Timberwolves Notes: Late-Game Slide, Conley, Defense, Edwards
A lack of composure down the stretch cost the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Mavericks, head coach Chris Finch lamented after Wednesday’s game.
“It cost us a game in the Denver series. It certainly had an impact on this game, too,” Finch said, per Jon Krawcznyski of The Athletic said. “We’ve got to be better in clutch moments.”
Despite the Timberwolves’ size, they were manhandled in the paint, Krawczynski notes. Dallas outscored them 62-38 in the lane and out-rebounded them, 48-40.
“I’ve got to do a better job on the rebounds,” Rudy Gobert said. “I can’t let these guys just get offensive rebounds. I’ll be better.”
In a similar vein, Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns looked lethargic.
“We didn’t play with enough energy,” Towns said. “We just looked tired. We didn’t move as well as we usually do.”
We have more on the Timberwolves:
- Mike Conley believes the team will benefit from its late-game slide, when it was outscored 10-3 in the final 3:37, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Minnesota also committed half of its 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter. “I think we haven’t been tested like this where we’ve had to trade basket to basket, late-game free throw situations or fouling situations, stuff that we have to be better at,” Conley said. “But we’ll learn from it. I think each game we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, a lot we can get better at. Obviously, it’s going to be a long series, regardless of what happened tonight.”
- While the Timberwolves faced major defensive challenges in the first two series against Phoenix and Denver, finding a way to control Dallas’ dynamic duo of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic presents their toughest task in these playoffs, Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines. The two star guards combined for 63 points in Game 1.
- In a comprehensive feature, The Athletic’s Krawczynski and Joe Vardon detail how Edwards is poised to become the NBA’s next major American-born star.
Cavaliers Fire Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff
9:53am: The Cavaliers have confirmed Bickerstaff’s dismissal (Twitter link).
9:27am: The Cavaliers have fired head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego are expected to be among candidates for the job, Charania adds.
Despite the fact Cleveland advanced out of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Bickerstaff’s dismissal doesn’t come as a surprise. A report from The Athletic last week indicated Bickerstaff’s job was in “serious jeopardy.”
That report indicated that star guard Donovan Mitchell, who is eligible for a four-year extension this offseason, “did not have great confidence in Bickerstaff” throughout the season, and he was “not alone.” It also suggested that a number of players privately and publicly questioned the 45-year-old’s “strategies, game management, practice habits and accountability measures” during the course of the season.
Another incident in the report spoke of how president of basketball operations Koby Altman “admonished Bickerstaff in front of his entire staff” after he played Mitchell heavy minutes in a December overtime victory with two other starters already sidelined by injuries.
Bickerstaff said after his team was eliminated for the postseason that he wanted to return and considered this season an improvement.
“To win a round in the playoffs isn’t easy,” he said. “I thought we faced a tough challenge in that first round, obviously, and to be able to go to seven games and win it showed a ton of growth. I think the play of our guys continued to show their growth. You guys will judge what success looks like. I think we accomplished what we were trying to accomplish but coming up short of a goal of obviously winning a championship.”
The Cavs will begin an immediate search for Bickerstaff’s replacement, with Altman and general manager Mike Gansey formulating a list that is expected to include coaches with head-coaching experience and potential first-timers, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reports.
According to Fedor, the Cavs considered making a coaching change during the first month of the season after they got off to a slow start.
Despite the supposed internal turmoil, there’s reportedly growing optimism that Mitchell will sign an extension this offseason. Whether a coaching change impacts that in any way remains to be seen.
Bickerstaff became the Cavaliers’ head coach in February 2020 after John Beilein‘s brief stay in the NBA. The Cavaliers went 22-50 in his first full season as head coach and doubled that win total in a full 82-game season in 2021/22.
The Cavs racked up 51 regular season wins in 2022/23 but were bounced by the Knicks in the opening round of the playoffs. Cleveland won 48 games this season and defeated Orlando in the opening round but got eliminated in five games by top-seeded Boston in the second round. Mitchell missed the last two games due to a calf injury and center Jarrett Allen sat out the entire series with a rib injury.
