Draft Notes: Avdija, Ball, Lawson, Collins
Deni Avdija, projected as a high lottery pick in this year’s draft, will rejoin his Maccabi Tel Aviv team when the Israeli basketball league resumes play Sunday, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
“Before I go to the U.S., I have a job to finish here in Israel,” Avdija stated in an email. “As a competitor I am committed to my organization and teammates to help bring a championship to Tel Aviv. We were having such a great season, so winning the title, even with the delay and without live fans, will give me a sense that the hard work paid off.”
The 19-year-old forward was averaging averaging 12.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists when the league suspended play in March and is rated fifth on Givony’s latest list of the top 100 draft prospects. The Israeli league won’t use a “bubble” concept during the remainder of its season. There will be home and away games without fans, and players have been told to remain at home and self-quarantine when they’re not at practices or games.
There’s more draft news to pass along:
- LaMelo Ball ranks No. 1 on the new draft board compiled by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Georgia’s Anthony Edwards, Dayton’s Obi Toppin, Memphis’ James Wiseman and Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton round out the top five. Vecenie puts Haliburton on his list of players who have improved their draft stock during the interview process, which is topped by TCU’s Desmond Bane, who may have moved into the late first round.
- South Carolina coach Frank Martin doesn’t believe guard A.J. Lawson should make an immediate decision about staying in the draft, according to John Whittle of 247 Sports. A report earlier this week indicated Lawson plans to return to school, but his father disputed that. “There’s no need to rush. He’s had probably six or seven interviews with NBA teams, which is what they’re all doing right now,” Martin said. “As long as NBA teams are offering interviews, I don’t see any reason why he should try to make a decision sooner than he has to. If no NBA team was asking to meet with him, I would think he’d make a decision by now.”
- David Collins will take his name out of the draft and return to South Florida for his senior season, tweets Jeff Goodman of GoodmanHoops.
- Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report ranks French guard Killian Hayes, Avdija and Haliburton as this year’s top sleeper prospects.
Pistons Notes: Weaver Hiring, Wood, Griffin
The Pistons‘ long pursuit of Troy Weaver finally paid off Thursday when he was hired to be the team’s general manager, writes Rod Beard of The Detroit News. A league source tells Beard that Detroit had strong interest in Weaver when team president/coach Stan Van Gundy and GM Jeff Bower were dismissed two years ago, but the Thunder wouldn’t grant permission for an interview.
Weaver, 52, spent more than a decade in the Oklahoma City front office and was instrumental in building a team that reached the NBA Finals. He was an advocate for drafting Russell Westbrook with the fourth pick in 2008, even though he wasn’t projected that high. Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem previously worked with Wasserman Media Group, which represented Westbrook.
“We’re rebuilding our roster and Troy brings a tremendous amount of experience. He’s one of those guys who has a knack for talent,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said in an NBA-TV interview. “A lot of the growth and building they did in Oklahoma City Thunder, he was a big part of that. … The next couple of years of developing our roster is a key time in our organization.”
There’s more from Detroit:
- In addition to Tellem and Casey, Weaver spoke with senior adviser Ed Stefanski, owner Tom Gores and the Pistons’ assistant general managers during the interview process so the organization could get a “fully rounded view,” according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Weaver will be given free rein to hire more assistant GMs and support staff. Sources tell Edwards that Nets assistant GM Jeff Peterson and Clippers assistant GM Mark Hughes were both impressive in their interviews and received serious consideration for the job.
- Re-signing Christian Wood should be Weaver’s top priority, states Ansar Khan of MLive. Wood will be an unrestricted free agent after a breakout performance over the last month of the season, but faces a market limited by financial uncertainty and a shortage of teams with cap space. Detroit owns Wood’s early Bird rights and can start his new deal at a little more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which is expected to be about $9.7MM. The Celtics and Rockets both expressed interest in Wood at the trade deadline, Khan adds.
- Weaver also faces an important decision on Blake Griffin, who still has two years and approximately $75.6MM left on his contract, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit News. Griffin was limited to 18 games this season because of a knee injury and at age 31, he doesn’t fit the team’s rebuilding timeline. Sankofa notes that Weaver was part of two franchise-altering trades last summer involving Paul George and Westbrook.
Jamahl Mosley Will Interview For Knicks’ Head Coaching Job
Add Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley to the list of candidates for the Knicks‘ coaching job. Mosley has received permission to interview for the post, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Mosley is in his sixth season in Dallas and has been the team’s defensive coordinator for the past two years. He also interviewed for the Cavaliers’ head coaching job last year, Wojnarowski notes. Mosley is especially good at building relationships with players and has helped to develop Luka Doncic, including working with him on his pregame routine, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link).
