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Atlantic Notes: Carroll, Afflalo, Stevens

March 29th, 2016 at 8:22pm CST by Eddie Scarito

DeMarre Carroll may not return to action this season from right knee surgery, which underwent in early January, but Raptors coach Dwane Casey still maintains that no final decision has been made regarding the swingman, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays in a series of tweets. “I expect him [to return]; I’ve heard nothing else other than that,” Casey told reporters when asked if Carroll would play again this season. Kyle Lowry‘s balky right elbow is also a worry for Toronto, but Casey said the point guard’s injury merely involves a bursa sac and added that there’s no reason to shut him down for that sort of malady, Lewenberg writes. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun noted previously that Lowry’s elbow issues were affecting his shot and the team was seriously concerned as the season winds down.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Knicks shooting guard Arron Afflalo isn’t thrilled with interim coach Kurt Rambis‘ decision to bring him off the bench and indicated that his role will influence his decision-making process this offseason, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. Afflalo has a player option worth $8MM for the 2016/17 campaign. “It’s different, but all I can do is get out there and try my best,’’ Afflalo said. “With seven games to go, I’ll be able to assess what’s best for me as a player. Right now I got to do what the team asks me and play the minutes and role they ask me. Hopefully I’ll have more good games than bad.’’ The veteran also added that he doesn’t expect his role to change before the season ends, Berman notes. “I doubt it. It doesn’t matter to me at this point,” Afflalo said. “If things go well, I have intentions of it going well, [but] if not, I will move on to the next.’’
  • Boston was initially upset when Doc Rivers departed for the Clippers, but Brad Stevens remains the perfect coach to guide the Celtics through their rebuilding process, writes Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. “I would have been into it if I kept the job, obviously, but I just think it worked out the way it was going to work out,” Rivers said. “It’s a great situation for them, but I think it would have worked either way, honestly. But Brad comes in with great energy, with youth. Having had to rebuild twice, this would have been my third, and that’s hard to do. People don’t appreciate that. I mean, talk to Brad. He’ll tell you how hard it is — and in nine years he won’t want to do it again either.” Bulpett notes that Stevens is far better equipped to develop and relate to the franchise’s younger players, having joined the Celtics directly from the college ranks.
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Atlantic Notes: Crowder, Olynyk, Carroll, Embiid

March 13th, 2016 at 4:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics are concerned that they may be without Jae Crowder for their first postseason series, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Crowder suffered a high ankle sprain during Friday’s game, and coach Brad Stevens said he will miss at least two weeks. However, recovery time is typically four to six weeks, which could extend past the first round of the playoffs.

Crowder averages 14.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, but his biggest impact for the Celtics comes on defense. “There aren’t a ton of guys that can guard [power forwards] for long stretches or sometimes [centers] for long stretches, and Jae can do all that,” Stevens said. “So that’s one of the things that’s going to be quite a balancing act without him, and we’re going to have to have guys step up and play.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Boston’s Kelly Olynyk, who has been out since suffering a right shoulder sprain on February 10th, hopes to be ready for Tuesday’s game with the Pacers, Himmelsbach writes in the same piece. Olynyk was able to participate in a full practice today.
  • The Raptors are hoping to have DeMarre Carroll back in a week or two, according to Mike Ganter of The Toronto Sun. Carroll, who came to Toronto as a free agent last summer, has missed more than 40 games after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in January and dealing with plantar fasciitis. “He’s a guy who doesn’t like to miss games,” said former Hawks teammate Paul Millsap. “He’s a competitor. He likes to be out there. I’m really shocked it’s been this long.”
  • Sixers fans have started coming to home games early to watch Joel Embiid work out, writes Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com. The third overall pick in the 2014 draft hasn’t played yet, but his pregame routine is providing hope that his surgically repaired foot can one day handle the rigors of NBA competition. Philadelphia officials are also encouraged by Embiid’s recent trip to the Aspetar sports science facility and sports medicine hospital in Qatar. “The facilities are A-plus all over the place,” said coach Brett Brown. “For us, it was an A-plus. For Joel, it was an A-plus. We wanted to go outside the box and do something creative and shake Joel’s world up a little bit and make it exciting.”
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Atlantic Notes: Rambis, ‘Melo, Carroll, Ainge

March 11th, 2016 at 3:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

Knicks president Phil Jackson acknowledges he has a close relationship with Kurt Rambis and that he talks more frequently with the interim coach than with former coach Derek Fisher, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com relays from the Zen Master’s chat with reporters today (Twitter link). Jackson wouldn’t commit to keeping Rambis beyond the season but hinted that he’d like to see him earn the removal of his interim tag, observes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (on Twitter), which jibes with an earlier report that Jackson was pulling for Rambis to win the permanent job when he named him interim boss. Jackson didn’t appear eager to move on from Carmelo Anthony either, saying he still feels as though ‘Melo is a franchise cornerstone, Begley relays (Twitter link). Jackson cited the team’s system when he said he’s not going to obsess over chasing an elite point guard in free agency this summer, according to Begley (via Twitter), so the triangle remains at the heart of all things Knicks. See more from the Atlantic Division:

