Poll: Boston Celtics Vs. Philadelphia 76ers
On Monday, we asked you to make your pick for the Eastern Conference Semifinal that pits the top-seeded Raptors against the LeBron James-led Cavaliers. As I noted in that story, the Warriors and Rockets are significant favorites to advance in the West, and Boston’s injury-plagued roster makes the Sixers a big favorite in the other Eastern series.
However, in Game 1 of that Celtics/Sixers series on Monday night, Boston certainly didn’t look like an underdog. The C’s controlled the game, racking up 17 three-pointers and giving the Sixers’ offense problems on the other end of the court. Led by Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier, and Al Horford, the Celtics won Game 1 in convincing fashion despite missing Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown, and Daniel Theis.
Even after the Celtics’ Game 1 win, the Sixers are still favored by oddsmakers to win the series. In fact, the Celtics – up 1-0 in the series – are viewed as a longer shot to advance to the next round than the underdog Cavs are in the other Eastern Semifinal, which hasn’t yet started.
Those odds make sense — the Sixers may have been rusty after their long layoff between games, and we should expect point guard Ben Simmons to play better than he did in Game 1 (seven turnovers). Philadelphia probably won’t shoot 5-of-26 on three-pointers again either.
Still, the Celtics, led by Brad Stevens‘ inventive schemes, showed they won’t be pushovers. With Brown hoping to return soon and the C’s holding home court advantage for now, a long series looks like a distinct possibility.
What do you think? Will the Sixers bounce back and advance to the Eastern Finals, or will the Celtics build on Game 1’s win and maintain control of the series going forward?
Vote in our poll, then head below to the comment section to share your thoughts on the series!
Which team will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals?
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Boston Celtics 59% (838)
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Philadelphia 76ers 41% (574)
Total votes: 1,412
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Hornets Interviewing Blazers’ David Vanterpool
Trail Blazers assistant coach David Vanterpool has received permission to interview for another head coaching job, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Vanterpool is a candidate for the Hornets’ job. Charlotte is meeting with the Blazers assistant today, Wojnarowski adds.
It’s the second known interview for Vanterpool, as Portland also granted the Magic permission to speak to him about their open head coaching position.
[RELATED: 2018 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker]
Vanterpool, who has served as a Trail Blazers assistant for the last six seasons, was recently identified by executives around the NBA as one of the top candidates to receive consideration for a head coaching job this spring. Among NBA assistants, only Nick Nurse of the Raptors received more votes than Vanterpool in the survey, which was conducted by Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports.
For the Hornets, Vanterpool represents the latest in a growing list of candidates to replace Steve Clifford. Ettore Messina, David Fizdale, Ime Ukoda, and Jerry Stackhouse are also among the coaches who have interviewed – or plan to interview – with Charlotte.
The Hornets’ coaching search is being led by new general manager and president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak.
Stephen Curry To Return For Warriors In Game 2
MAY 1: The Warriors have confirmed that Curry has been fully cleared and will return for the team in Game 2 on Tuesday night (Twitter link via Chris Haynes of ESPN).
APRIL 30: Stephen Curry‘s return to the court for the Warriors appears imminent, with head coach Steve Kerr telling reporters this afternoon that the two-time MVP has officially been upgraded to probable for Game 2 (video link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic).
After missing Game 1 of the Warriors’ second-round series against the Pelicans, Curry was said to be “very likely” to play in Game 2, so today’s news doesn’t come as a surprise. According to Slater (Twitter link), Curry won’t face a formal minutes restriction in his first game back. His playing time will depend on how he looks in terms of conditioning and rhythm, Kerr said today.
Curry, who has battled ankle injuries on multiple occasions throughout the season, has missed more than a month with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee. He last appeared in a game for Golden State on March 23.
The Warriors have had little trouble winning without Curry so far in the postseason, defeating the Spurs in five games in round one and taking the first game from New Orleans in round two. Still, having the league’s best outside shooter back on the floor going forward will only make the Dubs more dangerous as they look to defend their title.
