Southeast Notes: Wizards, Bridges, Heat, Hall
Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard won’t be afraid to take “big swings” to improve his roster this offseason if the opportunities present themselves, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes.
The Wizards dealt with several COVID-19 and injury-related issues this season, finishing with just a 34-38 record. The team was eliminated by the Sixers in a five-game series after making it out of the play-in tournament.
“We’ve gotta continue to add talent everywhere we can, and I think we’ve shown that I’m not afraid to take big swings,” Sheppard said. “We’re not afraid to go out and acquire players in trades, to do whatever it takes.”
Prior to the season, Washington dealt John Wall and a future first-round pick to the Rockets in exchange for Russell Westbrook, a prime example of a big-swing move.
There’s more from the Southeast Division tonight:
- Hornets forward Miles Bridges emerged as a well-rounded threat for the team this season, Sam Perley of NBA.com writes. Bridges averaged 12.7 points and a career-high six rebounds per game, serving as a key cog in the club’s rotation. “I feel like I can always get better at everything,” Bridges said during his exit interview, as relayed by Perley. “For this team, I play a lot of positions, a lot of different roles. I want to get better at everything – my IQ mainly. Learn how to finish games better, creating shots for myself and my teammates. I can always get better at defense, so for me, it’s just the full package.” Bridges will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason.
- The Heat‘s early playoff exit will allow the team to spend more time reflecting on the season and planning for the summer, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. Team president Pat Riley — much like Tommy Sheppard — has never been afraid to take big swings to improve his team, something worth monitoring this offseason.
- While Donta Hall provided relentless energy as a depth piece during his time with the Magic, he’s not under contract for 2021/22 and it remains to be seen whether he’ll have a place in the team’s future, notes Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel.
James Harden To Miss Game 2 Due To Hamstring Injury
All-Star Nets guard James Harden will miss the second game of his team’s second-round playoff series against the Bucks tomorrow due to his hamstring injury, tweets Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports.
The team has listed the injury as right hamstring tightness, per Goodwill. Harden exited Game 1 of the series after just 43 seconds, when he re-aggravated the right hamstring injury that had kept him out for much of the second half of the 2020/21 season, his first in Brooklyn.
Harden’s absence did not have an adverse impact on the ultimate result of the game, as the Nets beat Milwaukee in Brooklyn 115-107. The final margin does not reflect how one-sided the contest really was during most of its 48 minutes. The Nets were leading 115-101 with 1:26 of game action remaining when head coach Steve Nash took out his rotation players and emptied his bench.
Guard Bruce Brown started the second half in Harden’s stead, and should get extended run while the bearded one remains sidelined. Reserve point guard Mike James is expected take on more ball-handling duties now alongside All-Star Kyrie Irving. The Nets have not indicated how long Harden will be absent, tweets Mark Medina of USA Today.
Adam Zagoria of Forbes writes that an MRI on Harden’s injured hamstring did not indicate any structural damage to the ligament.
“James has high hopes and he wants to be back ASAP… but it has to be right to take those risks,” Nash told reporters during a Zoom call Sunday. “Only time can tell where he’s at in the coming days.”
Magic Notes: MCW, Ennis, Fultz, Coach Search
Veteran Magic guard Michael Carter-Williams provided helpful on-court production and off-court leadership during the first season of his two-year, $6MM deal with the club, writes Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel.
After missing the first half of the year due to a foot injury, Carter-Williams stepped in as the starting point guard on February 12 with Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony both injured for much of the season. He started in 25 of his 31 games for the club, averaging 8.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 4.2 APG.
Carter-Williams’ 2021/22 salary is guaranteed, though it remains to be seen what sort of role he’ll have with a team that has shifted into rebuilding mode.
