Nets Notes: Irving, Jordan, Eastern Contenders
The Nets suffered a third consecutive loss on Tuesday, dropping a 122-111 decision to the last-place Pistons, prompting some self-reflection from star guard Kyrie Irving and head coach Steve Nash, among others. Irving said the team looked “very average,” as Malika Andrews of ESPN writes, while Nash said the club needed to improve its “competitive spirit,” per Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
The Nets responded on Wednesday with a 104-94 victory over Indiana — it was just the second time since acquiring James Harden on January 17 that Brooklyn had allowed fewer than 100 points in a game.
That game, which Brooklyn led by as many as 36 points, was an encouraging sign, but the Nets will need to string together more wins like it to show that they’re truly elite, says Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post. The team, which has a modest 15-12 overall record, has too often looked discombobulated and disinterested, according to Vaccaro.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Although Kyrie Irving‘s injured right index finger only forced him to miss one game, he admitted that it bothered him in his return on Tuesday, as Brian Lewis writes for The New York Post. “It’s uncomfortable, but at the same time I don’t want to make any excuses,” Irving said. “I’m out there, put myself out there, do a lot of treatment on it and we’re down a few players obviously, as well, so you just want to go out there and compete and worry about the pain later.”
- Nets center DeAndre Jordan bounced back nicely after sideline clashes with James Harden and Steve Nash on Tuesday, Lewis notes in a separate story for The Post. “If I’m honest, it was an emotional night (Tuesday),” Nash said. “D.J. and I got upset at each other for a minute. I know D.J. got upset a few times during the game. So I’m proud of him because he bounced back with an incredible attitude, effort, performance.”
- Tim Bontemps of ESPN polled a handful of coaches, scouts, and executives from around the league on which Eastern teams are capable of reaching the NBA Finals and found that the Nets and Bucks are still considered the two frontrunners, despite the fact that the 76ers are currently the conference’s No. 1 seed.
Community Shootaround: Rookie Of The Year Race
Widely considered a strong contender to be picked No. 1 overall leading up to the 2020 draft, LaMelo Ball ultimately fell to No. 3, where he was snatched up by the Hornets. Now, less than two months into his rookie year, he’s showing why picking him first overall may have been the right move.
Through his first 26 games, Ball is leading all NBA rookies in PPG (14.3), APG (6.1), and SPG (1.4), and his 5.8 RPG ranks second only to James Wiseman‘s 6.1. Ball has been even better as of late, pouring in 21.6 PPG on .488/.440/.900 shooting to go along with 6.8 APG and 5.4 RPG in his last eight games.
That hot streak included Ball’s first NBA start, on February 1, and John Hollinger of The Athletic suggests it’s hard to imagine the rookie ever coming off the bench again. The 19-year-old has already improved by “leaps and bounds” since even the start of the season, according to Hollinger, who says Ball may already be the best player on Charlotte’s roster and looks fully capable of destroying the narrative that the 2020 draft didn’t have a superstar-caliber at the top of the class.
So far, Ball’s full-season numbers aren’t as impressive as those put up by Luka Doncic in 2018/19 or Ja Morant in ’19/20, but he’s quickly emerging as the overwhelming favorite to join those players in earning Rookie of the Year honors. Few other players from the 2020 class have had a major impact on their respective teams so far, and not many are in position to enter a starting lineup and take another huge leap forward like Ball has.
For now, Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton and Warriors big man Wiseman look like Ball’s top challengers for the Rookie of the Year award. Haliburton is averaging 12.0 PPG and 5.3 APG with a .455 3PT% off the bench for Sacramento, while Wiseman, who began the season as Golden State’s starting center, has recorded 12.2 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 1.3 BPG.
However, it’s hard to imagine Haliburton taking on a much greater role this season than the one he already has (he’s averaging 29.4 minutes per game), while Wiseman figures to experience some ups and downs as he continues to adjust to the NBA on a veteran-led squad competing for a playoff spot.
We want to know what you think. Are you already penciling in Ball as the probable Rookie of the Year winner, barring an injury? Or is this race still very much up in the air, with Haliburton and Wiseman in the mix along with other potential challengers like Anthony Edwards, Cole Anthony, and Immanuel Quickley?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Heat Notes: Bradley, Dragic, Herro, Nunn
While Heat guard Avery Bradley is frustrated to be missing more time after dealing with a positive COVID-19 test and a knee contusion earlier in the season, he said this week that he’s relieved his calf strain – which will sideline him for about three or four weeks – wasn’t a more serious injury.
“I could just feel the pop, which really scared me because first thing you’re thinking with a non-contact pop is my Achilles,” Bradley said, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “So I was nervous and really frustrated. Now I’m just happy that it wasn’t anything severe and I’ll be able to rehab it.”
