Nets Notes: Warren, Sumner, Vaughn, Brown
Nets forward T.J. Warren played in an NBA game on Friday for the first time in nearly two years, making his Brooklyn debut after having been sidelined since December 2020 due to a series of foot issues. Warren couldn’t have asked for a much better return — he scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench as the Nets extended their winning streak to four games with a victory over Toronto.
“Man it was super, super, super … just a lot of nerves, excitement, a lot of emotions into it. Just definitely super excited just to be out there with a win,” Warren said, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Teammates did a great job making the game easy, not so complicated for me. I’ve been out for a while, so it just kept me confident, kept me locked-in, excited on both ends of the floor. So definitely something to build on.
“I was telling somebody in the back it almost felt like a dream. Just like as soon as I checked in it kind of hit me, like, ‘This is real.’ Like I said, once I got up and down it was just like ‘All right, this is basketball.’ So it was just super fun to be out there competing with the guys.”
Warren figures to provide some scoring punch to a team that has leaned heavily on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving for its offense so far this season. Besides Durant and Irving, only Nic Claxton (11.9 PPG) and now Warren have averaged double-digit points per game for Brooklyn in 2022/23.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Reserve guard Edmond Sumner left Friday’s win due to a right glute contusion, according to Lewis. “We’ll look at it (on Saturday),” head coach Jacque Vaughn said. “Hopefully it’s nothing serious and we can look on.”
- In a subscriber-only story for The New York Post, Lewis checks in on Vaughn’s performance in his first month as Steve Nash‘s replacement and finds that the new Brooklyn head coach is earning strong reviews from his own players and opponents alike. Nets forward Joe Harris lauded Vaughn for holding everyone accountable, while Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said the team seems to have “more buy-in” under Vaughn. “They’ve done a terrific job; top 10 since Nov. 1 on both sides of the ball,” Unseld said. “Got to give Jacque and his staff a lot of credit. It shifted. They’re a different team.”
- Bruce Brown, now a Nugget, was upset that he didn’t receive any attention from the Nets in free agency despite his old team initially telling him it wanted to re-sign him, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post (subscription required). “I was (hurt), but once I’d seen the Royce O’Neale trade, I was like, ‘I’m off their books, for sure,'” Brown said. “Because at first, they were talking about, they didn’t want to go into the tax or whatever, but then they said that I was a priority. … They wanted me back. They came down to see me in Miami when I was working out. And when I didn’t receive a phone call, I was like, ‘All right.'”
Western Notes: Lakers, Z. Williams, Grant, Moore
The Lakers have internally discussed the possibility of packaging Russell Westbrook and draft picks in a trade offer to the Bulls for DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on the latest episode of his Lowe Post podcast.
“The trade I saw (speculated by Bill Simmons of The Ringer) was Russ and both (2027 and 2029 first-round) picks – one with light protection on it, I think – for DeRozan and Vucevic,” Lowe said (hat tip to RealGM). “I can tell you 100% for sure the Lakers have had internal discussions about that very possibility, (about) if it would ever come up.”
Lowe quickly added a caveat, clarifying that the Lakers wouldn’t necessarily pull the trigger on that deal even if the Bulls were interested in it. I’ll add my own caveat: “internal” trade talks should be taken with a grain of salt, since all 30 teams will internally discuss many, many trade scenarios that will never come to fruition or even be broached to potential trade partners.
Still, as Lowe went on to explain, it makes sense for the Lakers to keep an eye on would-be playoff contenders who might struggle this season and decide to pivot to becoming sellers. The Bulls are off to a disappointing 9-13 start.
“You look around the league, like any responsible team would, and say, ‘OK, we know the Pacers option is there, the Utah option was there, the Spurs option doesn’t excite us much,'” Lowe said of the Lakers’ approach to Westbrook’s trade market. “… Both picks for the Bulls guys is certainly something their brain trust has thought about. Otherwise they’d be irresponsible.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Grizzlies forward Ziaire Williams, who has yet to play this season due to a right knee injury, is getting close to returning, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter links). Williams has been doing 5-on-5 work as he enters the final stage of his rehab process.