There’s more out of Orlando:
- Veteran Magic wing James Ennis helped supply 3-and-D contributions when healthy during a difficult 2020/21 season in Orlando, per Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel. Ennis is a free agent, having signed a one-year, $3.3MM contract with Orlando in the offseason after the team traded for him while he was finishing up his prior contract with the Sixers in February 2020. Various injuries (most persistently, a calf ailment) limited Ennis to just 41 total games (37 starts) with the Magic, averaging 8.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.5 APG and 0.8 BPG. He boasted a solid shooting line of .473/.433/.805. Parry notes that the Magic currently do not have a small forward signed for the 2021/22 season, and may look to the 30-year-old Ennis to fulfill that position in the immediate future.
- Magic point guard Markelle Fultz was frustrated by yet another injury-abbreviated season, the final under his rookie-scale contract, reports Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel. Fultz, who underwent surgery for a torn ACL in January, signed a three-year, $50MM extension with Orlando in the 2020 offseason. He helped power the team to a 5-2 start to kick off the 2020/21 season before suffering his injury. A solid finisher and defender, Fultz has yet to develop his outside shooting. Parry notes that rookies Cole Anthony and R.J. Hampton could compete for the long-term starting point guard position in the years ahead, and cautions that an exact timeline for Fultz’s anticipated return next season remains unclear. A standard 12-month ACL recovery would push Fultz’s return to January 2022.
- The Magic’s newly-opened head coaching job should appeal to candidates eager to develop young players, writes Josh Cohen of Magic.com. The Magic have an intriguing core of under-24 youth, and will add to that tally in a hurry, with possibly two lottery selections and one early first-rounder (the No. 33 selection) in next month’s draft. “This job has tremendous growth potential, which is very attractive,” team president Jeff Weltman said. “It has organizational strength and ownership behind it. We are moving into a new practice facility next year. There are a lot of good things happening here. Most importantly, we have a lot of bright young talented players.”
Southwest Notes: Winslow, Mavs, Wood, Marshall
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.
Sixers Center Joel Embiid Will Play In Game 1; Hawks’ De’Andre Hunter Out
Joel Embiid will be in the Sixers‘ starting lineup for today’s opener of their second-round series with the Hawks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Embiid, who was diagnosed with a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee, was considered a game-time decision. He went through warm-ups before the team determined he was ready to play.
He suffered the injury in Monday’s playoff game against the Wizards, and the medical staff has been doing treatments on the knee all week. Embiid was limited to individual workouts during practices the last two days.
The Hawks announced that De’Andre Hunter will miss today’s game with soreness in his right knee, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter link). The team’s top perimeter defender was able to play all five games in the first-round series with the Knicks, but he has been dealing with pain in his knee since having surgery in February.
Jason Kidd Won’t Seek Trail Blazers’ Coaching Job
Jason Kidd has decided not to be a candidate for the Trail Blazers’ vacant head coaching job, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
“Portland’s a first-class organization and will have great candidates for its head coaching job, but I’ve decided not to be one of them,” Kidd said. “Whoever they choose will have big shoes to fill from Terry (Stotts).”
According to Wojnarowski, Kidd became uncomfortable with seeking the Trail Blazers’ job after star guard Damian Lillard said Friday that Kidd was his top choice. Kidd was concerned that Lillard’s public comment would put the team in an awkward position if he interviewed for the post.
“Jason Kidd is the guy I want,” Lillard said after news broke that Stotts won’t be returning next season.
Kidd, a former head coach with the Nets and Bucks, has been the top assistant to Frank Vogel with the Lakers for the past two seasons.
Sources tell Wojnarowski that the Blazers haven’t talked to any potential candidates yet or reached out for permission to interview anybody, but that process should begin once the last first-round series wraps up today.
Portland is expected to consider Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups, former Knicks and Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy and Michigan coach Juwan Howard, sources tell ESPN.
Lakers Notes: Pelinka, Schröder, Centers, Kidd
When a defending champion gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, it usually means changes are coming, but Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka hopes to keep the core of this year’s team intact, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Injuries played a large role in L.A.’s downfall this season, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis both missing long stretches and being less than 100% for the playoffs.
