2020 May | Hoops Rumors

NBA Targeting July 31 For Return To Play

May 29th, 2020 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the league office informed the Board of Governors on today’s conference call that July 31 is the tentative target date for a return to play, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

That target date doesn’t tell us exactly when the NBA would want its season to end, since we don’t know how many games will be played once the season resumes. However, a typical postseason requires about two months from start to finish, so it appears as if the league is comfortably playing through August and September.

According to Charania (via Twitter), the NBA discussed four potential return scenarios on today’s call with team owners. Those scenarios were as follows:

Bringing back 16 teams and advancing directly to the postseason.
Bringing back 20 teams and using a play-in pool that would involve a group stage.
- Note: The Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, and Spurs would likely be involved in this scenario in addition to the playoff teams.
Bringing back 22 teams and playing regular season games to determine seeding. A play-in tournament would then be used to determine the final playoff teams.
- Note: The Suns and Wizards would be added to this scenario, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tweets.
Bringing back 30 teams, completing a 72-game regular season, then conducting a play-in tournament for the final playoff teams.

Within each of those scenarios, the NBA could tweak the details and go in a few different directions. For instance, even something a solution as simple as advancing to the postseason with the current top-eight seeds in each conference could involve reseeding those teams from one through 16, regardless of conference.

It seems like a safe bet, however, that the format the league eventually lands on won’t stray too far from one of those four options. Marc Berman of The New York Post tweets that returning with 24 teams is believed to still be on the table as well, so that may be a variation of the third option listed above.

According to Charania (via Twitter), that fourth and final option – with all 30 teams returning to play – looks like the least likely outcome. Charania reports that Hornets owner Michael Jordan advocated on today’s call for player safety and not asking players to return for meaningless games — that viewpoint has been voiced by at least one superstar player as well. So unless all 30 teams get a chance to make the playoffs, which seems like a long shot, the NBA is unlikely to bring them all back.

The NBA and NBPA are expected to further deliberate in the coming days, with Silver potentially bringing a proposal back to the Board of Governors for a vote next week.

Notes On NBA’s Potential Return To Play

May 29th, 2020 at 1:49pm CST by Luke Adams

The two-hour conference call this afternoon that included the league’s Board of Governors and commissioner Adam Silver featured plenty of discussion and debate about what form the resumption of the NBA season should take, including the financial implications of various proposals, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Unsurprisingly, there was ultimately no consensus among team owners, per Woj.

As Wojnarowski details, the league and the NBPA will continue to talk about potential scenarios for the NBA’s return. However, there’s an expectation that within the next week or so, Silver and the NBA will ask teams to vote on a specific proposal.

According to Woj, most teams are pushing ideas that reflect their own interests, but there’s a sense they’d get behind Silver – whether enthusiastically or reluctantly – if he and the NBPA agree on a plan and want to move forward with it (Twitter links).

Here’s more on the potential resumption of the 2019/20 season:

After Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer provided some of the results of the GM survey conducted by the NBA last week, Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links) reports a few more. According to Charania, most GMs don’t want the season to extend beyond October 1, and 60% voted in favor of a 72-game regular season. Charania adds that the non-playoff teams were “split” on resuming the season.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN also has some details on those GM survey results, noting that general managers support the idea of adding more inactive spots to team rosters and making two-way players available for the postseason.
In a lengthy column, David Aldridge of The Athletic explores several aspects of a potential NBA return, including how COVID-19 testing would work in Orlando, what player agents are hearing from their clients, and why there’s confidence that Walt Disney World is the best choice to host the league. “I’m fairly certain that Disney is going to work,” one source told Aldridge. “Vegas had some of the logistical things we needed but didn’t have the environment that could enhance our health protocols. Vegas scared me to death. Florida worried me a little bit because of the state opening up so early, but having a venue that can basically be closed off, I do think we can check off the venue issue off our list. I think we’ve got that down.”
Mark Medina of USA Today digs into the some of the logistics on how, specifically, it will work if the NBA resumes its seasons at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Medina shares some details – and some speculation – on where teams would play, how they’d practice, and where they’d stay while in the Disney “bubble.”

