DeMarcus Cousins Hopes To Join Lakers For Playoffs
DeMarcus Cousins continues to recover from a torn ACL in his left knee, but the big man hopes to return to the court to help Los Angeles in the playoffs.
“We got a big team. It’s going to be some bump, for sure,” Cousins said on Showtime’s “All the Smoke” (h/t Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com). “We got so many guys with different abilities. I mean, I can spot up. ‘Bron [LeBron James] is going to draw everybody whenever he decides to move. I’m pretty confident I can knock down the shot. We got shooters all over the floor. I mean, I can play-make. Like, it’s pick your poison.”
Cousins signed a one-year deal with the Lakers this offseason and hasn’t suited up for the club yet. Coach Frank Vogel isn’t closing the door on the center joining the rotation if healthy.
“There is no date, and there’s really no specifics on it in terms of, I’m not even sure where he’s at with exactly what he’s doing day to day. I just still know he’s a long way away, but they’ve said they’re not ruling out him returning. That’s really all I can give you,” Vogel said. “I just know he’s not close. As he starts getting close, it could be a review thing, because [the training staff will] come to me and let me know.”
Atlantic Notes: Burks, Wright, Knicks, Simmons
Sixers head coach Brett Brown explained his plan for Alec Burks, who made his first real impact for Philadelphia on Thursday night against the Nets.
“I’m looking at him is sort of instant offense type off the bench he can be given the ball can be put in pick-and-rolls,” Brown said (via Heavy.com). “I like him more probably in the middle of the floor with the pick and roll than the sideline with the pick-and-roll I think that he can be a primary ball carrier for a while.”
Burks, who came to the Sixers along with Glenn Robinson III at the trade deadline, has spent 44 minutes on the court so far in his Sixers’ career.
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Villanova head coach Jay Wright simply isn’t interested in the Knicks‘ coaching job, as Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays (Twitter link). “I haven’t talked to the Knicks, I’m not going to the Knicks. It’s crazy,” Wright said.
- Ben Simmons is probable for the Sixers‘ matchup with Milwaukee on Saturday night, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. Simmons missed Thursday’s contest against Brooklyn with back tightness.
- Zach Braziller of the New York Post details how interim coach Mike Miller is handling the situation with the Knicks. “If we help these guys and we continue to grow and get better, then we’ve done our job,” Miller said. “All I’m concerned about is bringing value to it and helping these guys. As simple as it sounds, I did that for six years as a D-League [and] G-League coach and I felt good at the end of every season. That’s the direction that I take.”
Hornets Ink Joe Chealey To 10-Day Deal
The Hornets have signed Joe Chealey to a 10-day contract, according to the team’s website.
The guard was previously with the Hornets on a two-way contract back in 2018. He played out the 2018/19 campaign with Charlotte before re-signing with the club during the 2019 offseason.
He was waived prior to the 2019/20 season and has spent the year with the Greensboro Swarm, which is the Hornets’ G League affiliate.
Chealey played his collegiate ball at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. He was not selected in the 2018 draft.
The Hornets were required to add a player to their roster before Saturday, since they’ve been carrying just 13 players on standard contracts since buying out Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marvin Williams earlier in the month. Teams are only permitted to carry fewer than 14 players for up to two weeks at a time.
Blazers Offered Expiring Contracts For Kevin Love
The Trail Blazers were rumored to have kicked tires on Kevin Love earlier this year, and according to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic (via NBC Sports), the team offered Kent Bazemore and Hassan Whiteside for the big man.
Whiteside is making $27.1MM this season. Bazemore is making $19.3MM while Love is taking home $28.9MM. The outlined of the deal suggests that Portland would have received other players as part of the trade in order to meet the league’s salary-matching rules.
It’s not clear when exactly the proposal took place — the Blazers ended up trading Bazemore to the Kings in earlier January, so presumably, it was before that deal. Portland netted Trevor Ariza as part of the five-player trade.
