Rockets Notes: Injuries, Thomas, Reynolds, Tate, Brooks
As has been the case for much of the 2020/21 season, the Rockets have a crowded injury report today, with 10 of the team’s players having been ruled out for the regular season finale in Atlanta.
However, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (via Twitter), none of those 10 players are dealing with long-term injuries that will hinder their ability to conduct offseason training or participate in Summer League games.
That includes Khyri Thomas, who underwent an MRI this weekend after he “tweaked” his Achilles on Friday (Twitter link via Feigen). According to head coach Stephen Silas, that Achilles injury isn’t severe, which bodes well for Thomas and the Rockets — the young swingman just signed a four-year contract with the team on Friday.
Here’s more out of Houston:
- Cameron Reynolds will only spend three days (two games) with the Rockets before his rest-of-season contract expires, but even that brief stint with his hometown team means a lot to the Pearland, Texas native, as Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston relays. “I’ll never forget this,” Reynolds said, adding that several family members were in attendance to watch him on Friday. “I’ll never forget being able to play for the Houston Rockets. This is huge for me.”
- After going undrafted in 2018, Jae’Sean Tate played for a new team in each of his first three professional seasons, so he’s especially appreciative of being able to enter the 2021 offseason knowing he’ll remain under contract with the Rockets and won’t have to find a new home. “It’s kind of surreal,” Tate said, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “This is what I’ve been dreaming of. This is what I’ve been working so hard for, to come in on the back end of my first year. It went by so fast; I feel I just walked into training camp. Also, it just makes me hungrier because I know there are so many things I can work on and get better at.”
- Armoni Brooks, who went undrafted in 2019, didn’t make his NBA debut until last month, but he has played big minutes (25.6 MPG) for an injury-ravaged Rockets team and his 54 three-pointers are the most ever by any NBA player through the first 19 games of his career. In a separate Houston Chronicle story, Feigen looks at what’s next for Brooks, who is shifting his focus to summer workouts.
Northwest Notes: Conley, Rosas, Pokusevski, Gobert
Jazz All-Star point guard Mike Conley enjoyed a solid comeback game after missing nine contests with a sore right hamstring, writes Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune. In what amounted to a playoff tune-up game for Conley, an unrestricted free agent this summer, he scored 10 points in just 16 minutes during the first half of a 109-93 victory against the Thunder. Conley, 33, could be in line for one last big multiyear payday thanks to his stellar season in Utah.
“It was great to have him back,” Conley’s All-Star Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert said. “I feel like he was quick, he was making the right decisions. Obviously, he didn’t play the second half, but I thought in the first half, he really gave us a lift. That’s what we expect him to do. He’ll find his rhythm and hopefully get back to the level that he is comfortable playing [at]. If he plays the way he played tonight every night, I’m totally fine with that.”
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Timberwolves team president Gersson Rosas is confident that he is building a long-term winner in Minnesota, writes Chris Hine of the Star Tribune. “We’ve had what we’ve had the last two years for whatever reasons there are,” Rosas said. “Things we can control, things we can’t control, and our record is what it is and that’s who we are. We really feel confident about the core, the roster we have in place. … Even though it’s a small sample size, when our top guys are on the floor, we’re a winning team and that’s our belief.” The Timberwolves are currently 22-49, tied with the Cavaliers for the league’s fifth worst record. The team’s 2021 draft pick will be sent to the Warriors unless it moves into the top three during the draft lottery.
- Thunder rookie power forward Aleksej Pokusevski, the No. 17 pick in the 2020 draft, saw his season trajectory benefit from a G League assignment, per Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman. “The first 10-15 [NBA] games I was just shooting the ball, wasn’t even reading the defense,” Pokusevski said. “The game slowed down after the G League for me. I started reading the game.”
- Jazz All-Star center Rudy Gobert has unlocked his second consecutive $250K bonus for having his minutes-to-rebounds ratio being less than 3.2, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. Gobert, the likely Defensive Player of the Year, will make an additional $500K if he is named an All-Defensive First Teamer. Marks adds (Twitter link) that none of Gobert’s potential bonuses will impact the team’s projected luxury tax bill, since those incentives were deemed likely entering the season.
