Pacific Notes: Nurkic, Ayton, Beal, Klay, Wiggins, Harden
While one game isn’t enough to determine winners and losers of a trade, the Suns‘ victory over the Trail Blazers on Tuesday served as a reminder of why Phoenix traded former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton for a handful of role players led by Jusuf Nurkic, writes Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports.
Nurkic, Grayson Allen, and Nassir Little all played key roles in the victory, with Nurkic in particular bouncing back from a slow start to have a big game. The veteran center finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks, and was a plus-17 in 29 minutes.
Ayton, who was a minus-33 in 31 minutes for the Blazers, is getting an opportunity to play more of a starring role in Portland, while Nurkic is happy to take a back seat to his superstar teammates in Phoenix, according to Bourguet, who suggests those roles suit the two big men based on what they hope to accomplish in the near future.
“It’s not like I’m a main player here, man, [like] I’m just gonna take the ball and do whatever I want,” Nurkic said. “I feel like people need to understand I’m here to sacrifice and do all the little stuff that they need for the game and winning basketball.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Andscape’s Marc J. Spears shares the second diary installment from Suns guard Bradley Beal, who is currently on the shelf with a back injury and said he shares fans’ frustration that the team’s big three has yet to play together. “We want it to happen more than anybody,” Beal wrote. “So, we’re all working diligently…to make sure that happens. … Before you know it, we’re all going to be clicking. And when this thing is healthy and the train is rolling, we’re going to be steaming away.”
- Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins haven’t looked quite like their usual selves so far this season, but Warriors head coach Steve Kerr referred to the two former All-Stars as “championship players” and indicated that he’s willing to be “really patient” with them, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. After Wiggins scored a season-high 31 points on Saturday and Thompson put up a season-high 20 on Monday, Kerr suggested that patience is beginning to pay off. “I think you will see a different Wiggs from here on, and I think the same thing’s going to happen with Klay,” he said.
- What has been the key for helping James Harden get comfortable with the Clippers? “Constant communication,” according to Harden and head coach Tyronn Lue, as Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times writes. Lue said his experience with Harden has been one he went through with the Clippers’ other stars too. “(They) all want to have a relationship and constant communication with the head coach and just try to figure out what they see, what the coach sees and how we can put it all together,” Lue said.
Community Shootaround: NBA Coaches On Hot Seat?
It’s rare for an NBA team to make a head coaching change this early in the season, but it’s not unheard of. Just last fall, for instance, the Nets parted ways with Steve Nash only seven games into the regular season. The league’s reigning Coach of the Year, Mike Brown, was once let go by the Lakers a mere five games into a season.
That doesn’t mean that we should expect a head coaching change in the coming days or weeks, but it’s extremely rare to get through an entire NBA season without at least some overhaul in the coaching ranks. So it’s likely just a matter of time until at least one team decides to pull the trigger and make a change.
The NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches – such as Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, and Steve Kerr – won’t be fired, and it’s probably safe to assume that all the coaches who have been hired within the last year are safe as well, barring some unexpected non-basketball development. Eliminating those two groups significantly reduces our list of coaches who might be on the hot seat.
From there, we can cross off several more coaches whose teams are off to strong starts this season. That group includes guys like Chris Finch, Mark Daigneault, Jason Kidd, and Jamahl Mosley, among several others. And we can eliminate at least a couple more coaches whose clubs have given them strong votes of confidence as of late — for instance, the Clippers refused to let interested teams talk to Tyronn Lue this past offseason.
Who does that leave? Well, let’s start with Billy Donovan. He was named by at least one sportsbook in the preseason as the head coach most likely to be fired first, and the Bulls‘ performance so far this season hasn’t done much to quiet those rumors. Zach LaVine and other Chicago players have been the subject of trade rumors, but when a team is underachieving, it’s often the coach who is replaced before the players are.
