Justin Holiday Unsure About Going To NBA Campus
When the NBA released its six-phase plan to restart the season in Orlando, one major detail confirmed by the league was that players do not have to attend. Players would not receive their game checks in the event that they take this route, but there would be no penalty – such as a fine or suspension – beyond that.
J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star hears that Justin Holiday is the only member of the Pacers deliberating whether or not to go. Sources tell Michael that Holiday is 50/50 on joining the club in Orlando.
Holiday was one of the players on the recent Kyrie Irving-led conference call, during which the Nets point guard questioned the league for returning the play in the midst of social justice reform.
Players have until June 24 to notify their team that they will not be participating in the remainder of the season in Orlando.
Sixers Notes: Playoff Rotation, Richardson, Embiid
Alec Burks, who was traded to the Sixers at the trade deadline, could find himself out of the team’s playoff rotation if Brett Brown decides to go with a nine-man rotation, Derek Bodner of The Athletic argues in his latest mailbag. Bodner trusts Glenn Robinson III‘s shot more than Burks’ and cites Robinson’s comfort level playing off the ball as reasons for the choice.
Shake Milton, Josh Richardson, and Tobias Harris would likely start alongside Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. Al Horford and Matisse Thybulle are strong candidates for major minutes and Bodner see Mike Scott getting considerable run, though Brown could mix things up depending on the opponent, with Furkan Korkmaz also an option.
Here’s more from Philadelphia:
- Richardson could wind up being a trade chip if the salary cap decreases and ownership doesn’t want to pay a massive luxury tax bill, Bodner writes in the same piece. The scribe adds that from an on-court standpoint, the 26-year-old shooting guard can be a valuable long-term piece for the franchise.
- The challenges of putting together a playoff rotation this season are different than last year for the Sixers, Rich Hofmann of The Athletic explains. The team had a statically superior starting five last season and just had to configure the bench, which was a tough ask. This season, there’s no clear dominant five. And while there are more options on the bench, Brown won’t be able to make decisions based on a large sample size due to the suspended season.
- Chris Mannix is optimistic about the Sixers’ chances once play resumes, as he writes for Sports Illustrated. With every team out of tune, Mannix believes low-post play could become more important than shooting, and Philadelphia has the most dominant big man in the Eastern Conference.
Draft Notes: Choh, Lawson, Combine, Bolmaro
Tamenang Choh, a forward from Brown, is withdrawing from the draft and will head back to school for his senior year, coach Mike Martin tells Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link).
Choh averaged a career-best 13.2 PPG in 27 games last season to go along with 8.1 RPG and 3.3 APG. However, he struggled with his efficiency, making just 39.2% of his shots from the field – including 29.2% from beyond the three-point line – and 65.5% of his free-throw attempts.
Here’s more on the 2020 NBA draft:
- Following a report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link) suggesting that South Carolina guard A.J. Lawson will pull out of the draft and return to school, his father Anthony told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com that A.J. “is still in the draft.” For now, we’re leaving him in the “testing the waters” section of our early entrant tracker.
- If a draft combine exists in any form this year, the primary objective will likely be to get prospects’ measurements and medicals, says Jeremy Woo of SI.com. The on-court aspect, including drills and scrimmages, would likely be significantly limited, if it happens at all, according to Woo.
- Spain’s basketball league, the ACB, resumed play in Wednesday. Within his Insider-only breakdown on how that return-to-play will work, Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com identifies five candidates to be drafted in 2020 and 2021 who are playing in the ACB and are worth keeping an eye on, including potential ’20 first-rounder Leandro Bolmaro.
Knicks Plan To Interview Udoka, Others For Head Coach Job
4:58pm: The Knicks are also expected to interview Bulls assistant Chris Fleming, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv, who hears that the club will likely meet with about eight-to-10 candidates in total. Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link) hears that Spurs assistant Becky Hammon is among those who could interview with the Knicks too, though that’s not yet confirmed.
3:54pm: In addition to meeting with Udoka, the Knicks also plan to interview Magic assistant Pat Delany, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). A former G League head coach for Miami’s affiliate, Delany has spent six years as an assistant coach under Steve Clifford, first in Charlotte and now in Orlando.
3:39pm: The Knicks intend to interview Sixers assistant Ime Udoka for their head coaching vacancy, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Udoka joins a list of candidates that includes Tom Thibodeau, Kenny Atkinson, Mike Woodson, and Mike Miller. Atkinson reportedly has some support within the Knicks’ organization, though Thibodeau is considered the frontrunner. Woodson and Miller are also expected to interview — if they haven’t already.
Udoka, 42, enjoyed a seven-year playing career that ended in 2011 after suiting up for the Spurs, Trail Blazers, Kings, Knicks and Lakers. He was part of Gregg Popovich‘s staff in San Antonio for seven seasons before joining the 76ers last spring. Udoka also interviewed for the Cavaliers’ head coaching job last year before the team hired John Beilen.
Interestingly, Udoka was recently reported to be a leading candidate for the Bulls’ head coaching job in the event that they move on from Jim Boylen. It’s not clear whether New York’s apparent interest in Udoka will prompt Chicago to accelerate its evaluation process with Boylen at all.