If the Heat play it safe with Bradley’s recovery, he likely won’t get back on the court until sometime after the All-Star break, which will run from March 5-10. However, the veteran guard hopes to beat that timeline and “get some games under my belt before the break,” as Chiang relays.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Although Bradley won’t be back anytime soon, fellow guard Goran Dragic (left ankle sprain) could rejoin the Heat as some point during their seven-game, 13-day road trip, which begins on Thursday night in Houston, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
- Within that same Herald story, Tyler Herro says he has had no problem readjusting to a bench role after opening the season as a starter. “I played the whole (2019/20) year off the bench,” he said. “Doing whatever works for the team (is most important). Everyone hates losing. Moving to the bench wasn’t hard for me. I’ll do whatever this team needs me to do to win.”
- In a separate story for The Miami Herald, Jackson explores how the Heat could upgrade their roster in the coming months and how they could take advantage of their projected cap room in the offseason.
- In a mailbag, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel explains why the Heat didn’t try to beat the Knicks to the punch to acquire Derrick Rose and notes that Kendrick Nunn is unlikely to retain the starting point guard role once Dragic and Bradley are ready to go. It’s worth noting that if Nunn starts three more games this season, he’d meet the “starter criteria,” bumping the value of his qualifying offer as a restricted free agent from $2.1MM to $4.7MM.
Raptors Will Finish 2020/21 Season In Tampa
The Raptors will spend the rest of the 2020/21 season playing their home games at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, the team announced today in a press release.
The franchise, which was unable to play in Toronto to start this season due to the coronavirus-related restrictions in place on the U.S./Canadian border, had left the door open to the possibility of returning to its own building – Scotiabank Arena – later in the season.
The hope was that the COVID-19 situation would have improved enough on both sides of the border to loosen those health and safety restrictions by the second half. However, it appears that won’t happen.
“Florida has been really welcoming to us and we’re so grateful for the hospitality we’ve found in Tampa and at Amalie – we’re living in a city of champions, and we intend to carry on the tradition of winning for our new friends and fans here,” Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri said in a statement. “But home is where the heart is, and our hearts are in Toronto. We think often of our fans, of our Scotiabank Arena family, and all those we are missing back home, and we can’t wait until we can all be together again.”
The Raptors have enjoyed only a slight “home-court” advantage in Tampa so far in 2020/21, going 6-5 in home games and 6-8 on the road.
The team hosted fans at Amalie Arena at a reduced capacity earlier in the season but later reversed course and closed its doors. The stated reason was the rise of COVID-19 cases in the area, but the fact that many of the fans in attendance were cheering for Raptors’ visiting opponents may have played a part as well.
Raptors Notes: Ujiri, Powell, G League, Trade Eligibility
Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Alan Strickland, who filed a lawsuit against Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri following an altercation at the end of Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, has dropped that suit, as Lisa Fernandez of KTVU FOX 2 reports.
Near the end of the Raptors’ Finals-clinching win in Oakland, Ujiri attempted to get onto the court for the celebration and was stopped by Strickland, who claimed that Ujiri didn’t have the proper credentials and that the Raptors president assaulted him. Body-camera footage released later showed Ujiri attempting to present his credentials and Strickland shoving him twice before Ujiri shoved back in retaliation.
“Masai has been completely vindicated, as we always knew he would be,” Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, the Raptors’ ownership group, said in a statement (link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca). “… We continue to be deeply troubled by the fact that Masai was put in this position in the first plae, and believe he should never have had to defend himself. Masai is taking some time to process the ordeal, and intends to address it publicly at a later date.”
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- After getting off to a slow start this season, Norman Powell is on a roll lately, averaging 23.4 PPG on .507/.475/.872 shooting in nine games since entering the starting lineup on January 22. As Blake Murphy of The Athletic writes, Powell’s success will create some challenging decisions for the team in the short term – whether he’ll continue starting when OG Anunoby returns – and in the long term, since Powell can reach unrestricted free agency this summer.
- The Raptors 905 – Toronto’s G League affiliate – received NBAGL Franchise of the Year honors for the 2019/20 season, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Per the announcement, the club was recognized not only for its play on the court, but its “excellent behind-the-scenes work” and activity in the community. “We said when Raptors 905 started that we intended to make this the best franchise in the G League, and we are really proud that we’ve been recognized for that,” Ujiri said in a statement.
- While Aron Baynes and DeAndre’ Bembry became trade-eligible last weekend, a handful of Raptors players still can’t be dealt. Paul Watson‘s trade restrictions will lift on February 25, while Chris Boucher and Fred VanVleet will be ineligible to be moved until March 3.