And-Ones: Ball Lawsuit, McCollum, Australia’s Olympic Team
LaMelo Ball and the Hornets are being sued by a North Carolina woman who claims Ball allegedly struck her son with his vehicle during an attempt to obtain Ball’s autograph, according to ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday. The alleged incident occurred in October 2023, when the Hornets hosted a fan event at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
A number of fans, including the woman’s 11-year-old son, approached Ball’s vehicle at a traffic light. According to the lawsuit, when the light turned green, Ball drove “in a grossly negligent and reckless manner in that he accelerated his vehicle forward suddenly and without warning and struck” her son, “severely injuring him.” She claimed that Ball then left the scene.
The youngster suffered foot and back injuries due to the incident, according to the lawsuit.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- The Pelicans’ CJ McCollum was chosen for the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award by the Pro Basketball Writers’ Association (Twitter link). The honor is presented annually by the PBWA to a player, coach or athletic trainer who shows outstanding service and dedication to the community. McCollum was honored for his extensive community work in and around New Orleans, with a focus on education, social-justice reform and efforts to provide equitable resources and opportunities for youth.
- The Australian National Team recently announced a 17-man roster that will take part in the official training camp in late June, before two games against China in Melbourne on July 2 and 4. The roster will then be pared to 12 players for the Paris Olympics. ESPN’s Olgun Uluc breaks down the roster player by player to determine who will make the cut. Josh Giddey, Jock Landale, Josh Green and Dante Exum are among the NBA players Uluc considers locks to make the squad.
- Kendrick Nunn is thriving overseas but he has not ruled out an NBA return. Get the details here.
Thunder Notes: New Arena, Wiggins, Biggest Need
The Thunder took a major step toward the construction of a new arena. The Oklahoma City city council approved a development agreement with team ownership for a new downtown arena on Tuesday, Jessie Christoper Smith of The Oklahoman reports.
Oklahoma City voters previously overwhelmingly approved a 72-month, one-cent sales tax to fund construction of a new arena at a $900MM minimum cost.
Per the new agreement, the city would first invest $78MM originally meant to be spent on improving the current Paycom Center. Then, the city would spend $50MM contributed by the Thunder ownership, before using a minimum of $772MM via the sales tax.
The city will work with the team on an earlier target schedule, outlining a possible completion of the arena as early as June 2028. City officials often have said they hope to complete the arena ahead of the 2029/2030 season. Thunder ownership can terminate the agreement if the city does not meet the 2030 deadline.
We have more on the Thunder:
- They have an interesting decision to make involving Aaron Wiggins, who has become a valuable rotation piece. They hold a $1.99MM option on his contract for next season but they could choose to decline Wiggins’ team option in order to make him a restricted free agent. Then, they could sign him to a long-term pact, Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated notes, similar to the way they locked up Luguentz Dort.
- With some key players still on rookie contracts, the Thunder have the opportunity to use their assets and find one more impact player, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines. The postseason showed that their most glaring is a secondary play-maker with size, though identifying and acquiring the right player to fill that void will be difficult.
- In case you missed it, Gordon Hayward was unhappy over his lack of playing time in the postseason.
Pacific Notes: Lue, Little, Roddy, Suns’ Front Office, Kings
Tyronn Lue has a year left on his contract and the Clippers reportedly want to extend him, but The Athletic’s Shams Charania said on the Up & Adams show (video link) that the parties are not close to any agreement.
“To my knowledge there hasn’t been any progress in those conversations,” Charania stated. Lue stated shortly after the Clippers were eliminated from postseason contention that he’s eager to sign an extension.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Suns are hamstrung by reaching the second luxury tax apron, which severely limits what they can do in terms of personnel moves. Gerard Bourguet of PHNX Sports explores potential trades involving Nassir Little or David Roddy, noting that Little’s $6.75MM could force the Suns to explore three-team deals if they try to deal him to another team above one of the tax aprons. That’s because apron teams can’t take back more salary than they’re sending out. Roddy’s modest $2.8MM contract includes a team option but they might have to add a draft pick to trade him.