John Wall Talks Restart, Cousins, Olympics, More
Wizards guard John Wall believes Kyrie Irving has raised some reasonable concerns as NBA players weigh the league’s restart plan this summer. Appearing on The Tuff Juice Podcast with Caron Butler, Wall suggested that he’d have reservations about playing in Orlando even if he were healthy enough to do so.
“For me, if I was playing, I wouldn’t want to go to it, to be honest,” Wall said, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “I just don’t feel like it’s safe. I just don’t feel like it is. I understand why they want to do it and what they’re trying to get to, but I wouldn’t want to.”
The Wizards are currently 5.5 games back of a playoff spot and would only force a play-in tournament if they can pull to within four games of either the Magic or the Nets. Even then, Washington would have to win two consecutive games in a play-in tournament in order to claim the No. 8 seed, which Wall seemed to acknowledge will be an uphill battle.
“If I was healthy enough to play, I wouldn’t want to go play,” he said, according to Hughes. “What am I going, just to play eight games? I’m not going for just eight games and then coming back home.”
While it may be somewhat cynical to point out, it’s worth noting that players like Irving and Wall might be more comfortable taking a stand on the issue when injuries will rule them out anyway. If they were fully healthy, it’s possible they’d feel extra pressure not to let down teammates by sitting out.
Here’s more from Wall:
- In an Instagram Live interview with Marc Spears of The Undefeated on Wednesday, Wall said he’s still encouraging the Wizards to sign his good friend and former Kentucky teammate DeMarcus Cousins. “Oh man, you know I’m trying to push for that,” Wall said (hat tip to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington). “I’ve been on that for like five years. I want to sign him right now.”
- Wall said that he and GM Tommy Sheppard have discussed the possibility of signing Cousins “here and there,” admitting that it might make sense for the big man to wait until next year to return — like Wall is doing. Cousins is recovering from a torn ACL.
- During that same interview with Spears, Wall said that he’d like to play for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics next summer, and has conveyed his interest to USA Basketball (Twitter link via Hughes). The Wizards’ point guard wasn’t one of 44 preliminary Team USA finalists announced in February, but could become a more viable candidate now that the event has been pushed back a year.
- Wall also discussed the Black Lives Matter movement and other social-justice issues in an interesting conversation with Fred Katz of The Athletic.
Suns’ Oubre Expected To Remain Sidelined For Rest Of 2019/20
Suns forward Kelly Oubre isn’t expected to return to action when the 2019/20 season resumes in Orlando, reports Shams Charania of Stadium (video link).
Oubre underwent surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee on March 3, approximately a week before the NBA suspended its season. At the time, the Suns announced that he’d be re-evaluated in four weeks, though there was an expectation that he may miss the rest of the season.
With the end of the season having pushed back by several months, Oubre’s new return timeline had been unclear. However, Charania suggests that the 24-year-old still has rehab and therapy work to do on his injured knee. Although Oubre will likely travel to Orlando with the Suns, he isn’t expected to suit up for games as the club looks to make up ground in the Western Conference playoff race.
Oubre enjoyed a career year in Phoenix in 2019/20, averaging 18.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 1.3 SPG with a .452/.352/.780 shooting line in 56 games (34.5 MPG). He has one season left on the two-year deal he signed with the club last July.
The Suns, meanwhile, join the Spurs as Western challengers who will be without a key player when the season resumes this summer. LaMarcus Aldridge will miss the rest of ’19/20 for San Antonio after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Hornets Notes: Free Agency, Draft, Bacon
Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak made it clear earlier in the 2019/20 league year that he doesn’t expect his team to be a major player in free agency during the 2020 offseason, despite projecting to be one of the few clubs with real cap room. However, that doesn’t mean that Charlotte will ignore the free agent market entirely.
“We’ll look to acquire talent via trades and depending on the circumstances, we will look at the potential of a strategic free-agent signing,” the Hornets’ executive said, per Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
As Bonnell notes in a separate tweet, a “strategic” signing for the Hornets could be a smaller deal that focuses on a specific area of need, such as rim protection or more offensive versatility on the wing.
Here’s more on the Hornets:
- Appearing on WFNZ in Charlotte, Kupchak admitted that the Hornets aren’t in position to focus on positional need in the draft rather than opting for the best player available (Twitter links via Bonnell). “We’re just not good enough to do that right now — to bypass maybe a more talented player because we think we need help at a certain position,” Kupchak said.
- Speaking of the draft, Kupchak recently said that the Hornets have interviewed approximately 25 players who could be picked in the late first or early second round (Twitter link via Bonnell). Charlotte doesn’t have its own second-round pick, but has Cleveland’s, which will be No. 32. The Hornets are focusing on meeting with candidates for that pick rather than their lottery selection because top prospects generally haven’t been participating in many video calls yet (Twitter link via Bonnell).
