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Community Shootaround: Who Will Win The West?

April 6th, 2024 at 3:59pm CST by Rory Maher

The Celtics currently hold a 14-game lead for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, making them a very strong favorite to reach the NBA Finals, though that outcome is far from assured.

The standings are much more competitive in the West though. The seedings are still up for grabs, but the top 10 teams are all but secured after Golden State beat Houston on Thursday.

The Timberwolves are currently the No. 1 seed due to a tiebreaker over the defending-champion Nuggets, who hold an identical 53-24 record. The upstart Thunder are one game back at No. 3, followed by the Clippers, Mavericks and Suns.

The Pelicans, Kings, Lakers and Warriors are currently the Nos. 7 through 10 seeds, meaning they’d be in the play-in tournament if the season ended today. Only two games separate Phoenix and the Lakers, however, so things could certainly change between now and April 14, when the regular season concludes.

Each of the top teams in the West has question marks ahead of the postseason, mostly due to injuries. Minnesota may not have Karl-Anthony Towns back before the first round, and the team has only advanced past that stage one time in franchise history. Denver, which went 16-4 in last year’s playoffs en route to its first title in 2023, has been playing without star guard Jamal Murray of late, though he may return soon.

Oklahoma City is young and is not playoff tested, plus MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been sidelined recently with a quad injury. Kawhi Leonard is currently dealing with a knee injury for the Clippers.

The Mavericks have dealt with injuries to rotation players throughout the season, though they’re the hottest team in Conference at the moment. Phoenix’s “big three” has only played in 36 games together in 2023/24. New Orleans, Sacramento, the Lakers and Golden State have all been inconsistent throughout the season.

With so many unknowns, it makes it difficult to pick a favorite. That leads us to our question of the day: Who do you think will advance out of the West and make the NBA Finals? Head to the comments and let us know what you think.

And-Ones: K. Smith, NBL, Salary Cap, Ishbia, Gilbert

April 6th, 2024 at 10:20am CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA champion and current TNT analyst Kenny Smith is getting involved in Australia’s National Basketball League, according to a press release. Smith has been appointed as the head of the NBL’s Next Stars player initiative and will “actively recruit, develop and mentor new Next Stars players” in that role.

The Next Stars initiative has served as an alternative to college basketball (or to the G League Ignite) for NBA prospects who are not yet draft-eligible, with LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey, R.J. Hampton, and Ousmane Dieng among the notable players who have chosen that path. Alexandre Sarr, a candidate to be this year’s No. 1 overall pick, is currently in the program.

“Legitimate pathways to the NBA are evolving, and the NBL has a proven track record of getting players drafted,” Smith said in a statement. “The NBL identified a key role for me to mentor and support young talent and equip them with the tools to compete at a professional level with a view to making the leap into the NBA.”

In addition to heading up the Next Stars initiative, Smith will also become the part-owner of an NBL expansion team that will be announced in the near future, according to the announcement.

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

The NBA shared new salary cap projections for 2024/25 with its teams this week, but the estimated figures haven’t changed since January’s update, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). As Wojnarowski relays, the cap is still projected to be $141MM next season.
Suns owner Mat Ishbia has been in the news for non-basketball reasons over the past week. Baxter Holmes of ESPN put out a story detailing the feud between Ishibia and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert due to the billionaires’ rival mortgage companies, while Hunterbrook Media published an investigative report about the questionable legality of Ishbia’s business practices as the CEO and chairman of United Wholesale Mortgage. As Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic details, Ishbia suggested during a media session that Hunterbrook’s investigation was funded Gilbert’s Rocket Mortgage, which a Rocket Mortgage spokesperson adamantly denied.
Noting that the teams near the bottom of the NBA’s standings have been historically bad since the All-Star break, John Hollinger of The Athletic considers ways the league might address the issue and improve its product in March. Hollinger suggests eliminating the buyout market entirely and making any player waived after the trade deadline ineligible for the postseason, but acknowledges that the impact may be marginal.

