Kyrie Irving

NBA/China Notes: Shanghai Game, Irving, More

October 10th, 2019 at 5:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the Lakers/Nets exhibition game in Shanghai took place as planned this morning, it was hardly a typical preseason affair. Scheduled pregame and postgame press conferences for commissioner Adam Silver and players on both rosters were cancelled at the behest of the Chinese government, sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

As McMenamin writes, China also had a hand in cancelling two NBA Cares events involving Lakers and Nets players earlier this week as tension between the league and its top international market continues to simmer.

Still, while the Chinese government has been on the attack over the last several days as it seeks an apology from the NBA over Daryl Morey‘s tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors, Keith Bradsher and Javier C. Hernandez of The New York Times report that the government attempted on Thursday to tamp down on public anger toward the league.

According to the Times duo, the Chinese government seems to be reevaluating its all-out campaign against the NBA due to concerns in Beijing that the situation is hurting China’s image and interests globally. Editors at state-run news outlets have now been told to avoid fanning the flames on the NBA controversy “for fear that it might become overheated,” per Bradsher and Hernandez, who cited three journalists.

As we wait to see how the situation plays out going forward with a second Lakers/Nets exhibition schedule for Saturday in Shenzhen, here are a few more items of interest:

During a press conference following the Rockets/Raptors exhibition game in Tokyo today, a Rockets official stopped Russell Westbrook and James Harden from answering a question related to the China controversy, insisting that reporters only ask questions about basketball. Per an ESPN report, the NBA issued a statement indicating it doesn’t condone that approach. “A team representative inappropriately interjected to prevent CNN’s Christina Macfarlane from receiving an answer to her question,” the league said. “We’ve apologized to Ms. Macfarlane as this was inconsistent with how the NBA conducts media events.”
NBA player agents are advising their clients to avoid addressing the China situation if they can, writes Jabari Young of CNBC. “What I told my guys is, ‘Don’t even talk about it,'” one agent told Young. “I think it’s a fine line, and when you’re walking that fine line, it’s best to not even play around with it.”
The NBA’s chilly relationship with China is apparently impacting another basketball league — according to an announcement on their website, the BIG3 is postponing a visit to China that was scheduled for the month of November. Rashard Lewis, Mike Bibby, Glen Davis, and Cuttino Mobley were among the former NBA players expected to participate.
While the game itself between the Lakers and Nets today was practically an afterthought, it’s worth noting that Kyrie Irving was knocked out of the game just one minute into the first quarter after he took a shot to the face. According to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link), Irving – who was already recovering from a facial fracture – was diagnosed with a facial contusion. The team doesn’t seem worried that it’s serious, Lewis adds.

Al Horford Discusses Decision To Leave Celtics For Sixers

October 10th, 2019 at 8:53am CST by Luke Adams

While it wasn’t quite as shocking as some of this summer’s blockbuster trades, Al Horford‘s move from Boston to Philadelphia raised some eyebrows around the NBA. After Horford turned down his 2019/20 player option with the Celtics, there was a sense that he’d still work something out to remain with the team. However, a lucrative four-year offer from the Sixers helped lure him to an Atlantic rival instead.

Speaking this week to Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald, Horford said that his decision to sign with the Sixers began to form once he and his teammates realized that Kyrie Irving would likely leave the Celtics in free agency as well.

“We all kind of felt that Kyrie was going to leave,” Horford said. “It was like, maybe he’ll stay, but then it was, nah, he’s probably going to leave just based on how everything was. And then I’m looking at my career and myself and the years that I have left. There were certain things that we wanted to accomplish as a team and things that we needed to make that happen. We got all those pieces last year, but it didn’t happen for us, and moving forward I didn’t know if it was going to be a two-year wait or whatever it was going to be.

“It was that and the financial reasons. When we started with the team trying to come up with things and we couldn’t agree on certain numbers, that’s when I decided, you know what, I’m going to have to open my free agency. I believe not only that I am worth a certain amount of money, but also I want to be in a position that I have a really good opportunity to win now. You know, my window is now. That’s how I feel.”

The four-year, $109MM contract Horford signed with the Sixers, which includes $97MM in fully guaranteed money, was worth more than the Celtics were willing to offer. According to Bulpett, the original belief was that the big man was heading toward a new three-year deal in Boston, but the C’s were outbid.

While Irving’s departure was one of the factors that contributed to Horford’s departure, the 33-year-old told Bulpett that even if Kyrie had stayed, he’s not sure “if it would have worked” in Boston.