The Lakers will have eight free agents this summer and possibly nine if Montrezl Harrell turns down a $9.7MM player option. Pelinka indicated that he will try to re-sign most of those players and said the front office is committed to paying the luxury tax to keep the team in title contention.
“I’m convinced that, again, without some of the unforeseen circumstances this year, the challenges that we had to face, that we’d be a championship-caliber team,” he said. “So the goal is to try to keep that core group together.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- At Friday’s exit interviews, Dennis Schröder made it clear that his decision to turn down an $84MM extension during the season wasn’t in retaliation for being part of trade talks involving Kyle Lowry, McMenamin adds. Schröder has expressed a desire to return to the Lakers, but he will see what offers are available in free agency. “I didn’t decline the extension because I was in trade talks,” he said. “I own a (basketball) team in Germany as well. I try to run my organization in Germany as fair as possible, but end of the day, it’s still business. … That’s what Rob did as well. He told me the story. He listened to it. It wasn’t even right by the trade deadline, but he talked to them to see. … I would listen to offers as well. … You don’t know what you can get, and you see what your options are.”
- Finding a dependable center should be the focus of the Lakers’ offseason, states Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. They installed Andre Drummond as their starter after signing him in March, but he wasn’t used in Thursday’s close-out game. Marc Gasol signed a two-year contract during the offseason, but his role diminished significantly after Drummond was added.
- With three NBA head coaching jobs now open, Frank Vogel said he believes Jason Kidd deserves another shot, according to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. The Lakers’ assistant is Damian Lillard‘s first choice to take over the Trail Blazers and may be a candidate for other teams. “Jason has become one of my closest friends, you know, really a trusted advisor on my coaching staff and someone that has just been integral to our success in the last two years,” Vogel said. “He should be at the top of everybody’s list that has an opening in the NBA.”
Trail Blazers Notes: Lillard, McCollum, Stotts
Damian Lillard will wait to see what the Trail Blazers do during the offseason before making a decision on his future, a person close to the star guard told Jabari Young of CNBC. Lillard has stated repeatedly that he wants to stay in Portland and help the franchise win a title, but that could change if he’s not convinced that the Blazers are moving in that direction. The team’s willingness to pay the luxury tax could figure into the decision, Young adds.
Lillard is under contract for the next three seasons and Portland has no plans to trade him, but he could change the situation by requesting a deal. He is coming off the best playoff series of his career, averaging 34.5 PPG in the six-game loss to the Nuggets. It marked the fourth time in five years that Portland was eliminated in the first round, and Lillard could be pondering a move to a more legitimate title contender.
The Blazers began what could be an offseason of change Friday night when they announced that coach Terry Stotts won’t return next season. Lillard quickly made a statement about his coaching preferences, with Jason Kidd and Chauncey Billups topping the list.
Another factor will be what Portland’s management decides to do with the roster, and especially Lillard’s backcourt partner, CJ McCollum. Young notes that the Cavaliers have been mentioned as a possible destination for McCollum and the Spurs have considered him as well, although they aren’t currently considering an offer.
Young cites a Western Conference executive who believes the Clippers may try to move Paul George if they don’t make a long playoff run, adding that a deal involving McCollum and George is conceivable. The Heat could also be a destination, though they might prefer to target Lillard.
There’s more from Portland:
- The Blazers will replace their coach, but general manager Neil Olshey’s job appears to be safe, Young adds. Ownership sees him as a “solid executive” who has done as much as possible within budget limitations to build a competitive team around Lillard.
- Several teams around the league, including many in “top markets,” are keeping an eye on Portland to see if Lillard might become available, sources tell Shams Charania and Jason Quick of The Athletic.
- Stotts wrote a farewell letter thanking the organization, players and fans for his experiences during the past nine years as head coach.
