Giannis Antetokounmpo

And-Ones: LaMelo, MVP Votes, Warriors, Fratello

December 4th, 2019 at 2:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

LaMelo Ball doesn’t mind a little campaigning in his effort to be the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, writes Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports. The buzz around Ball continues to grow as he strings together impressive performances in Australia’s National Basketball League. Over the weekend, he became the first NBL player since 2005 to post back-to-back triple doubles.

“Most definitely,” Ball responded when asked whether he thinks he should be the first pick. “I believe in myself and I’ve worked hard to get here. The other guys at the top of the draft, James [Wiseman] and Anthony [Edwards], are very talented too. But just in the way I believe in myself, I think I’m the top pick.”

Several scouts were in New Zealand recently to watch Ball go up against another projected lottery pick in R.J. Hampton. Many came away impressed, with one scout saying, “The fact that he’s putting up numbers like this in a league full of former NBA players is forcing every team to look at him as a potential No. 1 pick.”

Ball addressed rumors that he might end his season early to protect his health for the draft. He insists he’s “committed to the whole season,” even though his team is off to a 3-9 start.

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

Roughly a quarter of the way into the season, Giannis Antetokounmpo is in good position to repeat as MVP, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. In a poll of 101 media members, Antetokounmpo received 48 first-place votes and was the only player listed on all the ballots. LeBron James (29 first-place votes), Luka Doncic (14) and James Harden (nine) were next in line.
Declining ratings continue to be a concern, and the NBA has started taking action to address the problem. One solution is fewer national TV games for the Warriors, who have the NBA’s worst record after five years as its marquee team. Golden State’s next two scheduled ESPN games have been replaced, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic, who speculates that more are likely to be removed.
Former NBA coach and long-time broadcaster Mike Fratello will be back on the sidelines soon, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Fratello will serve as head coach for USA Basketball in February’s qualifying games for the FIBA AmeriCup.
Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the China controversy today, saying a “culture clash” was almost inevitable, tweets Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic. NBA games haven’t returned to China Central Television, the main broadcaster in Mainland China, but they are back on Tencent, which Silver called a “thawing” in tensions (Twitter link).
Sources tell Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated that March 20 has been set for the debut of the NBA’s Basketball Africa League (Twitter link). The first game will take place in Dakar, Senegal.
The NBA will consider allowing corporate investors to hold passive minority stakes in more than one team, tweets Alex M. Silverman of MorningConsult. The measure will be part of the agenda at April’s Board of Governors meeting.

Giannis On Brogdon: “Wish He Was Still Here”

November 15th, 2019 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

As Malcolm Brogdon thrives in his first season for the division-rival Pacers, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo admitted on Thursday that he’d like to still be teammates with the former Rookie of the Year, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic.

“Definitely wish he was still here,” Antetokounmpo said. “One of my friends, one of the guys that I always teased every day when I see him – call him ugly, we’re just going back and forth. I’m going to miss that, but at the end of the day, you got to do what’s best for you. I wish him the best, I wish his team the best and I’m excited to play against him.”

Antetokounmpo’s comments are noteworthy because Brogdon’s departure from Milwaukee has been a hot topic for the last several months. The 26-year-old guard was a restricted free agent, so the Bucks could have kept him if they’d wanted to. However, there were questions about how re-signing Brogdon would impact the team’s ability to keep other key free agents, and whether or not Bucks ownership was willing to pay a big tax bill.

Of course, with Antetokounmpo eligible for a super-max extension in 2020 or free agency in 2021, the Bucks will be looking to do all they can to keep the reigning MVP happy and convince him to stick around long-term. Which is why Giannis’ follow-up comment on Brogdon, relayed by Nehm, is perhaps even more interesting.

“Can you imagine this team with also Malcolm?” Antetokounmpo said after the Bucks improved their record to 8-3 on Thursday. “But hey, man, everybody takes their decision. His decision was to go to Indiana and build a team over there. I think that was best for him.”

As Nehm points out, Giannis’ framing of his teammate’s departure as a decision made by Brogdon rather than by the Bucks seems to suggest he doesn’t blame the team for the move, even though Milwaukee essentially controlled the process. Nehm notes that Brogdon used similar language recently when discussing his move with Scott Agness of The Athletic (podcast link).