“There would have had to be some major changes as far as players, because it was just clear that the group that we had just wasn’t going to be able to coexist,” Horford said.

Asked if he might have been more willing to stick with the Celtics if he’d known Kemba Walker was on his way, Horford said that he doesn’t want to get caught up in the past, but admitted that it “would have been totally different.”

Still, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston is skeptical that a Walker/Horford pairing ever could have worked logistically, since the Celtics didn’t start seriously looking at Kemba as a viable possibility until they knew Horford had one foot out the door.

Structuring the acquisition of Walker as a sign-and-trade instead of an outright signing opened the door slightly to the possibility of bringing back Horford, but in order to make it work, the C’s would have needed to turn Irving’s deal with Brooklyn into a sign-and-trade as well, which would’ve meant sending at least one extra asset – likely a first-round pick – to the Nets to incentivize them to play along. On top of all that, Horford still probably would’ve required a more lucrative offer than Boston was willing to put on the table, since a $109MM deal may not have been realistic for the hard-capped Celtics.

For his part, Horford said he would understand if there are Celtics fans upset at him for signing with the rival Sixers.

“I won’t hold it against anybody if they feel negatively toward me for leaving,” Horford told Bulpett. “… I felt like I really gave everything I had. I gave everything I had — on the floor, trying to be the best leader that I could, trying to help the guys as much as I could, putting in the extra work. So no regrets, but disappointment. I understand if people are disappointed. I’m disappointed, too. We didn’t win a championship; we didn’t get to that stage.”

Nets Notes: Irving, Durant, Jordan, Allen

September 27th, 2019 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking today to reporters at the Nets‘ Media Day, Kyrie Irving said he felt as if he let down his teammates in Boston last season and wants to be a better leader for his new team in Brooklyn.

As Malika Andrews of ESPN.com details, Irving opened up about how the death of his grandfather last fall impacted him and why he had a change of heart following his preseason vow to re-sign with the Celtics and ultimately decided to play closer to home.

“A lot of the joy I had from basketball was sucked away from me,” Irving said of the time following his grandfather’s death. “There was a facial expression I carried around with me throughout the year and I didn’t allow anyone to get close to me. It really bothered me. I didn’t take the necessary steps to get counseling or therapy. I had to acknowledge that fact.”

Irving received much of the blame for the Celtics’ disappointing 2018/19 showing, which included chemistry issues and a leadership void in the locker room. In his comments today, he seemed to acknowledge that the criticism was fair.

“A lot of those battles I thought I could battle through (in Boston’s) team environment, I wasn’t ready for,” Irving said, according to Andrews. “And I failed those guys. I didn’t give them everything I could have during that season. In terms of me being a leader and bringing everyone together, I’ve failed.”

Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston provides a more extensive transcript of Irving’s comments, while Rob Perez passes along a video link. The All-Star point guard said he is arriving in Brooklyn with a “fresh mindset” and hopes to avoid the same mistakes he made with the Celtics.

Here’s more from the Nets’ Media Day:

Asked about why he chose the Nets in free agency and whether he considered teams like the Warriors, Knicks, and Clippers, Kevin Durant said he thought about those other possibilities for “a couple seconds,” but wanted to be in Brooklyn (Twitter links via Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic). “It was really easy to see what these guys brought to the table,” Durant said of the Nets. “It’s not like I had to do any deep analysis of any player here.”
Durant also offered the following quote on his decision to leave the Warriors (Twitter link via Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog): “I felt like it was time for a change and I wanted to play for a new team and simply put I just did it. I didn’t really think about what I was leaving behind. I thought it’s time to think about me.”
According to Irving, he and Durant would like to finish their careers together with the Nets (video link via Yahoo Sports).
Irving told reporters about talking to Durant and DeAndre Jordan at “4:16 in the morning” on the day of free agency and deciding they wanted to play together in Brooklyn (video link via Perez).
Jordan said that he and Jarrett Allen will compete and bring out the best in one another, and that both players will be fine no matter who ends up winning the starting center job (Twitter link via James Herbert of CBS Sports).

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Thybulle, Thabeet, Irving

September 25th, 2019 at 7:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

Brett Brown knows what the bottom of the Eastern Conference looks like; now he wants to see the top. The Sixers coach declared his lofty goal during a luncheon speech today, relays Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I want to get the No. 1 seed,” Brown told the gathering.

