Monty Williams, DeMarcus Cousins Fined By NBA
Suns head coach Monty Williams is the latest NBA figure to be penalized by the league for criticizing its officiating. The NBA announced on Tuesday in a press release that Williams has been docked $15K for his comments following Phoenix’s Game 4 loss in New Orleans on Sunday.
The Pelicans shot 42 free throws in their 118-103 win, compared to just 15 for the Suns, a disparity that Williams called attention to during his post-game press conference.
“You can slice it any way you want to,” Williams said on Sunday, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “In a playoff game that physical, (the disparity) is amazing. Coaches shouldn’t have to come up to the microphone and feel like they’re going to get their heads cut off for speaking the truth.”
Sixers center Joel Embiid and Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins were also hit with fines on Monday for their comments about the officiating.
Meanwhile, Nuggets center DeMarcus Cousins has been fined $15K by the NBA for kicking towels into the spectator stands, according to a press release from the league.
The incident occurred midway through the second quarter of Denver’s Game 4 win over Golden State on Sunday. Cousins, having been called for a foul and subbed out of the game, expressed his frustration by kicking a pile of towels next to the bench, causing some of them to land on fans (video link).
Jrue Holiday Named Teammate Of The Year
Bucks guard Jrue Holiday has been named the NBA’s Teammate of the Year for the 2021/22 season, the league announced today in a press release.
The Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award, introduced in 2012/13, is voted on by NBA players after a panel of league executives selects 12 finalists (six from each conference). A total of 306 players submitted ballots this season.
The winner is deemed to be the best teammate based on his “selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.”
As we relayed last month, Holiday, DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, Jeff Green, Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala, Jaren Jackson Jr., Kevin Love, Boban Marjanovic, Chris Paul, Fred VanVleet, and Grant Williams were this year’s nominees.
Holiday received 39 first-place votes and 964 total points, narrowly edging out Marjanovic, who got 48 first-place votes but just 936 total points. DeRozan, Green, and Paul rounded out the top five.
It’s the second time Holiday has won the award, making him the first player to earn the honor more than once — he first won it in 2020 when he was a Pelican.
Holiday, 31, averaged 18.3 PPG, 6.8 APG, and 4.5 RPG on .501/.411/.761 shooting in 67 games (32.9 MPG) for the Bucks this season. He’s also a strong candidate to earn an All-Defensive nod this spring.
Donovan Mitchell Diagnosed With Quad Contusions
1:37pm: Although the MRI on Mitchell’s hamstring came back negative, he has been diagnosed with bi-lateral quadriceps contusions, the Jazz announced today. He’ll continue to receive treatment and his status for Game 6 will be updated on Wednesday, according to the team.
There’s optimism that Mitchell will be able to play on Thursday, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
7:01am: Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, who left Monday’s Game 5 loss to the Mavericks in the fourth quarter due to a left hamstring injury, will undergo an MRI on Tuesday to determine the severity of the injury, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic.
Mitchell’s departure made a bad night even worse for the Jazz, who trailed by 28 points when the All-Star guard exited with just 4:41 left in the game. Utah eventually lost by a score of 102-77 to fall behind 3-2 in the series. The Jazz also entered the NBA record books by making just 3-of-30 three-point attempts.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), even a relatively mild hamstring strain generally results in a two-week absence, which doesn’t bode well for Mitchell’s availability on Thursday.
However, when asked about whether he expects to play in Game 6, Utah’s leading scorer replied, “I’ll be fine,” as Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune tweets. Mitchell explained to reporters that his hamstring tightened up on him in the fourth quarter.
“Probably,” Mitchell said when asked if he expected to be in pain over the coming days (Twitter link via Walden). “But this is the playoffs, so I’ll find a way. We’ll see how I feel. I’m a competitor.”
Even if Mitchell is able to suit up on Thursday, it sounds like he may not be at 100%, which would be bad news for the Jazz. The 25-year-old was already struggling to score efficiently against Dallas — he has shot just 37.9% from the field and 19.5% from beyond the arc through the series’ first five games, requiring 23.2 field goal attempts per game to average 26.0 PPG.
