Raptors’ McCaw Leaving Campus To Treat Knee Issue
Raptors guard Patrick McCaw is leaving the NBA’s campus at Walt Disney World in order to seek treatment for a reoccurrence of a benign mass on the back of his left knee, the club announced today in a press release.
According to the Raptors’ announcement, McCaw will head to New York to seek an opinion from Dr. Riley Williams, who saw the 24-year-old for the same issue back in November. At that time, McCaw had the benign mass removed and was sidelined for over a month.
There’s no timetable for McCaw’s return at this point. If he does re-enter the NBA’s campus, he’ll have to quarantine for at least four days before rejoining the Raptors. However, Toronto noted in its press release that its roster is now down to 16 players, which perhaps suggests that the team doesn’t expect the three-time champion to play again this season.
McCaw, 24, signed with the Raptors partway through the 2018/19 season after winning a pair of titles with the Warriors. His playing time has fluctuated since he arrived in Toronto, but he frequently saw regular minutes in ’19/20, especially when the team was shorthanded due to other players’ injuries.
In 37 games (24.5 MPG) this season, McCaw averaged 4.6 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 2.1 APG on .414/.324/.722 shooting, while providing solid perimeter defense.
McCaw’s absence shouldn’t have a major impact on the Raptors’ rotation. Rookie guard Terence Davis will continue to play regular minutes off the bench, with wing Matt Thomas perhaps seeing a little more playing time as well.
NBA Explores Idea Of Bottom Eight Teams Conducting OTAs At Disney Campus
A report earlier this week suggested that the idea of creating a second “bubble” this summer for the NBA’s bottom eight clubs to conduct organized team activities appeared to be losing steam.
However, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, league officials made it clear in a Wednesday conference call that they’re still trying to figure out as solution that will allow those teams to stay active. One idea that has been discussed, sources tell Amick, is bringing those bottom eight teams to the NBA’s first bubble at Walt Disney World.
As Amick explains, we’re just over a week away from six of the 22 teams participating in the Orlando restart being eliminated, which would open up more space at the Disney hotels and basketball courts. Two weeks later, after the first round of the playoffs ends, eight more clubs will be eliminated, leaving just eight of the original 22 on campus.
That could create an opportunity for the NBA to invite the bottom eight teams – the Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Hawks, Knicks, Pistons, Bulls, and Hornets – into its “bubble.” Presumably, players, coaches, and staffers would quarantine in Disney hotels for several days before being cleared to participate in group workouts, practices, and perhaps even inter-squad scrimmages.
Amick cautions that this idea is just being considered for now, with nothing decided as of yet. A number of the hotel rooms being vacated by teams by the end of the first round of the postseason are expected to be filled by family members of players on the remaining clubs, who will be permitted to bring guests onto the campus around the end of August. So the NBA would have logistical challenges to overcome to bring such a plan together.
It also seems unlikely that all of those bottom eight teams would be enthusiastic about traveling to Orlando, quarantining, and spending a period of time at the Disney campus. The Warriors are known to prefer the idea of group workouts in their own market, and the Knicks have been averse to the idea of a second bubble because they have a number of free agents on their roster who likely wouldn’t participate (any organized team activities the NBA approves are expected to be voluntary, not mandatory).
Still, it’s worth noting that one of the NBPA’s primary concerns about OTAs for the non-Orlando teams is a belief that it’d be difficult to replicate the Disney safety protocols at another location. Bringing those teams onto the Disney campus would be the simplest way to ensure that those players are subject to the same safety protocols, so the union would have to consider such a plan. We’ll see if anything comes of it.
Latest On Clippers’ Montrezl Harrell
Clippers center Montrezl Harrell has been away from the NBA’s campus at Walt Disney World for approximately three weeks, attending to his family and grieving following the recent death of his grandmother. However, he appears to be getting close to a return.
[RELATED: Clippers Tell Montrezl Harrell To Take Time To Grieve]
During a Thursday night appearance on TNT, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (video link) reported that Harrell’s grandmother will be laid to rest this Saturday, with the Clippers center expected to travel to Orlando soon after that.
