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Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Thybulle, Dinwiddie

December 25th, 2019 at 7:58pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Sixers brought the intensity of a playoff basketball game earlier today as the team took down the conference-leading Bucks. Joel Embiid led the charge on the defensive end, where Philadelphia had a clear game plan to shut down Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“The whole season I’ve been humble, but I want to be defensive player of the year, and I feel like tonight showed it,” Embiid said after the win (h/t Torrey Hart of Yahoo! Sports).

The center has only missed six games this season after several seasons of spotty availability. Embiid could finally be on his way to taking home some regular-season hardware. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • There’s some optimism that Matisse Thybulle‘s absence will only last about two weeks, Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports tweets. The rookie is expected to miss 2-to-4 weeks with a sprained knee.
  • The Nets‘ season has been filled with injuries and coach Kenny Atkinson is pleased with how the team has rallied. However, he knows a tough stretch is coming, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays. “It’s good. I’m pleasantly surprised [with the record],” coach Atkinson said.“It seems like when we have a guy down, someone steps up and the group comes closer together. … We’re going to have to see with this group if we can continue, and the schedule gets harder. 
  • The Nets might be dwelling in the Eastern Conference’s cellar if it weren’t for Spencer Dinwiddie being so good this season. While Atkinson is thankful for Dinwiddie’s contributions, he believes the guard can still improve, particularly with finishing at the rim, as Brian Lewis of the New York Post passes along.
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Fournier Could Be On The Move

December 23rd, 2019 at 5:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Magic swingman Evan Fournier is the player most likely to be moved before the trade deadline, according to an ESPN Insider report from Bobby Marks.

While there’s no indication Fournier is being shopped, a straw poll of NBA executives believe that the Magic will need to start exploring their trade options on the veteran, who is likely to leave $17.2MM on the table and opt out this summer. Orlando is currently battling for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Fournier is enjoying a career year, averaging 19.6 PPG and shooting 42.3% from long range.

Here are more nuggets from the ESPN report:

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Atlantic Notes: Dinwiddie, Hayward, Miller, Sixers

December 22nd, 2019 at 4:22pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The New York Post’s Brian Lewis ponders the role that stellar Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie will have when injured All-Star Kyrie Irving returns. Lewis notes that former Net Paul Pierce has proposed one possible solution on ESPN: Irving could start at shooting guard while Dinwiddie keeps rolling at the point guard slot. Brooklyn boasts a 11-6 record with Dinwiddie at the helm since Irving went down. The team was 4-7 before the injury.

“Kyrie’s still learning exactly what we want to do,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson allowed in recent comments. “Spencer’s got a little more corporate knowledge. It’s going to take time for Kyrie to completely understand what we’re doing on both sides of the ball.”

Meanwhile, Malika Andrews of ESPN notes that Irving has yet to be cleared for contact practices with the Nets, according to Atkinson (Twitter link). Two weeks ago, Atkinson had said that Irving would be ready for contact by this stage.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • Coach Brad Stevens noted via the official Celtics Twitter account (link) that the health status of Gordon Hayward for his team’s next game will be “bumped up to probable after today.” Hayward’s various maladies have relegated him to just 11 games played this season.
  • Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News takes a look at the differences between ex-Knicks head coach David Fizdale and his interim replacement, Mike Miller. The Knicks are 3-4 since Miller slid over on the bench to take charge. They were 4-18 under Fizdale to start the season.
  • The Sixers offense was once again confounded by a zone defense, this time one enacted by the Mavericks, in a 117-98 loss on Friday. The defeat marked the team’s second consecutive home loss, after initially going 15-0 at the Wells Fargo Center to start the season. According to The Athletic’s Rich Hoffman, coach Brett Brown noted that opponents’ successful zone trapping was so demoralizing it has helped cultivate a lackluster Sixers effort on defense, too. “I think that the influence that our inability lately to… be put on our back heels against the zone, has crept into our defense, our psyche, our spirit,” Brown said. “And I can’t stand it.”
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New York Notes: Hezonja, Dinwiddie, Miller, Barrett

December 9th, 2019 at 10:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Forward Mario Hezonja wanted to return to the Knicks but they never made him an offer in free agency, Marc Berman of the New York Post reports. Hezonja wound up taking a two-year, minimum salary deal with the Trail Blazers.