2018 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Brooklyn Nets
After another bid for a restricted free agent (Otto Porter) fell short, the Nets continued to use their cap room to take on other teams’ unwanted contracts during the 2017 offseason, adding Allen Crabbe, Timofey Mozgov, and DeMarre Carroll. Having lost control of so many lottery picks thanks to their infamous trade with the Celtics, the Nets were able to acquire a recent second overall pick in D’Angelo Russell by taking on Mozgov, and landed an extra first-round pick by absorbing Carroll. It will be trickier for Brooklyn to take a similar approach during the 2018 offseason though, with the club’s cap room dwindling.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Nets financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2018:
Guaranteed Salary
- Allen Crabbe ($18,500,000)
- Timofey Mozgov ($16,000,000)
- DeMarre Carroll ($15,400,000)
- Jeremy Lin ($12,516,746)
- D’Angelo Russell ($7,019,698)
- Deron Williams ($5,474,787) — Waived via stretch provision
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($2,470,357)
- Jarrett Allen ($2,034,120)
- Caris LeVert ($1,702,800)
- Total: $81,118,508
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Spencer Dinwiddie ($1,656,092)1
- Isaiah Whitehead ($1,544,951)2
- Total: $3,201,043
Restricted Free Agents
- Nik Stauskas ($4,333,931 qualifying offer / $11,421,441 cap hold): Bird rights
- Total: $11,421,441
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Jahlil Okafor ($6,313,832): Bird rights
- Randy Foye ($3,000,000): Non-Bird rights3
- Dante Cunningham ($2,760,000): Non-Bird rights
- No. 29 overall pick ($1,618,324)
- Quincy Acy ($1,499,698): Early Bird rights
- Joe Harris ($1,499,698): Early Bird rights
- Total: $16,691,552
Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000
Projected Cap Room: $13,562,427
- Our Nets cap projection includes the eight players on guaranteed contracts, the two non-guaranteed contracts, and the cap holds for Harris and the team’ first-round pick. That results in a total team salary of $87,437,573. Waiving Whitehead or renouncing Harris would create a little more cap room, though the difference would be pretty marginal. Any path to more significant space would have to be involved trades or cuts.
Footnotes:
- Dinwiddie’s salary becomes guaranteed for $250K after October 31.
- Whitehead’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30.
- Foye’s cap hold remains on the Nets’ books because he didn’t sign a new contract after reaching free agency in 2017. The team could renounce this hold at any time.
Note: Rookie scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Grizzlies Officially Name J.B. Bickerstaff Head Coach
The Grizzlies have made official what we learned last Thursday, announcing today in a press release that they’ve named J.B. Bickerstaff their permanent head coach. Bickerstaff had been serving as the club’s interim coach since replacing David Fizdale early in the 2017/18 regular season.
“J.B. did an admirable job as interim head coach last season in what was a challenging set of circumstances,” Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace said in a statement. “J.B. has connected with our players and earned their respect throughout his time in Memphis, and we have been pleased with his role in developing our young players. We are excited to see him coach with a full offseason and a healthy roster next season.”
Reports last week indicated that Bickerstaff’s new deal with the Grizzlies will cover three years, though Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal tweets that the third year is a team option. If Grizzlies management likes what it sees from Bickerstaff in 2018/19, that option will probably be exercised before the 2019/20 season begins in order to avoid having the head coach enter that year as a lame duck.
After making seven straight appearances in the postseason, the Grizzlies fell out of playoff contention early in the 2017/18 campaign, battling through injuries to key players like Mike Conley, Tyreke Evans, and Chandler Parsons. Memphis went 15-48 with Bickerstaff at the helm, ultimately finishing with a 22-60 record. It was the NBA’s second-worst mark.
The Grizzlies will hold a formal press conference on Wednesday to re-introduce Bickerstaff as head coach.
Hawks Interviewing Stephen Silas For HC Job
Another interviewee has emerged for the head coaching job in Atlanta, as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports (via Twitter) that the Hawks are meeting with Hornets assistant Stephen Silas on Tuesday. Silas previously worked with current Hawks GM Travis Schlenk when both men were with the Warriors, Wojnarowski notes.
A longtime assistant for New Orleans, Cleveland, Golden State, and Charlotte, Silas has never held a permanent head coaching job in the NBA. However, he did step in for Steve Clifford for over a month during the 2017/18 season when Clifford took time away from the Hornets for health reasons.
After Clifford was dismissed by Charlotte at season’s end, there was a sense that both Clifford and Silas would be considered for some of the head coaching vacancies around the NBA. Silas has yet to meet with any other teams, but was immediately identified as a potential candidate for the Hawks after Mike Budenholzer‘s departure from the franchise.
Silas joins David Fizdale, Nate Tibbetts, Jarron Collins, and Darvin Ham among head coaching candidates who have interviewed – or will interview – for Atlanta’s job. Ime Udoka, Jay Larranaga, and James Borrego are also said to be on the Hawks’ radar, though interviews for those three have to be reported.
Knicks Interview Mike Brown, Aim To Hire New Coach Soon
The Knicks have completed their interviews for their head coaching vacancy, and will huddle this week to attempt to reach a consensus on Jeff Hornacek‘s replacement, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Woj, the club hopes to have a new head coach hired by the end of the week.