  • DeMarre Carroll is likely to return later this month, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, though the Raptors didn’t give a timeline today after he visited his surgeon, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange notes (Twitter link). Some questions existed about whether Carroll would return to play at all this season after he underwent right knee surgery in January, but it appears that dire outcome won’t come to pass.
  • Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is the best negotiator Rockets GM Daryl Morey says he’s come across, tweets Jake Fischer of SI Now, relaying Morey’s comment from the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference today. Ainge and Morey have only pulled off one trade, a three-teamer with the Trail Blazers in 2012 that sent Courtney Lee to Boston.
  • The Celtics have recalled Coty Clarke and Jordan Mickey from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). The pair, along with James Young, went to D-League Maine on Thursday for what turned out to be a one-game stay. Clarke, a 10-day signee, had a team-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting while Mickey scored 14.
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Southwest Notes: Withey, Cunningham, Green

January 13th, 2016 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Former 39th overall pick Jeff Withey is seeing significant minutes with the Jazz this season after a parting of ways with the Pelicans that cast him into uncertainty, as Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders details. Executives from other teams have speculated about whether the Pelicans dealt fairly with the center, who said GM Dell Demps told him during the playoffs that the team wanted him back, Dowsett reports. The team made a qualifying offer to him but withdrew it shortly before re-signing Alexis Ajinca, making Withey an unrestricted free agent and leaving him “really confused,” as he said to Dowsett. Withey ultimately landed with Utah on a partially guaranteed deal that last week became fully guaranteed for the rest of this season, and he’s pleased with his new surroudings.

“In New Orleans, it was a tough place for me, just because the coach [Monty Williams], he didn’t really give me a shot, you know what I mean?” Withey said to Dowsett. “Even if I was playing, if I screwed up one time or anything like that, he would just take me right out. Here, Coach [Quin Snyder], he’ll come to you … it’s just a different type of coaching. More player-friendly, for sure.”

Withey has one more year left on his deal, with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season. See more on the Pelicans and the rest of the Southwest Division:

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Eastern Notes: Mozgov, Lee, Ujiri

January 7th, 2016 at 3:19pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov has seen himself go from a starter to a reserve this season, which has multiple teams inquiring about his availability via trade, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports relays. Cleveland has not expressed any desire to move the center publicly, but the team’s daunting luxury tax bill, as well as Mozgov’s pending free agency, could eventually persuade the team to deal him, Spears adds. The 29-year-old has appeared in 30 games for the Cavaliers this season, including 25 as a starter, and he is averaging 6.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 17.8 minutes per night.

Here’s more from out of the Eastern Conference:

  • Wesley Matthews “badly wanted” this past summer to sign with the Raptors, who had mutual interest, but the thought of signing a player still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon was too much for the Raptors to bear, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange writes. That led Toronto to DeMarre Carroll, who’s since suffered injuries of his own, though GM Masai Ujiri played hardball, telling Carroll when he met with him that the team’s offer would come off the table if he didn’t commit before the end of the meeting. Carroll, of course, ended up signing with the Raptors for $58MM over four years. It’s much too early to say the Carroll signing was a mistake, but his injury illustrates how even seemingly safe choices carry risk, leaving the Raptors in limbo, Grange argues.
  • Ujiri said he was “torn” before he made the decision to turn down a “great offer” to stay with the Nuggets to become Raptors GM in the summer of 2013, calling Denver team president Josh Kroenke “like a brother” in an appearance on “The Vertical” podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (audio link at 21:30 mark). “It haunts you for a long time,” Ujiri said. “I know I made the right decision, but sometimes I don’t know if I failed with loyalty there.” Still, the lure of the Raptors, whom Ujiri called a top-three organization in the league, proved too strong.
  • David Lee chose his words carefully as he expressed frustration and disagreement to reporters about the decision Celtics coach Brad Stevens made to take him out of the rotation, making it clear that he still respects the coach and hadn’t requested a trade, as MassLive’s Jay King relays. Still, Lee said that his lack of playing time is more frustrating this year than it was in Golden State last year. The Celtics are already reportedly making him available in trade talk.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Latest On DeMarre Carroll Injury

January 7th, 2016 at 8:52am CST by Chuck Myron

8:52am: Plantar fasciitis and scarring from previous issues, combined with the right knee surgery, are fueling “murmurs” around the league that Carroll might be done for the rest of the season, but the Raptors have a quiet confidence that he’ll be back before season’s end, Wolstat explains in a full piece.