“That free agency was ‘call me and I’m coming back (to the Knicks),'” Hezonja said. “I don’t care (that) there’s a lot of perception people make about playing in New York. But I had never had problems with you guys (media). Media was great always great. Everyone from the front office was great to me. Fans are the best in the world. … I loved every single thing about my entire time out there. It didn’t work out in the summer.”

We have more on the New York teams:

  • Spencer Dinwiddie has played so well as the Nets’ starting point guard that coach Kenny Atkinson will have a pleasant dilemma when max player Kyrie Irving returns to action, Brian Lewis the New York Post writes. The Nets are 9-3 with Dinwiddie in the lineup, compared to 4-7 before a shoulder injury sidelined Irving. “It’s a good [situation]. It just adds to our depth and adds to our talent, and I just see it as a good thing,” Atkinson said. “Now I’m thinking about what is that going to look like rotation-wise. What does that look like with Spencer: Start or come off the bench? So those are good problems. I’m excited — our staff is excited — about making that work.”
  • New Knicks coach Mike Miller focused Monday’s two-hour practice on changing the team’s defensive coverage, Berman writes in a separate piece. Miller is looking for more consistent effort from the struggling squad. “We were working on the things that we need to do and really get a good feel, continue to work with our consistency of how we play possession to possession,’” Miller said. “That’s what our focus is. … Let’s lock in these areas where we’ve shown we can be pretty good. Let’s do it for longer stretches.”
  • Knicks rookie RJ Barrett has to adjust a coaching change in the early stages of his career but he’s taking it in stride, Steve Popper of Newsday relays. “This is a business,” Barrett said. “We’re pros. Stuff will happen. We have a whole season to go and move on.”
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Atlantic Notes: Dinwiddie, Hayward, Vegas Odds

December 3rd, 2019 at 9:33am CST by ChrisCrouse

Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie is having a breakout season, but no matter how well he performs, he’ll likely be relegated back to his sixth-man role once Kyrie Irving and Caris LeVert both return from their respective injuries, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes.

“If you don’t roll with it, you will be out the league,” Dinwiddie said. “You don’t have a choice. I could be out here trippin’ and I’ll be gone. If you roll with it, we figure it out and I get to stay and sometimes, every so often, I’ll have like a big game.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • If Irving, LeVert, and Dinwiddie can all stay healthy, the Nets have a powerful backcourt rotation that is only matched by few around the league, as Malika Andrews of ESPN.com relays. “We have no idea what our ceiling is because we are not even close to healthy,” Dinwiddie said. “We really have no idea how good we could be. It is encouraging to know that our floor is continuing to rise.”
  • Before he injured his hand, Gordon Hayward was thriving and it was because of the Celtics‘ commitment to ball movement, Steve Bullpett of the Boston Herald writes. Hayward struggled last season in a slightly different on-court environment. “Yeah, if he gave the ball up, it wasn’t coming back,” said president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “I mean, I think it was everybody trying to figure out like how they could earn their opportunities, and there wasn’t enough to go around to feed everybody.”
  • The first quarter of the season has made Vegas bookmakers more optimistic about the Celtics‘ chances of winning the NBA Finals, Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston explains. Boston is listed as 18-to-1 odds in SuperBook USA’s latest offerings. The team was 40-to-1 a month ago.
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Nets Notes: Dinwiddie, Defense, Allen, Carroll

November 25th, 2019 at 10:18am CST by Arthur Hill

Spencer Dinwiddie has been playing so well in Kyrie Irving‘s absence that he might remain in the starting lineup once Irving returns, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Dinwiddie poured in 30 points in Sunday’s win over the Knicks and has averaged 25.0 points and 6.2 assists per game since becoming a starter. Irving is sidelined until at least Friday with a shoulder impingement, and coach Kenny Atkinson said he will consider using them together as the starting backcourt.

