Month: May 2024

Pacific Notes: Kings, Len, LeBron, Williams, Warriors

July 30th, 2020 at 11:37am CST by Luke Adams

The Kings, who previously furloughed some employees starting on June 1, have now laid off some staffers as well, according to Sean Cunningham of ABC10 Sacramento (Twitter links). According to Cunningham, no members of the Kings’ basketball operations department were part of this week’s layoffs.

Cunningham estimates that about 100 employees within the organization were impacted by the earlier furloughs. And based on a statement from John Rinehart, the Kings’ president of business operations, it sounds like a portion of those workers have now been laid off.

“As part of the organization’s ongoing evolution of efforts to align with the changes in our business, we have made the difficult decision to transition a portion of previously furloughed full-time roles to a reduction in workforce effective July 31 and extend the furlough period for the remaining segment of previously furloughed employees to tentatively November 1 due to continued uncertainty surrounding the resumption of live events at Golden 1 Center resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Rinehart said, per Cunningham.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Kings center Alex Len, who reported to the NBA campus late after a bout with COVID-19, will likely miss the team’s first summer game on Friday, head coach Luke Walton said today (Twitter link via James Ham of NBC Sports California). However, it shouldn’t be too much longer before Len is ready to go.
Within an ESPN.com piece about the Lakers‘ unusual 2019/20 season, Dave McMenamin suggests that LeBron James wasn’t thrilled about Lakers players being asked last fall to address the NBA/China controversy before commissioner Adam Silver or Rockets GM Daryl Morey did. Morey’s tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors instigated that dispute between the league and its Chinese partners.
Lou Williams‘ violation of the NBA’s protocols means he’s serving a 10-day quarantine and missing at least two seeding games, but his Clippers teammates and head coach Doc Rivers have Williams’ back, as Mark Medina of USA Today writes. “Lou’s one of the most-liked guys in the whole organization and is always trying to get everyone together on the road,” center Ivica Zubac said. “Lou is a true leader. The fact that everyone is coming to the defense of him speaks everything about him.”
Anthony Slater of The Athletic takes a deep dive into James Wiseman‘s potential fit with the Warriors, pointing out that if Golden State does end up using its top-five pick this fall, it will represent an opportunity to secure a long-term building block — not just a role player who can fit in with the current core.

Knicks Officially Hire Tom Thibodeau As Head Coach

July 30th, 2020 at 10:05am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have made it official, announcing today in a press release that Tom Thibodeau has been named the franchise’s new head coach. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported on Saturday that the two sides were finalizing a five-year contract.

“Tom Thibodeau is a proven winner who gets the most out of the players and teams that he has coached,” Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose said in a statement. “He will bring leadership, accountability, and a hard-working mentality to our organization. We are excited to bring him back to New York and look forward to collaborating with him and his staff toward a successful future.”

An assistant coach with the Knicks from 1996-2004, Thibodeau also worked on coaching staffs in Minnesota, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Houston, and Boston before getting his first head coaching opportunity with the Bulls in 2010.

In five seasons as Chicago’s head coach, Thibodeau led the team to a 255-139 (.647) record and five consecutive postseason appearances. The Bulls won four playoff series and earned a spot in the Eastern Finals during that stretch.

Thibodeau later served as the head coach and head of basketball operations in Minnesota, leading the Timberwolves to their first postseason appearance in 14 years during the 2017/18 season. However, his time with the Wolves came to an abrupt end in ’18/19 following a messy divorce with star swingman Jimmy Butler.

Thibodeau didn’t coach during the ’19/20 season, opting to take the year off to visit with a number of teams and await his next opportunity. He was cited as a potential target for the Nets and Rockets as well, but with those teams still active and not guaranteed to be seeking new head coaches this offseason, Thibodeau was increasingly linked to the Knicks, the only club that has conducted a full-fledged coaching search so far this year.

