Nets guard Ben Simmons won’t play on Thursday in Philadelphia, but he’s expected to be with the team at Wells Fargo Center, reports Shams Charania of Stadium (video link). Simmons figures to face plenty of vitriol from the Sixers faithful, but it will likely be diluted to some extent by the fact that he’ll be on the bench rather than on the court. According to Charania, there’s optimism that Simmons will make his Nets debut later this month.
- If the Nets were to win a title this year, it would be bad for the NBA, argues Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Brooklyn has “blatantly treated the regular season as a waste of time,” according to Bondy, who notes that Kyrie Irving essentially chose not to play in over half of this season’s games, while the team traded a superstar for a player (Simmons) who will require a ramp-up process of more than a month.
- Having sustained both a quad contusion and a fractured finger in Sunday’s game, Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen has reportedly been ruled out indefinitely. While the team hasn’t issued an update on Allen’s status, Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen sound prepared to adjust their roles if the All-Star big man misses time, as Kelsey Russo of The Athletic relays. “Kevin Love would play in my position; it would just shift down the line,” Mobley said. “Lauri could also play four more often because it would be less. But we still got like three bigs, me, K-Love and Lauri. So we’re still a very big team, and I feel like we can still play a similar way as we have.”
- Pacers center Goga Bitadze had a career night on Sunday with 20 points on 7-of-7 shooting, as James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star writes. The third-year center, who hasn’t been a regular part of Indiana’s rotation since being drafted in the first round in 2019, has a chance to prove his value down the stretch before becoming extension-eligible this summer.
That is a pretty stupid take on the Nets. Injuries not just missing Kyrie are what have killed that team.
Which makes the chances of such a thing happening this year quite slim. On court chemistry matters once the games become the grind of the playoffs.
Beyond stupid. Saying that the Nets winning a chip is bad for the NBA is also extremely moronic. As if league fans don’t want to see KD in the finals.
Bad in a Kawhi load management sense maybe is the take?
Kyrie legs should be feeling great! Only playing a few games so it’s not surprising he’s moving around & shooting well. Maybe that’s the next thing in the NBA. Have your guys rest up for the playoffs.
Next thing? They’ll probably call it load management =/
If the regular season is being treated as a waste of time, then it’s because the NBA playoff payroll and playoff systems (promulgated by Stern, and continued under Silver) make it so, or at least make it a reasonable opinion to think so.
BKN is just dealing with their roster issues within the rules. Vegas oddsmakers respond to reality. BKN, until the Harden trade, was the favorite to win the championship (despite being only a little over .500 most of that time). Even after that, at least the last I checked, they’re still the clear favorite to win the EC (now with a below .500 record).
Like I’ve been saying…. It’s RJs team now
Can’t believe Thibs actually played the young guys. Cam looked good. So did Quickley. Quickley is more a scoring PG. He pushes the ball and can get his shot. He can help us in a trade.
Aren’t there enough Knix articles?