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Atlantic Notes: Brown, Williams, Raptors, Heck

June 7th, 2022 at 2:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors were noticeably more physical in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and the Celtics have to be ready to respond to that over the rest of the series, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Golden State unleashed a more aggressive defense, forcing 19 turnovers that led to 33 points. Coach Steve Kerr also unveiled a few defensive adjustments that knocked Boston off its game.

One of those changes involved matching Draymond Green up more frequently with Jaylen Brown. After a hot start, Brown missed 10 of his last 11 shots from the field, but he said he knows what to expect moving forward.

“They switched the lineup,” Brown said. “They tried to put (Green) on me, be physical, muck the game up, pull me, grab me and overall raise the intensity. I feel like they got away with a lot of stuff tonight, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of the next game. All that stuff, the gimmicks, the tricks, we’ve just got to be the smarter team, be the more physical team. Look forward to just coming out and playing Celtic basketball.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
  • Robert Williams remained on the ground for a while Sunday after Marcus Smart landed on his leg, but Celtics coach Ime Udoka told reporters today that Williams is fine, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Williams was listed as questionable heading into Game 2 because of left knee soreness and only played 14 minutes.
  • Eric Koreen of The Athletic looks at four areas where the Raptors need to improve and suggests potential pick-ups to help with each one. One of the team’s primary concerns is finding more play-makers to go along with Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes, and Koreen points to Malik Monk, Tyus Jones, Victor Oladipo, Delon Wright and Kyle Anderson as possible free agent targets. Koreen also believes Toronto has to upgrade its shooting, rim protection and perimeter defense.
  • Julian Champagnie of St. John’s will work out for the Raptors on Wednesday, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports.
  • Chris Heck is stepping down from his role as president of business operations with the Sixers, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Heck has been with the team for nine years and has been in his current post since 2017. “It’s time,” said Heck, who adds that he reached the decision in February. “I’ve kind of done everything I set out to do except for maybe organize an [NBA championship] parade. I’m really happy with what we accomplished during the time period, but it’s on to the next chapter.”
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Celtics Notes: Brown, Horford, Smart, Williams

May 31st, 2022 at 7:32pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After starting off the 2021/22 NBA season with a middling 25-25 record, the Celtics were hardly looking like candidates for a deep postseason run. Now, after consecutive Game 7 wins over Milwaukee and Miami, Boston will face Golden State in the NBA Finals, which begin on Thursday at the Chase Center.

Celtics star swingman Jaylen Brown acknowledged this week that he heard plenty of trade speculation earlier in the year when Boston’s season was looking less promising, writes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. During the first half of the season, there was outside chatter about whether the Celtics needed to break up Brown and Jayson Tatum.

“That trade talk was loud, and most of it came from Boston fans,” Brown told Haynes. “It’s a city that doesn’t tolerate excuses. But in reality, early in the season we had a new coach, we had a new front office, I missed about 15 games early in the season and that caused us to not be clicking on all cylinders like we wanted to be. People were impatient, so I understand. But fast forward, we got healthy, we got everybody back and now the sky’s the limit.”

There’s more out of Boston:

  • Veteran Celtics big man Al Horford is expected to have his salary for the 2022/23 NBA season fully guaranteed, regardless of the NBA Finals outcome, sources tell Brian Robb of MassLive. Boston’s Eastern Finals win increased Horford’s partial guarantee from $14.5MM to $19.5MM, while a championship would officially increase it to a full guarantee of $26.5MM. However, given the way he has performed this season – and in the playoffs – it sounds like Horford won’t have to worry about being waived in the offseason, no matter how the forthcoming series plays out.
  • Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has indicated that there is “no concern” about the health of starting point guard and Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart heading into the team’s NBA Finals matchup against the Warriors this week, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). Smart sat out Games 1 and 4 of Boston’s seven-game Eastern Conference Finals series win against the Heat with a right ankle sprain.
  • The Celtics are savoring their four-day breather in between the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals on Thursday, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Starting center Robert Williams, who was unavailable for three contests against the Heat due to a left knee bone bruise and played limited minutes in Game 7, looks to be a big beneficiary of break. “Rob’s all right,” Udoka said. “Getting looked at today and will continue to get his treatment and rehab and in order to get swelling down and some of the pain and mobility back. And so it’s going to be an ongoing thing, like I mentioned. He’s day-to-day pretty much throughout the playoffs… [He] should feel better with time in between, especially with these two days off in between games, as opposed to playing every other day.”
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Celtics’ Brown, Horford Benefit Financially From ECF Win

May 30th, 2022 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of Celtics players benefited financially in a major way as a result of the team’s Game 7 win over Miami on Sunday in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Swingman Jaylen Brown, who previously earned a bonus worth $321,429 for making the Eastern Finals, had that bonus voided and replaced by a bonus worth triple that amount, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who tweets that Brown will receive $964,286 for making the NBA Finals.

