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Atlantic Notes: Smart, Williams, Diop, Nets, White

May 26th, 2022 at 5:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Celtics starters Marcus Smart and Robert Williams are listed as questionable for Game 6 on Friday, the team tweets. It’s the same injury designation they had for Game 5.

Smart wound up playing 24 minutes on Wednesday despite his right ankle sprain and Williams made it through 27 minutes on his sore left knee.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

  • DeSagana Diop is the new head coach of the G League’s Westchester Knicks, Marc Stein tweets. Diop was represented by Knicks president Leon Rose when Rose was a player agent. Diop has assistant coaching experience with the Jazz and, most recently, the Rockets.
  • It has been reported that the Nets will likely defer the first-rounder owed by the Sixers from this year to next summer. However, that doesn’t mean the Nets will hold onto it and draft a rookie next summer, according to Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney. They might instead use it to facilitate an in-season trade next season to address injuries or roster shortcomings.
  • The deadline deal that sent Derrick White from San Antonio to Boston has proven to be crucial to the Celtics in their postseason run, Brian Windhorst of ESPN notes. They have registered blowout wins in two of the three games Smart has missed during the playoffs and having White at their disposal was a key to those successes. The Spurs acquired Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, the Celtics’ 2022 first-round pick, and the conditional right to swap first-round picks with Boston in 2028 in exchange for White.
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2021/2022 All-NBA Teams Announced

May 24th, 2022 at 7:55pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The 2021/22 All-NBA teams have officially been announced by the NBA. For the fourth straight season, Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was unanimously selected to the All-NBA First Team by a voter panel of 100 media members. Antetokounmpo, 27, is making his sixth All-NBA team overall.

Antetokounmpo, reigning MVP Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, and Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic received the most votes. Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker and Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid rounded out the list of top five vote-getters. Because the All-NBA teams, unlike the All-Star squads, require just one center per team, Embiid was relegated to an All-NBA Second Team placing.

Below is a list of the three All-NBA teams. Vote tallies are listed in parentheses next to player names. Five points were awarded to players for a First Team Vote, three points netted for a Second Team vote, and one for a Third Team vote. Antetokounmpo earned a perfect 500 points.

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

Jazz center Rudy Gobert and shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, Heat center Bam Adebayo and small forward Jimmy Butler, Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown, Bucks guards Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane, Suns small forward Mikal Bridges, Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray, and Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet all received All-NBA votes. Surprisingly, Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who played in just 29 games this season, also received a single vote.

As we previously outlined, the All-NBA selections come with significant financial ramifications. As a result of being named to All-NBA teams, Booker and Towns have become eligible for super-max extensions that would begin in 2024/25. If they’re signed this offseason, those deals would be for four years and would start at 35% of the ’24/25 cap. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter), they currently project to be worth $211MM apiece.

Young’s five-year contract extension, which was signed last August and will go into effect in 2022/23, will now be worth 30% of next season’s cap instead of 25% by virtue of his All-NBA selection. Based on a projected $122MM cap, that means it’ll be worth about $212MM instead of $177MM.

Jokic had already met the super-max requirements prior to this announcement, since he won last year’s MVP award — he’s eligible to sign a five-year, super-max extension this offseason and has said he plans to do so. Doncic, who signed a maximum-salary contract extension last summer, also previously met the super-max criteria by earning All-NBA nods in 2020 and 2021.

Notable players who are not eligible this offseason for super-max deals include Morant and Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine. As Marks tweets, Morant needs to make the All-NBA team again in 2023 to qualify for a starting salary worth 30% of the cap (instead of 25%) on his next deal.

LaVine, a free agent this offseason, would have been eligible to earn up to 35% of next season’s cap from the Bulls if he had made an All-NBA team, but will instead be able to earn no more than 30% of the ’22/23 cap on his next contract.

With their inclusions, Morant, Booker, and Young are making their All-NBA team debuts. Meanwhile, on the other side of the NBA aging curve, two 37-year-old veterans further cemented their Hall of Fame credentials during the 2021/22 season. James made his 18th All-NBA team, while Paul was named to his 11th All-NBA team.

