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Injury Notes: Nets, Conley, Prince, Adams

December 10th, 2022 at 12:18pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets will be extremely shorthanded when they visit Indiana on Saturday for the second half of a back-to-back set. As Ian Begley of SNY.tv tweets, Brooklyn has ruled out eight players, including their entire regular starting lineup.

Kevin Durant (right knee injury management), Kyrie Irving (left adductor tightness), Ben Simmons (left knee/calf injury management), Royce O’Neale (personal reasons), Joe Harris (left ankle injury management), Seth Curry (left ankle injury management), Nic Claxton (right hamstring tightness), and T.J. Warren (left foot injury management) will all be unavailable for the Nets.

Those are eight of Brooklyn’s top nine players in terms of minutes per game, so we could see some wonky lineups from the team tonight. The ninth player on that list, Yuta Watanabe, is set to make his return after missing 10 games due to a hamstring injury, so the Nets will likely be hesitant to push him too hard in his first game back.

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

After returning from a nine-game injury absence on Friday, Jazz guard Mike Conley will sit out Saturday’s game vs. Denver, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic. Conley didn’t suffer a setback on Friday — this is a planned rest game to ease him back into things following his knee injury, Jones explains.
Having already missed seven games due to a right shoulder subluxation, Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince is expected to be out for at least one more week, head coach Chris Finch said on Friday. As Dane Moore of Blue Wire Pods tweets, Prince is doing on-court work and making progress, but still has a ways to go.
Grizzlies center Steven Adams had a Pistons player roll into his ankle while he was trying to corral a defensive rebound in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game, writes Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Adams, who limped off the court and didn’t return, will be reevaluated this weekend, but said after the game that he felt OK, per Barnes. Memphis isn’t back in action until Monday, so Adams will have at least a couple days off to rest the ankle.

New York Notes: Nets, Simmons, Claxton, Watanabe, Knicks

December 9th, 2022 at 6:48pm CST by Rory Maher

Nets swingman Ben Simmons is returning for Friday’s game against the Hawks, but he’ll be limited to around 20 minutes of playing time and won’t suit up on Saturday in Indiana for the second game of the back-to-back set, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

Simmons will start at center in place of Nic Claxton, who is dealing with right hamstring tightness (Twitter link via ESPN’s Nick Friedell). According to Lewis, Claxton’s injury isn’t considered a long-term issue, as he won’t be getting an MRI (Twitter link). Claxton said he just experienced the tightness on Thursday and “expects to be fine,” Lewis adds (via Twitter).

Here’s more on the two New York teams:

Nets forward Yuta Watanabe, who has been sidelined since November 20 with a right hamstring strain, will miss his 10th consecutive game on Friday. However, he’ll return to action for Saturday’s contest against the Pacers, per Lewis. Watanabe was having a nice season as a reserve for Brooklyn prior to getting injured, averaging 8.1 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 57.1% from three-point range through 14 games (18.2 minutes per night).
Knicks fans have gotten a long-awaited look at the team’s young players the past couple games, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Botte notes that “fans have been clamoring” for head coach Tom Thibodeau to give “the kids” more playing time the past couple seasons, and forward Julius Randle, 28, was New York’s oldest rotation player during Wednesday’s win over Atlanta. “I like how our young guys work. I knew when we got them from the very first day, you could see it,” Thibodeau said. “You could see it in practice. You could see how they approach things. You could see how competitive they are. So usually those are the characteristics that drive achievement, when you look at how competitive a guy is. What’s their work ethic like? What’s their toughness like? What’s their mental quickness like? You look at all those intangibles. What are the things that drive achievement? And they fit the bill.”
Fred Katz of The Athletic wonders whether Thibodeau will use Cam Reddish as a small-ball power forward or go big with Jericho Sims while Obi Toppin is out for the next few weeks with a fibula injury. As Katz observes, Thibodeau has been strict about using a nine-man rotation lately, so it will likely be one or the other, not both. For what it’s worth, Sims was given the early nod in the Knicks‘ contest at Charlotte on Friday, tweets Steve Popper of Newsday.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Barnes, Celtics, Simmons

December 9th, 2022 at 9:30am CST by Luke Adams

Rival executives are keeping a close eye this season on the Raptors, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Insider link), who says those execs are “bracing for fireworks” if Toronto is still right around .500 as February’s trade deadline approaches. The club is currently 13-12.