Hornets To Interview Lee, Fernandez, Young, Adelman

April 4th, 2024 at 2:20pm CST by Rory Maher

The Hornets have been granted permission to interview a handful of assistant coaches from around the NBA for their head coaching vacancy, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports that Charles Lee (Celtics), Jordi Fernandez (Kings), Kevin Young (Suns) and David Adelman (Nuggets) will speak to Charlotte.

Additional candidates are expected to be interviewed for the position, Wojnarowski adds.

Lee, Fernandez and Young were cited as possibilities when Wojnarowski reported on Wednesday that Steve Clifford would be stepping down as head coach and moving into an advisory role with the Hornets. Adelman was later added to the list of potential candidates by Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer.

Lee, 39, got his start in Atlanta under Mike Budenholzer and later went with him to Milwaukee, winning a championship as a Bucks assistant in 2021. Lee, who has interviewed for several different head coaching jobs, joined Boston last summer after Budenholzer was fired by the Bucks.

Fernandez, who started in Denver before becoming Mike Brown‘s associate head coach in Sacramento, led the Canadian national team to a bronze medal at the 2023 World Cup. He’s another young coach (he’s 41) who has been a popular candidate for head coaching vacancies the past couple years.

Young, 42, has been with Phoenix since 2020 and was a finalist for the team’s head coaching job last year when Monty Williams was let go. The position ultimately went to Frank Vogel, but Young was retained on a deal that made him the highest-paid assistant in the league (he’s technically the associate head coach).

Adelman, also 42, is Michael Malone‘s top assistant in Denver and has served as interim head coach a few times. He has drawn praise from Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon for his coaching acumen. Adelman, who interviewed for Toronto’s vacancy last year, is the son of longtime former NBA head coach Rick Adelman.

Steve Clifford To Step Down As Hornets’ Head Coach After Season

April 3rd, 2024 at 10:32am CST by Luke Adams

10:32am: The Hornets have put out a press release officially confirming the news.

“This is the appropriate time for me to step down,” Clifford said in a statement. “I believe this is best for me and the organization. I’m excited about the future of the Hornets – our young core of players, Jeff’s leadership of our basketball operations and Rick and Gabe’s vision for the organization. I want to thank all the Hornets players and staff for their work the past two seasons and our Hornets fans for their continued support of our team.”

In a statement of his own, Peterson thanked Clifford for his contributions to the franchise and said the search process for a new head coach will begin immediately.

“We will look to hire someone that shares our values and vision in developing our young core and creating a culture and identity based on teamwork, accountability and competitiveness,” Peterson said. “We will conduct a thorough search process to select the best head coach for the Hornets moving forward.”

9:48am: Hornets head coach Steve Clifford will step down from his current position with the franchise at the conclusion of the 2023/24 regular season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Clifford informed his players and assistants of the plan on Wednesday morning and will coach the team’s final seven games.

According to Wojnarowski, Clifford will likely remain with the organization in a front office role. He and the team are working to finalize the details of that potential transition — Woj suggests there’s a desire from management and ownership to have the 62-year-old serve in an advisory role that would allow him to “impact all parts of the organization.”

With the Hornets under new ownership heading into the 2024 offseason, there was a sense that a head coaching change was possible. Charlotte has already undergone an in-season front office overhaul after head of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak moved into an advisory position. He was replaced by former Nets assistant GM Jeff Peterson, who was named Charlotte’s executive VP of basketball operations.

However, Wojnarowski says that co-owners Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin were open to the idea of bringing back Clifford. The veteran coach decided that he didn’t want to commit to the “year-round grind” of the job for another year and conveyed his intentions early so that the Hornets can immediately begin searching for his successor.

Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez, Celtics assistant Charles Lee, Heat assistant Chris Quinn, and Suns assistant Kevin Young are among the candidates expected to receive consideration for the permanent job in Charlotte, per Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link) singles out Lee as a candidate to watch, noting that there’s been “a lot of chatter in coaching circles” indicating that he’ll be a strong contender to replace Clifford.

Clifford, who also coached Charlotte from 2013-18, had less success in his second stint with the club, posting a 45-112 (.287) record over the past two seasons. Multiple injuries to star point guard LaMelo Ball hamstrung Clifford and the Hornets, as did the domestic violence charges against Miles Bridges, which cost the forward the entire 2022/23 season.