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Sixers Rumors: Draft Pick, Maxey, Thybulle, Green, Rivers

May 23rd, 2022 at 2:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com has been told it’s “relatively likely” that the Nets will take advantage of their ability to defer their acquisition of the Sixers‘ first-round pick a year and will opt to acquire Philadelphia 2023 first-rounder instead of 2022’s No. 23 overall selection.

The Nets have until June 1 to finalize that decision, so nothing is set in stone yet, but the Sixers are preparing as if they’ll have this year’s No. 23 pick, says Neubeck.

Assuming the 76ers do control that pick, it could be used to add a young, inexpensive draftee to the roster or included in a trade package for a veteran. Neubeck points to Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell and Baylor’s Kendall Brown as long, switchable forwards who may be available at No. 23 and who might appeal to Philadelphia.

Here’s more from Neubeck:

  • Even if the Sixers attempt to pursue another star player this offseason, don’t expect the team to dangle guard Tyrese Maxey to make it happen, says Neubeck. “Maxey is as close to untouchable as you could be,” a source told PhillyVoice.
  • Matisse Thybulle is a more realistic trade candidate, but the Sixers won’t move him just to get off his contract, according to Neubeck, who suggests that Danny Green‘s ACL tear has made Thybulle’s defense even more important to the team. If he’s traded, expect it to be for a roster upgrade, Neubeck writes.
  • No decisions have been made yet on Green, who is expected to miss at least half of next season and whose $10MM salary for 2022/23 is non-guaranteed. Green’s $10MM would have to be partially or fully guaranteed in order for it to count for outgoing salary-matching purposes, so he seems to me more likely to be waived than traded. According to Neubeck, it’s possible that if Green is released, he could eventually return on a smaller salary.
  • There are suspicions in league coaching circles that the Lakers haven’t given up on the idea that Doc Rivers could become available for their head coaching job, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack article. Neubeck doesn’t dismiss that idea, but observes that the Sixers have been “remarkably consistent” in their messaging – both publicly and privately – that Rivers isn’t going anywhere.
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Marcus Smart, Mikal Bridges Head All-Defensive Team

May 20th, 2022 at 7:25pm CST by Rory Maher

Marcus Smart, Mikal Bridges, Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaren Jackson Jr. comprise the 2021/22 All-Defensive First Team, the NBA announced in a press release.

Smart, who was voted Defensive Player of the Year, received the most points with 198 (99 first-place votes), but he was left off of one voter’s ballot. It’s his third All-Defensive nod, all First Team.

DPOY runner-up Bridges was second with 193 points (it’s his first All-Defensive team), followed by third place finisher Gobert (171), a three-time DPOY who has now been voted to the First Team for the sixth straight season.

Antetokounmpo, the ’19/20 DPOY, was voted to his fourth consecutive First Team. He was also selected to the Second Team in ’16/17, so it’s his fifth nod overall.

Jackson, who led the league in blocked shots per game at 2.27, makes his first All-Defensive Team, edging Bam Adebayo by just one point (153 to 152) for the First Team. It’s the third straight season Adebayo has been selected to the Second Team.

Jrue Holiday earns his fourth All-Defensive honor, now owning two Firsts and two Seconds. He also earned a $120K bonus for his efforts, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link), which will increase the Bucks‘ luxury tax payment to about $52MM.

Matisse Thybulle was selected to the Second Team for the second straight year, while Robert Williams earns his first nod. Williams has a $223,215 bonus attached to his rookie scale extension, but he won’t earn it for his efforts this season because he’s in the final season of his rookie contract. However, the award will change his cap hit for ’22/23 (up to $10,937,502), because he’s now considered likely to achieve an All-D nod again next season, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks relays (via Twitter).

Draymond Green, the ’16/17 DPOY, was the final selection to the Second Team. It’s his seventh All-Defensive Team overall (four Firsts, three Seconds). Green is now second among all active players in All-Defensive Team awards, only trailing Chris Paul (nine). He was previously tied with LeBron James at six.

Here are both All-Defensive teams in full, with their voting point totals noted in parentheses. Players received two points for a First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote.

