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2022 NBA Draft Tiebreaker Results

April 18th, 2022 at 3:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA conducted a series of random tiebreakers today to determine the 2022 draft order. These tiebreakers involved teams that finished the regular season with identical records.

The results are as follows, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link):

Chicago Bulls (No. 18) over Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 19)
San Antonio Spurs (No. 20) over Denver Nuggets (No. 21)
- Note: The Spurs are receiving this pick from the Raptors.
Philadelphia 76ers (No. 23) over Milwaukee Bucks (No. 24) over San Antonio Spurs (No. 25)
- Note: The Nets have the option of acquiring this pick from the Sixers or passing on it and instead acquiring Philadelphia’s 2023 first-round pick.
- Note: The Spurs are receiving this pick from the Celtics.
Miami Heat (No. 27) over Golden State Warriors (No. 28).

While the tiebreaker winner will pick ahead of the loser(s) in the first round, that order will be flipped in the second round. For instance, the Timberwolves’ second-round pick will be at No. 48, while the Bulls’ second-rounder (traded to Sacramento) will be No. 49.

Now that Philadelphia won the three-way tiebreaker for the No. 23 pick, Brooklyn will be faced with an interesting decision. If they decide to pass on receiving the Sixers’ 2022 first-rounder, the Nets would instead receive Philadelphia’s unprotected 2023 first-rounder.

With a full season of James Harden, the Sixers could be even better next year, pushing their pick later in the first round — but that’s certainly not a lock, and Brooklyn could decide to roll the dice by deferring the pick. The Nets have until June 1 to make that decision, per Marks (Twitter link).

Raptors’ Scottie Barnes Out For Game 2

April 18th, 2022 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams

Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, who was officially diagnosed on Sunday with a left ankle sprain after leaving Game 1 on Saturday due to the injury, has been ruled out for Game 2 on Monday, head coach Nick Nurse told reporters, including Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link).

Barnes was wearing a walking boot on his left foot today, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. The Rookie of the Year finalist told reporters that he’s feeling better each day and is staying positive, but is unsure about when he might be able to return, per Lewenberg and Bontemps (Twitter link).

Losing Barnes is a major blow to a Raptors team that was defeated soundly by the Sixers in Game 1. No Raptor logged more minutes during the regular season than the No. 4 overall pick, who had an impressive playoff debut with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists in 32 minutes before Joel Embiid stepped on his foot, ending his night.

While Barnes has been definitively ruled out for Game 2, the Raptors are still considering Gary Trent Jr. and Thaddeus Young doubtful, tweets Bontemps. Young and the training staff are working to see if he’ll be able to play through a thumb sprain, while Trent missed Monday’s shootaround due to a non-COVID illness.

As Lewenberg tweets, if one of Trent or Young is going to play tonight, it sounds more likely to be Young, but Toronto may be without both of them in addition to missing Barnes.

Eastern Notes: Maxey, Wizards, Bucks, Hornets

April 17th, 2022 at 8:19pm CST by JD Shaw

Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey shined during the team’s first playoff game against Toronto on Saturday, Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com writes. Maxey finished with 38 points and four rebounds, shooting 14-of-21 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range.

“His speed is a factor,” head coach Doc Rivers explained postgame. “We know that we have to keep using him in space. Some nights, maybe he’ll drive to pass. Tonight, it was him driving and getting to the basket and making shots.”

Maxey averaged 17.5 points per game this season, shooting 43% from deep. His emergence has allowed the Sixers to sport a “big four,” which includes James Harden, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington explores how the Wizards could navigate a much deeper Eastern Conference, which features several teams that have legitimate title hopes this season. Washington finished with a 35-47 record and seems committed to competing around Bradley Beal. Eastern Conference teams won more games against Western teams this season (226-224) for the first time since 2008/09.
Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscriber-only link) examines how the Bucks used their bye week ahead of the playoffs. Milwaukee spent time preparing for Chicago, a divisional rival who also earned a week of rest by avoiding the play-in tournament. The franchises will meet in the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer takes a look at what went right and wrong for the Hornets this season. Charlotte made the play-in tournament after finishing 43-39 this season, going 0-7 in overtime games.

Rivers Notes Importance Of Making Adjustments; Sixers Appeared Prepared For Game 1

April 17th, 2022 at 7:06pm CST by JD Shaw

Sixers coach Doc Rivers and Raptors coach Nick Nurse understand the playoffs are about making adjustments, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Toronto lost Game 1 of its first-round series against Philadelphia 131-111, allowing Tyrese Maxey to score 38 points. The Sixers also made just three turnovers and shot 51% from the floor.
The Sixers were perfectly prepared for Game 1, Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice writes. Philadelphia kept the rebounding battle close, which was something the club discussed before the game. “All the days of practice that we had, we knew that’s the type of team that they are, scrappy,” Tobias Harris said. “We’ve been drilling it all day in practice, and when we got out there today, that was our emphasis from early in the game. We had to match their physicality and even be more physical than them.”