“I had to figure out what my options were,” Brogdon told Agness. “I had two or three teams in the mix that we were really considering, but Indiana was by far the best. It was the team I was really pushing for and my agents made it work.”

Brogdon’s comments indicate he may have been more interested in landing with the Pacers than in re-upping with the Bucks, which is perhaps one key reason why Milwaukee was willing to negotiate a sign-and-trade. The Bucks netted multiple draft picks, including a lottery-protected first-rounder, in the deal and still insist they’ll be willing to pay the tax when it becomes necessary.

Meanwhile, Brogdon – like Antetokounmpo – is looking forward to the first Bucks/Pacers game of the season on Saturday in Indiana, but is downplaying its significance, per J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star.

“It’s just another game for me,” Brogdon said. “Looking forward to seeing those guys. Competing against them. I had a lot of good games in there, a lot of good memories in there. That’s all I got to say about it.”

NBA Super-Max Candidates To Watch In 2019/20

November 8th, 2019 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

The Designated Veteran Extension, as we explain our glossary entry on the subject, is a relatively new addition to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. It allows players with 7-9 years of experience, who would normally qualify for a maximum starting salary of 30% of the cap, to qualify for a “super-max” contract that starts at 35% of the cap, a level normally reserved players with 10+ years of experience.

A player who has seven or eight years of NBA service with one or two years left on his contract becomes eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension if he meets the required performance criteria and hasn’t been traded since his first four years in the league. A Designated Veteran contract can also be signed by a player who is technically a free agent if he has eight or nine years of service and meets the required criteria.

The performance criteria is as follows (only one of the following must be true):

The player was named to an All-NBA team and/or was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
The player was named the NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.

With those criteria in mind, it’s worth keeping an eye on the players who could qualify for a super-max veteran contract with their play this season. Let’s dive in and examine a few of those guys…

Players who already qualify for a super-max contract:

Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
Rudy Gobert (Jazz)

Antetokounmpo met the performance criteria for the super-max when he won last season’s MVP award. Gobert did so by winning the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018 and then being named to the All-NBA team in 2019 — his second consecutive DPOY award in ’19 merely put an emphatic stamp on his eligibility.

However, neither Antetokounmpo nor Gobert can actually sign a Designated Veteran Extension yet, since they must have seven years of NBA experience under their belts.

Each player is in his seventh season now, but years of experience aren’t officially added until the very end of the league year. In other words, the Bucks and Jazz stars will have to wait until next July to officially sign super-max extensions.

We know the Bucks will put that offer on the table for Giannis, but we’re not sure yet whether he’ll sign it. It also remains to be seen if the Jazz will make the same offer to Gobert. Based on the NBA’s latest cap projection for 2021/22 ($125MM), each player would be eligible for $253.75MM over five years.

Players who could qualify for a super-max contract by meeting the criteria in 2019/20:

Joel Embiid (Sixers)
Andre Drummond (Pistons)

Technically, any player who earns an All-NBA spot in 2019/20 and meets the contract criteria can qualify for a super-max, but the two players listed above are probably the only legitimately viable candidates. Thunder center Steven Adams, for instance, would become eligible for a super-max extension by earning an All-NBA spot, but that’s probably not happening.

Even Drummond might be a long shot, but if he can maintain the numbers he has posted in his first nine games (21.9 PPG, 18.6 RPG, 2.2 BPG), he’ll be in the conversation. So far, he’s outplaying last year’s All-NBA First Team center Nikola Jokic, who is off to a slow start.

Embiid, last season’s All-NBA Second Team center, looks like a safer All-NBA bet as long he stays healthy. He earned his spot in 2018/19 despite playing just 64 games, so if he can match or exceed that number this season with similar production, look for him to become super-max eligible.

Drummond is in his eighth NBA season, while Embiid is only in his sixth. So if Drummond were to earn All-NBA honors this season, he’d become eligible to immediately sign a super-max contract. Declining his player option and signing a five-year Designated Veteran contract would put Drummond in line for a deal worth $235.48MM based on the league’s latest cap projection for 2020/21 ($116MM). Though of course, there’s no guarantee the Pistons would be willing to go quite that high.