Even as they interviewed 10 other candidates, the Knicks seemed focused on Thibodeau throughout their process. There was a time last week when it appeared as if talks between Thibodeau and the Knicks had hit a snag — Jason Kidd was said to be emerging as the new frontrunner, as veteran reporter Frank Isola confirmed in a recent radio appearance (8:35 mark). However, even then, Thibodeau was viewed as New York’s top choice, and was eventually able to reach an agreement with the club that reunites him with Rose, his former agent at CAA.

The team that Thibodeau inherits is in flux. The Knicks have a number of veteran players on non-guaranteed contracts for next season after striking out in their quest for a superstar player last offseason. They’re expected to be one of a handful of teams with significant salary-cap space this offseason and also have some interesting young pieces under contract, including center Mitchell Robinson and last year’s lottery pick, RJ Barrett.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to this historic franchise as head coach and work alongside a talented front office that I have great trust in and respect for,” Thibodeau said in a statement. “I know what New York is like when the Knicks are successful and there is nothing comparable. I look forward to being a part of what we are building here and can’t wait to get to work.”

The Knicks are counting on Thibodeau to develop those young players and instill a winning culture. New York was 21-45 this season and missed the playoffs for a sixth straight season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Dana Gauruder contributed to this story.

NBA Summer Restart Primer

July 30th, 2020 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

During the 2019 NBA offseason, the league went 131 days between games, from Game 6 of the 2018/19 NBA Finals on June 13 to opening night of the ’19/20 regular season on October 22.

Since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the ’19/20 season on March 11, the league has gone 141 days between games, meaning we’ve waited more than the length of an offseason for the NBA season to resume.

That resumption date is finally here though. The league’s summer restart – its “re-opening night” – will tip off on Thursday, with a Jazz/Pelicans matchup followed by a Lakers/Clippers showdown.

In preparation for the NBA’s return, here’s what you need to know:

The Plan

We provided a full breakdown of the NBA’s return-to-play plan back in June, but here’s the abridged version: Rather than having teams travel from city to city to play games in empty home arenas amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the league has gathered its top 22 teams in one place, at Walt Disney World in Florida.

There, those 22 teams will play eight “seeding games” apiece at The Arena, HP Field House, and Visa Athletic Center, three facilities that are part of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney. Those seeding games essentially function as regular season games and – when combined with each team’s pre-hiatus record – will determine the final standings.

From there, the top seven teams in each conference will make the postseason. The eighth seed in each conference will be determined by a play-in tournament if the No. 9 team is within four games of the No. 8 team. In that scenario, the two teams would essentially play a best-of-three series, with the No. 8 staked to a 1-0 head start. If the No. 9 club isn’t within four games of the No. 8 club, the No. 8 team automatically claims the final playoff spot.

The postseason will begin on August 17 and will move forward as usual, with best-of-seven series in each round. The NBA Finals will potentially end as late as October 13, with the draft and free agency to follow shortly thereafter.

The Schedule

When the NBA suspended its season in March, teams had about 15-18 games left on their respective schedules. They’ll only play eight more this summer, meaning about half of their remaining matchups have been excised from the schedule.

The fact that the league’s bottom eight teams weren’t invited to the restart made it easy to remove a number of games from the schedule, and the NBA did its best to put together the remaining slate based on games each club originally had on tap for March and April.

As a result, some teams have a tougher road this summer than others. The Grizzlies, who are attempting to hold onto the No. 8 spot in the West, will open their schedule with games against three teams chasing them – the Trail Blazers, Spurs, and Pelicans – before facing the Jazz and Thunder and then closing out their summer slate against the East’s top three seeds, the Raptors, Celtics, and Bucks.

The Pelicans, meanwhile, have a softer schedule as they look to catch up to Memphis. After opening with a pair of tough matchups against Utah and the Clippers, their final six games are against sub-.500 teams.

Seeding games will take place over the next 16 days, concluding on August 14. That will leave room for potential play-in games on August 15 and 16 before the postseason begins in earnest on August 17.

From there, you can budget about two weeks for each round. The tentative start dates for the second and third rounds are August 31 and September 15, respectively, with the NBA Finals on track to begin on September 30.

The full schedule for the seeding games can be found right here.