Meanwhile, big man Al Horford didn’t receive a bonus on this year’s salary as a result of Boston’s Eastern Finals victory, but his salary guarantee for next season’s salary has increased. Horford is on the books for $26.5MM in the final year of his contract in 2022/23, but only $14.5MM had been guaranteed. That partial guarantee has increased to $19.5MM now that the Celtics are in the NBA Finals, tweets Marks.

If the Celtics defeat the Warriors and win the NBA Finals, Brown would receive another bonus and Horford’s ’22/23 salary would become fully guaranteed. In that scenario, the Celtics – who are currently $358K below the tax line – would go into the tax as a result of Brown’s final bonus, making them a taxpaying team, tweets Marks.

While the Celtics made an effort at the trade deadline to stay out of tax territory by sending Bol Bol and PJ Dozier to Orlando in a salary-dump deal, it’s safe to assume team ownership would be comfortable paying a very modest tax bill in exchange for a title. The Bucks were in a similar situation a year ago, when Jrue Holiday‘s championship bonus pushed their team salary over the tax line.

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2021/2022 All-NBA Teams Announced

May 24th, 2022 at 7:55pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The 2021/22 All-NBA teams have officially been announced by the NBA. For the fourth straight season, Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was unanimously selected to the All-NBA First Team by a voter panel of 100 media members. Antetokounmpo, 27, is making his sixth All-NBA team overall.

Antetokounmpo, reigning MVP Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, and Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic received the most votes. Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker and Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid rounded out the list of top five vote-getters. Because the All-NBA teams, unlike the All-Star squads, require just one center per team, Embiid was relegated to an All-NBA Second Team placing.

Below is a list of the three All-NBA teams. Vote tallies are listed in parentheses next to player names. Five points were awarded to players for a First Team Vote, three points netted for a Second Team vote, and one for a Third Team vote. Antetokounmpo earned a perfect 500 points.

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

Jazz center Rudy Gobert and shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, Heat center Bam Adebayo and small forward Jimmy Butler, Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown, Bucks guards Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane, Suns small forward Mikal Bridges, Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray, and Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet all received All-NBA votes. Surprisingly, Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who played in just 29 games this season, also received a single vote.

As we previously outlined, the All-NBA selections come with significant financial ramifications. As a result of being named to All-NBA teams, Booker and Towns have become eligible for super-max extensions that would begin in 2024/25. If they’re signed this offseason, those deals would be for four years and would start at 35% of the ’24/25 cap. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter), they currently project to be worth $211MM apiece.

Young’s five-year contract extension, which was signed last August and will go into effect in 2022/23, will now be worth 30% of next season’s cap instead of 25% by virtue of his All-NBA selection. Based on a projected $122MM cap, that means it’ll be worth about $212MM instead of $177MM.

Jokic had already met the super-max requirements prior to this announcement, since he won last year’s MVP award — he’s eligible to sign a five-year, super-max extension this offseason and has said he plans to do so. Doncic, who signed a maximum-salary contract extension last summer, also previously met the super-max criteria by earning All-NBA nods in 2020 and 2021.

Notable players who are not eligible this offseason for super-max deals include Morant and Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine. As Marks tweets, Morant needs to make the All-NBA team again in 2023 to qualify for a starting salary worth 30% of the cap (instead of 25%) on his next deal.

LaVine, a free agent this offseason, would have been eligible to earn up to 35% of next season’s cap from the Bulls if he had made an All-NBA team, but will instead be able to earn no more than 30% of the ’22/23 cap on his next contract.

With their inclusions, Morant, Booker, and Young are making their All-NBA team debuts. Meanwhile, on the other side of the NBA aging curve, two 37-year-old veterans further cemented their Hall of Fame credentials during the 2021/22 season. James made his 18th All-NBA team, while Paul was named to his 11th All-NBA team.

