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Utah Summer League To Return In August

June 21st, 2021 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Salt Lake City Summer League will return in 2021 after being canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Multiple teams, including the Jazz and Grizzlies, issued press releases today announcing the event.

The SLC Summer League is essentially an opening act for the Las Vegas Summer League. The Vegas Summer League features all 30 NBA teams and is one of the biggest events of the league’s offseason, along with the draft and free agency. It will take place between August 8-17 this year.

By contrast, the Summer League in Utah will feature just three NBA teams. The Grizzlies, Spurs, and Jazz will participate in the event on August 3, 4, and 6 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.

In 2019, the last time the event was held, the Cavaliers joined Utah, Memphis, and San Antonio to make up the four-team field. Since the Cavs won’t return in 2021, the Jazz will field two separate squads to ensure the format – a four-team, six-game round robin – remains unchanged.

As Ryan McDonald of The Deseret News writes, it’s unclear how the Jazz will build their two separate rosters. Typically, Summer League play is generally a showcase for rookies, second- or third- year players, and undrafted free agents, so Utah’s veterans are unlikely to participate. The Jazz may have to bring in a significant number of UDFAs to fill out their two squads.

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Suns GM James Jones Named Executive Of The Year

June 20th, 2021 at 2:41pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Suns team owner Robert Sarver announced ahead of Phoenix’s first Western Conference Finals game in 11 years that general manager James Jones has won the NBA’s Executive of the Year award for the 2020/21 season, Gina Mizell of Suns.com tweets.

The award is voted on by NBA execs rather than by media members. Jones received nine first-place votes and 65 overall points, narrowly beating out Jazz executive VP Dennis Lindsey, who earned nine first-place votes and 61 points, per a press release. Nets GM Sean Marks placed third with 51 points.

“I want to thank Robert for this opportunity,” Jones said to a raucous Phoenix home crowd, per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic (video link). “All I can say is ‘Go Suns, let’s win.'”

A 14-year NBA pro as a 6’8″ wing out of Miami, Jones won three titles with the Heat and Cavaliers. He first joined the Suns as the club’s vice president of basketball operations in 2017, before being promoted to interim GM in October 2018, and finally to full-fledged GM in 2019.

The award is well-deserved this season, as Jones helped orchestrate several key moves that elevated the promising young Suns into legitimate title contenders.

Jones hired head coach Monty Williams in the summer of 2019, helping lay the groundwork for the club’s turnaround from an extended lottery purgatory. The Suns just barely missed the NBA playoffs in the 2019/20 season, finishing with a 34-39 record and the No. 10 seed in the West during the Orlando restart “bubble”

Jones, 40, acquired 11-time All-Star point guard Chris Paul in a November 2020 trade with the Thunder ahead of the season, and signed savvy two-way forward Jae Crowder, hot off a Finals appearance as the Heat’s starting power forward, to a team-friendly three-year, $29.3MM deal in free agency. During the season, Jones also traded for athletic wing Torrey Craig to shore up the club’s bench depth.

This season, the Suns finished with a 51-21 record, good for the No. 2 seed in the crowded Western Conference. With the Jazz eliminated from contention, Phoenix will now enjoy home court advantage for the rest of the playoffs.

Led by Paul, homegrown superstar Devin Booker, plus promising third-year talents Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton (both of whom Jones had a say in selecting as VP of basketball operations), the Suns are facing the Clippers today in the first game of a best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series. Paul is currently in COVID-19 protocols, but expected to be available later in the series.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Jazz Notes: Lindsey, Conley, Ingles, Niang

June 19th, 2021 at 8:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

In the wake of Friday’s season-ending loss to the Clippers, Jazz executive VP of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey promises to be “brutally honest” about the steps the team needs to take to reach the next level, tweets Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. Speaking today at a media session, Lindsey said the organization has the ability to be “honest with ourselves” and will examine why it did and didn’t have opportunities to make a longer playoff run.

Utah posted the league’s best regular season record at 52-20 and coasted past Memphis in five games in the first round. The Jazz beat L.A. in the first two games of the conference semifinals, but then dropped four straight.