As Lowe lays out, rival teams are uncertain about whether the Raptors intend to stick with forwards Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Scottie Barnes long-term or if they’d eventually be open to moving one of them. There’s also a question about whether Fred VanVleet, who can become an unrestricted free agent in 2023, fits the vision of a team that is primarily made up of longer, more versatile athletes.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri has shown a willingness to shake things up in the past rather than settling for being a middle-of-the-road playoff contender, most memorably trading for Kawhi Leonard in 2018. Rival executives are curious to see whether how long he’ll be content to wait out the current group if it doesn’t take a major step forward, per Lowe.

Here are a few more notes from around the Atlantic:

Raptors fans frustrated by Scottie Barnes‘ up-and-down play this fall following his Rookie of the Year campaign last season should look to the evolution of Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for reassurance, says Eric Koreen of The Athletic. As Koreen observes, Tatum was less effective in his second season than his first, while Brown took a minor step backward in his third year, a reminder that a top prospect’s development isn’t always linear.
Revamping the offense after its struggles in last season’s NBA Finals was a primary focus all offseason for Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, even before he was promoted to replace Ime Udoka, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Some tweaks from the coaching staff and some personnel changes have helped turn Boston’s offense into the NBA’s best. According to Bontemps, the Celtics’ 120.8 points per game would be the highest average by any team in nearly 30 years, while the team’s 62.6 true shooting percentage would be an NBA record.
As expected, Nets swingman Ben Simmons is set to make his return from a calf strain on Friday following a four-game absence. He’s not listed on Brooklyn’s injury report for the game vs. Atlanta, notes Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link).

New York Notes: Knicks, Griffin, Simmons, Warren

December 7th, 2022 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

One league source who spoke to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com referred to the Knicks‘ situation as a “depressing” one, arguing that their roster “just doesn’t work” and suggesting that even a positive addition like Jalen Brunson hasn’t helped all the pieces mesh.

“They’ve got some good players, but there’s no fit,” the source said to Bulpett. “The talent they have doesn’t help each other enough.”

The source identified forward Julius Randle as a player the Knicks should be looking to trade, contending that he’s too ball-dominant.

“They have to do something to shake it up there, because the mix they have isn’t working now and it’s not going to work,” he said. “They don’t guard like you’d expect with that coach (Tom Thibodeau). He’s a defensive guy, and their (defensive) rating is in, like, the bottom third or bottom quarter.”

The Knicks’ 112.9 defensive rating currently ranks 23rd in the NBA and 13th in the East.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:

The Knicks will get a good look on Wednesday at Hawks forward AJ Griffin, who was under consideration for New York at No. 13 in this year’s draft before the team traded that pick, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Griffin ultimately went 16th to Atlanta, while the Knicks’ trade helped them clear cap room to sign Brunson. “I think AJ Griffin has added a lot to their team. He’s an elite shooter. (He) has really played well for them,” Thibodeau said. “You know, he was on the (Knicks’ draft) board. I think we looked at a number of players that we felt were good. You look at all the possibilities. I thought we were very thorough in our approach, and we decided on the path we went down and felt good about it.”
When he returns from his current injury absence, Ben Simmons may receive a lighter workload, according to Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post, who notes that the Nets swingman suffered his calf strain while playing a fifth game in seven days. “I think we’re definitely going to look at (the workload) a lot differently,” Simmons said on Tuesday. “Maybe not (playing) back-to-backs or whatever it is. I think that’s going to be a joint thing with the training staff and with myself.”
The Nets are also managing the playing time of forward T.J. Warren, who isn’t expected to be on the court for both games of the team’s back-to-back set this Friday and Saturday, so soon after returning from a two-year absence. “(The) goal is to (have him) playing for us at the end of the year in the playoffs,” Vaughn said, per Sanchez. “So we’ll probably … (be) more conservative this weekend with him.”
In case you missed it, we published stories earlier today on the Knicks’ trade talks and their efforts to move Cam Reddish.

