Hawks’ Kevin Huerter Out At Least Two Weeks
After undergoing an MRI on his injured left shoulder, Hawks sharpshooter Kevin Huerter has been diagnosed with a left rotator cuff strain with an associated shoulder capsule strain, the team announced today in a press release. Huerter will begin receiving treatment and going through rehab for that shoulder, and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, according to the Hawks.
Atlanta head coach Lloyd Pierce had suggested earlier today that Huerter’s injury wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but would force him to miss some time, as Sarah Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays (via Twitter). The second-year shooting guard sustained the injury during Tuesday’s win in Denver.
It’s a tough break for a young Atlanta team that was already missing young big man John Collins, who is serving a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy. Huerter was off to a solid start this season, with 9.3 PPG on .427/.386/.800 shooting in 10 games (22.5 MPG).
In Huerter’s absence, and with Evan Turner (Achilles) and Vince Carter (personal) still out for the time being, DeAndre’ Bembry and Cam Reddish are among the candidates to see some extra playing time. Allen Crabbe (knee) is also reportedly healthy now and could make his Hawks debut on Thursday if the club needs to fill more minutes on the wing.
NBA Trade Candidate Watch: Southwest Division
Over the course of the 2019/20 NBA season, up until February’s trade deadline, we’re keeping an eye on potential trade candidates from around the NBA, monitoring their value and exploring the likelihood that they’ll be moved. Each of these looks at possible trade candidates focuses on a specific division, as we zero in on three players from that division.
Although the Spurs don’t typically make splashy in-season trades, the Southwest could still end up being one of the NBA’s busiest divisions in 2019/20 in terms of trade activity. The Rockets and Mavericks are in position to buyers, while the Pelicans and Grizzlies may seek out deals that position them to better build around the top two picks from the 2019 draft.
Let’s focus on three players out of the Southwest who could emerge as trade candidates before this season’s deadline…
Andre Iguodala, G/F
Memphis Grizzlies
$17.19MM cap hit; UFA in 2020
Iguodala is perhaps the most obvious trade candidate in the NBA at the moment. The Grizzlies are so resigned to the fact that the veteran wing has no future in Memphis that they’re not even requiring him to be with the team, having reached an agreement in September allowing him not to report to camp.
While the Grizzlies are holding out hope that a favorable trade emerges for Iguodala, many of his primary suitors don’t have much to offer to match his $17MM+ salary and may rather wait to see if he’s bought out. A recent survey of executives conducted by David Aldridge of The Athletic revealed that most people around the league expect Iguodala to end up with the Lakers, but they have no realistic path to a trade, given the construction of their roster.
It makes sense for the Grizzlies to be patient with this process. Iguodala would fit in well on just about every NBA roster, and more buyers could emerge by January or February, increasing Memphis’ leverage.
Courtney Lee, SG
Dallas Mavericks
$12.76MM cap hit; UFA in 2020
Lee had one of his best seasons as a pro in 2017/18, averaging 12.0 PPG on .454/.406/.919 shooting, but he has been slowed by injuries since then and isn’t currently a fixture in the Mavericks‘ rotation.
Although he doesn’t have positive value, Lee’s expiring contract would be Dallas’ best salary-matching piece if the club goes out in search of an upgrade. The team is well below the tax line, so taking on some extra money in a deal involving Lee wouldn’t be an issue.
By way of example, the Mavs could offer Lee and another asset to the Grizzlies for Iguodala (and perhaps already have). Although there’s a gap between their cap charges, the NBA’s trade rules would allow Dallas to take back up to $17.76MM in exchange for Lee alone.
Nene, C
Houston Rockets
$10MM cap hit; $10MM non-guaranteed cap hit for 2020/21
When the Rockets gave Nene an incentive-heavy contract that was only fully guaranteed for $2.56MM (his minimum salary), the idea was to create a trade chip like the one the Mavericks have with Lee. Because the deal featured $7.44MM in incentives deemed “likely,” Nene’s cap hit is technically $10MM, but as long as he doesn’t play more than nine games, he ultimately won’t count for more than $2.56MM against his team’s cap.
Unfortunately for Daryl Morey and the Rockets’ front office, that plan backfired, as the NBA ruled that only the guaranteed portion of Nene’s contract can be counted for salary-matching purposes. That significantly limits his trade value.
