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Alex Caruso Wins NBA’s Hustle Award For 2023/24

May 2nd, 2024 at 11:24am CST by Rory Maher

Bulls guard/forward Alex Caruso has won the Hustle Award for the 2023/24 season, the NBA announced in a press release written by Brian Martin.

According to the league, the award “honors a player who makes impactful effort plays that might not appear in the box score.” The award was created eight years ago, with Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart being a three-time winner.

Some of the hustle statistics that the NBA tracks include deflections, loose balls recovered, charges drawn, screen assists, contested shots and box-outs. Caruso led in the league in deflections per game (3.7) and on a per-minute basis, he ranked first in loose balls recovered and seventh in charges drawn.

Caruso, who was named to the All-Defensive First Team in ’22/23, is one of the NBA’s top defenders and is known for his all-out playing style. He ranked fourth in the league in steals per game (1.7) and averaged a career-high 1.0 block per game this season.

As Martin details, when Caruso was on the court, Chicago had the equivalent of Boston’s 110.6 defensive rating, which ranked second in the NBA. When he wasn’t playing, the Bulls had the equivalent of the league’s 24th-ranked defense.

A former undrafted free agent who made it into the NBA by working his way through the G League, Caruso won a championship with the Lakers in 2020. The 30-year-old had a strong all-around season in ’23/24, averaging 10.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 3.5 APG on .468/.408/.760 shooting in 71 games (28.7 MPG). Several of those figures represented career highs.

Caruso will earn $9.89MM in ’24/25, which is the final season of his contract. He’ll be eligible for a veteran extension this offseason.

The top five finishers for the 2023/24 Hustle Award were, in order: Caruso, Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski, Thunder wing Luguentz Dort, and Hornets forward Grant Williams.

As Howard Beck of The Ringer tweets, the award is determined by aggregating the hustle stats the league tracks, so there is no voting panel.

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Mat Ishbia Says Decision On Frank Vogel Coming Soon

May 1st, 2024 at 9:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

A decision about the future of Suns head coach Frank Vogel will likely be made in the next few days, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN.

Owner Mat Ishbia refused to pledge his support for Vogel during a press conference today at Footprint Center. However, he added that rumors about Vogel, players or other team employees shouldn’t be given any weight because in-person discussions haven’t begun.

“We’re going to evaluate everything,” Ishbia told reporters. “… Everything is on the table to evaluate. We have just not started it.”

Vogel, who was hired last June, still has four seasons left on his five-year, $31MM contract so a coaching change would be an expensive move. Vogel claimed over the weekend that he has “full confidence” from Ishbia, but the Suns’ ugly performance while being swept by Minnesota may have changed the team owner’s view.

General manager James Jones, who also spoke to reporters, indicated that management understands Vogel had a challenging task in trying to mold the talents of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, who were in their first full season together.

After an up-and-down start, the Suns finished with a surge and avoided the play-in tournament with a win on the final day of the regular season. They went 49-33 and appeared to be on an upswing before crashing in the playoffs.

“I thought Frank did a great job given the circumstances,” Jones said. “I thought the staff did a great job. I thought the players did a really good job, just not good enough to reach our goals.”

Ishbia also expressed optimism about the direction of the franchise, which he believes is on a path to success despite the postseason setback. He said he can identify with the disappointment from Suns’ fans because he feels the same way.

“I feel like the narrative around [here is] the house is burning, it’s incorrect,” Ishbia said. “… Fans like to look in the future and say, ‘Hey, I really like that 2031 draft pick because maybe that seventh grader is going to be really good and we’re going to draft him and one day he’s going to be a player.'”

Ishbia pointed out that Phoenix will have a first-round pick in five of the next eight drafts, even though some of those are pick swaps. He added that two of those picks are eligible to be included in trades this offseason.

Holmes notes that the Suns already have $209MM committed for next season, which is the largest salary in the NBA and would result in a $116MM tax penalty. They will be well above the second apron for the next three seasons if the core of the team remains together.

Ishbia looked on the bright side of that situation, saying that the starting five is under contract for multiple years, providing continuity no matter what happens with the rest of the roster.

He identified the team’s major issues as injuries and the time it takes for players to get used to being together and said both are “extremely fixable.” He also defended the trades for Durant and Beal, saying both players are worth the price it took to bring them to Phoenix.

“It was never, ‘We’re going to win a championship this year or we got to blow it up,” Ishbia said. “… Championship or bust, this isn’t bust. We’re in a great position. We’re going to be in a great position next year.”

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Kevin Love Says He’s Not Ready To Retire

May 1st, 2024 at 5:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

A recent TNT report (video link) indicated that Kevin Love might be considering retirement, but the Heat big man clarified today that he’s not ready to end his career, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.

