Celtics Notes: Hayward, Smart, Offseason
Gordon Hayward‘s ugly left ankle injury was a horrible way for the Celtics and their prized free agent acquisition to start the 2017/18 season, but Chris Mannix of The Vertical (video link via NBC Sports Boston) hears from sources that there’s some “cautious optimism” about Hayward’s eventual recovery.
According to Mannix, the injury, which has been described to him as a “clean break,” is one that could have been worse, even if it didn’t look that way at the time. Mannix suggests that the All-Star forward should be able to make a full recovery.
The Celtics have yet to issue an update on Hayward themselves, so while Mannix’s report is encouraging, we’ll wait for official word from the team on Hayward’s diagnosis, possible surgery, and recovery outlook. In the meantime, here’s more out of Boston:
- Applying for a disabled player exception would give the Celtics some flexibility to sign or trade a replacement for Hayward, as we noted on Tuesday night. Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype identifies some potential targets in free agency or on the trade market in the event that Boston does attempt to add reinforcements.
- Charles Curtis of USA Today makes the case for why the Celtics are still a legit contender even without Hayward in the lineup.
- Before the season opener on Tuesday, Marcus Smart spoke to reporters – including Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald – about his failed contract extension talks with the Celtics, suggesting that he’ll be more expensive to lock up as a restricted free agent next summer. “We thought it was close from the fact that we didn’t ask for much,” Smart said. “We were going to take less money than what we probably are valued, and some other things, but they just weren’t budging. (Luxury tax was) the big issue. They weren’t willing to pay the luxury tax. We even gave them options of things where they wouldn’t have to pay or be so deep into the luxury tax, and they still wouldn’t budge.”
- In an in-depth piece for The Boston Globe, Adam Himmelsbach revisits the Celtics’ eventful offseason, with several Celtics executives, including Danny Ainge and Mike Zarren, providing quotes.
Lakers Sign Vander Blue To Two-Way Contract
OCTOBER 18: The Lakers have officially signed Blue to a two-way contract, the club announced today in a press release.
OCTOBER 17: After being waived by the Lakers on Saturday, shooting guard Vander Blue is returning to the franchise. The Lakers and Blue have reached an agreement on a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter).
Blue, 25, has appeared in just five total regular season NBA games, most recently playing for the Lakers in 2014/15. While he hasn’t seen any NBA action in recent years, he has emerged as one of the G League’s most reliable scorers, averaging more than 23.3 PPG in each of the last three seasons for L.A.’s affiliate.
In 2016/17, Blue racked up 24.8 PPG to go along with 5.1 RPG, 3.0 APG, and 1.6 SPG in 47 games for the Los Angeles D-Fenders, earning G League MVP honors. This season, he’ll return to the club – now known as the South Bay Lakers – as a two-way player, which will result in a pay bump and a chance to spend some time with the NBA club.
The Lakers have now filled both of their two-way slots, with Blue joining Alex Caruso.
Bulls Suspend Bobby Portis For Eight Games
The Bulls have suspended power forward Bobby Portis for eight games for punching and injuring teammate Nikola Mirotic, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Portis, who will be allowed to practice during his suspension, per Johnson (Twitter link), will be eligible to return on November 7 in Toronto.
As we detailed on Tuesday and earlier today, Poris and Mirotic were involved in an incident during scrimmage that saw Portis punch his teammate, ultimately hospitalizing him. Mirotic suffered a concussion and fractured two facial bones, and is expected to be sidelined for at least a month or so. Bulls executive John Paxson said today that it will be four to six weeks before Mirotic gets back on the court (Twitter link via Johnson).
Although Mirotic was on the receiving end of the blow that ended the altercation, reports out of Chicago have suggested that both players were going back and forth at one another, exchanging words and shoves as tensions escalated during a scrimmage. The fact that Portis’ suspension is only for eight games and will allow him to practice suggests that the Bulls may agree that both players were partially to blame.
Paxson said today that both players owned responsibility, adding that he wouldn’t call Portis’ blow a “sucker punch.” However, Paxson did acknowledge that Portis crossed a line, calling his punch “inexcusable” (Twitter links via Johnson).
With Portis and Mirotic both sidelined for the near future, the Bulls may have to rely on first-round pick Lauri Markkanen more than expected in the early going. Cristiano Felicio also figures to see an increased role for the next couple weeks, though the Bulls may play smaller lineups in general, given their lack of frontcourt depth. Of course, with Kris Dunn, Cameron Payne, and Zach LaVine also on the shelf with various injuries, the Bulls aren’t particularly deep in the backcourt right now either.