Still, it’s not as if Nene now has no value as a trade chip. On his own, he could bring back a player earning up to about $4.59MM. Paired with a little-used player like Isaiah Hartenstein, the Rockets could acquire a player earning up to approximately $7.07MM. That could still come in handy when the deadline rolls around.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hornets Notes: Graham, Rozier, Batum
As Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer notes, Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak has talked in recent months about the team’s top priority being retaining young talent, rather than going out and signing veteran free agents. In the early going this season, second-year point guard Devonte’ Graham has emerged as the sort of player worth investing in, with averages of 18.0 PPG and 7.3 APG through 11 games.
If the Hornets do want to lock up Graham, they’ll have to wait to do so, writes Bonnell. Non-rookie-scale contracts can’t be extended until at least two years after they were signed, so Graham won’t become extension-eligible until next July, when he enters the final year of his current deal.
At that time, the Hornets would be able to offer him a four-year extension with a starting salary worth up to 120% of the NBA’s estimated average salary. A similar extension going into effect in 2020/21 would be worth approximately $51.4MM over four years, but that figure will be a little higher in 2021/22. It will be interesting to see over the course of this season whether Graham continues to prove he’s worth that sort of commitment.
Here’s more on the Hornets:
- Graham’s early-season success has overshadowed Terry Rozier‘s first few weeks as a Hornet, but the team’s big offseason acquisition had his best game on Wednesday, matching his career high with 33 points. In a separate article for The Charlotte Observer, Bonnell takes a look at how Rozier can help the Hornets, and how the team might best utilize him and Graham together.
- In his latest mailbag for The Observer, Bonnell tackles a handful of Hornets-related topics, exploring Dwayne Bacon‘s slow start, whether Charlotte should pursue a third point guard, and whether it was ultimately in the franchise’s best interests to move on from Kemba Walker.
- Veteran forward Nicolas Batum, who has been out since opening night with a broken finger, fully participated in practice today and told reporters that he hopes to return on the Hornets’ upcoming four-game road trip (Twitter link). That trip begins on Saturday in New York and ends next Friday in Washington.
Caris LeVert Undergoes Thumb Surgery, Out 4-6 Weeks
NOVEMBER 14, 1:27pm: LeVert will likely be sidelined for approximately four to six weeks, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
NOVEMBER 14, 12:14pm: LeVert underwent successful surgery today to repair ligaments in his right thumb, the Nets announced (via Twitter). The team didn’t provide a specific timeline for LeVert’s return, stating updates will be “provided as appropriate.” However, Charania reiterates (via Twitter) that the fourth-year guard will likely miss several weeks.
NOVEMBER 13, 4:01pm: The Nets fear that guard Caris LeVert has ligament damage in his right thumb and will be sidelined for the next several weeks, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (video link).
Brooklyn has yet to make any formal announcements on LeVert’s status, but we can probably expect an update from the team soon, as Charania reported earlier in the day that the 25-year-old was visiting specialists to undergo further evaluations on his thumb injury.
Although the Nets haven’t officially revealed LeVert’s recovery timeline, the team signed Iman Shumpert this afternoon for extra depth on the wing, which is a strong hint that Charania’s report is accurate.
Brooklyn will be free to carry Shumpert for the next month, then will have to either release him or trade or waive another player by December 15, when Wilson Chandler‘s 25-game suspension ends. By that point, LeVert may be back or at least close to returning, reducing the need for an additional wing like Shumpert.
The thumb injury is a tough break for LeVert, who missed over half of last season due to a major ankle injury. He was off to a solid start in 2019/20, with 16.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 4.0 APG to go along with a .421/.361/.645 shooting line in nine games (31.6 MPG).
Community Shootaround: Could Siakam Repeat As Most Improved Player?
Raptors forward Pascal Siakam was the runaway winner of the NBA’s 2018/19 Most Improved Player award, capturing 86 of 100 possible first-place votes, and he was certainly deserving of the honor. Siakam was one of the key contributors for the eventual NBA champions, guarding all five positions and increasing his numbers across the board – including a PPG bump from 7.3 to 16.9 – while scoring even more efficiently than he had before.
So far this season though, Siakam may have taken an even more significant step forward, as John Hollinger of The Athletic writes. After increasing his scoring output by 9.6 points per game a year ago, Siakam has tacked on 10.3 more PPG this season, boosting that number to 27.2 PPG overall. His usage rate has jumped from 20.8 to 30.5, and while his overall field goal percentage has dipped a little, he’s become a more dangerous threat from outside, knocking down 2.3 threes per game at a 37.3% rate (up from 1.0 and 36.9%).
