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Month: June 2021

Longtime Hornets Reporter Rick Bonnell Passes Away

By | at June 2, 2021 12:46 pm

Veteran NBA beat writer Rick Bonnell, who covered the Hornets for The Charlotte Observer, was found dead in his home on Tuesday, according to Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer. Bonnell was 63 years old.

If you’re a regular Hoops Rumors reader, you’ll certainly recognize Bonnell’s name. He has been one of the primary sources for Hornets news and rumors for over three decades, having reported on the franchise since its first season in 1988/89. We were linking to Bonnell’s stories on the Hornets’ upcoming offseason as recently as last week.

According to Fowler, Bonnell’s cause of death has yet to be determined, though police said there was no reason to suspect foul play. He was found by a friend in his Charlotte home at about 7:00pm on Tuesday evening.

While I never personally met Bonnell, he was by all accounts one of the friendliest and most generous reporters on the NBA beat. His passing has been met with shock and sadness by his fellow NBA reporters on social media.

“To sit next to Bonnell at a Hornets game, as I did hundreds of times over the years, was like sitting next to a hilarious version of a Hornets Wikipedia page,” Fowler wrote in his story about his longtime colleague. “… Bonnell also never lost the joy of covering a one-point game with three seconds left. He would rub his hands together sometimes when he was excited, almost like a kid, and he often did so just before a moment like that.”

We at Hoops Rumors send our heartfelt condolences to Bonnell’s family and friends. The Hornets beat won’t be the same without him.

2 comments Charlotte Hornets

Joel Embiid Has Small Meniscus Tear, Out For Game 5

By | at June 2, 2021 12:19 pm

The Sixers have provided an official update on Joel Embiid‘s status, announcing (via Twitter) that an MRI on the big man’s injured right knee revealed a small lateral meniscus tear.

Embiid will be sidelined for Game 5 on Wednesday, according to the Sixers. However, the club has yet to rule him out beyond that, stating that he’ll be considered day-to-day going forward. His injury will be managed with a physical therapy and treatment program.

While it’s good news that Embiid doesn’t have a more serious injury, any level of meniscus tear is worrisome, so it’s hardly a best-case scenario for the 76ers.

Multiple treatment options are available for meniscus injuries, including surgery, but it sounds like the club will opt not to have its All-Star center go under the knife, since that would result in an absence of at least multiple weeks, if not months.

Even with no surgery, I wouldn’t count on Embiid necessarily being ready to return within the next few days. Managing swelling and pain in his right knee will play a significant part in how soon he’s able to play again, notes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

With Embiid unavailable, the Sixers figure to lean more heavily on frontcourt players like Dwight Howard and Mike Scott in Game 5 on Wednesday. Philadelphia has a 3-1 lead and can close out its first-round series with a win over the Wizards.

28 comments Newsstand Philadelphia 76ers Washington Wizards

Celtics Rumors: Kemba, Fournier, Coaching Search, Ainge, Stevens, More

By | at June 2, 2021 11:44 am

As he transitions from the sidelines to the front office, new Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens will have some immediate decisions to make on the roster this offseason as he considers how to improve a group that finished seventh in the East in 2020/21.

Trading Kemba Walker is one path the Celtics figure to consider this summer, but the point guard still has two years and nearly $74MM left on his contract and his value is down after an injury-plagued season. While Walker is viewed as a player capable of having a strong comeback season, he’s not considered a positive asset at this point, given his injury history and contract situation, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps and Jared Weiss of The Athletic.

“They’ve been trying to move Kemba Walker for a year now and no one is touching that,” one NBA executive told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “Their best bet would be to move (Marcus) Smart, but I don’t know what his market is. They could trade (Jaylen) Brown to try to fill a different position, but that would be a bad move.”

Evan Fournier‘s unrestricted free agency is another issue looming over the Celtics. One league executive who spoke to Scotto estimated that the veteran wing will be seeking a deal worth $15-20MM annually, though another predicted a cool market for Fournier.

“The issue will be what teams with room are going to target him?” that exec asked. “San Antonio might, but if not, who else will give him north of $10 million? If Fournier can be kept at a price around the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, I think Boston would re-sign him.”