“Kyrie is still learning exactly what we want to do. Spencer’s got a little more corporate knowledge,” Atkinson said. “It’s going to take time for Kyrie to completely understand what we’re doing on both sides of the ball. That being said, for not understanding he’s been pretty darn good. So it just gives us a lot of different options. I think about Spencer playing so well right now, when Kyrie comes back what does that look like? Is Spencer coming to start? You have [Garrett Temple] with the defense. There’s a lot [of options] … which is a good problem to have.”

Dinwiddie started 58 games during the 2017/18 season, then excelled as a sixth man last year, so he’s comfortable with either role. He understands that his place on the team will continue to evolve as Caris LeVert returns from injury later this season and especially when Kevin Durant is healthy enough to play in 2020/21.

“The role just changes, like an amoeba. Sometimes it’s defense, sometimes it’s going to be scoring,” Dinwiddie said. “Obviously usage rate is probably through the roof right now because Kyrie is out, Caris and obviously the monster is going to be back probably next season. For now my job is to do this, and then it’ll shift when they get back.”

There’s more this morning from Brooklyn:

  • The Nets have been successful without Irving because of improvements on defense, Lewis notes in a separate story. Brooklyn has won four of its last five games and is posting a 102.4 Defensive Rating in that span, which ranks fifth in the league. The changes came about after Temple replaced LeVert and Iman Shumpert entered the rotation after being signed last week.
  • Improved play from Jarrett Allen has also lifted the Nets, observes Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. Allen got off to a slow start while adjusting to the addition of DeAndre Jordan, but through 16 games his averages of 10.9 PPG and 9.4 RPG are in line with last season’s.
  • DeMarre Carroll respects the Nets for letting him know he wasn’t in their future plans before free agency began, relays Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Carroll signed with the Spurs after spending two years in Brooklyn. “They just let me know they weren’t going to be able to pay me what somebody else would pay me. All they really had the minimum because they wanted to go out and pursue other guys,” Carroll said. “They went out and got Kevin Durant and Kyrie and DeAndre. They already kind of laid it out before I went into free agency.”
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NBA Could Terminate Dinwiddie’s Contract If He Goes Forward With Digital Investment Plan

November 19th, 2019 at 6:50pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Spencer Dinwiddie has plans to convert his three-year, $34.4MM contract into a digital investment vehicle that would allow investors to buy a digital token backed by his contract, something that would allow the guard to secure a large upfront payment. The league, which sought outside legal counsel on the matter, is not approving Dinwiddie’s venture for a variety of reasons, as Shams Charania of The Athletic learns.

“At the request of Spencer Dinwiddie and his advisors, we have reviewed a number of variations of their digital token idea,” said Dan Rube, the NBA’s Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. “All of the ideas presented would violate collectively bargained league rules, including rules prohibiting transferring a player’s right to receive NBA salary, gambling on NBA-related matters, and creating financial incentives to miss games.”

The NBA wants to work with Dinwiddie to find common ground, Charania writes. Dinwiddie has met with the league twice over the past month in an attempt to find a resolution that allows him to move forward with his venture. The guard has made several changes to the structure of his investment vehicles that would appease the league and attempted to alleviate concerns about “third-party assignment” or the transferring of his contract, which would violate the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The latest hangup is over Dinwiddie’s 2020/21 player option, which is worth $12.3MM. Token holders would be invested in his decision on that option, though the Nets’ guard recently altered the payout mechanism for investors, reducing the risk to zero should he opt in and giving them potential upside should he opt out. Because of his option, the league views selling the digital token as gambling, since his investors would be potentially wagering millions of dollars on whether he becomes a free agent as well as his availability to play games in the league.

Dinwiddie still plans on moving forward with his venture, as he believes the NBA’s lack of approval is without cause. Dinwiddie carrying out his plan could bring penalties such as a suspension, a fine, or even the termination of his contract, though that would be an extreme measure.