Chris Haynes relayed the story of a team meeting after the Game 3 loss to the Celtics in which Bam Adebayo “challenged his teammates to bring it.” One of the players who spoke up was Love, who according to Haynes, told the locker room, “Listen guys, I don’t know how much more basketball I have left in me. So we cannot go out like this.” Haynes added that Love’s comments “resonated” with everyone on the team and helped them put the series in perspective.

Speaking to reporters after this morning’s shootaround, Love explained that the meeting actually happened several weeks ago and he didn’t mean to imply that his retirement is imminent.

“I said we have to take advantage of this opportunity and this situation because whether you’re [Nikola Jovic], and you have who knows how many left, or you’re myself, who also doesn’t know how many he has left, we got to take advantage of this,” Love said. “It could be one more year. It could be two years, three years, four years, five years. But the truth is you just don’t really know. You could miss the playoffs. You could get beat in the first round, second round, third round. Like no matter what it is, that was more like what I was saying, is we need to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Love, 35, is in his 16th NBA season and his first full year with Miami. He has a $4MM player option for next season and although he didn’t indicate whether he intends to exercise it, he made it clear that he plans to be in the league somewhere.

Chiang notes that Love’s minutes have been limited during the first-round series because of matchup problems with Boston. He was a useful backup during the regular season, appearing in 55 games and averaging 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 16.8 minutes per night.

After coming to Miami in February 2023 following a buyout with Cleveland, Love became part of the Heat’s rotation and had a consistent role during their run to the NBA Finals. He explained that his speech was intended to create the same mindset that led to last year’s playoff success.

“I think my message to the guys was like, ‘Take advantage of the time we have together,’” Love said. “Even last year, too, I felt like we did that and that run is something that will stick out in my mind forever. I think it will for all Heat fans and players who were a part of it.”

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Wolves’ Mike Conley Named 2023/24 Teammate Of The Year

May 1st, 2024 at 11:22am CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley has been named the NBA’s Teammate of the Year for the 2023/24 season, the league announced today (via Twitter).

The Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award “recognizes the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and a role model to other players, and commitment and dedication to team,” per the NBA.

The award isn’t voted on by media members. A panel of league executives select the 12 finalists (six from each conference) for the award, while current players vote on the winner. Players receive 10 points for a first place vote, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth, and one point for fifth place.

Here are this season’s full voting results, according to the NBA, with the player’s point total noted in parentheses:

It’s the second Teammate of the Year award for Conley, won also won it in 2018/19 when he was a member of the Grizzlies.

The award, which was introduced in ’12/13, had gone to Jrue Holiday in each of the past two seasons (and three of the past four), with Damian Lillard taking it home in 2021.

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Celtics’ Porzingis To Miss Game 5 With Strained Calf

April 30th, 2024 at 4:30pm CST by Luke Adams

4:30pm: Porzingis is expected to miss multiple games, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

4:03pm: Porzingis has been ruled out for Game 5 due to what the Celtics are calling a right soleus strain (Twitter link via Brian Robb of MassLive.com).

The soleus is the same calf muscle that has sidelined Giannis Antetokounmpo since the final week of the regular season, though it’s unclear whether Porzingis’ strain is as severe as Antetokounmpo’s.

7:40am: The Celtics took full control of their first-round series vs. Miami on Monday by picking up their second consecutive road victory and extending their series lead to 3-1. However, as Chris Herring of ESPN writes, the Game 4 win might have come at a cost, as big man Kristaps Porzingis exited in the second quarter due to a right calf injury and didn’t return.

The Celtics’ starting center is expected to undergo an MRI on Tuesday to assess the severity of the ailment, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who hears from sources that early indications are that Porzingis didn’t suffer an Achilles injury.

Porzingis initially appeared to start limping with about 3:15 left in the second quarter when he stepped on Tyler Herro‘s ankle (video link). However, he turned his left ankle on that play, and the injury was said to affect his right calf, so it may have been unrelated. Less than a minute later, as he caught a pass from Jaylen Brown, Porzingis began limping again and gestured toward the bench that he needed to be subbed out of the game (Twitter video link).

Porzingis has been relatively healthy for the past two seasons, appearing in 57 regular season games in 2023/24 and 65 a year ago. But he has missed significant time due to health problems in the past, having made just 151 total appearances in the four seasons prior to 2022/23. As such, any injury is a concern, though there have been some signals that this isn’t a significant one.

Abby Chin of NBC Sports Boston reported at the start of the second half that Celtics assistant Charles Lee was “cautiously optimistic” that Porzingis would be OK (story via Brian Robb of MassLive). And Porzingis himself tweeted after the win that he “will be good.”

If Porzingis is unable to play in Game 5 on Wednesday, it would mean an increased role for Al Horford, with reserve bigs Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta moving up on the depth chart. As Jared Weiss of The Athletic notes, Boston gave up a pair of second-round picks at February’s trade deadline for Tillman precisely so the team didn’t find itself shorthanded in the frontcourt in a situation like this.