Atlantic Notes: Rose, Raptors, Simmons, Watanabe

December 6th, 2022 at 8:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Derrick Rose has seen his playing time drop and he didn’t play at all on Sunday, Rose said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau decided to give second-year guard Miles McBride a closer look, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News tweets. McBride played 16 scoreless minutes against Cleveland.

“(Thibodeau) said he wanted to give a Deuce a look. That’s all he told me. So I understood,” the veteran Knicks guard said.

Considering Rose’s $15,596,339 salary for next season includes a club option, the Knicks could look to move Rose to a team in need of a backup point guard.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Raptors need to solve their perimeter shooting woes in order to make a move up the standings, Josh Lewenberg of TSN writes. Toronto is shooting just 33% from deep, with Fred VanVleet (34%), Gary Trent Jr. (33.6%) and Scottie Barnes (32.1%) among those underperforming. “We’re not really where we need to be,” VanVleet said. “It’s not a bad place to be, we’ve just got to make that jump if we want to be a great team.”
The Nets’ Ben Simmons is hopeful he can return to action against Atlanta on Friday, Nick Friedell of ESPN tweets. Simmons has been out since Nov. 28 due to knee soreness. He’s averaging 8.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game this season.
Another Nets player, Yuta Watanabe, is hopeful he can return to action on Friday or Saturday this week, Friedell adds in another tweet. Recovering from a hamstring injury, he recently got some 3-on-3 work in. Watanabe, who is a one-year minimum contract, hasn’t played since Nov. 20. He averaged 14.5 points during a four-game stretch prior to suffering the injury.

Ben Simmons Out At Least Three Games With Calf Strain

November 30th, 2022 at 4:11pm CST by Rory Maher

Ben Simmons has been diagnosed with a left lateral upper calf strain and will miss at least three games for the Nets, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

Simmons will be reassessed after the third game, which is Sunday against the Celtics. Brooklyn has two days off following the matchup with Boston, so the earliest Simmons could return will be next Wednesday against the Hornets.

The 26-year-old left Monday’s win over Orlando in the second quarter with what was called left knee soreness. Evidently further testing revealed that the injury was actually located in his calf. With Simmons out, the Nets relied more on Joe Harris and Seth Curry, and that will likely continue for the next few games.

The Nets also announced that forward Yuta Watanabe, the NBA’s leader in 3PT% (.571), underwent a second MRI on his right hamstring strain and the results were unchanged — he’s still dealing with the injury. He’ll continue to receive treatment and will be reevaluated in one week. Watanabe has already missed five consecutive games with the hamstring strain and will miss at least three more.

The good news is that forward T.J. Warren is targeting a Friday return, so his presence should help make up for the size lost from Simmons and Watanabe being sidelined. The Nets are currently 11-11, the No. 9 seed in the East.

Eastern Notes: Simmons, Smart, Heat Injuries, Knicks

November 29th, 2022 at 7:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Ben Simmons will miss his sixth game this season on Wednesday due to a sore left knee. Nets point guard Kyrie Irving said Simmons’ absences impact the club in many ways, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes.

“When he’s not out there we don’t have our point forward, our point guard, being able to initiate easy opportunities, push the ball in transition; so we’ll definitely miss him in the lineup,” Irving said. “Hopefully he comes back [soon], but if he’s dealing with it we just want him to get as healthy as possible and we’ll figure it out.”

