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Heat’s Gabe Vincent Named NBAGL Most Improved Player

June 22nd, 2020 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Heat two-way player Gabe Vincent has been named the NBA G League’s Most Improved Player for the 2019/20 season, the league announced today in a press release.

Vincent, who went undrafted out of UC Santa Barbara in 2018, played for the Stockton Kings – Sacramento’s G League affiliate – in his first professional season, averaging 8.4 PPG, 2.4 APG, and 2.2 RPG on .382/.291/.710 shooting in 25 games (17.8 MPG).

He took a major step forward in 2019/20, first for Stockton and then for the Sioux Falls Skyforce – Miami’s NBAGL affiliate – after he signed a two-way deal with the Heat in January. In 31 total games (29.3 MPG), Vincent recorded 21.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.1 APG with a .450/.406/.923 shooting line. The 6’3″ guard also made his NBA debut earlier this year, appearing in six total games for the Heat.

The runners-up in the G League’s Most Improved Player vote are also under contract with NBA teams. Raptors two-way player Paul Watson finished second, with Warriors guard Mychal Mulder coming in third.

Raptors Travel To Florida For Pre-Disney Camp

June 22nd, 2020 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors confirmed today in a press release that select players and staff members are traveling to Fort Myers, Florida to prepare for the resumption of the 2019/20 season. According to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link), most Raptors players are already in Florida or are en route.

Although NBA teams aren’t expected to report to the league’s campus at Walt Disney World for training camps until around July 7, the Raptors are headed to Florida early in order to get their international travel across the U.S./Canada border out of the way. Training in Toronto would have put the team at risk of being subject to a longer quarantine period once they traveled to Orlando in July.

According to today’s announcement, the Raptors will remain in the Fort Myers area until going to Disney in July. While the press release doesn’t mention it, the expectation is that the team will use the Alico Arena in Florida Gulf Coast University as its practice facility for the time being, per an earlier report from Shams Charania of The Athletic.

No group workouts will be permitted until teams report to Disney next month, so for now, the Raptors will continue to conduct individual workouts. Players and staffers are expected to remain at their hotels, leaving only for workouts and other “essential activities,” as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca notes (via Twitter).

NBA Introduces Six Phases For Return

June 16th, 2020 at 6:40pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The NBA’s plan to return is starting to take shape and Shams Charania of The Athletic has some details on the league’s bubble campus at Disney World in Orlando.

For starters, players are not obligated to attend. Any player who chooses not to play in the resumption of the season in Orlando will have to notify his team by June 24. Players will not be penalized for missing the contests (fines, future suspensions) but they will not be paid for the games. Compensation would be reduced by 1/92.6 for each game missed.

Some players, however, will fall under the “excused” or “protected” player criteria, meaning they will not have their salaries reduced as a result of missing time. “Protected” players are those whom the team believes has a higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. “Excused” players will need a panel of three medical experts to determine that they have a higher risk for severe illness.

Here are more details on the NBA’s return:

Phase 1: June 12-22

All players will undergo mandatory coronavirus testing in their home markets beginning on June 23. All players who were outside the United States should have returned to their home market already (June 15 was the deadline) and all other players should return to their home market by June 22.

The Raptors are an exception, as they are the league’s only international franchise. The team will gather in Naples, Florida and use Florida Gulf Coast University’s facilities to practice.

During Phase 1, several guidelines are in play:

Team facilities are open to players and only individual workouts are permitted, though participation is voluntary. Virtual meetings/workouts are also allowed.
Once players return to their home market, they are expected to leave the house only for essentials and trips to the team’s facilities. That extends to anyone in their households.

Phase 2: June 23-30

By now, all players are expected to be utilizing their team facilities with the exception of the Raptors. Players are still expected to uphold the same guidelines for leaving their homes as in Phase 1. In Phase 2:

Mandatory COVID-19 testing will begin, which will consist of nasal swabs and oral swabs as well as blood drawn. There’s a long swab called the nasopharyngeal. That will not be used as it was reported to have caused discomfort. Players have the option of volunteering to participate in a Yale study that is designed to come up with a saliva-based test.
Players must self-report if they or a member of their household are feeling sick or have symptoms. That information will go to the team’s medical staff.