J.B. Bickerstaff‘s Cavaliers and Willie Green‘s Pelicans have been up and down to start the season, but both teams have been hit hard by injuries and have still held their own in the playoff race. Their seats might start getting hotter if they don’t make any sort of postseason run this spring, but for now, they should be fine. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn falls into this category too, with expectations in Brooklyn a little lower than they are in Cleveland or New Orleans.
Chauncey Billups, Will Hardy, and Wes Unseld Jr. are among the coaches whose teams already look like strong bets to end up in the lottery, but those clubs weren’t expected to make the playoffs this season anyway, so their management groups likely won’t be in any hurry to make changes. Unseld is the lone potential exception since he was hired by a previous front office regime, but a recent report suggested his job isn’t in any immediate danger.
Taylor Jenkins and Steve Clifford are perhaps worth keeping a closer eye on, since the Grizzlies and Hornets have won a combined seven games so far this season despite entering the season with playoff aspirations. But those are two more teams who have been significantly impacted by player absences and who probably can’t be realistically judged until their groups are more whole.
Jenkins, in particular, has several strong seasons under his belt and was expected to ultimately be judged on his team’s playoff success. If Memphis’ roster is too depleted to even make the postseason, it’ll probably be hard to put that on Jenkins.
For now, then, Donovan may be the only head coach whose seat looks truly hot, though there are certainly other coaches who could join him if their teams experienced prolonged slumps.
What do you think? Is Donovan the coach whose job is in the most jeopardy in the short term? Are there others you think could be replaced before season’s end?
Head to the comment section below to share your two cents!
Injury Notes: LaRavia, Reddish, Watanabe, DSJ, Thomas
Grizzlies forward Jake LaRavia is undergoing a procedure to address a corneal abrasion of his left eye, the team announced in a press release on Tuesday (Twitter link). According to the club, LaRavia will be reevaluated in about two or three weeks, so he won’t return until sometime in December, at the earliest.
It’s the latest in a growing list of injuries for the Grizzlies, who are missing big men Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke due to long-term ailments and have also had Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, and Xavier Tillman go down recently.
The Grizzlies are already carrying one extra player on their standard roster while Ja Morant is on the suspended list, but could qualify for another roster spot via the hardship provision. A team can apply for a hardship exception when it has at least four players who have missed three or more consecutive games due to injury or illness, assuming those players will remain sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Wednesday’s game vs. Houston will be the third straight that Smart, Kennard, and Tillman have missed, so the Grizzlies could request a hardship exception after that contest if they want to try to add some extra depth.
Here are a few more injury-related updates from around the NBA:
- Lakers forward Cam Reddish left Tuesday’s win over Utah early due to a groin injury and didn’t return. He’ll undergo further evaluation on Wednesday to assess the severity of the injury, sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). Head coach Darvin Ham said that second-year guard Max Christie could play a “really prominent” role on Wednesday vs. Dallas if Reddish can’t go, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
- Suns forward Yuta Watanabe, who was unavailable for a second straight game on Tuesday, has a “deep” thigh bruise that head coach Frank Vogel described as “really painful,” per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Watanabe’s return timeline is unclear.
- Nets guard Dennis Smith Jr., affected by a lower back sprain, underwent an MRI on Tuesday, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Smith will be out for a second consecutive game on Wednesday.
- Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn added that the team should have an update on injured guard Cam Thomas (ankle sprain) later this week, according to Lewis. “He is heading in the right direction,” Vaughn said of Thomas. “Unless we wanted to be extremely proficient in giving him an MRI to compare to, to my knowledge he won’t need another MRI. He’s building towards getting back on the floor.”
Pacers, Lakers First Teams To Clinch Tournament Quarterfinal Spots
The first two quarterfinalists for the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament were determined on Tuesday, as the Pacers‘ win over Atlanta and the Lakers‘ blowout of Utah ensured that both clubs will advance to the knockout round of the tournament.
Indiana, the winner of East Group A, is 3-0 in round robin play and holds the tiebreaker over the 2-1 Cavaliers due to their head-to-head record. Cleveland remains in the hunt for the East’s wild card spot.