- The Suns are making some changes to their front office. Assistant general managers Morgan Cato and Trevor Bukstein have not been retained, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.
- The Kings have the No. 13 pick but that didn’t deter them from interviewing some of the top prospects at the recent draft combine, according to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. The list of players who met with Kings representatives included Alexandre Sarr, Donovan Clingan, Dalton Knecht, Ja’Kobe Walter, Cody Williams and Sacramento native Jared McCain. Sarr is the considered the favorite to be chosen No. 1 overall, while many draft experts have Clingan in their top three.
Northwest Notes: Porter Jr., Nuggets, McDaniels, Reid, Ownership Dispute
Michael Porter Jr. pins the blame on himself for the Nuggets‘ second-round loss to Minnesota, according to Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. Porter struggled to make offensive contributions, averaging 10.7 points per game on 37.1% shooting from the field. He scored just 25 points in the last four games of the Western Conference semifinals.
“This was a terrible series,” Porter said. “I felt like I might’ve had one or two good games out of the seven we played. Part of it was the way they were guarding. Part of it was (that) my shot wasn’t falling. It’s just tough because I know if I would have played up to par with how I normally play, we would have won this series. And there’s a lot of things that could have been different as a team, but I know if I had played my part, we would have won the series. And I’ve gotta live with that.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- A lack of quality depth led to the Nuggets’ demise, in the estimation of Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. He notes that only rookies and journeyman veterans were added last offseason to fortify the bench, which took huge hits with the loss of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green. Salary cap issues were a primary reasons for the approach but O’Connor notes that only one bench player logged more than 10 minutes in Game 7, while five players under the age of 25 never shed their warmups.
- Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid missed last year’s playoffs due to injury but they played massive roles in the Timberwolves’ ascension to the Western Conference Finals, Chris Hine of The Star Tribune notes. McDaniels scored 44 points in the last two games of the second-round series, while Reid — the league’s Sixth Man of the Year — scored eight of his 11 points in Game 7 during the fourth quarter and blocked two Nikola Jokic shot attempts.
- Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore made an interesting proposal to Glen Taylor in the ownership dispute engulfing the Timberwolves franchise. The duo proposed last month that the loser of their battle over ownership of the franchise should cover the legal costs of the winner, Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico reports. However, Taylor’s legal team has chosen to continue with the binding arbitration, as laid out in the purchase agreement, where parties are responsible for their own fees. That process is slated to happen in the coming months, Novy-Williams adds.
Morant Showing Good Progress From Shoulder Surgery
Ja Morant appears to be ahead of schedule in his recovery from shoulder surgery, Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports.
According to Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins, Morant and several other players who suffered significant injuries are making good progress. Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr., Ziaire Williams, Vince Williams and Marcus Smart were among the other Grizzlies players who missed chunks of time due to injury this season.
“Everything is going well,” Jenkins said on Tuesday. “Ja is the only one when June rolls around, he’s going to be pretty close to full go on the court. Everything that everyone was dealing with towards the end of the season is in a good place right now.”
Morant’s season was essentially a washout. He missed the first 25 games of the season due to an NBA suspension, then averaged 25.1 points, 8.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds in nine games after the suspension, including a game-winning shot against New Orleans on Dec. 19 in his return to action.
Morant was then diagnosed with a labral tear in his right shoulder after a training session. At the time of his January surgery, the recovery process was outlined as a six-month process.
Grizzlies head of basketball operations Zach Kleiman said in April that there wasn’t a timeline on Morant’s full availability, but that he was “expected to be fully cleared for basketball activities maybe halfway through the offseason.”
Morant will be entering the second year of his five-year, max contract.
Nets To Add Griffin, Dulkys As Assistants
The Nets are adding Connor Griffin and Deividas Dulkys as assistants on Jordi Fernandez’s staff, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (Twitter link).
Griffin has been on the Nuggets’ staff, where he was originally hired as an assistant video coordinator in September 2021. Dulkys has served as a player development coach with the Kings since the summer of 2022.