- Responding to Michael Scotto’s interview with Jerami Grant, which addressed Grant’s upcoming free agency, Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report (Twitter link) says he doesn’t expect the Trail Blazers forward to even reach free agency next summer. Highkin believes the Blazers and Grant will reach an extension after he becomes eligible for a longer-term deal in January. For what it’s worth, Portland would be limited during the season to offering a four-year, $112.65MM extension, so if Grant – who is having a career year so far – wants to try to get more than that, he’d have to wait for his current contract to expire and become a free agent.
- In their first game without Karl-Anthony Towns available on Wednesday, the Timberwolves turned to rookie Wendell Moore to fill out their starting lineup. As Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes, Moore – who had played just 11 total minutes in four NBA appearances prior to Wednesday – was as surprised as anyone by the decision. “I came here and it was just another day,” this year’s No. 26 overall pick said after playing 20 minutes in a win over Memphis. “Came to get my work in. I was going to cheer my teammates on and just get this win. Once I got the news, I knew I had to shift my mind-set into gear and be ready to go.”
Mavericks Notes: Kemba, Wood, Trade Options
Appearing on Thursday on The Ticket Sportradio 96.7 FM in Dallas, Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison said that newly signed point guard Kemba Walker will need about one week to get game-ready, since he hasn’t played since February and didn’t have a training camp. Harrison also made some rather candid remarks when asked about Walker’s long-standing knee issue, as Josh Bowe of Mavs Moneyball relays.
“It’s not good, it’s not good at all,” Harrison said of the knee. “But he’s rehabbed it. And it’s actually the best he’s felt in the last two years, so we’ll see how long that lasts.”
When it was pointed out to him that “it’s not good” wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of Walker’s health, Harrison explained that he was referring more to how the injury has hampered the former All-Star in recent seasons, rather than assessing the current state of Walker’s knee.
“It hasn’t been good for a few years,” Harrison said. “Even last year, he had 30-point games on it. But it actually feels better now. The reality is, if you look at it, it’s just not good. But that doesn’t mean he can’t play on it.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Mavericks big man Christian Wood has been ruled out for Saturday afternoon’s game vs. New York due to a non-COVID illness, the team announced (via Twitter). With Wood unavailable, Dallas figures to lean more on Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber. It’s possible that JaVale McGee, who has been out of the rotation as of late, will also see a little playing time.
- After ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins predicted during an NBA Today segment that the Mavericks will miss the playoffs if they don’t make a deal to give Luka Doncic more help, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski observed that the team’s trade assets are somewhat limited (YouTube video link). Wojnarowski expects any trades the Mavs make before this season’s deadline to be “marginal” or “slight” upgrades.
- Part of the Mavs’ problem, according to Wojnarowski, is that they haven’t drafted well over the years, with the exception of 2018, when they selected Doncic and Jalen Brunson. Doncic was the first Dallas draft pick to get an extension with the club since 2003 first-rounder Josh Howard, while the team mishandled the Brunson situation and ended up losing him for nothing.
Bulls Notes: Lineup, Williams, Dosunmu, Donovan
The Bulls made a change to their starting lineup on Friday against Golden State, replacing Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Williams with Alex Caruso and Javonte Green.
The new-look starting lineup didn’t exactly set the world on fire – the five-man group was outscored by seven points in just over 10 minutes of action – but head coach Billy Donovan said he liked what he saw and doesn’t expect it will just be a one-game tweak, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. He added that it wasn’t a defensive-minded move to try to slow down the high-powered Warriors.
“It was more to see, ‘Let’s see what this looks like,'” Donovan said, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I’m always evaluating and you’re not trying to make a decision after two or three games. But I think there’s a pretty decent body of work for the number of games we played. And I just wanted to take a look at something different.”
Dosunmu and Williams remained in the rotation, logging 21 and 19 minutes respectively, and Donovan said he appreciated how they handled the new roles.
“I understand there’s always a level of prestige with starting. I get all that. But I also think those guys see a bigger picture,” Donovan said. “It’s not like I said to them, ‘Hey listen, I’m moving you out of the starting lineup and you’re out of the rotation.’ I was really pleased with the way both responded. They’re team guys. They want to win. I’m sure in their heart of hearts want to start. But I also think the team is more important to them.”