NBA Announces 2021/22 Award Finalists

April 17th, 2022 at 5:28pm CST by JD Shaw

The NBA has announced the 2021/22 season award finalists for the league’s six major awards: Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player.

The awards were voted on by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The three top vote-getters for each award are the finalists. They are as follows:

Most Valuable Player:

Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
Joel Embiid (Sixers)
Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)

Rookie of the Year:

Scottie Barnes (Raptors)
Cade Cunningham (Pistons)
Evan Mobley (Cavaliers)

Sixth Man of the Year:

Tyler Herro (Heat)
Cameron Johnson (Suns)
Kevin Love (Cavaliers)

Coach of the Year:

Taylor Jenkins (Grizzlies)
Erik Spoelstra (Heat)
Monty Williams (Suns)

Defensive Player of the Year:

Mikal Bridges (Suns)
Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
Marcus Smart (Celtics)

Most Improved Player:

Darius Garland (Cavaliers)
Ja Morant (Grizzlies)
Dejounte Murray (Spurs)

Winners will be announced during TNT’s coverage of the NBA playoffs, according to the league.

Nets Notes: Simmons, Harden Trade, Irving

April 16th, 2022 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Proving he can handle contact will be the next step for Ben Simmons in his comeback attempt, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Simmons, who hopes to return at some point during the Nets‘ first-round series against the Celtics, is expected to start 1-on-1 workouts next week, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. A source close to Simmons told Lewis that the team wants to “see him bang to see how the back holds up.”

“Clearly to play in an NBA game you’ve got to have some contact and play the game a little bit,” coach Steve Nash said. “Clearly he’s improving. But I have no idea if he’s getting close to play or not. He’s still on his individual program, still working through his rehab and 1-on-0 stuff. … He does some running, but no sprinting.”

Simmons told reporters who attended today’s practice to “make sure you get this” before throwing down a dunk, showing that his back pain has lessened, Lewis adds. The Nets haven’t decided if Simmons will have to go through all the normal progressions before being cleared to play, but Nash said his presence has been uplifting.

“It’s great to have him on the floor,” he said. “He has plenty of time since he’s been here he hasn’t been able to be on the floor, so just being able to feel the ball and touch the floor a little bit is positive.”

There’s more from Brooklyn:

In a separate story, Lewis looks back at the 48 hours leading up to the five-player deal that brought Simmons to the Nets. Chances of the trade appeared remote until James Harden started dropping hints that he wanted out of Brooklyn, and it sped up rapidly when Nets owner Joe Tsai and Sixers owner Josh Harris got involved.
Kyrie Irving is used to being booed in Boston and he promises it won’t affect his performance in the playoff series, Lewis adds in another piece. Irving’s relationship with Celtics fans has been filled with animosity since he left the team as a free agent in 2019. “I don’t want to focus on anything other than what’s going on with our team, don’t want to focus on the fans, don’t want to focus on any extra stuff outside of my control. The environment is going to be the environment,” Irving said.
Irving continues to defend his choice on the COVID-19 vaccine that cost him a major part of the season, per Nick Friedell of ESPN. “I can really say that I stood firm on what I believed in, what I wanted to do with my body,” Irving said. “I think that should be not just an American right, I think that should be a human right.”

Atlantic Notes: Young, Siakam, VanVleet, Harden, Pressure

April 15th, 2022 at 11:27pm CST by Rory Maher

Raptors veteran Thaddeus Young has mixed feelings about facing his former club in the first-round of the playoffs, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports. Young was drafted by the Sixers back in 2007 and spent his first seven seasons with the team.

“Honestly, that’s where I grew up,” Young said. “That’s where I went from being a boy to a man. I started my family there, married my wife, (had my) two kids. I went from being a kid, getting drafted seven days after turning 19 years old, and then to leave there at 26 and go to another team, it was definitely a hard situation for me because I thought I would always be there.”

“Philly will always be another home for me. I still talk to people that sit courtside. I still talk to some of the people that work in the organization all the time. They’re family, but at the end of the day I’m with Toronto Raptors now and this is my new family. And I have to make sure that my new family is gonna get this win and get this series.”

As Lewenberg notes, Young is the only player in his thirties (he’s 33) on Toronto’s roster, and his experience and leadership has been invaluable to the young team.

“I think he’s been super vocal,” Pascal Siakam said of Young. “He’s been through a lot, he’s played in big games, and he’s been in the league for [a long time], so I think that’s another presence. Obviously, we (referring to himself and Fred VanVleet) like to think of ourselves as vets, but we have six years of experience in the NBA and he has 15. That’s so many games and I think that we can definitely learn from him.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic:

The Raptors need Siakam and VanVleet to lead the way in the postseason, according to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Siakam and VanVleet are polar opposites in terms of leadership styles, Smith notes. VanVleet is vocal and intense, holding teammates and himself accountable, while Siakam is a quiet, lead-by-example type. Both players will be critical to the team’s chances of making a deep playoff run.
Sixers guard James Harden claims he isn’t feeling any pressure to perform in the playoffs, as ESPN’s Tim Bontemps relays. “Pressure, no. I feel good,” Harden said with a smile after Thursday’s practice at the team’s facility. “I’m ready to hoop. There’s nothing to it.” Harden also gave credit to the Raptors, his first-round opponent. “They just fly around,” Harden said. “They play extremely hard. They kind of junk up the game. They have a lot of guys that are tall, athletic, long and solid defenders. They use their length very well, and they just have each other’s back. They run around, they scramble, and they fly around defensively, so for us we have to execute, making sure we’re crisp in our passes and if the shot’s available, take it.”
The stakes are extremely high for the Sixers after they made the major trade to acquire Harden, contends Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. If the 76ers have another early exit, they’ll have a tough decision to make with the 32-year-old former MVP, who’s expected to pick up his $47.4MM player option this summer and will be eligible for a massive four-year extension worth over $220MM.