“The blueprint of trying to go from good to great is hard and complicated, but that’s what we strive for,” general manager Justin Zanik told reporters. “… You have to have some good fortune, too. For the large part of six to seven months, we were healthy. It caught up to us.” (Twitter link)

There’s more on the Jazz:

  • Lindsey said the organization appreciates Mike Conley‘s return to the court Friday after missing the first five games of the series with a strained right hamstring (Twitter link). He added that the team never puts pressure on anyone to try to play through injuries. Conley estimated he was about 50-60% for Friday’s game and said he had difficulty moving (Twitter link). He will be a free agent this summer and expressed an interest in returning to Utah, according to John Coon of The Associated Press.“(This is) actually my first time being a real free agent, so it will be interesting,” Conley said. “But I did love it here. We’ll see what happens.”
  • Entering the final year of his contract, Joe Ingles could be a trade chip for the Jazz to improve their perimeter defense, Coon adds. Ingles, who is preparing to represent Australia in the Olympics, doesn’t believe the team has to make major changes. “I don’t think we need to blow the whole roster up and start from scratch,” he said. “But maybe a few key pieces.” (Twitter link)
  • Forward Georges Niang will also be a free agent this summer, and like Conley, he said he would like to remain with the Jazz. (Twitter link). “My heart is in Utah, they helped me be a man,” he said. “I’ll be a free agent for the first time, so we’ll see what happens.”
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Jazz Notes: Conley, Mitchell, Gobert, Toughness

June 19th, 2021 at 11:01am CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz All-Star point guard Mike Conley made his first appearance in the second-round series against the Clippers in Game 6. Conley admitted after the Jazz were eliminated on Friday that he was far from 100% due his hamstring tightness, Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets.

“Initially, I was told I wasn’t going to be able to play at all this series, just last Friday,” Conley said. “This maybe being the last game of the season, I had to give it a try. But I couldn’t move well. It was a tough night.”

Conley, an unrestricted free agent this summer, scored just five points on 1-for-8 shooting and committed six turnovers in the 131-119 loss.

We have more on the Jazz:

  • Conley’s backcourt partner, Donovan Mitchell, was also a game-time decision due to an ankle injury. Mitchell poured in 39 points and nine assists but his 40-minute stint was painful in more ways than one, Walden tweets. “It (bleeping) hurt. Just tried to play through it. … I was just trying to find a way, by any means necessary,” he said.
  • Losing the last four games of the series and squandering a 25-point lead in Game 6 will haunt Mitchell, Walden adds in another tweet. “I’m still in shock. … I don’t know what I’m going to be doing next week,” he said. “Probably watching the games, mad as hell. This hurts more than last year. This is going to eat at me for a long time.” However, Mitchell isn’t blaming the coaching staff for the collapse, according to Walden (Twitter link). “The coaches made great adjustments. And we just didn’t execute,” he said. “That’s on the players on the floor.”
  • Rudy Gobert believes the tougher team won the series, Walden relays (Twitter link). “They were the tougher team over the course of the series, more connected over the course of the series,” he said of the Clippers. “For us, it’s pretty much the story of our season. For us to take another step in the playoffs, a lot of things are gonna have to be better.”
  • Picking up on Gobert’s theme, Tony Jones of The Athletic opines that the Jazz are probably not near a championship-level team despite having the league’s best record. Playing without Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers turned up the intensity in the second half of Game 6 and the Jazz failed to match their physicality and got out-hustled.
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Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell Will Start In Game 6

June 18th, 2021 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

8:40pm: Mitchell and Conley are starting Game 6, according to lineups posted by the Clippers’ PR department.

11:05am: With their season on the line in tonight’s Game 6, Jazz point guard Mike Conley is “working toward a return to the lineup,” tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Backcourt partner Donovan Mitchell will be a game-time decision, Woj adds.

Conley has missed the first five games of the series with a strained right hamstring that he suffered in the close-out game against the Grizzlies. He had originally hoped to return for Game 3, but he re-injured the hamstring, which set back his recovery timetable. Conley is coming off his first All-Star season and averaged 16.2 points and 6.0 assists per game during the year.

Mitchell is dealing with a sprained right ankle that forced him to miss the last 16 games of the regular season, along with Utah’s playoff opener. He was in obvious pain during Game 5, shooting just 6-of-19 from the field, and admitted afterward that the ankle is limiting what he can do on the court.

