Dorian Finney-Smith Rumors

Eastern Notes: Nets, Rivers, Embiid, Queta

November 17th, 2024 at 9:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets have been competitive thus far, in large part due to their remaining veterans. A source tells Brian Lewis of the New York Post (subscription required) that it may not last for long. The Nets are pointing toward the future and next June’s rich draft, in which they control four first-rounders. They might start a fire sale sooner than later.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm where they’re better and everybody else is worse,” the unnamed source told Lewis, referring to a handful of struggling Eastern Conference teams. “But (the front office is) not going to let them stay in the middle, so they’ll blow it up. You’ve just got to keep building from there, and then we’ll see what they do around December, when they start blowing everything up.”

Dennis Schröder, Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith are considered prime trade candidates.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

Bucks coach Doc Rivers took a financial hit for criticizing the officials after his team’s loss to Charlotte on Saturday. The NBA has fined him $25K, the league announced (via Twitter).
Joel Embiid has only appeared in two games this season due to knee issues. The reason he’s questionable to play against Miami on Monday is a different story. The Sixers star center is battling an illness, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.
The Celtics have played well with big man Neemias Queta in the starting five. He has strong net ratings with all the other starters, Brian Robb of MassLive.com notes, and Boston is 3-1 with him in the lineup. “He can protect the rim, he can protect the paint, you could switch him one through five,” guard Jrue Holiday said. “Guards like to go at him, but he’s such a big body and has so much length to be able to protect from the three-point line, and then he’s quick enough to kind of meet you at the rim too. Neemi gives us versatility and is a really good defender.” Queta re-signed with the club for three seasons over the summer.

Injury Notes: Butler, Kyrie, Nets, S. Barnes, O. Robinson

November 14th, 2024 at 4:09pm CST by Rory Maher

Heat forward Jimmy Butler will miss his third straight game in Indiana on Friday as he continues to recover from a right ankle sprain, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Butler, who sustained the injury in the first quarter of last Friday’s loss in Denver, did not practice on Thursday.

While the Heat will be playing without their six-time All-Star, they expect to have another injured player available. Third-year forward Nikola Jovic was limited to just three minutes in Tuesday’s overtime loss to Detroit due to a broken nose, but he should be ready to go on Friday with the assistance of a protective mask, Winderman writes.

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

Guard Kyrie Irving was added to the Mavericks‘ injury report ahead of Thursday’s matchup in Utah, tweets Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. Irving, who is off to an excellent individual start to the season, is listed as questionable due to a right shoulder strain. He has yet to miss a game in 2024/25.
Nets swingman Ben Simmons (left calf tightness) underwent an MRI on Thursday and the prognosis is positive. According to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter links), Simmons’ MRI revealed no structural damage and he will be active for Friday’s contest vs. New York. Forward Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain) is probable for Friday’s contest, while center Nic Claxton is questionable due to a lower back strain.
Raptors forward Scottie Barnes was spotted in a mask during Thursday’s practice as he recovers from a fractured orbital bone. However, he was limited to non-contact work and is still about a week away from being reevaluated, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca relays (via Twitter).
Kings center Orlando Robinson, who was recently cleared for contact, has been assigned to Sacramento’s G League affiliate in Stockton to get some conditioning work in, tweets James Ham of The Kings Beat. Robinson is on the mend from a left MCL sprain he sustained during training camp. The third-year big man has yet to make his ’24/25 season debut.

Nets Notes: Bogdanovic, Simmons, Finney-Smith, Hines

November 14th, 2024 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Nets got off to a better-than-expected start under new head coach Jordi Fernandez this season, winning five of their first 11 games after entering the season with the NBA’s lowest projected win total. But they were on the wrong end of a blowout on Wednesday, falling at home to the defending champion Celtics by 25 points. As Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes, Fernandez wasn’t happy with his team’s effort.

“I’m OK with losing, but I’m not okay with, at one point in the game, not fighting,” Fernandez said. “You can never, ever, ever, quit or look defeated, whatever the case may be. We have to continue to do things the right way, and if one night the other team is better than you, then you gotta respect it. But this — flashes of not doing the right things — this is not what we want to be at all.

“And we haven’t done it. It’s just easier against adversity. Whatever you want to call ‘adversity,’ to me, it’s all excuses. The NBA, it is what it is. Everybody deals with stuff and you don’t want to be like, finding the excuse. We have more than enough to be better than this. To me, that’s plain and simple.”

Fernandez’s players didn’t disagree with his assessment.