Categories:
COVID-19

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Kulboka, Magic, Gordon, Heat

May 29th, 2020 at 12:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Lithuanian forward Arnoldas Kulboka is remaining with Spanish club Bilbao Basket for next season after receiving interest from Zalgiris Kaunas in his home country, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The 22-year-old was selected by the Hornets with the No. 55 overall pick in the 2018 draft, but has yet to sign an NBA contract.

According to Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link), Kulboka’s agent Tadas Bulotas said that if not for the coronavirus pandemic, his client was planning to join the Hornets this year. As leagues take different approaches to COVID-19, the NBA offseason will no longer necessarily line up with the offseason for European leagues, complicating decisions for players looking to make the jump one way or the other.

Kulboka could potentially revisit the possibility of joining the Hornets in 2021.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

NBA scouts believe Magic forward Aaron Gordon is best suited to play power forward and also feel as if he tries to do more than he should in Orlando, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “I think the thing for him is he just has to realize that he has to accept that he is going to be a high-level role player — a borderline All-Star if he plays his role really well,” one scout told The Athletic. “I think in his mind there are times when he sees himself in the same vein as some of the superstars, and I think sometimes that can get in his way.”
In a separate mailbag article for The Athletic, Robbins examines the Magic‘s free agency outlook and discusses whether it would make sense for the team to experiment with playing Nikola Vucevic and Mohamed Bamba alongside one another.
After spending most of the NBA’s hiatus in California, Heat forward Andre Iguodala has returned to South Florida, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. In Miami, Iguodala will be able to take advantage of the team’s reopened practice facility for individual workouts. Jimmy Butler and Solomon Hill are now the club’s only players not in town, Winderman notes.

Austin Daye A Candidate To Return To NBA?

May 29th, 2020 at 11:38am CST by Luke Adams

The 15th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft, Austin Daye spent his first six professional seasons in the NBA, primarily with the Pistons. Having played in international leagues since then, Daye is a candidate to return to the NBA this year, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

As Carchia reports, Daye has an out clause until June 30 in his contract with Italian club Reyer Venezia. The veteran forward, who will turn 32 next Friday, is in talks with an NBA team and could even return stateside before the end of this season if the league’s transactions moratorium is lifted and teams get an opportunity to make roster moves.

Daye is one of many players on international teams with an NBA out who may have his decision impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. He’d have to be pretty confident he has an opportunity lined up before he exercises that out clause — given the uncertainty surrounding the remainder of the NBA season and the coming offseason, staying overseas could be the safest move for Daye and other players with outs, as we discussed on Thursday.

A former Gonzaga standout, Daye averaged 5.2 PPG and 2.6 RPG with a .402/.351/.778 shooting line in 293 NBA regular season games (14.1 MPG). Although Daye did win an NBA championship with San Antonio in 2014, he didn’t play much for the Spurs and has enjoyed more individual success in Europe, winning an LBA (Italian League) Finals MVP award in 2019 and earning Italian Cup MVP honors in 2020.

Bradley Beal: Trade Rumors “A Sign Of Respect”

May 29th, 2020 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

Despite the fact that Bradley Beal signed a contract extension with the Wizards last fall and remains locked up through at least 2022, he continues to be the subject of trade rumors and speculation. Most recently, a New York Daily News report indicated the Nets were having internal discussions about potential avenues of acquiring Beal.

That Daily News report included the caveat that the Wizards are likely uninterested in trading their All-Star guard. Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein subsequently shot down the idea as well. Speaking to Jackie MacMullan of ESPN, Beal chose to view those rumors in a positive light, even as he downplayed them too.

“To me, I look at it as a sign of respect, that I’ve been doing good things and guys want to play with me,” Beal said. “That’s an unbelievable feeling. When you hear that Kyrie (Irving) and KD (Kevin Durant) want you, s–t, that’s amazing. At the same time, you don’t know how much there is to it, or how easy it would be to do. And I’ve put down roots in D.C. I’ve dedicated myself to this town, this community. I love it here, and it would feel great to know I could grind out winning here instead of jumping to another team.”