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

In Joe Mazzulla, Celtics guard Marcus Smart feels he has a head coach that fully trusts him, he told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “I think once Coach put his trust in me, we’ve seen how it’s allowed me to blossom and this team to blossom,” Smart said. “So just having a coach that can believe in you and allow you to run the team like he needs you to, that means everything. And then on top of that him being a point guard, that’s just an extra bonus, because he understands the pressure that I have to go through as the point guard in making everybody else happy and sacrificing your own for the team.”
The Heat released their injury report for Wednesday’s game and there’s no less than a dozen names on the list heading into their showdown with the Celtics, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets. Jimmy Butler, Victor Oladipo and Omer Yurtseven are listed as out, while Nikola Jovic, Dewayne Dedmon, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith and Duncan Robinson received the questionable tag. Two other players are probable.
The most realistic path to improvement for the Knicks is still the trade route, Ian Begley of SNY TV opines. They’ll continue to seek out top talent and have a surplus of draft picks and some young players to offer teams. Stuck in mediocrity, the only question is whether they’ll make a big move before the trade deadline or wait until the offseason.

Injury Notes: Stewart, Butler, Clips, Simmons, Hachimura

November 29th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart will likely return on Tuesday night after missing the last seven games with a sprained toe, tweets James L. Edwards of The Athletic. He’s currently listed as questionable.

Stewart was the starting center for Detroit’s first 15 games and is averaging 12.0 points and 9.3 rebounds. His return is expected to give the Pistons more flexibility to experiment with two big men on the court, since Stewart has shown the ability to stretch the floor a little.

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

Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who is not yet with the team in Boston, is expected to miss a seventh consecutive game on Wednesday due to right knee soreness, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. According to Chiang, the hope is that Butler will be able to play on Friday in Miami’s second matchup with the Celtics this week.
Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard (ankle) and Paul George (hamstring) have been ruled out for Tuesday’s game in Portland, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. According to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), Leonard didn’t travel with the team and won’t be in Utah on Wednesday for the second half of a back-to-back either.
Nets swingman Ben Simmons left Monday’s win over Orlando early due to left knee soreness, as Nick Friedell of ESPN writes. Simmons, who missed five games earlier in the season due to soreness in that same knee, has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game game vs. Washington, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). It’s unclear if he might miss more time beyond that.
The Wizards announced today in a press release that Rui Hachimura has been diagnosed with a bone bruise in his sore right ankle, which has already cost him the last four games. According to the team, Hachimura will remain sidelined on Wednesday and his status beyond that “will be determined by his clinical evolution.”

New York Notes: Simmons, Claxton, Randle, Knicks Centers

November 26th, 2022 at 1:55pm CST by Rory Maher

Health and confidence are the primary reasons Ben Simmons has performed well lately for the Nets, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

After missing all of last season due to mental health issues and later a herniated disc in his back, which required surgery in May, Simmons had a slow start to the 2022/23 campaign, averaging just 5.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 44.4% from the floor and 46.7% from the line through nine games (27.3 MPG). He also missed five games while dealing with knee soreness and swelling.

However, over the past six games (31.1 minutes), Simmons has started to look more like his old self, averaging 15.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks while shooting 82.0% from the field and 61.1% from the charity stripe. The 26-year-old swingman still isn’t 100 percent yet, according to Lewis, but he’s clearly making progress.

“Healthy. Finally got his legs under him. He was off for two years. Y’all won’t even give him a chance. Y’all want to criticize him after every f–king game,” Markieff Morris said. “But the guy didn’t play two years. Obviously, y’all wouldn’t know, because none of y’all played in the NBA. He’s got to get his body right. There’s contact every night. Playing 30-plus minutes, it takes time.”

Simmons says he’s still working on finding consistency with his health and play.

“Yeah, I feel [the confidence]. I know who I am, I know what I’m capable of. I know what this team needs me to do, so I’m going to keep working and being consistent with my body and on the court,” he said.