Phase 3: July 1-7

Head coaches enter the picture in Phase 3.

Workouts, which will still be conducted at the team’s home locations (again, with the exception of Toronto), will be mandatory. Group workouts are still not allowed and no more than eight players will be allowed in the facilities at any given time.

Phase 4: July 7-11

Teams will begin to head to Disney World. Travel will be staggered via either flight or bus to Orlando between July 7-9.

Once teams arrive in Florida, there are some unique guidelines and protocols:

Players and team staff will stay isolated in their rooms. That will be the case until they have two negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart.
It’s optional, but players can wear proximity alarms which will buzz if someone spends more than five seconds within six feet of another human being. For the alarm to work, the other person must also be wearing the alarm.
Team and league staff must wear the alarm. It remains to be seen whether referees will have to wear it.

Everyone on the campus will have to wear face masks. Some Disney employees will not be required to reside in the bubble nor undergo COVID-19 testing. Their temperature will be checked daily and they will be checked for symptoms.

Phase 4 Continued: July 11-21

By this point, everyone is at the NBA Campus. Group workouts will be allowed after the initial self isolation, though players will undergo COVID-19 testing routinely as well as undergoing daily temperature checks and other tests.

Players can only eat meals and participate in activities with other people staying in their hotel. The hotel situation is based on seeding, as Charania adds on Twitter. Here are the three groups:

Gran Destino:

Bucks
Lakers
Raptors
Clippers
Celtics
Nuggets
Jazz
Heat

Grand Floridian:

Thunder
76ers
Rockets
Pacers
Mavericks
Nets
Grizzlies
Magic

Yacht Club:

Blazers
Kings
Pelicans
Spurs
Suns
Wizards

The split means you won’t see Ben Simmons playing golf (one of the activities allowed, along with playing cards) with LeBron James before July 21. Some other restrictions include:

Any meal eaten with a player from another team must be done outside.
Players are not allowed to hang out in each other’s hotels.
There may be a few exceptions, but all food will be prepared on the NBA campus. However, players are allowed to hire a personal chef to prepare meals to be delivered to the campus.

Players are allowed to leave the campus, but the expectation is that they will stay on it. If a player leaves without prior approval, he will be subjected to testing, including that uncomfortable nasopharyngeal swab testing and a 10-to-14 day self-quarantine. The player could also be subjected to a reduction in pay for games he misses.

Phase 5: July 22-29

Each team will play three scrimmages against other clubs that are staying at the same hotel. Starting July 22, players and team staff are allowed to socialize with anyone from any of the hotels. Players still can’t go into another person’s hotel.

Phase 6: July 30-Oct 13

We are playing basketball.

Teams will play eight regular-season contests to determine seeding (“seeding games”). If necessary, there will be a play-in tournament for the eighth seed.
After all is sorted out, we will have a traditional 16-team, four-round, best-of-seven playoff format.

Once a team is eliminated, its players and staff will be tested and then immediately depart from the NBA campus.

In years past, players of championship teams have looked at the camera and said “I’m going to Disney World.” This year, the last remaining team at the resort will be crowned the champion.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NBA To Prorate Bonus, Incentive Criteria Using March 11 As End Of Season

June 15th, 2020 at 11:28am CST by Luke Adams

A number of players with performance incentives and bonus clauses in their contracts didn’t get the opportunity to earn those bonuses in 2019/20 due to the suspension of the NBA season and the league’s subsequent hiatus.

However, according to Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the NBA and NBPA have reached an agreement on how to handle performance incentives in ’19/20. The criteria for those bonuses will be prorated, using March 11 as the end of the regular season, so stats accumulated during the eight “seeding games” this summer won’t count toward those incentives.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Proration]

For instance, Tyus Jones‘ contract with the Grizzlies includes an $858K bonus in the event that Memphis wins 33 games. Prior to the hiatus, the Grizzlies had 32 victories. Rather than needing the Grizzlies win one more game when play resumes, Jones will already be assured of his bonus, since a 32-33 record prorated over a full 82-game season would work out to 40 wins.