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Donovan is hoping that the move to the second unit will encourage Williams, a former No. 4 overall pick, to avoid getting passive on offense. “The one thing we’ve been trying to do is to try to get him to be more aggressive,” Donovan said, per Johnson. “I think being out there with three terrific offensive players in Zach (LaVine) and Vooch (Nikola Vucevic) and DeMar (DeRozan), sometimes there aren’t as many opportunities. I told him in doing this I wanted him to be more aggressive offensively, that he was going to need to be somebody who could give that group a little bit of a pop. I look at it that this may actually help his development.”
- Although the Bulls were pleased that Dosunmu and Williams accepted the lineup change without complaint, LaVine suggested that his teammates should view their demotions as a challenge. “I don’t think they should be happy or satisfied with it at all,” LaVine said, according to Johnson.
- Writing for The Sun-Times, Cowley questions why Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf kept a lid on the contract extension that Donovan signed with the team before the season began, arguing that it’s a disservice to fans to try to keep that sort of move under wraps.
- Donovan’s extension is a reflection of how the connection between him and president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has grown in recent years, according to Johnson, who notes that the two men speak almost daily and says there’s “never any misunderstanding in their shared, direct conversation.”
Celtics Notes: Horford, Trade Market, R. Williams
Speaking to reporters on Friday for the first time since officially signing a two-year extension on Thursday, Celtics big man Al Horford expressed confidence in the team’s ability to contend for a title and explained that he valued the opportunity to gain some stability in Boston, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes.
“One of the things is, more than anything, you want to be in a place where you have a chance to contend, to win,” Horford said. “A place that’s, for me, more than basketball. Boston, I feel a real connection here with the people and with what the Celtics are all about, and it’s something that just really excited me. And the fact that I get that opportunity and (president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) believing in me and bringing me here, it’s something that’s special, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity.”
Horford would have become an unrestricted free agent in 2023 if he had played out the year without an extension in place. He said on Friday that he was happy he was able to work out an agreement with the Celtics so early in the season.
“There was really no urgency, per se,” Horford said, “but I wanted to make sure that this didn’t drag out until free agency and the summer and all those things and just once the time was right, to work this out and just focus on the season.”
Here’s more on Horford and the Celtics:
- Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston makes the case for why Horford’s new deal is another win for Brad Stevens, while Jared Weiss of The Athletic shares some additional contract details. According to Weiss, Horford will make $10MM in 2023/24 and $9.5MM in 2024/25, with a trade kicker worth either 15% of his remaining salary or $500K (whichever is lesser). So the actual base value of the two-year deal is $19.5MM.
- Multiple sources tell Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com that the Celtics aren’t very active in the trade market at the moment. Considering Boston has the NBA’s best offense, best net rating, and best record, it’s no surprise the team isn’t looking to shake things up.
- One rival league executive who spoke to Bulpett likened the eventual return of Robert Williams to a “great in-season trade” for the Celtics. “We all know it, and we’re all dreading it,” the exec said. “They’re not playing the same defense without Williams there. They’ve been better than they were earlier, but they still go through stretches where you see the same commitment to that end of the floor isn’t there. It may take them a bit of time to get back into the flow when he returns… but he should solidify them and keep them out of some of those defensive lulls.”
L.A. Notes: Kawhi, George, Powell, Kennard, Ryan, Schröder, Bryant
Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard (ankle) and Paul George (hamstring) appear to be close to returning from their respective injuries. Head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters on Friday that both Leonard and George are practicing today and are considered questionable to play on Saturday (Twitter link via Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times). The team will wait to see how the duo feels after practicing on Friday.
Norman Powell (groin) isn’t practicing today, while Luke Kennard (calf) has already been ruled out for Saturday, so even if Leonard and George are available, the Clippers will remain a little shorthanded for the time being. Still, Kennard is practicing on Friday and Lue sounds like he expects the sharpshooter to return soon.
“I’m excited to get guys back, PG and Kawhi, get Luke back,” Lue said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “But now we gotta wait on Norm so hopefully he feels better soon. But I am very excited just to kind of see what we have.”
Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles-based teams:
- Leonard and George have had their availability impacted by health issues since joining the Clippers in 2019, but the team is “pot-committed” to the star duo, Brian Windhorst writes for ESPN.com. With the franchise deep in tax territory and short on future draft assets, all signs point to the Clippers “keeping their chips firmly in the middle and adding to (the) pot if needed,” according to Windhorst.
- After being waived this week by the Lakers, second-year wing Matt Ryan tweeted his appreciation to the organization for giving him a shot on a non-guaranteed deal this season. “Nothing but gratitude for the city of LA and the @Lakers!” he wrote. “Any opportunity to play in the NBA, let alone for this franchise, is special. Thank you. Now I’m excited for whatever is next!”
- Within a round-up of where things stand for the Lakers at the 20-game mark, Jovan Buha of The Athletic says that offseason additions Dennis Schröder and Thomas Bryant were worth the wait. Both players missed the start of the season due to thumb injuries, but have entered the rotation since returning, with Schröder averaging 8.4 PPG and 3.6 RPG in seven games (25.3 MPG) and Bryant contributing 9.3 PPG and 5.0 RPG in six appearances (14.7 MPG). Bryant’s +9.5 net rating is the best mark on the Lakers’ 15-man roster.
Community Shootaround: Sub-.500 Playoff Hopefuls
So far this season, 19 of the NBA’s 30 teams have played at least .500 basketball, and many of the clubs that have fallen short of that mark are ones we expected to do so. The Magic, Pistons, Hornets, Rockets, Spurs, and Thunder, for instance, were widely considered during the preseason to be lottery-bound.
If we set aside those six teams, along with the 19 who are .500 or better, five clubs remain. These are the teams that entered the season expecting to be in the playoffs and have fallen short of their expectations so far.
Let’s start with the most obvious one of the five: the Lakers got off to a miserable start to the season, losing their first five games and 10 of their first 12. They’ve bounced back to some extent as of late, winning six of their last eight contests, but three of those victories came against San Antonio, and L.A. is still just 8-12 overall, good for 13th in a competitive Western Conference.
With Russell Westbrook adapting well to a sixth man role, Lonnie Walker enjoying a breakout year, Anthony Davis looking like a superstar again, and LeBron James back in the lineup following a groin strain, there’s some reason for optimism in Los Angeles. But it’s still not clear if the supporting cast is strong enough for the Lakers to make a real run, and it remains to be seen whether the front office has the appetite to move one or two first-round picks to acquire real upgrades.
While they’re ahead of the Lakers in the standings, the 10-11 Mavericks are currently out of the play-in picture too, holding the No. 11 seed in the West. Like L.A., Dallas has a top-heavy roster, with Luka Doncic submitting an MVP-caliber performance this fall. But Doncic can’t do it all himself, and the Mavs’ supporting cast beyond Christian Wood and Spencer Dinwiddie hasn’t produced like the team had hoped.
Over in the East, the Heat (10-12), Knicks (10-12), and Bulls (9-12) find themselves out of the top nine and vying for the No. 10 spot in the standings.
Of these three teams, Miami probably has the most reason for optimism. The Heat have been hit hard by the injury bug in the first quarter of the season, but appear to be getting healthier, with All-Star forward Jimmy Butler on the verge of returning. This iteration of the Heat may not get back to the NBA Finals like the 2020 squad did, or even to the Eastern Finals like last year’s team, but it would be pretty shocking if they missed the postseason, given how much talent is on the roster.
Chicago and New York, meanwhile, were both considered borderline playoff teams entering the season — oddsmakers had them as the East’s ninth- and 10th-best teams ahead of training camps. So it’s perhaps not a surprise that they’re both hovering around .500 and looking more like play-in contenders than serious candidates for a top-six seed.
Still, both teams had higher aspirations than simply contending for a play-in spot, so it will be interesting to see how they approach the trade deadline if their inconsistent performances continue.
Will the Knicks put some of their future first-round picks back on the table in search of an impact player after missing out on Donovan Mitchell? Will the Bulls – who have already traded away two of their own future first-rounders – continue to push their chips into the middle of the table or will they pull back and hope for the possible return of point guard Lonzo Ball can help fuel a second-half surge?
