Knicks Notes: Durant, Irving, Barrett, Quickley, Toppin, Draft
The decision by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to join the Nets instead of the Knicks as free agents in 2019 set the two franchises in opposite directions, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. The difference in star power was evident Wednesday night as New York built up a big lead before Brooklyn seized control in the fourth quarter for a 12-point win.
“That helps,’’ Knicks coach Tom Thobdeau said about having two superstars after Durant posted a triple-double and Irving scored 24 points. “But I love our young guys. I love what they’re doing and they’re getting better and better. Hey look, those guys over there were once young guys, too. It’s part of this league. Trial and error. Kyrie, Kevin, throw in Patty (Mills) and (Seth) Curry, you get that through experience. The more we go through it, the better we’ll get at it.’’
The Nets are headed for the play-in tournament and appear to be in good position to claim a spot in the playoffs. The Knicks, meanwhile, are wrapping up a disappointing season at 35-45 and are moving into what Berman considers a “make-or-break offseason” for team president Leon Rose. Fans are hoping for a franchise-altering move, possibly involving Donovan Mitchell or Zion Williamson, two clients of Rose’s former CAA agency. Unless something major happens, Berman suggests that owner James Dolan may reconsider his decision to put Rose in charge of the team two years ago.
There’s more from New York:
- Irving told reporters after Wednesday’s game that the Knicks were in a strong position to sign himself and Durant in 2019, but the two stars opted to make an imprint on the Nets (video link from SNY.tv). “They had a good chance of getting us back in free agency,” Irving said, “but we just felt like we wanted to build here and just make our mark on this franchise.”
- RJ Barrett has improved his chances for a rookie scale extension, says Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. The Knicks will have to decide this summer whether to give Barrett the offer, which would be worth a projected $181MM over five years. No matter what happens, Barrett is hoping for a long-term future with the team. “I’ve said it since day one that I wanted to come here. I didn’t work out for any other team (in the draft),” Barrett said. “This is where I wanna be. I love playing for the Knicks. I love playing in the Garden. I love how we got to the playoffs last year and looking to do that again. I love everything about being a Knick. Yeah, 100% the place I wanna be.”
- Strong late-season performances by Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin may be changing the Knicks’ offseason plans, according to Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post. With several veterans sidelined for the rest of the season, Quickley is showing signs that he can handle point guard duties, while Toppin has excelled without Julius Randle on the court, Sanchez notes.
- Fred Katz of The Athletic examines the Knicks’ draft options under five different lottery simulations.
Rick Carlisle Denies Rumors Of Switch To Front Office
Amid speculation that Pacers coach Rick Carlisle desired to make a switch to a front office role, Carlisle adamantly denied those rumors on Thursday afternoon.
“I came here to coach. …I want to put this to rest once and for all,” Carlisle said (Twitter links via Pacers VP of basketball communications Michael Preston). “…Let me be absolutely clear. I’m here to coach this team and coach this team for the long-haul. I’m not afraid of any aspect of a rebuild one bit. Not one single bit.”
The speculation about the possibility of Carlisle transitioning to the front office has been persistent for several months, and popped again last week in Chicago when NBA executives attended the McDonald’s All-America game, as relayed by Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report and Marc Stein (Twitter links).
At 62, Carlisle is the fifth-oldest head coach in the league (per Basketball Reference), so the rumors that he might not have the patience to coach through another rebuild make some sense. I use “another” because the Mavericks, his former team, struggled from 2016-19, going a combined 90-158 over the three seasons.
The Pacers were expected to compete for a playoff spot this season, even if it was on the bottom end, and instead have been one of the worst teams in the league. As shown by our reverse standings, Indiana currently holds a 25-55 record, the fifth-worst mark in the league.
However, owner Herb Simon has previously stated he doesn’t want to undertake a full-fledged rebuild, and that was made evident by the team acquiring a second-year player, Tyrese Haliburton, as opposed to draft picks at the trade deadline (as part of a larger deal headlined by Domantas Sabonis being sent to Sacramento).
Hawks Promote Skylar Mays To Standard Deal
The Hawks have promoted guard Skylar Mays to a standard contract from a two-way deal, the team announced. Shams Charania of The Athletic was the first to break the news (via Twitter).
Mays was the 50th overall pick in the 2020 draft after four seasons at LSU. He has spent the past two seasons on a two-way deal after signing Atlanta’s qualifying offer last summer to stick with the team.