The Cavaliers had Brandon Knight and John Henson on substantial expiring pacts prior to the team trading them to Detroit for Andre Drummond. Perhaps one of those two were in the proposed deal. Tristan Thompson, who is making $18.5M in the final year of his contract, could also have been a possibility, though that is simply speculation.
The Cavs couldn’t find common ground with potential trade partners when it came to Love’s trade value. Cleveland reportedly wanted a first-round pick in exchange for the big man, while it was rumored that some teams wanted a first-rounder just to take Love. The former All-Star has approximately $91MM left on his deal after this season.
Klay Thompson Ruled Out For Season
The Warriors have officially ruled out Klay Thompson for the season, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com passes along. The shooting guard continues to rehab from a torn left ACL he suffered in last season’s NBA Finals.
“This is what I expected from the beginning given the severity of the injury,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And the normal timetable [for recovery], and so here we are. It’s no surprise.”
Golden State’s medical staff made the final call on Thompson’s season. He remains on track to play at the beginning of the 2020/21 campaign.
Thompson could be ready by the time the Olympics roll around in the summer and Kerr said the sharpshooter could very well suit up in the games.
“It’s not off the table,” the coach said. “It’s still a possibility. We haven’t really discussed it. I think the [Olympic] team meets in July, so it’s still quite a ways away. But it’s really not anything we’re discussing at this point. It’s still a possibility … obviously his health is the No. 1 concern, and so we’ll kind of cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Cavaliers Notes: Trades, Coaches, Lineup Changes
The Cavaliers underwent a major change this week, moving on from coach John Beilein. Yet, more needs to be done if the team is going to turn the franchise around, as I recently wrote on Heavy.com.
If Andre Drummond opts in this offseason, then making trades will be key to unlocking Cleveland’s fortunes. Kevin Love and Collin Sexton are among the players who could bring the franchise long-term value in deals.
Here’s more from Cleveland:
- Assistant Lindsay Gottlieb will rotation with J.J. Outlaw to the front of the bench under new coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic tweets. It will depend on which coach as the scouting report for a given game. Russo adds that Antonio Lang is the new lead assistant, for now.
- Bickerstaff plans to experiment with the lineups, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com passes along. “Are there things that we can do to be creative? Like you talk about K.P., can he play the point? Can we put the ball in his hand and let him initiate some stuff? Those types of things,” Bickerstaff said.
- Bickerstaff didn’t see Beilein’s exit coming over the All-Star break, as he was in the Caribbean vacationing, Fedor writes in the same piece. However, the team and Bickerstaff had previously spoken about the associate head coach taking over after Beilein was done, though no one expected it this soon.
Clippers Sign Reggie Jackson
The Clippers have officially signed Reggie Jackson, as the team relays on its website. The point guard agreed to a buyout with the Pistons earlier this week.
“Reggie is a proven playmaker and scorer, and we are looking forward to adding his experience and creativity to our team,” said president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank.
Jackson will make $734,025 for the remainder of the season, Bobby Marks of ESPN.com tweets. Los Angeles will carry a $512,721 cap hit as a result of the signing.
Jackson, 29, spent the last five years in Detroit, having been acquired from the Thunder in a three-team trade in February 2015. He signed a five-year, $80MM deal with the Pistons a few months later and had been in the final season of that contract before he was released. Jackson gave back a flat $800K in his buyout agreement with the Pistons, reducing Detroit’s dead-money charge for 2019/20 to $17,286,956.
Jackson’s name was among those rumored to be available via trade prior to the deadline, though no deal materialized. The Lakers had interested in inking Jackson earlier this week before the Clippers swooped in.
Rockets Sign DeMarre Carroll
The Rockets have officially signed DeMarre Carroll, according to a team press release. It was reported earlier in the week that he would join Houston.
The Spurs agreed to a buyout with Carroll after not moving him at the trade deadline, waving the white flag on one of the worst offseason acquisitions in the league. It wasn’t necessarily Carroll’s play that was the issue; it was what the Spurs were forced to give up for the wing.