“Luke, Xavier, Neemie, have to kind of be ready to step up and answer the call,” Horford said after the game, per Weiss. “They’ve been doing a good job of that all year. Obviously, it’s the playoffs now, it’s different, but I have confidence in those guys if they need to come in and bring energy and impact the game.”

The Celtics had another injury scare in the fourth quarter of Game 4, as Jayson Tatum turned an ankle when he came down on Bam Adebayo‘s foot while attempting a jump shot after a whistle (Twitter video link). However, Tatum was able to walk it off and finish the game — he’ll presumably be good to go for Game 5.

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Knicks’ Bojan Bogdanovic To Undergo Season-Ending Foot, Wrist Surgeries

April 30th, 2024 at 3:32pm CST by Luke Adams

3:32pm: The Knicks have confirmed (via Twitter) that Bogdanovic will undergo left foot surgery, announcing that he’ll be reevaluated in three months.

The team’s announcement didn’t mention anything about a procedure on his wrist, though it sounds based on reports as if that will happen as well.

2:52pm: Knicks forward Bojan Bogdanovic has played his last game of the 2024 postseason, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the veteran will undergo surgeries to address two separate injuries affecting his wrist and foot.

A weekend report indicated that Bogdanovic’s left wrist surgery would likely require offseason surgery, but that he was attempting to play through that injury until the Knicks’ season ended. However, he hurt his left foot during Sunday’s Game 4 win and had already been ruled out for Tuesday’s Game 5 as a result of that new ailment.

Bogdanovic’s foot issue had been described as a contusion, though the fact that it will apparently require surgical treatment suggests there’s more to the diagnosis than that. He reportedly has ligament damage in his wrist.

One of the most notable players on the move at the trade deadline, Bogdanovic headed from Detroit to New York along with Alec Burks in exchange for a package headlined by young wing Quentin Grimes. The hope was that the two veterans would provide scoring and shooting off the Knicks’ bench, but their production dipped following the trade.

Bogdanovic’s 43.0% field goal percentage in 29 regular season games as a Knick would have been a career low, and his 37.0% rate on three-pointers was also well below his career average. He made just 7-of-24 shots (29.2%) in a limited role during the first four games of the series vs. Philadelphia.

While Bogdanovic had only been averaging about 13 minutes per contest in the postseason, his injury further diminishes an already thin Knicks frontcourt. Julius Randle is also out for the season, while Mitchell Robinson is considered day-to-day due to an ankle injury.

Bogdanovic and Robinson are two of only nine players that Tom Thibodeau has used so far in the first round, so if they’re both unavailable, the club will need to either identify a new eighth man or try to close out Philadelphia in Game 5 using a seven-man rotation.

Bogdanovic is under contract for next season, but only $2MM of his $19MM salary is guaranteed.

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Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard To Remain Out For Game 5

April 30th, 2024 at 1:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers won’t have Kawhi Leonard available when they take the court for Game 5 of their series vs. the Mavericks on Wednesday, head coach Tyronn Lue confirmed today (Twitter link via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN).

Leonard continues to be affected by right knee inflammation. He sat out Game 1, then returned for Games 2 and 3, but clearly wasn’t playing at 100%. He was ruled out for Game 4, with comments from team president Lawrence Frank at that time casting some doubt on the forward’s availability for the remainder of the first round.

While the Clippers would obviously prefer to have a fully healthy Leonard available as they look to get past the Mavericks and into round two, they actually looked better without him in Games 1 and 4 without him than they did in Games 2 and 3, when they struggled to find a rhythm while reincorporating the two-time Finals MVP.

Los Angeles won both games that Leonard missed and lost both of the contests he played, resulting in a 2-2 tie heading into Game 5. The Clippers have posted a -9.7 net rating in Kawhi’s 59 minutes of action during the series, compared to a +7.5 mark in the 133 minutes he hasn’t played.

As for the Clippers’ opponents, Mavericks star Luka Doncic will show up on the injury report due to a sprained knee, but he was able to do “everything” in practice on Tuesday and will be listed as probable, per head coach Jason Kidd (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN).

The prognosis isn’t as positive for Doncic’s teammate Tim Hardaway Jr., who missed the past two games with an ankle sprain. He had a setback during a Tuesday scrimmage and will be considered questionable to play on Wednesday, according to Kidd (Twitter link via MacMahon).

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NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2024 Draft

April 30th, 2024 at 12:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2024 NBA draft, announcing in a press release that 195 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 138 are from colleges, 43 had been playing for teams internationally, and 14 were playing non-college ball stateside (ie. the G League or Overtime Elite).