Beal did admit that he sometimes can’t help but think about different possibilities when he hears his name mentioned in trade rumors. However, he stressed that he has no desire to leave D.C. at this time — especially with fellow backcourt star John Wall set to be back at full strength for the start of the 2020/21 season after more than a year on the shelf with heel and Achilles injuries.

“My biggest thing right now is that I want to play with John again,” Beal said. “I want to see him get back to that level where I know he can be, especially since my game has grown so much (while he’s been out). What can we accomplish together? I’m so happy he’s healthy, working his tail off.”

Bulls To Reopen Practice Facility On June 3

May 29th, 2020 at 10:02am CST by ChrisCrouse

MAY 29: The Bulls won’t reopen their facility today, but have received the go-ahead to open their doors for individual workouts beginning next Wednesday, June 3, tweets K.C. Johnson. That’s the date that the city’s “phase three” plan begins for reopening following coronavirus closures.

According to Johnson (Twitter link), new Bulls execs Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, who have been working remotely since being hired, are scheduled to be in Chicago soon.

MAY 27: The Mavericks will reopen their practice facility on Thursday, becoming the 23rd team to do so, and the Bulls appears likely to follow suit on Friday, becoming the 24th, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports (Twitter link).

The franchise received clearance from the Governor’s office and is in discussions with the city on how to safely open the facility. Under league rules, the workouts are voluntary. Only four players at a time are permitted in the facility and no group activities such as practices or scrimmages are allowed.

Johnson adds that not many of the Bulls’ players are currently in Chicago. There’s also no guarantee that the Bulls will be included in the NBA’s return. The league is contemplating many scenarios and there’s some skepticism from teams that all franchises won’t be included.

The Celtics, Knicks, Pistons, Warriors, Spurs, and Wizards are the only remaining franchises with closed facilities.

O’Connor’s Latest: GM Survey, Roster Expansion, Lottery, More

May 29th, 2020 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

On Thursday, the NBA held a call with its 30 teams’ heads of basketball operations – general managers and those with similar titles – to discuss a potential return to play, as well as the results of the survey the league sent those GMs earlier this month.

According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, half of the league’s GMs voted to proceed directly to the playoffs without playing any more regular season games. And just over half of the league’s GMs were in favor or reseeding playoff teams one through 16, regardless of conference. Meanwhile, support for a play-in pool similar to the World Cup’s group stage was lukewarm — approximately 75% of GMs voted for a play-in tournament, with just 25% or so supporting the play-in pool concept.

As O’Connor notes, the call was about gathering information rather than committing to a specific plan. The NBA still has a Board of Governors call scheduled to happen today, and even then, talks are expected to continue through the weekend without a formal vote on a return to play quite yet, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter).

As for which plans received more support in the GM survey, the NBA is aware that the results, in many cases, reflect a team’s particular interests — for instance, the Lakers and Bucks supported a play-in tournament over a play-in pool, since the latter would result in a more challenging path to the second round.

“Adam isn’t taking the results seriously,” one team executive told O’Connor earlier in the week. “Every team is obviously gonna vote for what’s best for them.”

Here’s more from O’Connor:

General managers “unanimously” favor the idea of expanding rosters for the postseason, sources tell The Ringer.
According to O’Connor, the NBA’s preference is for no group workouts to take place until teams arrive in Orlando, since the league will be in a better position to implement its own safety measures and COVID-19 testing procedures there. However, teams are pushing back against that idea, arguing that their players need more of a ramp-up period, and multiple executives expect the NBA to relent, O’Connor writes.
Teams on Thursday’s call had questions about how the draft lottery would work in the event of a play-in tournament or other tweaks to the usual playoff format. There are no clear answers yet on that issue, per The Ringer.
According to O’Connor, every source he has spoken to this week believes that the NBA would prefer to have at least some of its teams stay home. The league is prioritizing health and safety – ie. minimizing the amount of people in its “bubble” – over fulfilling certain regional television contracts.

