make defense a priority after ranking 18th over the last 10 games in the points per possession category.

And-Ones: Stephenson, Popovich, Thibodeau, Africa League, Samuel

December 9th, 2021 at 5:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lance Stephenson is currently playing for the Nuggets’ G league affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold. He ultimately hopes to get another chance to play in the NBA, as he told Bob Kravitz of The Athletic.

“I want to show everybody I’m a different guy and I’ll do anything I can to contribute to a team,’” he said. “My whole mindset is getting back to the NBA. I feel like I belong there. That’s my destination. And I’ll never quit trying.”

Stephenson, who is averaging 19.5 PPG and 7.4 RPG for the Gold, hasn’t appeared in the NBA game since the 2018/19 season, when he played in 63 regular-season games for the Lakers.

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A successor for Gregg Popovich as Team USA’s head coach has yet to be named. Popovich said that Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau would make an excellent choice, according to Steve Popper of Newsday. “Oh sure, there are a lot of guys up here that would be fantastic and he’s one of them,” Popovich said. “I think that experience is great and the people that they’re looking at, they’re all great candidates and I think everybody is going to be happy with the final selection for sure. He also was really helpful and supportive during my last four or five years with this, talking to him about how it all goes, giving advice.”
The Basketball Africa League will have an expanded second season, according to an NBA press release. The season will begin on March 5, 2022, in Dakar, Senegal, and will include stops in Cairo, Egypt, and Kigali, Rwanda. The BAL will once again feature the to 12 club teams from 12 African countries and will expand to a total of 38 games over three months.
Seton Hall big man Tyrese Samuel has caught the eye of NBA scouts, Adam Zagoria of NJ.com writes. According to Zagoria, 25 NBA scouts from 17 teams will be in attendance on Thursday when the Pirates play Texas. There’s a chance Samuel could enter the draft after this season, depending on the feedback he gets.

Pacers Rumors: Turner, Sabonis, Trade Candidates, Protocols

December 9th, 2021 at 10:07am CST by Luke Adams

Pacers big man Myles Turner, who has heard his name included in trade rumors for multiple years, told Jared Weiss of The Athletic that he loves playing in Indiana and wants to win with the team. However, he has also been frustrated with playing what he views as a limited role.

“It’s clear that I’m not valued as anything more than a glorified role player here, and I want something more, more opportunity,” Turner said to Weiss. “I’m trying really hard to make the role that I’m given here work and find a way to maximize it. I’ve been trying to the past two, three seasons. But it’s clear to me that, just numbers-wise, I’m not valued as more than a rotational role player, and I hold myself in a higher regard than that.

“… I’ve been given many roles in the years that I’ve been here, and I feel like I’ve been able to produce at a high level in the roles I’ve been given,” Turner added. “I’ve shown that I can do the things they ask me to do, and I think it’s time to put that all together and be a more prominent night-in, night-out guy on the offensive side of the ball instead of someone who is asked to be a floor spacer and hide in the shadows.”

Turner has enjoyed the occasional offensive outburst this season, scoring 40 points in Washington on October 22 and knocking down seven 3-pointers vs. New York on November 3. However, his modest season-long scoring average of 12.9 PPG is right in line with his career rate (12.7 PPG).

Head coach Rick Carlisle told Weiss that Turner, a talented rim protector, has a significant impact on winning whether he’s scoring or not, noting that the big man’s 40-point night may have “kind of skewed what the day-to-day expectations are” for him offensively. Carlisle and the coaching staff met to discuss Turner’s role this week and vowed to make an effort to get him involved in more actions as a roller. However, sources tell Weiss that Turner remains unconvinced that any positive changes to his role will stick.

“Myles has always wanted a bigger, more important role on the offensive end, but we absolutely know his value overall,” president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard told Weiss. “Sometimes with Myles, we know how good he is and how dominant he is on the defensive end, and I think he wants to be a more complete player, not just a defensive player. I respect the s–t out of that. You know I do.”

