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More Details Emerge From Friday’s Conference Call

June 13th, 2020 at 5:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

We relayed details last night about a conference call regarding player objections to the plan to restart the NBA season in Orlando. More information on that call, which involved in excess of 80 players, has been released by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Charania confirms that Kyrie Irving was the leader of the effort to make players reconsider their support of finishing the season. He spoke first and offered a direct message to his peers, telling them, “I don’t support going into Orlando. I’m not with the systematic racism and the bull–. … Something smells a little fishy. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are targeted as black men every day we wake up.”

Avery Bradley, who was outspoken throughout the conversation, was the first player to follow Irving’s comments. He encouraged the players to take a stand and to use the opportunity to “play chess, not checkers.” Other prominent names on the call included union president Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Donovan Mitchell.

Players have been involved in conversations for the past two weeks, sources tell Charania, expressing concerns about the games in Orlando and the restrictive conditions that are rumored to be part of the bubble environment. The opposition began among “rank-and-file” players, with Irving and Durant providing prominent voices.

Sources offered Charania a few more tidbits from the conference call:

  • Anthony emphasized the need for player unity and the importance of conveying a single message. He also urged all 80 players on the call to donate $25K to a cause of their choice.
  • CJ McCollum told players they have to be prepared for financial setbacks if they choose not to play and the possibility that owners will nullify the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
  • Howard warned that resuming the season will distract from the social justice issues the country is focused on. He encouraged players to use the moment as a catalyst for change.
  • Mitchell talked about players “being behind the 8-ball” by being forced into a competitive environment after being idle for so long. “We’re taking a big injury risk,” he told his fellow players.
  • NBPA leadership doesn’t expect fans to be allowed into games at any point during the 2020/21 season, which would result in another huge revenue loss for the league.
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Restart Notes: Assistant Coaches, McCollum, Health Risks

June 7th, 2020 at 12:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Assistant coaches around the NBA aren’t sure if they will all be headed to Orlando when the season resumes, writes Sean Deveney of Forbes. On the advice of medical professionals, the league is trying to limit the number of people being brought into the bubble environment, and some teams carry huge coaching staffs.

“Honestly, I don’t know if they’re gonna consider me essential,” said an unidentified assistant. “We’ve got teams who are seven, eight coaches deep, 10 if you count the scouts. They haven’t told us if they’re taking us all. I don’t know how many of us they think they need. I am not sure I want to be there.”

Deveney points out that head coaches are always in the spotlight, but assistants handle the majority of studying film and breaking down match-ups. Head coaches also make significantly higher salaries, which means assistants will be asked to face the same coronavirus hazards for smaller paychecks.

“Look, the head coaches, they’ve got plenty of reason to go back and coach and win,” the assistant said. “There are only 30 head jobs. I want our team to win, too. Coaches at all levels invest a lot personally. But you start talking about the health risks and then the health risks to families? It changes the conversation. We are not getting the same level of pay as everyone else on the floor but we’re taking as much risk.”

There’s more regarding the NBA’s restart:

  • Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum wants contact to resume in workouts before players travel to Orlando, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic. Only individual workouts are permitted at the moment, with contact and group activities banned under the rules regarding the reopening of team facilities. “We have players that need to get contact in for the last steps of clearance,” McCollum said. “I don’t want anyone to get injured because of having over 100 days of no games.”
  • Although there’s strong support among players for finishing the season, some are concerned about the health risks they will face, notes Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. Ganguli talked to Lakers center JaVale McGee, who is at greater risk because he has asthma and suffered from pneumonia last year, and Maurice Harkless, who discussed his concerns before learning that the Knicks wouldn’t be part of the resumption. Harkless didn’t visit family members after the hiatus began because he had just played against the Pistons and Jazz — both teams had players who had tested positive.
  • Joe Vardon of The Athletic examines whether the NBA can recover from what is shaping up to be its worst season ever.
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Coronavirus Notes: McCollum, Nance, D’Antoni, More

May 7th, 2020 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers are one of three teams reopening their practice facilities on Friday, and CJ McCollum plans to visit this weekend, writes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. However, McCollum remains apprehensive about the fact that team facilities are opening at all.

“I am worried like the rest of the world, but I like that it is optional and I’m pleased with the caution, structure, and measures the Blazers organization has put in place to ensure the safest environment possible for all parties involved,” McCollum said. “I get the measures (the NBA is) taking, but you have to think at some point when there are drastic measures that need to be taken, ‘Is it really worth it?’ It’s either safe or it’s not.”

As McCollum explains to Haynes, he’s unsure how the social-distancing measures in place for individual workouts will work (“They’re talking about (how) you might have to be 12 feet away from your strength coach. How are you going to lift 12 feet away from somebody?”). However, he intends to go into the Blazers’ facility on Saturday to assess whether it’s possible to safely conduct a workout with so many restrictions in place.

