Paul Reed Declaring For NBA Draft
DePaul junior forward Paul Reed will enter the NBA draft, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Charania refers to Reed as a “projected first-round pick,” but he appears at No. 51 on ESPN’s Big Board.
“After three great years of learning, improving and developing my game at DePaul, I am blessed to say that I will be declaring for the 2020 NBA draft,” Reed said. “I want to thank the coaching staff for giving me this opportunity and being great mentors and role models for me. … I’m excited for this next part of my basketball journey and am ready to get to work.”
Reed averaged 15.1 points per game this season and was a second team All-Big East selection. He ranked second in the conference in rebounding (10.7), blocks (2.6) and steals (1.9). Reed was named Most Improved Player in the Big East last season.
Cavaliers Notes: Bickerstaff, Osman, Porter, Gottlieb
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff believes finishing the season would be important to his young team, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs still own the worst record in the East at 19-46, but they went 5-6 after Bickerstaff replaced John Beilein as head coach last month, including wins over the Nuggets, Heat and Sixers.
“I would hope to play the final 17 games, to be honest with you,” he said. “Where we are and how important that is to us as a team in building and the taste it can leave as we go into what would have been a summer break — guys wanting to go out, work, prepare and get better because they start to see some things heading in the right direction. That momentum I think was going to be and would be important for us.
“The toughest thing in this league is learning how to win and we were starting to get to the point in fourth quarters. So, for us as a group, that’s meaningful. Obviously the league will do what it deems best for the entire league and our fans, but for us, I would love to have those games.”
Bickerstaff adds that he hasn’t been tested for the coronavirus and all his players remain healthy. Cleveland hosted Utah on March 2, nine days before a positive test by Jazz center Rudy Gobert sparked the shutdown of the league.
There’s more from Cleveland:
- Small forward may be the primary position the Cavaliers try to upgrade during the offseason, Fedor predicts in a separate piece. Cedi Osman, the starter for the past two years, might be better off as a reserve, Fedor suggests. First-round pick Dylan Windler wasn’t able to play at all because of injuries and will be starting from scratch next season. Kevin Porter Jr. could be the most talented member of Cleveland’s young core, but many in the organization view him as a shooting guard.
- Three-point shooting and passing are also areas that need improvement, Fedor adds. Center Tristan Thompson leads the team from beyond the arc at 39.1%, while Matthew Dellavedova is clearly the best passer in the organization.
- It didn’t take long for Lindsay Gottlieb to win the respect of the players in her first season as an assistant coach, Fedor notes in another story. Andre Drummond connected with her right away after being acquired from the Pistons. “I immediately gravitated towards her and have ever since,” Drummond said. “I always preach positivity. She sees that. Any time she sees me get down on myself, she always comes over and gives me a pat on the leg and tells me to stay positive and I will be fine.”
Hoops Rumors Originals: 3/22/20 – 3/28/20
Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team publishes original content to complement our news feed. Listed below are our original segments and features from the past seven days:
- Luke Adams supplied a helpful list of the NBA draft’s early entrants.
- For our Hoops Rumors Glossary entries this week, Adams defined Bird Rights and Early Bird Rights.
- In our Community Shootaround conversations this week, we asked:
Italian League To Cancel Season
After chatter just a few days ago of possibly resuming practice in May, the top basketball league in Italy, LBA Serie A, now intends to cancel the rest of its 2019/20 season and concentrate on a resumption of league play in 2020/21, per Sportando’s Ennio Terrasi Borghesan.
A champion will not be selected. Italian Basketball Federation honorary president Dino Meneghin made a statement confirming as much, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reported.
“We must follow the rules dictated by the Government to preserve out health,” Meneghin said. “We will cancel the season, it is needed. Life is more important than sports. Now it is essential to give everyone the opportunity to save his own life.”
Jamal Crawford Staying In Shape For Possible NBA Return
If and when the NBA season resumes, there will be a lot to figure out in regards to how much of the regular season will be played and how the playoff format will be adjusted. For teams in search of help, one notable veteran remains unsigned and is eager to help.
Jamal Crawford has made it known he wants to resume playing and continues to stay prepared with that goal in mind, as he told ESPN’s Kenny Mayne on SportsCenter on Friday.
“I’ve been training as if I’m playing…Hopefully, I’ll get another chance to get back out there,” Crawford said, repeating his statement from November in which he was “baffled.”
Crawford, 40, spent last season in an uneven role with the Suns, averaging 7.9 PPG in 64 games, his lowest average since his rookie campaign. However, he did score 51 points in the season’s final game. The three-time Sixth Man of the Year had spent five of the prior six campaigns as a reliable bench weapon for the Clippers.
In his career, Crawford has also suited up for the Bulls, Knicks, Warriors, Hawks and Blazers.
Heat Veteran Udonis Haslem Not Thinking About Retirement
Depending on whether or not the NBA resumes the 2019/20 season, it could represent the end of the line for longtime Heat veteran Udonis Haslem. The 39-year-old has served as a team leader in recent years, appearing in just 43 games over the last four seasons.
Since 2003, Haslem has been a mainstay in South Beach, helping Miami win several championships while also working with young Heat players on the rise. It could all be over, but Haslem has not weighed the possibility of retirement just yet.
“Yeah, I mean, everybody, obviously, it comes to mind,” Haslem said during a conference call on Friday, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. “For me, I’m still maintaining hope that we can salvage some of the basketball season. So I haven’t gotten to that point yet. And in the midst of all this, there is a lot going on.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has put the entire world in a standstill, including that of professional sports. Haslem recently published a strong Players’ Tribune writeup urging people to take the coronavirus spread seriously by practicing social distancing.