The team entered ’23/24 with postseason aspirations, but essentially threw in the towel following an injury-plagued first half, trading away veterans Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, and P.J. Washington prior to February’s deadline.

The next Hornets’ head coach will take over a retooling club that has a few promising building blocks, including Ball, rookie wing Brandon Miller, and young center Mark Williams. Bridges will be an unrestricted free agent, though the team hopes to re-sign him. Charlotte also currently has the NBA’s fourth-worst record, putting the franchise in position to land a draft pick in the top half of this year’s lottery and add another core piece.

The Wizards and Nets, who have made in-season coaching changes and currently employ interim replacements, are expected to join the Hornets in seeking new head coaches this spring. It’s possible other clubs will join that list in the coming weeks.

Suns Notes: Young, Thomas, Durant, Thunder

March 31st, 2024 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

Given a rare opportunity to crack the rotation on Wednesday in Denver with Jusuf Nurkic out, Suns forward Thaddeus Young played well, posting six points, nine rebounds, and a +15 mark in 18 minutes of action.

However, Young was a DNP-CD again in Oklahoma City on Friday, with head coach Frank Vogel explaining this week that the team views the veteran as a small-ball center who’s a better fit in some matchups than others, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.

“That’s why we didn’t go out and get just another guy that’s the same as Drew (Eubanks) and Nurk,” Vogel said. “We went out and got somebody that has a little bit of a different dynamic. I think in a next-man-up setting like this, it helps, but if you get in a playoff series where there’s certain matchups that we’re struggling against, you have somebody that can give a different element to our attack. We’re excited to have him.”

According to Young, he and the Suns had conversations before he signed with the club about the certain lineups and sets he might be used in, so he’s not bothered by the fact that his minutes have been sporadic.

“I’m battle tested. I’m prepared to not play a whole bunch of games just like I did and go in and walk right in and fit like a glove. For me, it’s never going to be about the minute aspect of it,” Young said. “Yeah, I would love to play a lot of minutes. I would love to continue to be able to play at such a high level, but at the end of the day, whatever coaches, staff and the team needs me to do, I’m going to do it.”

Here’s more on the Suns:

After word broke that he was signing a second 10-day contract with Phoenix, Isaiah Thomas said he’s “super thankful” for the opportunity that he’s gotten from the club, according to Rankin. The veteran guard has appeared briefly in just two of six games as a Sun so far, but he has reportedly looked good in practice and earned praise from Vogel for his locker room presence. “He’s been a really important voice,” Vogel said on Friday. “Two-time All-Star that guys respect and he’s got a high IQ. So he can point out things that we can do better, we’re not doing well enough. Everybody in the locker room respects him and likes him and his voice carries weight. That’s what you want with guys in those type of roles.”
The Suns have slipped out of the top six in the Western Conference and have the NBA’s most difficult remaining schedule, but Kevin Durant believes that, with the postseason around the corner, the club has done a good job building chemistry. “For the most part, we understand each other. We see each other’s tendencies,” Durant said (Twitter video link via Rankin). “That’s what you want from a group is to start to understand each other more. We’re doing that.”
Following Friday’s loss in Oklahoma City, Vogel called on the NBA to take a closer look at “all the flopping” that Thunder wing Luguentz Dort does (Twitter video link via Rankin). “It’s ridiculous how he gets calls,” Vogel said. “If they’re going to get calls like that, they’re going to have an advantage. You can’t just fall down every time there’s contact and get a whistle.” Given that the Thunder are a potential first-round playoff opponent for the Suns, Vogel’s comments come off as a “preemptive working of the referees” for that possible matchup, suggests Kurt Helin of NBC Sports.

Suns Sign Isaiah Thomas To Second 10-Day Deal

March 30th, 2024 at 12:41pm CST by Rory Maher

MARCH 30: The Suns have officially signed Thomas to a second 10-day contract, the team announced today (via Twitter). The deal will run through April 8.

MARCH 29: The Suns intend to bring back veteran guard Isaiah Thomas on a second 10-day contract, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).