Chicago may have an opportunity to add an extra player to their roster next week, but the team isn’t eligible for that extra spot right away. Portis can be transferred to the suspended list after the third game of his ban, opening up a spot, while the Bulls can apply for a hardship exception if they have four players miss at least three games due to injuries.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA Teams With Most, Least Roster Continuity
As usual, the 2017 NBA offseason featured a ton of player movement, with new rookies entering the league, free agents changing teams, and a total of 40 trades being completed between the end of the 2016/17 season and 2017/18’s opening night.
Some teams were more involved in that summer carousel than others. The Celtics, for instance, will enter the season carrying only four players – Al Horford, Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart – who finished last season with the team. The Clippers are another team whose roster underwent significant turnover this offseason, with only five players returning from last year’s squad.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, teams like the Warriors, Bucks, and Trail Blazers made minimal changes, bringing back 12 players from last year’s rosters. That was especially impressive in Golden State’s case, since the club entered the summer with players like Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, David West, Andre Iguodala, Zaza Pachulia, Shaun Livingston, and JaVale McGee eligible for free agency — all of those players re-signed with the Dubs.
As a point of comparison, the Clippers took on more new players in their Chris Paul trade alone than clubs like the Warriors, Bucks, and Blazers added all summer.
After taking a closer look earlier today at the NBA’s youngest and oldest opening night rosters, we’ll turn our attention to the clubs with the most and least roster continuity to open the season. Listed below are the number of returning players for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, from most to fewest. Two-way players aren’t included in this list.
Bringing back a significant number of players doesn’t necessarily lead to regular season success, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a few of the teams near the top of this list enjoy fast starts due to their players’ familiarity with each other, while teams near the bottom of the list may take some time to get used to their changes.
Here’s the returning-player count for each team:
- Golden State Warriors: 12
- Milwaukee Bucks: 12
- Portland Trail Blazers: 12
- Denver Nuggets: 12
- Note: Nuggets’ figure set to dip to 11 once the team officially signs Richard Jefferson and waives Jameer Nelson, as is expected.
- Dallas Mavericks: 11
- Miami Heat: 11
- Philadelphia 76ers: 11
- Phoenix Suns: 11
- San Antonio Spurs: 11
- Toronto Raptors: 11
- Washington Wizards: 11
- Memphis Grizzlies: 10
- New Orleans Pelicans: 10
- Brooklyn Nets: 9
- Charlotte Hornets: 9
- Detroit Pistons: 9
- Houston Rockets: 9
- Chicago Bulls: 8
- Los Angeles Lakers: 8
- New York Knicks: 8
- Note: The Knicks are the only team carrying 16 players to open the season.
- Oklahoma City Thunder: 8
- Orlando Magic: 8
- Utah Jazz: 8
- Atlanta Hawks: 7
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 7
- Minnesota Timberwolves: 7
- Sacramento Kings: 7
- Indiana Pacers: 6
- Los Angeles Clippers: 5
- Boston Celtics: 4
Latest On Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis, Bulls
In the wake of a physical altercation between Bulls power forwards Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic, the team is expected to be without both players for several games in the near future. As we heard on Tuesday, Mirotic will likely miss a few weeks while he recovers from being punched by Portis, and his teammate is facing a certain suspension.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Portis has a call with the league office today to discuss the incident. K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune indicates (via Twitter) that Portis will be suspended at some point after the Bulls conclude their communication with the NBA.
Mirotic, who has been released from the hospital, suffered two facial fractures and a concussion, and will have to wear a mask when he eventually returns to the court, says Johnson. As for Portis, Johnson tweets that the Arkansas alum is well-regarded for his work ethic and his commitment to the team, but he’ll face a multi-game suspension for his actions.
In his full report on the incident, Johnson cites several witnesses who say that “tensions heightened” between Portis and Mirotic during a team scrimmage. After exchanging words for a few minutes during play, Mirotic and Portis began shoving one another, and Mirotic “once moved in Portis’ direction,” per Johnson. Then Portis landed the lone punch.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes, NBA teams are eligible to apply for a hardship exception granting them an extra roster spot if they have four players on their roster out for at least three games. With Zach LaVine, Cameron Payne, and Mirotic now expected to miss significant time, Chicago could apply for that exception next week – after the team’s third game – assuming Kris Dunn also remains sidelined with his finger injury.
Southwest Notes: Aldridge, CP3, Grizzlies, Parsons
LaMarcus Aldridge and the Spurs haven’t always seen eye to eye over the last two years, but in the wake of a contract agreement that extended Aldridge’s deal by an additional two years, the big man sounds as happy as he’s ever been in San Antonio. As Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News details, Aldridge says “everything is great” between him and the Spurs, and that both sides are pleased with the extension.
“I feel like the talks this summer (between Aldridge and the Spurs) were very constructive and were kind of needed, having a heart to heart where you just say how you feel,” Aldridge said. “And I feel like Pop (Gregg Popovich) has been great about the things that I said or kind of needed or wanted, and so far it’s been great.”
