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And-Ones: Monthly Awards, Hollis-Jefferson, Cooper

April 12th, 2022 at 3:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Rockets guard Jalen Green and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes were named the Rookies of the Month for March/April in the Western Conference and Eastern Conference, respectively, the NBA announced on Monday (via Twitter).

Green got off to an up-and-down start this season but finished strong, averaging 22.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.2 APG on .484/.395/.763 shooting in 22 games in March and April. Barnes helped the Raptors secure the No. 5 seed in the East by putting up 16.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 4.0 APG on 50.5% shooting in his last 22 contests.

The NBA also announced its Coaches of the Month for March/April on Tuesday (Twitter link). Mavericks coach Jason Kidd won the Western award for a 16-5 run to the end of the season; Ime Udoka, whose Celtics finished with a 15-4 stretch, earned the honor in the East.

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

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Eastern Notes: Hayward, Lowry, Barnes, Duarte, Porzingis

April 4th, 2022 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Incorporating Gordon Hayward back into the rotation is a tricky task for Hornets coach James Borrego, Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer notes. Hayward missed nearly two months of action due to a foot injury. He had five points, four rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes against Philadelphia on Saturday.

“Well, it’s a challenge, but that’s my job and I’ll figure it out,” Borrego said. “We’ll take a look at the film, look at the rotations. We’ve got two days now to digest and figure out what we are going to do. … I’ll try to bring some consistency to the lineup and try to communicate that to our group, making sure everybody understands their role and what this rotation is going to look like moving forward.”

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Heat guard Kyle Lowry is impressed by the lottery pick his former team drafted, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. Lowry sees Scottie Barnes as a potential franchise player for the Raptors. “He’s a special talent. He’s going to be a cornerstone of the franchise,” Lowry said. “He fits in perfectly here – how hard he plays, how passionate he is for the game. And he’s only going to continue to get better.”
  • Pacers rookie Chris Duarte won’t play during the final week of the season, according to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Duarte hasn’t played since March 15 due to a left big toe injury. Duarte, the 13th pick of last year’s draft, averaged 13.1 PPG in 28 MPG while appearing in 55 games.
  • The Wizards defeated Dallas on Friday, the first time Kristaps Porzingis played against his former team. Porzingis was grateful for the intensity his new teammates showed, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. “What I liked is everybody had my back (Friday),” Porzingis said. “They knew it was, I don’t want to say a personal game, but it’s always fun to compete against your former team. Everybody had my back.”
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And-Ones: Evans, COVID Boosters, DPOY, Barnes, Mobley

March 24th, 2022 at 7:49pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Tyreke Evans‘ drive to return to the NBA took another twist when the G League’s Wisconsin Herd waived him on Wednesday, according to a team press release. He appeared in two games for the Bucks’ affiliate, averaging 8.0 PPG, 2.0 RPG and 2.5 APG and suffering an ankle injury in the process.

Last month, Evans was reinstated into the NBA after being suspended by the league since 2019 for violating its drug policy. Prior to joining the Herd in the middle of this month, the 32-year-old guard had not played elsewhere since his ban.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • While Kyrie Irving can now play home games, the NBA is still concerned about another COVID-19 outbreak. As part of a memo on the rollback of New York City’s vaccine mandate, the Players Association is encouraging eligible players to get booster shots ahead of the playoffs, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The NBPA is concerned about the “possibility of new variants on the horizon.” Approximately 75% of the league’s players have already received a booster shot, the NBPA tweets.
  • There’s no clear-cut choice for the Defensive Player of the Year award, according to The Athletic’s Seth Partnow, and he takes a closer look at six serious candidates for the honor. That group includes Bam Adebayo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Rudy Gobert, Jaren Jackson Jr., Marcus Smart and Robert Williams.
  • The all-around ability of the Raptors’ Scottie Barnes and the Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley has changed the narrative on this year’s Rookie of the Year award, Eric Koreen of The Athletic opines. Unlike most high lottery picks, they’ve made a major impact on teams headed to the playoffs.
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Atlantic Notes: Harden, Sixers, Barnes, Nesmith

March 19th, 2022 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers have been successful since trading for James Harden last month, but he’s still trying to find the right balance between scoring and setting up teammates, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Harden has averaged 13.7 shots per game since coming to Philadelphia, which would be his lowest total in a decade.

