Utah Jazz Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Knicks To Hire Johnnie Bryant As Associate Head Coach

August 18th, 2020 at 1:10pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks are hiring veteran Jazz assistant Johnnie Bryant as their new associate head coach under head coach Tom Thibodeau, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bryant is the second assistant confirmed to be part of Thibodeau’s staff, joining Kenny Payne.

Having initially joined the Jazz in 2012 as a player development coach, Bryant was promoted to his assistant role in 2014 when Quin Snyder was named the team’s head coach. He has been a key part of Snyder’s staff since then, with Jazz beat writers Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune and Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter links) both noting that Bryant is highly regarded for his player development skills. Jones adds that Bryant has a “very close” relationship with rising Utah star Donovan Mitchell.

In New York, Bryant will be Thibodeau’s lead assistant on a staff that also features Payne and is expected to include a pair of former Knicks coaches, Mike Miller and Mike Woodson. Neither Miller nor Woodson has been officially named an assistant yet, but multiple reports in recent weeks have indicated they’re good bets to be part of Thibodeau’s staff.

Bryant’s player development abilities will be put to the test as he joins a team that features numerous recent top-10 picks, including RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina, and Dennis Smith Jr.

Mike Conley Returns To NBA Campus

August 18th, 2020 at 11:47am CST by Luke Adams

Jazz point guard Mike Conley has returned to the NBA’s campus at Walt Disney World, the team confirmed today (Twitter link via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN). Conley had left over the weekend to attend the birth of his son in Ohio.

Conley missed the first game of Utah’s first-round series against Denver – an overtime loss – and will be quarantining through at least Game 2 on Wednesday. However, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that there’s optimism the point guard could clear his quarantine in time for Game 3 on Friday.

The NBA’s protocols call for a quarantine period of at least four days when a player leaves the Disney campus. Game 3 of the Jazz/Nuggets series will be getting underway in a little over 75 hours, so Woj’s report suggests that Conley’s quarantine period may cover parts of four days, rather than a full 96 hours.

If Conley can return to the Jazz’s lineup for Game 3, it would give the club a major boost in its matchup with Denver. The longtime Grizzlies point guard had an up-and-down first season in Utah, but has been productive since arriving at Disney World for the summer restart. In six seeding games, he averaged 18.0 PPG and 5.0 APG, while knocking down 37.2% of his three-point attempts.

2020 NBA Draft Tiebreaker Results

August 17th, 2020 at 1:22pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings won a key NBA draft tiebreaker that took place today, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The league conducts tiebreakers when two teams finish the season with the same record. The winner of the tiebreaker gets the higher pick or the higher spot in the lottery standings.

In Sacramento’s case, the team entered the March 11 hiatus with a 28-36 record, identical to the Pelicans‘ 28-36 mark. Because the NBA is sorting its lottery standings based on non-playoff teams’ pre-hiatus records, the Kings and Pelicans had been tied for the 12th spot.

As a result of today’s tiebreaker, Sacramento will get the 12th pick in the draft, assuming neither of the two teams behind them jump into the top four; the Pelicans would receive the 13th pick in that scenario. The two teams’ draft lottery odds will be nearly identical, though Sacramento will have the slight edge, with the Kings receiving 13 of 1,000 available ping-pong ball combinations on lottery night, compared to 12 combinations for the Pelicans.

In the second round, the order will be flipped — the Pelicans will get the No. 42 pick and the Kings will be at No. 43.

Meanwhile, the Thunder finished the season tied with the Rockets and Jazz in the standings at 44-28, so a tiebreaker was required to determine their draft order.

As a result of today’s tiebreaker, the Oklahoma City pick will be No. 21, according to Charania, who adds that Houston’s pick will be No. 22, followed by Utah’s at No. 23.

Of those three teams, only the Jazz actually still own their 2020 first-rounder. The Sixers will receive OKC’s No. 21 pick, while the Nuggets will get Houston’s pick at No. 22. It’s an ideal outcome for Philadelphia, considering that Thunder pick was top-20 protected.

In the second round, Utah’s pick will be No. 51, Houston’s will be No. 52, and Oklahoma City’s will be No. 53. However, the Jazz and Rockets don’t own their second-rounders. Instead, it’ll be the Warriors drafting at No. 51 and the Kings at No. 52.

Ed Davis To Miss Utah’s First-Round Series

August 16th, 2020 at 4:50pm CST by JD Shaw

Jazz big man Ed Davis will miss the team’s first-round series with a left knee MCL injury, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Davis is expected to be re-evaluated in a few weeks, Wojnarowski adds. Utah is set to open the playoffs against Denver on Tuesday, with the team already missing Mike Conley due to the birth of his child. Conley is expected to miss at least two games of action and could sit more.

Davis, 31, has appeared in just 28 games with the Jazz this season, averaging 1.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 10.8 minutes per contest. Davis had success during the 2018/19 campaign with Brooklyn, holding per-game averages of 5.8 PPG and 8.6 RPG in 81 total contests. He originally signed with the Jazz in July of 2019.

As for the Nuggets, the team is set to play Game 1 without the likes of Gary Harris (right hip muscle strain), Will Barton (right knee soreness) and Vlatko Cancar (left foot fracture).