Sources tell Haynes that Harrell has been getting tested daily for the coronavirus and has continued to receive negative results. That means that when he does return to the NBA’s campus, he should only be subject to a four-day quarantine period. That would put the Sixth Man of the Year candidate on track to rejoin the team in time for the start of the playoffs on August 17, though he’ll probably need a couple practices to get back up to speed before being activated.
The Clippers have been somewhat shorthanded since the seeding games began. Lou Williams missed the first two contests due to his extended quarantine period, Patrick Beverley left the third game with a calf injury and remains sidelined, and Harrell, of course, hasn’t played at all this summer.
Head coach Doc Rivers said on Thursday that he’d love to get back the roster to full strength at some point in the next week or two, but added that he’ll continue to make the most of what he has available, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“It would be nice to have a stretch where our whole team was available, practicing and playing,” Rivers said. “But we haven’t had that all year. It’s been amazing. We just got to keep rolling.”
Community Shootaround: Possible Head Coaching Changes
When the Knicks launched a search for a new permanent head coach that ultimately led them to Tom Thibodeau, it was considered likely to be the first of multiple NBA coaching hires in 2020. However, it’s no longer clear whether or not that will be the case.
In our 2020 head coaching search tracker, we suggest that the situations in Brooklyn, Houston, and Chicago are among those worth keeping an eye on. Jacque Vaughn was a midseason replacement who was promoted to head coach in March, Mike D’Antoni is on an expiring contract, and Jim Boylen is coming off a disappointing season and being evaluated by a new-look front office.
There’s a possibility that none of those teams makes a change though. Multiple reports this summer have indicated that Vaughn will be given every opportunity to win the Nets‘ permanent job; D’Antoni has handled the Rockets‘ transition to “micro-ball” admirably so far; and Boylen is reportedly gaining momentum to retain the Bulls‘ job.
Today’s report on Boylen noted that financial considerations could be a major factor in the Bulls’ decision, and Chicago probably isn’t the only club in that boat. The coronavirus pandemic will result in major revenue losses for teams across the NBA, so giving an incumbent head coach one more year may look a whole lot more appealing than firing him, hiring a new coach, and paying off multiple contracts.
Additionally, a number of the teams that finished near the bottom of this year’s standings or who have underachieved this season have head coaches who are safe due to their rock-solid résumés (ie. Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, and Terry Stotts) or because they’re recent hires who deserve a longer look (ie. Luke Walton and Ryan Saunders).
Even taking into account those caveats, it’s possible we’ll see some coaching changes this summer or fall. Teams that disappoint in Orlando will be worth monitoring. D’Antoni could be back on the hot seat, for instance, if Houston doesn’t win at least a playoff series or two. And it’s hard to imagine Brett Brown returning for another season if the Sixers don’t make it out of the first round.
We want to know what you think. Do you expect to see some more coaching changes happen in 2020, or will be things relatively quiet on that front? If you anticipate changes, which teams do you see making moves?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Central Notes: Pacers, Bird, Cavs, Bell, Pistons
After suggesting recently on a podcast that former Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird stepped down from that position because of the team’s unwillingness to spend, ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan has walked back that claim.
“I misspoke when I expressed my opinion regarding the business practices of the Indiana Pacers, and inferred that Larry Bird had been frustrated during his time as team president,” MacMullan said in a statement relayed by the Pacers. “It was a careless remark, based solely on my opinion, and therefore should have never been said. Larry Bird never expressed those feelings to me, and I apologize to both Larry and team owner Herb Simon for poor choice of my words.”
Bird issued a statement of his own, further confirming that his departure from the top job in the Pacers’ front office didn’t stem from frustration about the club’s spending habits.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Bird said. “I want everyone to know I left there because it was time for me to move on from the Pacers.”
Here’s more from out of the Central:
- The Cavaliers were upset to be excluded from the NBA’s restart because they felt as if it would cost the team a prime opportunity to develop its young players, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who suggests those fears are now being realized. As Cleveland remains inactive, Fedor writes, young teams like the Suns and up-and-coming players like Michael Porter Jr. are getting meaningful reps and thriving.