“You have another guy [Joel Embiid] right now who’s leading the league in scoring on my team,” Harden said after Friday’s win over the Mavericks. “Night-in and night-out, he’s used to, he’s confident of getting buckets.”

Coach Doc Rivers said earlier this week that he would like to see Harden shoot more frequently, and Embiid expressed the same sentiment on Friday, saying the former MVP needs to be more aggressive heading into the playoffs. The two players spread out the scoring duties against Dallas, with Embiid contributing 21 of his 32 points in the first half and Harden scoring 11 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter.

“I’m just trying to find a balance like I talked about before, when to be a play-maker,” Harden said. “I think tonight especially in that fourth quarter, me attacking, attacking, attacking, the play-making ability is going to come because we got lobs, we got threes. So that’s going to come with my aggressiveness. You just got to read the game. And tonight, I felt I read the game well.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Rivers indicated that he might consider resting some of his players, particularly with a tough back-to-back looming for the Sixers Sunday and Monday against the Raptors and Heat, per Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. That wraps up a stretch of six games in nine days with two back-to-backs and a pair of one-game road trips. “You’d rather have this at the beginning of the year,” Rivers said. “But every team, at some point, goes through a stretch like this.”
  • A crucial mistake in Friday’s loss to the Lakers should be a learning experience for Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes, states Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Although Barnes had a great game with 31 points and 17 rebounds, his late inbounds pass was intercepted by Russell Westbrook, who hit a three-pointer to send the game to overtime. “It wasn’t just him,” Fred VanVleet said. “He really gave us a chance to be in the game, dominated both ends of the floor, had a couple unfortunate plays but … I’ve certainly had my share of them (and) it sucks in the moment but all you can do for those times is grow and get better at it, and Scottie will do that.”
  • Celtics guard Aaron Nesmith has been upgraded to questionable for Sunday’s game, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Nesmith has missed the past two weeks with a sprained right ankle.
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Raptors Notes: Barnes, VanVleet, Anunoby, Flynn, Siakam

March 18th, 2022 at 8:25pm CST by Rory Maher

Rookie Scottie Barnes may be the fulcrum on which the Raptors‘ future balances, according to Michael Grange of Sportnet. Barnes was stellar during the team’s current five-game winning streak, with all the victories coming on the road.

Barnes is an extremely versatile player who epitomizes the positionless nature of the modern NBA. With long arms and a relentless motor, the 20-year-old has an uncanny knack for the ball.

“If you’re a guy who has a nose for the basketball that means usually you have good anticipation about what’s coming ahead of time, before it happens,” head coach Nick Nurse said of Barnes. “Guys that seem to end up where the ball ends up, that takes, I think, an anticipation or a thinking ahead or just playing a lot. I know he’s 20 but we’ve talked about all the stories of they could never get him out of the gym, he was always playing pickup in multiple age groups … he’s played a lot I think to acquire that sense.”

Barnes is one of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year; through 61 games (35.6 MPG), all starts, he’s averaging 15.3 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.2 SPG and 0.8 BPG on .490/.316/.732 shooting.

At 39-30, Toronto currently has the same record as Cleveland, but the Cavs hold the tiebreaker for the sixth seed in the East.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