And-Ones: Hezonja, Lemon Jr., Summer League, Expansion

April 14th, 2022 at 7:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former NBA forward Mario Hezonja has no interest in returning to the league, Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net relays. Speaking to Russia’s Tatar-inform, Hezonja said, “I didn’t get the respect I deserved. Also, in my opinion, the NBA is more a show than the game itself.”

Hezonja, who is playing for UNICS Kazan this season, spent five seasons in the NBA, most recently on a 53-game stint with Portland in 2019/20.

We have more from the basketball world:

Free agent guard Walt Lemon Jr. is signing a summer contract in the Canadian Elite Basketball League with the Ottawa BlackJacks, Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw tweets. Lemon holds NBA experience with the Pelicans and Bulls. He played 42 games with Fort Wayne, the Pacers’ G League affiliate, this year.
The Salt Lake City Summer League will be held on July 5-7, according to a Jazz press release. The Grizzlies, Thunder and Sixers will be the other participants along with the host Jazz.
Tamika Tremaglio, the new executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, favors expansion, Andrew Cohen of SportTechie.com reports. “We do want more teams, I think it’s good for the business,’’ she said. “Ideally, we hope that there will be more teams popping up in the U.S.’’ In a Spotrac piece, Keith Smith outlines a few compelling reasons for expansion, including the amount of cities interested in having an NBA team, the deep talent pool, and the cash infusions from expansion fees.

Doc Rivers Dismisses Lakers Rumors; Dave Joerger Discusses Cancer Treatments

April 13th, 2022 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

Multiple recent reports have identified Doc Rivers as a possible candidate for the Lakers‘ head coaching job, but the Sixers head coach dismissed those rumors on Tuesday and said he and his staff are happy with in Philadelphia. “I have a job,” Rivers said (Twitter link via Tom Moore of The Bucks County Courier Times). “We want to win here.”
Sixers assistant Dave Joerger was away from the team for over two months this season, leaving in November to undergo cancer treatments before returning to the bench on a full-time basis in February. Speaking to Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Joerger opened up on what he has gone through in the last year. “Where I’ve been, it runs the gamut,” he said. “There’s times you feel, ‘This is not going to stop me. There’s nothing that can stop me. I’ve got such a great support system,’ and then there’s times you just don’t know if you can go on anymore. Physically, mentally, it’s like, ‘This hurts.’ It’s given me a great appreciation for all the gifts and all the things that we have been given.”

Injury Updates: Doncic, Allen, Kennard, Collins, Niang

April 12th, 2022 at 1:31pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks put out a press release on Tuesday formally confirming that Luka Doncic is dealing with a strained left calf and announcing there’s no timetable for his return.

Dallas won’t have to officially list Doncic on the injury report until Friday, so the club will likely continue to be cagey about his availability for Game 1 vs. Utah. Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd declined to offer any specifics on Tuesday, offering coy responses about Doncic’s ability to practice and the possibility that he’ll play on Saturday, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.

For what it’s worth, Kidd said multiple times that Doncic is “in great spirits,” while Mavericks guard Spencer Dinwiddie offered a positive assessment of his teammate’s status (Twitter link via Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News): “He seemed solid to me. I mean, he don’t seem like a guy that’s going to miss too much time, if any.”

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

The Cavaliers have officially listed Jarrett Allen (finger) as out for Tuesday’s play-in game vs. Brooklyn. An earlier report suggested there’s some hope that Allen would be able to play on Friday if Cleveland loses tonight.
Clippers sharpshooter Luke Kennard (hamstring) had been officially listed as questionable for Tuesday’s play-in game, but he didn’t make the trip to Minnesota, according to head coach Tyronn Lue (Twitter link via Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times).
Hawks big man John Collins, out since March 11 due to finger and foot injuries, played some 4-on-4 over the weekend, but head coach Nate McMillan isn’t sure whether he’ll be available for Wednesday’s play-in game vs. Charlotte, writes Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He’s been moving a lot more, and today was pretty much shooting. … We’ll see tomorrow,” McMillan said on Tuesday. “We’ll see how he feels after the weekend of play and what he went through today.”
After missing the last two games of the regular season with a knee issue, Sixers forward Georges Niang was able to practice on Tuesday and should be ready for Game 1 on Saturday, head coach Doc Rivers told reporters, including Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).

Sixers Rumors