- Big man Jordan Bell, who signed a multiyear deal with the Cavaliers in June, expressed excitement to Kelsey Russo of The Athletic about his new team, whose interest in him apparently dates back to the 2017 draft. “When I was about to get drafted, it was told to me that the Warriors and the Cavs were two teams (that were) very interested in me,” Bell said. “So … I always kind of kept them on my radar, and obviously they kept me on their radar too … because in the league you move and you never know what’s gonna happen.”
- Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press takes a look at how the month of August will bring at least some sense of normalcy to the Pistons, who can move forward to the next stage of their draft planning after finding out in the August 20 lottery where their first-round pick will land.
Sixers, Simmons Evaluating Treatment Options For Knee Injury
2:27pm: Evaluating Simmons’ treatment options could take a few days, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who says the hope is that a season-ending scope on the knee can be avoided.
12:03pm: After leaving Wednesday’s game with a knee injury, Sixers star Ben Simmons has been diagnosed with a subluxation of the left patella, the team announced today. In layman’s terms, that’s a partial dislocation of his left knee cap.
According to the Sixers, Simmons will be ruled out for the time being as he and the club evaluate treatment options. The All-Star guard/forward will definitely be sidelined for Friday’s contest against Orlando — it’s unclear how many more games he may miss after that, but the injury is typically more than just a day-to-day issue.
On the plus side, the MRI on Simmons’ knee didn’t show any ligament damage, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The 76ers have five more seeding games to play before the postseason begins, and their position in the Eastern Conference standings is reasonably secure. Philadelphia is currently ranked sixth in the conference and won’t slip any further than that. Moving up to fourth or fifth remains a possibility, but is unlikely to be a top priority for the team.
With Simmons sidelined, the Sixers will have to shuffle their starting lineup, with big man Al Horford among the top candidates to return to the starting five. Getting back Mike Scott (knee) and Glenn Robinson III (hip) would provide more depth to help make up for Simmons’ absence, but we don’t know yet when they’ll be able to return.
2020 NBA Draft Lottery Update
The 2020 NBA draft lottery, originally scheduled for May 19, will now take place on August 20, two weeks from today. Besides happening three months later than usual, this year’s lottery also figures to look a little different, since the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will almost certainly make it impossible for the NBA to bring representatives from the bottom 14 teams to a single location.
As we wait to see what the league has in mind for this year’s event, here are a few updates and reminders on the 2020 NBA draft lottery:
The bottom eight teams are already locked into their lottery spots
Much has been made in the last 24 hours about the Wizards (24-44), who are participating in the NBA’s summer restart, slipping below the inactive Hornets (23-42) in the Eastern Conference standings.
Fortunately for Hornets fans – and unfortunately for Wizards backers – the lottery odds for those two teams won’t hinge on which team finishes with the better overall record. For the NBA’s bottom eight teams, one silver lining of not getting an invite to Orlando this summer for the restart is that their spot in the top eight of the lottery has been locked in, based on the league standings as of March 11.
The Hornets will have the eighth-best odds and the Bulls will have the seventh-best odds even if the Wizards go 0-8 this summer and fall below both teams in the standings.
The race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference could impact the lottery odds
With the non-Orlando teams frozen in the top eight lottery positions, the other six spots will be determined by two factors:
- Which six teams in Orlando don’t make the playoffs.
- What their records were as of March 11.
This is great news for a team like Phoenix. Having won their first three games in Orlando – as the Grizzlies lost their first four – the Suns are very much alive in the race for the No. 8 seed in the West. It will still take a strong finish and some luck for the Suns to qualify for a play-in tournament, but let’s suppose they do.
In that scenario, if the Suns win the play-in tournament and earn a postseason spot, their first-round pick would be 15th overall, best among the playoff teams, since they entered the hiatus with a 26-39 record, worse than Orlando or Brooklyn.