Here are several more Celtics rumors and updates on an eventful day in Boston:

  • The Celtics’ head coaching search will likely start with internal candidates before they move outside the organization, sources tell Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link). Current assistant Jerome Allen is one in-house candidate likely to get an interview, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Mannix (via Twitter) adds Nets assistant Ime Udoka to the list of probable external candidates for the Celtics’ head coaching job, while Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) says Chauncey Billups will likely receive consideration as well.
  • Asked today whether he intends to retire or seek another job, Danny Ainge was noncommittal, telling reporters that he’s not sure what his future holds and he’s focused for now on getting his successor Stevens up to speed (Twitter link via Tim Bontemps of ESPN).
  • Jared Weiss of The Athletic hears that in-season comments by Ainge and team owner Wyc Grousbeck about the Celtics’ shortcomings may have contributed to the club’s chemistry issues. Ainge said in February that he didn’t view the roster as championship-caliber and echoed that point multiple times later in the season.
  • One prominent member of the Celtics organization wanted to fire Stevens as the team’s head coach during the 2020/21 season, but Ainge and others in the organization were against that idea, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
  • Speaking to reporters following the Celtics’ elimination from the postseason, Jayson Tatum said he doesn’t feel the need to get involved in the front office’s personnel decisions, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
  • Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston takes a look at five key roster-related questions facing the Celtics this offseason.
21 comments Boston Celtics Brooklyn Nets

NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2021 Draft

By | at June 2, 2021 10:38 am

The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2021 NBA draft, announcing in a press release that 353 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 296 are from colleges, while 57 are international early entrants.

That number obliterates the previous record of 236 early entrants, established in 2018. That had been expected, however, since the NCAA gave players an extra year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in seniors having to decide between staying at college for one more season or declaring for the draft as an “early” entrant.

Since well over half of the college early entrants are seniors, there are actually fewer college underclassmen than usual in this initial group of early entrants.

This year’s total of 353 early entrants figures to shrink significantly by July 7 and again by July 19, the two deadlines for players to withdraw their names from the draft pool. But it still looks like the pool will remain extremely crowded, with the eventual number of early entrants certain to exceed 60, the number of picks in the draft.

Our tracker of early entrants for the 2021 draft now includes seniors and is fully up to date. It can be found right here. It doesn’t include players who are automatically draft-eligible this year. As Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets, that list of auto-eligible players includes the prospects who played for the G League Ignite, such as Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga.

Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:

Newly-added players:

College players:

These players hadn’t previously been included on our unofficial list of underclassmen early entrants and weren’t on the list of senior early entrants that the NBA sent to teams last week.

International players:

These players weren’t previously mentioned on our list of international early entrants. The country listed here indicates where they last played, not necessarily where they were born.

Players removed:

Despite reports or announcements that the players below would declare for the draft, they didn’t show up on the NBA’s official list.

That could mean a number of things — they may have decided against entering the draft; they may have entered the draft, then withdrawn; they may have incorrectly filed their paperwork; or the NBA may have accidentally omitted some names.

In any case, we’ve removed the following names from our early entrant list for the time being.

4 comments 2021 NBA Draft International Newsstand

Brad Stevens Named Celtics’ Head Of Basketball Operations, Will Lead Search For New Coach

By | at June 2, 2021 10:06 am

10:06am: The Celtics have officially announced that Stevens is the new president of basketball operations. Despite at least one report suggesting that Ainge isn’t expected to retire from basketball (as noted below), the club’s statement says the veteran executive is “retiring” from his role as president of basketball ops. Ainge will continue to work with the team through its offseason transition, per the C’s.

“Helping guide this organization has been the thrill of a lifetime, and having worked side-by-side with him since he’s been here, I know we couldn’t be in better hands than with Brad guiding the team going forward,” Ainge said in a statement. “I’m grateful to ownership, all of my Celtics colleagues, and the best fans in basketball for being part of the journey.”

Stevens issued a statement of his own, as follows:

“I’m grateful to ownership and to Danny for trusting me with this opportunity. I’m excited to tackle this new role, starting with a wide ranging and comprehensive search for our next head coach. I love the Celtics, and know the great honor and responsibility that comes with this job. I will give it everything I have to help us be in position to consistently compete for championships.”

9:24am: A major shakeup is taking place in Boston, as Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge will indeed step down from his current role, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Wojnarowski had reported earlier in the morning that Ainge was seriously considering such a move.

The Celtics won’t go outside the organization for Ainge’s replacement, however. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links), head coach Brad Stevens will be making the move from the sidelines to the front office and will become the club’s new president of basketball operations.

Rather than holding a dual role, Stevens will become a full-time front office executive and is expected to lead the search for the Celtics’ new head coach, Charania reports.

Celtics players were informed of this potential change late on Tuesday night after the team was eliminated from the playoffs, says Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Ainge had been contemplating leaving his job as the Celtics’ president of basketball operations for the last several months, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who adds that Ainge had discussed possible succession plans with ownership.