2021/22 All-Defensive First Team:

2021/22 All-Defensive Second Team:

A total of 24 other players received votes: 10 guards, 11 forwards and three centers. Among the group that missed the cut, Fred VanVleet was the top guard with 41 points, Evan Mobley was the top forward with 13, and Joel Embiid was the top center with 33. The full results can be found here.

One thing worth noting, which I personally disagree with: media members with ballots are asked to select two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, and vote for players “at the position they play regularly,” which is counterintuitive in the modern NBA, where positions increasingly matter less and less. “Players who received votes at multiple positions were slotted at the position at which they received the most voting points,” per the release.

Forcing voters to shoehorn players into positions is a poor process. For example, Adebayo starts at center, but is listed as a forward; Bridges is listed at guard, but starts at small forward. I’m not saying those players were undeserving, far from it — but it’s an irritating and outdated inconsistency.

In my opinion, the best defensive players should be on the All-Defensive teams, regardless of position. I’d also like to see a third All-D team so more recognition is given to players for their efforts on the less glamorous end of the court.

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Deveney’s Latest: Thybulle, Horton-Tucker, Nunn, Draft

May 19th, 2022 at 5:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bulls have strong interest in young Sixers forward Matisse Thybulle, sources told Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney.

Bulls GM Marc Eversley, a former Philadelphia executive, was instrumental in pushing the Sixers to acquire him in the 2019 draft, Deveney notes.

While Thybulle’s vaccination status stirred some angst within the Sixers organization during the postseason, it was his spotty 3-point shooting that rendered him a non-factor, despite his defensive reputation.

The Sixers could try to create some wiggle room under the luxury tax but that type of trade would likely require a third team.

Here’s more from Deveney:

  • The Lakers tried to package Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn in trades this past season but didn’t get an enticing offer. They could revisit that scenario, even though they’re reluctant to attach their next available first-rounder in 2027. One league exec tossed out the names of Duncan Robinson, Malik Beasley and Christian Wood as the type of player they could get in return.
  • The Magic won’t trade the top pick unless they get the No. 2 or 3 pick as part of the package, but the Thunder and Rockets are open for business regarding the other top three selections.
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Atlantic Notes: Green, Sixers, Kyrie, Raptors

May 19th, 2022 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran stars like Kawhi Leonard and Jamal Murray, who suffered ACL tears in the spring of 2021, didn’t play at all in 2021/22, but Danny Green, who tore his ACL in the Sixers‘ second-round series vs. Miami last week, is optimistic that he won’t have to sit out for all of next season.

“I will be back for All-Star break. You got to believe it. You heard it here first,” Green said on his Inside the Green Room podcast, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I will work my tail off to rehab to get back healthy. My body and my bones usually heal pretty well. I don’t have any bad habits. So, yeah, I think I’ll be back in time to help a team in the playoff run and show and prove that I’m able to still play at that level to help a team get a win in the playoffs.”

Green is technically under contract with the Sixers for 2022/23, but his $10MM salary is non-guaranteed. He acknowledged that the team could certainly waive or trade him since he won’t be ready to play at the start of the season.

“That’s part of the business,” he said. “… We haven’t spoken yet.”

Here are a few more notes from around the Atlantic:

  • The Sixers, whose roster lacks depth and features a number of incomplete players, are in a worse spot now than they were in 2019 when they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by Toronto, Pompey writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer. In Pompey’s view, the team could use a traditional point guard and multiple “versatile and gritty” wings and forwards, but probably lacks the flexibility or the assets to address all of its needs.
  • The Nets have yet to engage in any contract talks with Kyrie Irving, who holds a $36.9MM player option for 2022/23, general manager Sean Marks said in an interview with YES Network (link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post). “It wouldn’t be right for me to comment on what hypothetical could happen, because we don’t know,” Marks said. “We haven’t had those conversations with Kyrie yet. But when they do (happen), we’ll see if it’s the right fit for both sides.”
  • Eric Koreen of The Athletic considers which 2022 free agents would be good fits for the Raptors and might be attainable for mid-level or bi-annual money, identifying veterans like Bobby Portis, Malik Monk, and Pat Connaughton as possible targets.
  • In a separate story for The Athletic, Koreen fielded mailbag questions on the Raptors‘ offseason, addressing a number of topics, including whether the team would have interest in restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton. Koreen thinks the Raptors could inquire but that they don’t consider it a top priority to acquire a traditional center and wouldn’t want to give up the assets necessary to sign-and-trade for Ayton.
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2022 NBA Draft Picks By Team