Nets Notes: Harden, Griffin, T. Johnson
Even though they recovered to beat the Bucks in the first game of their playoff series, the Nets were shocked and disappointed by the hamstring injury that sidelined James Harden in the first minute Saturday night, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Harden felt pain in his hamstring on a drive to the basket and left the game for an MRI. The results of that test will determine his availability for the rest of the series.
“You never want to see that for someone like James, who is such an important player and such an incredible player and cares so much,” coach Steve Nash said. “I’m heartbroken for him. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if he’s playing the next game, if he’s out. I have no idea. But I’m heartbroken for him that he had to miss tonight.”
Harden missed more than 20 games late in the season with a strain of the same hamstring. He was able to return during the final week and played all five games of the first-round series against the Celtics without any issues. The Nets have a quick turnaround for Monday’s Game 2 and they’re awaiting word on when Harden will be able to play again.
“I know how much he cares. I know how much he wants to be in this moment,” Kevin Durant said. “… Wishing him a speedy recovery. Keep him involved as much as possible. It’s just a bad break.”
There’s more from Brooklyn:
- The Nets won’t risk a long-term injury to Harden by trying to play him before he’s fully recovered, sources tell Jordan Schultz of ESPN (Twitter link). Schultz adds that it’s a sensitive issue right now after the Lakers permitted Anthony Davis to play in their final game despite a groin injury.
- Blake Griffin helped the Nets survive the loss of Harden by posting 18 points and 14 rebounds for his best rebounding performance and second double-double since joining the Nets, notes Ryan Dunleavy of The New York Post. He’s happy to be part of the playoffs after being benched in Detroit before a buyout in March. “For two years, I didn’t hear much positivity,” Griffin said. “Probably rightfully so. But it’s pretty crazy how quickly it happens, so I’m just thankful for this opportunity.”
- Jonathan Lehman of The New York Post looks at the path Tyler Johnson traveled to get to Brooklyn after getting a massive offer from the organization as a restricted free agent in 2016. The Heat matched that offer, but Johnson eventually became a salary dump in Phoenix before joining the Nets last summer in advance of the restart.
Community Shootaround: Best Coaching Vacancy
After a slow start to this year’s coaching carousel, three jobs have opened up over the past four days.
News broke Wednesday morning that Danny Ainge was stepping down as president of basketball operations for the Celtics and Brad Stevens had been selected to replace him. On Friday night, the Trail Blazers announced that Terry Stotts won’t return next year, and the Magic parted ways with Steve Clifford earlier today.
Decisions still have to be made about Scott Brooks in Washington and Nate Bjorkgren in Indiana, but for now the coaching rumors are focused on Boston, Portland and Orlando. All three jobs have some advantages as potential candidates consider their options.
The Celtics have two young foundation pieces in place with 23-year-old Jayson Tatum and 24-year-old Jaylen Brown both signed to long-term deals. Boston may try to trade Kemba Walker this summer, and a decision has to be made on free agent guard Evan Fournier. The team could also use an upgrade at center and a stronger bench, but Tatum and Brown should be enough to guarantee a playoff spot every year.
The Trail Blazers also have a solid foundation if they choose to keep it together. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are both under contract for the next three seasons, while Jusuf Nurkic has a partially guaranteed deal for next year. Norman Powell ($11.6MM) and Derrick Jones Jr. ($9.72MM) both have player options this summer and could be back even if they choose free agency. Portland has been to the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons, but has been knocked out in the first round four times in the past five years.
The Magic don’t have any stars in place, but they have a lot of young talent to build around. Jonathan Isaac, who is under contract through 2024/25, could develop into a franchise player if he can avoid injuries. He missed the entire season after tearing his ACL last August. Orlando is loaded with players 23 and under, including former No. 1 draft pick Markelle Fultz and recent first-round selections Cole Anthony, Chuma Okeke and Mohamed Bamba. The Magic unloaded most of their veteran talent at the trade deadline, but the future could be bright for a coach who’s willing to rebuild.
We want to get your input. Which of these situations offers the best opportunity for a new head coach? Please leave your answers in the comments section.