Here’s more on the two New York-based teams:

Can Simmons and center Nic Claxton overcome spacing concerns and coexist in the Nets‘ starting lineup? Lewis tackles that subject in a member-only article for The New York Post. Head coach Jacque Vaughn acknowledged it will be a challenge at times. “Something we’ve got to figure out,” Vaughn said. “Because both guys do present some positives for us. Hopefully we can lean into the defensive piece with their length with Kevin (Durant) out there on the floor at the same time. But we do have to work through some spacing. We’ll try to play fast. Nic has that ability to run the floor and play fast, so hopefully we won’t have a bunch of sets in the halfcourt that we’ve got to make our way through.”
Power forward Julius Randle says he’s still adjusting to “playing off the ball more” after the Knicks signed point guard Jalen Brunson in the offseason, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. As Botte notes, New York ran a lot of its offense through Randle from 2020-22, when he averaged 5.6 assists per game. That figure is down to 3.0 per night in ’22/23, but he’s scoring more efficiently. “Just making the game easy, try and make efficient shots and keep the flow of the offense going,” Randle said. “I think it’s the flow of our offense. Break it down, see more, especially in my position where shots are coming from [and being] responsible for getting good shots … figuring out what spots for most efficient shots.”
The Knicks have played all three of their centers — Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims — three games in a row. Head coach Tom Thibodeau says that won’t always be the case, but he’s a fan of having so many options at the five spot. “It’s game-to-game. It’ll sort itself out,” Thibodeau said, per Zach Braziller of The New York Post. “I don’t think it’ll be like that every game. But I love the depth at that position. So all three guys are more than capable, all three can start, all three can come off the bench. It’s a good luxury to have.”

Sixers Notes: Simmons, Embiid, Maxey, Offseason Moves

November 23rd, 2022 at 5:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

Before Ben Simmons faced the wrath of Philadelphia fans Tuesday night, he spoke to the media about his relationship with some of his former Sixers teammates and admitted that he hasn’t been in contact with Joel Embiid, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Simmons and Embiid were an uneasy pairing as the Sixers’ two stars during their time together, and they’ve remained distant since Simmons was dealt to the Nets.

“I mean, you’re not cool with everybody,” Simmons said. “You are not texting everybody. I mean, there’s certain people that you don’t talk to all the time. I have friends that I don’t talk to all the time, but we’re still cool. But that’s how life went.”

Pompey notes that the two stars’ games never fit together well and their personalities prevented them from connecting off the court. People close to Simmons thought he was more effective in games that Embiid didn’t play, according to Pompey, and Simmons believed Embiid was taking shots at him through his public comments during last year’s holdout.

Simmons took the high road on Tuesday, telling reporters that he enjoyed his time playing alongside Embiid.

“Obviously, it didn’t work out,” he said. “But you know, that’s life. Not everything works out in your favor. So I wish him the best. Obviously, not a championship … but the best.”

There’s more on the Sixers:

Simmons believes Philadelphia has a future star in third-year guard Tyrese Maxey, who is currently sidelined with a fracture in his left foot, Pompey adds. “He’s incredible,” Simmons said. “He’s growing. He’s playing with great confidence. For me, when I see him, I love seeing him with the ball. I think he should definitely handle the ball a lot more than what he is, but he’s growing. He’s young. And I can’t wait to see in the future.”
When considering Simmons’ fallout with the franchise, Sixers management doesn’t get enough criticism for trying to trade him one month into his new contract, Marc Stein argues in his latest Substack piece. Simmons’ five-year extension had just taken effect during the 2020/21 season when president of basketball operations Daryl Morey offered him to the Rockets as the centerpiece in a potential James Harden deal.
With Maxey, Harden and Embiid all currently injured, the Sixers are in danger of sliding down the Eastern Conference standings until they can get healthy, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. The team already went through the adversity of a slow start, with Doc Rivers briefly becoming the betting favorite as the first coach to fired. Windhorst notes that part of the problem is limited production from offseason additions, as P.J. Tucker is averaging just 4.0 points per game and Danuel House is contributing 4.5 PPG.