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Celtics Notes: G. Williams, Brown, Udoka, Tatum

May 16th, 2022 at 9:58am CST by Luke Adams

Thrust into a starting role in Game 4 of the Celtics‘ series vs. Milwaukee after Robert Williams went down with another knee injury, Grant Williams scored just 11 total points on 3-of-15 shooting in his first three starts. However, the team’s faith in him was rewarded on Sunday when he remained in the starting lineup for a fourth straight game even with Robert Williams reactivated.

Grant Williams made the Bucks pay for focusing their defensive attention on other Celtics players, launching 18 attempts from beyond the arc and making seven of them. Those seven 3-pointers were a career high, as were his 27 points, while his 39:20 of game time was a personal playoff best. A plus-25 in the Celtics’ series-clinching victory, Williams said after the game that his teammates were encouraging him not to hesitate when he had open looks.

“(Jaylen Brown freaked out) on me for not shooting. ‘Shoot it, shoot the first one. We know that’s a shot you can make and we won’t get mad at you for shooting it,'” Williams told Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “So they were just like, ‘Shoot it, we’re sick of you passing it up.’ I was like, ‘All right, cool.’ They gave me permission, so I tried letting them fly.”

Williams has been a rotation player in Boston all season long, but his emergence as a starter and a key cog who can play defense and hit open shots is coming at exactly the right time — the 23-year-old will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason.

Here’s more on the Celtics, who are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth time in the last six years:

  • Jaylen Brown earned another contract bonus on Sunday when the team reached the Eastern Conference Finals, pocketing an extra $321,429, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. According to Marks, that bonus would be voided if Boston makes the NBA Finals and would be replaced by a new bonus worth about three times as much ($964,286).
  • The Celtics, who were under .500 in January, have found their identity amid their run to the Eastern Finals, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston, who takes a closer look at the role each of the club’s primary rotation pieces has played in the second-half and postseason surge.
  • Ime Udoka finished outside of the top three in Coach of the Year voting, but the work the first-time head coach has done to lead the Celtics to the Eastern Finals can’t be overstated, as Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe details. “For a first-year coach, it’s almost — I feel like it’s unheard of. His level of poise, his level of confidence never changed,” Brown said. “Even when we were down 2-1, or when we were down 3-2, you could tell, the look in his eyes that we were going to win this series. We just needed to handle our business and sometimes you can get in those moments and go away from everything, or start to make over-adjustments. And he didn’t.”
  • Jayson Tatum has “cracked the code for true NBA superstardom,” according to Chad Finn of The Boston Globe, who examines how the fifth-year forward’s poise and play-making is making his teammates better.
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Atlantic Notes: Smart, Knicks, Rose, Simmons

May 6th, 2022 at 1:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

Celtics guard Marcus Smart will be listed as probable for Saturday’s Game 3 and is expected to play barring any last-minute complications, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Smart missed Game 2 with a right thigh contusion, but he’s made significant progress, coach Ime Udoka said after this morning’s practice. Smart explained that the injury was actually closer to his knee, causing a build-up of fluid.

“Just take it, like I said, day-by-day,” Smart said. “The staff is doing a great job with treatment and exercises to help strengthen the quad and get the blood flowing and things like that.”

Udoka also said Jaylen Brown should be ready to play despite experiencing some hamstring tightness. He seemed to be grabbing his hamstring a few times in Game 2, but the Celtics don’t believe it’s a cause for concern.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Knicks won’t have many attractive free agency options at point guard other than top choice Jalen Brunson, per Fred Katz of The Athletic. Katz warns that Brunson could get expensive, as other teams are expected to have interest in him as well. He adds that the team could easily clear about $20MM in cap space to make a bid for Brunson by waiving Taj Gibson, whose salary for next season is non-guaranteed, using second-round picks as sweeteners to get teams to trade for Alec Burks or Nerlens Noel, and waiving and stretching the final year of Kemba Walker‘s deal. Katz also reviews some alternatives if New York can’t land Brunson.
  • Marc Berman of The New York Post talks to an orthopedic surgeon for insight into why Knicks guard Derrick Rose never returned from his two ankle surgeries. Dr. Anish Kadakia of Northwestern University said Rose and the team were being careful not to aggravate the ankle after the second procedure, which was necessary after an infection was discovered. Kadakia doesn’t believe there are any degenerative issues with the ankle, and he expects Rose to return next season. Rose still has two years left on his contract at a total of $30MM, but the final season is a team option.
  • Ben Simmons‘ decision to have back surgery on Thursday is further evidence that the Nets got “damaged goods” in their trade with the Sixers, Berman states in a separate story. Even though Simmons is expected to be ready for training camp, Berman says it’s not a good sign that he’s about to go through another summer of limited activity.
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Eastern Notes: Butler, Herro, Wizards, Brown

April 30th, 2022 at 1:16pm CST by JD Shaw

Heat star Jimmy Butler (knee inflammation) plans to play in Game 1 against the Sixers on Monday, as Nick Friedell of ESPN relays (Twitter link). Butler missed Miami’s final game against the Hawks last Tuesday and expressed confidence his knee will hold up.