As Chris Kirschner of The Athletic observes (Twitter link), promoting Mays means he’ll be eligible to play in the postseason. The Hawks are locked into a spot in the play-in tournament, but the Nos. 7-10 seeds in the East are still up for grabs.
The 24-year-old has appeared in 60 NBA games over the past two seasons with the Hawks, holding modest averages of 3.4 points and 1.0 rebound in 8.1 minutes per night. Mays made eight starts for the team’s G League affiliate (the College Park Skyhawks) this season, averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 33.6 minutes.
The Hawks now have 15 players on standard contracts and have one two-way spot open after promoting Mays. They currently hold a 42-38 record, the No. 9 seed in the East. Atlanta closes the season with road games against Miami on Friday and Houston on Sunday.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 4/7/2022
You can view the transcript of our weekly Thursday live chat here.
Our next live chat, with Luke Adams, will take place on Tuesday at noon Central time.
Cavaliers Waive RJ Nembhard
The Cavaliers have waived guard RJ Nembhard, who was recently promoted to a standard contract from a two-way deal, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
As Fedor observes, waiving Nembhard creates an opening for Moses Brown or Brandon Goodwin to be promoted from their two-way contracts, but Cleveland hasn’t decided which route to take with the standard spot available. Both players were ahead of Nembhard in the team’s rotation.
Nembhard, 23, signed with Cleveland last summer after going undrafted out of TCU and was given a two-way deal before the start of the season. He has played in just 13 NBA games, averaging 4.6 minutes per night, and spent much of his time in the G League, where he put up 24.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 22 games.
Although Nembhard was only on a standard contract with the Cavs for a week, the deal will pay him $58,493.
At 43-37, the Cavs are currently the No. 7 seed in the East with two games remaining. Their last two games are in Brooklyn on Friday and at home against Milwaukee on Sunday. Cleveland has been playing poorly recently, going 2-7 over the last nine games.
P.J. Tucker Out At Least A Week With Calf Strain
Heat forward P.J. Tucker has a strained calf that will sideline him for the rest of the regular season, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. An MRI revealed the injury, Chiang adds, and Tucker’s condition will be re-evaluated in about a week.
Tucker has been a starter and a defensive stalwart in his first season with Miami. He has played 71 games, averaging 7.6 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 41.5% from three-point range.
The Heat are close to wrapping up the best record in the Eastern Conference and won’t begin the playoffs until April 16 or 17, so Tucker could be ready by then.
Bucks Waive DeAndre’ Bembry
9:59am: The Bucks have officially waived Bembry, the team announced today (via Twitter).
9:36am: The Bucks will create a roster opening by waiving DeAndre’ Bembry, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Bembry underwent knee surgery last month after tearing his ACL and MCL and will miss the rest of the season.
The 27-year-old swingman signed with Milwaukee on February 16 after being waived by the Nets, who needed to open a roster spot to complete their trade with the Sixers.
Bembry appeared in eight games for the Bucks, averaging 0.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per night. He will be an unrestricted free agent after clearing waivers, but his knee injury will likely sideline him for much of next season as well.
The 21st pick in the 2016 draft, Bembry spent his first four NBA seasons with the Hawks before signing with the Raptors in 2020. He landed a deal with the Nets after being waived by Toronto last summer.
Gabe York, Nate Hinton Sign Two-Way Deals With Pacers
The Pacers have signed G League guards Gabe York and Nate Hinton to two-way contracts, the team announced in a press release.
Indiana also confirmed that Duane Washington and Terry Taylor, who had both been on two-way deals, have received standard contracts that will cover multiple years. The team officially waived Keifer Sykes to make room on the 15-man roster for both players.
York averaged 21.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 34 games with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. The 28-year-old played three seasons in the G League and spent time overseas as well after going undrafted out of Arizona in 2016. His only previous NBA experience came in attending training camp with the Magic in 2018 on an Exhibit 10 contract.
Hinton, 22, averaged 18.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists for Fort Wayne in his second G League season. He signed a 10-day contract with the Pacers on December 30 and played two total minutes in two games. Undrafted out of Houston in 2020, he appeared in 21 games with the Mavericks last season.
Magic Notes: Carter Jr., Cannady, Suggs, F. Wagner, Offseason
Big man Wendell Carter Jr. is having the best season of his young career with the Magic, according to Mark Schindler of BasketballNews.com, who takes an in-depth look at Carter’s breakout season and interviewed him for the article. Carter is averaging career-highs of 15.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists this season in 62 games (29.9 minutes per night). He boasts a shooting line of .525/.327/.691, including a career-best 61.5% on two-pointers.