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Pritchard told Pacers players this week that the team is fielding trade calls for Turner and Domantas Sabonis, but still believes the pairing can work and would be fine seeing it through this season, sources tell Weiss. Carlisle also remains convinced Turner and Sabonis can succeed alongside each other, pointing to their net rating as evidence, Weiss notes. The Pacers have a +10.9 rating when the two big men share the court this season.
Turner and Sabonis told reporters on Wednesday that they’re unfazed by the trade rumors and have grown accustomed to them, writes James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star. “We want to be here,” Sabonis said. “And as long as we represent the team and have that jersey on our backs we’re gonna come out and compete.”
If the Pacers move one of their two big men, Turner appears to be the more likely trade candidate. However, Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer wonders if it should be the other way around, exploring whether Indiana ought to be more open to the idea of building around Turner.
There are people in the Knicks‘ front office who like the idea of pursuing a Turner trade this season, Ian Begley of SNY.tv writes in a follow-up to his recent report on the Knicks and Turner.
In the latest episode of the HoopsHype Podcast, Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan identified the Warriors and Hornets as two teams they view as logical suitors for Turner.
The Pacers canceled their practice on Thursday out of “an abundance of caution” related to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, tweets ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. The team didn’t offer any additional details, so it’s unclear whether a member of the organization tested positive. Currently, Justin Holiday is the only Pacers player in the league’s health and safety protocols, having been unavailable since November 30.

New York Notes: Durant, Harden, Turner, Barrett

December 8th, 2021 at 8:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets are resting Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge for tonight’s game in Houston, tweets Mark Medina of NBA.com. Durant played more than 40 minutes in Tuesday’s win at Dallas, and Brooklyn is being careful not to overextend Aldridge, who briefly retired at the end of last season due to a heart condition.

There have been concerns about the heavy minutes that Durant and James Harden have seen this season with the loss of Kyrie Irving and injuries to other rotation players. Harden said Tuesday that neither of them minds the increased workload, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

“One thing about me and KD, we love to play basketball,” Harden said. “So it don’t matter. We could play the whole 48. Even if we’re exhausted. Coach says something — nope. We wanna stay in the game. We wanna play.”

There’s more from New York City:

Harden received a mostly positive reaction when he was introduced tonight in Houston, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Harden, who played more than eight seasons with the Rockets before forcing his way out in January, returned to Houston for a game last season, but the crowd was limited because of COVID-19 restrictions. “I think it definitely means something to James,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “I don’t want to overstate it, but I also don’t want to understate it. He had such a historic run here. This city means a ton to him.”
A report that the Pacers are exploring trades involving Myles Turner could be significant to the Knicks, who checked on Turner’s availability during the offseason, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Those talks didn’t go very far, Begley adds, but New York’s front office remains interested in finding a center who can stretch the floor. The Knicks have multiple ways to match Turner’s $17.5MM salary, Begley notes, and Mitchell Robinson, Nerlens Noel or Taj Gibson would likely be included in any deal.
Tom Thibodeau’s search for lineup solutions will be much easier if RJ Barrett continues to shoot the way he did in Tuesday’s win over the Spurs, per Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post. Barrett broke out of a 13-game shooting slump with a 32-point night while going 7-of-8 from beyond the arc. “I was down for a couple of weeks, but I’m feeling better now,” Barrett said. “It was good to get back in the gym, it was great and to have a game like today. Hopefully that can carry on for (Wednesday).”

New York Notes: Claxton, Kemba, Noel, Thibs

December 7th, 2021 at 10:10pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The return of springy young Nets big man Nicolas Claxton to action could help improve the uneven play of All-Star shooting guard James Harden, says Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post. Claxton, much like Harden’s former Rockets running mate Clint Capela, can serve as a prime rim-rolling recipient of Harden lobs. Claxton has appeared in just six Brooklyn games for the 2021/22 season due to a non-COVID-19 illness.

“It would be great to get Nic going again, getting him fully functioning again,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said of Claxton’s return. “We saw him Friday night and obviously it looked like he hadn’t played in a while, was fouling and just a little out of rhythm. And that’s normal for a guy who has had that much of a layoff, lost a bunch of weight, is trying to get himself back in shape. By the end of the year, we would love Nic to be a great add to what we do on both ends of the floor.”

On Tuesday night, in a 102-99 defeat of the Mavericks, Claxton suited up for nearly 21 minutes off the bench. The 6’11” big man logged six points and nine boards in just his second game back from his illness.