While Stevens is a surprising choice as Ainge’s successor, Wojnarowski points out that Ainge made a similar move early in his post-playing career, having coached the Suns from 1996-99 before later transitioning into a front office role. According to Woj (Twitter link), Stevens has been described as feeling “worn down” with coaching since last summer and welcome the opportunity to shift into an executive position.

This major basketball operations overhaul comes on the heels of the Celtics’ early exit from the postseason. After making the Eastern Conference Finals in three of the last four years, Boston entered the season with aspirations of competing for a title.

However, due to COVID-19 issues, injuries, and inconsistent play, the team never built any real momentum toward legit contention, finishing seventh in the East. Although the C’s earned a postseason berth via the play-in tournament, they were eliminated swiftly in the first round by the Nets.

Despite the Celtics’ disappointing season, Stevens and Ainge – one of the longest-tenured coach/executive duos in the NBA – weren’t thought to be in any real danger of being fired. It appears Ainge’s exit is of his own volition after he spent the last 18 years calling the shots in the team’s front office.

Even though his time with the Celtics is ending, Ainge isn’t believed to be leaning toward retirement, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who tweets that the Jazz have been rumored as a possible landing spot for the veteran exec.

Meanwhile, Lakers assistant Jason Kidd and former Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce are expected to be among the candidates to fill Boston’s newly-created head coaching vacancy, according to Haynes (Twitter link).

In his eight seasons as the Celtics’ head coach, Stevens led the team to a 354-282 (.557) regular season record, with a 38-40 (.487) mark in the playoffs, including those three Eastern Finals appearances. As for Ainge, the C’s made the postseason in all but three of his 18 seasons running the front office, taking home a title in 2008.

Ainge’s trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen helped lead the Celtics to a title in 2008. Additionally, the blockbuster deal that sent an aging Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets for a boatload of draft picks in 2013 is considered one of the biggest NBA heists of the century, putting Boston in position to land Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in subsequent drafts.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

54 comments Boston Celtics Los Angeles Lakers Newsstand Utah Jazz

Danny Ainge Considering Stepping Down From Role With Celtics

By | at June 2, 2021 8:29 am

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is seriously considering his future with the team and could make the decision to step down from his position in the front office, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Wojnarowski’s report comes on the heels of the Celtics’ exit from the postseason. After making the Eastern Conference Finals in three of the last four years, Boston entered the season with aspirations of competing for a title. However, due to COVID-19 issues, injuries, and inconsistent play, the team never built momentum toward legit contention, finishing seventh in the East. While the C’s earned a postseason berth via the play-in tournament, they were eliminated swiftly in the first round by the Nets.

We’ll have to wait for more details on Ainge’s thinking, but it’s worth noting that the veteran executive has had some health scares in the past. He suffered a mild heart attack in 2009, then another in 2019. Ainge took some time away from the job after that second heart attack two years ago, and later talked about it serving as a wake-up call to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Still, Chris Mannix of SI.com, who suggested on Tuesday night that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Ainge leaving the Celtics, hears that the 62-year-old likely wouldn’t retire if he stepped down from his position in Boston. The expectation is that he’d seek another opportunity in that scenario, tweets Mannix.

Ainge is one of the NBA’s longest-tenured presidents of basketball operations, having held the role with the Celtics since 2003. His tenure in that position is exceeded by only Gregg Popovich (Spurs) and Pat Riley (Heat), both of whom have been presidents of basketball operations since the mid-1990s.

During his 18 years in Boston, Ainge has made a series of memorable deals. His trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen helped lead the Celtics to a title in 2008. Additionally, the blockbuster deal that sent an aging Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets for a boatload of draft picks in 2013 is considered one of the biggest heists of the century, putting Boston in position to land Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in subsequent drafts.

A handful of Ainge’s moves in recent years haven’t panned out quite as well. The Celtics haven’t had a great hit rate on draft picks besides Tatum and Brown, and their last star trade acquisition (Kyrie Irving) departed after just two up-and-down seasons.

20 comments Boston Celtics Newsstand

Southeast Notes: Capela, Bogdanovic, Brooks, Carter Jr.

By | at June 1, 2021 9:59 pm

Hawks center Clint Capela ripped the Knicks for getting chippier ever since Atlanta asserted control in their first-round series, Andrew Lopez of ESPN relays. “I don’t know if they’re physical, but they are trying to play physical,” Capela said. “I feel like if they were really physical, I think we’d have more problems than what we have.”