“S–t. He just pretty much stood on business,” center Nic Claxton said when asked about his coach’s comments. “We need to play hard. That’s not the way you lose. Of course, you never want to lose games. But that’s not the way that you lose. We didn’t fight all the way through.”

Here’s more out of Brooklyn:

The Nets haven’t provided any official update on injured forward Bojan Bogdanovic, who continues to recover from offseason surgery on his foot. Lewis hears from a source that no formal update is anticipated until sometime in December, but Fernandez addressed Bogdanovic’s progress on Wednesday. “I saw him on the court shooting (Wednesday). But playing 5-on-5 and in a real game, he’s progressing well. We’re not gonna give an exact date, but he’s doing good,” the Nets’ coach said. “He’s in good spirits, he had a good week. He was with us on the road. Having him around is important because he’s a veteran. He’ll talk in huddles, he gives guys tips on what to do and his involvement is very important.”
Ben Simmons (left calf tightness) and Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain) both missed Wednesday’s game vs. Boston, with Simmons undergoing an MRI on his calf, Lewis notes. Fernandez downplayed both ailments, referring to Simmons’ MRI as “precautionary” and suggesting that the former No. 1 overall pick is day-to-day. As for Finney-Smith, Fernandez said his ankle sprain isn’t serious and the team simply wants him to be “200 percent and ready to go” before he’s cleared to return.
Kyle Hines, a former UNC Greensboro standout who had a long, successful career in Europe, winning four EuroLeague championships, has joined the Nets’ coaching staff, according to agent Misko Razanatovic on Instagram (hat tip to Eurohoops). Hines’ exact title and role in Brooklyn is unclear.

Eastern Notes: Nets Vets, Johnson, Thompson, Mathurin

November 11th, 2024 at 7:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets have been surprisingly competitive during the early going and they have veterans Dennis Schröder, Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith to thank for it, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Schröder entered Monday’s game against the Pelicans fifth in the league in minutes logged at 352. Johnson was tied for 13th (340), while Finney-Smith is fourth on the team at 289, Lewis notes. Finney-Smith missed the game with an ankle sprain, Lewis tweets.

That trio headed into the week averaging a combined 47.5 points per game. Any or all of them could end up getting dealt before February’s trade deadline.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

Johnson headed into Monday’s contest with an impressive streak, Lewis notes. He hadn’t turned the ball over in any of the past seven games, making him the first player in NBA history to log at least 30 minutes without a giveaway in a seven-game stretch. He has never averaged more than 1.1 turnover per game in any season. That could be underrated aspect of his appeal as a trade candidate. Johnson has two more years left after this season on his four-year, $90MM+ contract.
Pistons forward Ausar Thompson, who had been sidelined by blood clotting issues, has been officially cleared to return to action by the NBA’s Fitness-to-Play panel. The team will slowly ramp up his workload as he prepares for his season debut, Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press reports. Thompson is thrilled by the decision. “It feels great,” Thompson said. “The last seven to eight months have been a lot of work, and I had all the support from my family and team. Feels good to have the opportunity to go out there and play again.”
Bennedict Mathurin is eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer and the third-year swingman is enhancing his resume with his early-season performances. He led the banged-up Pacers to a win over the Knicks on Sunday with a career-best 38 points. “Benn Mathurin was absolutely breathtaking,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “Efficient. Tough physically. … When he gets it going like he does today, he’s a bucket. He’s gonna be a bucket.” Mathurin is averaging 23.0 points and 7.6 rebounds in five starts.

Stein’s Latest: Nets, Giannis, Mexico City, Spurs

November 10th, 2024 at 1:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets lost both games of their back-to-back set on Friday and Saturday, but they pushed the Celtics to overtime on Friday in Boston and took the undefeated Cavaliers down to the wire in Cleveland on Saturday.

Projected before the season to be the NBA’s worst team, Brooklyn has looked surprisingly competitive under new head coach Jordi Fernandez, winning four of its first 10 games and holding its own against a relatively tough schedule. Only two of the Nets’ losses have been by more than five points.

As Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack article, the Nets’ front office signaled during the summer by reacquiring control of their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks in a trade with Houston that they were expecting to finish firmly in the lottery. If they want to ensure the team has a shot at a franchise player in the ’25 draft, the front office may need to start making in-season deals sooner than expected, Stein notes.

According to Stein, Dennis Schröder, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Bojan Bogdanovic are the veterans mentioned most frequently by rival teams as Nets players they expect to be on the move by the February 6 trade deadline. All three are on manageable contracts (with cap hits below than $20MM) and could become unrestricted free agents in 2025. Schröder and Bogdanovic are on expiring deals, while Finney-Smith holds a player option for 2025/26.