Philadelphia will be without superstar center Joel Embiid (orbital fracture and mild concussion), however, which Butler says he and the rest of the Heat are disappointed about. Butler also said Embiid deserves to win the Most Valuable Player award this season.

“I think I speak for everybody that’s a part of this team, we want Jo to play,” he said. “We want to go up against them at full strength and prove that we can hang with anybody and we can beat anybody.”

As we wrote on Friday, Embiid doesn’t have a timetable for his return. The Sixers and Heat will play Game 2 on Wednesday, then travel to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday.

Here are some other notes from the East:

  • Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel explores whether Tyler Herro‘s illness absence should raise concerns for the Heat. Herro didn’t practice on Saturday because of a cold, but he’s still expected to play in Game 1. The 22-year-old struggled during Miami’s first-round series against Atlanta, averaging 12.8 points on 39% shooting from the floor and 18% from deep.
  • The Wizards could greatly benefit from the Jazz blowing their roster up this offseason, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington examines. Utah lost its first-round series against Dallas 4-2 and could explore trading key pieces in the summer. Hughes believes Washington may express interest in a number of Jazz players, including Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley. The Wizards naturally want to build a competitive roster around Bradley Beal and keep him in town.
  • Celtics star Jaylen Brown told reporters that he should be “ready to roll” for the team’s Game 1 against the Bucks, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald tweets. Brown, who has been dealing with hamstring tightness, said he’s feeling good. Boston will open up the series at home on Sunday afternoon.
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Injury Notes: Heat, Brown, Hill, Z. Williams, Reid

April 29th, 2022 at 9:49pm CST by Rory Maher

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was noncommittal on Friday when asked for a status update on Jimmy Butler (sore right knee) and Kyle Lowry (left hamstring), according to Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Butler missed Game 5 of Miami’s first-round series against Atlanta, while Lowry missed Games 4 and 5 after leaving Game 3 early.

“I don’t want to jump the gun on anything. I just like the progress that everybody’s made. We’ll see if they can make more progress tomorrow. It will just be a daily update,” Spoelstra said.

Butler’s injury is considered relatively minor, with no MRI or other imaging planned. Muscle strains are notoriously tricky to deal with, so Lowry might be out longer, but his hamstring strain is also not considered to be serious, per Chiang and Jackson.

“I’m expecting them to get healthy day by day, honestly,” Bam Adebayo said when asked if he expects Butler and Lowry to be available for the start of the second round. “If they can go, they can go. If they’re not, we got to go out there regardless. You can’t push back Game 1.”

Here are some more postseason injury notes from around the NBA:

  • Head coach Ime Udoka told reporters, including Jay King of The Athletic (Twitter links), that Celtics star Jaylen Brown is dealing with hamstring tightness and had it evaluated recently. Despite the injury, Brown is expected to play in Game 1 against Milwaukee on Sunday.
  • George Hill (abdominal strain) was unable to practice on Friday, per Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer. He’s out for Game 1 but the team is hopeful he might return during the second-round series against Boston, tweets Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The veteran guard missed the entire first-round series against Chicago with the injury and hasn’t played since April 8.
  • Grizzlies rookie wing Ziaire Williams (right knee soreness) was unavailable for Friday’s Game 6 contest against the Timberwolves, the team announced (via Twitter). He’d previously been listed as doubtful. Wolves big man Naz Reid also missed Game 6 due to personal reasons (Twitter link via Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic).
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Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Harden, J. Brown, T. Young, Knicks

April 26th, 2022 at 8:40am CST by Luke Adams

After winning the first three games of their series vs. the Raptors, the Sixers have now dropped two consecutive close-out opportunities and will head back to Toronto clinging to a 3-2 lead. Star center Joel Embiid, who tore a ligament in his right thumb in Game 3, said after Monday’s loss that he wants to make an effort going forward not to favor that injury quite so much.