  • Fred VanVleet‘s maturity makes him the emotional leader of the Raptors, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “Obviously me being the leader and the point guard out there, it’s my job to be the calming presence. Sometimes I do a good job of that, sometimes I don’t. But for the most part, I’m glad with his team’s disposition and whether things are good or bad or up or down, we’ve done a great job of sticking together,” VanVleet said. “I think it just speaks to our chemistry. … We’re (able to have) honest, open communication. And that helps a lot. There are a lot of runs in a game and different things throughout the season, and you got to be able to just stay even-keeled throughout.” The first-time All-Star and 2019 NBA champion has been struggling with a knee injury, but he’s still serving as a mentor and leader for the young Toronto squad, as Koreen details.
  • OG Anunoby will miss at least one more week due to his fractured right ring finger, which still isn’t fully healed, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. He’ll be reevaluated again next week.
  • Malachi Flynn had a small tear in his left hamstring, per Lewenberg (Twitter link). Flynn suffered the injury two weeks ago and was ruled out indefinitely, but the hamstring is almost healed and Nurse says Flynn might be back in about a week.
  • Count Lakers head coach Frank Vogel as an admirer of Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, as Grange relays (via Twitter). “He’s one of the best players in the league in my opinion,” Vogel said of Siakam. The 27-year-old is having an outstanding season, averaging 22.0 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.3 SPG on .486/.358/.744 shooting through 56 games (37.6 MPG) this season.
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Raptors Notes: Anunoby, Siakam, Barnes, Birch, Achiuwa

March 15th, 2022 at 7:53am CST by Luke Adams

Raptors forward OG Anunoby, who has been sidelined since the All-Star break due to a fractured right ring finger, was reevaluated on Monday, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).

“It’s kinda the same,” head coach Nick Nurse said of Anunoby’s finger injury. “It’s not fully healed. He’s got a decision to make.”

According to Nurse, the plan is for Anunoby to practice on Tuesday and see how he feels — the team will know more at that point about his status. Nurse’s comment about Anunoby having a “decision” to make suggests that playing through the injury before it has fully healed could be an option if the pain isn’t too bad.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

  • As Eric Koreen writes for The Athletic, Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes are both technically forwards, but their versatile skill sets allows them to function as de facto point guards at times, and they’re developing intriguing chemistry together. “I think we have kind of like similar skill sets, and we always feel like we have a mismatch every time down the floor,” Siakam said over the weekend.
  • Noting that Toronto enjoyed success in Denver on Saturday with a shooting-deficient lineup made up of Barnes, Khem Birch, Thaddeus Young, Chris Boucher, and Dalano Banton, Eric Koreen explores Nurse’s unconventional rotation decisions, dubbing the Raptors the NBA’s “delightful weirdos.”
  • Birch appreciates the Raptors’ willingness to stick with him as a rotation regular and a frequent starter, given how much time he has missed this season due to injuries and illnesses. “Honestly, I feel like with any other team I probably wouldn’t even be playing right now,” said Birch, who has missed 26 of 68 games (link via Doug Smith of The Toronto Star). “The fact that they just have that type of confidence in me despite all the injuries I’ve had, all the setbacks, and I’m still getting minutes tells a lot about how they feel about me, and it gives me a lot of confidence to keep going despite my injury.”
  • Nekias Duncan of BasketballNews.com examines the progress that Raptors center Precious Achiuwa has made in his second NBA season and the areas where he still has room to improve.
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Josh Giddey, Scottie Barnes Named Rookies Of The Month For February

March 3rd, 2022 at 1:10pm CST by Rory Maher

Thunder guard Josh Giddey and Raptors guard/forward Scottie Barnes have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Rookies of the Month for February, the NBA announced (via Twitter).

The other nominees in the West were Rockets guard Jalen Green, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, and Thunder guard Tre Mann. For the East, the other nominees were Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Cavaliers forward/center Evan Mobley, Nets guard Cam Thomas, and Magic forward Franz Wagner, the league announced (Twitter link).

Giddey, 19, averaged 16.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 7.7 assists on .466/.278/.773 shooting in 10 February games (33.4 minutes per contest). It’s his fourth straight Rookie of the Month honor for the West, as most of the league’s top rookies are in the East. He’s currently sidelined with a right hip injury and has missed the last three games for the Thunder.

Barnes, 20, averaged 15.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on .540/.375/.781 shooting in 12 February games (31.8 minutes). It’s his first Rookie of the Month honor. The previous winners in the East this season were Wagner, Mobley, and Cunningham.