As Hollinger outlines, Siakam has made his latest strides by finding creative new ways to score. He’s a threat in the post, off the dribble, in the pick-and-roll, and from beyond the arc.
Last season, one of Siakam’s Achilles heels was his inability to make above-the-break threes. As ESPN’s Zach Lowe observes (via Twitter), the 25-year-old only attempted 29% of his three-pointers from above the break in 2018/19, making just 27% on those attempts. This year, 75% of his threes are coming from that area, and he has converted 42% of them.
Siakam isn’t Kawhi Leonard – even if his early-season numbers are remarkably similar to Kawhi’s full-season 2018/19 averages – but he has quickly become the Raptors’ new go-to offensive play-maker in Leonard’s absence this season. While his numbers through 11 games may not be sustainable, he looks like an All-Star lock, and if he can maintain anything close to this pace, he figures to be in the All-NBA conversation too. However, the most intriguing Siakam subplot this season may be whether he can win his second consecutive Most Improved Player award.
As Hollinger writes, no one has come close to being named MIP for two straight seasons. Of the last 10 winners, more than half have regressed a year after winning the award, and even the ones that have continued to improve have only taken modest steps forward. But the early returns on Siakam this season suggest he’ll have a case.
There were certainly be other good MIP candidates this season. Brandon Ingram, Luke Kennard, Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are a few of the early contenders, though some voters shy away from second-year players, which could hurt Doncic, Young, and SGA. For that matter, some voters are reluctant to pick repeat award winners in general, but the novelty of doing so for an award like MIP that never has repeat winners might actually work in Siakam’s favor.
What do you think? Is it realistic to expect Siakam to be in the Most Improved Player conversation for a second consecutive year? Could he actually win the award again? If you’re not bullish on his chances, which candidate(s) do you like so far?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Latest On Top 2020 Prospect James Wiseman
Memphis big man James Wiseman, a potential top 2020 draft pick who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA last week, has dropped his lawsuit against the NCAA and the University of Memphis, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Wiseman was deemed ineligible when the NCAA ruled that he had received booster money.
“It has become clear to Mr. Wiseman that the lawsuit he filed last week has become an impediment to the University of Memphis in its efforts to reach a fair and equitable resolution with the NCAA concerning his eligibility status,” Wiseman’s attorneys said in a statement, per Charania.
Memphis initially chose to keep Wiseman in its lineup last Friday, responding to the NCAA’s ruling with an “emergency temporary restraining order.” However, the University has now declared Wiseman ineligible and will immediately apply for his reinstatement, the school announced today. While the young center won’t be able to play in games for Memphis for the time being, he’ll continue practicing with the team.
As Jeff Goodman of Stadium (video link) explains, the next step in the Wiseman saga will involve attempting to reach an agreement with the NCAA on a penalty that falls short of making him ineligible for his entire freshman season. Goodman suggests that Wiseman and Memphis will do their best to resolve the situation fairly quickly, perhaps with a short-term suspension.
ESPN’s draft experts Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz view Wiseman as the top prospect in the 2020 draft class, noting in their scouting report that the seven-footer is an exceptional athlete and has the ability to make an impact as a rim protector, given his 7’5″ wingspan.
Atlantic Notes: VanVleet, Shumpert, DSJ, Knicks
Fred VanVleet became a household name among NBA fans during the Raptors‘ championship run last spring, and particularly during Game 6 of the Finals, when he knocked down five three-pointers. That success has now carried over to the 2019/20 season. As Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes, VanVleet is proving to the Raptors and to the rest of the league that he’s capable of being a starting point guard.
VanVleet has started all 11 of the Raptors’ games so far, first alongside Kyle Lowry and now in Lowry’s place at point guard as the veteran recovers from a thumb injury. VanVleet has made 40.6% of his three-pointers in those 11 games, and his 17.1 PPG, 7.6 APG, and league-leading 38.5 MPG would all easily be career bests.