Capela, who said the Hawks are coming to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday to “win this game again and send you on vacation,” also took a shot at the Knicks for being considered a team that plays hard every night. “We play hard because we’re playing the right way and we win games that way,” the Hawks’ big man said. “When you’re playing hard because that’s your last solution, I don’t take that as a ‘playing hard’ team.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

  • The Knicks have discovered how much more potent the Hawks are with Bogdan Bogdanovic in the lineup, Zach Braziller of the New York Post notes. Bogdanovic, who signed a four-year contract with Atlanta as a restricted free agent in the offseason, is averaging 15.8 PPG, 6.5 RPG and 3.5 APG in the first four games of the series. “What Bogey has done for us this season, we want to give him more (responsibility),” coach Nate McMillan said. “So I’ve been able to change the rotation, allow Bogey to really play with the basketball a little bit more.”
  • After the latest incident involving an unruly fan, Wizards coach Scott Brooks urged potential troublemakers to stay home, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. A fan ran onto the court in Game 4 between the Sixers and Wizards and was tackled by security. “There’s great fans in Boston and New York and Philly and D.C., Utah. But there’s some that just need to, you know what, stay home,” he said. “Your thinking is barbaric. Stay home. We don’t need you. We don’t need your dollars. Just stay home. Get away from us.” The fan will be banned from the arena and criminal charges are being pursued against him.
  • Wendell Carter Jr. brought a physical presence and energy to the Magic frontcourt after being acquired in the Nikola Vucevic trade with the Bulls, Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel writes. He averaged 11.7 PPG and 8.8 RPG in 22 games with Orlando.
11 comments Atlanta Hawks New York Knicks Orlando Magic Washington Wizards

Anthony Davis Won’t Play In Game 5

By | at June 1, 2021 8:40 pm

Lakers star Anthony Davis has been officially ruled out for Game 5 of the team’s first-round series against the Suns, Mark Medina of USA Today tweets. Markieff Morris will start in his place.

Davis suffered a left groin strain in Game 4 on Sunday and was considered doubtful. He did come out onto the court on two occasions to test the injury but the club’s medical staff ultimately decided he wasn’t ready to go.

The Lakers and Suns are tied at 2-2 in their first-round series, and Davis averaged 34.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in the team’s two wins in Game 2 and 3.

Morris has only played 12 minutes in the series and hasn’t made a field goal. He averaged 5.9 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 21 postseason games, including two starts, for the Lakers during their championship run last season.

36 comments Los Angeles Lakers Newsstand Phoenix Suns

Top 2022 French Prospect To Take NBL Route

By | at June 1, 2021 7:09 pm

French swingman Ousmane Dieng, who is considered one of the top prospects for the 2022 draft, will play for the New Zealand Breakers next season as part of the NBL’s Next Stars program, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

It’s the same route that Hornets guard LaMelo Ball took before being drafted in the lottery last season. Magic rookie R.J. Hampton, the 24th pick in last year’s draft, also used the Next Stars program as a springboard as well as Australian guard Josh Giddey, a potential 2021 lottery pick. Dieng is the first European prospect to make the jump to the Breakers.

The 6’9” Dieng is ranked No. 14 by ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony for the 2022 draft. Givony views the 18-year-old as a superior passer who has shown versatility as a shot-maker and defender, Wojnarowski adds.

Dieng, who played for Parisian Academy INSEP in France’s third division, was heavily recruited by American college programs as well the NBA’s G League Ignite team. French, Australian, Lithuanian and Spanish teams — including Barcelona — were also bidding for Dieng’s services, Lithuanian journalist Donatas Urbonas tweets.

5 comments 2022 NBA Draft International

Injury Updates: Walker, Williams, KCP, Doncic, Kleber, T. Antetokounmpo

By | at June 1, 2021 5:27 pm

With the Celtics facing elimination, Kemba Walker and Robert Williams have been declared out for Game 5 against the Nets on Tuesday, Malika Andrews of ESPN tweets. Walker (left knee bone bruise) and Williams (left ankle sprain) had previously been listed as doubtful. Neither played in Game 4 after exiting Game 3 in the early going.

We have more injury updates:

  • Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is expected to return to the lineup for Game 5 against Phoenix on Tuesday, Dave McMenamin of ESPN tweets. He missed Game 4 with a sore left knee.
  • The Mavericks’ Luka Doncic (neck strain) and Maxi Kleber (right Achilles soreness) are listed as probable to play Game 5 on Wednesday, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News tweets.
  • Thanasis Antetokounmpo isn’t doing any contact work yet but “he did most, if not all of the non-contact portion of (Tuesday’s) practice,” according to Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, as Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. He suffered an avulsion fracture to his right patella tendon suffered on May 16.
11 comments Boston Celtics Dallas Mavericks Los Angeles Lakers Milwaukee Bucks
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