Community Shootaround: Playoff Check-In
It has been 10 days since the NBA’s 2022 playoffs tipped off, and 15 of 16 teams that made the first round are still alive. The one playoff team whose season is over? The Nets, viewed by many fans, league observers, and oddsmakers as the championship favorites coming into the 2021/22 campaign.
While a handful of other clubs are on the verge of elimination, Brooklyn is the only one that was swept out of the playoffs. As a No. 7 seed, the Nets weren’t the title favorites entering the playoffs, but their swift elimination is a reminder that the battle for the 2022 crown remains wide open.
The early results in the Western Conference have provided another reminder of the unpredictable nature of this year’s postseason. The Suns and Grizzlies were the NBA’s two most dominant teams during the regular season, but they now found themselves tied up at 2-2 against a pair of play-in teams, the Pelicans and Timberwolves. Devin Booker is injured for Phoenix and Ja Morant isn’t at 100% for Memphis, but the fact that both clubs are fighting for their playoff lives in the first round is still a surprise.
The Warriors have looked like the best team in the West early in the playoffs, though their Game 4 loss to the Nuggets showed they’re not exactly unbeatable either. The Mavericks, meanwhile, hold a 3-2 lead over the Jazz despite not having All-NBA guard Luka Doncic available until Game 4 — with a healthy Doncic, they look like a threat to make some noise beyond the first round, but they’ll have to get past Utah first.
In the East, the Heat and Bucks briefly looked vulnerable after losing Kyle Lowry and Khris Middleton, respectively, but they’ve since reasserted control over the Hawks and Bulls and hold 3-1 series leads. Miami and Milwaukee remain strong threats to make deep postseason runs, especially if they get their injured stars back sooner rather than later.
The Sixers looked like they were putting all together during the first three games of their series vs. the Raptors, but after two straight losses, they’re no longer even a lock to get out of the first round. Up 3-2, Philadelphia remains a strong favorite to get past Toronto, but Joel Embiid‘s thumb injury is clearing bothering him, and James Harden hasn’t been at his best in the series, averaging 18.4 PPG on 37.3% shooting. If their two superstars aren’t in peak form, the 76ers’ upside is limited.
Unlike the Sixers, the Celtics didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal during their four-game sweep of Brooklyn. Boston looked like the best team in the Eastern Conference in the second half and has carried that success into the playoffs. They’ll have to make sure they don’t get rusty during their current layoff as they prepare for what will likely be a matchup with the defending champs.
Ten days into the postseason, we want to know what you think. Which teams do you expect to meet in the NBA Finals? Have your picks changed at all based on what you’ve seen in the last week-and-a-half? Are there any lower seeds you like as sleepers to make the conference finals, or high seeds you think are in real trouble?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on the playoffs!
Nets Notes: Nash, Simmons, Irving, Durant, Offseason
Veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein wrote on Monday that Steve Nash will likely keep the Nets‘ head coaching job despite a disappointing season, as long as he retains the confidence of star forward Kevin Durant and team owner Joe Tsai. Durant expressed his support for Nash following Monday’s loss and there’s no indication that Tsai is considering a change.
According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, if a coaching change does occur in Brooklyn, it seems more likely to happen because Nash steps away from the job, not because he’s fired. There has been speculation about the possibility in league circles, says Fischer, since the former NBA MVP has had to deal with more drama and adversity than expected since taking over the position in 2020.
However, sources tell Fischer that Nash is acting as if he plans to remain in Brooklyn going forward, and he that was the message he conveyed when speaking to reporters on Monday after the Nets’ season ended.
“I loved doing this and love these guys, love my staff, love all the departments. Really have a great working environment, really enjoyed it and want to continue doing it,” Nash said, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Ben Simmons and Joe Harris will give us a big lift and we’ll see how the rest of the roster rounds out, but we should be excited by that. Getting two of your top four guys back — two guys with size, one who’s an All-Star and one who’s one of the best shooters in the league — that gives us a big boost.”