Lonzo Ball Meets Starter Criteria
Having started his 21st game of the season on Wednesday night, Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball has now met the “starter criteria,” which will have a significant impact on the value of his qualifying offer this offseason.
The starter criteria applies to players who will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end. Typically, a player is required to average 41 starts during the two seasons prior to his free agency to meet the criteria, but that threshold has been adjusted and varies from player to player this year, since each of the last two NBA seasons have been shortened.
In Ball’s case, the Pelicans played 64 games prior to the hiatus last season and will play 72 this season, for a total of 136. He needed to start half of them (34 per year, or 68 in total) to meet the starter criteria. After starting 47 of those pre-hiatus contests a year ago, he now has 21 starts this season.
In order to make a player a restricted free agent, a team must extend him a qualifying offer, which is essentially a guaranteed one-year contract offer that gives the team the right of first refusal on a rival offer sheet. Meeting the starter criteria makes a player eligible for a larger qualifying offer than he would have been if he’d fallen short of that criteria.
That difference is especially important for Ball, whose qualifying offer would only have been worth about $7MM if he hadn’t reached the starter criteria. Now, his QO – assuming he receives one – will be worth $14.36MM.
Ball has been the subject of some recent trade rumors, so there’s no guarantee that he’ll still be a Pelican when he reaches free agency later this year. However, he has played some of his best basketball as of late, averaging 17.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 4.8 APG on .476/.484/.909 shooting in his last eight games. If he continues to produce at that level, his team at season’s end – whether it’s New Orleans or another franchise – likely won’t bat an eye at issuing that $14MM+ QO.
Ball is the third RFA-to-be to meet the starter criteria this season, joining Devonte’ Graham and Duncan Robinson.
Karl-Anthony Towns Returns For Wolves
6:45pm: Towns was cleared to play after participating in pregame warm-ups, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
3:12pm: Towns intends to go through shootaround and see how he feels before his status for tonight’s game is finalized, he said in a tweet.
2:24pm: Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been limited to just four games so far this season due to a wrist injury and a case of COVID-19, is expected to return to action on Wednesday night when the team hosts the Clippers, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Having Towns back in their starting lineup will be a welcome sight for the struggling Timberwolves. The team has a 2-2 record when the 25-year-old has played, but has lost 16 of the 20 games he has missed.
Towns, who hasn’t played since January 13, has averaged 22.0 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 4.3 APG, and 2.8 BPG in his limited action so far this season. Minnesota has a +6.1 net rating when he has been on the court, compared to a -8.9 mark when he isn’t playing.
Towns’ return figures to result in Naz Reid shifting back to a reserve role.
Knicks Notes: Rose, Rivers, Knox, Ntilikina, Beal, Oladipo
After making his Knicks debut on Tuesday, veteran guard Derrick Rose spoke about the “synergy” he shares with head coach Tom Thibodeau and admitted that reuniting with Thibodeau – and Knicks executive William Wesley – was his top choice when he decided he wanted to move on from the Pistons, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“Even though I couldn’t say that at the time, I just wanted to be comfortable,” Rose said. “Like I said, I’ve been knowing these guys ever since high school, eighth grade, high school, so coming here, like I said, it’s family. I never really thought about anything else but really getting here and understanding they wanted me to help grow the young guys they’ve already got here.”
One of those “young guys” Rose will get a chance to mentor is rookie guard Immanuel Quickley. In Rose’s debut, the two guards shared the court as part of New York’s second unit, which is a pairing Thibodeau expects will continue going forward. As Bontemps details, the Knicks’ head coach said after the game that Austin Rivers, who was replaced in the rotation by Rose, figures to be a “situational” player for the time being.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina, and all of the Knicks’ first-round picks were off limits in the trade for Rose, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who says the Knicks want to save as many assets as possible for a possible bigger splash down the road.
- The Knicks are among the teams keeping an eye on Bradley Beal and Victor Oladipo, Berman adds in the same story. There’s no indication that Beal will be moved by the Wizards anytime soon, but sources tell The New York Post that the Rockets are considered “amenable” to flipping Oladipo after acquiring him in January. A report last week indicated the Knicks still have interest in Oladipo after eyeing him in the offseason.
- The Knicks announced plans today to allow approximately 2,000 fans at their home games beginning on February 23 (Twitter link). The announcement came on the heels of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo permitting large sports venues to reopen at 10% capacity, which will pave the way for the Nets to begin allowing fans at Barclays Center later this month as well, as Malika Andrews of ESPN writes.
One New Positive COVID-19 Test Among Players Since Feb. 3
Among the 470 NBA players who were tested for the coronavirus within the last week, just one recorded a confirmed positive test, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The NBA and NBPA issued press releases confirming those testing results, which date back to February 3.