As for Embiid, if he makes an All-NBA team this season, he’ll be in a similar situation to the one Giannis and Gobert are in now — super-max eligible based on his performance criteria, but not yet on his contract criteria. He’d have to wait until the 2021 offseason to sign that extension. I expect the Sixers will be ready to do a super-max deal if he keeps playing at this level and doesn’t suffer any more major injuries.

It’s also worth mentioning Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns in this group. They’ll only have five years of NBA experience apiece after this season, so they wouldn’t be able to sign super-max extensions until the 2022 offseason. Technically though, one of them could meet the required performance criteria as early as this spring by winning the MVP award.

Players who can no longer qualify for a super-max contract:

Anthony Davis (Lakers)
Bradley Beal (Wizards)
Victor Oladipo (Pacers)

There are many other players who could be added to this list, but these are the three who would otherwise be strong candidates to qualify the super-max if they hadn’t already become ineligible based on one of the required criteria.

In Beal’s case, he opted to sign a standard veteran extension this fall rather than wait to see if he’d make an All-NBA team this season and become eligible for the super-max. By the time he’ll be able to opt out of his new deal in the summer of 2022, he’ll have 10 years of experience under his belt, meaning he’ll automatically qualify for the 35% max.

Davis and Oladipo, meanwhile, were traded while playing out their rookie scale contract extensions, making them ineligible for a super-max. Davis would have been able to sign such a deal this past offseason if he had remained with the Pelicans.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Eastern Notes: Giannis, Raptors, Heat, Thompson

October 30th, 2019 at 2:10pm CST by Luke Adams

If Giannis Antetokounmpo becomes a free agent during the summer of 2021, the Raptors are likely to be one of his “chief pursuers,” sources tell John Hollinger of The Athletic.

It’s entirely possible that Antetokounmpo won’t even reach the open market, since the Bucks intend to put a super-max extension offer on the table for him next summer as soon as they’re eligible to do so. And even if the star forward does opt for free agency, it’s not as if the Raptors won’t face competition from just about every other team in the NBA.

Still, it makes sense that the Raptors would zero in on Antetokounmpo specifically as they consider future targets. President of basketball operations Masai Ujiri reportedly helped Giannis and his family emigrate from Nigeria to Greece, and tried to trade into the 2013 draft to select him. The Raps haven’t had much luck luring top American-born free agents to Toronto in the past, but might believe they’d have a better shot with an international star like Antetokounmpo, especially now that they have a championship under their belt.

It’s far too early to draw any conclusions about Giannis’ future, but until he re-ups with the Bucks or ends up elsewhere, it’s safe to assume the Raptors will be retaining their 2021 cap flexibility in the hopes he considers them.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Dion Waiters and James Johnson both practiced with the Heat today, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. However, only Johnson will travel to Atlanta with the team, as he has reached his conditioning targets while Waiters hasn’t, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). Neither player has suited up for the club yet this season due to conditioning issues.
Tristan Thompson, who is in a contract year with the Cavaliers, has never made an All-Defense team, but wants that to change this season, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com relays. “I want to guard the best wings and big on every team,” Thompson said. “I want to make their night tough, to gain that respect defensively around the league. [A] goal of mine is to make first team All-Defense. The way you do that is guarding the best players.”
Appearing on Big Apple Buckets, the New York Post’s podcast, Charles Oakley suggested that he’s open to trying to bury the hatchet with Knicks ownership after a contentious saga that saw him banned from MSG, writes Greg Joyce of The Post. Oakley also weighed in on how the Knicks should respond to Kevin Durant‘s comments about the team not being “cool.”

Antetokounmpo: No Interest In Befriending All-Stars

October 26th, 2019 at 10:31am CST by marksuleymanov

Giannis Antetokounmpo has taken the NBA by storm, emerging from his native Greece and developing into the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player. The Bucks big man helped lead Milwaukee to the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago and made the team a championship contender for the foreseeable future.

However, the ‘Greek Freak’ is also not interested in becoming too friendly with fellow All-Stars around the league. Sam Amick of The Athletic examined Antetokounmpo’s thinking in a lengthy feature, noting his desire to be his own player.