“I’m in a situation where I try to protect it,” Embiid said (Twitter link via Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer). “Before I even attack or if I get the ball, it’s almost like I’m not playing freely where I’m like, ‘Well, if I do this, I might get hit or I might get hurt.'”

Embiid also told reporters on Monday night that his All-Star teammate James Harden, who attempted just 11 shots from the field and had 15 points in Game 5, needs to be more aggressive on the offensive end, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays.

“I’ve been saying all season since he got here, he needs to be aggressive and he needs to be himself,” Embiid said. “That’s not really my job. That’s probably on Coach (Doc Rivers) to talk to him and tell him to take more shots, especially if they’re going to guard me the way they’ve been guarding. But that’s really not my job.”

No team in NBA history has blown a 3-0 series lead. If they can get a home victory on Thursday, the Raptors would be just the fourth team (of 145) to force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-0, which would put a ton of pressure on the 76ers to close out the series on Saturday at home.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • Celtics wing Jaylen Brown earned another one of his contract bonuses on Monday due to the team’s first-round series victory. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter), advancing to the second round assured Brown of an extra $482,143 this season.
  • The Raptors‘ decision to give up a first-round pick for Thaddeus Young at February’s trade deadline may look short-sighted if he leaves in free agency this summer, but he has provided intangible value to the team through his veteran leadership and understanding of the game, says Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Additionally, since the Raptors acquired a second-rounder from San Antonio in the Young deal, they only ended up moving down 13 spots in the draft, from No. 20 to No. 33.
  • In his latest mailbag, Fred Katz of The Athletic addresses a series of offseason questions facing the Knicks, weighing in on Mitchell Robinson‘s upcoming free agency, whether Tyus Jones or Malcolm Brogdon make sense as offseason targets, and more.
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Blazers Rumors: Draft Picks, Grant, Cronin, Ownership

April 21st, 2022 at 8:31am CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans’ play-in victories last week were bad news for the Trail Blazers, who would’ve received New Orleans’ 2022 first-round pick if it had fallen between No. 5 and No. 14. Having missed out on that pick, which ended up at No. 15, Portland will instead receive Milwaukee’s 2025 first-rounder (top-four protected). That future pick won’t be as valuable in trade talks for a team looking to accelerate its rebuild this offseason.

According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, it’s clear based on conversation with league personnel that the Blazers were operating under the assumption they’d have two lottery picks available, and there was a sense they’d try to use one of them to acquire an impact veteran like Pistons forward Jerami Grant.

“That was a big deal to them,” a Western Conference official told Fischer. “The expectation was certainly, ‘Once we get this pick, we’ll turn it into someone. We’ll overpay to get someone.'”

As Fischer and others reported at the trade deadline in February, the Pistons were seeking either two first-round picks or a first-round pick and a promising young player (such as Bulls forward Patrick Williams) in exchange for Grant. Detroit’s asking price will likely be similar this offseason, though there’s some skepticism it will be met, Fischer writes.

The Blazers’ willingness to overpay for a player like Grant will be diminished by the fact that they missed out on New Orleans’ lottery pick, according to Fischer, who says Portland hasn’t shown any desire to trade its own lottery pick, which will almost certainly land in the top eight.

Here’s more from Fischer on the Blazers:

  • Damian Lillard has indicated to the Blazers’ front office that he’d like to play alongside a “two-way, rangy” wing, sources tell Bleacher Report. In addition to Grant, Fischer names Aaron Gordon, Ben Simmons, and Jaylen Brown as players who would appeal to Lillard, though it’s unclear whether any of them will be available this offseason — Brown, certainly, appears to be off the table.
  • According to Fischer, interim general manager Joe Cronin appears likely to keep the Blazers’ GM job on a full-time basis. However, it’s possible the team will ultimately hire someone above him in the basketball operations hierarchy, like Philadelphia did by bringing in Daryl Morey to run a front office previously led by GM Elton Brand. Fischer’s sources are split on whether such a move is likely.
  • Since the regular season ended, multiple sources have suggested to Fischer that the Blazers could begin exploring the market for new ownership as early as this summer. Some league insiders believe a sale of the franchise could be completed before the end of 2023, Fischer adds. Jody Allen – the sister of longtime Blazers owner Paul Allen, who passed away in 2018 – currently controls the team.
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