It’s a drastic turnaround for a coach who suffered through the worst of “The Process” and won just 10 games during the 2015/16 season. The Sixers are coming off back-to-back 50-win years and are still stinging from their playoff elimination by the eventual champion Raptors on a Kawhi Leonard shot that bounced on the rim several times before falling in.

Philadelphia enters this season as a co-favorite with the Bucks in the East. The team lost Jimmy Butler and J.J. Redick in free agency, but re-signed Tobias Harris and added Al Horford and Josh Richardson.

“We have had back-to-back 50-win teams, we have a 25-year-old All-Star [Joel Embiid] and a 23-year-old All-Star [Ben Simmons],” Brown told Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We have the best team I have had this year. We have the deepest bench, we have veterans, we have men, we got pieces. [General manager] Elton Brand has done a hell of a job.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Matisse Thybulle has been medically cleared to practice when camp opens, Pompey tweets. The rookie guard rolled his ankle earlier this week, but the injury turned out to be minor. The Sixers traded up in this year’s draft to get Thybulle with the 20th pick.
The Knicks have an opening on their roster heading into camp, but they won’t use it to sign Hasheem Thabeet, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Thabeet worked out for New York and spent time with the team in August and September. The vacancy occurred because Kris Wilkes, who was expected to sign a two-way contract, is still battling an illness that will prevent him from attending camp.
Kyrie Irving is day to day after suffering a left side facial fracture, the Nets tweeted. The injury happened during a workout Tuesday.

Atlantic Notes: Gasol, Poirier, Ntilikina, Nets

September 15th, 2019 at 5:33pm CST by JD Shaw

Veteran NBA center Marc Gasol added to his already impressive year by helping lead Spain to a gold medal in the FIBA World Cup today, finishing with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in 25 minutes of work against Argentina.

Gasol, who also helped Toronto win the NBA championship in June, joined Lamar Odom as the only players in league history to win both a title and gold medal in the same calendar year.

“It reminded me a lot of the Larry O’Brien trophy,” Gasol said when asked about winning the Naismith Trophy, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. The Naismith Trophy is awarded to the winner of the World Cup. “And hey, you can drink out of it!

“When I saw it, it was pretty shiny as well. Completely different tournament, completely different setup, but the feeling of fulfillment was there, because you invested so much, you risked a lot and you put everything on the line for your guys.”

This year’s World Cup could be the last for Gasol, who turns 35 in January and is set to enter his 12th NBA season this fall. The defensive-minded center has been on top of the basketball world in 2019, something he surely won’t forget when he looks back on his career.

“It feels like I haven’t stopped playing basketball,” Gasol said. “It’s been an amazing year for me and I’m just happy.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division tonight:

Vincent Poirier was a good pick-up for the Celtics this offseason, according to French teammates Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier. Poirier signed a two-year deal to join the franchise back in July. “It’s clear that he’s a center that can block shots and control the paint,” Fournier said, per John Schuhmann of NBA.com. (Twitter links). “He’s a terrific roller, can really catch a lob, and obviously has a lot of energy. It’s a good pick-up for Boston, for sure.”
Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina is healthy again and motivated for the upcoming season, tweets Marc Stein of the New York Times. Ntilikina, according to Stein, also mentioned how the entire group is “very hungry” for next season. New York has several new players on its roster, including the likes of Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, Elfrid Payton, RJ Barrett and others.
The Nets plan to give away 10,000 Kyrie Irving jerseys when the team hosts the Knicks on October 25, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). The Knicks were one of several teams interested in signing Irving in July, though Irving was said to have his sights set on joining the Nets well before the start of free agency.

Atlantic Notes: Stevens, Feaster, Donaldson, Ainge

September 8th, 2019 at 3:59pm CST by clarkcrum

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens will have a new-look roster to work with this season, writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, and while replacing All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving with fellow All-Star Kemba Walker will be the easy part, replacing defensive stalwarts Al Horford and Aron Baynes should prove a bit more challenging.

Another question is who starts — Gordon Hayward or Jaylen Brown? Do both of them start, with Marcus Smart back on the bench? According to Stevens, it really doesn’t matter, as long as the lineups mesh together.

“We’re obviously going to have to figure out lineups that work best together,” Stevens said. “Everybody is going to make a big deal over who starts, but we all know who the five guys are that are going to play the very most on our team, and everybody can probably write that down right now, and then it’s a matter of who fits best. They’re not all in the same position, but we’ve got to figure out who’s going to play the big spot and with which groups.”

