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Suns Notes: Slump, Beal, Nurkic, Okogie, Trade Ideas

December 22nd, 2023 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Even without Bradley Beal available, the Suns should be performing better than they have as of late, according to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports, who identifies myriad problems that were on display in Tuesday’s ugly loss in Portland. The team’s role players haven’t shot three-pointers particularly well, the fourth-quarter offense has relied too much on iso-ball, and the perimeter defense hasn’t been stout enough, Bourguet writes.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, star guard Devin Booker said his teammates can’t be “scared to hold each other accountable” and that it’s important to “keep learning each other, keep talking,” per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.

“We all feel it,” Booker said of the Suns’ recent underwhelming play. “Not just one of us. It’s everybody in here. We all have a job and this is the highest form of basketball in the world. It’s not an easy job and we understand that. We have the talent. We have the basketball minds in here to play better than we were.”

While the Suns are disappointed with their performances in the past few games, there have been “no players-only meetings for us so far,” forward/center Chimezie Metu said with a smile on Friday (Twitter video link via Rankin). “Hopefully we don’t have to get to that point, but we’ll see,” he added.

Here’s more on the Suns:

Phoenix announced on Monday that Beal’s sprained right ankle will be reevaluated in two weeks, but the veteran guard tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) that he hopes to return “much sooner” than that.
While starting center Jusuf Nurkic won’t be available for Friday’s game in Sacramento for personal reasons, he’s expected to rejoin the club for the Christmas Day game vs. Dallas, tweets Rankin.
Suns wing Josh Okogie, who has missed the past four games due to a hip flexor, said he’ll be a “game-time decision” on Friday (Twitter video link via Rankin). Okogie added that he’s able to run without issue now but needs to make sure he has regained his “explosiveness” before he gets back on the court.
Taking into account the limited collection of movable assets the Suns have at their disposal this season, Bourguet offers up 12 ideas for trades that might be viable and that would potentially upgrade the team’s depth.

Hawks Sign Vit Krejci To Two-Way Deal, Waive Miles Norris

December 22nd, 2023 at 3:05pm CST by Luke Adams

3:05pm: The Hawks have officially signed Krejci to a two-way contract, the team confirmed today in a press release. He’ll be eligible to appear in up to 33 NBA regular season games as part of the deal.

11:08am: The Hawks are making a change to one of their two-way contract slots, announcing today in a press release that they’ve waived rookie forward Miles Norris. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Atlanta has agreed to sign G League guard Vit Krejci to fill that two-way opening.

Norris, who played his college ball at three different schools, spent the past three years at UC Santa Barbara before going undrafted this June. He had a strong super-senior season in 2022/23, averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 33.5 minutes per game (35 games) with a .490/.391/.844 shooting line.

Norris quickly agreed to a two-way deal with Atlanta following the draft, but never ended up playing in a regular season NBA game for the team. Appearing in 16 Showcase Cup contests for the College Park Skyhawks – the Hawks’ G League affiliate – the 6’10” forward averaged 9.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in 27.0 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .414/.305/.636.

A 2020 second-round pick, Krejci spent last season with the Hawks, playing a very limited role in 29 NBA appearances after seeing action in 30 games for the Thunder in 2021/22. Atlanta waived him this past offseason and he eventually joined Minnesota’s NBAGL team, the Iowa Wolves. The 6’8″ combo guard just made his Iowa debut on Wednesday after missing time with an injury this fall.

As Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks notes (via Twitter), Krejci is more NBA-ready than Norris, which may be what Atlanta is prioritizing right now with a few players unavailable due to injuries or personal reasons. Norris will likely remain with College Park on a G League contract, assuming he doesn’t find another NBA opportunity, tweets Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Poll: When Will The Pistons Get Their Next Win?

December 22nd, 2023 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons are on the verge of making the wrong kind of history after losing their 25th consecutive game on Thursday vs. Utah.

Last night’s matchup looked like a prime opportunity for Detroit to snap its lengthy winless streak, which began way back in October. The team was playing at home against a shorthanded Jazz squad that was missing top scorers Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson and point guards Keyonte George and Talen Horton-Tucker, among others. But the Jazz – who got a season-high 27 points from Kelly Olynyk and at least 13 from all five starters – pulled out the victory.

The Pistons are now nearing two ignominious NBA records. Losing a 26th game in a row on Saturday would put them in a tie for the longest single-season losing streak in league history. If they lose three more in a row, they’d tie the record for the longest total losing streak (including across multiple seasons): 28 games. A total of four more consecutive losses would put them in sole position of both records.

