New York Notes: Green, Rose, Nash, Knicks Fans
Veteran Nets forward Jeff Green hopes to play “until the wheels fall off,” he told the New York Post’s Steve Serby in an extended interview. “Hopefully I’ll play another 10 years, but who knows?” the 34-year-old said. Green touched on a wide variety of subjects, from his college tenure with Georgetown to his life-saving heart surgery while with the Celtics to his three dream dinner guests.
There’s more out of the City That Never Sleeps:
- Luck has been with new Knicks team president Leon Rose thus far this season, says Marc Berman of the New York Post. The 17-17 Knicks have also benefited from several savvy decisions by Rose, including the hirings of new head coach Tom Thibodeau and ex-Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne, the drafting of exciting point guard Immanuel Quickley and athletic dunker Obi Toppin, and the retention of forward Julius Randle, who has blossomed into an All-Star this year.
- Nets head coach Steve Nash anticipates that rookie power forward Reggie Perry will improve as a three-point shooter, according to Chris Milholen of Nets Daily. “We like Reggie’s skill set,” Nash said. “He’s a guy that can develop into a very good three-point shooter and he’s got a good feel for the game.” Perry is currently connecting on 16.7% of his 0.9 three-point attempts per game with Brooklyn, but has taken major strides while with the Nets’ G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, on the NBAGL Orlando “bubble” campus. There, Perry has made 44% of his 2.3 triple attempts a night, across 11 games.
- Knicks fans are spending hundreds of dollars on rapid PCR pre-game COVID-19 tests, according to Sara Dorn and Khristina Narizhnaya of the New York Post. Up to 2,000 fans can attend games in Madison Square Garden, provided they test negative within three days of a game’s start time.
Raptors Add Donta Hall Via 10-Day Contract
FEBRUARY 26: The Raptors have officially signed Hall, according to a team press release. He’ll be assigned to the G League, where the Raptors 905 have six days during his 10-day deal, tweets Blake Murphy of The Athletic.
FEBRUARY 25: Power forward/center Donta Hall, most recently with the G League Ignite, has agreed to sign a 10-day deal with the Raptors, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
After Hall went undrafted out of Alabama in 2019, he split limited time in his rookie NBA season with the Pistons and Nets. Across nine NBA contests, he averaged 4.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 0.7 BPG in 14.8 MPG.
Hall spent the majority of his rookie season with the Pistons’ G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Drive. He averaged 15.4 PPG, 10.6 RPG, and 1.4 BPG in 38 games (37 starts), while shooting 66.9% from the floor.
Across nine games with the Ignite in the NBAGL’s Orlando “bubble” this season, while averaging five fewer minutes than he did with the Grand Rapids Drive, Hall posted solid tallies of 8.9 PPG (on 61.4% shooting from the floor), 9.0 RPG, and 1.8 BPG.
Hall could prove valuable to his new club as an athletic, hyper-efficient center with legitimate bulk. Toronto could theoretically use the size of the Hall to help supplement forward Chris Boucher‘s minutes at the five in speedy lineups. Hall, 23, is listed at 232 pounds to Boucher’s 200.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
L.A. Notes: AD, Schröder, Zubac, Lakers Skid
Veteran big man Anthony Davis recently chatted with Bill Oram of The Athletic to discuss the strained right calf that will keep him off the floor for the Lakers for the next several weeks, as well as his efforts to serve as a de facto coach as he travels with the club.
“Something might happen while a player is in the game and they want to see it to see how they can adjust,” the Lakers’ All-Star forward/center said. “And so that’s kind of my job. I see something on the floor, I kind of use the iPad and film because film never lies.”
Davis also addressed his progress in his recovery from the calf injury. He could return to the court for the Lakers by mid-March at the earliest. “(Physical therapy) stuff on it every day,” he said. “Nothing too crazy, but a lot of stuff in the weight room.”
There’s more out of the City of Angels:
- Lakers head coach Frank Vogel is holding out hope that starting point guard Dennis Schröder can clear the COVID-19 protocols that have sidelined him since last week in time for tomorrow’s game against the Trail Blazers, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register tweets. Schröder has been held out for each of the Lakers’ last four games, all losses.
- Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue seems to be maximizing reserve center Ivica Zubac, according to the Orange County Register’s Mirjam Swanson. Lue has been focused on ensuring that Zubac finishes with power around the rim lately. “He’s been on me about finishing, being aggressive, dunking the ball every time I can,” Zubac said of Lue. “Every time I get a dunk over someone, next to someone, I come up to him and ask him if that was good enough.”
- As the Lakers battle through a season-worst four-game losing skid (thanks in part to the absences of Davis and Schröder), the champs are hoping the experience will toughen them ahead of the coming postseason, according to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register.
And-Ones: Trade Deadline Preview, Rising Stars Game, IT, Boogie
With a month to go before the NBA’s March 25 trade deadline for 2020/21, Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link) supplies a very informative breakdown of what moves all 30 NBA clubs could be looking to make, plus which teams will be prioritizing the present over the future and vice versa.
Marks speculates that several interesting names could be available via trade this year, from valuable veteran forwards like P.J. Tucker, Thaddeus Young and Aaron Gordon to recent All-Star guards on big-money expiring deals like Victor Oladipo, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- There will be no Rising Stars Game between rookies and sophomore pros this season at the March 7 All-Star Game in Atlanta, but the NBA will still name players to rosters on Wednesday, March 3, according to a league announcement. 20 first- and second-year players will be announced in total — 10 from the U.S. and 10 from international countries.
- Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated takes a detailed look at the latest comeback attempt for free agent point guard Isaiah Thomas, who finally underwent a hip surgery last year to address an issue that had impacted his play since 2017. Beck contends that the 32-year-old, 5’9″ Thomas looked like his springier pre-injury self across two USA Basketball victories during a 2022 FIBA AmeriCup qualifier in San Juan, Puerto Rico last weekend. Thomas averaged 14 PPG and 2.5 APG during the contests.
- After being waived by the Rockets earlier this week, center DeMarcus Cousins has cleared waivers to become an unrestricted free agent, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Houston apparently tried to trade Cousins, playing on a $1.62MM fully-guaranteed veteran’s minimum contract, to no avail.
Atlantic Notes: Nets Injuries, Brown, Raptors, Celtics
Nets All-Star forward Kevin Durant remains out for Thursday’s scheduled bout against the Magic, Malika Andrews of ESPN tweets. Durant has suited up for just three games this month, having missed action both as a result of COVID-19 health and safety protocols and – more recently – a left hamstring strain.
Versatile Nets forward Jeff Green will join Durant on the sidelines tonight for a second straight game, as he continues to recover from a shoulder contusion, Andrews mentions in a separate tweet. Guard Landry Shamet is questionable with a chest contusion, Andrews adds. Small forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, listed as questionable yesterday, is now available for tonight, Andrews tweets.
All these absences haven’t slowed down Brooklyn so far: the team is currently riding a season-high seven-game win streak. Of course, the fact that the Nets still have two other All-Stars available in James Harden and Kyrie Irving has helped them weather the storm of other rotation player absences.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- The frontcourt-depleted Nets have found success in using athletic 6’4″ guard Bruce Brown as a de facto center in some lineups, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. “The guy mostly played point guard last year, and he’s playing — what do you want to call him?” head coach Steve Nash wondered. “Our center? He’s picking and rolling and finishing with two bigs in the lane. His willingness and ability to do that is remarkable.”
- Blake Murphy of The Athletic wonders whether adding a more effective traditional center than Aron Baynes is the most crucial roster need for the Raptors, should they be buyers at next month’s trade deadline. The team has thrived in small-ball lineups, and could possibly maximize trade leverage by being receptive to adding wings and forwards as well as a center, Murphy opines. What team president Masai Ujiri, himself a potential free agent this summer, decides to do remains in flux. The team is apparently open to sending longtime point guard Kyle Lowry to a contender. Toronto’s 16-17 record currently has the club slotted as a solid-but-unspectacular No. 5 seed in the East, but there is significant parity beneath the conference’s three best teams. Only 4.5 games separate the fourth-seeded Pacers from the current No. 14 seed, the Cavaliers.