If they were to lose a play-in tournament, Phoenix would end up with the 10th-best lottery odds, ahead of the rest of Orlando’s non-playoff teams besides the Wizards, who were the only one of the 22 invited teams with a worse record than the Suns as of March 11.
Essentially, if you want to determine the back half of the lottery standings, you just have to sort the 22 teams in Orlando by their March 11 records, from worst to first, then remove the 16 teams that end up in the playoffs.
The Grizzlies could theoretically still keep their first-round pick
The Grizzlies owe their 2020 first-round pick to the Celtics, but it includes top-six protection.
As long as Memphis makes the playoffs, that protection doesn’t really matter — Boston would receive the pick. However, with the Grizzlies’ hold on the No. 8 seed slipping, there’s still an outside chance that they could keep the pick.
Let’s say Memphis falls out of the No. 8 spot and either loses a play-in tournament or altogether misses out on qualifying for a play-in. In that scenario, the Grizzlies would enter the lottery with the 14th-best odds, since they had a better record on March 11 than any of their fellow lottery teams. That would give them a 2.4% chance at moving into the top four, where their pick would be protected.
Those aren’t good odds. In all likelihood, missing the playoffs would just mean the Grizzlies sent the Celtics the No. 14 pick instead of a selection in the 15-17 range. Still, the outside chance at another top pick would at least be a small silver lining if Memphis can’t grab that No. 8 spot. If the Grizzlies do hang onto this year’s pick, they’d owe Boston an unprotected first-rounder in 2021.
Over in the East, the Nets owe a lottery-protected pick to the Timberwolves and would keep it if they fall out of the postseason. However, the Wizards’ struggles have essentially ruled out that possibility. One more Brooklyn win or Washington loss will ensure that the Nets make the playoffs and send their pick to Minnesota.
Current lottery odds
Listed here are the odds for the teams not invited to Orlando, who will hold the top eight spots in the lottery standings.
The numbers in the chart indicate percentages, so the Warriors, for example, have a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick and a 47.9% chance of ending up at No. 5. If a team’s odds are listed as >0, that percentage is below 0.1%.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GSW | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 47.9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| CLE | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 27.8 | 20 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| MIN | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 14.8 | 26 | 7.1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| ATL | 12.5 | 12.2 | 11.9 | 11.5 | 7.2 | 25.7 | 16.8 | 2.2 | – | – | – | – |
| DET | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 2.2 | 19.6 | 26.7 | 8.8 | 0.6 | – | – | – |
| NYK | 9 | 9.2 | 9.4 | 9.6 | – | 8.6 | 29.6 | 20.6 | 3.8 | 0.2 | – | – |
| CHI | 7.5 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.5 | – | – | 19.7 | 34.1 | 12.9 | 1.3 | >0 | – |
| CHA | 6 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 7.2 | – | – | – | 34.5 | 32.1 | 6.7 | 0.4 | >0 |
The tentative odds for the bottom six spots, assuming the Grizzlies hang onto the No. 8 seed, can be found right here.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
LeBron To Sit On Thursday; Westbrook Also Unlikely To Play
Lakers star LeBron James will sit out Thursday night’s game against the Rockets due to soreness in his groin, the team announced in this afternoon’s injury report (Twitter link via Bill Oram of The Athletic).
James’ groin ailment probably isn’t anything for Lakers fans to worry about. With the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference locked up, the team has little reason to ride its star players hard before the postseason begins on August 17. The Lakers were also in action on Wednesday, so LeBron will be sitting the second half of the back-to-back set.
Meanwhile, the Rockets may be without one of their stars on Thursday night as well. Russell Westbrook is listed as questionable due to a right quad contusion, with a source telling Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link) that the All-Star guard will likely sit out vs. the Lakers.
There’s no indication that Westbrook’s injury is serious either, though these last few seeding games are a little more important for Houston than they are for Los Angeles. The Rockets are currently the No. 6 seed in the West, but they’re tied with the fifth-seeded Thunder and a half-game behind the No. 4 Jazz.
The Rockets will have two days off before facing Sacramento on Sunday, so we’ll see if Westbrook is ready to roll by that point.