Over the course of the 25-game losing streak, there haven’t even been many close calls for the Pistons — they haven’t lost by five points or fewer since November 20, and they only have two such losses during the entire streak. The other 23 losses have been by at least six points, and many have been far more one-sided than that.

Detroit has been the NBA’s worst three-point shooting team this season, ranking dead last in makes per game (9.7) and percentage (33.0%). Protecting the ball on offense and taking it away on defense have also been major issues. The Pistons’ 16.6 turnovers per game rank 29th in the NBA, as do their 6.3 steals per night. On top of that, no team commits more fouls per game (22.8) than Detroit.

Put it all together and it’s perhaps no surprise that Cade Cunningham‘s assertion on Thursday that there’s “no way” the Pistons are “2-26 bad” elicited eye-rolls from many fans. But he might have a point — the team’s -11.4 net rating is in the same ballpark as that of the 7-19 Hornets (-10.8) and it’s actually ahead of the mark that the 4-23 Spurs have posted (-11.6).

Still, it’s safe to assume that the Pistons aren’t going to enter a game as a betting favorite until perhaps January 10 at home vs. San Antonio, so if they’re going to avoid setting a new NBA record for futility, they’re going to have to pull off an upset.

Here’s the Pistons’ upcoming slate:

Dec. 23: at Brooklyn
Dec. 26: vs. Brooklyn
Dec. 28: at Boston
Dec. 30: vs. Toronto
Jan. 1: at Houston
Jan. 3: at Utah
Jan. 5: at Golden State
Jan. 7: at Denver
Jan. 9: vs. Sacramento
Jan. 10: vs. San Antonio
Jan. 12: vs. Houston
Jan. 15: at Washington

We want to know what you think. Will the Pistons win one of those games against the Nets to avoid setting the NBA record for most consecutive losses in a single season? Will they win at least one of the next four and avoid entering the history brooks for the longest NBA losing streak of any kind? If not, when exactly is this streak going to end?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

And-Ones: Hall Of Fame, Carter, 2025 AmeriCup, McLemore

December 22nd, 2023 at 1:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has officially revealed its list of eligible candidates for the Class of 2024, announcing in a press release that this year’s group of first-time nominees includes longtime NBA star Vince Carter, who made eight All-Star teams and appeared in 1,541 regular season games across 22 seasons in the league.

Former Pistons big man Bill Laimbeer, four-time WNBA champion Seimone Augustus, and longtime NCAA head coach Rick Barnes are among the other nominees who are eligible for the first time in 2024.

Finalists will be announced during the NBA’s All-Star weekend on Friday, February 16, while the Class of 2024 will be unveiled on Saturday, April 6 during the NCAA’s Final Four. The enshrinement ceremony for 2024’s Hall of Fame inductees will take place on Saturday, August 17.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The 2025 FIBA AmeriCup will be played in Managua, Nicaragua from August 23-31, 2025, FIBA announced today in a press release. The qualifiers for the event will take place across three windows in February 2024, November 2024, and February 2025. Brazil hosted the last AmeriCup in 2022, losing to Argentina in the final. The U.S. team – which featured former NBAers like Norris Cole, Gary Clark, Jodie Meeks, and Patrick McCaw – placed third in ’22.
In honor of the holidays, John Hollinger of The Athletic shares his “All-Stocking Stuffer Team,” which is made up of overlooked players who have emerged as unexpected contributors over the course of this season. Magic center Goga Bitadze, Kings guard Keon Ellis, Jazz forward Simone Fontecchio, and Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe are a few of the players singled out by Hollinger.
Veteran guard Ben McLemore, who signed with AEK Athens in August, has officially left the Greek team and is joining CB Breogan in Spain, writes Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. McLemore parted ways with AEK B.C. earlier in the month and was said to be in advanced talks with a Turkish club before lining up a deal with CB Breogan instead.

Trade Notes: Sixers, LaVine, Anunoby, Harris, Mitchell, OKC, Heat

December 22nd, 2023 at 12:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Bulls guard Zach LaVine and Raptors forward OG Anunoby continue to be two names to watch as possible trade targets for the Sixers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who said during an appearance on FanDuel’s Run it Back (Twitter video link) that Philadelphia has monitored both players and has “a level of interest” in them.

The Sixers have several expiring contracts that could be used as salary-matching pieces in a deadline trade. The biggest of those expiring deals belongs to Tobias Harris, who is earning $39.27MM this season before reaching unrestricted free agency in 2024.

According to Charania, while the 76ers value Harris and want to keep him around, there are “a lot of teams” keeping an eye on the veteran forward, whose scoring output has slowed down recently (11.3 PPG in his past 11 games) following a hot start (19.3 PPG in his first 16 games).