Before coming to Dallas, Mosley spent four seasons as an assistant with the Cavs and five seasons with the Nuggets. He has served as head coach of the Mavericks’ Summer League team and was an assistant to Gregg Popovich at the USA Basketball minicamp in 2018.
Mosley joins a growing list of candidates in New York that already includes Tom Thibodeau, Kenny Atkinson, Mike Woodson, Ime Udoka, Pat Delany, Chris Fleming and Will Hardy, along with interim head coach Mike Miller.
Restart Notes: Health Risks, LeBron, COVID-19, Bass
Significant risks await the NBA as it prepares to bring roughly 1,500 people into a bubble environment in Orlando, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN. He talks to several health experts who assess the possibility of keeping players and staff members safe from the coronavirus long enough to finish the season.
“They are going to see things on the ground they did not expect,” said Steven Pergam, an infectious disease specialist and an associate professor at the University of Washington. “The main potential weak point is how (Walt Disney World) employees interact with (NBA) staff,” adds Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “But you can manage it in ways that do not create a whole lot of risk.”
The health professionals agree that frequent testing will be important to stave off a potential widespread outbreak. They also state that even if a player contracts COVID-19, there’s no guarantee it will be passed on through games or practices.
“The person has to be at just the right point in the infection where they are very contagious and the viral load is very high,” explains Abraar Karan, a physician at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Given the health risks, Lowe questions the decision to bring the Suns and Wizards into the bubble environment. Both teams face long odds to even reach a play-in game, and the additional personnel increases the chances of someone contracting the virus. Lowe claims the decision to include the two teams was financial, creating more games, which brings in more revenue.
There’s more surrounding the NBA’s restart:
- Many of the league’s top stars participated in a conference call Friday where objections were raised to the plan to resume the season. However, LeBron James was notably absent, and Sam Amick of The Athletic explains it’s because James believes he can play basketball and advocate for social change at the same time. “Because of everything that’s going on, people are finally starting to listen to us,” James told Jonathan Martin of The New York Times this week. “We feel like we’re finally getting a foot in the door. How long is up to us. We don’t know. But we feel like we’re getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference.”
- NBA commissioner Adam Silver has a lot to resolve as he balances strong player sentiment for resuming the season and ending it, states Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Adding to the concern over racial issues is an increase in the coronavirus in Florida, which reported a state-record 2,500 new cases Saturday.
- NBA spokesman Mike Bass told Marc Stein of The New York Times that the league will address the objections raised by players (Twitter link). “We understand the players’ concerns and are working with the Players Association on finding the right balance to address them,” Bass said.
Cavaliers Notes: Thompson, Sexton, Garland, MLE
Uncertainty surrounding the upcoming free agent market may work in the Cavaliers‘ favor as they try to keep Tristan Thompson, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Multiple sources tell Fedor that the Cavs are hoping to re-sign the veteran big man, who has spent his entire nine-season NBA career in Cleveland. The front office tried to work out an extension during the season, but didn’t make any progress.
Thompson, whose five-year, $82MM deal just expired, may not find any big-money offers as the league adjusts to massive revenue losses. Fedor notes that apart from the Heat, who are believed to be saving cap space for a more attractive crop of free agents in 2021, all the teams with projected cap space are in rebuilding situations like the Cavaliers.
“I believe there’s a chance of him re-signing in free agency,” a source close to Thompson told Fedor. “He hasn’t necessarily played his final game there.”
Fedor suggests that the Lakers, Clippers or Thompson’s hometown Raptors could offer him their mid-level exception, but the Cavs could easily top that, especially since they own his Bird rights. Another possibility is a sign-and-trade that would send Thompson to a contender while giving Cleveland another asset to build around.
There’s more this morning from Cleveland:
- John Hollinger of The Athletic takes a look at the Cavaliers’ future and questions whether Collin Sexton and Darius Garland can ever form an effective backcourt combination. Both are small guards with deficiencies on defense, and Hollinger believes Garland looked “overmatched” during his rookie season. He suggests that Garland’s long-term role may be off the bench, especially with a guard-rich draft looming.
- In the same piece, Hollinger states that the Cavs should use their mid-level exception to find a wing player who can handle either forward position. He mentions Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr. and Minnesota’s Juan Hernangomez as possibilities, along with a gamble on Memphis’ Josh Jackson.
- After being named to the Rising Stars Challenge this year as an injury replacement, Sexton has set a much higher goal for the future, Fedor writes in a separate piece. “I want to push towards that All-Star Game,” Sexton said Friday during a Zoom call with reporters. “I know what (that stage) feels like and it just makes me hungry and makes me want to work that much harder. That’s what’s next for me.”
