Nets Notes: Allen, Atkinson, Kilpatrick, Lin
As pointed out by Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders, not a lot of people inside or outside of the Nets organization could have anticipated the season put together by rookie big man Jarrett Allen. In fact, many thought Allen may actually spend a good chunk of the season in the G-League.
Yet Allen, the sixth youngest player in the NBA and thought to be a project when drafted 22nd overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, found himself a regular member of Brooklyn’s starting lineup by season’s end.
“I defied some people’s expectations,” Allen said. “A lot of people thought I was going to be a G-League guy, and that they were going to have to develop me before I’d be ready to play at the NBA level, but I came in and played well enough to be a starter. I’m playing starter’s minutes now and putting up pretty good numbers. I think I’m doing pretty well.”
When asked what he needs to improve upon most, Allen wouldn’t limit his response to only one area – explaining that he needs to get stronger and work on his offensive game.
“This offseason definitely is going to be when I add a lot of muscle. I want to add strength, shooting, and offensive game stuff. [Defensively], I think I’ve done pretty well, and I know I’ll get even better with time, but I need to work on offensive skills, dribbling, shooting, and post work.”
There’s more out of Brooklyn:
- Despite having a lesser overall record than some head coaches on the hot seat, Kenny Atkinson isn’t likely to be let go after the season, writes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. One reason? Approval from legendary Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.
- Former Nets and current Bulls guard Sean Kilpatrick was surprised to be released by the team earlier this season, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. “Absolutely (I was surprised by the move). And I’m pretty sure the coaches were surprised as well. When the news broke, my teammates, some of them cried. They were shocked … But you have to move on in this league.”
- Nets injured point guard Jeremy Lin worked out in front of Atkinson yesterday, leaving his head coach impressed but cautious, tweets Lewis. “We’ve just got to be really super, super-cautious. We don’t want to rush this in April, May. But I was blown away at how well he was moving, and the stuff he did yesterday.”
Contract Notes: Embiid, Davis, Lillard, Lowry
When All-NBA voters decide whether or not to classify Anthony Davis as a forward or center on their ballots this year, they may indirectly impact the value of Joel Embiid‘s new contract by approximately $30MM.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN details, the extension Embiid signed with the Sixers last offseason will be worth 25% of the cap starting in 2018/19. However, the contract includes a clause that states his starting salary would increase to 30% if he’s named to the All-NBA First Team. That salary bump would increase his overall earnings by about $30MM over the life of the five-year deal, but it can probably only happen if Davis receives most of his All-NBA votes at forward. Otherwise, he seems like a good bet to beat out Embiid for the center spot on the First Team.
No player has more at stake as a result of All-NBA voting or various other benchmarks than Embiid. But that contract is just one of many that could be affected by a variety of award results, postseason outcomes, or other criteria.
Marks’ piece is worth checking out in full for all the details, but here’s a quick look at a few noteworthy contract situations:
- Pelicans star Anthony Davis will become eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension in 2019 if he earns an All-NBA spot this year. However, Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard is among the players who would need another All-NBA nod in 2019 to qualify for a supermax deal, even if he’s on this year’s All-NBA squad. Those Designated Veteran Extensions are known as supermax contracts because they start at 35% of the salary cap instead of 30%.
- Kyle Lowry (Raptors) and Victor Oladipo (Pacers) would get sizable bonuses if their teams make deep playoff runs. Lowry would receive $500K for reaching the Eastern Finals, another $500K for winning the East, and another $500K for a title. Oladipo would earn $250K if Indiana reaches the NBA Finals.
- All-Defense honors would pay off for Jazz center Rudy Gobert and Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday. Gobert will get a $500K bonus if he’s named to the All-Defense First Team, while Holiday would get $100K for a spot on the First Team or Second Team.
- Among the players who have already earned bonuses: Hawks center Dewayne Dedmon ($900K for incentives related to points, rebounds, and games played), Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless ($500K for his three-point percentage), Bucks center John Henson ($500K for playing 75+ games), and Jazz guard Ricky Rubio ($175K for his field-goal and free-throw percentages).
Clippers Rumors: Rivers, CP3, Offseason, West
While Doc Rivers has long been viewed as an adept manager of relationships and egos, an in-depth look at the veteran head coach by ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz suggests that Rivers may actually be overrated as a locker-room manager, but underrated as a “practitioner of X’s and O’s.” As Arnovitz writes, Rivers has done an excellent job this season with a Clippers squad hit hard by injuries and lacking the star power of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. For his part, Rivers has enjoyed himself in 2017/18 despite falling short of the playoffs.
