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California Notes: Lakers, Holmes, Draymond, Clippers

March 15th, 2022 at 11:16pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The struggling 29-39 Lakers, winners of just two of their last ten games, are looking to the future, encouraged by the development of some of their youngsters, writes Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register.

Though the Los Angeles front office mostly opted to build its new-look roster around older veterans this summer, a handful of younger role players have emerged around 37-year-old All-Star forward LeBron James this season.

24-year-old guard Malik Monk and 23-year-old rookie wing Austin Reaves, alongside 25-year-old forward Stanley Johnson, have emerged as three of the Lakers’ more reliable players who may have yet to hit their ceilings. 21-year-old swingman Talen Horton-Tucker remains an intriguing option as well, though he has underperformed relative to his new three-year, $32MM contract this season.

“They’ve continued to improve and get better and more comfortable in our system, in our environment,” head coach Frank Vogel said of the Lakers’ youth movement. “Malik, Austin and Talen. That trio is another reason amongst others why I believe we have a chance.”

There’s more out of California:

  • The NBA has fined Kings big man Richaun Holmes to the tune of $25K after he threw a basketball into the crowd during a 134-125 loss to the Jazz on March 12, per a league press release (Twitter link). Holmes was ejected from the game at the time of the incident. It shouldn’t make too big of a dent in his wallet — the 28-year-old is in the first season of a lucrative new four-year, $46.5MM contract he signed with Sacramento during the 2021 offseason.
  • Despite being inactive for the last 30 Warriors contests this season due to a nagging back injury, All-Star power forward Draymond Green remains convinced he can still win his second Defensive Player of the Year Award this season, per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. “Yeah, I’ve seen guys win with not many more games than I’m gonna play,” Green said. “I don’t know what league everybody else has been watching, but I have not seen anyone solidify themselves as Defensive Player of the Year.” Johnson notes that, should Green be available for all 13 remaining Warriors games during the 2021/22 regular season, he will only have suited up for 48 total this year.
  • With a 36-35 record, the eighth-seeded Clippers are six games behind the sixth-seeded Nuggets in the Western Conference. L.A. has just 11 games left on its regular season slate. The team has little to no chance of avoiding the play-in tournament at this point of the year, barring a collapse from both the Nuggets and the 40-30 seventh seed, the Timberwolves. The team is also a whopping 5.5 games ahead of the ninth-seeded Lakers. Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register examines how the Clippers intend to operate down the home stretch of the season given the reality of their seeding. “We’ll get a chance to experiment with our small lineup, which we gotta get better at once we get everyone healthy and get everyone back and then kinda see how that plays out,“ head coach Tyronn Lue said. Lue also intends to work through after-timeout plays, with an emphasis on helping shooting guard Luke Kennard improve his timing off screens.
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Injury Notes: Leonard, George, Bulls, D. Green, Reddish

March 9th, 2022 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard took part in a “rigorous” pregame workout that lasted well over an hour on Tuesday, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports said during TNT’s broadcast (video link via Justin Russo). According to Haynes, it looked like Leonard had “zero limitations” during that workout, but head coach Tyronn Lue said the two-time Finals MVP still hasn’t been cleared for contact, as Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group relays.

Although Kawhi is clearly making progress, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski stated on Wednesday’s episode of NBA Today that a return this season is “more realistic” for teammate Paul George than for Leonard (video link). The Clippers haven’t ruled out the possibility of Leonard playing this spring, but Woj notes that it’s still been less than eight months since he underwent ACL surgery, which would be a very quick turnaround even if his recovery is ahead of schedule.

The Clippers are in position to make the play-in tournament and could extend their season by earning one of the West’s final two playoff spots, but the team may not be comfortable bringing back Leonard in the postseason without any regular season reps.

“I spoke to Coach Lue,” Haynes said on TNT last night. “And he told me that if he can’t get his guys back for games in the regular season, then it wouldn’t be safe for them to return in the playoffs.”

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

  • The Bulls have cleared Alex Caruso (wrist) for full contact and Patrick Williams (wrist) for “minimal” contact, per head coach Billy Donovan. As K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes, there’s still no set timeline for either player to return to action. However, if Caruso is able to fully participate in the team’s next practice on Friday, he could be on track to play soon.
  • Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said today that swingman Danny Green will “most likely” miss Thursday’s game vs. Brooklyn due to a finger laceration, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). Due to the risk of his stitches reopening, Green may end up being sidelined for a week or more, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com.
  • The Knicks have three games left on their current road trip, but forward Cam Reddish has returned to New York in order to have his injured right shoulder reevaluated, head coach Tom Thibodeau said today (Twitter link via Fred Katz of The Athletic). The injury, which Reddish sustained on Monday, is being called a sprain for now.
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Pacific Notes: Fox, Haliburton, Hield, Biyombo, Clippers

January 5th, 2022 at 2:56pm CST by Luke Adams

It hasn’t been a good season so far for Sacramento, the only team to have fired a head coach since opening night. But with so many other Western Conference teams struggling, the 16-23 Kings currently occupy a play-in spot, with a half-game lead over San Antonio for the No. 10 seed.