Players, Staff To Have COVID-19 Tests Every Other Day
Players and staff members involved in the restart of the the NBA season will undergo coronavirus testing every other day before heading to Orlando, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
The league sent a memo Saturday night to the 22 teams involved in the restart, informing them that testing will begin June 23 for players and “essential team staff,” which includes coaches, trainers and medical personnel who work directly with players. They will be given both a COVID-19 test and an antibody test. After being tested for the coronavirus every other day, those individuals will be tested daily during the two days directly before they leave for Orlando.
Although the memo doesn’t specify which form of testing will be employed, ESPN’s Zach Lowe tweets that it will be a nasal swab that is less invasive than the one that has been in common use. The memo also doesn’t outline a protocol for anyone who tests positive for the virus or explain the testing procedure once teams arrive at the Walt Disney World complex, according to Bontemps.
Quest Diagnostics, which is partnering with the league to provide testing, has assured the NBA that these tests won’t affect the ability of health care workers, first responders and symptomatic patients in each team’s city to get the tests they need. The NBA plans to provide free testing for the public in each of the 21 cities with teams participating in the restart.
The league hopes to fund a study at the Yale School of Public Health that will support validation of a saliva-based coronavirus test and could aid the development of a test for the public that would be fast, cost effective and noninvasive, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Michele Roberts: “A Player Is Going To Test Positive”
Michele Roberts, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, admits there’s no way to fully protect players from COVID-19 while they’re in Orlando, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Roberts understands that players are entering a risky situation, but said the only alternative to resuming the season under these conditions was to wait for a vaccine and possibly sit out two years.
“That’s the only realistic mind-set you can have going into this. A player is going to test positive,” she said. “It’s not any more of this ‘if’, it’s ‘when’ and what can I do to mitigate against the ‘when.’ When it happens, if I’m not successful, what treatment is available to me, what are my chances of being really, really sick, and how are you detecting the presence of an infection? Honestly, I don’t think this is any different than what any American has to come to grips with.”
Roberts emphasized that no player is being forced to participate in Orlando and there will be no repercussions other than loss of salary. An increasing number of players are objecting to the restart plan and the restrictive nature of the bubble environment.
“I don’t believe any player would say this was forced upon them, it’s not,” Roberts said. “Not a single player has to play. This is not involuntary servitude. I don’t have to work. They don’t have to work. But it’s of course a mitigation of risk with the players. On this health and safety protocol, I’m satisfied that it can’t be any better than this. But I’m candid that it’s not bulletproof.”
Roberts addresses several other topics in the interview:
Players have become more knowledgeable about the virus:
“At the very beginning when we were being told that this was a disease that people like me [middle-aged] had to worry about, it was more of an annoyance for the players, except for those who had family members my age. But it was not something they thought was going to have this kind of an impact on their lives or their livelihood. As time went on and the seriousness was revealed there were times when players were very concerned about it, especially when it became clear it was not confined to folks over 60. I got really serious questions. ‘Is this something I need to be worried about? Can it kill me? Can it impact my ability to continue to play basketball?'”
She believes most players support resuming the season:
“I think the players are where they want to be. They want to give it a shot and if it doesn’t work, well, we tried. Hopefully nothing catastrophic will happen and we can just figure out Plan B. If the worst would happen and it would spread, we shut it down. This is the virus. I’m going to be disheartened, but I’m not going to be surprised because there’s no scientific or medical ability to protect against it. The players know it. The teams know it. We’re doing absolutely everything we can to mitigate it. If I didn’t think we were, that the league was half-stepping, then I would recommend with every ounce of my being that our players not even think about playing again. But that’s thankfully not the case.”
The union hasn’t endorsed Dec. 1 as the start date for the 2020/21 season:
“Dec. 1 is not an attractive option. Those are tough questions that have to be resolved. How do we address the revenue challenges this virus has created and will create next season? I don’t know when they’re going to have fans back in the arena. I don’t think we’re going to have them in October. There are a number of factors that will impact when the season will begin. I don’t know if we’re going to have a second spike. What’s the virus going to look like? And if you’re going to talk about a compressed season, we were able to reduce the amount of back-to-back games, the notion of returning to that and the obvious injury risk that come along with that, is not attractive. But nothing will happen without the players signing off. That’s for sure.”
More Details Emerge From Friday’s Conference Call
We relayed details last night about a conference call regarding player objections to the plan to restart the NBA season in Orlando. More information on that call, which involved in excess of 80 players, has been released by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Charania confirms that Kyrie Irving was the leader of the effort to make players reconsider their support of finishing the season. He spoke first and offered a direct message to his peers, telling them, “I don’t support going into Orlando. I’m not with the systematic racism and the bull–. … Something smells a little fishy. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are targeted as black men every day we wake up.”
