Nuggets center Nikola Jokic will undergo an MRI today to determine the damage caused to his left hip in a collision Thursday night, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. X-rays taken after the game were negative and the injury has been diagnosed as a hip strain. The Nuggets, who currently hold the eighth seed in the West with a 20-25 record, would have a hard time withstanding a prolonged absence by Jokic, who is averaging 15.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. “It’s good news for us,” teammate Will Barton said of the X-ray results. “He’s been playing out of this world for us, our best player. It would be tough to see him go down for a long time. I’m just happy he’s fine.”
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- The loss of Enes Kanter will create an even greater burden for Russell Westbrook, notes Royce Young of ESPN.com. Kanter is expected to be sidelined six to eight weeks after breaking his right forearm by punching a chair Thursday night. The Thunder center was third in the Sixth Man of the Year voting last year and has become even more valuable this season by improving his passing, Young writes. His absence robs the bench unit of a player who can create his own offense.
- The Trail Blazers have one of the best backcourts in the league in Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, but they may need to break it up to build a contender, writes Michael Pina of RealGM. He suggests dangling both players in trade talks to see what kind of return they might bring, mentioning Andre Drummond, Jimmy Butler and Nerlens Noel as possibilities.
- Tom Thibodeau’s style is starting to work with the Timberwolves, contends Jim Souhan of The Star-Tribune. Thibodeau can be loud and profane on the sidelines, but he is said to be fair and even-tempered with players behind the scenes. The Wolves are 17-29, but are only 3 1/2 games out of a playoff spot that would be the first for the franchise since 2004. “He’s honest,’’ Andrew Wiggins said after a recent Thibodeau press conference. “He said we were flat but he likes the way we fought at the end.’’
Are people ever going to stop talking about trading Lillard or McCollum lol. It’s always speculation like either “oh they should do it here’s some defensive numbers”, from the perspective of another team, or just trying to find a taker for a player on the block that the article is about. Someone should try to ask Neil Olshey about it and stop speculating about something they don’t know about.
I understand it’s a rumors website but these are “alternative rumors” concerning the blazers no hate to hoopsrumors for posting them, it’s their job, but damn writers are just making up their own ESPN trade machine deals then go to their job and write about it lol
With the blazers it says that it’s the writers opinion But I see where your coming from
Ya, I personally hope they don’t trade either of them, and I’m confident they wouldn’t do that. The speculation is especially dumb b/c you generally see bad returns mentioned too…I mean, I wish I could get CJ for Whiteside, but that’s totally ridiculous, in my opinion lol
I’ve watched that team A Lot in the last couple of years. I believed in them last year, and generally liked their offseason. That being said, they have obvious issues. They need help defensively. Part of the problem is that Aminu has been terrible this season, and he needs to at least give them defense and versatility. Obviously, never having Ezili hurt as well, as you lose the rim protection and pick and roll defense off the bench they needed from him. Still need a backup guard, in my opinion, or another defensive oriented wing, and obviously, a defensive big. They need something out of their young wings, like Connaughton. That would be of help. It would also be nice if Vonleh could give them what they need defensively…They’ve gotten a little more consistency from Harkless, Crabbe, and Turner. They need Aminu to pick things up, and they generally need more effort on the defensive end
Yeah they definitely need to pick things up defensively but I think they have the personnel that can play good defense, the Harkless-Aminu lineups posted great defensive numbers last year. Evan Turner is a good defender as well and I think they all need time to gel. I think Aminu is coming back to form, he was hurt earlier this year so I think once he finds his rhythm (hoping he already has) I believe it’ll stick. The coaching staff has worked wonders with Crabbe and Harkless and Aminu has shown he can knock down shots when on. Definitely sucks not having Ezeli this year but I think that’ll pull the team closer and Vonleh can make more of his opportunities. I like Evan Turner being in the starting lineup lately and how all the players have responded to the shakeup. Meyers Leonard seems to be shooting with confidence and is dunking on people left and right, Crabbe had a great night tonight, and Mason Plumlee definitely deserves a lot of credit for being a better rim protector this year and making better decisions on offense as the Draymond Green role on the team. I really believe in this current roster and wouldn’t be surprised if we go on a roll soon and are dangerous by playoff time.
Both players are redundant, the could sell high now and have a more balanced line-up. Who cares how many point you can score if you can’t stop the other team from scoring. It makes sense and it’s an opinion article. I’d take butler and Lillard over Lillard McCollum all day.
That’s fun to say, Butler and Lillard, but the Bulls are not trading an all star on verge of superstardom, that is a two way player when the primary piece coming back is CJ McCollum. I like McCollum, but teams don’t trade a Jimmy Butler. So, if people wanna talk about trades come with a legit proposal. You can’t just say, we should trade one of these guys, for who are you trading for? That’s my issue with writers about trades. All speculation, no substance. Adrian Woj is brutal. He will throw anything against a wall.
I understand the thinking behind it, I know they’re not a good defensive backcourt. What I’m saying is there’s been at least 15 different writers saying to look out for a trade in articles. Not one has a quote from anyone in the organization, anyone involved in trade talks with the Blazers, nothing. Like Jake said “all speculation, no substance” and he’s right that Jimmy Butler is not getting traded in a deal with McCollum involved. Writers said before the year that the Blazers retaining all their restricted free agents (Crabbe, Harkless, Leonard) were among the likeliest teams to make a trade. And other writers seem to be running with that notion and writing anything they want concerning Blazers trades, with nothing at all to back it up. Trade rumors aren’t rumors if you make them up yourself, they come from chatter within organizations actually talking about deals, not the media building their fantasy teams.
Will Denver still trade Nurkic if Jokic is significantly injured? Plus, I’d assume they’d be targeting a true wing player, or picks, which they’ve lacked for a few years, though everyone is looking for that
If only Kanter went out last year. They might still have KD…sucks about the injury, but Kanter is arguably the worst defender of all time. They have Grant that can play the 4, they can use Sabonis as a 5 or they have Lauvergne, both of which can shoot too. I admit they’ll miss some of his scoring off the bench, but OKC will survive without Kanter, in my opinion, assuming they play it the right way