Pistons Adding Harold Ellis, Ryan West To Scouting Department
The Pistons are hiring Harold Ellis and Ryan West as scouts, sources tell James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). The moves come as part of a front office shakeup that has already included the hiring of Troy Weaver as GM and David Mincberg as an assistant GM.
It’ll be a reunion for Ellis, who previously served as an assistant coach for the Pistons in 2008/09 and was later a scout for the club. Since then, he has held a director of pro scouting position with the Magic and a director of player personnel role with the Knicks. Ellis was with New York up until this year, when the team reshaped its own front office following the dismissal of Steve Mills and the hiring of Leon Rose.
West, the son of NBA legend Jerry West, joined the Grizzlies under his father as a scout back in 2002. He later took on a similar role with the Lakers before being promoted to assistant director of scouting in 2012 and then to director of player personnel in 2015. The younger West parted ways with the Lakers a year ago and did some work with the Clippers during the 2019/20 season, albeit not in a formal capacity.
The Pistons have yet to make any formal announcements about Ellis and West, so it’s not clear yet whether they’ll receive titles similar to the player personnel ones they held with the Knicks and Lakers, respectively.
Sixers’ Embiid Out Tuesday, Simmons Undergoes Surgery
The Sixers issued a pair of injury updates on their two star players this afternoon, indicating that center Joel Embiid (left ankle) will miss Tuesday’s game vs. Phoenix, while guard/forward Ben Simmons underwent successful surgery in Philadelphia to remove a loose body from his left knee (Twitter links via Derek Bodner of The Athletic and Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Simmons, whose procedure had been reported over the weekend, will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the Sixers indicated in today’s announcement. However, the expectation is that the former No. 1 overall pick will likely miss the rest of the season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
While Simmons’ outlook for the remainder of 2019/20 isn’t good, there’s optimism that Embiid’s ankle injury isn’t serious and that he’ll be back soon, Wojnarowski tweets. Even after tomorrow’s game, the 76ers have two more seeding contests on Wednesday and Friday, so Embiid will have a couple more opportunities to suit up before the playoffs begin next week.
Embiid’s unavailability for Tuesday is good news for the Suns, who are 6-0 in the bubble and are pushing hard to participate in a play-in tournament for the final postseason spot in the West. According to Bodner (Twitter link), Josh Richardson will also miss Tuesday’s game for rest purposes, while Al Horford (left knee soreness) and Tobias Harris (right ankle soreness) are considered questionable.
2020 NBA Draft Lottery To Be Held Virtually
As expected, the 2020 NBA draft lottery won’t take its usual form, with representatives from the 14 lottery teams all brought to a single location where the league reveals the results. Instead, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), it’ll be a virtual event, with reps from the lottery teams appearing via video.
This year’s draft lottery, originally scheduled to be held on May 19, will now take place on August 20, next Thursday. We checked in on the lottery last week, noting that the top eight spots in the lottery standings are locked in, having been filled by the league’s bottom eight teams as of March 11.
Since then, the Wizards have secured the ninth spot in the lottery standings by virtue of being eliminated from playoff contention in Orlando.
The remaining spots in the lottery standings, Nos. 10-14, will be filled by the Kings, Pelicans, and the three other Western teams that don’t ultimately make the playoffs. They’ll be sorted based on their record as of March 11, so the Suns would have the 10th-best odds if they don’t make the postseason, while the Grizzlies would have the 14th-best odds if they don’t make it.
The Warriors, Cavaliers, and Timberwolves will have the best chance to land the No. 1 overall pick, at 14.0% each. Once the lottery order has been determined, teams can start ramping up their preparations for the draft, which will take place on October 16.
Ante Zizic Now On Track For Deal With Maccabi Tel Aviv?
A return to Europe appears to be in the cards for Cavaliers center Ante Zizic, whose rookie contract is expiring this October after the team turned down his fourth-year option for 2020/21 last fall.
Reports earlier this summer suggested that Zizic appeared likely to join Spanish team Real Madrid for the ’20/21 season, but the two sides couldn’t officially finalize a deal as long as the big man remained under contract with the Cavs.
Now, it looks as if another EuroLeague team is the frontrunner for Zizic. According to journalist Moses Barda (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando), Zizic has tentatively agreed to terms on a two-year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Israeli club was a top-five EuroLeague squad last season at 19-9, finishing just a few games behind second-place Real Madrid (22-6).
Zizic, who was acquired by Cleveland in the trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston, didn’t make a major impact in 113 games over three seasons for the Cavs, averaging 6.0 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 13.4 minutes per contest. The Croatian native played just 10.0 MPG in 22 contests in 2019/20 for the Cavs, so it makes some sense that he’d explore a return to Europe, where he’d have a much larger role. He played for Turkey’s Darussafaka before making the move to the NBA.
Despite the latest report of a contract agreement, Zizic technically remains under Cleveland’s control. Until he and the Cavs formally sever ties and he signs a contract with a new team, it’s possible his outlook for next season will change.