“This group this season — it’s been a breath of fresh air,” Rivers said. “It’s been a group that has followed. They allow you to coach them. They’re competitive as f—. We’ve got a bunch of guys who just want to compete. We have a formula — our pace, our attacks and our draw-and-kicks. We’re not good enough go off-formula and win. Defensively, our switches and our traps — we’re going against the grain.”
By comparison, Rivers’ comments about his 2016/17 squad, led by Paul and Griffin, suggest that he wasn’t exactly devastated when that particular Clippers era came to an end.
“I was aloof last year. I didn’t want to be here with these guys,” Rivers said of ’16/17. “I wanted to coach, but this team was a hard team to coach. I’m aloof anyway — I’m an introvert — and it was a hard group to like because they didn’t like each other. For me, you have to want to figure it out. And we lost the ability to want to figure it out.”
Here’s more on Rivers, plus a few other Clippers-related notes:
- Next season would be the final year of Rivers’ contract with the Clippers, but sources tell Arnovitz that there has been “no meaningful outreach” from the team about a possible contract extension. Meanwhile, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report says that the buzz from executives around the NBA is that the Clippers and Rivers are likely headed for a split “sooner than later.”
- Rivers is still saying the right things about his position with the Clippers. Asked by Arnovitz if he wants to remain with the organization, Rivers replied, “I love it here. I love the guys. I love the organization. It’s so much better than when I got here. So, most likely, yes.”
- According to Arnovitz, Chris Paul met with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer last year after CP3 decided to leave for Houston, and the veteran point guard told Ballmer that Rivers was one of the factors that contributed to his departure.
- In a column for Basketball Insiders, David Yapkowitz lays out a possible plan for the Clippers’ offseason. Pincus also previews the team’s summer at Bleacher Report, exploring the odds of veterans like DeAndre Jordan, Austin Rivers, Milos Teodosic, and Wesley Johnson exercising their player options for 2018/19.
- Entering free agency, Jerry West‘s abilities as a recruiter shouldn’t be overlooked, writes Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype.
Wolves Convert Amile Jefferson To Standard Contract
The Timberwolves have converted Amile Jefferson‘s two-way contract to a standard NBA deal, the team announced today in a press release. The move ensures that the rookie forward will be eligible to play in the postseason, assuming Minnesota earns a spot.
Jefferson, who turns 25 next month, went undrafted out of Duke in 2017 and joined the Timberwolves for training camp. After being waived by the team prior to the start of the regular season, Jefferson headed to the Iowa Wolves for the 2017/18 season. He remained there all year, never appearing in a game for the NBA squad even after signing a two-way contract in January.
In 47 G League games, Jefferson averaged 17.8 PPG and 12.8 RPG for Iowa, making shots at a 62.4% rate. He set a new NBAGL record by racking up 36 double-doubles.
Minnesota still had an open spot on its 15-man squad, so no corresponding roster move was required to make room for Jefferson. With the Cavs, Lakers, Clippers, and Raptors having also made moves to fill their roster openings in recent days, the Hornets and Wizards are the only two teams that still have open spots. It’s not clear if Washington intends to sign a 15th man by the end of the day — Charlotte’s season ended on Tuesday, so the Hornets will head into the offseason without a full roster.
Latest On Jeff Hornacek
Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek appears likely to find out within the next few days whether or not he’ll be retained for the 2018/19 season. According to Marc Berman of The New York Post, Hornacek expects to have a sit-down with president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry on Friday to discuss his future.
As Berman writes, Hornacek sat in on players’ exit interviews with Mills and Phil Jackson a year ago, but remains uncertain whether he’ll do the same again this year with Mills and Perry, which sounds like a red flag. The Knicks’ brass has been mum on the subject, but until he hears otherwise, Hornacek anticipates being a part of those meetings on Thursday and Friday.
“I plan on it,” Hornacek said. “No one told me no.”
The possibility of Hornacek’s dismissal at season’s end has long been rumored, but speaking today to reporters, including Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News, the head coach sounded like a man making a case to keep his job.