Carter said the team’s coaching staff has empowered and challenged him to improve his game.
“They’ve kind of instilled in me like, ‘Man, you’re a great player. We’ve seen plenty of flashes. We know what Wendell can really be. Can we see you do this for a whole 48-minute game? Can we see you play like those little spurts we’ll see every now and then? Can you do that more often?’”
Here’s more on the Magic:
- Devin Cannady, who signed a 10-day contract last week, is grateful for his second chance with Orlando, per Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. Cannady had a 10-day and then a two-way contract with Orlando last season and appeared in eight games, but his season came to an early end in April of 2021 when he suffered a significant ankle injury and underwent surgery. “I remember what it felt like laying on that floor less than a year ago. A lot of thoughts went through my mind. I remember praying on the floor that day. A lot of late nights, early mornings, frustrations, excitements and just to be back here is a testament to the work I put in. Whether I made it back here or not, I was going to be fine, but this is where I believe I belong,” Cannady said.
- Rookies Jalen Suggs (right ankle bone bruise) and Franz Wagner (left ankle sprain) returned for Tuesday’s win over Cleveland after absences of 10 games and one game, respectively. However, Wagner suffered a right ankle sprain in the game and didn’t return (Twitter links).
- Bobby Marks explores the team’s options for the offseason in his guide for ESPN (Insider link). Much of Orlando’s financial flexibility is tied to Mohamed Bamba, who would be a restricted free agent this summer if the team tenders him a qualifying offer of $10.1MM.
Adam Silver Concerned About Star Players Missing Games
Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the media on Wednesday following a two-day meeting of the NBA’s Board of Governors, and he said one of his primary concerns at the moment is “a trend of star players not participating in a full complement of games,” according ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“I’m not standing here saying I have a great solution,” Silver said. “Part of the issue is injuries. One of the things we have focused on at the league office and we’re spending — we had begun to spend a lot of time on pre-pandemic — are there things we can do in terms of sharing information, resources around the league to improve best practices, rehabilitation?
“The other way we can get at it, in terms of player participation, is creating other incentives. The play-in tournament, I thought, was a beginning of creating renewed incentives for teams to remain competitive and be fighting for playoff position. It may be through in-season tournaments and changes in format where we can get at it.”
Silver also said the league could look at shortening the 82-game regular season, if necessary.
“I also have said in the past, if we have too many games, that’s something we should look at as well,” Silver said. “It’s something, as we sit down and we’re looking at new media deals and looking at a new collective bargaining agreement, we will be studying. There wasn’t any banging of the table or anything like that.
“From my discussions with players, they recognize it’s an issue, too. The style of the game has changed in terms of the impact on their bodies. I think we’ve got to constantly assess and look at a marketplace going forward and say, what’s the best way to present our product and over how long a season?”
Here are some more highlights of Silver’s press conference, courtesy of Bontemps:
- Silver said there was no concrete conversation regarding Ben Simmons‘ pending arbitration to recoup lost salary from the Sixers, and the league would not be involved in the litigation process.
- The league has not discussed moving the All-Star game from Utah next season despite an anti-LGBTQ law recently passing. When asked the difference between this situation and Charlotte in 2017, Silver said, in part, “Every situation is unique…I would just say I have tremendous respect for (Jazz owner) Ryan Smith. I think he stood up against this bill. We’ve joined him in opposing this bill. But we also want to be realistic, too, in terms of the impact we can have. In the case of HB2 in North Carolina, I think it was our collective view, we working with the Hornets, that we could have an impact on that legislation. I think in the case of what’s happening in Utah right now, that bill is established.”
- Silver said there was no update on the investigation into Suns owner Robert Sarver‘s alleged misconduct, other than to say it’s still ongoing and “closer to the end than the beginning, but it’s hard to put a precise timeline on it right now.” He also said the league was monitoring Donnie Nelson‘s lawsuit against the Mavericks.
- The commissioner reiterated that he’s pleased with the play-in tournament and expects it to stay, but it could see a few tweaks moving forward.
- The league is focused on trying to eliminate “take fouls” to prevent fast breaks, and changes could come as soon as next season, but there are obstacles to that happening. “That is something, as you know, we’re very focused on and considering making a change for next season,” Silver said. “We still have some work to do with our competition committee. We’ll be meeting with the board again in July, which would be a possible time to change that rule. But as we’re seeing sort of a pretty dramatic increase in take fouls, we don’t think it’s a great part of our game. International basketball has another way of getting at it, but that is something that potentially we’d like to tweak.”