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Community Shootaround: Golden State Warriors

February 18th, 2023 at 3:20pm CST by Rory Maher

During the 2021/22 regular season, the Warriors went 53-29 and had the league’s 16th-best offense and second-best defense, good for the fourth-best net rating. They led the NBA in net rating during the playoffs, winning their fourth title in eight years.

Expectations were understandably high entering the season as Golden State looked to defend its championship. The Warriors lost some bench depth, but that didn’t seem insurmountable with the primary core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole still in place.

Things haven’t gone according to plan. The Warriors dropped three of their last four games entering the All-Star break and have already equaled last season’s loss total, currently sitting at .500 with a 29-29 record. Entering the break last season, they were 42-17.

Their offense has actually improved — it’s up four spots to 12th in the league. The primary culprit has been the defense, which has fallen all the way down to 20th. Golden State’s net rating in ’22/23 isn’t much better, currently sitting at plus-0.1, which ranks 19th in the NBA.

Injuries to Curry and Wiggins haven’t helped. Wiggins is healthy now, but there’s still no timeline for Curry’s return to action following a left leg injury.

The team’s lone trade ahead of the deadline — sending out former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman to bring back defensive stalwart Gary Payton II — has to be considered a disappointment on several levels. Not only did selecting Wiseman not work out, but Payton’s physical was flagged and he’s expected to miss an extended period of time with an abdominal injury.

The five-man unit of Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, Green and Looney has been absolutely dominant, recording a plus-21.9 net rating with what equates to the league’s best offense and defense. It has been far and away the most effective five-man group in the league that has played 300-plus minutes.

However, the bench has been a problem the entire season, and the team’s reliance on making jump shots has hurt when trying to close out games — the Warriors are last in the league in free throw attempts (they were 26th last season, but the defense was much, much better).

If the season ended today, the No. 9 seed Warriors would need to win a couple of games in the play-in tournament to reach the postseason. Their spot is tenuous, as they only hold a one-game lead on the Jazz and Trail Blazers, the current No. 11 and No. 12 seeds.

However, the West is so close, they’re also only 2.5 games back of the No. 4 seed Clippers, so a strong finish to the season could secure them homecourt advantage in the first round — the Warriors are 22-7 at home, but only 7-22 on the road.

Assuming Curry is healthy and they get in, no one will want to play the Warriors in the playoffs. They have been the most successful team in the league over the past decade and their core has a wealth of experience. But trying to get there has been a bumpy road.

We want to know what you think. Will the Warriors make a late-season push and secure a playoff spot outright? Or will they be stuck in the play-in mix for their final 24 games?

Head to the comments and share your thoughts on the Warriors’ outlook for the rest of the regular season.

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Clippers Notes: Kawhi, Westbrook, PG, Powell

February 18th, 2023 at 1:44pm CST by Rory Maher

After entering the season with championship expectations, the Clippers have to be disappointed with their 33-28 record to this point. They are just 21st in the league in offensive rating and 10th in defensive rating, good for a middling plus-0.3 net rating, which ranks 16th in the NBA.

While those numbers look troubling, it somewhat obscures the fact that Kawhi Leonard has returned to his dominant two-way form over the past several weeks. As Michael Pina of The Ringer details, the Clippers are 23-11 with Leonard in the lineup and boast the league’s the league’s best offensive rating and fourth-best defensive rating when he’s on the court.

Leonard, who missed all of 2021/22 with a torn ACL, is averaging 27.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.9 SPG and 0.8 BPG on .515/.465/.922 shooting over his past 17 games (36.5 MPG). Teammates and coaches have noticed the difference, Pina writes.

“He’s back to his normal self. I think the minutes is back to where he’s comfortable on the floor,” Paul George said. “No restrictions on him. So I think, you know, his flow, his timing, I think his touch, I think everything kind of just came back to normal for him, and he’s looking like the Kawhi when we first got here, pre-injury. He looks back to that level, and some.”

The two-time Finals MVP’s health will ultimately determine the Clippers’ ceiling, and he has missed 27 games for various reasons and still isn’t playing back-to-backs. Still, if he’s in the lineup, the Clippers are a fearsome opponent, Pina notes.