“Obviously we started it and we’d like to continue it,” Hornacek said of his staff. “It’s very satisfying for coaches to take a team and build it and grow it. You can look around the league at some of the teams that are now some of the better teams in the league. They went through those same type of things. … Now all of a sudden have their teams four or five years later and maybe even home-court advantage for the playoffs. So sometimes people are wanting things to happen right away. But sometimes there’s patience. That’s what we’re looking for.
“You can’t expect a rebuilding situation and go out there and win 50 games,” Hornacek added. “That’s why they call it rebuilding.”
Already tasked with presiding over a rebuild, Hornacek hasn’t been given much to work with over the last two years, writes Frank Isola of The New York Daily News. Having been saddled with Jackson’s triangle offense in his first year with the club, Hornacek has seen the front office overhauled during his time in New York and neither regime has made a series of inspiring roster moves. The club has also been plagued by major injury woes, including Kristaps Porzingis‘ season-ending ACL tear.
Nonetheless, the writing seems to be on the wall for a coaching change. Although Hornacek spoke today about wanting to finish out the final year of his contract in 2018/19, expiring deals are rare for head coaches — with one year left, a coach can usually expect to sign an extension or receive his walking papers.
If the Knicks do part ways with Hornacek, expect Mark Jackson, Doc Rivers, David Fizdale, David Blatt, Jerry Stackhouse, and Jeff Van Gundy to be among the candidates on the club’s list of targets, according to Isola, who identifies current VP of player development Craig Robinson as a “long-shot candidate.” Robinson is a former college coach, Isola notes.
Luc Mbah A Moute Likely To Miss First Round
1:19pm: Mbah a Moute could miss up to four weeks with his latest shoulder injury, a source tells Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link). If he returns four weeks from today, Mbah a Moute could make it back before the end of the second round.
10:32am: Mbah a Moute will likely miss at least the first round of the postseason, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, there’s no clear timetable yet for the forward’s return.
9:06am: Having already locked up the No. 1 seed in the West and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, the Rockets entered the season’s final week looking to stay healthy for the postseason. However, the club couldn’t get through the year’s final games unscathed.
As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com writes, veteran forward Luc Mbah a Moute suffered a dislocated right shoulder during the second quarter of the Rockets’ loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night. He didn’t return to the game, and is now set to undergo an MRI, head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed late last night.
A dislocated right shoulder also sidelined Mbah a Moute earlier this season, forcing him out of action for 15 games in December and January. However, D’Antoni is hopeful Mbah a Moute’s latest injury won’t keep him on the shelf for a full month again.
“I think it’s less [severe than in December] but I don’t know,” D’Antoni said, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow when he gets it checked out, see what happens.”
If Mbah a Moute is unable to return for the start of the postseason, the Rockets figure to lean more heavily on P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza at the forward position. Depending on what sort of lineups Houston uses, backups like Gerald Green and Joe Johnson could also see a few more minutes than expected in the frontcourt — though if Ryan Anderson is ready to return from his ankle injury to start the playoffs, the team wouldn’t necessarily have to go too far down its bench.
Central Notes: Pacers, Van Gundy, Pistons, LaVine
Victor Oladipo is the strong frontrunner for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, and his play this season may indirectly result in another award landing in Indiana. As Dakota Crawford of The Indianapolis Star writes, Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard has a strong case for Executive of the Year, in large part due to how his much-criticized trade for Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis has worked out.
Here’s more from around the Central division:
- Pistons owner Tom Gores is scheduled to meet after the season with president and head coach Stan Van Gundy. While Gores is still said to be mulling Van Gundy’s future, the Pistons owner has treated Van Gundy as a partner during his time in Detroit, and figures to give the veteran coach an opportunity to make his case to stick with the team, says Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. Ellis wonders if Gores and Van Gundy could agree to bring a new voice into the front office to help with salary cap management, since the Pistons have had a habit of overpaying role players in recent years.
- Although the Pistons fell short of the postseason this year, Blake Griffin believes the club has the talent to “make a run” in the East in 2018/19, per Rod Beard of The Detroit News.
- Bulls guard Zach LaVine may not have the leverage to land a maximum-salary contract this offseason in restricted free agency, but he wants to continue to work toward being a “max player.” Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago has the details.
- Don’t expect a whole lot of roster turnover for the Bulls this summer, writes Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago. As Schanowski observes, it’s still probably too early in the club’s rebuilding process to make a big splash in free agency.
Poll: Denver Nuggets Vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
The NBA’s playoff race has been a wild one this year, and there are still dozens of potential scenarios for the final version of this year’s NBA standings.