As for the Lakers, they’ve played their full round robin slate in West Group A and won all four games, with a +74 point differential. The club has secured home court advantage for the quarterfinals and is in strong position to claim the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed.
Only two other undefeated teams are left in the West and those two clubs – the Kings and Timberwolves – will have to face each other this Friday. If either Sacramento or Minnesota finishes with a 4-0 record in group play, point differential would be the tiebreaker to determine seeding — the two clubs are only +16 and +10, respectively, through two games and would probably need a pair of blowout victories to pass the Lakers.
By making the quarterfinals, the Pacers and Lakers have clinched per-player bonuses worth at least $50K. The value of those bonuses would increase to $100K if they advance to the semifinals, $200K if they make the final, and $500K if they win the entire tournament. The Lakers haven’t been shy about referring to that prize money as a motivating factor, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN notes.
“It’s not a run-of-the-mill regular-season game,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said after Tuesday’s win. “They’re well aware. That purse is pretty attractive. … Guys like money. … Not like it, they love it. That incentive right there — it’s huge.”
Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and head coach Rick Carlisle said this week that they appreciate the fact that the in-season tournament has given a young club – which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2020 – a chance to compete in meaningful games.
The Pistons, Wizards, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, and Spurs have been eliminated from quarterfinal contention, but every other team technically remains alive. The full in-season tournament standings can be found here.
Southwest Notes: Brooks, Grizzlies, McCollum, Nance, THJ, Osman
Dillon Brooks, who has been lauded by Rockets coaches and teammates alike for the grit and toughness he has brought to his new team in Houston, believes his former club in Memphis has missed the edge he brought to the court, as Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required) writes. Ahead of his first meeting against Memphis on Wednesday, Brooks said the Grizzlies “have no swagger” this season without him.
“It’s like the girlfriend that you used to have,” Brooks said of his departure from the Grizzlies, who have a 3-10 record. “You don’t know how good she is until she’s gone.”
Asked about Brooks’ comments, Grizzlies wing Desmond Bane said he “hasn’t seen anything that he’s said,” while Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins took the high road, saying that he’s “really happy for (Brooks’) early-season success,” per Wynston Wilcox of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Although they weren’t willing to get dragged into a war of words with Brooks, it sounds like there are certainly some Grizzlies players who are looking forward to facing their former teammate.
“I want to play against him,” Jaren Jackson Jr. told Wilcox. “I’ve been talking trash to Dillon for five years, so it’s great.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- While it remains unclear exactly when they’ll return to game action, injured Pelicans veterans CJ McCollum (collapsed lung) and Larry Nance Jr. (rib fracture) are trending in the right direction. Both players were full participants in practice on Tuesday, according to head coach Willie Green (Twitter link via Will Guillory of The Athletic). McCollum, who said he also fractured a rib, told reporters that he feels good and is awaiting medical clearance from his pulmonologist, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “I should be cleared here pretty soon,” he said.
- Even without McCollum and Nance available, the Pelicans have been playing good basketball lately, winning three of their last four games, including a 36-point blowout over Sacramento on Monday. As Clark details for NOLA.com, star forward Zion Williamson said a team meeting helped spark the turnaround. “We weren’t on the same page before,” Williamson said. “Now we’re all on the same page. … We talked about what we wanted to do as a unit. That’s what we are going to live and die with. Since we are all on the same page, I think we have been gelling together a lot better.”
- Mavericks wing Tim Hardaway Jr. had started more often than not in his previous four-plus seasons in Dallas, but he has embraced a sixth man role this season, writes Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. Hardaway’s 18.2 points per game and .405 3PT% would be career highs. “I said before, first and foremost, in order for you to know that you’re going in that role, you have to embrace it and accept it,” Hardaway said. “That’s what (Jamal Crawford) did. That’s what (Lou Williams) did. That’s what J.R. Smith did. And that’s what I’m trying to do is have that same mentality.”