“Man, it’s not that I don’t want to (learn from other stars). I get better every day,” he said. “I’ll learn from the 15^th player on our team. I’ll learn from (Bucks reserve guard) Frank Mason. But my competitive nature is so high that when I go and practice (with other stars), I can’t do it. That’s me.”

In an age where All-Stars with longstanding friendships seek to form super-teams, it appears that Antetokounmpo is set in his own ways. He added that he did not receive an invitation to Kobe Bryant‘s camp earlier this summer and that he preferred not to be around other All-Stars.

“I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s me,” he said. “I just know myself. I know that because I’m a nice person, I’m going to start building relationships (with those other stars). And then I’m going to go against those guys, and they’re going to be my friends.

“… I want to play for 20 years and just play, and then make friendships at the end.”

Giannis Denies Making Comment About Contract Decision

October 24th, 2019 at 12:23pm CST by Luke Adams

12:23pm: Antetokounmpo claimed today that he didn’t make the comments attributed to him in the Harvard Business School study, according to Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link).

“If you kind of read the last quote, I’ve never used those words in my life,” he said.

The study has yet to be published, but it seems extremely unlikely that its authors would have fabricated a quote from Antetokounmpo. The interview, which reportedly took place months ago, was recorded, according to Dinan (Twitter link via Romell).

9:52am: After earning another All-NBA nod and winning an MVP award last season, Giannis Antetokounmpo ensured that he’ll be eligible for a super-max extension with the Bucks. However, he can’t officially sign that extension until the 2020 offseason, when he’ll have seven years of NBA experience under his belt.

The Bucks have already made it clear that offer will be waiting for Antetokounmpo next summer, earning themselves a fine for discussing it publicly. Now the NBA world is waiting to see whether Giannis will actually sign it.

The latest hint at the reigning MVP’s thought process comes from an unlikely source. As Rick Romell of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays, Antetokounmpo spoke in the spring to Anita Elberse, a Harvard Business School professor who was researching a case study on the Bucks’ culture and the challenges a small-market team like Milwaukee faces why trying to hang onto a superstar player. In that interview with Elberse, Giannis addressed his contract situation more directly than he has typically done with NBA reporters.

“I want the Bucks to build a winning culture. So far, we have been doing great, and, if this lasts, there’s no other place I want to be,” Antetokounmpo said, per Elberse and co-author Melcolm Ruffin. “But if we’re underperforming in the NBA next year, deciding whether to sign becomes a lot more difficult.”

Antetokounmpo’s comments aren’t exactly groundbreaking. After making it within two games of the NBA Finals last spring, the Bucks are widely considered good bets to at least return to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020, and perhaps to advance further. If they fall short of those goals, it makes sense that Giannis’ decision on whether to sign on long-term would become more complicated. Still, it’s noteworthy that he actually admitted as much.

The Bucks’ star, who has a $27.53MM salary for the 2020/21 season, could tack five additional years onto that his deal if he signs a super-max extension next year. Based on the league’s latest cap projections, that five-year extension would be worth $253.75MM.

For their part, the Bucks have insisted they’re not concerned about Antetokounmpo’s contract situation. As Romell notes, Bucks co-owner Jamie Dinan also downplayed the Giannis quote relayed by Elberse, speculating that the researchers may have needed to generate some conflict for their study.

“I wasn’t in the room when [Antetokounmpo] said it,” Dinan said, “so I don’t know if they goaded him a little bit to kind of get some conflict.

Central Notes: Bledsoe, Giannis, Rose, Hutchison

October 22nd, 2019 at 10:12pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Eric Bledsoe is expected to be ready for the Bucks‘ opener on Thursday, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays.

“I kind of knew what it was, in a sense,” said Bledsoe, who suffered a rib cage injury earlier in the preseason. “I knew it wasn’t nothing serious… I knew I was going to bounce back.”

Bledsoe will join Brook Lopez, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and newcomer Wesley Matthews in the Bucks’ starting lineup, Velazquez adds in the same piece. Matthews will take over for Malcolm Brogdon, who was traded to the Pacers this offseason.