There’s more out of the Big Apple:

The Knicks would likely consult Kemba Walker were they to seriously consider trading the veteran point guard, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Walker, a former four-time All-Star with the Hornets and Celtics, has been demoted from starter to DNP-CD, and has not suited up for New York at all since November 26. The 31-year-old is averaging career lows of 11.7 PPG, 3.1 APG and 2.6 RPG.
Knicks center Nerlens Noel returned to New York’s starting lineup, replacing Mitchell Robinson in the role, ahead of Tuesday night’s 121-109 victory over the 8-15 Spurs, per Steve Popper of Newsday. Noel took and made just one field goal, but also chipped in eight rebounds, three dimes, one steal and a block in the win. Robinson, meanwhile, enjoyed a terrific night with the second unit, notching 11 points and 14 boards. The Knicks snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory and returned to .500 on the season with a 12-12 record. Robinson conceded that, as a result of an offseason surgery and subsequent weight gain, he has struggled with his conditioning, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “I’m getting tired real quick,” Robinson said before Tuesday’s game. “I run for about six or seven minutes, and then boom — I’m gassed. So it’s something I need to work on real bad … I wish I could jump right back into it and be who I was before the injury.”
Much like his former boss Jeff Van Gundy in the 1998/99 NBA season, current Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau may have to figure out major rotational changes to improve the up-and-down Knicks this year, per Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. Among those adjustments, Vaccaro suggests potentially exploring more run for emerging second-year power forward Obi Toppin and rookie shooting guard Quentin Grimes, and possibly reducing the role of defensive sieve Evan Fournier, whom New York added on a four-year, $78MM contract via a sign-and-trade with the Celtics this past summer.

Blazers Rumors: Lillard, Front Office, McCollum, Nurkic, Covington, More

December 7th, 2021 at 3:20pm CST by Luke Adams

Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard will become eligible for a two-year, $106MM extension during the 2022 offseason. That extension – which Lillard wants to lock in, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski – would begin in 2025/26 and would cover his age-35 and age-36 seasons.

Lillard and his agent need Portland’s next permanent general manager to sell team ownership on offering that super-max extension, according to Wojnarowski, who hears that the guard’s camp had concerns about Neil Olshey‘s willingness to recommend such an offer to Jody Allen. Chris Mannix of SI.com also hears that Olshey wasn’t sold on tacking two more years (at $51MM and $55MM) onto Lillard’s deal.

Although Lillard and his camp will be motivated to help the Blazers find a GM who is receptive to offering that extension, most of the top-level candidates who figure to draw interest from Portland aren’t enthusiastic about making that offer, says Wojnarowski. In fact, some of those potential candidates told Woj that they’d be more interested in the Blazers’ job if they could trade Lillard and rebuild, rather than extending the six-time All-Star.

According to Wojnarowski, Lillard’s camp is “privately selling the idea” of the Blazers trading some of their current players and continuing to build around Dame (on a new extension). However, candidates for the permanent general manager job in Portland believe they’ll need to sell themselves to team ownership, not to Lillard and his camp.

While it remains possible Lillard’s group will have some input in the GM choice, Wojnarowski suggests they’ve been “thwarted on several leverage plays” this year, including their preference for Jason Kidd as Terry Stotts‘ replacement and their desire to trade for Ben Simmons.

Here are several more rumors out of Portland:

The Blazers haven’t begun reaching out to potential candidates for the permanent GM job, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who hears that there’s no concrete list of contenders yet beyond interim GM Joe Cronin. The organization is still deciding whether to hire a firm to research and recommend candidates, per Wojnarowski.
The Pelicans offered Jrue Holiday to Portland in 2020 in exchange for CJ McCollum and three first-round picks, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic. A deal involving McCollum remains possible, but the Blazers are considered more likely to move Jusuf Nurkic and/or Robert Covington, says Fischer, adding that the team is “presently known to be down on both players.”
Lillard has expressed interest since the 2020 offseason in a handful of defensively-minded wings, per Fischer. Besides Simmons, Lillard has also shown interest in playing with Jaylen Brown and Aaron Gordon, sources tell Bleacher Report.
According to Fischer, Lillard’s lower abdominal tendinopathy is an injury that has bothered him off and on for years. The All-NBA guard even considered surgery this past offseason to address the issue, Fischer adds.
There are several teams with interest in trading for Lillard, but three teams in that group told Wojnarowski they’d want to wait for the 31-year-old to request a trade before calling Portland, since the Blazers’ leverage would be reduced in that scenario. The Sixers have made an offer, but the Knicks haven’t, Wojnarowski adds. For his part, Lillard would have limited leverage to push for a specific landing spot if he asks out, since he still has three more years left on his current contract after 2021/22.
Multiple league sources with knowledge of the situation tell Fischer that some Blazers players this season have been frustrated with Chauncey Billups‘ “coaching demeanor,” as well as his offensive system. In the latest Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Ohm Youngmisuk, and Ramona Shelburne discussed the fact that Billups’ tendency to call out players publicly may rub the current generation the wrong way.
There have been whispers that Blazers owner Jody Allen might decide to sell her stake in the Blazers following the NBA’s next television agreement, says Fischer. If that’s the plan, there will be even more pressure on the team to make sure its next front office hire and big roster moves are the right ones.