- When the Spurs acquired Cedi Osman as part of the three-team sign-and-trade deal sending Max Strus to Cleveland, it wasn’t clear whether the veteran forward would even be in their plans. However, Osman is playing well in a regular role off the bench and has earned praise from head coach Gregg Popovich, who called him “a competitor of the highest order,” according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “He’s been really good for us,” Popovich said of the 28-year-old, who is on an expiring contract.
Pistons’ Monte Morris Out At Least 6-8 More Weeks
Monte Morris‘ debut for the Pistons is unlikely to happen until 2024. The team announced today in a press release that Morris, who continues to rehab a right quad strain, underwent a PRP (platelet rich plasma) injection last Friday and is expected to be reevaluated in about six-to-eight weeks.
Detroit acquired Morris from the Wizards in a July trade in exchange for a future second-round pick. The plan was for him to be a steady presence in a young backcourt that features recent first-rounders like Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Killian Hayes, and Marcus Sasser.
However, Morris was affected during the preseason by lower back soreness, then hurt his quad while rehabbing his back injury. He has yet to play this season, and even if he can return in just six weeks, that would mean he’d be sidelined until early January.
Morris, a Michigan native, averaged 10.3 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.4 rebounds in 27.3 minutes per night last season for the Wizards, posting a shooting line of .480/.382/.831 in 62 games (61 starts).
The Pistons’ press release did include a couple health updates that are more positive. Jalen Duren (right ankle) is expected to return to practice this week, according to the team, while Bojan Bogdanovic (right calf strain) has begun a return-to-play progression and has been cleared for full contact. Duren has missed the past five games, while Bogdanovic has yet to play this season.
Central Notes: Bucks, Holiday, Pacers, Mitchell, Allen
Jrue Holiday was a key member of the Bucks team that won a championship in 2021. On Wednesday, he’ll be taking the court against his former club for the first time as a member of the conference-rival Celtics, following a pair of preseason trades that sent him first to Portland and then to Boston.
As Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, the current Bucks who were part of that 2021 team have faced plenty of former teammates over the years, but readily admit that their first matchup against Holiday won’t just be another game. Khris Middleton referred to it as “more personal,” while Giannis Antetokounmpo said it will be odd to see “one of my brothers” wearing a different jersey.
“He’s such a special person and means so much to me and obviously the team and the city,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said. “It’s definitely not going to be just like playing any other previous teammate. It’s definitely going to be different. … I’ll be excited to see him. … I miss him very much.”
“It’s kind of hard to get out your head, you feel me? It’s our brother,” Bobby Portis said. “When you play ball in the Fiserv Forum and we tip up and you look up at the championship, you can’t help but think about him, you feel me? Obviously it’s weird.”
Let’s round up a few more notes from around the Central…
- A win over Atlanta on Tuesday night would clinch the Pacers‘ spot atop East Group A in the in-season tournament, securing their spot in the quarterfinals (Twitter link). Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers are welcoming the opportunity to play in games with bigger stakes than a typical regular season contest, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “The in-season tournament is probably the first time that I’m really competing to win a championship on the NBA level,” Haliburton said. “I’ve never made the playoffs or anything, so right here it gives me the chance to be able to do that, and that’s exciting for me.” Head coach Rick Carlisle believes making a run in the tournament would benefit his club more than just financially: “Opportunities to be on more meaningful stages is something that’s important for young teams.”
- Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell will miss a third consecutive game on Tuesday due to a hamstring strain, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
- In a conversation with Sam Yip of HoopsHype, Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen said that his ankle, which cost him the first five games of the season, feels “great” now, adding that he believes his minutes restriction has been lifted. Allen also discussed the impact of the Cavs’ offseason additions, his efforts to improve his play-making, and the improvements he has seen from his younger teammates.