The Standings

Here’s what the standings in each of the two conferences look like heading into the seeding games:

Eastern Conference:

Milwaukee Bucks (53-12)
Toronto Raptors (46-18)
Boston Celtics (43-21)
Miami Heat (41-24)
Indiana Pacers (39-26)
Philadelphia 76ers (39-26)
Brooklyn Nets (30-34)
Orlando Magic (30-35)
Washington Wizards (24-40)

Western Conference:

Los Angeles Lakers (49-14)
Los Angeles Clippers (44-20)
Denver Nuggets (43-22)
Utah Jazz (41-23)
Oklahoma City Thunder (40-24)
Houston Rockets (40-24)
Dallas Mavericks (40-27)
Memphis Grizzlies (32-33)
Portland Trail Blazers (29-37)
New Orleans Pelicans (28-36)
Sacramento Kings (28-36)
San Antonio Spurs (27-36)
Phoenix Suns (26-39)

With home court advantage no longer a real consideration, certain seeding races will lose a bit of their luster, but positioning is still important. For example, while the Celtics won’t be motivated to catch the Raptors for the No. 2 spot in the East in order to gain home court advantage in a potential second round matchup, moving up in the standings would allow them to avoid a tough first-round series against a team like Indiana or Philadelphia.

The middle of the pack in each conference will be worth watching for seeding purposes, and it will also be interesting to see if any of the Western Conference challengers can pull away from the pack to challenge the Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed. Don’t forget — even if the Pelicans or Kings were to finish within four games of Memphis, it wouldn’t do them any good if they don’t also pass the Trail Blazers. Only the No. 9 seed gets to participate in a play-in tournament.

The Rosters

Not every team will pick up right where it left off in March in terms of its roster makeup. For some teams, that’s a good thing.

The Raptors, for instance, should have a fully healthy roster for the first time since the fall. The Trail Blazers will have Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins playing together in their frontcourt for the first time all season. The Magic should have standout defender Jonathan Isaac back in their lineup for the first time since January 1.

For other teams though, the hiatus took a toll. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving remain sidelined with injuries for the Nets, who will also be missing Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, Wilson Chandler, and Nicolas Claxton due to a combination of injuries, opt-outs, and positive COVID-19 tests.

The Wizards, likewise, will be shorthanded this summer — star guards Bradley Beal and John Wall are recovering from injuries, while sharpshooter Davis Bertans opted out due to health concerns prior to his upcoming free agency.

The full list of rosters can be found right here. We’re also tracking players who have opted out or been ruled out due to the coronavirus, and the substitute players who have been signed to replace them.

During the seeding games, teams can continue to sign substitute players to replace anyone who voluntarily opts out or contracts the coronavirus. After the seeding games end in mid-August, players who test positive for COVID-19 can be replaced, but substitute players must have no more than three years of NBA experience.

The Storylines

We’re leaving this section to you. Which storylines will you be keeping a close eye on in the coming weeks?

Do you expect Giannis Antetokounmpo to win his first title, Kawhi Leonard to win his third, or LeBron James to win his fourth? Do you view a team like the Rockets or Sixers as a dark-horse championship contender if they can put it all together? Do you believe Zion Williamson or Damian Lillard can lead their respective teams to a playoff berth? Or will you simply be most interested in finding out if the NBA’s “bubble” experiment actually holds up for the next two-plus months?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on the most intriguing storylines of the NBA’s restart!

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Greg Monroe Joins BC Khimki

July 30th, 2020 at 7:13am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 30: BC Khimki has officially announced the addition of Monroe for the 2020/21 season (Twitter link).

JULY 28: Veteran center Greg Monroe is close to a deal with BC Khimki, a source tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter link).

The seventh overall pick in the 2010 draft, Monroe spent nine years in the NBA before heading to Germany to play for Bayern Munich in 2019/20. He averaged a team-high 12.9 PPG and 6.8 RPG in 28 EuroLeague games.

As an NBA player, Monroe averaged 13.2 PPG and 8.3 RPG in 632 career regular season games with the Pistons, Bucks, Suns, Celtics, Raptors, and Sixers. The 30-year-old logged 43 appearances in 2018/19 with Toronto, Boston, and Philadelphia, playing in another 10 postseason contests for the 76ers.