As our Luke Adams wrote this morning, Thomas’ first 10-day deal is set to expire at midnight ET. The 35-year-old has only played two garbage-time minutes with Phoenix thus far, but he has received praise from his coaches and teammates for his performances in practices and pickup games.

Prior to his stint with the Suns, the 12-year veteran had been out of the NBA since the 2021/22 season, when he made brief appearances with the Lakers and Mavericks before ending the year with the Hornets.

Thomas was an All-Star with Boston in ’15/16 and ’16/17 before suffering a right hip injury that derailed his career. He bounced around the league after that, and most of his recent stops have been on 10-day contracts.

Once Thomas’ second 10-day contract expires, the Suns will have to decide whether or not they want to sign him for the rest of the season in order to make him eligible for the postseason. Phoenix is in a very tight playoff race, currently sitting with a 43-30 record, which is good for the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference.

Checking In On 10-Day Contracts

March 29th, 2024 at 9:03am CST by Luke Adams

As our tracker shows, there are currently seven 10-day contracts active around the NBA, though that number will dip to three in less than 24 hours. Here are the details on those active 10-day deals:

Detroit Pistons: Chimezie Metu (runs through 3/29)
Memphis Grizzlies: DeJon Jarreau (runs through 3/29) *
Memphis Grizzlies: Maozinha Pereira (runs through 3/29) *
Phoenix Suns: Isaiah Thomas (runs through 3/29)
Chicago Bulls: Javonte Green (runs through 4/1) *
Philadelphia 76ers: D.J. Wilson (runs through 4/2)
Toronto Raptors: Kobi Simmons (runs through 4/2)

(* Contracts marked with an asterisk were signed via a hardship exception.)

Of those seven players, only Jarreau is on his second 10-day deal with his current team, meaning he’ll be ineligible to return to the Grizzlies on another 10-day contract after this one expires.

Since he was signed using a hardship exception, the only way for Jarreau to remain with Memphis beyond Friday would be for the team to waive one of its 15 players on standard contracts to make room on the roster to sign him for the rest of the season, which likely isn’t happening.

Pereira could sign a second 10-day contract with Memphis though, and as long as they continue to qualify for a second hardship exception, I’d expect the Grizzlies to bring in a new player on a 10-day deal to replace Jarreau.

Each of the non-Grizzlies players in this group is eligible to sign a second 10-day contract with his team, and since the regular season doesn’t end until April 14, there’s more than enough days left in the season to accommodate such arrangements. That doesn’t mean that Metu, Thomas, Green, Wilson, or Simmons are locks to stick around, but they’re in good position to do so if they make a positive impression during their initial 10-day stints.

The last day to sign a standard 10-day contract this season is one week away. After April 5, teams would still be able to sign “10-day” contracts using a hardship exception, but any standard deal would be a rest-of-season or multiyear agreement.

Suns Notes: Thomas, Nurkic, Beal, Young

March 29th, 2024 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

Isaiah Thomas, whose 10-day contract with the Suns will expire following Friday’s game in Oklahoma City, hasn’t had a chance to make much of an impression in his first five games with the team, logging just 1:48 of garbage-time action in his lone appearance last Wednesday.

Still, the veteran guard has earned praise from his coaches and teammates based on his performances in practices and pickup games, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic details. Devin Booker told reporters that Thomas looks “great,” while Josh Okogie said the 35-year-old has been “the Isaiah we all know.”

“He’s looked really good,” head coach Frank Vogel said after watching Thomas participate in a pickup game on Tuesday. “Healthy and still can fill it up. He can shoot it. He can attack in pick-and-rolls and he’s a hell of a passer, too.”

According to Vogel, the Suns will make a decision on a possible second 10-day deal for Thomas once his initial contract expires. With more than two weeks left in the regular season, the team is in position to potentially give Thomas 10 more days before having to make a decision on whether to commit to him for the rest of the season.

“I’m just taking it day by day,” Thomas said, per Rankin. “I hope I’m here the rest of the way because I know I can help, whether I’m playing or not. I know my voice helps. My leadership helps. My experience helps, but that’s out of my control. I’m just here taking it day-by-day and doing what I can and controlling the things I can control and that’s by being a great teammate each and every day.”