Oubre To Miss Play-In With Lingering Wrist Injury
Warriors forward Kelly Oubre Jr. will miss the next seven-to-10 days of on-court action as he continues to recover from a small avulsion fracture and ligament tear in his left wrist, the team announced today (via Twitter). The injury has kept him sidelined for the past nine games.
Golden State will re-assess Oubre’s wrist in the next seven-to-10 days, so there is a distinct possibility he would be available should the team advance to the first round of the playoffs.
As Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets, this update means Oubre will miss the team’s first play-in tournament appearance. Depending on the outcome of today’s season finale against the Grizzlies, the Warriors will either finish as the No. 8 or No. 9 seed in the Western Conference.
Both Golden State and Memphis sport identical 38-33 records at present — a win today for the Warriors would ensure they just need to win one of two play-in chances to make the playoffs, rather than two of two.
The 6’7″ Oubre was the team’s starting small forward for most of the season, starting in 50 of the 55 games in which he appeared. He will wrap up the 2020/21 regular season with averages of 15.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.0 SPG and 0.8 BPG across 30.7 MPG, with a shooting line of .439/.316/.695. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Heat Notes: Butler, Yurtseven, Long-Term Outlook, Bam
Heat star wing Jimmy Butler has had an outsized impact on the club during the games he has been available this season, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. As Chiang observes, the Heat are 6-13 in games played without Butler this year. Miami is 33-19 when Butler has suited up.
The veteran swingman is averaging 21.5 PPG and career highs of 6.9 RPG, 7.1 APG and 2.1 SPG for the club, though Chiang notes that Butler’s impact goes beyond these basic counting stats — his on/off-court net rating differential is 11.4 points per 100 possessions. Chiang posits that Butler, whose early-season injuries kept him out of making his sixth All-Star team, will earn significant consideration for All-NBA and All-Defensive team honors.
“I think if we had a complete year and a full year and health and everything, yeah Jimmy Butler, in my mind, has to be in that conversation for [league] MVP,” head coach Erik Spoelstra raved, while taking into consideration the fact that Butler and several of his teammates have missed significant time due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols and injuries during a truncated 2020/21 season. “I think his game is just continuing to grow, that’s as a winner, as a throw back player. A guy that really impacts the game on both ends of the court. He truly does, it’s not just talk. He has as much of an impact on the defensive side as he does the offensive side.”
The 39-32 Heat, currently the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, will conclude their season today against the 20-51 Pistons. Butler missed yesterday’s loss to Milwaukee due to lower back stiffness, and Chiang tweets that he will sit out the season finale as well.
There’s more out of South Beach:
- The Heat’s latest addition, 275-pound seven-footer Omer Yurtseven, inked his deal with Miami Friday. Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reveals that the 22-year-old big man’s contract covers the 2021/22 season, though next year’s salary will be non-guaranteed. Yurtseven was undrafted out of Georgetown in 2020. “I think that will be the biggest thing, the rebounding and the defending,” he said during a video call with reporters Friday. “And on the other side of the floor, being able to stretch the floor, being a hybrid big.” Yurtseven played for the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate, during the 2020/21 NBAGL “bubble” season in Orlando. Across 14 games for the Blue, he averaged 15.2 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.4 BPG during 21.1 minutes. He also boasted a solid slash line of .626/.381/.680.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel suggests that thinking too long-term could hurt the Heat’s short-term aspirations. Winderman points to the club’s decision to sign unproven rookie Yurtseven to its 15th and final roster spot over a veteran who could help the club in the playoffs.
- Heat center Bam Adebayo could net a major payoff if he earns end-of-year awards honors during the span of his maximum five-year, $163MM rookie extension with the club, as Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel notes. If Adebayo is named to the All-NBA First Team, the value of his deal increases to $186MM over the length of the contract. If he nets the Defensive Player of the Year award, his cumulative salary would increase to $179MM. Neither of those outcomes seems particularly likely this season, however.
Warriors Re-Sign Gary Payton II
MAY 16: The Warriors have officially announced Payton’s new contract ahead of today’s regular season finale.