McCollum also admitted that it’s difficult to know how intensely to work out, since players have different regiments for the season and offseason. While he continues to prepare as if the season could be back this summer, he doesn’t know what the future holds for the league.

“I’m probably as optimistic as the casual fan,” McCollum told Yahoo Sports. “Some days you feel like there’s a chance, and then some days you’re like, ‘I don’t know.’ But in the meantime, if you go to work out at the facility, I get it. Work out, but we’ve got to figure out a balance between what’s safe and what’s forcing it.”

Here’s more on the coronavirus shutdown and the NBA’s response:

  • Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr. tells Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter links) that he plans to visit the Cavaliers’ practice facility after it opens on Friday. As Stein explains, that’s significant because Nance deals with Crohn’s disease, which is generally treated with immunosuppressive medication that can make patients more vulnerable to infections. Nance has confidence in Remicade, the drug he takes to combat the disease, per Stein.
  • Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni is the league’s second-oldest head coach at age 69, which could put him at greater risk if he were to contract the coronavirus. However, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN that D’Antoni would feel comfortable being on the sidelines if the NBA resumes the season, since he has confidence that Adam Silver and the league would create as safe an environment as possible.
  • Appearing today on CNBC (video link), Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry expressed optimism that all NBA teams will be able to reopen their practice facilities by the end of May and that – if there are enough COVID-19 tests to make it possible – games could start by August (Twitter link via NetsDaily).
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Northwest Notes: Weaver, McCollum, Daniels, Jazz

April 11th, 2020 at 3:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

Thunder VP of basketball operations Troy Weaver turned down an interview during the second round of Chicago’s search for a new head of basketball operations because he considered it a “token offer,” tweets Marc J. Spears of the Undefeated. Someone in the Bulls organization told Weaver that Arturas Karnisovas was likely to be hired to fill the role, and he didn’t want to go through the process with little chance to get the job, Spears adds.

That contradicts a report from earlier this week suggesting that Oklahoma City declined permission for Chicago to talk to Weaver, who is African American. The Bulls came under criticism this week for seemingly not including any black candidates in their front office search.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • Like many NBA players, Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum is trying to find ways to stay ready for a resumption of the season even though he doesn’t have access to a basketball court, writes Casey Holdahl of NBA.com. “I’m still working out so I’m holding out hope that we’re going to be able to come back at some point. Honestly, I have no idea, I think it’s a coin flip,” McCollum said. “… I’m continuing to put my head down and work as if we’re returning here shortly. I think that’s how you have to approach a situation like this. There’s 24 hours in a day, plenty of time for me to still get some work in, work on other sectors and things I’m interested in.”
  • Troy Daniels didn’t get an opportunity to establish himself with the Nuggets before the hiatus began, notes Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times. Daniels was waived by the Lakers on March 2 after agreeing to a buyout, then signed with Denver on March 5, which was six days before the season was suspended. He got into one game and played just one minute during his time with the Nuggets. “We were playing when we found out (about the shutdown) so I didn’t know if we were going to stop but we kept going, and as soon as it was over everyone was talking about it in the locker room,” Daniels said. “We were supposed to go to San Antonio that night but we went back to Denver. That’s when I knew it was serious.”
  • Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report suggests five potential trades if the Jazz can’t resolve the reported rift between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Bailey sees the Knicks, Mavericks and Bulls as possible destinations for Gobert, while the Thunder and Nuggets may be able to swing a deal for Mitchell.
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Shutdown Notes: Woj, Testing, McCollum, Antetokounmpo

April 5th, 2020 at 11:02am CST by Arthur Hill

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is the latest media figure to share pessimism that the NBA season can be saved, writes Adam Zagoria of Forbes. During an appearance on SportsCenter this morning, Wojnarowski said the league is doing everything it can to resume play — gathering ideas from teams, executives, sports science and medical staffs and the players’ union — but the situation doesn’t look promising.

“There’s also a level of realism that is starting to sink in it,” Wojnarowski said, “that it’s going to be difficult to return to play this season, that a runway for how many days it would actually have to be able to have a representative rest of the season, a few regular-season games at minimum and then a playoffs that would crown a legitimate champion, that would have a playoff structure, that would be enough to have someone to wear that crown and do it without an asterisk, that’s the challenge around the league right now. And they know they’re up against it, they’re up against the clock and there’s certainly a lot of concern about whether this league will be able to return to play or not.”