Mobley, Barnes, Cunningham, Giddey and Wagner are considered the leading candidates for the Rookie of the Year award this season, with Mobley as a strong favorite, according to Vegas Insider.

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NBA Announces Slam Dunk, Three-Point, Skills Challenge Contestants

February 8th, 2022 at 6:56pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has announced a full list of the participants for its three-point, slam dunk and skills challenge competitions ahead of the upcoming 2022 All-Star Weekend in Cleveland.

Per the NBA (Twitter link), the following players will partake in the Mountain Dew Three-Point Contest, which appears to have outpaced the dunk contest as the premiere event for established stars at All-Star Weekend. Four 2022 All-Stars will compete:

According to the league (via Twitter), these are the contestants in the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest:

Below are the NBA’s announced players for the newly revamped Taco Bell Skills Challenge (Twitter link). This year, the Skills Challenge will be divvied up into three teams: Antetokounmpo brothers (“Antetokounmpos”), Cavaliers players (“Cavs”), and rookies (“Rooks”).

These three events will take place on All-Star Saturday on February 19.

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2021/22 Rising Stars Team Rosters

February 4th, 2022 at 6:27pm CST by Rory Maher

As we previously relayed, the NBA announced a new format for its Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend, which will take place on Friday, February 18. The event will feature four seven-player teams competing in a three-game tournament (two semifinals and a final).

The player pool is comprised of 12 NBA rookies, 12 sophomores, and four players from the G League Ignite, while the games will be played to a target score: 50 points in the semifinals and 25 points in the final, in honor of the league’s 75th anniversary season.

The rosters were announced on February 1, but now the four honorary coaches (75th anniversary team members Rick Barry, Isiah Thomas, Gary Payton and James Worthy) have selected their seven-man teams, per our JD Shaw (Twitter link). Here are the rosters:

Team Barry:

Team Isiah:

Team Payton:

Team Worthy:

James Ham of ESPN 1320 and The Kings Beat provides (via Twitter) the full draft results.

The top 10, in order, were: Edwards, Mobley, Ball, Anthony, Giddey, Barnes, Cunningham, Bey, Bane, and Wagner. It’s worth noting that Worthy and Anthony both went to the University of North Carolina, so Anthony’s selection at No. 4 is less surprising given that context.

What do you think of the teams? Who do you think will come out on top? Head to the comments section and let us know your thoughts!

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NBA Announces 2021/22 Rising Stars Rosters

February 1st, 2022 at 6:34pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has revealed the 28 players (12 rookies, 12 sophomores, and four G League Ignite players) who will suit up for the 2022 Clorox Rising Stars Game in Cleveland this year, per its official PR account (Twitter links). There are a few intriguing surprises among the first-year NBA players.

Here are the players who made the cut:

Rookies:

Sophomores:

Additionally, four players from the G League Ignite will participate in the Rising Stars Game based on voting from NBA G League head coaches. The NBAGL has announced (Twitter link) that MarJon Beauchamp, Dyson Daniels, Jaden Hardy and Scoot Henderson will partake in the action. Players will be separated into four teams, and each G League player will be drafted to join one of the teams later this week.

Among the rookie NBA players, the additions who would be most surprising ahead of the 2021/22 season would be Dosunmu and Jones, both of whom were second-round draft selections. 2021 lottery picks Jonathan Kuminga, Ziaire Williams, James Bouknight, Joshua Primo and Moses Moody were all omitted from inclusion this year.

Among the second-year players, Ball could be appearing on multiple nights during All-Star Weekend this season, as he appears to be a very possible first-time All-Star this year thanks to his outstanding work with the upstart Hornets.

The lottery-bound Magic, Pistons, and Rockets can boast having the most inclusions here, with three players apiece.

As we detailed last week, this year’s Rising Stars event will look a little different, with the four teams taking part in a mini-tournament and playing to a target score in each game: 50 points in the semifinals and 25 points in the final, in honor of the league’s 75th anniversary season.

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