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Utah Jazz
Ed Davis

Mike Conley Leaves Disney World Campus

August 16th, 2020 at 12:08pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jazz guard Mike Conley has left the team to travel to Columbus, Ohio, for his son’s birth, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. A source tells Eric Woodyard of ESPN that Conley plans to return to be part of the team’s playoff run (Twitter link).

There’s no definite word on how long Conley will be away, but with Utah’s series against Denver starting tomorrow, he will miss the first two games for sure and probably the first three, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). The Jazz and Nuggets will play every other day until the series is over.

The NBA typically requires players who leave the campus for personal reasons to quarantine for at least four days when they return.

Conley averaged 14.4 points and 4.4 assists per game in his first season with Utah after spending 12 years in Memphis.

Nathan Peavy Becomes Jazz's New G League Head Coach

August 14th, 2020 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

Following the departure of G League Coach of the Year Martin Schiller, the Salt Lake City Stars – the Jazz’s G League affiliate – have promoted assistant Nathan Peavy to become their new head coach. Andy Larsen and Julie Jag of The Salt Lake Tribune have the story and the details on Peavy’s ascension.

Conley, Gobert Out For Jazz On Thursday

August 13th, 2020 at 10:40am CST by Luke Adams

Antetokounmpo isn’t the only notable player who will be sitting out one of those four games though. According to the NBA’s official injury report, the Mavericks are listing Kristaps Porzingis (left heel contusion) as doubtful for the team’s afternoon contests against the Suns. Meanwhile, the Jazz will be without Mike Conley (right knee soreness) and Rudy Gobert (lower back soreness) against the Spurs this evening.

Seven Of Eight First-Round Playoff Matchups Set

August 13th, 2020 at 6:59am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 13: Following wins by the Thunder and Clippers on Wednesday night, three Western Conference first-round matchups have now been set, with only the Lakers still awaiting their opponent. Those first-round series are as follows:

Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs. Play-in winner (8)
Los Angeles Clippers (2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (7)
Denver Nuggets (3) vs. Utah Jazz (6)
Oklahoma City Thunder (4/5) vs. Houston Rockets (4/5)

We’ll know by the end of Thursday which two teams out of the Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Suns, and Spurs will be participating in the play-in tournament in the West, but it may be Sunday before the Lakers know their first-round opponent.

AUGUST 12: As a result of the Pacers’ 108-104 win over Houston this afternoon, the four Eastern Conference matchups for the first round of the postseason have been set. They are as follows:

Milwaukee Bucks (1) vs. Orlando Magic (8)
Toronto Raptors (2) vs. Brooklyn Nets (7)
Boston Celtics (3) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (6)
Miami Heat (4/5) vs. Indiana Pacers (4/5)

Typically, the Heat and Pacers would be continuing to fight for home court advantage in their series, but the unusual nature of this season means claiming the No. 4 seed instead of No. 5 won’t make much of a difference.

Despite the fact that several teams were within two or three games of one another in the standings when the restart began – or were even tied, like the Pacers and Sixers – the first-round matchups in the East look exactly the same as they did when the season was suspended on March 11.

Over in the West, a small number of teams – including the No. 1 Lakers – are locked into their playoff spots, but most matchups remain up in the air. For now, the most likely pairings are Lakers/play-in winner, Clippers/Mavericks, Nuggets/Jazz, and Rockets/Thunder, but one or more of those could change by Friday.

Jazz Prioritizing Health, Player Development As Playoffs Near

August 11th, 2020 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Like Denver, the Jazz are prioritizing staying healthy and developing their bench players as the postseason nears, says Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. Miye Oni, Jarrell Brantley, and Rayjon Tucker are among the beneficiaries, playing at least 23 minutes apiece on Monday vs. Dallas.

Doncic, Porzingis, SGA Among Players Out For Monday’s Games

August 10th, 2020 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis won’t play in Monday’s game against Utah, according to the league’s official injury report. Dallas will also be without starting forward Dorian Finney-Smith.

Doncic and Porzingis are both listed out due to “injury recovery” — right ankle for Doncic and left knee for Porzingis. Finney-Smith, meanwhile, is dealing with a left hip strain.

At 42-30, the No. 7 Mavericks are two games behind the sixth-seeded Jazz (43-27), so today’s game has seeding implications. If the Mavs lose, they’ll be locked into the No. 7 seed in the West. Utah, just a half-game behind the No. 5 Thunder, could still move up a spot or two in the standings, though the team may prefer to remain at No. 6 if it means avoiding the Rockets in the first round. Houston has eliminated the Jazz in the postseason in each of the last two years.

Donovan Mitchell has also been downgraded from questionable to out for today’s game due to a left lower leg peroneal strain, according to the Jazz (via Twitter).

Meanwhile, per the league’s injury report, the Thunder will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right calf contusion), Steven Adams (left lower leg contusion), Danilo Gallinari (left ankle injury maintenance), and Nerlens Noel (right ankle sprain), in addition to missing Dennis Schröder, who remains out for personal reasons after attending the birth of his child.

Those absences bode well for the Suns, who will need to remain undefeated in the bubble in order to keep pace in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot. As we detailed earlier today, Phoenix won’t technically be eliminated from postseason contention with a loss, but it would make the path to a play-in spot a whole lot more difficult.