2:16pm: Carroll definitely won’t play this month or next, and the hope is that he returns in late March or April, Wolstat tweets. Eight weeks, the outer limit of the preliminary timetable reported by Grange and Arthur, as well as Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com (Twitter link), would put Carroll back in late February.

1:29pm: One initial estimate places Carroll out six to eight weeks, as Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star hears (Twitter link), so that largely jibes with Grange’s report of an eight-week timeframe.

WEDNESDAY, 11:59am: Early indications are that DeMarre Carroll will miss the next eight weeks, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange (Twitter link), after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this morning. “Mixed signals” exist on whether Carroll will play again for the Raptors this season, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, in the wake of the team’s announcement of Carroll’s procedure. Point guard Kyle Lowry insists Carroll will not miss the rest of the season, Wolstat notes in the same tweet, though the team didn’t release a timetable. Coach Dwane Casey said it will be a lengthy absence, though the hope is that Carroll, Toronto’s highest-paid player, will return for the postseason, Wolstat relays (on Twitter).

Toronto signed Carroll to a surprisingly lucrative four-year, $58MM deal in the offseason, though he had plenty of other suitors after a breakout campaign with the Hawks last season. The Raptors are eligible to apply for a disabled player exception between now and January 15th that would be worth the equivalent of the $5.464MM mid-level exception, but they’d only get approval for it if the league determines he’s likely to miss the rest of the season. The team doesn’t have much roster flexibility anyway, since it has 15 players signed to 15 fully guaranteed contracts. Carroll’s injury is the only long-term ailment the team is dealing with, so a hardship exception for a 16th man isn’t in play.

Carroll missed the stretch run of Sunday’s game against the Bulls because of a minutes restriction for what the team had called a knee bruise, and he missed Monday’s game entirely because of the injury, as Wolstat detailed in a full piece. He’s dealt with minor ailments throughout the season, though he’s still managed to make an impact, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca wrote this week, and he’s clearly an integral part of the Raptors, who are tied with the Hawks at 21-15 for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Casey said he’ll give James Johnson, who’s playing in the final season of his contract, the first chance at the starting small forward job over Terrence Ross, who signed a three-year extension this past fall and whom Carroll displaced from the starting lineup at the beginning of the season, Wolstat tweets. Still, that’s subject to change, Casey said, with power forwards Anthony Bennett and Patrick Patterson candidates to shift to the three, according to Wolstat.

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Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Sixers, Knicks

January 1st, 2016 at 8:30pm CST by Will Joseph

DeMarre Carroll, who joined the Raptors this past summer when he signed for four years and $58MM, is still in the process of finding his rhythm in Toronto’s offense, Eric Koreen of the National Post details. Carroll was supposed to be a significant part of the Raptors’ success, but so far he has had an unimportant role, Koreen adds. Carroll has missed 12 games and has played with nagging injuries, as Koreen points out. At 20-13 heading into action Friday, the Raptors have managed despite Carroll’s struggles, but if the small forward gets going, Toronto’s future is all the more bright, Koreen surmises.

Here’s more on the Atlantic Division:

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Southeast Notes: Carroll, Millsap, Dudley, Oladipo

December 2nd, 2015 at 12:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

DeMarre Carroll is grateful for the opportunity the Hawks gave him during his time with the team, which began when he signed a two-year, $5MM deal in 2013 and ended when he joined the Raptors for four years and a whopping $58MM, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca details. Toronto teammate Patrick Patterson was blunt when asked what the Atlanta experience gave Carroll.

“His contract, plain and simple,” Patterson said to Lewenberg. “His contract that he has with us. All the hard work that he’s put in throughout his life, his career in the NBA, every opportunity that presented itself and then his stint with the Atlanta Hawks and having success with them, it’s allowed him to have this opportunity he has now with us.”

Still, Carroll has carved his own path, impressing Raptors coach Dwane Casey with his basketball IQ, and his success didn’t come just because he played for the Hawks, Lewenberg argues. See more on Carroll and other news from the Southeast Division:

  • Carroll didn’t make too much of an impression on Jeff Teague, who said he doesn’t care that his former teammate is in town with the Raptors tonight, but Paul Millsap said he and Carroll formed a connection during their time together, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Hawks, priced out of re-signing both their marquee free agents this summer, chose a new deal with Millsap over one with Carroll. “That’s my guy,” Millsap said of Carroll. “That’s my brother. It’s going to be good to see him here, especially in front of this crowd. They loved DeMarre. Me and him, we keep in contact all the time. Like brothers do. About his situation. About my situation.”
  • The Wizards took small ball to an extreme during Tuesday’s win over the Cavs, with offseason trade acquisition Jared Dudley playing center for a spell, and it worked, serving as further demonstration of the team’s recent philosophical shift, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post examines.
  • The Magic hired Scott Skiles to make tough calls like his decision to bench former No. 2 overall pick Victor Oladipo, argues Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders. The shooting guard doesn’t appear pleased with the move, but he nonetheless acknowledges that the team is playing its best since the Dwight Howard trade, Taylor writes. We asked for your input on Oladipo’s benching in Tuesday’s Community Shootaround.
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Pacific Notes: Carroll, Clippers, Kobe