Growing Momentum For Jim Boylen To Keep Job?
There appears to be strong growing momentum for Bulls head coach Jim Boylen to retain his current position, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, who reports that financial considerations are expected to play a key role in the decision.
Nearly three months ago, Cowley reported that new Bulls executives Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley were believed to be leaning toward making a head coaching change after receiving a “mixed bag” of feedback on Boylen from Bulls players. Cowley writes today that the team’s top basketball operations execs had even reached out through back-channels to potential candidates such as Sixers assistant Ime Udoka and Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin.
However, the Bulls’ financial landscape has changed over the last few months. Team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who doesn’t have a reputation for aggressive spending, has claimed that financial losses for the Bulls and his Chicago White Sox are “in the nine figures.” There’s also ongoing uncertainty about what the 2020/21 NBA season will look like and how the coronavirus pandemic may continue to impact team and league revenues.
Although he cautions that the situation is fluid, Cowley suggests that the Bulls’ financial situation has greatly increased the chances of Boylen’s return. It doesn’t help matters that there are still no plans in place to have the NBA’s bottom eight teams conduct some form of organized offseason activites. Karnisovas has previously spoken about wanting to evaluate Boylen in such a setting, but he may not get an opportunity to do so.
ESPN reported last month that the financial strain caused by the pandemic may make teams around the league less inclined to change coaches this offseason, so the latest update on Boylen doesn’t come as a huge surprise.
Still, as Cowley rightly points out (via Twitter), it’s not as if replacing Boylen with a first-time coach like Udoka or Griffin would be exorbitantly costly for the franchise, at least in relative terms. Boylen is making just $1.6MM and a first-time coach could potentially be hired for a salary in the $2.5MM range. The league’s highest-paid coaches – Doc Rivers and Gregg Popovich – are reportedly earning $10MM+ per year.
Northwest Notes: Carmelo, MPJ, SGA, Wolves
Carmelo Anthony‘s NBA career appeared to be on life support after aborted stints in Oklahoma City and Houston in recent years. However, Anthony and the Trail Blazers have brought out the best in one another, Mark Medina of USA Today argues in the wake of Portland’s impressive win over Houston on Tuesday.
“He’s all about the team. He understands what we need from him in certain situations,” Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard said of Anthony. “He knows how the game is going. He knows how to put himself in place to help the team. It’s obvious for somebody like me that pays attention to everything. I find it real funny and disrespectful how people speak on him. He’s a Hall-of-Famer.”
Anthony’s NBA future was in jeopardy following his release from the Rockets due in large part to questions about his defense. Although he hasn’t exactly become a defensive stopper since joining the Trail Blazers, Carmelo hasn’t been a major liability either — the team has an identical defensive rating when he plays and when he sits. As Medina notes, the veteran forward had a key blocked shot on P.J. Tucker late in Tuesday’s game.
“I say everybody who was talking, or said something negative about him, they need to apologize, you know?” Blazers wing Gary Trent Jr. said, per Jason Quick of The Athletic. “It’s Carmelo Anthony. He went through tough times. He battled, stayed resilient and for him to come back and bounce back like it’s nothing? That’s why he’s Carmelo Anthony and why he does what he does.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. followed up a 37-point, 12-rebound performance on Monday with a 30-point, 15-rebound showing on Wednesday, prompting rave reviews from his coach and teammates. As Mike Singer of The Denver Post writes, Michael Malone referred to Porter as a “cornerstone” of the franchise. Meanwhile, injured swingman Will Barton – whom Porter is replacing in the staring lineup – tweeted that the second-year forward is “special,” adding that he “can’t be on a leash with that type (of) ability.”
- Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is getting more of a chance to run the offense during Dennis Schröder‘s absence from the team, as Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman observes. While Schröder and Chris Paul have spent most of the time handling the point this season, Gilgeous-Alexander projects to be the team’s long-term point guard.
- With Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor mulling a sale of the franchise, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic takes a fascinating, in-depth look at Taylor’s original purchase of the team in 1994, exploring how he helped keep the Wolves in Minnesota.