Still, while we may have to wait until the end of tonight’s slate to determine seeds and first-round matchups, 15 of 16 playoff spots have been clinched, leaving just one final slot available. And to make matters simpler, that last spot will be decided in a single game, with the Timberwolves hosting the Nuggets in a winner-take-all contest tonight.
The Nuggets and Timberwolves enter tonight’s action with matching 46-35 records, so the loser of the regular season finale will be a hard-luck lottery team, while the winner could end up as high as No. 6 in the Western standings. It’s the NBA’s first winner-gets-in, loser-gets-eliminated regular season finale since 1997, according to the league (Twitter link via Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press).
Denver has recent history on its side heading into the end-of-season showdown. The Nuggets have won six consecutive games while battling for their postseason lives, beating the Thunder, Bucks, Pacers, Clippers, and Trail Blazers during that stretch — the other win during that streak came against the Timberwolves, last Thursday in Denver.
Conversely, the Timberwolves have struggled during the season’s second half after looking like a potential top-four seed earlier in the year. Since getting to 31-18 on January 22, Minnesota has posted a mediocre 15-17 record.
Of course, the Wolves were without star forward Jimmy Butler for most of that stretch, and Butler’s back now. So is Paul Millsap, who missed a huge chunk of the season for the Nuggets, and Gary Harris, who was recently sidelined for 11 games with a knee injury. In other words, with the possible exception of Taj Gibson, who is dealing with a sore neck, both teams figure to be at full strength tonight.
The Timberwolves are slight favorites in the eyes of oddsmakers, and NBA.com’s experts favor Minnesota too, but that’s more about home-court advantage than the Wolves being the better team. This game could easily go either way.
What do you think? Which team will win tonight’s game and earn a spot in the NBA postseason, the Nuggets or the Timberwolves? Vote below and then jump into the comment section to share your two cents!
Which team will win and earn the West's final playoff spot?
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Minnesota Timberwolves 60% (555)
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Denver Nuggets 40% (369)
Total votes: 924
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Matthew Dellavedova Cleared To Return For Bucks
Injured point guard Matthew Dellavedova has been cleared to return to action, Bucks head coach Joe Prunty confirmed today (Twitter link). It’s not clear what sort of role Dellavedova will have on Wednesday night in his first game back, but he’ll be available to play.
Dellavedova last appeared in a game on February 4, having been sidelined with an ankle injury since then. Initial reports suggested the veteran guard may only miss three or four weeks, but his absence ultimately stretched out over two-plus months.
While Dellavedova’s numbers in two years with the Bucks have been relatively modest (6.5 PPG and 4.4 APG on 38.5% shooting in 113 games), he has been a reliable three-point shooter and defender. The 27-year-old also has more postseason experience than most of his teammates, having made two runs to the Finals with the Cavaliers.
The Bucks’ backcourt is getting healthy at the right time. With the start of the postseason around the corner, Dellavedova’s return comes on the heels of Malcolm Brogdon returning to the court for the team on Monday.
Depending on the outcomes of tonight’s games around the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee will head into the postseason as either the sixth, seven, or eighth seed in the East.
Elie Okobo Enters 2018 NBA Draft
French guard Elie Okobo has become the latest top international prospect to enter his name in the 2018 NBA draft pool, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Agent Herman Manakyan informs Givony that Okobo has submitted the necessary paperwork to make himself draft-eligible for 2018.
“This was not a difficult decision for me. I am confident in my abilities, and I am focused on my goal of playing in the NBA,” Okobo told ESPN. “As I look at the field, I am confident I am one of the best point guards in the draft.”
While Givony ranks several point guards ahead of Okobo on his big board, the 20-year-old comes in at No. 38, giving him a chance to be a first-round pick this June. Okobo has had a very productive season for Pau-Orthez in the French League, averaging 13.0 PPG and 4.3 APG in 27 games (26.4 MPG). He has also knocked down 38.9% of his three-point tries.
As Givony details, Okobo has excellent size and scoring instincts, and has attracted “significant attention” this year from NBA scouts. In 2017, Okobo entered the draft and later withdrew his name, but he looks like a good bet to remain in this year’s class, Givony writes.
“I am confident this is the right time for me, and I am already receiving very strong feedback from the teams that have come to see me play this season,” Okobo said. “I hope to land with a team that is serious about player development that will help me to continue improving my skills.”