Monroe was said to be drawing interest from another Russian team, Zenit St. Petersburg, earlier in the month. If he finalizes a deal with Khimki, he’ll spent the 2020/21 season playing in Moscow.

Jimmer Fredette To Return To Shanghai Sharks?

July 30th, 2020 at 7:10am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 30: Fredette’s agent Chris Emens tells Sportando that there’s no agreement in place yet between Fredette and the Sharks.

“We are speaking to many clubs looking for a solution for the 2020/21 season. No such agreement has been reached,” Emens said. “We could not even consider such an agreement in China until after they rule whether or not import players will be allowed.”

According to Carchia, Sportando’s sources continue to insist that Fredette will sign with the Sharks as long as foreign players are permitted in the CBA next season.

JULY 29: Former sharpshooting BYU phenom Jimmer Fredette is set to return to the CBA’s Shanghai Sharks for $1.6MM, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

Fredette played for the Sharks from 2016-2019, and was a three-time CBA All-Star with the club. The length of the contract has not yet been announced, but Fredette was previously compensated to the tune of $1.8MM annually by the Sharks, so this may be a one-year contract.

Following his 2019 season with the Sharks, Fredette suited up for six games with the Suns during the end of the 2018/19 regular season — his last NBA action as of this writing.

After his tenure in Phoenix, Fredette returned abroad, joining Greek team Panathinaikos for the club’s 2019/20 season. He averaged 13.2 PPG while shooting 52% from the field, 49% from three-point range, and 92% from the free-throw line across 45 games. Fredette’s Panathinaikos squad was named the 2020 Greek League champion. He has also played in the summer winner-take-all event The Basketball Tournament stateside since 2017.

The 6’2″ sharpshooting guard was drafted by the Kings with the No. 10 pick in 2011 — one pick ahead of three-time champion and five-time All-Star Klay Thompson, five picks ahead of four-time All-Star, two-time Finals MVP, and two-time Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard, and 20 picks ahead of five-time All-Star Jimmy Butler.

After the Kings, Fredette had brief stints with the Bulls, Pelicans, and Knicks before first seeking opportunities overseas. In the NBA, Fredette boasts a career 37.2% three-point percentage on 2.2 attempts per contest.

Western Notes: Clippers, Lakers, House, Blazers

July 29th, 2020 at 9:25pm CST by Jovan Alford

The Lakers and Clippers will play in the second game of Thursday’s “re-opening” night. However, both teams could be missing key players.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell are listed as out on the status report, while Patrick Beverley is considered questionable for the Clippers (Twitter link). For the Lakers, Anthony Davis is listed as questionable, while LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are listed as probable and should play.

With Williams in quarantine for 10 days, the Clippers are hoping Beverley, who just returned to the NBA’s Walt Disney Campus after being away for a personal matter, can step in.

Davis practiced on Wednesday with goggles on after being poked in the eye last week against the Magic. All signs point to the Lakers forward playing tomorrow night.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Clippers head coach Doc Rivers spoke at length about how deep his team’s roster is despite missing multiple players, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “Well, a deep roster is built for that,” Rivers said. “And we’ve done that. Now, when you have five and six guys out at one time, that’s asking too much on any roster. By the time the [seeding] games start, we won’t have that many out, but we’ll have maybe two to three key guys out, and that’s asking a lot.” As previously noted, Los Angeles will be without Williams and Harrell on Thursday night. But Kawhi Leonard echoes the same sentiment of his head coach about the depth of the roster.“I knew that we had a pretty deep squad,” he said. “I knew how talented we could be. It’s about executing now.”
With Eric Gordon being sidelined for two weeks with an ankle injury, Danuel House will be inserted into the Rockets’ starting lineup, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). This season, House has started in 47 games for Houston, while averaging 10.2 PPG and 4.2 RPG. He is also shooting 36.3 percent from three-point range.
Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts told reporters this week that he expects to have a full team available for Friday’s seeding game against the Grizzlies, per Jason Quick of The Athletic (Twitter link). Portland currently trails Memphis by 3.5 games for the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Celtics, Thibodeau, VanVleet

July 29th, 2020 at 7:39pm CST by Jovan Alford

When the Nets take on the Magic to begin the seeding games on Friday afternoon, they might be without a couple of players. According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post (Twitter link), Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn was “non-committal” about Jamal Crawford or Donta Hall playing. Vaughn added that they want to be healthy for the entire restart and the focus is not just this one game against Orlando.