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Fischer’s latest story for Bleacher Report includes a closer look at the Ben Simmons situation, with sources telling Fischer that people around Simmons had wanted him to make his Nets debut this spring to establish more of a connection with his new teammates. Nets staffers are hoping he’ll spend plenty of time this summer around the team’s practice facility, rather than “enjoying a celebrity vacation mindset,” Fischer adds.
- According to Fischer, there has already been some speculation around the league about whether the Nets would consider trading Simmons this offseason, but that scenario appears unlikely. “Brooklyn just has to play it out a little bit. You don’t really have a choice,” a rival general manager told Bleacher Report. “I just don’t think (Simmons) has any real trade value. He hasn’t been accountable for two franchises. He hasn’t played an entire season due to a back injury. How can you do a trade with the chance he reports and then says he can’t play because of the back again?”
- Kyrie Irving admitted on Monday that his inability to play for much of the season due to his vaccination status was a “distraction at times” for the Nets, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN. “I felt like I was letting the team down at a point where I wasn’t able to play,” Irving said. “We were trying to exercise every option for me to play, but I never wanted it to just be about me.” The star point guard remains optimistic about the future in Brooklyn: “We lost a franchise player (James Harden) and we got a franchise player back (Simmons). But we didn’t get a chance to see him on the floor. There was no pressure for (Simmons) to step on the floor with us either. Ben’s good. We have Ben, we have his back. He’s going to be good for next year. But now we just turn the page and look forward to what we’re building as a franchise and really get tougher.”
- Speaking to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, Kevin Durant admitted that he was frustrated by Irving’s vaccine-related absences this season and wished Harden’s situation had played out differently, but said his bond with Irving remains strong and he wasn’t mad at Harden. Durant also pushed back against the notion that franchise players like him and LeBron James dictate roster moves for their respective teams. “I feel like that’s a narrative that (the media created). I don’t even think LeBron does that,” Durant told Goodwill. “He might have input or know some information. But him saying, ‘This is who you should get, that’s who you should get,’ I don’t think it works like that.”
- Ramona Shelburne of ESPN takes a look back at what went wrong for the Nets in 2021/22, explaining why the franchise must take responsibility for several of its setbacks, which weren’t just the result of bad luck.
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) and Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype preview the upcoming offseason in Brooklyn, with a focus on Kyrie Irving’s free agency, while Alex Schiffer of The Athletic lays out 10 important questions for the organization to answer this summer.
- In case you missed it, we also passed along several Nets notes on Monday night.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Non-Bird Rights
Players and teams have to meet certain criteria to earn Bird rights and Early Bird rights, but Non-Bird rights are practically a given.
They apply to a player who has spent a single season or less with his team, as long as he finishes the season on an NBA roster and as long as he’s on a standard contract and not a hardship (10-day) deal. Even a player who signs a rest-of-season contract right before the regular season finale and spends just a single day with his club would have Non-Bird rights in the offseason.
Teams can also claim Non-Bird rights on Early Bird free agents if they renounce them. The primary motivator to do so would be to allow the team to sign the free agent to a one-year contract, a move that’s not permitted via Early Bird rights.
Teams are eligible to sign their own free agents using the Non-Bird exception for a salary starting at 120% of the player’s previous salary, 120% of the minimum salary, or the amount of a qualifying offer (if the player is a restricted free agent), whichever is greatest. Contracts can be for up to four years, with 5% annual raises.
The cap hold for a Non-Bird player is 120% of his previous salary, unless the previous salary was the minimum. In that case, the cap hold is equivalent to the two-year veteran’s minimum salary. If a Non-Bird free agent only has one year of NBA experience, his cap hold is equivalent to the one-year veteran’s minimum salary.
The salary limitations that apply to Non-Bird rights are more severe than those pertaining to Bird rights or Early Bird rights, so in many cases, the Non-Bird exception may not be enough to retain a well-regarded free agent. For instance, the Nets held Jeff Green‘s Non-Bird rights last summer, but couldn’t have used them to match or exceed the offer the veteran wing received from the Nuggets.