Heat Notes: Strus, Bryant, Butler, Jovic, Highsmith
Former Heat wing Max Strus, who will face Miami on Wednesday for the first time as a member of the Cavaliers, admitted in a conversation with Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald that it will be “weird” to go up against his old team. He also acknowledged that it has taken him some time to get used to a new NBA home after spending three seasons with the Heat.
“It kind of took me a while, like when I was in Cleveland for the first couple weeks saying, ‘Well, we did this in Miami,'” Strus said. “You know, I’m not on that team anymore so I got to stop saying ‘we.’ It’s ‘they’ now. I think it was a hard adjustment getting over that.
“… Miami does things different than everybody and I don’t think you really know the extent of that until you go somewhere else,” Strus continued. “So it’s definitely been an adjustment, it’s been different. … There’s definitely some things I miss about Miami and there’s definitely some things I don’t miss. But overall it’s been a pretty easy adjustment. I think the traits and the characteristics that I learned by playing for the Miami Heat, it’s going to suit me very well for the rest of my career. I’ve come to notice that now that I’m in a different place.”
Although they would’ve liked to re-sign Strus when he reached unrestricted free agency this past offseason, the Heat had luxury tax concerns and the 27-year-old generated a level of interest that pushed him out of Miami’s price range. He was ultimately signed-and-traded to Cleveland on a four-year, $62.3MM deal.
“I talked to Spo (Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra) and we kind of knew early on that it wasn’t really going to work financially,” Strus said of his free agency, per Chiang. “It is what it is. You can’t really do anything else about it. The numbers don’t work sometimes. It’s a business at the end of the day and everybody’s got to do what they got to do for themselves.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- After opening the season as Bam Adebayo‘s backup at center, Thomas Bryant has fallen out of the Heat’s regular rotation. Bryant is attempting to be patient and do whatever he can to help the club – even if it’s just being “a cheerleader for my teammates” – as he tries to make his case for minutes, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required). “It’s just different than the last two places he was in,” Spoelstra said of Bryant’s adjustment to Miami’s defensive system. “And that’s fair. So you have to kind of retrain habits, and calls, and different responsibilities. That’s normal when players change teams. It’s probably even more dramatic for bigs, fives.”
- Jimmy Butler traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday’s day off to watch the Sioux Falls Skyforce – Miami’s G League affiliate – face the Wisconsin Herd. According to Winderman (subscriber link), Butler explained on Monday that he wanted to support teammate Nikola Jovic, who was sent to the Skyforce to get regular minutes. “Got to go see my boy, man. I’m a huge Niko fan,” Butler said. “I think he’s going to help this organization well after I’m done here. That’s my dog, that’s my bro, I love him to death. So anytime I get a chance I go to watch him hoop, I will watch him hoop.”
- A journeyman who played primarily in the G League and overseas before joining the Heat in 2022, Haywood Highsmith has emerged as a key part of Miami’s rotation this season, Chiang writes for The Miami Herald. The team has won eight of the nine games Highsmith has started, and in the one loss, he was a plus-20. “There’s just a lot of hard work behind the scenes that’s behind this,” Highsmith said. “Everything that I’ve went through to get to this point is well worth it. It’s made me stronger for anything.”
Knicks’ Dolan Resigned From NBA Board Committee Positions
Knicks owner James Dolan stepped down from his positions on the NBA Board of Governors’ advisory/finance committee and media committee several months ago, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Dolan also informed the league at that time that he no longer intends to attend Board of Governors meetings.
“Given all that has occurred lately, I have come to the conclusion that the NBA neither needs nor wants my opinion,” Dolan wrote in a July memo to commissioner Adam Silver and the league’s other 29 team owners, per Wojnarowski.
“My hope is that the Knicks will be treated equally and fairly as all other NBA teams,” Dolan stated. “… As you know, I am very busy with all my duties at MSG family of companies. I need to apply my time where I can be most productive.”
As Wojnarowski explains, Dolan has been “increasingly critical” of both Silver and the NBA on several issues. Notably, sources tell ESPN, he has expressed dissatisfaction with elements of the league’s revenue sharing system, which requires high-earning teams like the Knicks to share their revenues with smaller-market teams.
