As they fight to hang onto the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Nets will get some rotation reinforcements this week. According to Michael Scotto of The Athletic (via Twitter), head coach Kenny Atkinson said today that injured guard Spencer Dinwiddie is set to return to the court for Brooklyn on Friday.
Dinwiddie, who last played for the Nets on January 23, underwent surgery a month ago to repair torn ligaments in his right thumb. At the time, the estimated timeline for his recovery was three to six weeks, so he’s ready to get back right in the middle of that window.
Dinwiddie and veteran forward Jared Dudley were assigned to the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, today in order to get some practice time in, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Both players are expected to suit up for the NBA club on Friday vs. Charlotte.
Here are a few more items from around the Atlantic:
- While Danny Ainge acknowledged during a Toucher & Rich radio appearance on Thursday that “everybody has some fault” in the Celtics‘ struggles this year, the club’s president of basketball operations offered a strong defense of his head coach. “There’s blame to share for everybody, but I will say this: He’s the least, by far, of anybody that there is to blame,” Ainge said of Brad Stevens (link via Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston).
- Aron Baynes, who has been sidelined with a left foot injury since the start of February, appears to be almost ready to play, Stevens said on Wednesday, per Taylor Snow of Celtics.com. “I would say that Friday is unlikely,” Stevens said of Baynes’ return date. “But beyond that, I think he could play any time in the days after that depending on how he comes out of (Wednesday’s) workout.”
- Knicks fans – including Spike Lee – may be happy to see the team embrace the tank and improve their draft lottery position, but losing games isn’t head coach David Fizdale‘s goal the rest of the way, as Steve Popper of Newsday writes. “I’m lucky because Steve [Mills] and Scott [Perry] and Mr. [James] Dolan have all said to me, you play every game to win and you don’t worry about where we land in the draft and all of that stuff,” Fizdale said.
- Although the Sixers are missing a couple big men and have Justin Patton for Thursday’s game, the young center probably won’t play, head coach Brett Brown told reporters today (video link via Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer). We had more on Patton and the 76ers in an earlier round-up.
fizdale is a joke…one of the worst game management and player rotations i have ever witnessed….he is all smoke and no substance… he is perfect for Dolan as both of them can make the Knicks embarrassing for years to come
Stevens has his share of blame but… at the end of the day they gave him a ticking bomb of a squad, that wasn’t his fault, right?
at the trade-deadline ainge didn’t make the team better or add a waived player
I agree Trader Danny just sat in his office and watched as Raptors, Bucks, and Sixers got better.
squirreling players/picks for AD? im guessing pel’s want to dump bad salary with AD
Celtics best 76ers since the trade deadline. Then lost to the bucks by 1 point on the road with key players injured after AS Game. The Celtics didn’t need a trade and are still just as good of not better than any of these teams.
Don’t say “raptors blew them out” cuz I will say no s***. Celtics didn’t show up to play and that’s been the case most of the year they are waiting for playoffs and you will see a switch flips. Don’t doubt the Celtics they are still headed to the finals.
who were they supposed to trade for?
Fiz, it’s not tanking you’re doing, it’s just losing because the coaching is horrible.