As Wojnarowski details, the Knicks conducted one final interview in addition to the meetings that have already been reported, speaking to Warriors assistant Mike Brown about their head coaching position. That brings New York’s list of reported candidates to 11 names. They are as follows, in alphabetical order:
- David Blatt (former Cavaliers head coach)
- James Borrego (Spurs assistant)
- Mike Brown (Warriors assistant; former Cavaliers head coach)
- Mike Budenholzer (former Hawks head coach)
- David Fizdale (former Grizzlies head coach)
- Juwan Howard (Heat assistant)
- Mark Jackson (ESPN analyst; former Warriors head coach)
- Jay Larranaga (Celtics assistant)
- Kenny Smith (TNT analyst)
- Jerry Stackhouse (Raptors 905 head coach)
- Mike Woodson (Clippers assistant; former Knicks head coach)
Budenholzer and Blatt have generated the most buzz as potential targets for the Knicks, while Fizdale, Stackhouse, and Jackson were initially considered among the club’s top tier as well.
If the Knicks do name a new head coach this week, they’ll likely become the first team to complete a full-fledged search this offseason. The Grizzlies became the first team to hire a new permanent head coach last week, but they didn’t consider outside options, opting instead to promote J.B. Bickerstaff from the interim role.
Latest On Kawhi Leonard, Spurs
While there has been tension between the Spurs and Kawhi Leonard‘s camp this season, the relationship between the two sides used to be strong. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Michael C. Wright, Spurs sources point to the departure of agent Brian Elfus in 2016 as a turning point in the relationship between the two sides.
As Shelburne and Wright detail, Elfus co-represented Leonard along with Mitch Frankel up until 2016. Since then, Frankel and Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson have handled matters, and the relationship hasn’t been nearly as healthy, Spurs sources tell ESPN.
According to Shelburne and Wright, the Spurs have become worried that Leonard’s group has an ulterior motive to fray the relationship between the player and team, perhaps pushing the star forward to a larger market such as Los Angeles, New York, or Philadelphia. L.A. is Leonard’s hometown, while Robertson lives in New Jersey.
ESPN’s in-depth look into the Leonard situation in San Antonio includes several more interesting details, and should be read in full. However, here are a few highlights from the piece, via Shelburne and Wright:
- As Shelburne and Wright note, one root issue of the tension between the Spurs and Leonard’s camp is their disagreement over the nature of his quadriceps injury. Leonard’s group believes the issue is “an ossification or hardening in the area” where he has endured multiple quad bruises, which in turn has affected the tendons connecting the muscle to the knee. The Spurs have referred to the injury as quadriceps tendinopathy, a disease of the tendon that has a degenerative effect on the muscle. The two diagnoses call for different treatments.
- When Leonard returned for nine games in the middle of the season, he was only shut down again after seeing Dr. Jonathan Glashow, a New York-based orthopedic surgeon. Frankel and Robertson arranged that consultation, and Glashow’s team has guided Leonard’s rehab ever since, leaving the Spurs frustrated at having lost control of the forward’s medical care. “It’s out of our hands,” one Spurs staffer told ESPN.
- Leonard’s advisors – who felt that the Spurs resisted considering outside opinions – have also been frustrated by their belief that Gregg Popovich has public questioned their handling of the situation. “They’re alienating him,” one Leonard confident told ESPN. “They’re making him look bad. You have this seamless transition from the [Tim] Duncan era to the new era, this homegrown superstar. Like why would you alienate him?”
- A source close to R.C. Buford told ESPN that the Spurs’ GM is “losing sleep” over how and why the team’s relationship with Leonard has frayed.
- Although the Spurs remain internally optimistic that Popovich and Leonard can work things out during the offseason, Shelburne and Wright suggest it remains unclear whether team ownership would approve a super-max contract offer, given how things played out in 2017/18. There’s also no clear answer yet on if Leonard would accept such an offer.
- Following the death of Erin Popovich, Leonard was ready to leave New York and attend a Spurs game to support Gregg Popovich if the head coach had returned to the team’s bench. However, when Popovich didn’t return, Leonard ultimately stayed in New York to continue his rehab.
Magic To Interview Ime Udoka For Coaching Job
The Magic are scheduled to interview Spurs assistant Ime Udoka for their head coaching job this week, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Udoka, a former NBA player for the Lakers, Knicks, Trail Blazers, and Spurs, transitioned to coaching in 2012 following his retirement. He has been a member of Gregg Popovich‘s coaching staff in San Antonio since then, spending the last six seasons as a Spurs assistant.
Like fellow Spurs assistants Ettore Messina and James Borrego, Udoka has been a popular candidate so far this spring for teams seeking a new head coach. As Wojnarowski notes, Udoka has spoken to the Hornets already. He has also been identified as a potential target for the Hawks.
[RELATED: 2018 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker]
As for the Magic, they’ve been taking their time with their head coaching search, carefully weighing their options since parting ways with Frank Vogel last month.
A mid-April report indicated that Raptors 905 coach Jerry Stackhouse would meet with Orlando about the team’s coaching job, and we heard a few days ago that the club would also speak to Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool about the position.