We want to know where you stand on these five teams. Do you expect the Lakers, Mavericks, Heat, Bulls, or Knicks to finish the season as a top-six seed, securing an automatic playoff berth? Are you counting on some of them to have to clinch postseason spots via the play-in tournament? Will some finish outside the play-in altogether as bottom-five teams in their respective conferences?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Pacific Notes: Green, J. Jones, Lee, Sabonis, Kings
Draymond Green is on a potential expiring contract, so his NBA future beyond this season remains up in the air. However, he made it clear in a conversation with Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he doesn’t take his lengthy tenure with the Warriors for granted and appreciates that he has gotten to play alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson since entering the league.
“It’s incredible when you look at the amount of guys who’ve played for only one team,” Green said. “You can look around the NBA right now. There are five guys that’s been on a team for 11 years-plus. We have three of them. It’s a very rare thing. There’s 470, 480 players in the NBA? There are five guys that’s been with his team for 11 years plus. That’s amazing. So, you don’t just give that away.”
Green went on to say that, while he recognizes the NBA is business, he’d “absolutely” be interested in spending the rest of his career in Golden State. The four-time All-Star, who has a player option for 2023/24, said he’d let agent Rich Paul handle his contract situation, but added that he’d like to play for four or five more seasons before calling it a career.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Having been promoted to president of basketball operations by the Suns, James Jones expects to step away from some of the day-to-day aspects of running the team and delegate more of those tasks as he focuses on bigger-picture goals, per Gerald Bourguet of GoPhnx.com. Jones said this week that there are no plans to hire a general manager to work under him in the front office hierarchy, but he also didn’t rule out that possibility down the road.
- In a separate story for GoPhnx.com, Bourguet examines how offseason signee Damion Lee became such an important part of the Suns‘ second unit. Lee, who is making a career-best 49.4% of his three-point attempts so far this season, is only on a one-year contract, so he’ll return to the open market next summer.
- Speaking to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, Kings center Domantas Sabonis said that he and point guard De’Aaron Fox are on the same page on and off the court, with the two stars determined to snap Sacramento’s 16-year playoff drought. “Fox is unselfish, I’m unselfish. I love to play in the pick-and-roll, he loves to play in the pick-and-roll. We want to show people that we can win, and win consistently, apart from everything that goes on in the NBA,” Sabonis said. “I think that’s the most important thing, is to show that we can turn this franchise around.”
- Returning to Sacramento for the first time since being traded from the Kings to the Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield got wildly different receptions on Wednesday, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Haliburton, who was caught off guard and upset when he was traded last season, received a standing ovation; Hield, who made it clear before being traded that he’d welcome a change of scenery, was met with boos. Hield was unfazed by the crowd’s reaction, as Dopirak relays. “I didn’t give a (expletive),” he said. “I go to sleep happy and I make a lot of money.”
And-Ones: Embiid, French National Team, 2023 Draft, Henderson
A native of Cameroon, Sixers star Joel Embiid also has U.S. and French citizenship, meaning his choice of which country to represent in international play will have a major impact on what the field looks like at the 2024 Olympics. Teaming up with Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama would give France the world’s best frontcourt and make Les Bleus a legitimate gold medal threat.
Speaking to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Gobert was asked about the possibility of Embiid joining the French national team and said he’d welcome the addition of the MVP runner-up. However, Gobert’s answer wasn’t unequivocal, and he said he doesn’t plan to personally recruit Embiid.
“For me the most important thing is if his heart tells him to be a part of Team France,” Gobert told Vardon. “I want him to do it for the right reasons. As long as he understands that the French national team is different than the NBA. We have rules, we have things that we do. Sometimes we all have lunch and dinner together — it’s not everybody doing their own thing. These are two different teams.
“But I think the main thing for us, for him and for me is that I want to make sure that he does it from his heart. And if he does that, I think he would be an amazing addition for our team. … It has to come from him. You are either all in, or you’re not. You can’t just show up.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The latest 2023 mock draft from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link) moves Alabama’s Brandon Miller up to No. 7 and Arkansas’ Anthony Black up to No. 11. Reece Beekman has also moved into the first round, with Givony observing that the Virgina guard’s defensive ability gives him a “very high floor.”