Here’s more from around the Central:

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today argues that the Bucks have done everything right to keep Antetokounmpo around long-term. Milwaukee can offer Giannis the super-max next summer.
How Derrick Rose performs will go a long way toward whether the Pistons make the postseason, Rod Beard of The Detroit News writes. Rose signed a two-year deal with the club this offseason.
There are plenty of questions surrounding second-year Bulls forward Chandler Hutchison, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, who notes that it may be hard for the club to find rotation minutes for Hutchison even once he’s recovered from his hamstring injury.

NBA GMs Pick Clippers To Win Title

October 17th, 2019 at 2:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

The revamped Clippers are the favorites to win the NBA championship in this year’s survey of league general managers, writes John Schuhmann of NBA.com. Forty-six percent of respondents believe the moves that brought in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will result in the first title in the nearly 50-year history of the franchise.

The Bucks ranked second at 36%, followed by the Lakers at 11%. The Warriors and Trail Blazers were the only other teams to collect votes.

Milwaukee was an overwhelming choice to repeat as the top seed in the Eastern Conference at 76%, with the Sixers (24%) getting all the remaining votes.

GMs are predicting the following Eastern Conference playoff order: Bucks, Sixers, Celtics, Nets, Raptors, Pacers, Heat and Magic. Out West, the Clippers were picked as the top team by 66% of GMs, with the Lakers at 14% the only other team in double figures. Still the Nuggets slipped into second in the playoff order, followed by the Lakers, Jazz, Rockets, Warriors, Trail Blazers and Spurs.

Here are a few more highlights from the annual survey:

Fifty-two percent believe Giannis Antetokounmpo will win his second straight MVP award. There was a three-way tie for second with Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis and Leonard at 10%, followed by Nikola Jokic at 7%. James Harden, LeBron James and Damian Lillard also received votes. Antetokounmpo was picked by 86% of GMs as the player they would like to build a franchise around, while De’Aaron Fox was tabbed as the most likely to have a breakout season.
The choices for best player at each position were all fairly decisive, with Curry (90%) at point guard, Harden (86%) at shooting guard, Leonard (62%) at small forward, Antetokounmpo (59%) at power forward and Jokic (48%) at center.
Eighty-two percent said the Clippers made the best offseason moves, followed by the Pelicans at 11%. The Nets and Jazz both got votes. Leonard (67%) was named the player acquisition most likely to have the biggest impact, while Utah’s trade for Mike Conley was the most underrated move (36%).
Zion Williamson was a clear choice for Rookie of the Year and the rookie who will be the best player in five years, with both numbers at 68%. Ja Morant received 29% support in the ROY poll, while Darius Garland was at 4%.
Leonard was picked as both the best overall defender (45%) and the best perimeter defender (59%) in the league. Rudy Gobert was selected as best interior defender (93%), while Draymond Green was named the most versatile (38%).
Gregg Popovich was a runaway winner as best coach at 55%, followed by Erik Spoelstra (17%), Mike Budenholzer (10%) and Steve Kerr (7%).
The Nuggets were chosen as the most fun to watch by 31% of GMs and the team with the best home-court advantage by 38%.

Lakers Notes: AD Trade, LeBron, Pelinka, More

October 9th, 2019 at 12:05pm CST by Luke Adams

When David Griffin arrived in New Orleans as the Pelicans‘ new head of basketball operations, he was faced with a predicament related to Anthony Davis, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. Sources confirm to McMenamin that there was some lingering resentment toward the Lakers within the Pelicans’ organization – all the way up to ownership – due to the way AD’s public trade request played out earlier in the year. However, Griffin also recognized that L.A. was the most logical trade partner for New Orleans.

“When I took over, there was some latent discontent, maybe with the way things had been handled,” Griffin said. “We just talked about the fact that, look, in all likelihood the best package is going to come from this team, because it’s the only team that AD’s willing to stay at.”

As McMenamin details, agent Rich Paul had signaled to the Celtics and other suitors that Davis wouldn’t re-sign with them in 2020, since the big man wanted to play in New York or Los Angeles.

