Eastern Notes: Mobley, Bridges, Clifford, Rose, Grimes

Cavaliers second-year forward Evan Mobley will miss one-to-two weeks due to a right ankle sprain, the team tweets. He’ll undergo a period of treatment and rehab before returning to action.

The Cavaliers open the regular season on Oct. 19 against Toronto, so it remains to be seen whether Mobley will be ready to go by that point. Mobley appeared in 69 regular season games during his rookie year.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Hornets did not extend the deadline for Miles Bridges‘ $7,921,300 qualifying offer, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on The Rally TV show (Twitter link). Charlotte had an Oct. 1 cutoff date to extend the offer or allow it to expire. However, Bridges remains a restricted free agent. Bridges’ legal issues have made his free agency a moot point at this stage.
  • Steve Clifford, who is in his second stint as the Hornets’ coach, said he did a “poor job” in his most recent season with Charlotte, he told Joe Vardon of The Athletic. The 2017/18 team won 36 games and failed to make the playoffs. “That was a team I did a poor job with as much as anything, because we had always been good defensively, and I thought if we could get better on offense we’d really have a chance to be good,” Clifford said. “We spent training camp doing a ton of offense, and we were never good defensively.”
  • Derrick Rose played just 26 games last season due to ankle issues that required surgery but the Knicks guard vows to stay on the court this season, Peter Botte of the New York Post writes. “I feel very healthy,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to play in a lot of games — I mean, I know I’m going to play in a lot of games this year. … I feel lighter. I’m moving a lot better. I’m not worried about my shot. My shot looks great.”
  • Quentin Grimes won’t play in the Knicks’ preseason game against Detroit on Tuesday due to a foot injury, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets.
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