Grizzlies executive VP of basketball operations Zach Kleiman has until August 1 to make a decision on the team’s $13MM option on Justise Winslow, and may still see the forward as part of the team’s future, writes Evan Barnes of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“There’s a lot of encouraging things that we saw from Justise,” Kleiman said. “I think he’s a player who can be very valuable and could potentially fit with what we’re doing.”
The oft-injured 25-year-old appeared in just 26 of a possible 72 games this season for Memphis due to a variety of maladies. He was out of the Grizzlies’ rotation in their first-round playoff series loss to the Jazz.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged that, after a 45-point outburst from Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard in Game 6 of the teams’ first-round series, Dallas will need to get creative in a crucial Game 7, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “We have done everything in this series, and we’ll have to be ready with the kitchen sink in Game 7.” The Mavericks’ lone All-Star, Luka Doncic, has pushed his team to the brink of an upset thanks to his incredible play. Thus far in the series, he is averaging 40.8 PPG, 9.7 APG, 9.5 RPG, and 1.5 SPG.
- When he was available, Rockets center Christian Wood proved his mettle during his first season with the club, says Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The 25-year-old Wood, who has two years and $28MM left on the three-year contract he signed with Houston before the season, averaged 21.0 PPG (shooting 51.4% from the field and 37.4% from deep) and pulled down 9.6 RPG in 41 games.
- Undrafted Pelicans rookie small forward Naji Marshall grew up as an underdog, which has served him well on his journey to the NBA, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Clark notes that the Pelicans are hoping that Marshall could prove to be a sharpshooting swingman capable of fulfilling a variety of needs. Last month, New Orleans inked Marshall to a four-year contract (including the rest of the 2020/21 season). The deal is non-guaranteed for the 2023/24 season.
Kemba Walker and 2 top 10 protected Firsts for Wood and Eric Gordon
Who says no？
Houston.
Why would Houston want another high priced PG?
And they already have K. Porter who is very reliable behind Wall.
Don’t they have like 10 1sts in the next 3 drafts? 21 & 22 are supposed to be strong drafts. They have a bright immediate future.
The Rockets have three 1st round picks this year, two or three next year depending on Detroit (top-16 protected), then 2-4 picks in 2023 still depending on Detroit (top-18 protected if not settled in 2022) and the Wizards (top-14 protected). So that’s 7-9 first round picks depending on those two teams. Not bad, their future is bright.
Kemba walker, Tristan thompson #16 for john wall and houston two late first rounder… ,#23,#24 makes the most sense.
Don’t really see why Houston needs Walker? Depending on where they land in the lottery, they could draft Cunningham, or Suggs. Then they would consider moving Wall.
But not right away. Wall’s value will be much higher next year if he can stay healthy his 2nd season in Houston. And assuming he’s opts in next summer (2022), it should be much easier to trade him with an expiring contract.
29 teams are going to be bidding for Wood.
Not even Houston will be able to screw this up.
He’s signed for 2 more years. Why would anybody be bidding on him?
The only reason for them to trade Christian Wood will be if the Rockets end up drafting Evan Mobley and they sign Kelly Olynyk to a long-term deal.
Mobley is a two way player. His upside is much higher than Wood. I’m sure Boston would give up most for Wood. He fits there well considering they want to win now. Getting Mobley and what you get for Wood. Really speeds up the rebuild. You look at Mobley’s brother and dad. He will put on more weight only 19. He adds 35-45 LBs he’s going to be a generational talent.
Luka is so good. But that push off with the arm. Has to be called. He gets away with it. Most times he is pushing and creating space. He’s absolutely best player right now, Offensively. The way to beat him is post him. All this shooting crazy we seem to embrace. Forgetting the easiest way to score. Posting and toasting getting them in foul trouble. You can’t attack on offense if you got 3-4 fouls.
Dallas needs to find a way to surround Luka or he’s leaving in a few years.
I think Doncic’s decision is after this year and next. After that he will be somewhere for a while. Unless a force-out.
He gets away with a pushoff because his arm is in a natural position… so I cannot believe those are pushoffs. He just has a coordinated twitchiness. Interesting to heat the TNT crew argue about his quickness.
I thought it was bad coaching by Carlisle.
He barely played Powell or Brunson. Boban’s inclusion was great but should have only been in spurts.
Luka looked tired.
They’re still so young though – I hope fans and media give them time to get it together – a la Denver.
Once again Leonard showed he is an all-time great player. He’s a machine.
As much as I think Rick Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the league, I questioned certain things at a lot of different points during the season. I would more question why they were so averse to using their young wings, why they didnt use Porzingis more at the 5, especially in this matchup, and then also I would actually say they arguably shouldnt have gone to either of their backup guards, and go more position less, with multiple guys that can playmake outside of Brunson and Burke. With that scenario, using someone like Powell as the main big off the bench is definitely a real consideration, although I think Boban could play in this matchup with more consistent touches off the bench, in shorter minutes. So with that rotation, 1 of Reddick or Melli would have made sense for spacing/shooting reasons
Luka, Hardaway jr, Josh Green, DFS, Porzingis
Richardson, Tyler Bey, Powell, Redick/Meli, Boban, Brunson/Burke depending
Yeah it was weird. If it’s stalemate, change something. Game seven is often the result of stalemate and you need to give a wildcard chance to shake it up.
Its weird b/c before the season I picked Dallas to beat them, but as the series approached I actually picked the Clippers to hold them off in 7 games b/c of Ibaka, and Terrence Mann, and obviously Kawhi, but then Ibaka didnt play, so it was interesting to see how it played out after the Clippers went small. That’s when I really thought Dallas would use those guys to try and matchup. It also brings up the question of moving James Johnson and Wes Iwundu for Redick and Meli and then not using them the same way they didnt use the other guys, and how they may have helped defensively in this series, especially if they didnt trust their young guys either
Obviously great performance by Kawhi. Luka was amazing in this series. I thought there might be a game or 2 where Kawhi might contain him, while I didnt think Dallas had enough to guard Kawhi, but they pretty much went at each other. With him taking so many possessions, I would question how much Luka’s freethrow percentage and turnovers hurt them, and if their other guys should have got more touches at times, especially in half court situations, which I guess goes back to some of the lineup stuff I mentioned b/c maybe it’s easier to get Porzingis more catches in the paint when there is more space on the floor for him