May 18th, 2022 at 8:40am CST by Luke Adams

Not only did the Thunder move up in Tuesday’s draft lottery to claim this year’s No. 2 overall pick, but they’re also one of just three teams with four picks in the 2022 draft. No team’s 2022 selections are more valuable than Oklahoma City’s — in addition to the second overall pick, the Thunder control No. 12, No. 30, and No. 34.

The Spurs and Timberwolves also each own four 2022 draft picks, with San Antonio controlling three first-rounders and No. 38, while Minnesota has No. 19 and three second-rounders.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, four clubs don’t currently own any 2022 draft picks. The Lakers, Suns, and Jazz are three of those teams, and either the Sixers or the Nets will be the fourth, depending on whether Brooklyn decides to acquire Philadelphia’s first-rounder or defer it to 2023.

To present a clearer picture of which teams are most – and least – stocked with picks for the 2022 NBA draft, we’ve rounded up all 58 selections by team in the space below. Let’s dive in…

Teams with more than two picks:

  • Oklahoma City Thunder (4): 2, 12, 30, 34
  • San Antonio Spurs (4): 9, 20, 25, 38
  • Minnesota Timberwolves (4): 19, 40, 48, 50
  • Orlando Magic (3): 1, 32, 35
  • Sacramento Kings (3): 4, 37, 49
  • Indiana Pacers (3): 6, 31, 58
  • Portland Trail Blazers (3): 7, 36, 57
  • New Orleans Pelicans (3): 8, 41, 52
  • Charlotte Hornets (3): 13, 15, 45
  • Cleveland Cavaliers (3): 14, 39, 56
  • Memphis Grizzlies (3): 22, 29, 47
  • Golden State Warriors (3): 28, 51, 55

Teams with two picks:

  • Houston Rockets: 3, 17
  • Detroit Pistons: 5, 46
  • Washington Wizards: 10, 54
  • New York Knicks: 11, 42
  • Atlanta Hawks: 16, 44

Teams with one pick:

  • Chicago Bulls: 18
  • Denver Nuggets: 21
  • Philadelphia 76ers: 23
  • Milwaukee Bucks: 24
  • Dallas Mavericks: 26
  • Miami Heat: 27
  • Toronto Raptors: 33
  • Los Angeles Clippers: 43
  • Boston Celtics: 53

Teams with no picks:

  • Brooklyn Nets
  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Utah Jazz
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And-Ones: Musa, Scola, Mannion, Nigeria

May 17th, 2022 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Nets wing Dzanan Musa, a first-round pick in 2018, has been named the Most Valuable Player of Liga ACB, Spain’s top basketball league, for the 2021/22 season, per an official press release.

Fans, reporters, players, and coaches vote on the award, and Musa was the top pick among all four groups, earning the maximum 100 points. Ex-NBA forward Nikola Mirotic finished fourth with 30 points.

After appearing in just 49 games in his two seasons with Brooklyn from 2018-20, Musa returned to Europe and has played in Turkey and Spain over the last two years. He averaged 20.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 3.1 APG on .494/.381/.787 shooting in 29 Liga ACB games (32.0 MPG) for CB Breogan this season.

Former NBA forward Mirza Teletovic stated earlier this year that he’s confident Musa, who just turned 23 years old this month, will return stateside sooner or later.

