Pacific Notes: Kawhi/PG-13, CP3, Green, Saric
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue has noted that his stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, absent thus far from the club’s six-game road trip due to coronavirus protocols, are “feeling well,” but he would not elaborate on when he expected them to return to the team, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“Mentally, they’re in a great place,” Clippers reserve point guard Reggie Jackson said of the two unavailable wings. “They are doing all they can to get back as soon as possible.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Suns All-Star point guard Chris Paul has verbalized his frustration with his club following Phoenix’s third straight loss, according to Royce Young of ESPN. “I’m not going to say we’re not good enough, but we’re not playing well enough right now,” Paul said following a 102-97 home loss to the Thunder.
- After being traded from the Lakers this offseason, Sixers small forward Danny Green holds no ill will toward Los Angeles, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. In fact, Green stays in touch with his old teammates. “I still call them brothers,” Green said. “We still have a bond forever, because of what we achieved together and the time we spent in the bubble.”
- The Suns are hopeful that forward Dario Saric, who has been conditioning for several days after being absent due to the league’s coronavirus protocols, can return for the team’s game against the Mavericks this Saturday, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM tweets. In seven games this season, Saric is averaging 10.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.0 APG. He is connecting on 35.7% of his 4.0 three-point attempts per game.
NBA Announces February Schedule Shifts, Moves Four Game Dates
The NBA has announced several adjustments to its upcoming February schedule, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. Four games will be moved up in the NBA’s schedule. The start times of 16 games have been affected thus far, to accommodate for same-day RT-PCR molecular test results for the novel coronavirus.
The Celtics–Raptors game initially penciled in for February 12 will be moved up one day to February 11. The Celtics’ next contest, hosting the Pistons, will move up from February 14 to February 12.
Finally, Boston’s trip to D.C. for a game against the Wizards – which had been expected to transpire in the second half of the 2020/21 season – has been moved up to an afternoon Valentine’s Day time slot. A Pistons home bout against the Pelicans that had been set for the second half of the compressed year has now also been moved up to February 14.
Fred Katz of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that, with their rescheduled Celtics game now moved, the Wizards are now set to play 16 games, with five back-to-backs, for the month of February. The club was severely hamstrung by COVID-19 health and safety protocols this month, resulting in six postponements.
Southeast Notes: Butler, Dunn, Richards, Hawks
Heat All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler will remain out of commission for tonight’s contest against the Clippers, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. The 31-year-old forward has been out since January 9 due to the league’s coronavirus protocols. He has been doing conditioning work this week, though there is no timetable for him to return to the court, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press (Twitter link).
After a stellar postseason run that resulted in an all-time 2020 NBA Finals performance, Butler has appeared in just six games for the Heat this season. Miami has struggled in his absence, going 3-8 without him. The Heat will also be without several other rotation players tonight, including Goran Dragic, Avery Bradley, Andre Iguodala, Maurice Harkless, Meyers Leonard and Chris Silva, per Reynolds (Twitter link).
There’s more from around the Southeast:
- As he recovers from a December 29 right ankle surgery, Hawks reserve wing Kris Dunn will miss at least two more weeks before being re-assessed, according to press release from the team. The Hawks indicated that Dunn has been able to partake in individual on-court practice activities.
- The Hornets have recalled rookie Nick Richards from the NBA G League’s Orlando “bubble” campus, per Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Richards was added back to the club so that Charlotte could have 12 active players, the required threshold unless a team is limited by injuries or COVID-19 protocols. After sending five players to suit up for their NBAGL squad, the Greensboro Swarm, yesterday, the Hornets were left with just 11 available players. Bonnell anticipates that Richards return to the “bubble” at some point this season (Twitter link).
- Although the Hawks made a splash with several big-money veteran free agent signings during the offseason, it is the 9-9 club’s incumbent youngsters that have had the biggest impact so far this season, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic details. Second-year swingmen De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish, both 2019 lottery selections, have made impressive strides as scorers, while big man John Collins has vastly improved on defense. “We feel like we can be in the mix with some of these top teams,” third-year All-Star point guard Trae Young said. “For us, we’re just going to go out there and believe we should win each and every game, which we should.”
Trio Of Wizards Returning From COVID-19 Protocols
A triumvirate of Wizards big men in Dāvis Bertāns, Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner have cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols and will be joining their teammates in a battle with the Hawks tomorrow, per Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Bertāns, Hachiumura and Wagner represent crucial additions to Washington’s frontcourt rotation, especially given the absence of injured starting center Thomas Bryant, who tore his left ACL and is out of commission for the rest of the season. With Bryant out, second-year starting power forward Hachimura, the No. 9 pick in the 2019 draft, becomes the team’s third-leading scorer at 13.6 PPG.
Bertāns will add much-needed outside shooting for the Wizards. The team expected him to be a key contributor when it re-signed him to a lucrative five-year, $80MM contract during the 2020 offseason. Bertāns is averaging 36.0% from long range on 7.8 attempts per night this season.
Katz notes that Wizards rookie forward Deni Avdija, reserve small forward Troy Brown Jr. and backup point guard Ish Smith are still in the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols and will be unavailable for the immediate future. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington adds that Avdija, Brown, and Smith will need to log practice minutes once they clear protocols before a return to game action.