Here’s more from Stein:

After writing last weekend about the “league-wide lusting” for Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stein follows up to clarify that the league’s 29 non-Bucks teams understand the two-time MVP will only ever be made available if he pushes for a trade. That hasn’t happened, but several clubs have started planning for the possibility it might and have let Milwaukee know they’ll be ready to talk if and when the time comes, according to Stein.
Stein recently wrote about the idea of the NBA expanding to Mexico City and said he “just can’t see it happening.” In today’s Substack article, he says one “well-placed Mexico expert” warned him not to be so dismissive of the possibility, pointing out that the “immense financial opportunities” available in the country make it an idea the NBA won’t give up on easily. That source also pointed out that if the NBA realigns to four-team divisions, a Mexico City franchise would be well positioned to share a division with Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Still, Las Vegas and Seattle remain the presumptive frontrunners for the league’s next round of expansion, says Stein.
The Spurs turned to 37-year-old Mitch Johnson rather than former NBA head coach Brett Brown with Gregg Popovich recently forced to be away from the team due to a health issue. As Stein explains, that was always the plan in the event that Popovich had to miss time, since Brown prefers to remain in his current role that allows him to provide guidance to the team’s young players, young coaches, and video staffers. Brown’s focus, per Stein, is on “helping Johnson thrive” as acting head coach.

New York Notes: Sims, Knicks Offense, Ryan, Finney-Smith

November 7th, 2024 at 10:56am CST by Dana Gauruder

With Precious Achiuwa and Mitchell Robinson sidelined by injuries, Knicks big man Jericho Sims is getting steady time. However, he’s been reluctant to make an impact offensively, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post notes.

In 94 minutes this season, Sims has taken six total shots. In the Knicks’ three November games, he has one field goal attempt in 42 minutes. This is a pivotal season for Sims, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

We have more on the New York teams:

The Knicks are off to a 3-4 start and The Athletic’s James Edwards has noted some troubling trends. They rank last in the league in pace offensively, they’re 30th in free throw attempts per game, and they’ve struggled against opponents that do a lot of switching defensively.
Recently-signed Knicks forward Matt Ryan played high school ball approximately 20 minutes in drive time from the Knicks current practice facility. “It’s extremely special,” Ryan said of joining the Knicks, per Bondy. “But at the end of the day I know playing for [Tom Thibodeau], it’s going to require a tremendous amount of focus every day, blocking out everything else that’s going on. It’s very lucky, a unique circumstance to come home, play for the Knicks as a Westchester kid. But I’m locked in. Probably never been more focused than I am right now.”
Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith had his best outing of the season with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, and a steal in a win over Memphis on Monday. Brooklyn is certainly hoping the veteran will continue to produce, since he’s been considered a prime trade candidate. Finney-Smith holds a $15.4MM option on his contract for next season. “He’s been guarding centers, he’s been guarding point guards. … I’m doing all this to him and he’s fighting. The fact that I can see him fight defensively, but also see the shot go in, nobody deserves it more than him,” coach Jordi Fernandez told Bridget Reilly of the New York Post.

Atlantic Notes: Williams, Achiuwa, K. Johnson, Nets Lineup

November 2nd, 2024 at 11:53am CST by Tristan Tucker

A Grant Williams foul on Celtics star Jayson Tatum resulted in an ejection for the former Boston forward on Friday night (video link via NBA.com). Teammate Jaylen Brown took offense to the foul – ruled a flagrant two – and approached Williams after the hit, questioning his motives, according to The Athletic’s Jay King.

“It was for sure intentional,” Brown said. “What are we talking about here? Did y’all see the same play that I’m seeing? He hit him like it was a football play, like (former NFL linebacker) Ray Lewis coming across the middle or something. It is what it is. Grant knows better than that.”

Williams said he was trying to make a play on the ball and that the collision looked worse than it actually was. The Hornets forward said “if [Tatum] had prepared and actually turned his head to the left,” it wouldn’t have looked as gnarly.

“It was just a hard foul,” Williams said. “And we play them again tomorrow. It’s nothing crazy or beyond the means. We all know JT’s my guy, so nothing intentional.”

Celtics players weren’t so sure. Both Brown and Derrick White chided Williams for the play after the game. While the Hornets forward called Tatum one of his closest friends in the league, Brown made it clear there was nothing friendly about Williams’ play.