Here’s more on the Clippers:

  • George and Marcus Morris have publicly campaigned for the team to add Russell Westbrook via the buyout market, and George said Leonard likes the idea as well. Westbrook plans to meet with the Clippers’ two star forwards soon to discuss the possibility of teaming up, according to Law Murray of The Athletic.
  • While George advocated for adding Westbrook, he also likes the team’s trade deadline moves (they acquired Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee and Bones Hyland) and thinks the Clippers have all the necessary pieces in place, Murray adds. “We got everything we need,” George said. “We got play-making, we got scorers. We got defensive stoppers. We just had to bring that all together, and find an identity as a group that carry us throughout games. Because again, it’s going to be a long — we plan on having a long postseason. So we got to have an identity that carries us through that long stretch.”
  • Reserve guard Norman Powell missed Thursday’s game against Phoenix due to right knee soreness, but Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times says (via Twitter) his “prevailing sense” is that there’s minimal concern about the injury and he was likely just held out to give him extra rest heading into the All-Star break. Powell is the team’s third-leading scorer, averaging 17.0 PPG on .486/.417/.805 shooting through 50 games (25.8 MPG).
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And-Ones: Mbah A Moute, Draft, Second-Round Picks, Cap Room

February 18th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA forward Luc Mbah a Moute, a 12-year veteran who last played in the league in 2020, has joined CAA as an agent, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. According to Shelburne, Mbah a Moute’s work as a player rep will focus on Africa.

Mbah a Moute has been hosting basketball camps in his home country of Cameroon since his NBA playing days ended, Shelburne writes. Through those camps and his new role with CAA, the 36-year-old is hoping to unearth more African talent that might otherwise have slipped through the cracks.

“I’m not saying we’ll find another Joel (Embiid) or Pascal (Siakam),” he said. “But from what I’m seeing, Africa’s not benefiting from its athletes the way it should. There’s a lot more players who need to get an opportunity, whether it’s becoming a pro or a coach or even a GM, like Masai Ujiri.”

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

  • Sam Vecenie of The Athletic explores how the 2023 NBA draft will be impacted by the deals made at last week’s trade deadline. Among his other observations, Vecenie points out that the swap rights the Pelicans have with the Lakers don’t appear nearly as valuable as they did earlier in the season. The two teams were separated by 8.5 games near the end of December, but there are only three games between them now, and L.A. has upgraded its roster while New Orleans continues to play without star forward Zion Williamson.
  • After second-round picks changed hands in trades at an unprecedented rate this season, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports considers what we learned about those picks and their value — and whether we should expect teams to continue to play “hot potato” with second-rounders going forward.
  • Which teams project to have cap room this summer and which ones are already into tax territory? Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype takes a look at all 30 NBA clubs and breaks down their salary commitments for 2023/24.
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Poll: Who Will Win 2023 Three-Point Contest?

February 18th, 2023 at 10:47am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s 2023 three-point contest will take place on Saturday night as part of All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City.

The league’s announcement of this year’s participants resulted in a few raised eyebrows, since none of the eight players who will take part in the contest ranked among the top 10 shooters in the league – based on 3PT% – when they were selected.

Sharpshooters like Isaiah Joe (45.2%) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (45.0%) were among the league leaders not believed to have received an invite, while stars like Stephen Curry (42.7%) and Desmond Bane (42.7%) presumably turned down invitations.

The NBA’s picks for the event reflect the league’s focus on stars over role players and its preference for volume three-point shooters over those who have high percentages but only attempt three or four shots per game from beyond the arc. The resulting field is as follows:

None of the eight players taking part in this year’s event participated in last year’s three-point contest, so there won’t be anyone defending his title — last year’s champion, Karl-Anthony Towns, is on the shelf due to a calf injury.

There is one former champion in the field, however, as well as two other players who have competed in this event in the past. Lillard and Tatum have each been in previous contests, while Hield took home the hardware in 2020.

The highest-percentage shooter among this year’s eight-man group, Hield is the co-favorite to win this year’s event, along with Lillard, per BetOnline.ag. Huerter has the third-best odds, followed by Herro and Haliburton. Tatum and Markkanen are tied for the second-worst odds, while Randle is a significant underdog.