The depleted Wizards saw several games postponed for 13 days after the club was unable to field eight healthy players. At 3-11, the team currently holds the worst record in the NBA by percentage.
Western Notes: Williams, Pelicans, Wall, Thunder
After missing two Suns practices to attend to personal matters, head coach Monty Williams intends to coach Phoenix against the Thunder on Wednesday, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic.
The 8-7 Suns will host the 7-9 Thunder in the first game of a back-to-back homestand.
“We have to make sure we keep our foot on the gas and not let up at all,” center Deandre Ayton said in discussing the Suns’ recent swoon, which has featured four losses in five games. “We definitely have some answers and we have to redeem ourselves.”
There’s more out of the Western Conference:
- Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer considers next steps the Pelicans could take after their disappointing 5-10 start. New Orleans team president David Griffin is hopeful that star forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram will begin to develop defensively, and mentioned new head coach Stan Van Gundy‘s Dwight Howard-era Magic teams as a possible blueprint. “They played really big,” Griffin said. “They played big, skilled basketball. They weren’t like blitzkrieg fast, but they were super skilled and very big.”
- Kelly Iko of The Athletic takes an in-depth look into the recovery of new Rockets starting point guard John Wall, who missed two calendar years of action during his time as a Wizard, due first to a left heel surgery and then a ruptured Achilles.
- A revised Thunder bench unit sparked an intriguing victory against the Trail Blazers in Portland, as Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman details.
And-Ones: Olympics, Bubble Talk, Private Equity, Vaccinations
In his 16th and last year as Team USA managing director, Jerry Colangelo talked extensively about the upcoming Tokyo Olympics with Chris Sheridan of Basketball News.
Colangelo indicated that he is in daily communication with the NBA and FIBA, discussing the Olympics as COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe. The games were originally scheduled to take place during the summer of 2020 before being pushed back a year.
“We have no choice but to proceed on the basis that the Olympics will be played, and so that’s basically what we are doing,” Colangelo told Sheridan. “We are preparing in every way possible until we hear otherwise, officially. I would guess, from what I’ve been told, it’s a go — unless they cancel because some other thing has developed regarding the pandemic, [like a] new strain, depending on how things go in Japan and Tokyo, in particular.”
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated observes that there appears to be growing support around the NBA, among at least some players and coaches, for a potential return to something along the lines of the contained “bubble” campus environment that was such a success last summer for the conclusion of the 2019/20 NBA season. “F— this,” a veteran assistant coach texted Mannix. “I’m ready to go back [to the bubble].”
- After the NBA’s Board of Governors greenlit a plan to allow private equity firms to own portions of NBA teams, the league is striving to lure private equity money, according to Jabari Young of CNBC. Young details the process through which the league can sell stakes in teams to private equity firms.
- Dr. Leroy Sims, the NBA’s senior vice president of medical affairs, recently spoke with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated about pending COVID-19 vaccinations for players. “We understand that the vaccine is rolling out in such a way that you’re trying to get to the people who are most at risk or most vulnerable first, that includes front-line workers like myself working in the ER [emergency room], because we’re around so many people who could have the virus,” according to Dr. Sims. “After that, we’ll open it up. The vaccine will start to be distributed to others in the community. We recognize that our basketball players are young and healthy, so they will get vaccinated or have the opportunity to get vaccinated when it’s their turn. So we won’t be jumping the line there.”
Atlantic Notes: Johnson, Reed, Rivers, Green
Former lottery pick Stanley Johnson has reinvented himself as a versatile rotation swingman for the Raptors, writes Blake Murphy of The Athletic. The 24-year-old Johnson is averaging 16.1 MPG for Toronto this season.
Playing in a more limited role than his first team, the Pistons, may have expected when they selected him with the No. 8 pick out of Arizona in 2015, Johnson has been able to hone in on the defensive end and build up his play-making. He is also connecting on a career-high 42.5% of his 1.3 three-point attempts a night.
Murphy notes that Johnson’s willingness to adjust to a role-player position with the Raptors could significantly extend his NBA career. The former lottery pick will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Two-way Sixers power forward Paul Reed will join the club’s G League affiliate – the Delaware Blue Coats – as it departs for the NBAGL’s Orlando “bubble” campus ahead of the 2021 season, tweets Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- New Knicks off-guard Austin Rivers notes that New York has been dealing with an exhausting schedule, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. “Oh, we’re definitely tired,’’ Rivers said. “I don’t know how a schedule could be tougher than what we’ve played. Physically and mentally. At the same time, it is what it is. Here we are.”
- Multi-faceted Nets forward Jeff Green has helped Brooklyn’s suddenly thinned-out frontcourt following the trade that brought in All-Star James Harden, according to Greg Joyce of The New York Post. “It helps when you get Kevin [Durant] and Kyrie [Irving] and James on your team,” Green said. “A lot of attention is going to be on those guys, so I want to do my part in being ready to shoot. It just comes with repetition, the work that I’m putting in to make sure I’m prepared for those times where they are swinging the ball my way and I’m able to shoot.” Green is averaging 12.1 PPG and 4.7 rebounds in 32.9 MPG since the deal.