“Actions speak loud,” Brown said. “So it is what it is. We got the win, we’ll move on, but there’s no place in the game for that. I thought JT and him was friends. I guess not.”

Williams jokingly said after the game that he was preparing to have his former Celtics teammates over to his house after the game, but that they probably wouldn’t take him up on the offer anymore. Friday’s game served as a reunion for more than Williams. Former Celtic Kemba Walker is on Charlotte’s coaching staff, while Hornets head coach Charles Lee served as Joe Mazzulla‘s assistant last year.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Knicks big man Precious Achiuwa is making good progress from his hamstring strain, but head coach Tom Thibodeau says he’s still not practicing, according to the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy. “He’s doing a little more on the court,” Thibodeau said. “Once a guy can start doing stuff on the court, then usually he’ll travel with us. Sometimes it’s better to keep him back [in New York] because we can do more rehab stuff at the facility.“
The Nets received a spark off the bench from Keon Johnson in a Friday win over the Bulls, Bridget Reilly of the New York Post writes. In just five second-quarter minutes, he hit five shots in a row, including a pair of three-pointers and a dunk. Johnson, who finished with a season-high 12 points in just nine minutes on the night, is on a minimum-salary contract that’s partially guaranteed ($700K) for this season and includes a team option for next season.
Nic Claxton hasn’t been starting for the Nets as he recovers from an offseason injury that held him out of the preseason. But as the New York Post’s Brian Lewis writes, head coach Jordi Fernandez is going to have to make some tough calls when it comes to who remains in the lineup when the team is fully healthy. The Nets have six players who have a case to start: Claxton, Dennis Schröder, Cam Thomas, Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Ben Simmons. Out of those options, Johnson, Finney-Smith or Simmons are probably the likeliest candidates to move to the bench. “I mean, whatever. Personally, I feel like if I’m at full strength, then I’m a starter,” Simmons said. “That’s just what goes. But, yeah.“

Nets Notes: Claxton, Finney-Smith, Johnson, Milton, Fernandez

October 19th, 2024 at 9:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

Several Nets players sat out Friday’s preseason finale, but the team expects Nic Claxton and Dorian Finney-Smith to be ready when the season tips off Wednesday in Atlanta, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Claxton has been dealing with hamstring soreness, and coach Jordi Fernandez has been careful not to overextend him throughout the preseason.

“Nic is close. We’re still aiming for the first game of the season,” Fernandez said. “He’s done a good job. He’s working hard. So we expect him to play the season opener.”

Finney-Smith was held out after landing on his back on a collision in Wednesday’s game, but his coach doesn’t believe it will affect his status for opening night.

“Hard fall. Nothing serious. Just precaution,” Fernandez said. “He’s one of the guys that he still would go and run through the wall, and you’ve got to tell him to rest because his body is sore.”

Day’Ron Sharpe remains sidelined with a strained left hamstring and Bojan Bogdanovic is still recovering from offseason surgeries on his left foot and wrist. They both missed the entire preseason, and Lewis says neither one is close to returning.

There’s more from Brooklyn:

Cameron Johnson displayed his versatility this week, handing out six assists while running the offense out of the high post in Wednesday’s game and then scoring 32 points in 32 minutes on Friday, Lewis adds in the same piece. “I expect to do it all season,” Johnson said. “I think interchangeability is what we’re looking for.”
The Nets need to find a reliable backup point guard for nights when Dennis Schröder and Ben Simmons aren’t both available, Lewis states in a separate story. One option is Shake Milton, who was acquired from New York in the Mikal Bridges trade and has been given a chance to run the offense during the preseason. “Not really an adjustment at all,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been doing that since I got in the league, being on the ball and off the ball, so being able to do whatever the team needs me to do is honestly more important. That’s just how you’re able to create opportunities, whether it’s on the ball and creating for myself or others or off the ball, getting aggressive, just whatever needs to be done.”
Fernandez is focused on building relationships in his first season as an NBA head coach. He explains his philosophy to Lewis in another piece for the New York Post.

And-Ones: G League Trades, Charania, Breakout Candidates, More

October 8th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

A pair of teams have acquired the G League rights for players who are in camp with them on Exhibit 10 contracts.

The Wisconsin Herd (Bucks) sent Marquese Chriss‘ rights and a 2025 first-round pick to the Birmingham Squadron (Pelicans) in exchange for Liam Robbins‘ rights (Twitter link), while the Raptors 905 are receiving Jared Rhoden‘s rights from the College Park Skyhawks (Hawks) in exchange for the rights to Omari Moore and a 2025 first-rounder (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of Sportsnet).