New York Notes: Thibodeau, Walker, Harden, Irving

December 6th, 2021 at 11:56am CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has already removed Kemba Walker from his rotation and more changes could be coming after Saturday’s embarrassing loss, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Thibodeau gave his players the day off Sunday to reflect on their recent downturn, and Popper suggests that the coach may also have needed time away to study his lineups and see how he can improve them.

“The thing is, if we’re not performing well, look, there may be more changes coming,” Thibodeau said. “That’s the thing . . . I like our group, I like the way they approach it. We all put our stuff together. We’ve got to focus together and we’ve got to work our way out of it together. That’s the way it is.”

The Knicks are starting a three-game road trip and Thibodeau told reporters that the changes may begin with Tuesday’s game in San Antonio, tweets Barbara Barker of Newsday. The most troubling concern, according to Popper, is that the team has lost the identity it had last season when it finished fourth in the East.

There’s more from New York City:

Walker spoke to reporters today for the first time since the demotion (video link from SNY.tv). He admitted being surprised by the decision, but said he won’t become a negative influence in the locker room. “At the end of the day, there are some young guys here who look up to me,” Walker said. “Maybe I can be a role model. I love being around my teammates and I’m going to cheer them on until I can’t anymore.”
The Knicks’ analytics department had an influential role in the signing of Walker, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Berman considers it to be a curious decision because Walker’s numbers on pick-and-roll efficiency, isolation efficiency and pull-up shooting last season were his worst of the past five years.
James Harden ranks second in the league in assists after taking over the Nets‘ playmaking duties, but his shooting woes continued in Saturday’s loss to the Bulls, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. Harden shot just 5-of-21 from the field and is at a career-worst 40.3% through the first 23 games of the season. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer recommends that Harden work on developing a mid-range game.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has strengthened the city’s vaccine mandate, which makes it less likely that Kyrie Irving will play for the Nets this season, tweets Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

Atlantic Notes: Siakam, Sixers, Barrett, Thibs

December 5th, 2021 at 3:59pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Raptors forward Pascal Siakam continues to struggle through foul trouble, writes Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star. As NBA referees across the league strive to limit calling fouls against “non-basketball” offensive flop plays, looks at the charity stripe in general are taking a significant dive. Siakam, however, continues to be whistled for fouls. The 2020 All-Star has averaged a career-worst 3.5 fouls per contest across 12 games this season and has already fouled out of two games.

“We can’t go through this (foul trouble) every night like this,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of Siakam. “It seems to me he’s just getting himself just a half-count late on some stuff.”

Siakam himself appears to be trying to be more sensitive to fouls called against him as the year progresses for the 10-13 Raptors. “If I’m going to have a foul I would rather it be an actual foul preventing someone from scoring or a foul I actually want to give,” Siakam noted. “Just staying away from the cheap ones and hopefully the gods will be on my side one of these days and I won’t foul out.”

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Determining a reasonable expectation for this strange Sixers season is proving difficult, opines Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The team has been felled by various injuries, extended COVID-19 absences, and of course the continuing Ben Simmons drama. Philadelphia is currently 12-11, good for the ninth seed in the East.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau sounded optimistic when addressing the recent shooting slump of RJ Barrett, per Ian Begley and Phillip Martinez of SNY.tv. “I have a lot of confidence in [Barrett] being able to work his way out of it,” Thibodeau said after Saturday’s game. “When you throw in he’s been sick, and to me you get rhythm when you work. Last year, he got going when he started coming in every night to shoot. So there’s no notion that you (work on your shot in the gym at night) sometimes, you got to do it all the time. So get back in the gym, get back to grooving your shot. Shoot a lot of threes and you’ll start making more.” The 21-year-old Barrett is connecting on just 39.6% of his field goal attempts in his third NBA season.
Thibodeau has opted to give the slumping Knicks, losers of three straight, a day off to regroup, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. “[Who] we are as a team, how we built this team and this culture is just fighting defensively, the togetherness, just the effort, the hustle plays,” reflected New York forward Julius Randle of the club’s ethos. “And I think sometimes, we’re too lax. We might think the little details don’t matter sometimes or whatever it is, but we’ve just got to understand to get out of this we’ve got to do it together.” The Knicks are currently 11-12 on the young 2021/22 season.