Giannis Antetokounmpo To Miss Monday’s Game
The Bucks and Raptors will face one another on Monday night in a possible Eastern Conference Finals preview, but the MVP frontrunner won’t be taking part in the game. Milwaukee announced in this afternoon’s injury report that Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t play against Toronto due to oral surgery.
It’s probably safe to assume the ailment wouldn’t sideline Antetokounmpo for an important playoff game, but with the Bucks and Raptors locked into the East’s Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, there’s no real need for the two teams to go all-out tonight.
It’s possible the Raptors will be without some of their key rotation players as well. Kyle Lowry (lower back soreness), Fred VanVleet (hyperextended right knee), and Serge Ibaka (right knee contusion) are all listed as questionable for the second end of a back-to-back set.
Here are a few more injury and availability updates from around the NBA:
- Rockets star James Harden will sit out on Tuesday vs. San Antonio for rest purposes, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. However, Houston will get two other guards back this week, per Feigen, who says that Russell Westbrook (quad) will return on Tuesday and Eric Gordon (ankle) will play on Wednesday vs. Indiana. Each player will suit up for one of two games in the back-to-back set.
- The Pelicans have listed Jrue Holiday (right elbow contusion), Brandon Ingram (right knee soreness), and Zion Williamson (right knee soreness) as out for Tuesday’s game vs. Sacramento. Head coach Alvin Gentry said today that the three players are sitting out for “precautionary” reasons, per ESPN’s Andrew Lopez (Twitter link). New Orleans was eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend.
- It’s not an injury, but Suns center Deandre Ayton didn’t start this afternoon’s game vs. Oklahoma City because he missed his scheduled COVID-19 test on Sunday, tweets Gina Mizell. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links), Ayton was re-tested on Monday morning and received clearance to rejoin the team, arriving late to the game against the Thunder.
Terrence Ross Temporarily Leaves Campus For Medical Reasons
Magic wing Terrence Ross has temporarily left the NBA’s campus at Walt Disney World due to a personal medical matter that is unrelated to COVID-19, the team announced today (Twitter link). Ross’ medical issue requires him to undergo off-site tests, the club notes.
As a result of his departure from Disney World, Ross has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game against Brooklyn. His availability moving forward will depend on his test results and the NBA’s quarantine protocols, according to the Magic.
Typically, a player who leaves the NBA’s campus for personal reasons is subject to a quarantine period of at least four days upon returning. However, the league sent out a memo in July informing teams that players wouldn’t necessarily have to quarantine for that long if they leave the bubble for local medical treatment with league approval.
The Magic have had some bad luck this summer, having lost forward Jonathan Isaac to a torn ACL, while other key contributors like Aaron Gordon and Michael Carter-Williams have been sidelined with injuries of their own. The team is now locked into the No. 8 seed in the East, so the focus will be on getting as many players as possible healthy for the start of the postseason next week.
Pacific Notes: Hield, Kings, Green, Suns, Mann
When Buddy Hield signed his four-year contract extension with the Kings last fall, it was said to be worth $86MM, with another $20MM available in incentives. When that deal goes into effect for the 2020/21 season, only $500K of the $5MM in annual incentives will be considered likely, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).
As Marks explains (via Twitter), finishing in the top 10 in the NBA in three-pointers made – as Hield did this season – will be worth $500K per year on his new contract. As a result, the Kings sharpshooter will have a first-year cap hit of $24.9MM in ’20/21 rather than $24.4MM, the base value. Hield can still earn his other $4.5MM in annual bonus money — those incentives will just be considered “unlikely” rather than “likely,” meaning they won’t count against the team’s cap for the time being.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- After a disappointing finish to the 2019/20 season extended the Kings‘ postseason drought to 14 consecutive seasons, the team faces difficult questions and an uncertain future, writes James Ham of NBC Sports California.
- Tim Kawakami of The Athletic argues that Draymond Green‘s comments about Devin Booker – which earned him a $50K fine – weren’t meant to tamper with Booker, but rather to taunt the Suns, a franchise the Warriors forward has criticized in the past.
- Clippers coaches “love” rookie guard Terance Mann, according to Sean Deveney of Forbes.com, who tweets that the club was more willing to give up a first-round pick than Mann at the trade deadline in February. Mann’s name did reportedly come up in the Marcus Morris trade talks with New York — at the time, a report suggested the Knicks preferred draft picks to young players.
Doncic, Porzingis, SGA Among Players Out For Monday’s Games
Mavericks stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis won’t play in Monday’s game against Utah, according to the league’s official injury report. Dallas will also be without starting forward Dorian Finney-Smith.
Doncic and Porzingis are both listed out due to “injury recovery” — right ankle for Doncic and left knee for Porzingis. Finney-Smith, meanwhile, is dealing with a left hip strain.