Free Agency Could Be Moved Prior To Draft

May 28th, 2020 at 8:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA free agent period this year could be moved before the annual draft, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

That would be a momentous shift in the way the NBA operates. The league has traditionally conducted a June draft with free agency beginning approximately a week later.

The matter will be discussed during Friday’s NBA Board of Governors meeting, according to Pompey. Both the draft and free agency are expected to be moved to a later date. The draft, scheduled for June 25, will likely be moved to early September, according to Pompey. Free agency was scheduled to begin on June 30 at 6:00 p.m.

The NFL notably conducts free agency before its annual April draft, allowing teams to determine what remaining needs they have entering the draft. It also facilitates trades during the draft, which can be immediately announced.

The NBA’s method provides rookies with plenty of time to prepare for their first NBA seasons and allows the league to conduct thriving Summer League events. But draft-night trades that don’t involve strictly pick swaps are often not officially announced until after free agency begins and the salary cap is determined.

The decision on when to hold free agency may not be made in the near future, Pompey cautions, since plans to resume this season take precedence. Via an unnamed source, Pompey reports that this year’s draft would occur five-to-seven days after the Finals if it precedes free agency.

The National Basketball Players Association would have to agree to moving free agency before the draft.

The draft lottery and combine have already been postponed.

Central Notes: Pistons, Satoransky, Markkanen, Cavs

May 28th, 2020 at 7:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

While it may seem that the Pistons wouldn’t benefit from being included in any NBA plan to resume the season, waiting for next season could prove detrimental to the franchise, as the team’s website writer Keith Langlois explains.

Rookie Sekou Doumbouya needs all the time he can get playing and working with the team’s coaches, while Luke Kennard — sidelined by knee injuries much of the season — could prove he’s healthy with rookie scale extension talks looming. An unprecedented, prolonged break prior to next season would disrupt the Pistons’ rebuilding plan as well as the players’ circadian rhythm, Langlois adds.

We have more from around the Central Division:

Bulls guard Tomas Satoransky is also concerned about a huge gap between seasons for also-rans, Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago relays. In an interview posted on Euro Hoops Instagram Live, Satoransky said it would be very tough for NBA players to deal with that type of layoff. “I think it’s difficult to imagine being without a game until December, this year basically being without games. That kind of changes your perspective also on being able to come back to finish the season,” Satoransky said. “We are competitors and we want to compete against everyone.”
There were rumblings during the season that Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen was unhappy, but he declared in a recent podcast he wants to stay with the franchise long-term. “I want to stay in Chicago and sign an extension (with the Bulls), no question. I love this city,” Markkanen said on Finnish podcast Urheilucast (hat tip to On Tap Sports Net). Markkanen is eligible for a rookie scale extension prior to next season.
The Cavaliers are another team that could be left out of the NBA’s final plan to resume the season. Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer breaks down the implications for the franchise in each possible scenario.

Western Notes: Timberwolves, Harden, Holmes, Warriors

May 28th, 2020 at 6:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Timberwolves could reap some benefits if they get a chance to play again this season, as Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune details. The team added several new players during the second half of the season, and every game and practice they get together will foster chemistry. Young players such as 2019 first-round draft pick Jarrett Culver and 2018 first-rounder Josh Okogie need as much playing time as they can get to continue their development, Hartman adds.

We have more Western Conference news:

Rockets superstar James Harden says once the league deems it safe to resume competition, he’s primed for action, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. “If the league and public officials are confident that a single-site setup is safe for all players, staff and fans, then I’m ready to go,” he said. “I want to get back out there I just want to make sure we’re in a good position to so.”
Can Richaun Holmes and Marvin Bagley III co-exist in the Kings’ frontcourt? James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area explores the pros and cons of playing the two big men together. The biggest benefit, according to Ham, is that it would give the Kings one of the most athletic frontcourts in the league. They’re both high-motor players who can rebound, block shots and contribute offensively.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic examines the implications if the NBA leaves the Warriors out of its plans to resume the season. The biggest positive is that it would give the front office additional time to assess the financial landscape and direction they want to go before making any draft-night decisions.

Month: May 2024