Enes Kanter figures to get most minutes at center starting out, but young big Robert Williams could push for more playing time as the season progresses. The Celtics will also rely on Daniel Theis and Vincent Poirier for frontcourt depth.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

According to A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston, the Celtics have hired Allison Feaster as director of player development. Feaster is a former WNBA player and Harvard graduate who also worked in the G League.
Raptors data analyst Brittni Donaldson has been promoted to an assistant coach on the staff of head coach Nick Nurse, per a tweet from Stadium (Twitter link).
In a piece for NBC Sports Boston, Blakely writes that Danny Ainge is concerned with Stevens happiness this season, saying “My biggest concern through all of this was, I want my coach to be happy who he’s coaching and that’s the hardest job. I’ve been at this business a long time. It’s…you gotta have fun. You really have to have joy. That doesn’t mean every minute is going to be happy. Everybody is going to face adversity and challenges and trials through the course of a season. But, it still has to be fun.”

Nets Continue To Monitor Carmelo Anthony

August 29th, 2019 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Although Carmelo Anthony is scrimmaging with the Knicks today, New York’s other team appears to be his more likely suitor. According to Frank Isola of The Athletic, the Nets remain interested in possibly signing Anthony and continue to “closely monitor” the veteran forward.

While general manager Sean Marks will have the final say on whether or not the Nets sign Anthony, a source tells Isola that newly-added stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant are “pushing” the team to add the former scoring champion.

Isola also hears that Marks and Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson have both watched Anthony train or play this summer. One team source says that the 10-time All-Star “certainly helped his cause” with his recent workouts in Los Angeles and that “his body looked great.”

Still, there are roadblocks in the way of Anthony reaching a deal with the Nets. For one, the team already has 15 players with guaranteed salaries under contract. Unless Brooklyn is willing to trade or waive one of those players, Carmelo’s best path to a regular season roster spot might be joining the club on a non-guaranteed deal once Wilson Chandler is eligible to be placed on the suspended list.

Chandler has been suspended 25 games for a positive PED test and can be removed from the active list five games into his ban. That would give Anthony a 20-game window to make an impression on the team and potentially earn a longer look, but it’s not clear if he (or the Nets) would be open to that sort of arrangement.

Anthony’s camp remains optimistic that the 35-year-old will find an NBA job, according to Isola, who notes that Carmelo’s representatives have also spoken to the Sixers.

Atlantic Notes: Irving, Dinwiddie, Fall, Simmons

July 17th, 2019 at 10:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kyrie Irving‘s interest in playing in New York dates back to at least December, Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie said on a podcast with Shams Charania of The Athletic (hat tip to Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston).

“You could just tell from the conversation that it was a little bit different,” the Nets’ Dinwiddie said. “… Actually, it definitely was December because he made a comment to me, he was like, ‘New York might be real fun next year,’ because I hadn’t signed yet. … That’s when I was first tipped off to the whole thing.”

Dinwiddie signed an extension with the Nets on December 13 and started developing a strategy to get Irving and Kevin Durant to join him in Brooklyn. He spoke frequently to Irving about the organization, touting the style of play, the training staff and the family-oriented atmosphere that GM Sean Marks has installed.

“Of course I’m going to be like, ‘Bro, (the Nets are) perfect for you,'” Dinwiddie added. “‘And (head coach) Kenny (Atkinson) gonna let you rock.'”

There’s more tonight from the Atlantic Division:

Rookie center Tacko Fall will come into camp on an Exhibit 10 contract, but Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge tells NBC Sports Boston that he will be given a chance to earn a roster spot. “Tacko is fun to watch,” Ainge said. “… Guards get in a bind and they just throw the ball up in the air and then Tacko grabs it and tip-toe dunks it into the basket. It just looks like a senior in high school playing against fourth-graders sometimes.”
Sixers guard Ben Simmons confirmed on Twitter that he won’t be playing in the FIBA World Cup. He plans to host camps in Australia and train with the national team, but he won’t take part in any games. Simmons expressed an intention to participate in the Olympics next summer.
The Raptors have a $2.95MM trade exception that will expire tomorrow, tweets Blake Murphy of The Athletic. It’s left over from the deal that brought Kawhi Leonard from the Spurs last summer.

Celtics Notes: Kemba, Kanter, Fall, Green

July 17th, 2019 at 3:59pm CST by Luke Adams

As the Celtics introduced offseason additions Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter at a press conference today, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge told reporters, including A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link), that landing Walker and Kanter was his “Plan A” heading into the offseason.