With 2020’s free agent class expected to be quite weak, VanVleet – who is in the final season of a two-year, $18MM deal – projects to be one of the top point guards available. He won’t be eligible for an extension before reaching the open market, so the Raptors will almost certainly have to ward off rival suitors next summer if they intend to lock up VanVleet beyond this season.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- After the Nets signed Iman Shumpert to a contract on Wednesday, Chris Milholen of NetsDaily explores what the veteran swingman is capable of bringing to Brooklyn and why he’s a “safe” addition for the club.
- The Knicks considered sending Dennis Smith Jr. to their G League affiliate in Westchester for some low-pressure minutes after he spent two weeks away from New York, but ultimately opted not to do so, per head coach David Fizdale. “We thought about it, but we just felt like it wasn’t an injury that took him out,” Fizdale said Wednesday, per Greg Joyce of The New York Post. “It was more from a conditioning standpoint. So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna play him, try to play him in smaller doses to get him back in shape.”
- How did the Knicks end up in their current dilemma, with Fizdale on the hot seat and top front office executives facing similar pressure? ESPN’s Brian Windhorst revisits the franchise’s last year and a half, starting with Fizdale’s introductory press conference back in May 2018, providing a blow-by-blow account of the turning points during that time.
Al-Farouq Aminu Discusses FA Decision, Magic’s Goals
After finishing last season with a top-10 defense and a bottom-10 offense, the Magic made the decision to double down on their strengths in the offseason. Rather than using their mid-level exception to add a play-maker or shot creator, Orlando used the full MLE to bring aboard Al-Farouq Aminu, a veteran forward best known for his perimeter defense.
As Aminu recently explained to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype, improving that defense and making it one of the NBA’s very best units is a priority for the Magic.
“We discuss it every day. We want to be a top-five defensive team, if not No. 1,” Aminu said. “I think it’s definitely something that this team has the ability to do and we just have to continue to click together and understand where we need to be in order to do it. I think the more and more we play together and get that cohesiveness, the better we’ll become on defense. And out of the gate, we’re already talented on defense. Now, it’s just getting that continuity and that will take us over the top.”
Although the Magic currently rank third in defensive rating, the team has the NBA’s second-worst offensive rating, which has contributed to a slow start (4-7) this season. Those struggles have prompted head coach Steve Clifford to experiment a little with his rotation, and that experimentation hasn’t benefited Aminu, who only played two minutes in Orlando’s win over the Sixers on Wednesday. After averaging 24.1 minutes in the team’s first seven games, Aminu has played just 11.9 MPG in the last four.
Aminu is in the first year of a three-year contract worth over $29MM, so it’d be a surprise if he’s removed from the rotation altogether. However, it may be a while before we see him match the 29 minutes he logged on opening night.
Still, when the 29-year-old spoke recently to Kennedy, he was happy with his decision to join the Magic in the summer and optimistic about what he could bring the team. Here are a few highlights from that conversation, which is worth checking out in full:
On why Aminu chose the Magic in free agency:
“I like that they’re a young team and I thought that I could bring some veteran leadership to them. Also, they went to the playoffs last year, so I knew they had a good team. I like their style of play and different things like that. I’m glad I made that decision.”
On whether he’s excited about the Magic’s young core:
“Yeah, for sure. I really wanted to play a part in molding them. In a couple of years, when these guys are in their prime and doing their thing, it’ll be cool to be able to say that I put my touch on that. That’ll be cool. I was talking to them the other day and I told them, ‘Y’all are going to make a lot of money! Y’all play the right way, y’all are young and the league is just changing. Guys are getting paid.'”
On leaving Portland after spending four seasons with the Trail Blazers:
“It was [tough] because I’m leaving the guys I was playing with, but a lot of the guys ended up leaving anyway, so it was kind of like, ‘Well, nobody is there.’ Not ‘nobody,’ but you know what I mean. The gang’s not even there anymore anyway, so it wouldn’t have been the same even if I had stayed.
“It’s not the organization, it’s the people that you get to work with every day that you end up [getting close with]. … Sometimes, it’s just one person; like, I remember the first time it was Ed [Davis]. Me and him came into Portland together and we became really cool. Then, after three years, he was gone and that was tough. Then, I started becoming really cool with Moe [Harkless] and Evan [Turner] and now they’re gone, so it’s like, man… It’s kind of already tough to make friends in this industry anyway and then guys move on. And you still get to talk to them and stay close, but it’s different. But I think that’s why it isn’t as traumatic because those guys are in different places anyway, so the gang is gone.”