Here are a few more trade-related notes from around the NBA:

Zach Lowe of ESPN (Insider link) is the latest reporter to confirm that the Cavaliers have shown no inclination to make Donovan Mitchell available via trade. That stance may not change unless Mitchell expresses unhappiness in Cleveland, Lowe adds.
Within the same ESPN story, Lowe makes a case that the Thunder should be active on the trade market this season, pointing out that there’s plenty of middle ground available between standing pat and trying to land a superstar. Oklahoma City is good enough that even overpaying for one starter-caliber player could make the team a legitimate title contender, Lowe argues.
In the third article in a series examining the Heat‘s trade options, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald takes a closer look at 10 Eastern Conference rivals, exploring which of them might make the most sense as trade partners for Miami.

Central Notes: Merrill, Craig, LaVine, Nembhard, Pistons

December 22nd, 2023 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

In the midst of his best stretch of the season, Cavaliers wing Sam Merrill woke up on Thursday morning with a sore right wrist after falling on it on Wednesday, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required).

Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to continue playing an increased role for the banged-up Cavs, Merrill attempted to fight through the pain, but was clearly bothered by the injury and didn’t play in the second half of Thursday’s loss to New Orleans, as Fedor details.

“When it rains, it pours,” forward Dean Wade said of Merrill joining an increasingly crowded Cavs injury list. “It sucks, but we’ve still got to go out there and play a game. We’ve got, I don’t know how many healthy bodies we’ve got, but still got to go out there and fight.”

“It was definitely tough for us. He’s been lights out the last two games,” Jarrett Allen added. “He came in and he tried to pull through, tried to rough it out with the hurt hand. Sadly, he couldn’t do it. But it happens. It’s been the cascade of players going down for us, so we just have to keep going.”

With Ty Jerome, Darius Garland, and Evan Mobley sidelined due to longer-term injuries, the Cavaliers could theoretically qualify for a hardship exception if a fourth player goes down. But hardship exceptions are only available to teams with full rosters — Cleveland already has an open spot that the team has thus far been unwilling to fill due to luxury tax concerns.

As we await more details on Merrill’s injury, here are more notes from around the Central:

Bulls forward Torrey Craig believes the eight-to-10 week recovery timeline the team provided when announcing his right foot injury is too long, tweets K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Craig said on Thursday that he’s a fast healer and that he intends to beat that timeline, assuming his rehab goes well.
In other Bulls injury news, Zach LaVine is making good progress in his recovery from his own right foot injury and is expected to start cutting next week, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s going to hopefully start to jump shooting, running, increase the speed,” Donovan said of what LaVine’s rehab. “He’s actually running at a pretty good clip straight ahead, and then moving toward next week is when they would probably start some of that running, changing direction, kind of curve running to see how he responds.” As Cowley details, LaVine could be cleared to resume basketball activities and begin practicing again if he responds well next week.
After missing six games due to a bone bruise, Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard returned to action on Friday in Memphis and looked good in his 16 minutes on the court, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
Something has to change for the 2-26 Pistons, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, who says that “a shakeup needed to happen yesterday” and that everyone – from players to coaches to the front office to ownership – bears blame for this season’s disaster.

Checking In On NBA’s Open Roster Spots

December 22nd, 2023 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

Nearly two months into the NBA’s 2023/24 season, there are only eight open roster spots available across the league. Each team is permitted to carry up to 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals, so that means 532 of 540 total roster spots are occupied.

All 90 two-way contract slots are currently filled, which means that each of the eight remaining openings is a standard slot.

Here are the teams that are currently carrying only 14 players on their respective standard rosters:

Boston Celtics
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Lakers
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans

The Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Heat, and Pelicans are all currently over the luxury tax line and presumably aren’t eager to increase their projected end-of-season tax bills without a very good reason to do so. It seems likely that all five teams will fill their 15th roster spots by the end of the regular season, but there has been no urgency to do so yet.

While Boston, Golden State, and Miami have team salaries well beyond the tax threshold, Los Angeles and New Orleans aren’t far above that cutoff, so if the opportunity arises at the trade deadline, we could see them try to make cost-cutting trades in order to duck the tax. That figures to be more of a priority for the Pelicans, who have never been taxpayers, than it will be for the Lakers, who will likely be willing to take on additional salary for the right upgrade.

As for the Bulls, Cavaliers, and Timberwolves, all three teams entered the season close enough to the tax line that it didn’t make sense to carry a 15th man who would’ve pushed team salary above that threshold.