While it’s hard to believe that a franchise so frequently linked to Anthony Davis would have considered Walker and Kanter its top priorities, Ainge’s comments make more sense if you assume he’s talking about Boston’s plan on June 30. By that point, the Lakers had already agreed to acquire Davis and the C’s had a good idea that Kyrie Irving and Al Horford wouldn’t be back.

In fact, Ainge said today that the Celtics started to get a sense as early as March or April that Irving may not be back in Boston for the 2019/20 season (Twitter link via Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston).

“I was obviously thinking a move in a different direction at that point, thinking of the different options,” Ainge said, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com.

We have much more on the Celtics today, so let’s dive in…

Kanter said today that a recruiting call from Walker (via Ainge’s phone) helped convince him to join the Celtics. “Kemba was one of the biggest reasons I came here,” Kanter said, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
The Celtics attempted to work out sign-and-trade deals with the Sixers and Nets for Horford and Irving, respectively, but both teams wanted more draft pick compensation than Boston was comfortable with, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Turning those free agent departures into sign-and-trades might have allowed Boston to retain more cap flexibility or pick up an extra asset or two.
Having agreed in June to sign Tacko Fall to an Exhibit 10 contract, the Celtics haven’t indicated yet that they intend to alter their plans for the rookie following his impressive Summer League performance. However, his showing in Las Vegas certainly caught the team’s eye. “We want to take his development very seriously,” Ainge said of Fall (Twitter link via Himmelsbach). “He’s a high priority for us to develop.”
Another Summer League standout, Javonte Green, is drawing significant interest overseas, according to Himmelsbach, who tweets that it’s probably unrealistic to expect the wing to become an affiliate player for the Maine Red Claws.
After rescinding Daniel Theis‘ qualifying offer over the weekend, the Celtics still had a tiny bit of cap room to sign a rookie to a contract longer than two years, ESPN’s Bobby Marks noted (via Twitter). However, making their deals with Theis, Kanter, and Brad Wanamaker official today eliminated that cap room.

Details On Contracts For Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant

July 10th, 2019 at 12:57pm CST by Luke Adams

After word broke last week that the Nets had reach agreements to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to four-year, maximum-salary contracts, a follow-up report indicated that the two stars would take less than the max to accommodate DeAndre Jordan‘s four-year, $40MM contract with Brooklyn.

That’s still the case, but turning the acquisition of Durant into a sign-and-trade deal helped allow the Nets to give both of its new stars deals that could still be worth up to the max, via incentives. ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Bobby Marks have the specific details on those contracts, explaining that each player has about $1MM annually in incentives. Irving’s are considered “unlikely” and don’t current count toward his cap hit, while Durant’s are viewed as “likely” and are included in his current cap charge.

Irving’s contract, which has a fourth-year player option, as previously reported, has a base value of of $31,720,000 in year one, according to ESPN, which is $1MM shy of Kyrie’s max. The deal features eight separate incentives worth $125K apiece — they’ll be worth slightly more in each of his future seasons as the value of the contract increases.

He can earn $125K bonuses in 2019/20 for meeting the following benchmarks, for up to $1MM in total:

Appear in 70 or more regular season games.
Commit fewer than 2.4 turnovers per game (must appear in 60+ regular season games).
Attempt at least 4.6 free throws per game (must appear in 60+ regular season games).
Shoot at least 88.5% from the free throw line.
Make at least 2.8 three-pointers per game.
Commit fewer than 2.1 fouls per game.
Nets score at least 114 points per 100 possessions with Irving on the floor in the regular season.
Nets allow fewer than 106 points per 100 possessions with Irving on the floor in the regular season.

For more details on the odds of Irving (and the Nets) reaching those marks, be sure to check out ESPN’s breakdown.

As for Durant, his contract – which also features a fourth-year option, as previously noted – features simpler incentives.

KD’s likely $1MM bonus will be earned if any one of the following four criteria are met, according to ESPN:

The Nets make the playoffs.
The Nets win at least 43 games.
Durant appears in at least 50 games.
Durant makes the All-Star team.

Durant is expected to miss the entire 2019/20 season, so the last two benchmarks won’t be possible, but the first two are very realistic possibilities.

Depending on whether Irving and Durant reach their incentives this season, this year’s cap hits could be retroactively adjusted. Future cap hits could also be altered, depending on whether those incentives are still considered likely or unlikely after 2019/20.

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