- Though Celtics team president Danny Ainge and owner Wyc Grousbeck both appear open to waiting until as late as the 2021 offseason to exercise the $28.5MM traded player exception they acquired in exchange for now-Hornets forward Gordon Hayward in 2020, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston cautions that such an approach could be risky.
NBA Suspends Malik Beasley For 12 Games
The NBA is suspending Timberwolves swingman Malik Beasley for 12 games, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The suspension arrives a little over two weeks following Beasley’s recent sentencing stemming from charges related to an incident last September.
Before ruling on a suspension, the league wanted to look at sentencing documents related to Beasley’s hearing, per Chris Hine of the Star Tribune (via Twitter).
The 6’4″ shooting guard out of FSU pled guilty to making threats of violence with reckless disregard to risk, after he was accused of pointing a rifle at a pregnant woman, her husband and their teenage daughter in a vehicle outside his home. Beasley was dealt a 120-day sentence in the Hennepin County Workhouse with work release and a home confinement option. He is set to begin serving out the sentence when the 2020/21 season ends.
Despite the legal case, the Timberwolves opted to retain Beasley, who was a restricted free agent, in the 2020 offseason. He was re-signed to a four-year, $60MM deal.
Beasley released a statement, per Charania (Twitter link), to address the new suspension.
“I will take this time to reflect on my decisions,” he said. “I apologize to all the great fans out there who have supported me during this difficult time and I promise I will come back very soon as a better person and player.”
Team president Gersson Rosas issued a statement of his own in response to the league’s decision, according to Jon Krawcyznski of The Athletic (via Twitter): “As an organization, we fully support today’s decision by the NBA. As we work together with Malik to advance his development as a player and a person, we look forward to seeing his growth.”
The 24-year-old Beasley has been enjoying a career season for a struggling 7-26 Minnesota squad. Across 33 games for the Timberwolves (including 32 starts), he is averaging 20.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 0.8 SPG. Beasley’s shooting stats are similarly solid, as he sports a slash line of .455/.406/.847.
With Beasley out of commission, new head coach Chris Finch could look to use greener options to take over as the starting two guard. Second-year guard Jarrett Culver, the No. 6 pick out of Texas Tech in 2019, could get the nod to replace Beasley. Reserve shooting guard Josh Okogie could also see an increased minutes load with Beasley out.
Losing one of their best players over such an extended stretch could also help the Wolves further cement their status as the worst team in the league, giving them solid odds to land a blue-chipper in what is expected to be a loaded 2021 draft class — assuming they can hang onto their top-three protected pick.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Suns Release Damian Jones
FEBRUARY 24: The Suns officially waived Jones on Tuesday, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
FEBRUARY 23: Center Damian Jones is being cut by the Suns, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Jones signed a partially-guaranteed two-year deal with Phoenix during the 2020 offseason. He never cracked the team’s regular frontcourt rotation, averaging just 6.7 MPG in 14 contests.
The 6’11” big man was selected with the No. 30 pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Warriors out of Vanderbilt. He won two titles with Golden State in 2017 and 2018 as a little-used backup, then played significant minutes as a reserve with the Hawks during the 2019/20 season, averaging 16.1 MPG across 55 games (including 27 starts). Jones holds career NBA averages of 4.3 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 0.7 BPG in 13.3 MPG across parts of five NBA seasons.
With Jones gone, Phoenix now has an available roster spot to add a new player. As John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix tweets, no specific free agent targets have been rumored yet, but the opening allows Phoenix general manager James Jones to explore a variety of possibilities.
Southeast Notes: Okeke, Wizards, Heat, Vucevic
Magic rookie Chuma Okeke has been earning rave reviews from his veteran teammates, as Josh Robbins of The Athletic details. Okeke, the No. 16 pick out of Auburn in 2019, missed all of the 2019/20 season as he rehabilitated from a torn left ACL. Fifteen games into his pro career this year, the 22-year-old has already endeared himself to the rest of the club.
“I love Chuma,” Magic shooting guard Evan Fournier said. “I like the player, but I just like the person even more, because he does the right things and he has the right mindset.”