Chicago and Minnesota have a little more breathing room than Cleveland and could sign a free agent today without going into the tax, but I expect they’ll be patient — both teams are candidates to make trade deadline moves, so if they have to take back an extra $1-2MM in salaries in a deal, that breathing room below the tax will come in handy.

The injury-ravaged Cavaliers could benefit from adding a 15th man, but they’re less than $800K away from the tax line and have no interest in becoming a taxpayer, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. A trade or buyout involving Ricky Rubio, which they’ve reportedly begun looking into, could generate some additional flexibility to fill out the roster, but there has been no indication anything is imminent.

L.A. Notes: Lakers, LaVine, Kawhi, Coffey, Westbrook

December 22nd, 2023 at 7:59am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers have slumped badly since winning the in-season tournament earlier this month, losing five of their past six games, including the last four in a row, to slip to 15-14 on the season. Following a 118-111 defeat at the hands of Minnesota on Thursday night, star big man Anthony Davis called for more urgency, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.

“It’s the NBA season. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Right now we’re in that down period,” Davis said. “We just got to continue to fight and continue to play hard. Play with some effort, some energy and we’re treating Saturday (in Oklahoma City) as a must win.”

As Jovan Buha of The Athletic notes, Davis also spoke about the team’s recent struggles after Wednesday’s loss to Chicago, pointing out that there’s “no break coming” and no “cavalry” the team is waiting on. While LeBron James (left ankle) and Gabe Vincent (left knee) did miss Thursday’s contest, the second end of a back-to-back set, they’re expected to be available going forward.

“We’ve got everyone back now,” Davis said. “We just got to find a way to get into the win column.”

The Lakers have dealt with injuries to rotation players for most of the season, but now that they’re as healthy as they’ve been all year, Darvin Ham and his coaching staff hope to set a depth chart and rotation and stick with it “for the foreseeable future,” sources tell McMenamin.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles teams:

Within his latest roundup of trade-related rumors from around the NBA, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports says the sources he has spoken to believe that a deal sending Bulls guard Zach LaVine to the Lakers is unlikely, at best. As Buha suggested at The Athletic earlier this week, Los Angeles would probably only consider a deal if the outgoing package consists of D’Angelo Russell, salary filler, and limited assets beyond that, such as Jalen Hood-Schifino and a protected first-round pick.
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard missed his first game of the season on Thursday night, as the team ruled out him due to a left hip contusion, which head coach Tyronn Lue referred to as a “day-to-day thing,” per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). Amir Coffey drew the start at Oklahoma City in what turned out to be the team’s first loss this month — the Clippers have a 9-1 record in December.
Clippers guard Russell Westbrook has seen his role reduced since James Harden‘s arrival in Los Angeles, but Westbrook remains supremely confident in his abilities, as Greif details for The L.A. Times. After a strong defensive performance against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks on Wednesday, Westbrook said he can “do anything on the floor at all times” and suggested he wants his due as a defender. “Ain’t too many people defending better than me at this point if we keeping it honest,” he said. “But I’ll let the numbers speak for that and let y’all talk about it. But we just keeping it a buck, ain’t too many people defending better than me at this position all around the league, honestly.”

Warriors Notes: Poole, Wiggins, Dynasty, Jackson-Davis

December 21st, 2023 at 10:57pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Friday night marks the first time Jordan Poole will return to Golden State since being traded from the Warriors for Chris Paul over the offseason. Poole’s time with the Warriors ended in a rough way despite an overall successful tenure, as a well-documented preseason incident with Draymond Green foreshadowed an uneven season that saw the Warriors fall in the second round of the playoffs and Poole average just 10.3 points per game in the playoffs (down from 20.4 in the regular season).

Poole went from a late first-round pick who struggled to find playing time in his first two seasons to an integral piece of Golden State’s championship run in 2021/22. His efforts earned him a contract extension from Golden State, good for four years and $123MM, but he never ended up playing on that deal before being moved.

With Poole traveling to Golden State on Friday, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater looked back at Poole’s time with the Warriors and caught up with all parties to determine what went wrong.

“I look back at that, and I hate that it happened,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “I know that in my heart, that when [the punch] happened, we handled it the best way we thought we could handle it. But in hindsight — and hindsight is always 20/20 — we could have done better for sure. I just hate the way it ended for Jordan here, because he is a huge success story. For us and for him, this was a great marriage. He helped us win a title. We helped him, you know, become a champion and a guy who signed a big contract, life-changing contract. It was all wildly successful. But I hate the way it ended.”