Charania hears from a source that Dinwiddie’s goal is to design a method that can further improve a player’s economic options while adhering to the league’s concerns. The National Basketball Players Association recently release a statement supporting Dinwiddie.

“The NBPA’s mission is to support its members and we are currently assisting Spencer and his business associates in seeking to address the League’s concerns,” the NBPA said in a statement. “Our hope is that a resolution satisfactory to all parties can be achieved.”

For now, the two sides are in a standstill over the combo guard’s plan. Dinwiddie has played in 13 games for Brooklyn, starting two in place of Kyrie Irving. He’s averaging 18.5 points and 4.8 assists per game and the Nets are 5-8 on the season.

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Atlantic Notes: Claxton, Porzingis, Ennis, Sixers

November 10th, 2019 at 2:33pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Spencer Dinwiddie, speaking after the debut of Nets rookie center Nicolas Claxton on Friday night in a 119-115 victory against Portland, called the 20 year-old the team’s second-most talented player. Claxton, drafted 31st by Brooklyn this summer, scored eight points on three-of-five shooting from the field and pulled down six boards in just 12 minutes of action.

“So, I still believe [starting center Jarrett Allen] is going to be an All-Star, but Nic is the second-most talented player on this team,” Dinwiddie said, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “[First] is [Kevin Durant], either the first or second most talented scorer of all-time. But Nic’s got game. He’s got a chance [to be great].”

Those comments reflect just how high Dinwiddie is on the rookie, considering he apparently has him ahead of Kyrie Irving on his informal list of Brooklyn’s most talented players. Irving, the Nets’ only healthy current All-Star, is averaging 31.9 points, 7.5 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game for the 4-4 squad.

Meanwhile, Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson lauded Claxton’s defensive awareness: “Just understanding the coverages,” Atkinson noted. “I think one time in the first half we were switching everything and he handled that fantastically. That was part of the reason we drafted him, that he was versatile and could guard five positions, so he proved that.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • As Kristaps Porzingis prepared to suit up last week against the team that drafted him in 2015, The Athletic’s Frank Isola explored the Knicks front office’s alienation of the team’s former franchise player. Trouble began to brew when Porzingis blew off an April 2017 season exit interview with then-team president Phil Jackson and then-GM (now team president) Steve Mills. When pressed about the messy breakup Thursday, Porzingis said, “I’ll probably get in more trouble if I start talking about that stuff.” Isola observes that the Knicks’ returns in the deal have yet to bear much fruit: center DeAndre Jordan joined Brooklyn over the summer, point guard Dennis Smith Jr. was booed in the team’s first home game, and the Knicks have yet to use their two Dallas future first-rounders acquired in the deal.
  • It’s been a season of streaks for the Sixers. After starting out 5-0, the 76ers have lost three straight games on a Western Conference road trip, falling to the fifth seed in the East. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer posits that the Sixers’ current troubles can be credited to their summer roster overhaul, and that they have too many new faces for continuity at present. New power forward Al Horford and long-term starting center Joel Embiid are still developing their on-court chemistry. When questioned about the team’s recent struggles, Horford observed, “What’s going to help us is the more games we continue to play, the more we get used to playing with one another, everything is going to come together.”
  • Veteran point guard Tyler Ennis made his triumphant return to a basketball game for the Raptors‘ G League affiliate, Raptors 905, 13 months after suffering a gruesome leg injury for Turkish team Fenerbahce. Doug Smith of The Toronto Star has the story and the details on Ennis, who feels that the time off had some unexpected developmental benefits. “I had six, seven, eight months of nothing, so I was able to think, ‘When I get back this is what I want to work on,’ ” Ennis said. “I want to be able to shoot better off the dribble and that’s how we kind of did it, in stages.” Though Smith observes that the parent Raptors could use a third point guard and liked Ennis as far back as the 2014 draft, Ennis is nursing a zen calm about the prospect of a callup: “I kind of just want to let it manifest.”  
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New York Notes: Wilkes, DSJ, Durant, Dinwiddie

October 23rd, 2019 at 1:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks initially expected to fill their second two-way contract slot with undrafted rookie Kris Wilkes, but health problems will prevent the former UCLA wing from joining the team at this point, as head coach David Fizdale confirmed today.