But the three-point contest is unpredictable, since one well-timed hot streak – or poorly-timed cold stretch – can be the difference between winning and losing. So we want to know what you think.

Who will win this year’s three-point contest? Do you expect one of the favorites to come out victorious, or are you riding with an underdog?

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

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Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Jeffries, Raptors, Boucher, Dedmon

February 18th, 2023 at 7:58am CST by Luke Adams

Since trading away three players in their deal for Josh Hart at this month’s trade deadline, the Knicks have been carrying just 13 players on standard contracts. The NBA-mandated minimum is technically 14, but teams are permitted to be below that minimum for up to two weeks at a time.

It has been nine days since the trade deadline, meaning New York has five more days to fill at least one of its two open roster spots. And according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, one contender to claim one of the Knicks’ roster openings is two-way player DaQuan Jeffries.

Jeffries isn’t a prototypical candidate for a promotion from a two-way contract. Not only has he not been a part of the Knicks’ rotation so far this season — he hasn’t even appeared in a single game at the NBA level since signing his two-way deal in November.

However, the 25-year-old swingman has had a strong season in the G League for New York’s affiliate, the Westchester Knicks. In 32 total games (Showcase Cup and regular season), he has averaged 19.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks on .485/.328/.691 shooting in 33.5 minutes per contest. If there aren’t any free agents who appeal to the Knicks, it might make sense to lock up Jeffries to a team-friendly deal that includes non-guaranteed money beyond this season.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • While the Raptors‘ trade deadline may have been quieter than widely expected, Toronto’s front office would push back on the notion that the team didn’t do anything “big” last week, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. As Smith explains, the Raptors believed they had three pressing needs (size, depth, and shooting) and addressed two of them (size and depth) with their acquisition of Jakob Poeltl.
  • Within the same story, Smith notes that the Raptors may have a tough time avoiding the luxury tax next season if they’re intent on re-signing Poeltl, Gary Trent Jr., and Fred VanVleet. According to Smith, the club believes it could move off Otto Porter Jr.‘s guaranteed $6.3MM salary for next season if necessary, but isn’t enthusiastic about the idea of trading Chris Boucher (who is owed $11.75MM). “Sure, we could,” a team source told Smith when asked about the possibility of dealing Boucher to help cut costs. “But why? We like him a lot.”
  • One of Dewayne Dedmon‘s first NBA contracts, a 10-day deal, came back in 2014 with a 19-63 Sixers team that had just launched “The Process.” Back in Philadelphia nine years later and with over 500 NBA games under his belt, Dedmon appreciates how far both he and the team have come since then. “It’s great growth for the organization, you know what I’m saying?” Dedmon said, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Doing big things. Just the whole processing years have turned out some really good things going on here. And for myself, just keep working and it’s paying off. I’m back here now and I’m ready to win.”
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Northwest Notes: Westbrook, Williams, Hyland, Nuggets Bench

February 17th, 2023 at 10:19pm CST by Rory Maher

Tony Jones of The Athletic believes it’s “very, very unlikely” that Russell Westbrook will ever play a game for the Jazz, noting that the veteran guard wouldn’t receive much playing time as the team prioritizes its younger players (Twitter links).

According to Jones, the two most likely scenarios for Westbrook are securing a buyout if he finds a situation he likes, or remaining on Utah’s roster but away from the team.

While that’s hardly surprising news, it’s still noteworthy that Westbrook might finish the season not actively playing. On the other hand, if he joins another team and things go awry, that could hurt his value ahead of free agency.

The 2016/17 MVP has made over $300MM in his career, so it’s not like he needs more money, but it’s a lot easier for a team to move on from a player who isn’t making much money than one who is. It’s a tricky balance to strike for a decorated player who was often criticized (sometimes unfairly) on his last team.