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

  • Veteran forward Luis Scola, who played in the NBA from 2007-17, will exercise his option to assume majority ownership of the Italian team Pallacanestro Varese, the club announced in a press release. Once the paperwork is official, Scola will own 51% of the franchise’s shares.
  • Former Warriors guard Nico Mannion is drawing some interest from NBA teams as a possible Summer League player, tweets George Zakkas of SDNA in Greece. Mannion remains under contract with Virtus Bologna in Italy for the time being.
  • Having opened a league office in Lagos earlier this year, the NBA is on the lookout for the next Giannis Antetokounmpo in Nigeria, according to Lindsay du Plessis of ESPN, who spoke to NBA Africa VP Gbemisola Abudu about NBA Nigeria’s goals in the country.
  • David Aldridge of The Athletic takes a look at what the offseason for the holds for the four teams eliminated in round two, examining the key areas for the Grizzlies, Bucks, Sixers, and Suns to address this summer.
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Atlantic Notes: Harden, Rivers, Knicks, Flynn

May 16th, 2022 at 12:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Sixers guard James Harden was still an elite player in 2021/22, but his numbers began trending in the wrong direction and he appeared to have lost the explosive first step that defined his MVP-caliber seasons, writes Tommy Beer of BasketballNews.com.

With Harden set to turn 33 this summer, giving him a long-term, maximum-salary contract could cripple the Sixers and would be borderline “organizational malpractice,” Beer argues. Still, Philadelphia can’t afford to let him walk, since doing so wouldn’t actually open up any meaningful cap room and the team is under pressure to maximize Joel Embiid‘s prime.

As Beer outlines, it will be fascinating to see how those contract discussions play out this offseason, since both sides have some leverage concerns. The Sixers can’t afford to lose Harden, but it will be difficult for the former MVP to play hardball in negotiations, considering none of the teams projected to have cap room are expected to seriously pursue him.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has made it clear that the plan is for Doc Rivers to remain the head coach going forward, prompting Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com to consider whether that decision is the right one for the franchise.
  • Former Knicks center Eddy Curry has confidence in the abilities of executives Leon Rose and William Wesley to turn things around in New York, writes Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Curry said Knicks fans shouldn’t focus on Rose’s lack of public statements and press conferences, since it’s “not his personality” to be in the public eye. “Regardless of how often you see him, you better believe he’s making things happen behind closed doors,” said Curry, who worked with Rose and Wesley during his playing career.
  • Eric Koreen of The Athletic wonders if Raptors point guard Malachi Flynn could benefit from a change of scenery and identifies some other players in a similar boat whom Toronto could target in a potential Flynn trade, including Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, and Udoka Azubuike.
  • In case you missed it, we rounded up a series of Celtics notes earlier today.
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Nets Notes: Trade Exceptions, Irving, Vanterpool, Harden Trade

May 14th, 2022 at 5:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets won’t have any cap room this summer, but they can upgrade the roster by using their three trade exceptions, writes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Brooklyn owns an $11.3MM exception from the James Harden trade with the Sixers, a $6.3MM exception from a deal that sent DeAndre Jordan to the Pistons and a $3.3MM TPE from the Spencer Dinwiddie trade with the Mavericks.

Winfield suggests using the largest exception, along with Philadelphia’s 2027 first-round pick and the Nets’ second-rounder in 2029, to acquire Spurs wing Josh Richardson, and notes that the smaller exceptions could be valuable as rival teams try to clear cap space in advance of free agency.

Winfield shares other ideas for the Nets’ offseason, such as targeting Joe Ingles with the taxpayer mid-level exception and looking for bargains with minimum-salary contracts such as Ben McLemore, Markieff Morris, Danuel House, Isaiah Hartenstein, Bismack Biyombo and Hassan Whiteside.

There’s more on the Nets:

  • Kyrie Irving has been difficult for management to handle since he signed with Brooklyn in 2019, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. A source tells Bondy that Irving, who only played 20 games in his first season with the Nets because of a shoulder issue, disappeared from the team and didn’t communicate with the front office about the condition of his shoulder as he looked for second opinions.
  • Steve Nash is expected to return as head coach next season, but he could have a much different staff working for him. Amar’e Stoudemire is leaving his position as a player development assistant, and David Vanterpool isn’t expected back either, Marc Stein states in his latest article for Substack. Vanterpool recently interviewed for the Hornets’ head coaching job.
  • Neither team benefited much from the blockbuster deal headlined by Harden and Ben Simmons, but the Sixers appear to be worse shape than the Nets, observes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn at least has roster stability with Simmons under contract for three more seasons. Philadelphia is facing a difficult decision on how to handle an extension for Harden, who could make nearly $270MM in a five-year max deal.
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