Robbins is currently on Milwaukee’s preseason roster, while Rhoden is under contract with Toronto.

In other G League trade news, the Austin Spurs announced (via Twitter) that they’ve sent the returning rights for Yauhen Massalski to the San Diego Clippers in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick, while the Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers) acquired Elijah Hughes‘ rights from the Wisconsin Herd (Bucks) in exchange for the rights to Sam Merrill and a 2025 second-rounder.

Trading away Merrill’s returning rights won’t mean anything for the Cavaliers as long as he remains on Cleveland’s NBA roster, but if he were to be waived down the road, the Bucks’ affiliate would have first dibs on him as a G Leaguer.

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

Shams Charania, who has spent the past few years with The Athletic, is making the move to ESPN to replace Adrian Wojnarowski as the network’s senior NBA insider, Charania announced on Twitter. Recent reporting suggested that ESPN news-breakers currently covering other sports – including Jeff Passan (MLB) or Adam Schefter (NFL) – were among the candidates being considered to replace Wojnarowski, but Charania was always the more logical choice, given his lengthy history of major NBA scoops.
In an Insider-only story for ESPN, Jeremy Woo identifies 11 players he believes are prime breakout candidates in 2024/25. Woo’s 11 candidates fall into four groups: players who could make the leap to an All-Star level, such as Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley; players who could ascend to borderline All-Stars, like Hawks forward Jalen Johnson; players who will benefit from taking on larger roles, including Bulls guard Josh Giddey; and role players who could make bigger impacts, such as Kings guard Keon Ellis.
Kurt Helin of NBC Sports predicts the 10 players most likely to be traded in 2024/25, ranging from big names like Brandon Ingram and Zach LaVine to role players such as Bruce Brown and Jonas Valanciunas. Three of the players in Helin’s top 10 – Bojan Bogdanovic, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Cameron Johnson – are currently members of the Nets.

New York Notes: Finney-Smith, Load Management, Kolek, Towns, Tsai

October 3rd, 2024 at 9:20am CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith is irritated by the notion that the team will just mail it in this season, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes.

“Me, Dennis Schröder, we were talking and we just want everybody to know that we ain’t deferring to just tank or whatever,” Finney-Smith said. “They’re saying we’re going to win 17 games. I feel like this team should take that as disrespect, and use it as motivation. People don’t know how healthy Ben (Simmons) is going to be. But we’ve been seeing him for the last four weeks and he looks great. So, if bro gets back on the court I feel like it’s gonna help our team a lot, and we’re going to shake the NBA.”

We have more on the New York teams:

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t a fan of load management. Despite some injuries late in the regular season and playoffs last season, Thibodeau isn’t planning to give players nights off if they’re healthy enough to take the court, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “Every team has injuries. You just deal with them,” he said. “That’s part of pro sports. So some years you don’t have any injuries, some you do. So whatever your reality is, you deal with it.”
Second-round pick Tyler Kolek made a strong impression during Summer League competition and continued to endear himself to the Knicks‘ coaching staff prior to camp. “Obviously, we drafted him (with the 34th pick), there’s a lot of things we liked about him so we’re anxious to see him in training camp and we’ll see where it goes from there,” Thibodeau said, per Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. “I’ve always said the first step for a rookie coming in is to learn how to be a pro and he’s already exhibited great qualities. He’s in the gym all the time, hard worker, coming in multiple times a day, so he’ll give himself the best shot possible and he’s already adding value to the team.”
With the Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster deal official, the Knicks regulars can soon start building chemistry with the high-scoring big man. Josh Hart has already got a picture in his mind of how Towns can make them more dangerous, Bondy writes in a separate story. ““For me, I haven’t played with that many shooting bigs in my career so I’m looking forward to someone we can isolate on the post, make good decisions, put the ball in the basket,” Hart said. “I’m going to tell him whenever I get a rebound and run, just trail to the 3-point line. I’m sure he’ll get some open 3s that way. It’s going to take some time just to get the feeling down. Obviously (Jalen Brunson), Mikal (Bridges), myself, we played together for a while. OG (Anunoby) played with [Brunson] and myself for a handful of games. It’s going to take a little bit and that’s what training camp and preseason are for — so we can hit the ground running on opening day.”
Nets owner Joe Tsai is close to acquiring a 3% stake in the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, Net Income relays via a Bloomberg News report. Tsai’s investment company is making the purchase from New York real estate developer Steve Ross. The Miami Grand Prix, Ross’ Formula 1 racing event, is also part of the deal.