While that early entrant total obviously far exceeds the number of players who will be selected in this year’s draft (58), it’s down significantly from the figures we’ve seen in recent years. A record 353 early entrants initially declared for the draft in 2021, but that number dropped to 283 in 2022 and 242 a year ago. The NCAA’s NIL policy, which allows college athletes to be paid based on their name, image, and likeness, has presumably been a major factor in that trend.

This year’s total of 195 early entrants figures to decline significantly by May 29 and again by June 16, the two deadlines for players to withdraw their names from the draft pool. But it’s still likely that the eventual number of early entrants will exceed 58 players. That group will join the college seniors with no remaining eligibility and other automatically eligible players in this year’s draft pool.

Our tracker of early entrants for the 2024 draft is fully up to date and can be found right here.

Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:

Newly added players

College players:

These players either didn’t publicly announce that they were entering the draft or we simply missed it when they did.

International players:

These players weren’t previously mentioned on our list of international early entrants. The country listed here indicates where they last played, not necessarily where they were born.

Other players:

  • Abdullah Ahmed, C, Westchester Knicks (born 2003)
  • Somto Cyril, C, Overtime Elite (born 2005)
  • Reynan Dos Santos, G, Overtime Elite (born 2004)
  • Djordjije Jovanovic, F, Ontario Clippers (born 2003)
  • Jalen Lewis, F/C, Overtime Elite (born 2005)
  • Malique Lewis, F, Mexico City Capitanes (born 2004)
  • Babacar Sane, F, G League Ignite (born 2003)

Players removed

Despite reports or announcements that the players below would declare for the draft, they didn’t show up on the NBA’s official list.

That could mean a number of things — they may have decided against entering the draft; they may have entered the draft, then withdrawn; they may have had no NCAA eligibility remaining, making them automatically draft-eligible; they may have incorrectly filed their paperwork; or the NBA may have accidentally omitted some names.

It seems that last possibility is a real one, as Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets that a “miscommunication or mishap’ at the league office may result in a dozen or more additional names being added to the NBA’s early entrant list.

We’ve still removed the following names from our early entrant list for the time being, but it sounds like some could be re-added soon.

Note: Some of these players may also be transferring to new schools.

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Celtics’ Brad Stevens Named NBA’s Executive Of The Year

April 30th, 2024 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has been named the NBA’s Executive of the Year for the 2023/24 season, the league announced today (via Twitter).

In his third season as the Celtics’ head of basketball operations after eight years as the team’s head coach, Stevens put together a dominant Boston roster that posted a 64-18 record, easily the best mark in the NBA, along with a +11.7 net rating, the third-best mark in league history.

The Celtics were coming off a 57-win season in 2022/23, but Stevens shook up the roster drastically last summer, trading away longtime defensive stalwart Marcus Smart in a deal for Kristaps Porzingis, then moving key role players Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams in a a blockbuster for Jrue Holiday as training camps got underway.

Stevens also signed several Celtics players to contract extensions in the past 12 months, including Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, and Holiday.

Unlike the NBA’s other major awards, the Executive of the Year is voted on by 29 team executives from around the league rather than 99 media members. Stevens received 16 of 29 potential first-place votes, along with six second-place votes and three third-place votes, for a total of 101 points (Twitter link).

The runner-up, Sam Presti of the Thunder, had 47 points, including four first-place votes. Tim Connelly of the Timberwolves also earned the top spot on four ballots en route to a third-place finish (29 points).

Knicks president Leon Rose (27 points; one first-place vote) was the only other executive to earn more than 11 points, though Nico Harrison (Mavericks) and Monte McNair (Kings) also received first-place votes, while Rockets general manager Rafael Stone earned a pair of them. A total of 13 executives showed up on at least one ballot.

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Wolves’ Finch To Undergo Knee Surgery; Availability For Game 1 TBD

April 30th, 2024 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, who sustained a torn right patellar tendon during a sideline collision with point guard Mike Conley in Sunday’s Game 4 victory over Phoenix, will undergo surgery on Wednesday to repair the tear, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.

Barring any unexpected complications following that surgery, Finch should be able to travel to Denver with his team on Friday ahead of the start of the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday, per Wojnarowski and Shelburne. However, it remains to be seen whether the head coach will be able to join the Wolves on the bench for Game 1.

As ESPN’s reporters explain, Finch’s right leg will have to be immobilized in a brace during the early stages of his rehabilitation. If it’s not practical for him to sit on the bench at the start of the series vs. Denver, he’ll have to communicate to the bench from Minnesota’s locker room, with assistant Micah Nori acting as head coach.

While the Wolves are fortunate not to be missing any key players due to injuries, they’ll need every edge they can get heading into a huge second-round series against the defending-champion Nuggets. Finch’s situation isn’t ideal, especially with Minnesota up against one of the NBA’s top tacticians in Michael Malone, so hopefully he’s able to safely and comfortably return to his spot on the bench as soon as possible.

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