November 30th, 2015 at 4:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mutual interest existed between the Suns and DeMarre Carroll over the summer, and a signing was close, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. Phoenix was intrigued after landing Tyson Chandler and before LaMarcus Aldridge signaled that he would strongly consider the Suns, while Carroll liked the idea of playing for Jeff Hornacek and assistant coach Earl Watson, according to Coro. Ultimately, the possibility of landing Aldridge made it too tough for the Suns to commit, Coro writes, and Carroll signed with the Raptors on a four-year, $58MM deal.

“They [the Suns] were going to come visit me,” Carroll said. “It was going to be my third or fourth visit and they were going to come to my house but I ended up signing with Toronto. LaMarcus had everybody held up. But I felt like Toronto was making me a priority and was a team that really wanted me. There were only a couple of those teams, outside of LaMarcus. Toronto was one of those teams. They chose me over LaMarcus so it made me feel wanted.”

Carroll, who played under Hornacek and with Watson on the Jazz, wouldn’t rule out the possibility of signing with the Suns later, saying “Maybe next go-around,” as Coro also relays. See more from the Pacific Division:

  • The Clippers are making exploratory calls about potential trades amid their displeasure over a surprisingly poor 9-8 start, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Twitter link). It’s unclear if the calls have been any more substantial than conversations of due diligence. Jamal Crawford‘s name came up in more trade rumors than any other Clipper over the offseason, but coach/executive Doc Rivers said in September that he’d be “very surprised” if Crawford weren’t still a Clipper at season’s end. The Clippers are deep in the tax, limiting their maneuverability, and they have a single trade exception worth less than $1MM.
  • Kobe Bryant is “at peace” with his decision to retire at season’s end, coach Byron Scott observed, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, and it was meditation that helped the 37-year-old decide to end his career. Bryant told reporters that his mind had always drifted to basketball when he meditated until he recently, when he noticed that was no longer the case, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com relays (on Twitter).
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Raptors Notes: Carroll, Joseph, Scola

November 13th, 2015 at 5:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

DeMarre Carroll didn’t want to draw out the free agent process any longer than he had to this past summer, and while he had other teams he was considering playing for, the Raptors made the strongest first impression on Carroll, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays. “It was short and sweet,” Carroll told Kennedy regarding his free agency. “I got married, like, three days before free agency so as soon as it started, I wanted [the process] to be short and sweet. My agent knew that. We had a list of six or seven teams that we were truly interested in and we kind of ran with that. I think Toronto was the first team to show up at my door and they made the best impression. The first impression is sometimes the best impression, and I felt like they made the best impression. They [made sense] with what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go, being a key part of an organization, and that’s why I went with Toronto.”

Here’s more from Toronto:

  • With the Raptors’ bench experiencing early season struggles, offseason free agent signee Cory Joseph has been a revelation for the team, writes Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. “He’s been a godsend for us with the second unit,” coach Dwane Casey said. Despite Joseph not having seen much playing time during his first four seasons in the league, Toronto had faith that Joseph could blossom in a new environment, Wolstat adds. “He’s who we thought he was. He’s learning guys’ [tendencies], I think he’s so used to throwing it to Timmy [Tim Duncan] or Manu Ginobili [with the Spurs] and getting out of the way, he’s got a little bit more to do with our team,” Casey continued. “He’s learning how to do that, doing a solid job, doing a heckuva job defensively fighting through screens and guarding pick and rolls.”
  • One downside to the Raptors’ roster getting younger is that the team lacks reliable depth in the wake of its early season run of injuries, Eric Koreen of The National Post opines. GM Masai Ujiri‘s plan to use the bottom of the roster to develop younger players is a smart long-term plan for the franchise, but is one that may harm the team’s chance to contend this season, Koreen adds.
  • Luis Scola‘s value to the team goes well beyond his on court production, with the veteran quickly becoming a valuable mentor to the team’s less experienced players, writes Holly MacKenzie of NBA.com. “In practice, he’ll make coaching points,” Casey told MacKenzie. “He’ll stop things and go and teach. You cannot put a value on that. It’s very sound. A lot of times a player will suggest something and there’s no way [the player he’s helping] can do that, or your team can absorb it or understand it. He’s already teaching everything within the concept that we’re trying to do. The defensive system, offensive system. He’s a valuable, valuable veteran.”
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