The peak of Poole’s time with the Warriors was the championship year, as he averaged 17.0 points on .508/.391/.915 shooting splits. As Slater observes, Poole actually started over star Stephen Curry in those playoffs as the latter worked his way back from injury. Poole averaged 22.9 points and shot 46.2% from deep in his first eight playoff games that year.

“We would not have won a championship in ’22 without him,” Klay Thompson said. “Simple as that. So I hope Dub Nation shows him the right ovation on Friday night.”

While the Warriors and Green have been more vocal about the punch that headlined a shifted locker room vibe and the subsequent fallout, Slater writes that Poole has continued to keep his cards close to his chest.

“Successful time,” Poole said. “Learned a lot. Can’t ask for too much more than that. Won a championship. Played with Loon (Kevin Looney). Played with some of the greatest ever. Played with (Andrew Wiggins). Met great guys. The staff is good. It was a cool experience. It was just dope to accomplish something you’ve been looking for your entire life, winning a championship at the highest level, seeing what that takes.”

We have more Warriors notes:

Wiggins, who was one of Poole’s best friends with the Warriors, per ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, also spoke highly of Poole and how he dealt with the altercation with Green. “He handled that better than 99 percent of people would,” Wiggins said. “He handled it like a true professional.“
An NBA dynasty never lasts forever, opines The Ringer’s Howard Beck, and the Warriors are no different. While it may be true Golden State’s dynasty is coming to a close, it isn’t just because of Green’s recent suspensions, Beck writes. Things have been falling apart on the edges for Golden State for a while, and it’s seemingly coming together now, as the Warriors struggle through a lackluster start to the season. As Beck writes, the Warriors drafted James Wiseman over players like LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton and their attempts to develop a two-timeline system haven’t come to fruition yet. On top of that, championship architect Bob Myers is no longer with the team. Still, Beck cautions to not write the Warriors off yet, as they won a title in 2022 after some down years and still could pull things together.
The Warriors lost their first game after changing up their starting lineup, but have since strung together three wins in a row. Part of that success is coming from giving younger players extended run, and second-round rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis has stood out in each of the last two games. In those outings, he has averaged 12.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. According to Kerr, he’s going to be in the rotation moving forward. “He’s gonna play,” Kerr said (Twitter link via Slater). “He’s gonna be in the lineup.“

Pistons’ Cunningham: No Way Are We “2-26 Bad”

December 21st, 2023 at 9:44pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Pistons are one loss away from tying the all-time single-season record for most losses in a row after dropping their 25th straight to the depleted Jazz on Thursday night.

Playing without Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, Jordan Clarkson, Talen Horton-Tucker and Omer Yurtseven, the Jazz defeated the Pistons 119-111, as Detroit’s woes off the bench and from beyond the arc continued. Still, Cade Cunningham believes the Pistons can turn it around with this group.

“We’re not 2-26 bad,” Cunningham said (Twitter link via The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III. “No way are we that bad. So, yes, I think we can turn it around. I think we can play a much better brand of basketball — executing game plan, not turning it over, keeping your man in front of you. I was the head of that snake. This isn’t about the system. This is about the players and what we’re doing on the floor. Those three things aren’t about a system.”

As Spotrac’s Keith Smith observes (Twitter link), the Pistons are not only just one game from tying the single-season record of 26 straight losses, they’re also three losses from tying the all-time longest losing streak, a record the Sixers hold from when they lost 28 straight across the 2014/15 and ’15/16 seasons.

“It’s definitely on my mind,” Cunningham said of approaching the record (Twitter link via Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press. “That’s history that nobody wants to be a part of. We’re trying to build something that’s sustainable. It’s not like we’re just trying to win one game. We want to win multiple games.”

Things are at a breaking point in Detroit. As captured by NBA on ESPN (YouTube link), Pistons fans erupted in “sell the team” chants during the game.

To their credit, coach Monty Williams and Cunningham both have taken full responsibility. For a coach in his first year with a team and a young player in what’s essentially his second NBA season, it’s telling that neither have pointed blame elsewhere.

“I want to be careful with my words because this one hurts more than most of them,” Williams said (Twitter link via Sankofa). “A team that played last night gets 30 points off turnovers and rebounds. This one is unbelievably hard to understand how we can get outworked in those categories. That is absolutely on me.”

The Pistons next play the Nets in back-to-back games before facing the Celtics and the Raptors. They have four chances to avoid taking sole possession of the worst losing streak in NBA history.

“To be on the wrong side of history, nobody wants to be there,” Cunningham said (Twitter link via Sankofa). “That is definitely an extra edge that we have to have, and we should’ve won this game. We didn’t, so gotta come back next game and be locked in. I gotta come in and be locked in and more solid down the stretch.“