Crawford, who is the elder statesmen of this young Nets team, was signed earlier this month as a replacement player. The 40-year-old guard last played in NBA in the 2018/19 season for the Suns. In 64 games with Phoenix, he averaged 7.9 PPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.3 RPG.

Hall, meanwhile, was also signed earlier this month as a substitute player by the Nets. The 23-year-old big man spent some time with both the Grand Rapids Drive (the Pistons’ G League affiliate) and Detroit this season. With the Drive, the former Alabama Crimson Tide standout averaged 15.4 PPG and 10.6 RPG and earned second-team All-NBAGL honors. Then with the Pistons, Hall received two 10-day contracts. But his latest one in March did not roll over, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

In a radio interview on Wednesday, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said that starting point guard Kemba Walker‘s knee “is the strongest it’s been since he got here in September” (h/t NBC Sports Boston). Stevens also mentioned that Walker will be on a minute restriction against the Bucks on Friday, likely playing between 14-20 minutes.
Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams believes that the Knicks‘ success hinges on the long-standing relationship between new team president Leon Rose and soon-to-be head coach Tom Thibodeau, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “I think it’s really important. It’s important for Tom,” Adams said. “For somebody starting out like Leon, I think it’s important for him to thoroughly know another person for a long period of time. And it can’t be anything but helpful for both parties.” Adams was on Thibodeau’s staff in Chicago for a few seasons and saw first-hand how successful things were when everybody was working on one accord. Thibodeau will have the tall task of trying to get the Knicks back to the playoffs.
If Raptors point guard and impending free-agent Fred VanVleet wants to take his game to another level, he needs to be a better finisher at the rim, opines Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Murphy points out that the play styles of VanVleet and starting point guard Kyle Lowry are similar in multiple ways, but what separates them is the ability to finish at the rim. As of right now, VanVleet ranks towards the bottom third in restricted area field goal percentage (51.2).

Draft Decisions: Dennis, Lewis, Green, Teague, Camper, Vogt

July 29th, 2020 at 6:00pm CST by Luke Adams

As Sam Vecenie of The Athletic observes within his latest big board for the 2020 NBA draft, the unusual circumstances surrounding this year’s NBA and NCAA calendars have created an unprecedented situation for early entrants.

The NCAA’s withdrawal deadline for players to pull out of the 2020 draft class is August 3. However, the NBA is allowing early entrants to declare up until August 17, since the draft itself has been postponed until October.

As a result, Vecenie confirms, an NCAA underclassman who is struggling with his decision could withdraw by August 3, then re-enter by August 17 if he has change of heart. At that point, he’d be forgoing his remaining college eligibility, but it would essentially give him an extra two weeks to make up his mind.

With that detail in mind, here are a handful of updates on players withdrawing their names from the draft pool:

Wichita State guard Dexter Dennis will return to school for at least one more year, he announced on Twitter. Dennis averaged 9.2 PPG and 5.0 RPG in 28 games (25.8 MPG) as a sophomore for the Shockers.
James Madison guard Matt Lewis will head back to school for his senior season, he tells Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link). Lewis was, by far, the Dukes’ leading scorer in 2019/20, posting 19.0 PPG on .410/.373/.715 shooting in 30 games (35.6 MPG).
Northern Iowa’s AJ Green is withdrawing from the draft after testing the waters, a source tells Goodman (Twitter link). The 6’4″ guard is coming off a big sophomore year in which he averaged 19.7 PPG on .416/.391/.917 shooting in 31 games (34.8 MPG).
MaCio Teague is returning to Baylor for his senior year, he announced in a Twitter video. The 6’3″ guard previously spent two years at UNC Asheville before transfering to Baylor and averaging 13.9 PPG in 28 games for the Bears in 2019/20.
Siena swingman Manny Camper will return to school after testing the draft waters, the program announced in a press release. “Even though I couldn’t do a ton, it was still great to be able to get a little feedback from the NBA on what I need to work on and also what I do well that I can continue to improve on,” Camper said in a statement.
Cincinnati center Chris Vogt confirmed on Twitter that he’s rejoining the Bearcats for a “last go around.” The big man averaged 11.0 PPG and 5.9 RPG in 30 games (28.5 MPG) as a junior.