If the Jazz win tonight, they will host Game 7 on Sunday.

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Free Agent Stock Watch: Playoff Edition

June 17th, 2021 at 7:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Throughout the season, Hoops Rumors takes a closer look at players who will be free agents or could become free agents this offseason. We examine if their stock is rising or falling due to performance and other factors. With the playoffs in full swing, we take a look at players on teams still alive in the postseason:

Lou Williams, Hawks, 34, PG/SG (Up) – Signed to a three-year, $24MM deal in 2018

When the Clippers and Hawks swapped veteran point guards at the trade deadline, the general consensus was that Los Angeles pulled off a coup landing Rajon Rondo. It doesn’t look that way right now. Rondo has only played nine minutes in the last four games against Utah, while Williams had 15 points, three assists and two steals in 23 minutes during Atlanta’s dramatic Game 5 comeback at Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Williams may not possess Rondo’s leadership qualities, but he’s been instant offense for many seasons wherever he’s played. The 34-year-old has been in the league since 2005 but he can stick around a few more seasons due to his offensive prowess.

Jeff Green, Nets, 34, PF (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $2.56MM deal in 2020

It’s amazing to think that the Jazz had no use for Green midway through last season and put him on waivers. The Rockets scooped him up and he was highly productive. He’s doing the same thing for the Nets. After a solid regular season, Green battled a foot injury that sidelined him for six postseason games. Back in action, Green delivered a monster performance in Game 5 against Milwaukee, firing in 27 points while draining 7-of-8 3-point attempts. Green won’t have any trouble finding work as an unrestricted free agent this summer, whether he re-signs with Brooklyn or joins another contender.

Reggie Jackson, Clippers, 31, PG (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $2.33MM deal in 2020

A TNT broadcaster called Jackson “Mr. June” as he made several clutch baskets in Game 5 at Utah on Wednesday. He’s not on the level of baseball’s “Mr. October” but this Reggie Jackson is proving to be a consistent playoff performer for the Clippers. He averaged 15.4 PPG against Dallas in the opening round, including a 25-point outing in Game 6. He scored 29 points in Game 2 and 22 in Game 5 against the Jazz. Jackson has also kept his turnovers down to a minimum. After having to settle for the veteran’s minimum in free agency last year, he’s due for a substantial raise when he enters the market again this summer.

Mike Conley, Jazz, 33, PG (Down) – Signed to a five-year, $152.6MM deal in 2016

Conley finally got his first taste of the All-Star Game this season. He got off to an impressive start in these playoffs, scoring 20 or more points in the first three games against Memphis. The injury bug soon bit him as Utah closed out the series and he’s been sidelined with a hamstring strain throughout the second round. That’s the main concern with Conley as he enters unrestricted free agency – he’s had numerous leg injuries in recent seasons. That could limit the amount of years teams will be willing to offer him.

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Jazz Notes: Mitchell, Conley, Gobert, Game 5

June 17th, 2021 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

After a Game 5 loss to the Clippers Wednesday night, Jazz star Donovan Mitchell admitted his right ankle has become more painful throughout the series, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Utah is on the verge of elimination after letting a critical game slip away at home, and Mitchell wasn’t able to play his normal style. He finished with 21 points, his lowest scoring total of the postseason, and made just 6-of-19 shots from the field.

“It’s something I’m going to have to deal with,” Mitchell told reporters after the game. “… I ain’t got nothing else to say. Like, it’s tough when you’re trying different things that you normally do and you see spots you can get to, but you can’t, so you got to find a way to make it happen. It’s tough, but I got to find a way. Otherwise, I’m going to be home.”

Mitchell, who had a string of six straight 30-point games before Wednesday, is still feeling the effects of an ankle sprain that caused him to miss the final 16 games of the regular season and the playoff opener against Memphis. He  said he has aggravated the injury several times during the series with the Clippers.

“For most of my life, I’ve been able to push by, explode by, and jump through people or over people, and for the first time in my career, I’ve had to play on the floor,” Mitchell said. “Knowing when to attack, picking my spots, finding my teammates, I think that’s the biggest thing, being able to kind of get off, hit them when they’re doubling me and engaging the blitz. And I think I did a solid job of that. I can do better. It’s a learning process and it sucks that I’m learning this through the playoffs, but it is what it is and no excuses.”