The Kings are extremely motivated to make the postseason this year and would be interested in making trades that both improve their playoff chances and give them “a runway for sustained success in the future,” says Sam Amick of The Athletic. According to Amick, team owner Vivek Ranadive has given general manager Monte McNair the green light to make any roster moves necessary to meet those goals.

It has frequently been reported that Sacramento’s most likely trade candidates are Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III. Amick confirms that the team’s preference would be to retain – and build around – guards De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. However, Fox and Haliburton aren’t viewed as untouchable, according to Amick, who says no Kings player is considered entirely off the table in trade discussions.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

  • Speaking to Mark Medina of NBA.com, Kings wing Buddy Hield acknowledged that he thought he would be traded to the Lakers during the offseason. However, it doesn’t sound like Hield is dwelling on what could have been — or worried about the possibility of being on the move before the trade deadline. “If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t,” Hield told Medina. “But it’s basketball, and you have to live with it. It’s the business side of it. At the end of the day, I still have a job. I can go to all 30 teams in the league. As long as I have a job, I’m happy.”
  • The Suns‘ addition of Bismack Biyombo on a 10-day contract has been a major success so far, according to Jeremy Cluff of The Arizona Republic. Biyombo has made a case for a rest-of-season deal by averaging 13.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 2.0 BPG on 11-of-13 shooting off the bench in his first two games with the team.
  • The Clippers‘ depth has been tested recently both on and off the court, writes Mirjam Swanson of the Southern California News Group. Besides missing several players due to injuries and COVID-19, the coaching staff has also been depleted, with assistant Dan Craig recovering from knee surgery and several other coaches testing positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, head coach Tyronn Lue exited the protocols today and is prepared to return to the Clippers’ bench, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link).
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COVID-19 Updates: Doncic, SGA, Robinson, Hawks, Nuggets, More

January 1st, 2022 at 5:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

Mavericks star Luka Doncic has cleared the league’s health and safety protocols, sources tell Marc Stein (Twitter link). Doncic, who hasn’t played since December 10, missed a combined 10 games due to a left ankle injury and his time in the protocols. He’s expected to meet his teammates in Oklahoma City and may return to the court on Sunday.

Tim Hardaway Jr. and Maxi Kleber may also be able to exit the protocols in time for Sunday’s game, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Dallas, which has five other players still in protocols, managed to go 5-5 without Doncic and is holding onto eighth place in the Western Conference.

Here are more updates on players entering and exiting the protocols:

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COVID-19 Updates: Vogel, Lue, Pelicans, Raptors, Pokusevski

December 31st, 2021 at 1:47pm CST by Luke Adams

One Los Angeles team is getting its head coach out of the NBA’s health and safety protocols today, while the other has placed their coach in the protocols.

The Lakers got the good news, as Frank Vogel has cleared the protocols and will be back on the sidelines for the team on Friday night vs. Portland, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). David Fizdale will return to his role as Vogel’s lead assistant after serving as the acting head coach for the last 12 days.

Meanwhile, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue has entered the protocols, according to an announcement from the team. Lue, the 10th head coach to be affected by the protocols this month, will be replaced in the short term by assistant Brian Shaw.

Here are more protocol-related updates from across the NBA:

  • The Pelicans got Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Naji Marshall, and Jose Alvarado back at practice today following their respective stints in the COVID-19 protocols, tweets Christian Clark of NOLA.com. New Orleans isn’t entirely out of the woods though — center Jonas Valanciunas has entered the protocols, per Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link).
  • According to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link), Raptors rookie Justin Champagnie has exited the protocols, leaving Isaac Bonga as the only player from the team’s standard roster still affected. However, one of Toronto’s replacement players – D.J. Wilson – has now entered the protocols, Murphy notes.
  • Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski is no longer in the protocols and will be available for Friday’s contest vs. the Knicks, says Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (Twitter link).
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California Notes: Thompson, Payton II, Lue, Kings Guards

December 5th, 2021 at 1:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson, who has not suited up for Golden State since the 2019 NBA Finals due to an ACL tear and an Achilles tear incurred in two separate seasons, provided new insight into his expected return timeline this season. Per Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter), Thompson revealed on a recent Instagram Live stream that he’s looking to return to action from anywhere between a few weeks to a month.

The Warriors have been doing just fine without Thompson, a five-time All-Star, thus far this season, sporting a 19-4 record, tops in the Western Conference. The 6’6″ Thompson, who will be turning 32 this season, holds career averages of 19.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.3 APG, with a sparkling shooting line of .459/.419/.848.