Additionally, the Nets will retain Adam Caporn, Ryan Forehan-Kelly and Corey Vinson, but Trevor Hendry is departing, according to Scotto.
The Nets have also reportedly brought in Steve Hetzel from Portland to be one of Fernandez’s top assistants, along with hiring former Michigan coach Juwan Howard. Scotto previously reported that Jay Hernandez would remain on the staff, while Will Weaver and Ronnie Burrell were let go.
Atlantic Notes: Melton, LeBron, Mitchell, Thibodeau
De’Anthony Melton missed 44 games this season due to a spinal injury but the Sixers guard is eager to see what he’s worth on the open market. He’ll be a free agent this summer.
“I feel like I established myself in the league in understanding what I do, what I bring to the table,” Melton told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “So I think everybody knows that. … You never know.”
Despite his injury-riddled season, Melton should make more than the $8.6MM he averaged the last four seasons, according to Pompey. Melton’s salary-cap hold is $15.2MM but the Sixers could renounce his rights to open up more cap space.
“I would love to [come back to the Sixers], but it’s not up to me and I understand that,” Melton said. “It is what it is and I understand that it’s a business. So I’ll roll with whatever.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Could the Sixers lure LeBron James to Philadelphia by drafting Bronny James? The Sixers have the cap space to sign a top-level free agent if James opts out. Pompey explores that possibility, noting they own a first-round pick (No. 16) and a second-rounder (No. 41). They could expend a pick in a weak draft on Bronny, hoping the dream of playing with his son could convince his father to come to Philly.
- The Nets have been eyeing Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell for the past year and they’ll need to pounce if he becomes available in the trade market, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. While Mitchell and the Cavs are reportedly interested in working out an extension, the Nets could be an option for the New York native if that situation changes.
- Forget about any roster moves. The top priority for the Knicks’ front office this offseason should be reaching an extension agreement with coach Tom Thibodeau, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post opines. They won 50 games and a playoff series and made it to Game 7 in the second round because Thibodeau forbade his players from feeling sorry for themselves when injuries ravaged their rotation, Vaccaro writes.
Mavericks Notes: Kidd, Parity, Kleber, Gafford, Lively
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd believes the league is pleased to see teams like the Timberwolves and Pacers make the conference finals, according to Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. The league has been striving for parity, rather than a few powerhouse teams winning all the championships.
“The league loves it,” Kidd said on Monday. “It’s great. It’s great for the league. I saw a question today: is there any more dominance? Is there ever going to be another dynasty? With player movement and the league being so young, we’ll see. But it’s great. That (the parity) gives everyone the opportunity that they truly believe they can win a championship at the starting line of this marathon.”
The Mavericks, Timberwolves and Pacers were all 20-to-1 or higher to win the championship prior to the season among most wagering sites.
We have more on the Mavericks:
- Big man Maxi Kleber will remain sidelined for at least the start of the series against the Timberwolves, Sefko reports in the same story. Kleber has been out since May 3 due to a right shoulder injury. “Still out,” Kidd said. “Looked good today. He looked good on the treadmill. We’ve done it already in one series (playing without Kleber). We’re going to have to do it again until he comes back. But that gives other guys the opportunity to step up and we truly believe everyone in that locker room is going to hold it together until he gets back.”
- Kidd was one of the NBA coaches on the hot seat entering the season. He’s quieted his critics as the season has unfolded. He received a contract extension earlier this month and now has his team in the conference finals, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News writes. “Our goal is to win a championship; that’s what we’re trying to do, but sometimes you guys don’t see that,” Kidd said. “And it’s all right, you’ve got to do your job. Because we really don’t care. That’s the beauty of our culture, is that we’re not affected by what’s written negatively. We just go out there and play and play for each other. And that’s what’s going to win a championship.”
- Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively will face a major challenge against the Timberwolves’ bigs, Schuyler Dixon of The Associated Press writes. They will have to deal with the Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid. ”One thing for sure, we got to make sure we stay out of foul trouble,” Gafford said. ”Really, just stay patient. We’re not going to keep them from scoring points, but staying to our tendencies and just sticking to our principles is something that’s going to help us throughout this series.”