“He got ill,” Fizdale said of Wilkes. “He came down with a serious illness. I don’t know what it was but it was pretty severe.”

The Knicks waited until the start of the regular season to sign a second two-way player alongside Kadeem Allen, presumably taking as much time as possible to see if Wilkes might re-emerge as an option. Instead, the team is signing former Grizzlies forward Ivan Rabb to fill that open two-way slot.

Here’s more on New York’s two teams:

  • Knicks point guard Dennis Smith Jr. has signed with Roc Nation for representation, he announced this week (on Twitter). Smith, who will become eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2020 offseason, will be repped by veteran agent Raymond Brothers, tweets Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal.
  • Appearing on Serge Ibaka‘s YouTube show, Kevin Durant explained why he chose the Nets over Knicks when he decided to make the move to New York as a free agent. “I just liked the organization as far as the direction they were going in — a bunch of young guys that played in the playoffs before,” Durant said, per Marc Berman of The New York Post. “The Knicks players, they‘re good young players but they still need more experience to match where I was in my career. It was nothing major against the Knicks. I just think Brooklyn is further along in the process of being a contender.”
  • Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie left Monday’s meeting with the NBA feeling good about where things stand with what he’s calling his Professional Athlete Investment Token (PAInT), per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “They had four or five comments previously, we got them down to one,” Dinwiddie said. “I think we’re going to get it done. It’s just pending a little more feedback.”
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Atlantic Notes: Smart, Raptors, Dinwiddie, Kyrie

October 21st, 2019 at 11:11am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics‘ backcourt has undergone some major changes in recent years, from Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley to Kyrie Irving to Kemba Walker. Through it all, Marcus Smart has been the one constant, having averaged 27 or more minutes per game for Boston for each of the last five seasons.

According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, Smart said he sometimes thinks about the possibility of spending his entire career with the Celtics, which is something he’d love to do. As Himmelsbach relays, Smart recognizes that player movement is a big part of today’s NBA, but would like to “be a part of something special” in Boston.

“I’m six years in now, and it feels like yesterday I was drafted,” the Celtics’ guard said. “It is funny to see all the faces I’ve seen come through the organization. But it’s a blessing and I’m blessed to be here still, and that’s rare. Usually guys are gone by now. I’m blessed to still be here.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • While the loss of Kawhi Leonard represented the Raptors‘ most significant roster shakeup this summer, the departure of starting shooting guard Danny Green shouldn’t be overlooked, as Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun writes. “He’s not flashy, his game isn’t very sexy, but I don’t know what he shot, 45% from three? Something crazy like that, at a high clip, played 80 games, played every night, guarded the best players on the other teams and he’s just solid every night,” Fred VanVleet said of Green. “… He didn’t do a lot of preaching and teaching, he just was here and (led) by example and we’ll miss that.”
  • Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has another meeting scheduled with the NBA today to discuss his plan to “tokenize” his contract, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times. The league previously said Dinwiddie’s plan violates the CBA but he views the new meeting as a “good faith” gesture and is hopeful an agreement can be reached, as he tweeted this morning. Meanwhile, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com offers an interesting look at the specifics of Dinwiddie’s proposal.
  • Kyrie Irving wasn’t thrilled that details of the Nets‘ and Lakers‘ Shanghai meeting with commissioner Adam Silver earlier this month leaked to the press, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “You want to keep those meetings private,” Irving said. “I don’t know how it necessarily materialized into a big story. I don’t know whose notes or who was in there that we can’t depend on to keep a conversation like that in-house.”
  • Speaking of Irving, his former teammate Marcus Morris believes the Knicks‘ locker room will be healthier this season than the Celtics‘ was last season in part because New York doesn’t have a superstar player to cater to. “No knock on Ky, but obviously he’s a superstar, he’s first,” Morris said, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. “Sometimes his emotions were put in front of the team.”
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