Latest On NBA’s Load Management Dilemma
The NBA sent a memo to all 30 organizations this week instructing teams not to use the phrase “load management” to describe an injury, as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today details in a series of tweets. According to the NBA’s memo, “load management” is a permissible description of a player’s absence only if he’s missing a game due to rest under the league’s resting policy.
The Hawks, who had been listing Chandler Parsons as out due to “load management” during the first few weeks of the season, adjusted their approach on Tuesday, according to Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal Constitution (Twitter link). Parsons’ new designation was “injury management (bilateral knees).” We can probably expect the Clippers to make a similar change to Kawhi Leonard‘s injury-report description the next time he sits.
While the NBA’s latest request may seem arbitrary or semantic, it reflects what a delicate subject load management has become for the league. It’s one of the “most debated, least understood” issues in basketball today, according to ESPN’s Kevin Pelton and Kevin Arnovitz, who go into detail on the science and the goals behind load management programs.
“It is rare to find a sports scientist or performance specialist who believes that the NBA season doesn’t require some attention to load management to assure that a player has a chance to be at peak performance in the postseason,” Pelton and Arnovitz write. However, the ESPN duo acknowledges that while teams have more data points available to them than ever, interpreting that data “is still an art” rather than a hard science.
As load management continues to be a popular topic of discussion in the basketball world, here are a few more items related to the phenomenon:
- Ethan Strauss of The Athletic surveyed executives, coaches, and players around the NBA in an attempt to determine the best fixes for the load management problem and received a variety of responses. Reducing the amount of games in a season or stretching the season to create fewer back-to-back sets was the most popular answer in Strauss’ survey. One agent also suggested teams should make an effort to rest players during non-national TV games and make their plans clear as soon as they know them.
- WarnerMedia chairman Jeff Zucker said this week that he’d like to see the NBA be more proactive in addressing “load management” games that coincide with national TV broadcasts. (Twitter links via Ben Fischer of SportsBusiness Journal). “I think the league has some influence over teams and i would like them to exert that influence,” Zucker said. TNT falls under the WarnerMedia umbrella, so Zucker obviously has a vested interest in stars suiting up for marquee games.
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban came out strongly in favor of load management this week, calling it “the best thing to ever happen to the league,” as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe tweets. While fans may be frustrated to see star players sitting in regular season games, Cuban argues that it increases the chances of keeping those stars healthy for the most important games in the spring. “You actually get more of your stars [in the playoffs],” Cuban said, per ESPN. “You get shorter rotations of more of the guys playing in the playoffs, which is what you want to see anyway, right?”
- Lakers star LeBron James believes that young players could probably benefit from “load management” – or at least more favorable scheduling – at the AAU level, as he tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “A lot of these [AAU] tournaments don’t have the best interest of these kids, man,” James said. “I see it. It’s like one time, they had to play a quarterfinal game, a semifinal game and a championship game starting at 9 a.m., and the championship game was at 12:30 p.m. Three games. I was like, ‘Oh, hell no.’ And my kids were dead tired. My kids were dead tired. This isn’t right. This is an issue.”
Eric Gordon Undergoes Knee Surgery, Out Six Weeks
NOVEMBER 13: The Rockets announced today in a press release that Gordon has undergone a right knee arthroscopy and will miss approximately six weeks.
NOVEMBER 12: Rockets guard Eric Gordon will undergo surgery on his knee, a source tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Speaking today to reporters, head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed the news (video link via Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston).
Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) first reported that Gordon was gathering information on a knee issue and was leaning toward undergoing a clean-up procedure.
Gordon is expected to be sidelined for at least a month and could ultimately miss up to six weeks, league sources tell Charania (Twitter link). Feigen, who says the surgery will remove debris from Gordon’s knee, tweets that the Rockets are planning to be without the veteran shooting guard for six weeks.
It doesn’t appear that Gordon suffered a new injury in the Rockets’ most recent game — according to D’Antoni, the knee had been bothering the 30-year-old since last season. Gordon was off to a slow start in 2019/20, with just 10.9 PPG on .309/.284/.643 shooting through nine games, so the club will hope that addressing that knee issue helps jump-start his season once he’s recovered and ready to return.
With Gordon on the shelf, Ben McLemore, Austin Rivers, and Chris Clemons are the top candidates to play increased roles for Houston, as D’Antoni told reporters today.