Tyus Jones To Miss Some Seeding Games With Knee Soreness

July 29th, 2020 at 2:16pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Grizzlies backup point guard Tyus Jones is battling knee soreness and will miss at least a week of action before being reassessed, per an official team announcement (Twitter link).

The 32-33 Grizzlies, the West’s current No. 8 seed, will play their fourth seeding game a week from today, on August 5, against the 28-36 Pelicans, the current tenth seed. There are currently six teams in the West scheduled to compete for the conference’s eighth seed. The loss to the club’s depth in these crucial pre-playoff games could be an impediment.

Though Jones is a bench player averaging just 19.5 MPG, he is a consistent rotation piece who has logged time in every single game for the Grizzlies this season. The 6’3″ guard out of Duke signed a three-year, $24MM offer sheet with Memphis as a restricted free agent last summer — his former team, the Timberwolves, declined to match.

Jones is enjoying his best scoring year as a pro during his inaugural Grizzlies season, averaging a career-best 7.4 PPG on a career-high 45.9% field goal shooting. He’s also making a career-best 37.9% of his three-point attempts on 6.6 tries per night to go along with 4.4 APG and 1.6 RPG.

Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian tweets that the loss of Jones will necessitate more time running the point for second-year guard De’Anthony Melton and that little-used Grizzlies backup Grayson Allen figures to receive rotation minutes during Jones’s absence.

Sixers Notes: Burks, Embiid, Injuries, Simmons

July 29th, 2020 at 12:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Alec Burks made a strong case for an increased role during the Sixers‘ three scrimmages, writes Derek Bodner of The Athletic. Burks continued his impressive play Tuesday, posting 15 points and seven assists in a loss to the Mavericks.

Burks averaged just 20.2 minutes per night in 11 games after being acquired from the Warriors at the trade deadline. Bodner notes that Burks’ ability to handle the ball gives the Sixers more flexibility in how they use Ben Simmons.

“I think that what we’re seeing is he’s got an innate gift to score. He can create his shots all by himself,” coach Brett Brown said after Tuesday’s game. “I didn’t play Ben in the second half. (Burks) had to assume a lot on that point guard responsibility, given that I didn’t really want to extend Shake’s (Milton) minutes. I thought he did that well and we learned a bunch of things from the minutes that he played.”

There’s more Sixers news to pass along:

Joel Embiid, who is dealing with tightness in his right calf, sat out his second straight scrimmage, Bodner adds in the same piece, but Brown expects the star center to be ready Saturday when the Sixers play their first reseeding game. “I am always sort of receiving news from our medical staff,” Brown said, “but that is my expectation.” Glenn Robinson III, who has a left hip pointer, and Raul Neto, who is experiencing discomfort in his lower back, were also held out of the scrimmage.
Simmons’ switch to power forward has been a hot topic of discussion in Orlando, but he insists he’ll play the same way regardless of position, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. The move was made to keep Milton in the starting lineup, while shifting veteran big man Al Horford to a reserve role. “I haven’t really been looking at the position,” Simmons said. “When I’m put in different situations, I’m able to succeed. These past two (scrimmages), I’ve been doing well. I can always do better. There’s a lot I need to work on. Overall, I’m getting that flow back and I’m feeling really good.”
Bodner and Rich Hofman of The Athletic examine the new starting lineup and assess the Sixers’ chances of making a long playoff run in Orlando.

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