MAY 13: The Warriors plan to bring back Gary Payton II on a new deal this weekend, sources tell Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter links). Payton previously inked a pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
Payton, 28, got into 10 games for the Warriors during his 20 days with the organization. He only logged 40 total minutes in those 10 contests, but made the most of them, putting up 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting with 11 rebounds and six steals. Head coach Steve Kerr said at the time that the team wasn’t ruling out re-signing Payton before the end of the season.
“Gary played really well,” Kerr said in April. “He’s somebody who we feel like we’d love to have back. He’s got to consider his own options as well. So, we’ll see how it works out.”
Payton, the son of Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton, earned G League Defensive Player of the Year honors with the Raptors 905 earlier this year. He’ll provide depth in the backcourt for the Warriors as they prepare for the play-in tournament next week.
According to Slater (via Twitter), there’s an expectation that Payton’s new contract will extend beyond this season, though it’s unclear if any of next year’s money will be guaranteed. The terms are still being finalized, Slater adds.
Golden State currently just has 13 players on its standard 15-man roster, but is promoting two-way player Juan Toscano-Anderson to fill one of those spots — Payton would take the other, while Jordan Bell will be signed to a new two-way deal, giving the club a full 17-man squad.
Knicks Notes: Noel, Robinson, Point Guards, Draft
Among the many surprising aspects of the Knicks‘ season is that their defense has been able to survive the loss of center Mitchell Robinson, who is recovering from surgery on a fracture in his right foot. Mitchell’s shot blocking has been replaced by Nerlens Noel, who swatted five shots in Saturday’s win over the Hornets and now ranks second in the league with 2.1 per game, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.
“His gift is obviously the rim protection,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “… He alters a lot of shots because everyone is looking for him. He has great value, he’s the anchor of the defense.”
Noel was a lottery pick in 2013, but wasn’t able to find a stable situation as he bounced from the Sixers to the Mavericks to the Thunder. He signed with New York during the offseason and has been a valuable addition in the wake of Robinson’s injuries, starting 40 of the 63 games he has played.
“I just feel like I’ve got something in me that comes alive, especially moments like (crunch time),” Noel said. “I live for moments, the big moments, and anything for my team.”
There’s more from New York:
- Thibodeau offered a medical update on Robinson, who has started on-court activities but remains a long way from playing, Bondy adds. “He’s still in the rehab phase,” Thibodeau said. “… As I’ve said before, we’re not going to rush him along. We’re going to be cautious and make sure he goes through every phase of it properly. We just don’t want to take any chances with him.”
- The Knicks can wrap up the fourth seed by beating the Celtics this afternoon, but their point guard situation remains muddled, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Elfrid Payton played less than 13 minutes on Saturday and Berman suspects Thibodeau is losing confidence in him. Alec Burks ran the point with the second unit, and Frank Ntilikina was inserted late in the game for his defense.
- The dramatic turnaround in New York has made the draft an afterthought this year, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Before the season began, the Knicks started scouting with the expectation that they might have a high lottery pick, along with the Mavericks’ first-rounder from the Kristaps Porzingis trade. New York’s selection is currently at No. 18, while Dallas’ is at No. 23.
2021 Hall Of Fame Class Announced
As expected, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace and Chris Webber will be part of the Class of 2021 for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
They will be joined by Chris Bosh, coaches Rick Adelman, Jay Wright and Bill Russell, and WNBA players Yolanda Griffith and Lauren Jackson.
Among former players, Bosh is the only name that hasn’t been reported already. He is best known as part of the Big Three in Miami that made four straight Finals appearances and won two NBA titles early last decade. He played 13 NBA seasons, with the first seven coming in Toronto before getting a chance to join LeBron James and Dwyane Wade with the Heat.
Bosh is an 11-time All-Star and was a second-team All-NBA selection in 2007. A medical condition ended his career early, and he was elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility.
Adelman made two trips to the NBA Finals and is the ninth-winningest coach in league history with 1,042 career victories. He played seven seasons in the league, but made his greatest impact as a coach, guiding the Trail Blazers, Warriors, Kings, Rockets and Timberwolves.
Wright has been the head coach at Villanova since 2001 and has more than 600 career wins. He has led the Wildcats to three Final Fours and captured NCAA titles in 2016 and 2018.