“I’m seeing people starting to make the move, and starting to impact,” he said. “I’m sure it wasn’t just my letter. I’m sure a lot people had ideas in mind about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it. I’m just seeing everybody coming together.”
It’s been clear that Haslem is valued as a veteran leader for a young Heat team that – before the season’s suspension – was among the best in the Eastern Conference. As the league remains hopeful to resume the campaign, Haslem admitted that thinking about the game is challenging.
“Right now, there are bigger things going on than basketball,” Haslem said. “So it’s really kind of hard to focus on basketball.”
Draft Notes: Russell, Williams, Vassell, Mays
Rhode Island guard Fatts Russell has declared for the draft but will maintain his college eligibility throughout the process, he wrote on an Instagram post. The junior averaged 18.8 PPG, 4.6 APG and 2.9 SPG this season. The 5’10” Russell averaged 14.2 PPG last season.
We have more draft news:
- Cincinnati’s Keith Williams announced his intention to enter the draft and hire an agent on his Twitter feed. The 6’5” Williams averaged 12.6 PPG and shot 34.2% from long range as a junior this season. Williams has started two seasons for the Bearcats after being a rotation reserve as a freshman.
- Oregon guard Payton Pritchard, Florida State guard Devin Vassell, Utah State guard Sam Merrill, Penn State forward Lamar Stevens and LSU guard Skylar Mays are five players who could make a surprising impact in the NBA, Jon Rothstein declares in a Yahoo Sports video post. Vassell, currently ranked No. 19 on ESPN’s Best Available list, is the only prospect among that group considered a likely first-rounder.
- Potential lottery selection Killian Hayes has declared for the draft. Get the details here.
Coronavirus Notes: Ballmer, Cuban, BIG3
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, through the Ballmer Group, has pledged more than $25MM in aid to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. The donation will help Seattle, Southeast Michigan and Los Angeles, areas that have been hard hit by coronavirus. It includes $10MM to University of Washington Medicine’s Emergency Response Fund to speed up testing for a COVID-19 vaccine. In an unrelated revelation, Ballmer said his team will lose at least $10MM this season because of the suspension of play, sports business Scott Soshnick tweets.
We have more coronavirus-related developments:
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggests that fans could be checked for illness entering arenas once games are played in front of spectators, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News relays. “It’s not hard to use thermal guns to take someone’s temperature and look for fevers,” Cuban said on CNBC. “Is it feasible? Yes, absolutely. We have to be very cautious, particularly as we try to come back. At first, we’ll play a lot of games without fans and figure it out with all the medicines that become available, we’ll go from there.”
- The BIG3 is moving forward with plans to play a quarantined reality-show tournament in early May, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports. The league is partnering with the producers of the TV show “Big Brother” to create the tournament. Players and referees will be quarantined in the same Los Angeles-area home provided by the league for the three-week preseason tournament, which will consist of 16 players, Haynes adds.
- A well-known ESPN analyst is recovering from the coronavirus. Get the details here.
International Notes: Dekker, Japan, China
Former NBA forward Sam Dekker is headed home after the Russia VTB United League cancelled its season, he tweets. Dekker, who left Moscow on Thursday with a connecting flight in Turkey, was playing for Lokomotiv Kuban. Dekker played for Washington and Cleveland last season.
We have more international news:
- The Japanese B League has decided to cancel the remainder of its season, Jonathan Givony of ESPN reports. The league went on hiatus after the COVID-19 outbreak in mid-February and briefly resumed play for one weekend this month. “We’ve prioritized the mental and physical health of our players, coaches and club officials,” league chairman Masaaki Okawa said in a video statement. “The spread of this coronavirus has been beyond our imagination and we’ve emphasized that we cannot afford to expose our players and others who are associated with our league to the danger.”
- China is closing its borders to foreigners starting on Saturday, according to NPR.org post, and that could impact players returning to the Chinese Basketball Association. The CBA is planning to resume its season next month and foreign players that have already returned were required to quarantine for two weeks. However, not all foreign players have made it back to China.
- The NBA is closely monitoring China’s efforts to resume play with an eye toward replicating those measures if the CBA is successful, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. While the CBA hasn’t formally announced a plan, it’s expected to cluster teams in one or two cities and play a round-robin format in empty arenas over several weeks. The CBA’s goal is to play out the remaining schedule in full before moving on to the playoffs. The NBA could look at venues in a centralized location, including Las Vegas.
Atlantic Notes: Smart, Kurucs, Hayward, Dinwiddie
Celtics guard Marcus Smart is doing “great” after testing positive for the coronavirus, coach Brad Stevens told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and other media members. “He’s great. Great spirits. Joking as always,” Stevens said Friday. Smart is one of 10 NBA players known to have tested positive for COVID-19. Smart revealed his diagnosis on March 19.
We have more from around the Atlantic Division:
- The Nets’ Rodions Kurucs was due in Brooklyn court on Monday for his misdemeanor assault case but that proceeding was postponed, Brian Lewis of the New York Post reports. The case has been administratively adjourned due to the pandemic and a new date will eventually be set. Kurucs was arrested last summer on a domestic assault charge.
- There’s a general sense that Celtics forward Gordon Hayward will opt in to his contract next season, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. Hayward holds a $34MM option. “It’s too much money to pass up,” an unnamed NBA GM told Deveney. “He could get a longer deal if that is what he really wants. But I don’t think the Celtics want to give it to him. … He can opt in this year and then take a big contract next year.”
- Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie will be in demand on the trade market this offseason, Lewis opines in a separate story. Dinwiddie, who can opt out after next season, has posted career highs in points (20.6 PPG) and assists (6.8 APG).