Asked by Jabari Young of The Express-News (Twitter link) if he hopes to finish his career with the Spurs, Aldridge said that would most likely be his preference. Still, his new deal doesn’t add a ton of new years to his contract. As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets, the extension adds one guaranteed year worth $26MM, then one additional season that’s partially guaranteed ($7MM of $24MM). The pact also features a 15% trade kicker, Woj adds.
Here’s more from around the Southwest division:
- Troy Williams (Rockets) and Dorian Finney-Smith (Mavericks) saw the guarantees on their respective contracts increase this week, as our salary guarantee calendar shows. Williams’ salary for the season is now fully guaranteed.
- In an in-depth feature for ESPN The Magazine, Jackie MacMullan provides an inside look at Chris Paul‘s decision to join the Rockets over the summer. Within the piece, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers admits that the relationship between him and Paul suffered toward the end.
- After waiving Wade Baldwin and Rade Zagorac to set the regular season roster this week, Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace said those decisions were “extremely difficult,” per Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “If this was a normal year when we didn’t have extra players who were viable then Wade and Rade wouldn’t be released,” Wallace said. Zagorac isn’t eligible to head to the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate, but the team thinks there’s a good chance they’ll bring him back down the road, tweets Tillery.
- The Grizzlies‘ major free agent signing of 2016, Chandler Parsons, won’t be in the starting lineup to open the season, making him one of the NBA’s highest-paid bench players. Tillery has the details in another article for The Commercial Appeal.
NBA’s Youngest, Oldest Opening Night Rosters
After an offseason packed with trades, free agent signings, and other roster moves, the NBA’s 30 teams set their 15-man squads for the regular season on Monday. We’ll be taking a closer look at those rosters today, starting with the average age of the players on each team.
As a general rule, the league’s older, more veteran teams are the ones we expect to contend for a championship, and that’s mostly the case this year too. The Cavaliers, with an average age of 30 years and four days, are the NBA’s oldest team by a significant margin. No other team has an average age above 29. However, the teams that join the Cavs at that end of the spectrum are title contenders — the Rockets, Warriors, and Spurs all have an average team age above 28.
It’s not always the case that contending teams skew older. The Celtics, for instance, have an average age of just 25 years and 17 days, making them the sixth-youngest team in the NBA. For the most part though, the younger clubs are the ones in the midst of a rebuild or having gone through “The Process” of a rebuild — the Sixers, Lakers, and Bulls are among the NBA’s five youngest teams, with the Suns (24 years, 173 days) topping the list.
For comparison’s sake, while the Cavs’ average age exceeds 30 years, the division-rival Bulls don’t have a single player in his 30s.
The average ages for all 30 NBA teams are listed below, sorted from youngest to oldest. Our list is based on players’ ages as of Tuesday, and we’re separating years and days by a decimal, so Phoenix would be 24.173.
These figures don’t include a team’s two-way players, and don’t include transactions reported or completed since opening-night rosters were set on Monday. So the Hawks‘ signing of 23-year-old Isaiah Taylor isn’t included, and neither is the Nuggets‘ reported swap of 35-year-old Jameer Nelson for 37-year-old Richard Jefferson.
Here’s the full list:
- Phoenix Suns: 24.173
- Philadelphia 76ers: 24.232
- Chicago Bulls: 24.293
- Portland Trail Blazers: 24.317
- Los Angeles Lakers: 24.320
- Boston Celtics: 25.017
- Toronto Raptors: 25.130
- Denver Nuggets: 25.246
- Orlando Magic: 25.311
- Charlotte Hornets: 25.353
- Brooklyn Nets: 25.355
- Sacramento Kings: 26.018
- Detroit Pistons: 26.021
- Milwaukee Bucks: 26.038
- Memphis Grizzlies: 26.079
- Atlanta Hawks: 26.108
- Indiana Pacers: 26.125
- New York Knicks: 26.234
- Miami Heat: 26.274
- Los Angeles Clippers: 26.296
- Utah Jazz: 26.330
- Minnesota Timberwolves: 27.080
- Washington Wizards: 27.098
- Oklahoma City Thunder: 27.139
- New Orleans Pelicans: 27.285
- Dallas Mavericks: 28.114
- Houston Rockets: 28.148
- Golden State Warriors: 28.262
- San Antonio Spurs: 28.298
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 30.004
Information from Basketball-Reference was used in the creation of this post.
Cavaliers Notes: Irving, Altman, Future
Kyrie Irving posted a double-double with 22 points and 10 assists in Tuesday’s season opener against his former team, the Cavaliers. However, before playing his first game in Celtics green — against the Cavaliers on the road no less — Irving refused to give a straightforward answer on why he demanded a trade, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes.