There’s more on the shutdown:

  • The NBA won’t be able to resume play until it can quickly provide coronavirus tests for a large number of people, states Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Not only does the league have to be able to ensure the safety of everyone involved, he adds, it must do so without the perception that it is receiving preferential treatment. That happened early on when entire teams were being checked while the test wasn’t widely available to the public. “There are certain lines that can’t be crossed, and everyone knows where they are,” a league executive said. “We’re hearing from a lot of different corners, including from doctors, that would love to see the games return, just for the sign it would give. But you have to be able to do it right.”
  • Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum tells David Aldridge of The Athletic that “everything is on the table” regarding talks with the league about the financial gap that will be created if the rest of the season is canceled. There was a report this week that up to 25% of remaining salaries could be placed into an escrow account that would help players and owners deal with potential losses. “Not playing basketball for the rest of the year means we lose 23 and a half percent of games played, regular season and a complete playoff run,” said McCollum, a vice president with the NBPA. “Not to mention the issues we’ve had with (Rockets general manager Daryl Morey) in China. That affected the (Basketball Related Income) as well … a lot of money is at stake.”
  • Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton are among the NBA stars with no way to play basketball during the shutdown, according to Eric Woodyard of ESPN.
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Western Notes: Mitchell, Kerr, Anthony, Suns

March 13th, 2020 at 9:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Donovan Mitchell is “extremely frustrated” with Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert after testing positive for the coronavirus, league sources told Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix. Gobert has apologized for his careless actions earlier in the week, prior to being the first NBA player to test positive. The team has a solid young core but how Mitchell responds when play resumes could make or break their relationship, Mannix continues. The Jazz were rising up the Western Conference standings but if this leads to locker room issues, it could have a major impact on the franchise’s playoff expectations, Mannix adds.

We have more from the Western Conference:

  • Warriors coach Steve Kerr is upset at himself for not taking the coronavirus more seriously earlier this week and believes social distancing is now paramount, Anthony Slater of The Athletic reports. “I was coaching in a basketball game with 15,000 fans like four nights ago. So I feel like a fool,” Kerr said. “But this goes back to our human condition of denial and vulnerability. But we’ve crossed that threshold now and it’s important that everybody understands what they can do.”
  • Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony said on teammate CJ McCollum‘s podcast that he was “embarrassed” that he was a free agent for so long until Portland signed him, according to Casey Holdahl of the team’s website. “I started questioning myself why. Why? What happened? What did I do? Did I do something wrong? Was it me? Am I good? Can I still play? It was like all of these thoughts started to come in and that stuck with me for about four, five months.”
  • The Suns could have all their injured players back in action if and when the season resumes, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic relays. That group includes forward Kelly Oubre Jr., who underwent knee surgery earlier this month, and Frank Kaminsky III, who missed the last 32 games due to a knee injury. “You try to make a positive out of a negative,” GM James Jones said. “It could end up being a really good thing for us and if that’s the case, I know our guys will be excited. I know our coaches, myself, I’ll be excited to have our team full strength or close to it, contending and playing in some meaningful games.”
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And-Ones: NBA Calendar, China, McCollum, Len

March 9th, 2020 at 12:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on a panel at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin suggested that the NBA should be starting and ending its season two months later, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes.

Rather than starting in mid-October, the regular season would begin in mid-December under Koonin’s proposal, resulting in less overlap between the NBA and NFL seasons. The NBA Finals would then take place in August instead of June, increasing the amount of time that MLB regular season games represent the NBA’s only competition among the four major sports.

“A big piece is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to enhance ratings,” Koonin said in explaining his idea. “Sometimes, moving away from competition is a great way to grow ratings. If King Kong is at your door, you might go out the back door, rather than go out the front and engage in a hand-to-hand fight with King Kong.

“Many times, at the start of the NBA season, we are competing with arguably the best Thursday Night Football game with the NBA on TNT, our marquee broadcast, and we get crushed and we wonder why. It’s because at the beginning of the season, there’s very little relevance for the NBA. The relevance is now. That’s when people are talking about it.”

Although that would be a major change to the NBA calendar, the league isn’t opposed to considering the idea, as NBA senior VP of strategy and analytics Evan Wasch confirmed, per Bontemps: “We certainly have no issue with reconsidering the calendar. … We’re open to that … there’s no magic to [the season going from] October to June.”

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

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Blazers Notes: Carmelo, Lillard, Slow Start

November 19th, 2019 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

In a video posted to YouTube on Monday, Carmelo Anthony spoke about reaching an agreement to sign with the Trail Blazers, a deal that’s expected to be finalized later today. According to Anthony, he and Damian Lillard had talked “off and on” for the last couple years about the possibility of teaming up, and the 10-time All-Star is excited to get that chance now.

“I always kept my eye on Portland. It just didn’t work at other times, but now it seems like it’s a perfect opportunity,” Anthony said. “… I just look at that opportunity, that team, and say, ‘Look, this is what I can bring to the team. This is where I can help.’ It will only work if all parties see it the same way.”