Knicks Notes: Walker, Barrett, Randle, Fournier

December 4th, 2021 at 6:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

It sounds like Knicks guard Kemba Walker won’t see regular playing time unless he reclaims his starting job, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Walker, who was pulled from the rotation earlier this week, didn’t leave the bench in this afternoon’s loss to the Nuggets, even as New York fell behind by 30 points.

“As I mentioned before when I made that decision, I view Kemba as a starter,” coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters. “… I do have respect for him, he’s part of the team. And right now we have a rotation, he’s not in the rotation but he’s working in practice, he’s doing all the things he should be doing.”

Walker, who hasn’t talked to the media since his demotion, has been a disappointment this season, even at the discount price of $18MM over two years. He’s scoring 11.7 points per game, down from 19.3 PPG last season with the Celtics, and his arthritic left knee limits his effectiveness on defense.

Neither Walker nor backcourt partner Evan Fournier has lived up to what the Knicks expected when they pursued them in free agency. Multiple sources tell Bondy that Thibodeau urged the front office to keep Reggie Bullock, who signed with Dallas for $30.5MM over three years.

There’s more from New York:

Thibodeau believes RJ Barrett needs more repetition to fix his three-point shot, Bondy adds. After connecting at 40.1% from beyond the arc last season, Barrett has slumped to 32.1%. “You get rhythm when you work and last year he got going when he started coming in every night to shoot,” Thibodeau said. “So there’s no notion of, ‘OK, I’ll do it sometimes.’ No, you got to do it all the time. When you did it, you shot 40 from 3. So get back in the gym, get back to improving your shot.”
At 11-12, the Knicks are now under .500 for the first time this season, and Julius Randle believes the team has lost the defensive identity that it relied on last year, per Marc Berman of The New York Post. “It’s who we are as a team, how we built this team and this culture is just fighting defensively, the togetherness, just the effort, the hustle plays,” Randle said. “I feel like that’s what the city of New York loves. That’s what the fans love — when they know we’re out there giving it our all. And I think sometimes we’re too lax.’’
Fournier talks about Thibodeau, some of his new teammates and several other subjects in a wide-ranging interview with Steve Serby of The New York Post.

Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Tatum, Fournier, Randle

December 4th, 2021 at 2:45pm CST by JD Shaw

Following Sunday’s loss against the Nuggets, the Knicks are now 11-12, giving them the 11th-best record in the Eastern Conference and putting them 5.5 games behind first place. After finishing last season fourth in the conference, the team’s sudden mediocrity is puzzling, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post contends.

“We have to understand we have to be more consistent and get guys healthy,” Julius Randle said, clearly not deterred by his team’s underwhelming start to the season. “But we’ll be fine. A great run could put us at the top of the East in two weeks. We just have to have a sense of urgency.”

New York signed Kemba Walker to a two-year, $18MM deal in free agency, but head coach Tom Thibodeau recently pulled him from the rotation. Walker struggled defensively and the starting lineup had noticeable chemistry issues. The team has since started Alec Burks in his place, choosing to keep Derrick Rose in his role off the bench.

Here are some other notes from the Atlantic:

Celtics star Jayson Tatum dismissed the notion that he’s been playing selfish basketball, Jay King of The Athletic writes. A recent ESPN story from Tim Bontemps quoted an anonymous assistant coach who questioned how bad Tatum wants to win. “I laughed,” Tatum said when asked about the topic. “I think when people get upset or you get a reaction out of somebody, it’s probably because they feel like it’s kind of true. But I just laughed because I know it’s not true. I know my teammates, my coaches, anybody I’ve ever been around, selfish is the last thing.”
The Knicks will need energy from Evan Fournier to help turn their season around, Fred Katz of The Athletic writes. Fournier, who signed a multi-year contract to join the team in free agency, has started in all 23 games this season. He’s coming off a campaign where he averaged 17.1 points per game, splitting time between Orlando and Boston.
Speaking of Fournier, Peter Botte of the New York Post examines the recent disagreement between him and Randle that was caught on camera. The Knicks teammates engaged in a heated debate before halftime of the club’s loss to Chicago on Thursday. “It was a disagreement over I think the last defensive play about the double [team] and the rebounding,” Fournier said. “It was just frustration. But I think the key was it was communicating.”