Similarly, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry has a series of bonuses related to his All-Star berth and his team’s postseason success that require him to play at least 65 games. When the season went on hiatus, Lowry had appeared in 52 of Toronto’s 64 games. Prorated over an 82-game season, that would work out to approximately 67 of 82 games, so Lowry will be considered to have met that 65-game threshold. He’ll receive his $200K All-Star bonus and could earn up to another $1.5MM, depending on how far the Raptors advance in the playoffs.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks broke down a number of these bonuses and incentives in an earlier Insider-only story. Another important one, noted by Shelburne and Wojnarowski, affects Sixers center Joel Embiid.

The final three years of Embiid’s maximum-salary contract, through 2022/23, had previously only been conditionally guaranteed, with the 76ers retaining the ability to gain salary relief if the veteran center suffered a career-threatening injury related to his back or feet. In order to fully guarantee those salaries, Embiid had to log 1,650 minutes this season.

When the season was suspended, Embiid was only at 1,329 minutes played. However, Philadelphia had only played 65 of 82 games. Prorated over a full season, Embiid’s average number of minutes per Sixers game (approximately 20.45) would work out to 1,677, surpassing the 1,650-minute threshold and ensuring his upcoming salaries are fully guaranteed.

Players whose bonuses and incentives rely on a percentage are unaffected by proration. For example, Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber would receive a $75K bonus for an 80% free-throw rate and another $150K for a 40% three-point average. His percentages are currently 86.3% and 37.4%, respectively, so he’ll receive the first bonus — but not the second. The same would have been true if he had finished at 80.1% and 39.9%.

Championship Feeling Still Lingering For Raptors

June 14th, 2020 at 5:00pm CST by JD Shaw

The championship feeling is still lingering for the Raptors, who won their first NBA title one year ago, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star writes. The team still has several key players from its title run, including Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Toronto hopes to use that championship experience to their advantage during the resumed season this summer.

Several Wing Options For Raptors In 2020 Draft

June 11th, 2020 at 9:10pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The reigning NBA champion Raptors are riding high during 2019/20, boasting the second-strongest record (46-18) in the East. Team president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri will have a bevy of roster personnel choices to make during the 2020 offseason — one big one is whom to draft.

There are several intriguing switchable wing options that Toronto should consider with their first-round pick (currently projected to be No. 28) in the 2020 draft, per Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Arizona’s Josh Green, TCU’s Desmond Bane of TCU, Washington’s Jaden McDaniels, Colorado’s Tyler Bey, UCLA’s Chris Smith, and Barcelona forward Leandro Bolmaro are all viable candidates who may still be available when the Raptors are on the board.

Raptors Still Figuring Out Border Logistics For Summer Camp

June 9th, 2020 at 4:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The tentative schedule the NBA has proposed for its return to play this summer would see players report to their teams’ respective markets within the next couple weeks, with training camps reportedly getting underway around the end of June and then resuming after teams travel to Orlando around July 7-9.

For the Raptors, however, that timeline is complicated by the international travel it requires amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While players shouldn’t have trouble getting approval to fly from the United States to Canada and vice versa, it’s not clear what sort of quarantine periods might be required following those flights and whether that would impact the team’s plans.

Addressing the subject today on a call with reporters, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said that the franchise is still working through a number of scenarios in the hopes of having practices before heading to Orlando in July. There’s an expectation that the NBA will approve group workouts in the coming weeks, but Nurse isn’t sure whether the Raps would hold a pre-Orlando camp in Canada or the United States.

“We haven’t really made a final decision on it on a date to reconvene, or where we’re going, or any of that kind of stuff yet,” Nurse said, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “We’ve made plans on both sides of the border, just for doing it as safe as possible. It’s kind of our first and foremost priority — then maybe as quickly as possible, too.”

As Reynolds notes, some Raptors players are currently in Toronto, but others are still in their home cities in the U.S. Currently, Canadian government regulations call for a 14-day quarantine period for anyone traveling into the country. Assuming players are subject to those same regulations, it might not make sense for them to travel to Toronto, quarantine for two weeks, then work out for a week or two before heading back across the border.

On the other hand, convening in a U.S. city for a week or two before Orlando would mean the Raptors – who hope to make a deep playoff run into at least September – would be away from home for an even longer stretch and could be the only team not resuming practices in their own facility.