“The last thing you want to do is put a GM in a situation where he trades away an asset and then the guy walks out the door,” Paul said. “Like, you can’t do business that way. So it’s not really a hard conversation to have. And I don’t think it stopped [Celtics president of basketball operations] Danny Ainge from trying. It’s just that maybe he didn’t have the deal [he wanted]. He wasn’t willing to give up the young players, which I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t give them up either if the guy is not going to re-sign.”

The Pelicans’ big win on draft lottery night helped clear a path for the team to work something out with the Lakers for Davis, as Paul observed to McMenamin: “The fact that [the Pelicans] were going to get the first pick caused me to understand that it softened the blow of losing Anthony Davis because the organization could still have some momentum.”

McMenamin’s story at ESPN provides an in-depth look at several other aspects of the Lakers’ pursuit and acquisition of Davis, as well as the franchise’s adjustment to having him on the roster. Here are some of the highlights:

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said that even on the day the Lakers and Pelicans reached a trade agreement, there were a couple times he was convinced a deal wouldn’t come together. But the front office persevered in part because they believed they owed it to LeBron James. “When a player of LeBron’s stature puts his trust in the organization,” Pelinka said, “I think there’s an implicit bilateral trust going back, saying: ‘We’re going to do everything we can to put you in a position to win more championships, because that’s what you’re about.'”
Pelinka, who added that he believes in treating his superstar players “like partners,” admitted that he has probably had hundreds of three-way calls with James and Davis since the trade as he has solicited their opinions on certain roster moves. “Every single decision. I [have] never been involved so much,” Davis said. “No matter who the player was, he wanted to make sure. It was on everything. And it was like, ‘Wow.’ To the point where I was like, ‘All right, Rob, stop calling me.'”
Kendrick Perkins, who was teammates with LeBron in Cleveland and AD in New Orleans, had a hand in bringing the two stars together. The veteran big man introduced Davis to Klutch Sports in 2018 when word got out that he was considering an agent change, writes McMenamin.
Rich Paul believes that Davis’ ability to make threes and pass the ball separates him from other stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo. AD’s agent offered the following spicy take: “If you put Anthony Davis on that Bucks team last year, they’d be playing in the Finals. He knows how to make guys better. That’s not a knock to Giannis, but that’s just what [I think].”
The NBA was willing to allow LeBron to give up his jersey number (23) to Davis despite the paperwork not being filed in time, but Nike nixed the idea, citing tens of millions of dollars in wasted inventory on James jerseys, sources tell McMenamin.

Central Notes: Giannis, Kennard, Henson, Hutchison

October 2nd, 2019 at 9:58pm CST by clarkcrum

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, last season’s MVP and one of the best basketball players in the world, still needs to improve his shooting ability after making an abysmal 30.2% of his jump shots last season. And as Eric Woodyard of ESPN writes, The Greek Freak is looking at new teammate Kyle Korver for some guidance.

“It’s really important [that] I always try to talk to him a little bit,” Antetokounmpo said of Korver. “And he’s a great guy. He’s not trying to get in your head or overstep and talk too much to you. Whenever he gives me tips, I always try to listen … one of the best shooters to ever play the game.”

Head coach Mike Budenholzer, who coached Korver in Atlanta, also thinks that Korver is going to be a huge addition to the Bucks’ roster.

“His professionalism, his work ethic and attention to detail is just gonna help all of us, including me as a coach. I always say that about Kyle: He makes me a better coach. Adding him to our group was a huge add this summer.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press advocates for Pistons guard Luke Kennard to be moved to a bench role this season. Head coach Dwane Casey seems to agree: “(Kennard) doesn’t fit well with the first unit, but he is one of our most talented players and so the job we have as a coaching staff is to fit him where he’s going to go.”
Coming off an injury-riddled 2018/19 season that saw him traded from Milwaukee to the Cavaliers, big man John Henson is ready to add an element of rim protection to help the Cavs’ defense improve this season. He’s also ready for whatever role the team has in store for him, admitting that he doesn’t yet know exactly where he fits in the rotation, writes Chris Fedor of cleveland.com. Henson is entering the final year of his contract.
Bulls head coach Jim Boylen says forward Chandler Hutchison will not return in the next two weeks and that opening night is in jeopardy, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Hutchison is still recovering from a hamstring strain he suffered in September.

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