Here’s more from the Northwest:

  • Thunder swingman Jalen Williams has flown under the radar a bit in ’22/23, but he’s having an outstanding rookie season, averaging 12.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.9 APG and 1.2 SPG on .508/.324/.759 shooting. He recently spoke to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype about a number of topics, sharing an amusing story about how he first met head coach Mark Daigneault.
  • Bones Hyland was traded to the Clippers last week after a rocky end to his Nuggets tenure. The second-year guard explained that he had “great communication” with Denver’s front office, but not so much with the coaching staff. “Yeah, I feel like it could’ve been done better on both ends,” Hyland said, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post (subscriber link). “Just more communication. I’ve got so much love for Denver, but I just feel like the communication was just so low. I had a lot of mixed emotions, and we didn’t come together and just make it better.”
  • Nuggets head coach Michael Malone suggested he’s going to run a five-man bench lineup of Reggie Jackson, Bruce Brown, Christian Braun, Vlatko Cancar and Thomas Bryant once Jackson is activated after the All-Star break, tweets Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports. A notable omission from that group is veteran forward Jeff Green, who has consistently been in the rotation when healthy and scored a season-high 24 points in Wednesday’s victory over Dallas. Malone has tweaked the bench rotation multiple times this season, however, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that five-man group changes over time.
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Fred VanVleet Switches Agents Ahead Of Possible Free Agency

February 17th, 2023 at 8:36pm CST by Rory Maher

Raptors guard Fred VanVleet is widely expected to turn down his $22.8MM player option for 2023/24 in order to become a free agent this summer. After parting ways with his longtime agent last month, VanVleet will now be represented by Klutch Sports Group, the agency formally confirmed (Twitter link).

Reports first surfaced in late January indicating that VanVleet would likely land with Klutch Sports.

A first-time All-Star last season, VanVleet has seen his three-point percentage decline to 34.4% in ’22/23 (he’s at 37.5% for his career). However, the rest of his averages are in line with what he’s posted the past few years, as he’s recording 19.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 6.6 APG and 1.6 SPG through 50 games (36.9 MPG).

VanVleet, who turns 29 next week, was involved in plenty trade rumors leading up to the deadline, but the Raptors decided to hold onto him. He has been particularly impressive over the past 15 games (37.8 MPG), averaging 24.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 7.5 APG, 1.7 SPG and 0.9 BPG on .433/.383/.914 shooting. Toronto controls his Bird rights, giving the team the ability to offer him more years and more money than a rival club, assuming he enters free agency.

A five-year, maximum-salary contract for VanVleet is projected to be worth $233.16MM. It’s highly unlikely that he’ll receive that much money, but Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported last month that VanVleet might be seeking a deal in the range of $30-35MM per year, and that seems attainable.

The Raptors will have several difficult decisions entering the offseason. Fellow guard Gary Trent Jr. is also expected to decline his player option and become an unrestricted free agent, while center Jakob Poeltl will be unrestricted too. The roster could get quite expensive going forward if all three players are retained and no other moves are made.

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Clippers Sign Nate Darling To Two-Way Deal

February 17th, 2023 at 6:45pm CST by Rory Maher

The Clippers have signed Nate Darling to a two-way contract, the team announced.

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Darling went undrafted out of Delaware in 2020 and spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with Charlotte, appearing in seven games for the Hornets.

The 6’6″ shooting guard has spent the past couple seasons with the Clippers’ G League affiliate in Ontario, California.

He had a strong showing during the fall Showcase Cup, averaging 20.1 PPG, 4.4 RPG and 2.5 APG on .469/.440/.828 shooting in 19 games (31.1 MPG). That has carried over to the 2022/23 regular season with Ontario, as he’s averaging 21.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.8 APG and 1.0 SPG on .464/.389/.868 shooting in 20 games (31.7 MPG).

The Clippers waived Moses Brown earlier today, which was reportedly a mutual decision after he had reached his two-way games played limit. Darling will fill that two-way opening and can be active for up to 15 regular season games. He won’t be playoff-eligible.

Los Angeles still has one standard roster spot open, but both two-way slots are now filled.

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Popovich, Nowitzki, Wade Among Hall Of Fame Finalists

February 17th, 2023 at 5:44pm CST by Rory Maher

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced its 12 finalists for 2023 on Friday evening, and what a star-studded list it is.