“I kind of want to put that to rest in terms of everyone figuring out or trying to continue to dive into a narrative they have no idea about and probably will never, ever be divulged because it’s not important,” Irving said. “This was literally just a decision I wanted to make solely based on my happiness and pushing my career forward. I don’t want to pinpoint anything. I will never pinpoint anything because that’s not what real grown-ups do. They continue to move on with their life and continue to progress and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”
Irving, 25, has avoided divulging specifics about his trade demand. Instead, he has reiterated his desire to evolve as a basketball player and be happy. Many have wondered why Irving wanted to leave a team that he helped lead to three straight NBA Finals along with LeBron James. But if Tuesday’s season-opener was any indication, Irving’s motives will remain private.
Read more notes surrounding the Cavaliers below:
- ESPN’s Kevin Pelton examines the trade that sent Irving to Boston in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and rights to the Nets’ 2018 first-round draft pick. After a thorough examination, Pelton determined that Cleveland won the deal due to the team “improving their depth this season in obtaining an All-Star guard — assuming Thomas returns close to last season’s performance — and a high-level role player in Crowder.”
- Cavaliers’ general manager Koby Altman joined Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon to discuss his real estate background, how that job prepared him for NBA GM and working for former GM David Griffin.
- Earlier today, we passed along some noteworthy comments from both James and Dwyane Wade.
Dwyane Wade Talks Cavs, Kyrie, Team Dynamics
Dwyane Wade believes he’d be on the Cavs even if the team didn’t trade away Kyrie Irving, but he adds that the addition of Jae Crowder had an impact on his decision to come to Ohio, as he tells Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
“I definitely feel that the trade, for me, one of the most important parts of the trade was getting Jae Crowder as a defender,” Wade said. “Somebody who can guard multiple positions, that was huge for Bron, myself, J.R. Smith), guys like that. Because if you look at it when Kyrie was here and you’re looking at the roster, I was like if you go there who’s gonna guard, you don’t want to be a 35-year-old having to guard everybody every night? And you don’t want Bron to do it. I definitely think with Jae coming here, it was a bigger nudge.”
Cleveland started it’s offseason with controversy, failing to retain GM David Griffin and having Irving’s trade request dominate the news for weeks. While these events were happening, Wade was stuck in Chicago, as he didn’t reach a buyout agreement with the Bulls until just late last month. Would Wade be elsewhere had he been a free agent earlier in the summer? The 15-year veteran isn’t sure.
“I don’t know. I think it definitely came together at the right time,” Wade said. “I think if I would have gotten bought out then, I don’t know. Things could’ve been different for me, so, you’re right. This wasn’t nothing I always said to myself, ‘oh, if I get bought out I’m going to Cleveland.’ It was not predetermined. To me it was the best situation. Maybe at a different time other situations might’ve looked a little bit more appealing.”
Wade added that his longtime friend LeBron James isn’t carrying over any of the negative energy from the team’s offseason events into the upcoming campaign. The 35-year-old continued on the topic of LBJ, telling Vardon how the duo’s current stint will be different than the one in Miami.
“The hardest thing with him coming to Miami maybe that first year was coming to a team that was my team,” Wade said. “And he didn’t want to step on toes in a sense. Obviously his greatness as a player and everything he brought to the table gained him an unbelievable amount of respect from everybody. But just vocally at first, he kind of, you know, didn’t say much and kind of let myself and (Udonis Haslem) lead until we let him know that we needed his voice more. And he got comfortable then.
“Here, this is LeBron James’ show. As Cleveland goes, whatever it’s been the last three years it’s been obviously Kyrie and LeBron, it’s been LeBron coming back here to put this organization where it is right now. This is his comfort and he understands and knows what his voice means to each guy here, to the coaching staff, to everybody. He doesn’t stay quiet, he uses it. In Miami he understood that sometimes it’s a little different culture, his voice may not be impactful. Once he realized that he didn’t say as much all the time.”
Hawks Sign Isaiah Taylor
OCTOBER 17: The Hawks have officially signed Taylor, the team announced tonight in a press release.
OCTOBER 16: The Hawks have reached an agreement with Isaiah Taylor and will sign the free agent point guard to a two-year contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical. Taylor cleared waivers on Sunday after being cut by the Rockets.
Taylor, who went undrafted out of Texas in 2016, caught on with the Rockets for training camp last fall, then became a G League affiliate player for the team after being waived in the preseason. The 23-year-old guard had an excellent season for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging 21.0 PPG and 6.0 APG with a shooting line of .515/.457/.816 in 25 G League games.
Taylor rejoined the Rockets before season’s end, inking a multiyear deal and finishing the year with the club. However, he didn’t make the cut for Houston’s 2017/18 regular season roster, having been waived by the team on Friday.
With a spot open on their NBA roster and a two-way slot available too, the Hawks have some flexibility when it comes to adding Taylor. Charania’s report suggests Taylor will fill the 15th and final spot on Atlanta’s roster, with Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution adding (via Twitter) that the deal will be partially guaranteed.