Russell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975 for his legendary playing career, but he was also a pioneer as a coach. He took over as player-coach of the Celtics in 1966, becoming the first Black head coach in North American professional sports. Russell had a 341-290 coaching record and won a pair of NBA titles.
Griffith is a seven-time WNBA all-star and was captured the league’s MVP, Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Player awards in 1999. She was named Finals MVP in 2005 after leading the Sacramento Monarchs to their first WNBA championship.
Jackson was an Australian star who won three silver medals in the Olympics. She’s among the WNBA career leaders in games, minutes, field goals and three-pointers and helped the Seattle Storm win two titles, capturing Finals MVP honors in 2010.
Several other players were also voted into the Hall, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter links):
- International Committee: Toni Kukoc.
- Contributors: Val Ackerman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Howard Garfinkel.
- Veteran’s Committee: Bob Dandridge.
- Women’s Veteran Committee: Pearl Moore.
- Early African-American Pioneers: Clarence Jenkins.
Photo courtesy of USA Sports Images.
Community Shootaround: Play-In Tournament
The NBA’s new play-in tournament has plenty of fans and critics, but it has created a lot of compelling races as the season heads into its final day.
There’s suddenly a huge difference between sixth place and seventh, as the top six teams in each conference get nearly a week to rest while the teams in the tournament battle for playoff spots. The defending champion Lakers find themselves in seventh place in the West right now and need a win over the Pelicans tonight coupled with a Trail Blazers loss to the Nuggets to avoid the tournament.
The seventh and eighth teams in each conference will meet in the first round, while team No. 9 will face team No. 10. The winner of the 7-8 game will earn a playoff berth, while the loser of the 9-10 game will be eliminated. The other two teams will play for the final spot in each conference.
The scenario sets up several games with high stakes on the last day of the season. The Grizzlies and Warriors will meet this afternoon in Memphis with identical 38-33 records and the eighth seed on the line. In the East, the Hornets, Wizards and Pacers are all tied at 33-38. Washington hosts Charlotte today with the winner claiming the eighth seed and the loser likely falling to 10th.
No matter how the races end up, the tournament will start Tuesday night with both Eastern games, followed Wednesday by the two Western contests. The games to decide the final playoff spots will take place Thursday in the East and Friday for the West.
Commissioner Adam Silver has favored this format for years as a way to add excitement and unpredictability to the postseason. Some prominent league voices, including LeBron James and Mark Cuban, have criticized the idea, especially in a year with a condensed scheduled.
We want to get your opinion. Has the play-in tournament livened up the playoff races? Should the league keep the current format, modify it or get rid of it altogether? Please leave your responses in the comments section.
Chris Webber Reportedly Elected To Hall Of Fame
Chris Webber will be part of the Class of 2021 for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame when the formal announcement is made today, sources told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
Webber played 15 NBA seasons and was named to five All-Star teams and five All-NBA teams. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 1994 and holds career averages of 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.
Many consider this a long overdue honor for Webber, who retired in 2008 and has been eligible for the Hall since 2013.
The Warriors made Webber the first pick in the 1993 draft after two outstanding seasons at Michigan as part of the Fab Five. He moved on to Washington and then Sacramento, where he had his best NBA seasons. He later played for Philadelphia and Detroit before finishing his career with Golden State.
Since retiring, Webber has been a broadcaster with TNT, although he recently parted ways with the network. He has also been involved in the music and film industries.
Webber will join Paul Pierce and Ben Wallace, who were reported Saturday as 2021 enshrinees.
Caleb Homesley Signs Multiyear Deal With Wizards
Swingman Caleb Homesley has signed a multi-year contract with the Wizards, the team announced (via Twitter).
Homesley won’t join the Wizards for their final regular season game on Sunday or the play-in tournament (Twitter link). Washington expects him to be part of its development program over the offseason.
The 24-year-old was in training camp with the Wizards on an Exhibit 10 contract after going undrafted out of Liberty. He was assigned to the G League’s Erie BayHawks and averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 15 games in the Orlando bubble.
Washington has an open roster spot, so the team can add Homesley without a corresponding move.