Here are the 12 finalists:

  • Gregg Popovich – Winningest coach in NBA history, five-time NBA champion
  • Dirk Nowitzki – 14-time All-Star, 12-time All-NBA, 2006/07 MVP, 2011 NBA champion and Finals MVP
  • Dwyane Wade – 13-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA, three-time NBA champion, 2006 Finals MVP
  • Tony Parker – Six-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA, four-time NBA champion, 2007 Finals MVP
  • Pau Gasol – Six-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA, two-time NBA champion, 2002 Rookie of the Year
  • Becky Hammon – Six-time WNBA All-Star, two-time first-team All-WNBA
  • Jennifer Azzi – 1990 Naismith Player of the Year, 1990 national champion with Stanford; 1996 Olympic gold medal
  • Gene Bess – All-time winningest college coach (1,300) across all levels in 50 years at Three Rivers Community College in Missouri (men’s)
  • Gene Keady – Seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, six-time National Coach of the Year with Purdue (men’s)
  • David Hixon – 826 wins, two-time Division III national champion and Coach of the Year with Amherst College (men’s)
  • Gary Blair – 852 wins, 2011 national champion with Texas A&M (women’s)
  • Marian Washington – 560 wins, 11 NCAA appearances with Kansas (women’s)

According to the Hall of Fame, the entire class of 2023 will be announced in Houston, on April 1 at the NCAA Men’s Final Four at 11:00 AM ET. Potential enshrinees from the Direct Elect Committees may also be recognized at the NCAA Men’s Final Four.

The class of 2023 will be enshrined during festivities in Springfield, Mass., on August 11-12.

In addition to the aforementioned nominees, the Hall of Fame also announced that legendary high school scout Tom Konchalski was honored as the 2023 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Konchalski unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago. You can read more about him here.

Marc J. Spears and Holly Rowe of ESPN were named the 2023 Curt Gowdy Media Award winners for print and electronic, respectively, while CBS Sports won the award for the transformative category.

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Bulls Notes: Inconsistency, LaVine, Westbrook, Terry, Caruso

February 17th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls will have some time to reflect on what has gone wrong so far this season during the next week, as they enter the All-Star break on a six-game losing streak that dropped their record on the season to 26-33.

Making the playoffs is still the goal for the team, according to Zach LaVine, who said after Thursday’s loss to Milwaukee that the Bulls “have to stop beating ourselves” and need to establish some consistency the rest of the way, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.

“Something isn’t working, obviously,” LaVine said. “Some games we’re really good. Some games we’re bad. Once again, it’s that consistency factor of figuring out what our identity is and what we’re going to be each game.

“Even if guys are in and out of the lineup, you see some teams that have consistency with what they do. They have an identity. That’s something we’re still trying to figure out in these last couple years. We changed our offense a little bit this year from last year. But it’s no excuse with the type of talent that we have on the team.”

Here’s more on the Bulls:

  • LaVine hasn’t gone out of his way to recruit Russell Westbrook – like Clippers forward Paul George did – but when he was asked this week about Westbrook joining the Bulls, LaVine said he’d welcome the opportunity to team up with the former MVP, per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. “Russ is a future Hall of Famer, man,” LaVine said. “I think you can only respect what he’s done in this league. If he so happens to come on the team, we welcome him with open arms. If he’s not, you compete against him. He’s a fierce competitor. You can do nothing but respect that.”
  • With five players, including star forward DeMar DeRozan, out due to injuries this week, rookie wing Dalen Terry logged 15 minutes on Wednesday and 27 minutes on Thursday — those were the first two times this season that he has played more than 10 minutes in a game. However, it’s unclear whether Terry will stick in Chicago’s rotation once DeRozan and others are back. “I’ve got to see what we look like health-wise,” Donovan said, according to K.C. Johnson. “With our roster, somebody is going to have to sit. I’m not saying that Dalen is the one who is going to be sitting. But somebody is going to have to.”
  • Although team success is Alex Caruso‘s top priority, he admitted to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that it would be “really cool” to earn an All-Defensive nod. “I was a big fan of Kevin Garnett, the Pistons teams with Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace, and guys like Tony Allen, and other guys that people don’t maybe remember as well like Bruce Bowen and Raja Bell,” Caruso said. “Watching a bunch of people play over the years, I could tell there was an impact to be had on that side of the ball and something that came naturally to me.”
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