The league and its teams haven’t been publicly confirming which players have tested positive for the coronavirus. However, Khris Middleton‘s comments earlier in the week suggested that Bucks teammate Jrue Holiday registered a positive test.
Middleton did note that there was a chance that test was a false positive, so we don’t know for sure that Holiday was the one player to have a confirmed positive this week.
Either way, it’s a fairly encouraging update for the NBA, which has now had three consecutive weeks with no more than one positive confirmed test among its players. If the trend continues, the league should be able to avoid the mass postponements that occurred in January when 27 players tested positive during a two-week stretch.
Eight Notable Players Who Recently Became Trade-Eligible
Most of the players who signed new contracts as free agents in the fall of 2020 became eligible this past weekend to be traded. That list includes a handful of major offseason additions, such as Hornets forward Gordon Hayward, who can now technically be dealt.
Of course, just because a player can be traded doesn’t mean there’s any chance he will be. While many notable players became trade-eligible on February 6, it’s merely a technicality for the ones like Hayward who aren’t going to be brought up in any trade discussions this season.
Today then, we’re focusing on several newly trade-eligible players who are noteworthy not because of their star power but because they’re viable candidates to be moved in advance of this season’s March 25 trade deadline.
Approximately 90 players became trade-eligible on Saturday, so the list below makes up less than one-tenth of that group. You can check out the full list here.
Here are eight notable players who are now eligible to be traded:
Rajon Rondo (Hawks): The Hawks signed Rondo to be a reliable backup to point guard Trae Young, but that hasn’t happened yet — the veteran has battled injury issues and is averaging career lows in several categories, including PPG (3.4) and FG% (.345). If Atlanta gets impatient and seeks out a new backup for Young, Rondo would be a clear candidate to be included in a deal, though his second guaranteed year will hurt his trade value.- Aron Baynes (Raptors): Like Rondo, Baynes was signed to a deal worth a little less than the full mid-level in the hopes he could bring a much-needed consistency to his role for a new team. Like Rondo, Baynes has struggled and has posted a career-low field goal percentage (39.7%) so far. The veteran center continues to start game for the Raptors, but he has been outplayed by backup Chris Boucher, and his pseudo-expiring contract (next season is non-guaranteed) could be dangled if Toronto pursues a frontcourt upgrade.
- Wayne Ellington (Pistons): The offseason signing of Ellington to a guaranteed minimum-salary contract looked like an odd move for a rebuilding Pistons team, but the veteran sharpshooter has thrived in Detroit this season, knocking down a career-best 49.1% of his three-point attempts. The 6-18 Pistons appear unlikely to contend for a play-in spot, so teams in need of a low-cost floor-spacer will likely be inquiring on Ellington.
- Willie Cauley-Stein (Mavericks): Cauley-Stein was a regular part of the Mavericks’ rotation in the early going this season, starting 10 games and playing reasonably well. But since Kristaps Porzingis has shifted to center, Cauley-Stein’s playing time has plummeted — he hasn’t seen the floor at all in Dallas’ last two games. The big man’s contract gives him the ability to veto trades, but if he isn’t going to be part of the Mavs’ rotation, he may welcome a change of scenery.
- Elfrid Payton (Knicks): Payton has established himself as the Knicks’ starting point guard and seems to have emerged as a Tom Thibodeau favorite. However, with Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley also in the point guard mix, the Knicks have the flexibility to consider moving Payton and his expiring contract — at least one playoff contender has reportedly shown interest. The 26-year-old does have the ability to veto a trade, however, so he’d have to be sent to a destination he’d approve.
- Hassan Whiteside (Kings): Sacramento signed Whiteside late in free agency for the veteran’s minimum, and his role so far reflects the fact that he may not have been part of the team’s initial plans. He’s averaging just 14.1 minutes per game, easily his lowest mark since he returned to the NBA in 2014. Whiteside’s impressive box-score numbers generally oversell his impact on winning, but a team in need of depth at center could do worse than adding one of the league’s best shot-blockers on a minimum-salary deal.
- Tristan Thompson (Celtics): While Thompson has been fine as the Celtics’ starting center, the team figures to be in the market for a frontcourt upgrade prior to this year’s deadline. Unless the C’s find a move that allows them to use their big trade exception without sending out any salary, Thompson and his $9.3MM salary would be a logical outgoing piece.
- Meyers Leonard (Heat): If the Heat attempt to make a splash on the trade market, they have no shortage of players on sizeable expiring contracts who could be used for salary-matching purposes. Leonard, who will miss the rest of 2020/21 after undergoing shoulder surgery, looks like the most expendable of the bunch now, since he’s the only one who won’t be able to contribute on the court this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.