At 42-30, the No. 7 Mavericks are two games behind the sixth-seeded Jazz (43-27), so today’s game has seeding implications. If the Mavs lose, they’ll be locked into the No. 7 seed in the West. Utah, just a half-game behind the No. 5 Thunder, could still move up a spot or two in the standings, though the team may prefer to remain at No. 6 if it means avoiding the Rockets in the first round. Houston has eliminated the Jazz in the postseason in each of the last two years.
Donovan Mitchell has also been downgraded from questionable to out for today’s game due to a left lower leg peroneal strain, according to the Jazz (via Twitter).
Meanwhile, per the league’s injury report, the Thunder will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right calf contusion), Steven Adams (left lower leg contusion), Danilo Gallinari (left ankle injury maintenance), and Nerlens Noel (right ankle sprain), in addition to missing Dennis Schröder, who remains out for personal reasons after attending the birth of his child.
Those absences bode well for the Suns, who will need to remain undefeated in the bubble in order to keep pace in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot. As we detailed earlier today, Phoenix won’t technically be eliminated from postseason contention with a loss, but it would make the path to a play-in spot a whole lot more difficult.
Montrezl Harrell Returns To NBA’s Campus
More than three weeks after leaving the NBA’s campus in Florida for personal reasons, Clippers center Montrezl Harrell has returned to Walt Disney World. As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes, Harrell published an Instagram video early on Monday morning showing the view from his Disney hotel, and posted, “I’m back!!!!!!!!” on Twitter.
Harrell left the NBA’s campus before last month’s scrimmages began, in order attend his grandmother’s funeral and to be with his family. The 26-year-old was very close with his grandmother, whose death hit him hard. The team had told Harrell to take as much time as he needed to grieve before returning to Orlando.
Having left the bubble with an excused absence, Harrell will likely be subject to a quarantine period of just four days now that he’s back, as long as he tested negative for the coronavirus each of the last seven days of his absence. If he didn’t abide by the league’s testing protocols, his quarantine period could be up to 10-to-14 days, but for now there’s no indication that will be the case.
As Youngmisuk notes, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was asked on Sunday whether the team might have Harrell available for its final seeding game this Friday vs. Oklahoma City.
“We hope so,” Rivers replied. “That’s all I can say.”
Of course, even if Harrell clears quarantine on Thursday, he may need a practice or two to get back up to speed, considering he hasn’t worked out with the team since mid-July. But his return to Disney World bodes well for his availability for the postseason, which is scheduled to begin a week from today.
Grizzles, Blazers, Spurs, Suns Vying For Play-In Spots
As a result of this past weekend’s games, we’re now assured of having our first-ever “play-in tournament” in the Western Conference, since there’s no way that the Grizzlies – or any other team that can finish at No. 8 – will finish more than four games ahead of the West’s No. 9 seed.
That won’t be the case in the East, where the Nets are locked into No. 7 and the Magic into No. 8, with the Wizards too far out of contention to force a play-in. But two teams out of the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Spurs, and Suns are set to participate in a play-in tournament in the West. The Kings and Pelicans have officially been eliminated from play-in contention.
That play-in tournament will essentially be a best-of-three series, with the No. 8 team being staked to a 1-0 advantage in the “series.” In other words, the No. 9 seed will need to win twice to earn the conference’s final playoff spot, while the No. 8 seed will only need to win once in two tries to make it through.
Here are the current standings in the West:
| Seed | Team |
Record |
Games back | Games left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Grizzlies | 33-38 | – | BOS, MIL |
| 9 | Blazers | 33-39 | 0.5 | DAL, BKN |
| 10 | Spurs | 31-38 | 1 | HOU, UTA |
| 11 | Suns | 31-39 | 1.5 | OKC, PHI, DAL |
The Grizzlies are the only team that fully controls its own destiny when it comes to claiming the No. 8 seed. Wins over Boston and Milwaukee would ensure that Memphis holds that spot, and a win in either one of those games would guarantee that the Grizzlies at least participate in the play-in tournament.
Those games – against two of the East’s top three teams – won’t be easy though, and if the Grizzlies lose both of them, the race will be wide open, with any of the three teams chasing them technically still in play for the No. 8 seed.
The Blazers, with the softest remaining schedule, still look like a good bet to participate in a play-in tournament, but they’ll need to finish strong — losing one of their two games would leave them vulnerable to being passed in the standings by the Spurs and Suns if those teams win out. If Phoenix and San Antonio both win out, the Suns would finish slightly ahead of the Spurs.
All four teams still alive for the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds play their final seeding games on Thursday, so we’ll know by the end of that day which teams will take part in the play-in. The most important game to watch on today’s schedule is Suns vs. Thunder. Phoenix won’t be eliminated from play-in contention with a loss, but it would make their path a whole lot more difficult.
What do you think? Which two teams do you expect to participate in the play-in tournament, and which club still do you expect to ultimately claim the No. 8 spot in the West?