Since resigning from his Board of Governors committee positions, Dolan and the Knicks launched a lawsuit against the Raptors seeking more than $10MM in damages over an issue that would typically be arbitrated by the NBA. The suit, which alleges that a former team employee illegally took files with him to his new position in Toronto, accused Silver of bias due to his friendship with Raptors chairman Larry Tanenbaum and Tanenbaum’s position as chairman of the Board of Governors.
Although Knicks general counsel Jamaal Lesane is now representing the franchise at Board of Governors meetings in place of Dolan, the Knicks owner didn’t give up his voting power, according to Wojnarowski.
As Woj points out, the Knicks have been the lone dissenter in two recent votes that otherwise would have been unanimous — Dolan voted against approving the sale of the majority share of the Hornets to Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin; he also voted against WNBA expansion to San Francisco.
While ESPN’s report may not provide a full picture of everything going on behind the scenes here, Dolan’s recent actions – including those dissenting votes and his claim that the league “neither needs nor wants my opinion” – suggest he’s staging a passive-aggressive protest against the NBA due to his unhappiness about certain policies. That wouldn’t be out of character for a team owner who has a reputation for pettiness.
Pistons Notes: Weaver, Thompson, Sasser, Duren, Livers
After winning no more than 23 games in each of the last four seasons, the Pistons appear headed for another lottery finish in 2023/24. They’ve lost 12 straight games to fall to an NBA-worst 2-13 record through the first four weeks of the season.
Still, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic says there’s no indication that general manager Troy Weaver is on the hot seat. Although this was supposed to be the season that the team took a step forward and vied for a playoff spot, Pistons ownership is aware that injuries have decimated the rotation and doesn’t seem inclined to take a “sky is falling” view, according to Edwards, who notes that Weaver’s latest contract extension hasn’t even begun yet.
As Edwards points out, last season’s leading scorer Bojan Bogdanovic has yet to appear in a single game and neither has Monte Morris, who was acquired over the summer to bring a steady hand to a young backcourt. With Bogdanovic and Morris unavailable, the Pistons have the NBA’s 26th-best offense and have committed a league-worst 17.5 turnovers per game.
According to Edwards, the real evaluation period figures to begin once the roster is healthier, which could happen within the next couple weeks. If the Pistons continue to struggle once all their key players are available, some “uncomfortable conversations” could be had in the spring, Edwards adds.
Here’s more out of Detroit:
- Within that same mailbag for The Athletic, Edwards says he doesn’t anticipate the Pistons will make any major trades in the short term in an attempt to turn their season around. However, he believes Detroit will pursue win-now moves far more aggressively in the summer of 2024 than it did this past offseason, especially if the club’s record in 2023/24 is “no better or barely better” than it was last season.
- One bright spot for the Pistons so far this season has been the play of their rookies. In an ESPN Insider story published last week, Kevin Pelton and Bobby Marks ranked Ausar Thompson and Marcus Sasser third and fourth among this season’s rookies, behind only young phenoms Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama. As Keith Langlois of Pistons.com observes, Thompson and Sasser should put Detroit in good position to have at least one All-Rookie player for a fourth straight season.
- Second-year center Jalen Duren, who has missed five consecutive games with a right ankle injury, is making progress toward a return, according to head coach Monty Williams. “He’s just been able to do a bit more on the floor,” Williams said on Monday (Twitter link via Edwards). “He’s playing 3-on-3 now. We expect him to be back soon.”
- Pistons forward Isaiah Livers made his season debut on Monday vs. Denver after missing the first 14 games this fall due to a sprained ankle. Livers was on a minutes restriction, according to Mike Curtis of The Detroit News (subscriber link), who says the 25-year-old spoke after the game about needing to regain his conditioning. He made just 1-of-7 shots from the field in 23 minutes, but appeared to get through the game with no injury setbacks.