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- The Wizards have clawed their way back towards a respectable record thanks to five consecutive wins. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports unpacks how the ascent of second-year forward Rui Hachimura and the club’s hot streak can be traced to a decisive team meeting. The Wizards hope to extend their winning streak to six games tonight as they play the Clippers. Team leaders Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal reviewed their expectations of their teammates’ roles with the players themselves. “Everybody had to talk about it. Everybody started talking and I mentioned, I said ‘I can guard one through five,'” Hachimura said. Since then, he has taken his versatile defense to another level.
- The Heat are doubling the allowed fan capacity for their home court, AmericanAirlines Arena, from 1,5000 fans to 3,000 people starting with a game tomorrow against the Raptors, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
- Magic center Nikola Vučević has been named to his second All-Star team. Josh Robbins of The Athletic explores the steps Vučević took to improve his play this season and become the absolute fulcrum of an injury-depleted 13-19 Orlando club. “He’s an elite decision-maker,” head coach Steve Clifford raved. “He shoots when he should shoot. He passes when he should pass. And he makes his teammates better just by the very nature of how he plays.”
Nets Waive Roberson, Vonleh, Shumpert; Plan To Sign Cook
The Nets have announced via a press release that they have waived swingmen Andre Roberson and Iman Shumpert, as well as power forward/center Noah Vonleh.
Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets that Shumpert and Roberson intend to ink 10-day deals with Brooklyn should they clear waivers this Friday. Releasing this triumvirate of players now frees the Nets from having to guarantee their contracts for the whole season. This year, players must be cut by tomorrow, February 24, to beat the February 27 guarantee deadline.
Waiving players on non-guaranteed deals and subsequently adding them via 10-day contracts is common practice for teams looking to avoid a full-season cap hit.
Beyond hoping to retain Roberson and Shumpert through a string of 10-day contracts going forward, the Nets also intend to sign power forward Tyler Cook to a 10-day deal as a Vonleh replacement, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). Cook is averaging a stellar 20.6 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 4.6 APG, 0.7 SPG, and 0.6 SPG for the Iowa Wolves across seven games on the 2021 NBA G League Orlando “bubble” campus.
Vonleh was signed earlier this month to address the Nets’ shortcomings in their frontcourt. The well-traveled 25-year-old had suited up for the Hornets, Trail Blazers, Bulls, Knicks, Timberwolves and Nuggets across seven seasons before arriving in Brooklyn this year. Vonleh appeared in just four games for the Nets, averaging 2.8 MPG.
Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Harris, Randle, Nurse
The Raptors face a bevy of intriguing choices ahead of the March 25 trade deadline, Blake Murphy of The Athletic notes. Murphy writes that, with the current contracts for both point guard Kyle Lowry and wing Norman Powell coming off Toronto’s books this summer, the team may be exercising caution ahead of the deadline when it comes to adding any player with a deal that lasts into next season or beyond.
Should the Raptors opt not to re-sign Lowry and/or Powell, they could have ample salary cap room to add new players. Murphy details the possible routes available for improving the team without Toronto exceeding the 2020/21 salary cap, and all impediments to dealing particular players in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Sixers forward Tobias Harris did not make the cut for the NBA’s All-Star reserves tonight, despite some of the best play of his career for the East-leading Philadelphia. Harris’ father Torrel Harris, who is also Tobias’ agent, expressed his thoughts in a text to Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). “It’s very disappointing that Tobias Harris was not selected,” Torrel said, noting that Tobias has played a key role in leading the 76ers to the top seed in the conference.
- Marc Berman of the New York Post writes that Knicks forward Julius Randle finally achieved a longtime goal in becoming an All-Star for the first time with his selection to the 2021 East reserves tonight. “My goal was never just to play in the NBA,” Randle said ahead of his selection. “I just wanted to be the best player I could possibly be and reach my potential. And I try to push myself every day to do so. [Becoming an All-Star] would definitely be a milestone.”
- Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will consider a variety of candidates to fill the vacancy left by assistant coach Chris Finch, Doug Smith of The Toronto Star writes. Finch vacated his assistant position with Toronto for a head coaching opportunity with the Timberwolves yesterday. Giving more responsibility to current assistant coach Jama Mahlalela, adding G League assistant coach Brittni Donaldson, or signing someone else from an overseas club or another G League team could all be on the table.