Here’s more on Carmelo and the Blazers:

  • David Aldridge of The Athletic hopes the marriage between the Blazers and Anthony works out, but is skeptical that it will. One “NBA guy” who spoke to Aldridge expressed a similar uncertainty about the partnership, but did add, “He should help some. ‘Melo can score, period.”
  • Anthony will be joining the Trail Blazers during a trying period for the team — Portland is coming off a blowout loss at the hands of the Rockets and is now 12th in the West at 5-9. As Jason Quick of The Athletic relays, three years ago, when the Blazers were in a similar spot, Lillard publicly said the team “sucked.” But the star point guard isn’t willing to make the same assessment of this year’s squad. “I’m just older,” Lillard said. “It’s not impossible for me to think we suck, but I just better see what can be now. Even then I felt like we were going to be fine … and now, I feel like we are going to be cool. I mean, it’s such a long season. And we’ve won 13 games in a row before. And, things can’t go much worse. They just can’t go much worse.”
  • CJ McCollum also weighed in on the Blazers’ struggles and why he and Lillard are reacting differently than they may have in the past, per Quick: “We were so young (in 2016), so it was more like, we would say the right things but we really didn’t know it was going to happen,” McCollum said. “Yeah, we would say, ‘We are going to turn it around,’’but in the back of your mind it was, ‘Are we really going to turn it around?’ Now, it’s like you understand the schedule, the travel, and you understand the game turns around at some point.”
  • As we noted on Monday, injured center Jusuf Nurkic has officially missed out on a games-played bonus in his contract for the 2019/20 season.
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And-Ones: Telfair, Georges-Hunt, O’Bryant, Re-Draft

August 15th, 2019 at 6:07pm CST by clarkcrum

Former high school basketball prodigy and NBA veteran Sebastian Telfair was sentenced on Monday to three and a half years in prison in his New York City gun case, per The Associated Press. Telfair, 34, was convicted earlier this year of carrying a loaded handgun in his pickup truck.

This was not Telfair’s first brush with the law nor his first incident involving a loaded weapon. He and a friend were arrested in 2007 after a traffic stop during which police found a loaded handgun in the vehicle. He pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

While he never lived up to the hype from his prep career, Telfair did have a relatively successful NBA career. He played 564 games over 10 seasons and averaged 7.4 PPG and 3.5 APG.

There’s more NBA-related news to pass along this evening:

  • Former Magic and Timberwolves guard Marcus Georges-Hunt, now fully healthy, recently worked out for the Nuggets as he looks to work his way back to the NBA. According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, the fully healthy 25-year-old Georgia Tech product also has several other workouts lined up the rest of the month.
  • As first reported by Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link), top EuroLeague free agent and former NBA player Johnny O’Bryant has signed with Lokomotiv Krasnodar (Twitter link) of the Russian VTB United League. O’Bryant, a second-round pick in the 2014 NBA draft, played four seasons in the NBA with the Bucks, Nuggets, and Hornets.
  • Sam Vecenie of The Athletic would draft Bucks forward and 2018/19 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jazz big man Rudy Gobert, and Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum with the top three picks in a re-draft of the 2013 NBA Draft. None of the three went higher than No. 10 overall six years ago.
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Blazers Notes: Hood, Kanter, McCollum, Aldridge

July 31st, 2019 at 9:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Shooting guard Rodney Hood surprised the Trail Blazers by accepting the $5.72MM taxpayer mid-level exception, Jason Quick of The Athletic reports.

Portland was hoping to bring back center Enes Kanter at that number, but he balked. Blazers GM Neil Olshey thought Hood wanted more in free agency but was pleasantly surprised by Hood’s decision.

Olshey then shifted gears to finding a starting-quality center and got involved in the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade to Miami, winding up with Hassan Whiteside by dealing Maurice Harkless and Meyers Leonard.

We have more on the Blazers:

  • Backcourt partners CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard are now locked up long-term after McCollum signed a three-year, $100MM extension and they’re excited about that prospect, as he told Quick in a separate story. “It’s a special time,” McCollum said. “(Lillard and I) talked about being in Portland, making a staple here and winning a championship here, and all those things. We’ve crossed off a lot of goals individually and collectively, but I think that both of us being here for the long haul, and both of us being able to grow together and win together is something that people will remember for a long time.”
  • Pau Gasol, who recently signed with the Blazers, said former Spurs teammate LaMarcus Aldridge has spoken highly of Portland and may want to play there again, Sean Highkin of Bleacher Report tweets. Aldridge said last season he and Lillard had spoken about the prospect of becoming teammates again. Aldridge’s $24MM contract for the 2020/21 season is not guaranteed, so it’s conceivable that could occur as soon as next summer.
  • If you missed the details on McCollum’s extension, you can find it all here.
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