- Hornets guard Dwayne Bacon is eligible for restricted free agency this offseason and appears unlikely to return to Charlotte. Bacon said last week that his best option would be to “go somewhere else” as a free agent, according to Bonnell (Twitter link).
- In a mailbag for The Charlotte Observer, Bonnell discussed Nicolas Batum‘s future, how a lower-than-expected salary cap would affect the Hornets in 2020/21, and a handful of other topics.
Atlantic Notes: Irving, Nets, Tatum, Durant, Knicks
In a recent group chat, Kyrie Irving urged his Nets teammates to skip the restarted season this summer, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News, who says the star guard also put forth the idea of players starting their own league.
Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) hears from sources that Irving never said the Nets should start their own league in response to the bubble plan. However, the wording of that denial leaves some room for interpretation — it doesn’t mean Irving never floated the concept, or that it wasn’t part of a separate conversation from the one about participating in the bubble.
Either way, it’s an eyebrow-raising idea. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that the world’s best players could launch and run a successful league, but it would be a long, challenging process to get enough players on board and to attempt to build the sort of infrastructure the NBA already has in place. For now, it’s not really a realistic possibility.
For what it’s worth, Rooks adds that Irving left the group chat following the publication of Bondy’s report.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic division:
- Within that same Daily News article, Bondy cites a source who says Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has expressed some reluctance about playing this summer, since he’s eligible for a maximum-salary extension this offseason and feels as if there will be an elevated risk of injury when play resumes. While Bondy’s report may be accurate, I’d be shocked if Tatum didn’t ultimately suit up — even a major injury likely wouldn’t prevent the C’s from offering him a lucrative long-term deal.
- Even at full strength, the Nets wouldn’t be a real threat to win the title this season, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times, who lauds Kevin Durant‘s willingness to remain patient with his Achilles recovery rather than pushing to return to action in Orlando.
- As first reported by Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Knicks are hiring Pelicans scout Alex Kline to a front office role. Kline will take on a larger role in New York, working under new assistant GM Walt Perrin, league sources tell Vorkunov.
Christ Koumadje Named NBAGL Defensive Player Of The Year
Now that the remainder of the NBA G League’s 2019/20 season has been officially canceled, the league is moving forward with its end-of-season awards, announcing today that Delaware Blue Coats big man Christ Koumadje has been named the NBAGL Defensive Player of the Year.
Koumadje, who went undrafted out of Florida State in 2019, signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Sixers last July. Philadelphia waived him before the season began and made him an affiliate player for the Blue Coats.
A G League rookie, Koumadje emerged as the league’s most fearsome rim protector almost immediately, averaging an NBAGL-best 4.0 blocks per game in 33 contests. The Chad native also averaged a double-double, recording 11.3 PPG and 10.9 RPG in just 26.4 minutes per contest. His most impressive outing came on February 1, when he logged a triple-double consisting of 18 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 blocks.
It’s not clear if or when Koumadje will get a shot at the NBA level with the 76ers or another team. Some recent NBAGL Defensive Player of the Year winners, including Chris Boucher (2019) and DeAndre Liggins (2014, 2016) have played rotation roles in the NBA.
Canton Charge swingman Sir’Dominic Pointer and Westchester Knicks forward Kenny Wooten were the top two runners-up in G League Defensive Player of the Year voting. Wooten is on a two-way contract with New York, while Pointer was in the midst of a 10-day with Cleveland when the NBA suspended its season in March.
Bryan Colangelo Part Of New Illawarra Hawks Ownership Group
The National Basketball League in Australia has announced that a new ownership group is assuming control of the Illawarra Hawks, one of the league’s nine teams. The group includes former Raptors and Sixers executive Bryan Colangelo, who will take on an advisory role with the Australian club, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
As Wojnarowski explains, Colangelo won’t have a role in making basketball decisions as a president or general manager in Illawarra. However, he’ll assist the franchise “in governance and strategy.”
Although Colangelo recently interviewed for the Bulls’ head of basketball operations position, his involvement in the purchase of the NBL’s Hawks represents his first foray back into the sport since his unceremonious exit from the 76ers in 2018.
Colangelo’s time in Philadelphia came to an end when he resigned after just two years following allegations that he was using burner Twitter accounts to disparage 76ers players and to disclose private information about them. Subsequent reporting suggested that Colangelo’s wife was responsible for creating some or all of those accounts and publishing that sensitive info.
A previous report had indicated that LaMelo Ball would be part of a group purchasing the Hawks, but that deal didn’t materialize, despite some serious negotiations. Ball, a projected top-10 pick in the 2020 draft, played for Illawarra this past season, and the team’s press release mentioned him multiple times.
“The decision in choosing the right owners was not an easy one and I want to acknowledge and thank all those who were part of the thorough process undertaken,” NBL owner and chairman Larry Kestelman said in a statement. “I would like, in particular, to thank LaMelo Ball and his organization for the support and interest shown in wanting to achieve the best outcome for the team that has helped him have a chance at being the number one NBA Draft pick.
“We hope we can explore future opportunities with LaMelo and wish him all the best for the NBA Draft in October and his ambition to be the best ever player in the game.”