There’s more from Utah:

  • Mike Conley had “a small setback” in his recovery from a strained right hamstring, but he still hopes to return before the series ends, according to Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. Conley, who was hurt in the final game of the first round, said he had been preparing to play in Game 3, but he re-injured the hamstring before that could happen. “This is why it’s been extended a bit longer than I know we all would like. Obviously, if I could play, I would — there’s no question about that,” Conley said. “But the progress we’re making now is really good. It’s just a little delayed.”
  • The Jazz have been relying on their skill level all season, but it will take grittiness to win in Los Angeles and return home for a Game 7, states Tony Jones of The Athletic. Rudy Gobert suggested that his team got too relaxed after a fast start Wednesday. “I didn’t feel like there was a sense of urgency for us defensively at the beginning of the game,” he said. “In a way, I wish we hadn’t made so many shots. Then, we would have thought about playing better defensively. We let them get comfortable. And when we let a team this good get comfortable, you put yourself in a tough position either way.”
  • Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer examines how Mitchell has been able to turn himself into a dangerous three-point shooter and what it means for his game going forward.
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Draft Notes: Mamukelashvili, Carr, Champagnie, Figueroa, Cockburn, Sims

June 16th, 2021 at 9:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili is scheduled to work out for the Pistons on Thursday, Adam Zagoria of the New York Times tweets. The 6’11” Mamukelashvili already worked out for the Jazz, Thunder and Hornets. He’s currently listed as the No. 56 overall prospect on ESPN’s Best Available list.

We have more news and insights on this year’s draft:

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Clippers Fear ACL Injury For Kawhi Leonard

June 16th, 2021 at 12:37pm CST by Luke Adams

12:37pm: More imaging will be performed on Leonard’s knee to determine the severity of the injury, but those tests will have to wait until the swelling subsides, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.

11:57am: The Clippers fear that forward Kawhi Leonard has suffered an ACL injury, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Leonard will miss Game 5 of Los Angeles’ series against the Jazz on Wednesday night due to a right knee injury that the Clippers referred to today as a sprain. Neither the team’s announcement nor Charania’s report indicates that Kawhi is undergoing an MRI on his injured knee, but presumably that would be the next step to determine if there’s any damage to the ACL.

A full tear of the ACL would be a worst-case scenario for Leonard and the Clippers, but even a partial tear would almost certainly be a season-ender — that’s the injury that has kept Spencer Dinwiddie on the shelf since December. A low-grade sprain would be the best case, tweets Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes.

The timing couldn’t be much worse for Leonard and the Clippers, who have won two games in a row against Utah and are just two games away from making the Western Conference Finals for the first time in team history. With Kawhi unavailable on Wednesday – and potentially for longer than that – the Clippers have suddenly become major underdogs to get past the Jazz and into the third round.

We’ll provide more updates on Leonard’s status as they’re reported or announced.

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Mike Conley To Remain Sidelined For Game 5

June 16th, 2021 at 12:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Jazz point guard Mike Conley will remain on the sidelines for at least one more game, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who hears from sources that Conley won’t be available for Game 5 vs. the Clippers on Wednesday. The team has confirmed the news.

Conley has been out since Game 5 of Utah’s first-round series vs. Memphis due to what the team is referring to as a mild right hamstring strain. Despite the strain being classified as “mild,” the Jazz aren’t taking any chances with their starting point guard, since they want to reduce the risk that he re-aggravates the injury once he returns.

With Conley on the shelf, Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles have taken on increased ball-handling and play-making responsibilities. Mitchell continues to deal with a nagging ankle injury himself, though he hasn’t missed any time since the first game of the postseason.

While the Jazz have clearly felt the effects of Conley’s absence over the last couple games – both Clippers wins – the team will be back at home tonight and will face an L.A. squad that will also be missing an All-star. Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out for Game 5 due to a right knee injury, which the Clippers fear is an ACL issue.

Conley has been initially listed as questionable for every game in this second-round series so far, and head coach Quin Snyder said this week that he’s “making progress,” but it remains unclear when the 33-year-old might be cleared to play.

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