Avery Bradley, who was outspoken throughout the conversation, was the first player to follow Irving’s comments. He encouraged the players to take a stand and to use the opportunity to “play chess, not checkers.” Other prominent names on the call included union president Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Donovan Mitchell.
Players have been involved in conversations for the past two weeks, sources tell Charania, expressing concerns about the games in Orlando and the restrictive conditions that are rumored to be part of the bubble environment. The opposition began among “rank-and-file” players, with Irving and Durant providing prominent voices.
Sources offered Charania a few more tidbits from the conference call:
- Anthony emphasized the need for player unity and the importance of conveying a single message. He also urged all 80 players on the call to donate $25K to a cause of their choice.
- CJ McCollum told players they have to be prepared for financial setbacks if they choose not to play and the possibility that owners will nullify the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
- Howard warned that resuming the season will distract from the social justice issues the country is focused on. He encouraged players to use the moment as a catalyst for change.
- Mitchell talked about players “being behind the 8-ball” by being forced into a competitive environment after being idle for so long. “We’re taking a big injury risk,” he told his fellow players.
- NBPA leadership doesn’t expect fans to be allowed into games at any point during the 2020/21 season, which would result in another huge revenue loss for the league.
Hawks Notes: Capela, Collins, Young, Free Agency
Clint Capela hasn’t been able to play for the Hawks since being acquired in February, but he’s confident he would have been available if the team had been part of the restart in Orlando, writes Sarah K. Spencer of The Journal-Constitution. Capela has been sidelined since December by a heel injury he suffered when he was with the Rockets.
“Way, way, way better,” Capela said of the injury, which was diagnosed as plantar fasciitis and a right calcaneus contusion. “I’ve been taking care of it all this time. Now I really feel that my heel has really healed. So it doesn’t bother me when I walk around with it or when I work out, so far. I just can’t wait to go out there and play.”
The Hawks were expecting Capela to miss the rest of the season before the hiatus began March 11. Three extra months of rest has him feeling ready to participate if the eight teams left out of Orlando are involved in a proposed mini-summer league.
“It’s going to help me to go back to the team,” Capela said, “have a lot of workouts with the guys, get together 5-on-5, get together for some 3-on-3, get to know each other better and it’ll definitely give me plenty of time to get ready for the next season.”
There’s more from Atlanta:
- During a Zoom meeting with reporters Friday, John Collins expressed hope that the Hawks will give him a rookie-scale extension this offseason, according to Zach Hood of Peach Tree Hoops. Collins would like to get a deal done “sooner rather than later,” meaning he would prefer an extension now over becoming a restricted free agent next summer. “I just feel like the work I put in speaks for itself,” he said. “The other players who are doing what I’m doing are in contention for those things. It’s something hopefully we can come to an agreement to this summer because I feel like I’m definitely putting in a lot of work, showing my value, my worth.”
- Trae Young told Malika Andrews of ESPN that he was angry when he learned the Hawks wouldn’t be part of the NBA restart, even though he understands the reasoning. “I was frustrated. Obviously I wanted to play,” he said. “I understand what the NBA did and respect their decision. But I am kind of upset because I want to play.”
- The Hawks will need a successful season to have a chance of landing any of the impact free agents in 2021, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Atlanta could have close to $60MM to spend with a good young nucleus already in place, but Kirschner notes that stars want to go where they can win right away and the Hawks don’t have a strong history of attracting free agents.
Young Stars Want NBA To Provide Insurance For Career-Threatening Injuries
Some of the league’s best young players talked to the National Basketball Players Association on Friday about creating an insurance system financed by the league that would protect them in case of career-threatening injuries when play resumes in Orlando, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Sources tell Wojnarowski that Bam Adebayo, De’Aaron Fox, Kyle Kuzma, Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum were part of a call with NBPA executive director Michele Roberts and senior counsel Ron Klempner. All five players will be eligible for rookie-scale extensions this offseason, and they want the union to negotiate insurance policies with the NBA that would protect their future earnings.
[RELATED: Players Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions In 2020 Offseason]
Players in general believe they’re facing a higher-than-normal risk of serious injury after not being able to play for more than three months. Adebayo, Fox, Kuzma, Mitchell and Tatum are hoping their combined voices will help win protections for players on all 22 teams involved in the restart.
The league has been in talks with the union about providing some form of protection for players who are either injured or suffer severe cases of coronavirus during the games in Orlando, according to sources. Negotiations are continuing on possible alterations to the Collective Bargaining Agreement before play resumes.
Sources estimate to Wojnarowski that policies for players on the brink of a maximum extension could cost up to $500K to protect them through the end of the playoffs. He adds that apart from a career-ending incident, it would be difficult to prove that any injury is directly responsible for a reduction in future earnings.