Northwest Notes: Jazz, Morris, Rosas, Clarkson
Year-to-year continuity appears to be rewarding the Jazz early on in the 2020/21 season, according to Ariel Pacheco of Basketball Insiders.
Led by All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the Jazz have benefited from an improved defense and long-range marksmanship. The club ranks in the top ten in both offensive and defensive rating, Pacheco notes. Mitchell, too, appears to have developed his ball-handling abilities.
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Newly-extended Nuggets guard Monte Morris has proven himself to be a steal for Denver thus far, per Mike Singer of the Denver Post. Morris has helped stabilize the team’s bench, posting a career high in scoring (11.5 PPG), and shooting an excellent 51.7% from the floor overall. “I’m going out there focused, playing for other guys, with a clear head,” Morris said. “The contract definitely got me at peace.”
- Timberwolves team president Gersson Rosas expressed his frustration at the general state of the team, according to Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “This was another growing and developing year,” Rosas told Hine. “But at the same time, we’re not up to our capabilities and that’s to be competitive. … It starts with me and my staff. It starts with coach [Ryan Saunders] and his staff, and it starts with the players.” The Wolves are 4-12 this season, the worst record in the West.
- After signing a four-year deal in the offseason with Utah, Jazz reserve guard Jordan Clarkson is making an early case for the Sixth Man of the Year award honors with his inspired play of late, per Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. “Definitely it was one of my goals going into this year, to go get that and play that role,” Clarkson says.
Wendell Carter Jr. Suffers Right Quad Contusion, Out 4+ Weeks
An MRI revealed that starting Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr. suffered a “severe” right quad contusion, the Bulls have announced in a tweet. Carter is set to miss at least four weeks of game action before Chicago reassesses him, the team continues.
Carter was having a stellar season. Across 14 games in 2020/21, the defensive-oriented center was averaging 12.8 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 2.4 APG, 0.6 BPG and 0.6 SPG in just 26.9 MPG.. He will now have missed major time in all three of his pro seasons. Injuries limited the 6’10” big man from Duke to just 44 of 82 games as a rookie in 2018/19 and 43 of 65 possible games last season.
Second-year center Daniel Gafford has started in Carter’s stead for the past three games. As K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago notes (via Twitter), forwards Lauri Markkanen and Thaddeus Young have moonlit at center occasionally as well.
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan would not commit to the identity of Carter’s long-term replacement at center, but Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times speculates (via Twitter) that Markkanen could slide up a position during Carter’s absence.
Donovan added that until Carter fully recuperates, he will be fairly limited in his conditioning, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN (Twitter link).
Cavs Trade Kevin Porter Jr. To Rockets
JANUARY 22: The trade is now official, according to press releases from the Rockets and Cavaliers. Houston confirmed in its announcement that Clemons has been released to make room for Porter.
“After careful and thoughtful evaluation, we made the very difficult and collective decision to make this trade,” Cavs GM Koby Altman said in a statement. “Given the culture and environment we have worked to cultivate here in Cleveland, we feel this move is in everyone’s best interest. Kevin has a bright career ahead of him as a professional basketball player and, at his core, is a good person.”
JANUARY 21: The Cavaliers are sending second-year swingman Kevin Porter Jr. to the Rockets, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).
In exchange, the Cavs will receive a future protected second-round draft pick from Houston, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter). Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets that the pick is top-55 protected and will most likely never actually be conveyed to Cleveland.
As Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com notes, the primary benefit of the deal for the Cavs is to open up a roster spot and to move off Porter’s guaranteed rookie-scale salary for this season ($1.72MM) and 2021/22 ($1.78MM). Since Houston can absorb Porter’s salary into a traded player exception, Cleveland won’t have to take a player back in the deal.
After throwing a locker room tantrum on January 15 when he discovered his locker had been relocated, Porter was instructed by the Cavaliers to clean out his locker and expect to be waived or traded.
Porter, who initially dropped in the 2019 draft due to off-court concerns, has had a tough second season. In November, he was arrested on charges of mishandling a firearm (a felony), plus driving without a license and marijuana possession (both misdemeanors). Last month, a grand jury cleared Porter of all charges.
Porter has not suited up for the Cavaliers at all this season. During a solid rookie outing, however, the No. 30 2019 draft pick out of USC impressed with averages of 10.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.2 APG and 0.9 SPG across 50 contests.
The Rockets, now in asset-accrual mode after sending perennial MVP candidate James Harden to the Nets in a four-team trade last week, are taking a flyer on a talented player in this deal. The hope, according to Fedor and MacMahon (Twitter link), is that veteran player development coach John Lucas can help Porter get his career back in track in Houston.
In order to open up a roster for Porter, the Rockets will waive injured guard Chris Clemons, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
Clemons’ minimum salary for 2020/21 was initially non-guaranteed, but Houston will be obligated to pay it in full after he suffered a season-ending Achilles tear. The Rockets are in better position to eat that money following the Harden deal — team salary is now comfortably below the luxury tax line rather than above it, and the club is no longer right up against its hard cap.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this story.