- Jazz All-Star center Rudy Gobert recently sat down for an extensive interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic, addressing the Jazz’s hot start to the 2020/21 season, his relationship with All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, his relationship with former Jazz star center Mark Eaton, and a host of other topics. Utah, currently the No. 1 seed in the West, is 9-1 in its last 10 contests and 16-5 overall. “We all realize that winning a championship would be something that’s never been done before in this franchise, so we all realize that if we all give a little more of ourselves to the team and we all sacrifice a little more, we have a chance to hopefully be in a position to accomplish that,” Gobert said.
Thunder rookie big man Aleksej Pokusevski has averaged 17.4 minutes per game in 17 appearances but he’s headed to Orlando to join the G League’s Oklahoma City Blue, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. The 17th overall pick, who played 20 minutes in a blowout loss to Houston on Monday, is shooting just 24.7% from the field and the team wants him to develop his offensive game.
Guard Ty Jerome and two-way players Moses Brown and Josh Hall are also going to Orlando. “A lot of time and effort has gone into deciding who to send and when to send them,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We felt like sending the four of them together, all for different reasons developmentally, was the best decision.”
We have more G League transactions from Western Conference clubs:
- The Clippers assigned rookie big man Daniel Oturu to the Agua Caliente Clippers, according the RealGM transactions log. Oturu has appeared in 10 NBA games this season but has only averaged 4.2 MPG. He’s only gotten on the court once since January 22 and the organization wants Oturu to get some extended playing time during the bubble season in Orlando.
- The Pelicans have transferred two-way player Will Magnay to the Erie BayHawks, the Pelicans’ PR department tweets. The 22-year-old rookie power forward out of Tulsa, who played in Australia last season, has not appeared in a game this season.
- The Jazz duo of rookie center Udoka Azubuike and Trent Forrest are joining the Salt Lake City Stars, the G League team tweets. Azubuike, the team’s first-round pick out of Kansas, has made 12 limited appearances this season. Forrest, an undrafted guard out of Florida State, has played in two NBA games.
Following a postponement on Monday night, the Pistons are expected to avoid further schedule disruptions this week, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Monday night’s game between the Pistons and Nuggets was postponed due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, as a Detroit player reportedly returned a positive or inconclusive COVID-19 test, resulting in retesting and a contact tracing investigation.
[RELATED: 2020/21 NBA Game Postponement Tracker]
However, according to James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link), the test in question was determined to be a false positive. Edwards and Wojnarowski both indicate that the Pistons were en route to Salt Lake City late on Monday night and anticipate being able to play Tuesday’s game against the Jazz.
When a Grizzlies player recorded a confirmed positive test two weeks ago, the team had its next five games postponed out of an abundance of caution. It’s safe to assume a similar fate could have befallen the Pistons if Monday’s result had been a confirmed positive test rather than a false positive.
Assuming everyone on the roster tests negative again today, the Pistons should be given the go-ahead to play the Jazz on Tuesday, with contests against the Suns on Friday and the Lakers on Saturday to follow.
- With the Jazz on a 10-game winning streak, forward Joe Ingles told reporters on Wednesday that the team is “just a really fun group to play with,” tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “There’s no egos involved,” Ingles said, adding, “It’s not as unsalvageable as some people think.” His last comment is a tongue-in-cheek reference to an Athletic report from last April in which a source suggested the relationship between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert didn’t appear “salvageable.”
- The Jazz‘s G League affiliate (the Salt Lake City Stars) officially announced its roster for the upcoming season, while the Thunder‘s affiliate (the Oklahoma City Blue) named Bradford Burgess an assistant coach. The Stars’ roster includes Yogi Ferrell, who will be an affiliate player for the Jazz after a brief stint with the Cavaliers earlier this month.
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has been placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol and won’t be available to play on Wednesday night vs. Dallas, the team announced today.
Mitchell, who logged 34 minutes in a win over the Knicks on Tuesday night, didn’t leave the game early and the Jazz say it’s not immediately clear when he sustained the injury. He first experienced possible concussion symptoms on Wednesday morning, per team officials.
Mitchell’s availability for Friday’s rematch vs. the Mavericks, as well as subsequent contests, will be determined by how he progresses through the concussion protocol.
In the short term, the Jazz will be tasked with finding a way to replace Mitchell’s offensive production — he’s the team’s leading scorer this season with 23.4 PPG in 17 games. Utah figures to lean a little more on Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson, with backup guards Miye Oni and Shaquille Harrison among the candidates to see additional minutes as well.
Year-to-year continuity appears to be rewarding the Jazz early on in the 2020/21 season, according to Ariel Pacheco of Basketball Insiders.
Led by All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the Jazz have benefited from an improved defense and long-range marksmanship. The club ranks in the top ten in both offensive and defensive rating, Pacheco notes. Mitchell, too, appears to have developed his ball-handling abilities.
- After signing a four-year deal in the offseason with Utah, Jazz reserve guard Jordan Clarkson is making an early case for the Sixth Man of the Year award honors with his inspired play of late, per Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. “Definitely it was one of my goals going into this year, to go get that and play that role,” Clarkson says.
- While Donovan Mitchell has received some criticism for his lack of impact on the defensive end, he’s living up to his bill as the Jazz‘s franchise player, Tony Jones of The Athletic argues. There’s little doubt that Mitchell is capable of being the No. 1 offensive option on a title team, Jones asserts. Mitchell, who signed a max extension in November, is averaging career highs in points (24.3), assists (4.9) and 3-point shooting (40.8%).
After the NBA’s transactions wire remained relatively quiet for the first few weeks of the 2020/21 season, teams have begun making moves with a little more frequency as of late.
While one recent transaction – the four-team trade that sent James Harden to Brooklyn – was clearly a higher-impact move than the rest, a number of clubs have made smaller changes to their rosters by waiving players this week. The Raptors and Wizards cut big men Alex Len and Anzejs Pasecniks from their 15-man rosters, while the Sixers opened up a two-way slot by releasing Dakota Mathias.
As a result, there are now 12 teams across the NBA that have at least one open 15-man roster spot. One of those teams – the Trail Blazers – also has an open two-way contract slot, as do two others, leaving just 16 clubs who are carrying the maximum of 17 players.
With so many clubs facing roster shortages recently and the NBA and NBPA discussing the possibility of adding a third two-way slot to rosters for the rest of the season, it’s a little surprising that more teams aren’t making use of all 17 available spots, but it will likely just be a matter of time before those many of those openings get filled.
Here’s the current breakdown of teams with open roster spots:
Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Note: The Nets have three open roster spots and will need to fill at least two of them within two weeks of completing the Harden trade.
- Charlotte Hornets
- Los Angeles Clippers *
- Los Angeles Lakers *
- Milwaukee Bucks *
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Portland Trail Blazers
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors
- Utah Jazz
- Washington Wizards
Note: An asterisk (*) denotes that the team can’t currently sign a 15th man due to the hard cap.
Teams with an open two-way slot:
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Mike Conley had a down year in his first season with the Jazz in 2019/20, but is now finding his comfort zone, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. Conley, an unrestricted free agent in 2021, is averaging 17.3 PPG and 5.6 APG on .452/.430/.774 shooting in 11 games so far in ’20/21 after putting up just 14.4 PPG and 4.4 APG on .409/.375/.827 shooting last season.