There’s more out of California:

  • 6’2″ Warriors guard Gary Payton II appears to have finally found a permanent NBA role as a do-everything perimeter defender for Golden State this season, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “He’s so dynamic defensively,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “And when he’s scoring as well – he made a few 3s tonight but also scored around the basket as he does – it’s hard to take him off the floor because of what he does for us… He’s really earned all these minutes.” The 29-year-old out of Oregon State is averaging 14.6 MPG across 22 games with Golden State this year.
  • Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue has explained that whether or not he opts to start two traditional big men – 7’1″ center Ivica Zubac and 6’10” power forward Serge Ibaka – will be contingent on matchups, per Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register. “I think it helps us with our rebounding,” Lue said. “It’ll be different on a night to night basis; if teams start a small four then it’d be tough to put Serge out there at the four. With this team starting the way they’re starting tonight then we can try to do it again tonight and get away with it.”
  • A four-guard crunch-time Kings lineup of De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Terence Davis and Davion Mitchell, playing alongside traditional center Richaun Holmes, has proven to be effective for Sacramento, observes Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee. This rotation was trotted out against a small-ball Clippers lineup in an eventual 104-99 Sacramento victory this weekend. “It was just about pushing the pace, making them play at our pace and running,” Haliburton said. “So I thought we did a really good job of that.”
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Western Notes: Looney, Kerr, Lue, Williams, Cousins

November 29th, 2021 at 5:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kevon Looney will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and thus far, he’s enhanced his résumé. Head coach Steve Kerr said the Warriors’ big man is underappreciated and that his contributions go far beyond stats, Mark Medina of NBA.com tweets. “Looney is playing fantastic basketball,” Kerr said. “He’s totally underrated. He’ll never get the credit he deserves.” Looney, an afterthought in the offensive scheme, is averaging 5.5 PPG and 6.6 RPG.

We have more from the Western Conference:

  • Kerr and Clippers coach Tyronn Lue have a mutual admiration, Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register tweets. Lue says he hears from Kerr often. “He’s always checking up on me … very positive, motivating guy,” Lue said. “I don’t cheer for too many guys, but I do cheer for Steve… a genuine good person. He is one of my friends in coaching, which is pretty rare, for me.”
  • Thunder forward Kenrich Williams is dealing with an ankle injury suffered in Friday’s loss to Washington, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tweets. Williams, who is averaging 6.8 PPG, has been ruled out of Monday’s game against Houston.
  • The Nuggets, who have been decimated by injuries, worked out DeMarcus Cousins last week, Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated tweets. Cousins opted to sign a non-guaranteed deal with Bucks. Nikola Jokic has been dealing with a wrist injury and JaMychal Green is his primary backup.
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Pacific Notes: Lakers, Holmes, Lue, George, Westbrook

November 6th, 2021 at 3:52pm CST by JD Shaw

The Lakers are continuing to seek improvement on the defensive end, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times writes. The team is allowing 112 points per game through nine contests, which ranks 27th in the league.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily just one thing,” center DeAndre Jordan said. “But I do believe that we’re making strides. I think that we have seen great periods of defense from us in spurts. We put it together enough to win games, but we still have a long ways to go. We still can get a lot better.”

Los Angeles has a 5-4 record despite coping with several injuries this season. In a 107-104 loss to the Thunder on Thursday, L.A. played without LeBron James, Kendrick Nunn, Trevor Ariza and Talen Horton-Tucker, all of whom are rehabbing from injuries.

There’s more out of the Pacific today:

  • Kings big man Richaun Holmes has been fined $15K for throwing his headband into the spectator stands against the Pelicans on Wednesday, the league announced (Twitter link). The incident caused Holmes to receive his second technical foul of the game, leading to an ejection.
  • Clippers coach Tyronn Lue believes Paul George can’t afford to worry about the officiating, Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register writes. “He has to keep going, like when he drives the ball, of course he’s getting hit, a lot of guys are getting hit, as well,” Lue said. “We know officiating is very tough … we understand that, but the biggest thing to tell PG is to keep going to the basket, continue to play the way you were playing and we’ll see if you can get some calls. But we can’t complain about it, we have to keep playing.”
  • The pressure is on Russell Westbrook to step up in the absence of LeBron James, Bill Oram of The Athletic writes. Westbrook’s late-game struggles against the Thunder show that the Lakers still need James to be their primary star, however, Oram contends. “We have enough pieces to still win basketball games,” Anthony Davis said. “Even though he (James) plays a huge part to both ends of the floor to what we do. So, it’s an adjustment period. We’re trying to figure out new schemes and stuff like that without him for however long he’s out.”
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Pacific Notes: Green, Lue, Clippers, Warriors

October 31st, 2021 at 7:41pm CST by JD Shaw

Warriors star Draymond Green believes the game is more enjoyable to play since the NBA changed its foul rules, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com writes. The league has made it harder for offensive players to get to the foul line by going out of their way to initiate contact.