The NBA hasn’t officially finalized its summer calendar yet, so we’ll probably have to wait for confirmation on those tentative camp dates before the Raptors set their own plans.

Atlantic Notes: Siakam, Knicks, Smith, Celtics

June 7th, 2020 at 4:39pm CST by JD Shaw

The Raptors are hoping their championship experience will assist the team when the NBA resumes play in Orlando later this summer, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star writes.

Toronto, led by star forward Pascal Siakam, kept much of its 2018/19 championship core intact this season, including Siakam, Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol. The Raptors’ strong chemistry and veteran presence are two major reasons why they’ve succeeded this season.

“I feel like there’s chemistry there, we’ve been playing for awhile, we’ve been winning championships together, things you don’t really forget,” Siakam said, as relayed by Smith.

The Raptors held the second-best record in the Eastern Conference at 46-18 when the NBA suspended its season, trailing the No. 1 seed Bucks by 6.5 games. The team has solidified itself as a legitimate playoff threat despite losing Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in free agency last summer.

“To be simple and truthful, I just don’t care what people think of the Raptors,” Siakam said. “I think, for us, it’s been a lot of years caring about, ‘Oh, love me too,’ and I think that’s over, man. We are the champions and if you don’t see it, that’s your problem.

“And for us, it’s about us, we’re not worried what other people think, we’re gonna continue to win games and chase championships. That’s the only thing we care about and whoever feels the way they feel, that’s them and has nothing to do with us. We don’t care about perception.”

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division tonight:

For the Knicks, hiring Tom Thibodeau as head coach would likely mean the team wouldn’t acquire Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns anytime soon, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. New York reportedly expressed interest in Towns prior to the trade deadline this season, with Berman noting that the relationship between Towns and Thibodeau was strained in their final weeks together during the 2018/19 season.
Former NBA guard and current NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith laughed off a question about coaching for the Knicks in an interview with Steve Serby of the New York Post. “They know where I am,” Smith laughed, addressing a question about whether he would like to interview for New York’s head coaching job. “They know what I could bring to the table in any capacity. There is a head coach there now (interim coach Mike Miller). … I don’t like to talk about guys’ jobs who still have a job.” Smith also offered his thoughts on racial injustice, the NBA’s restart and more in the interview.
Jared Weiss and John Hollinger of The Athletic examine the future of the Celtics, pondering whether there’s a viable path to the Finals for the franchise this season. Boston contains a strong nucleus of Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown and others, holding a 43-21 record on the season.

Ime Udoka Reportedly ‘Frontrunner’ To Be Bulls’ Next Coach

June 6th, 2020 at 11:45am CST by marksuleymanov

Sixers assistant coach Ime Udoka is currently the favorite to become the Bulls‘ next head coach, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

With the NBA’s 22-team format for resuming the 2019/20 campaign approved, Chicago is now in the offseason stage, as the club will not travel to Orlando. As we relayed last month, current head coach Jim Boylen appears to be on the hot seat, and Bulls ownership have indicated they’ll approve a new hire should Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley choose to make a change.

Udoka, 42, enjoyed a seven-year NBA career that ended in 2011 after suiting up for the Spurs, Trail Blazers, Kings, Knicks and Lakers. He was part of Gregg Popovich‘s staff in San Antonio for seven seasons before joining the Sixers. Udoka was also interviewed for head coach with the Cavaliers before the job was given to John Beilen.

Chicago has failed to crack 30 wins since 2017, the same year they made their most recent playoff appearance. Under Boylen, the Bulls were 22-43 before the coronavirus pandemic suspended play. As Chicago readies for next season, hiring a coach that can take an inexperienced team with youth and potential back into contention will be key.

Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin will also be “in the picture” for the Bulls if they replace Boylen, Cowley notes, echoing what we heard earlier this spring.

Exploring How Various Return Scenarios Would Impact Raptors

May 31st, 2020 at 5:03pm CST by JD Shaw

Eric Koreen and Blake Murphy of The Athletic explore how various return-to-play scenarios would impact the Raptors. Toronto currently holds a record of 46-18, sporting a nucleus of Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka and others.