San Antonio had initially agreed to sign Carroll and planned to use their mid-level exception, but when Marcus Morris agreed to a deal with the team, the Spurs pivoted to acquiring Carroll via trade instead (and giving up Davis Bertans to the Wizards). Morris backed out of the agreement, which made giving up Bertans for Carroll an unnecessary move.
Carroll will join the Rockets as they embark on a unique, strange journey of playing no traditional big men most of the time. The 33-year-old will likely spend time at both forward spots with the club, though it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he sees minutes at the five in some funky lineups.
Carroll’s rest-of-season contract with Houston will pay him $811,447, which is the exact amount he gave up in his buyout agreement with the Spurs, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). The Rockets, who now have a full 15-man roster, will carry a cap hit of $512,721.
Kyrie Irving Out For Remainder Of Season
Kyrie Irving will miss the remainder of the season, Nets general manager Sean Marks said today, as Marc Stein of the New York Times relays (Twitter link). The point guard will undergo a procedure on his shoulder.
His last game came on February 1 against the Wizards, where he injured his knee. That ailment appears to be fine, but his shoulder woes, which he attempted to play through while taking a cortisone shot, will cause his debut season in Brooklyn to end.
Irving, who signed a big-money, four-year contract with the Nets last summer, has been limited to just 20 games in his first season with the club, primarily due to those shoulder issues. He has been his usual productive self when he has been healthy, averaging 27.4 PPG, 6.4 APG, and 5.2 RPG with a shooting line of .478/.394/.922, as own Luke Adams detailed earlier today.
The point guard’s best game of the season came in a 54-point performance in which Irving said he had the “Mamba Mentality,” dedicating it to the late Kobe Bryant.
Irving will return next season alongside Kevin Durant, who reiterated that he will not play this season. Durant inked a four-year deal with Brooklyn last summer.
Southwest Notes: Bertans, Green, Popovich
Davis Bertans, who was traded to Washington during the offseason, says he still has love for the Spurs, as Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News relays.
“I am definitely grateful for the opportunity they gave me,” said Bertans. “Coming off two (knee) injuries, a lot of teams might have given up on me after the first one. Just having a chance to go there and learn from one of the best coaches in history, if not the best one (was great). Even though they traded me, I still love them for what they did for me.”
The Spurs initially intended to keep Bertans on their roster. Over the summer, they had the mid-level exception available and had agreed to sign DeMarre Carroll with that tool. Then, Marcus Morris wanted to come to town and the team pivoted to using the MLE on the forward and crafted a sign-and-trade for Carroll that sent Bertans to Washington.
Morris eventually backed out of the agreement, but the deal to send Bertans elsewhere was already in motion.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Jeff Green, who inked a contract with the Rockets, has previously played with both James Harden and Russell Westbrook and he’s happy to team up with them again. “It’s going to be special to see those two guys, the way they’ve grown. It’s been wonderful. As a fan of the game it’s been great to see. I’m excited to be w/ them again,” Green said (via Fox 26 Houston’s Mark Berman on Twitter).
- The Spurs‘ 22-year playoff streak could come to an end this season and not everyone is surprised about the potential outcome, as Orsborn relays in a separate piece. “It happens to the best of them,” said Robert Horry, who won two titles with San Antonio. “It happened to the Celtics, it happened to the Lakers. People don’t understand how dominant the Spurs have been over the years, but it was bound to come to an end.”
- There has been plenty of speculation about Gregg Popovich retiring from coaching Team USA after the Olympics this summer, but Jerry Colangelo, who is the managing director of USA Basketball, said he hasn’t had any conversations with Pop about it yet. “It’s really going to be how he feels, [with] age, health [factors],” Colangelo said (via Orsborn in the same piece). “This doesn’t pertain to him, but I would say this about most people, most coaches: If you lose your fire, it’s probably time to step away. But as long as you have that desire and fire in your belly, why not [continue]?”