Here’s more on the Suns:

After missing Wednesday’s win in Denver due to a right ankle sprain, Suns center Jusuf Nurkic is considered questionable to return on Friday in Oklahoma City, per the official injury report. Drew Eubanks earned his fifth start of the season on Wednesday with Nurkic out and would presumably remain in the starting five if the Bosnian big man is unable to go tonight.
Bradley Beal played on Wednesday after spraining his right ring finger on Monday and isn’t on Friday’s injury report. He told reporters that he’ll likely have pain in that finger for a few weeks, but intends to play through it (Twitter video link via Rankin).
Beal and Booker combined to make just 8-of-28 field goal attempts against the Nuggets. However, as Rankin writes for The Arizona Republic, Kevin Durant scored 30 points and the Suns’ bench outscored Denver’s reserves by 14 as Phoenix bounced back from Monday’s disappointing loss to the Victor Wembanyama-less Spurs to beat the defending champs on the road.
One of the Suns’ reserves who came up big on Wednesday was Thaddeus Young, a buyout market addition who hadn’t seen much action yet for Phoenix. He had six points and nine rebounds and was a +15 in 18 minutes vs. Denver. “It’s going to be tough to keep him off the floor now,” Booker said of Young, who also earned praise from Vogel (Twitter video link via Rankin).

Suns Notes: Allen, Beal, Nurkic, Spurs Loss, Schedule

March 26th, 2024 at 7:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns play the Nuggets on Wednesday. It’s also a significant day for wing Grayson Allen.

Allen becomes eligible tomorrow for a four-year extension that could be worth up to $75MM. If he doesn’t sign an extension, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent, with the Suns holding his Bird rights. If he were to sign an extension with a maximum starting salary of $16.4MM, Phoenix’s luxury tax bill projects to jump another $65-70MM, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic notes.

“I try not to think about it too much,” Allen said about a potential offer. “One, because it’s not a done deal until it’s signed. You don’t want to count it, start counting stuff too early before it happens. Another part of is it’s March and we’ve got 11, 10 games left. We’re getting at a time where you don’t want to have stuff like that on your mind cause it’s an individual goal for me and right now, it’s the Suns and team stuff. I don’t want to think about that kind of stuff too much.”

We have more on the Suns:

Not only did the Suns lose to San Antonio on Monday, they came out of the game with a couple of new injuries, ESPN’s Andrew Lopez tweets. Bradley Beal left with a sprained right ring finger late and could not return. X-rays were negative. Jusuf Nurkic left the game earlier with a sprained right ankle. Neither one practiced on Tuesday, according to Rankin (Twitter links). They’re listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game, Gerald Bourguet of GoPhnx.com tweets.
The Suns had defeated the Spurs by 25 points two days earlier and San Antonio didn’t have Victor Wembanyama in the lineup during the rematch. Yet the Spurs were able to pull out a two-point win against a team fighting for playoff position. “It’s disappointment,” Beal told Lopez and other reporters. “We came in here and laid an egg. We thought it was going to be easy with no Wemby. Just got our (butt) kicked. They came out aggressive, just like Coach (Frank Vogel) told us they would, and we didn’t respond. Well, we did, but we didn’t withstand their punches.”
Phoenix’s final 10 opponents have a combined winning percentage of .648, Lopez notes. According to ESPN, it’s the toughest final 10-game stretch for any team since the 2015/16 Grizzlies. However, Vogel said that shouldn’t impact how the Suns finish. “We like our chances against anybody,” he said. “We don’t worry about the schedule.”

Beal Sacrificing For Betterment Of Suns

March 25th, 2024 at 10:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bradley Beal has to play third wheel in the Suns’ star-studded lineup and coach Frank Vogel praises the star wing for filling a different role than he had as the Wizards’ top scorer. “Brad’s really sacrificing for the betterment of this team,” Vogel said, per Gerald Bourguet of GoPhnx.com. Beal’s scoring average of 18.1 PPG is his lowest since the 2015/16 season.