“You can 100 percent feel it,” Green said. “Because you don’t have guys doing the garbage to try and draw fouls anymore. I think this game was turning into who can draw the most fouls? Nobody wants to watch that and you definitely don’t want to play in a game like that. So you can feel the difference out there for sure. It’s just more pure basketball and that’s great for our game.”

Players such as Brooklyn’s James Harden are impacted by this sudden change. Throughout his career, Harden has been successful at driving and manipulating his defender for a foul, hooking his arms in a clever way or getting tangled up to earn free throws. Green also mentioned how much more enjoyable the game is to watch.

“Can I also say how satisfying it’s been to watch the game of basketball without all those bulls–t calls,” Green said. “I’m sorry, I’m not supposed to curse in interviews, right? Can I say how satisfying it is to watch the game without all those terrible calls. Guys cheating the game and grabbing guys and getting the foul. I’ve been really enjoying watching basketball this year.

“I kind of had stopped watching the NBA a bit because it was just too flailing and flopping and guys cheating the game and getting free throws. So I think that’s been great. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that because I think that’s been fantastic.”

Here are some other notes from the Pacific:

  • Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is considering making lineup changes to boost his team’s offense, Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register writes. Los Angeles has opened the season with just a 1-4 record. “If you’re playing well and you’re getting the shots you want to get and you’re not making them, does that call for change?” Lue asked. “That’s the biggest thing you go back and forth with. Just continuing to mess with the rotations and try to take away those stints where we go four, five, six minutes without scoring when PG is off the floor. We have to do something about that. So we’ve got something we’ll try tomorrow.”
  • Jonathan Amey Jr., a security guard with the Warriors, recently got the chance to try out for the team’s G League affiliate, as relayed by NBC Sports. Although Amey didn’t make the team, his effort was applauded by multiple Warriors players. “I know he didn’t make the team,” Kevon Looney said, “but he went out there and tried, that’s all you could ask for.”
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Pelicans Rumors: Williamson, Griffin, Coaches, Front Office

September 22nd, 2021 at 4:14pm CST by Luke Adams

There hasn’t been much noise surrounding Zion Williamson since a June report suggested some of his family members want him out of New Orleans, but the 2021/22 season will be crucial for the Pelicans and their long-term relationship with the former No. 1 overall pick.

Williamson will be eligible for a rookie scale extension, and while no player has ever turned down a maximum-salary rookie scale extension, New Orleans will want to take a major step toward contention this season to reduce the risk of Zion becoming the first.

In a deep dive into the situation in New Orleans, Christian Clark of NOLA.com suggests Williamson grew frustrated back in the Pelicans back in his rookie season when they handled his return from a preseason knee injury with extreme caution, extending his recovery timeline and then having him play in short “bursts” when he returned. Williamson detested those “burst” limits, according to Clark, who says there was significant tension between the star forward and the team’ medical staff that season.

Additionally, while executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin tried to forge a bond with Williamson during his rookie season, Zion’s relationship with the head of the team’s front office had “begun to sour” by the end of the year, says Clark. The two men don’t communicate frequently now, Clark adds.

Here’s more from Clark’s report, which includes several interesting tidbits and is worth checking out in full:

  • Griffin isn’t particularly popular among a segment of Pelicans employees, who referred to him in a group chat last year as “Griff Krause” while ‘The Last Dance’ was airing, according to Clark. The moniker was a reference to former Bulls GM Jerry Krause, whom the ESPN documentary portrayed as disliked by the team’s stars and head coach.
  • Although many people in the Pelicans’ organization believed the team needed to replace head coach Alvin Gentry in 2020, some didn’t like the way the change was handled. According to Clark, Griffin blamed Gentry for the Pelicans’ poor start that season, telling one person, “I give Alvin all the answers to the test, and he still fails.”
  • Tyronn Lue was believed to be the Pelicans’ top choice when they replaced Gentry, but Lue opted to join the Clippers. When Griffin pivoted to Stan Van Gundy, some people in the organization raised concerns that the fit would be awkward, Clark writes, but the Pelicans hired him anyway. The team dismissed Van Gundy this spring after just one season.
  • While J.J. Redick‘s public criticism of the Pelicans’ front office earlier this year placed Griffin and his group under a microscope, Jrue Holiday praised the team for sending him to a contender after he quietly asked to be traded, and several prominent agents – including Mark Bartelstein – told Clark that their interactions with New Orleans’ head of basketball operations have been positive.
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