- Beekman also earned a spot on John Hollinger’s list at The Athletic of 10 returning NCAA players who have impressed him as potential NBA prospects. Iowa’s Kris Murray, Illinois’ Terrence Shannon, and Xavier’s Colby Jones are among the other college standouts singled out by Hollinger.
- Mirin Fader of The Ringer takes an in-depth look at the consensus No. 2 prospect in the 2023 draft class, profiling rising G League Ignite star Scoot Henderson.
- The NBA is now allowing sovereign wealth funds to invest in its franchises as minority stakeholders. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic explains exactly what that means and lays out why it might be risky, noting that the league could have to make decisions on sovereign wealth funds associated with autocratic countries.
Mavs’ Harrison Talks Brunson’s Departure, Roster Moves, Kemba
With the Mavericks set to play the Knicks on Saturday for the first time this season, Jalen Brunson will get an opportunity to face his old team, while the Mavs will get the chance to see what they’ve been missing since losing the standout point guard in free agency over the summer.
Asked by Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News about whether the team regrets how Brunson’s free agency played out, Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison was quick to point out that Brunson’s departure “wasn’t our choice” and that Dallas made a competitive offer.
Still, as Tim Cato of The Athletic writes, there’s “no question (the Mavs) mishandled” the Brunson situation, given that they could’ve locked him up well before his free agency if they had been willing to offer a four-year extension worth approximately $56MM — the same deal Dorian Finney-Smith signed last season. By the time the Mavs put that extension (the most they could offer during the season) on the table for Brunson, he had outperformed it and was headed for a bigger payday on the open market.
In the wake of Brunson’s departure, the Mavs could have pursued a veteran free agent replacement – perhaps Goran Dragic – in July, but opted not to do so. Instead, they’ve used their 15th roster spot so far this season to audition veteran play-makers on non-guaranteed salaries. They began the season with Facundo Campazzo in that role and have since waived him to sign Kemba Walker.
Asked by Caplan whether the Mavs should have done more to address that third point guard spot in the summer, Harrison said it’s easy to second-guess the team’s thinking, but that he still has confidence in the current roster.
“You can look back at it and say that, but I also have faith in the guys that we have here,” Harrison said. “… Guys haven’t made shots, but we’ve seen them do it, and I have faith in them. I think if guys make shots just at the rate or slightly below what they normally do, we’re not even having this conversation. I think that erases a lot of the doubt or the feeling that we’re not quite achieving what the expectations would’ve been. The law of averages, they eventually equal out, and guys will make shots.”
Here are a few more of the most noteworthy quotes from Harrison’s Q&A with Caplan, which is worth checking out in full if you’re a Mavs fan:
On his thoughts about the Mavericks’ up-and-down performance so far this season:
“It’s no secret — we’ve lost some bad games, and we haven’t played good on the road, and our guys who shoot the ball well haven’t shot well. If you add those three up, I’m not surprised where we’re at, but I wouldn’t have expected all three of those things to happen.”
On whether the Mavs felt the need to use the 15th roster spot to address a lack of ball-handling rather than leaving it open:
“I just think it’s one of those things that you’re just constantly evaluating the team. When you see that there’s a hole, then you’ve got to try to fill it. I mean, you say lack of ball-handling, but at the end of the day, whoever that person is that we bring in, whether it was Facu or whether it was whoever, it’s not like they’re in the regular rotation. If we have one of the best, one of the best point guards in the league who’s one of the highest usage rates, it’s kind of a gift and a curse.”
On the Mavs’ expectations for Kemba Walker:
“I don’t think there’s any expectations, really. One, I hope his body holds up. I think that’s the first and foremost thing. I hope his body holds up. If it does, he’s a veteran guy. One, he’s an amazing person — I think that’s the point. He’s an amazing person. He’s been through everything in the league. He obviously can handle the ball and everybody knows he’s an ex-All-Star. I won’t even say ex-All-Star. He’s an All-Star. He’s a scorer. Adding that veteran presence for if and when we need it ready will be helpful.”