Because Green had been on a minimum-salary contract in 2020/21, Brooklyn’s ability to offer a raise using the Non-Bird exception was extremely limited — the Nets would have only been able to offer 120% of the veteran’s minimum using his Non-Bird rights, whereas the Nuggets’ two-year, $9MM offer easily topped that. If they’d badly wanted to retain Green, the over-the-cap Nets would have had to use another exception, such as the mid-level, to make a competitive offer.
The Lakers will be in a similar situation this offseason with Malik Monk, who will only have Non-Bird rights. If they want to retain Monk, the Lakers would have to use cap room (which almost certainly won’t be an option) or their mid-level exception to make their best offer, since they’ll be limited to a starting salary in the $2.5MM range via the Non-Bird exception.
Holding Non-Bird rights on a free agent didn’t really help the Nets with Green and it won’t help the Lakers with Monk, but there are cases in which the exception proves useful.
For instance, the Nuggets only had Non-Bird rights on JaMychal Green last offseason, but because his ’20/21 salary was $7,199,760, Denver was able to offer a starting salary worth any amount up to $8,639,712 (120% of his previous salary). That gave the club plenty of flexibility to re-sign Green without using cap room or another exception — he received a two-year, $16.4MM contract.
A deal completed by the Clippers last offseason provides an example of a team using Non-Bird rights on a minimum-salary player. Nicolas Batum, whose minimum salary would have been $2,641,691 in 2021/22, was eligible to sign for up to 120% of that amount via the Non-Bird exception. As such, his salary this season with Los Angeles was $3,170,029, the maximum he could’ve received using his Non-Bird rights.
Finally, it’s worth noting that a player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year deal (or a two-year deal that includes a second-year option) and will have Early Bird or Bird rights at the end of that contract would surrender those rights if he consents to a trade. In that scenario, he’d only finish the season with Non-Bird rights.
This happened to Solomon Hill this year, when he agreed to a trade that sent him from Atlanta to New York. Hill would have had Early Bird rights if he had finished the season with the Hawks, but allowing the trade meant he would instead only have Non-Bird rights during the 2022 offseason. That wasn’t a concern for the Knicks, who forfeited their Non-Bird rights to Hill anyway by waiving the injured forward shortly after acquiring him.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.
Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Harden, J. Brown, T. Young, Knicks
After winning the first three games of their series vs. the Raptors, the Sixers have now dropped two consecutive close-out opportunities and will head back to Toronto clinging to a 3-2 lead. Star center Joel Embiid, who tore a ligament in his right thumb in Game 3, said after Monday’s loss that he wants to make an effort going forward not to favor that injury quite so much.
“I’m in a situation where I try to protect it,” Embiid said (Twitter link via Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer). “Before I even attack or if I get the ball, it’s almost like I’m not playing freely where I’m like, ‘Well, if I do this, I might get hit or I might get hurt.'”
Embiid also told reporters on Monday night that his All-Star teammate James Harden, who attempted just 11 shots from the field and had 15 points in Game 5, needs to be more aggressive on the offensive end, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays.
“I’ve been saying all season since he got here, he needs to be aggressive and he needs to be himself,” Embiid said. “That’s not really my job. That’s probably on Coach (Doc Rivers) to talk to him and tell him to take more shots, especially if they’re going to guard me the way they’ve been guarding. But that’s really not my job.”
No team in NBA history has blown a 3-0 series lead. If they can get a home victory on Thursday, the Raptors would be just the fourth team (of 145) to force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-0, which would put a ton of pressure on the 76ers to close out the series on Saturday at home.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Celtics wing Jaylen Brown earned another one of his contract bonuses on Monday due to the team’s first-round series victory. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter), advancing to the second round assured Brown of an extra $482,143 this season.
- The Raptors‘ decision to give up a first-round pick for Thaddeus Young at February’s trade deadline may look short-sighted if he leaves in free agency this summer, but he has provided intangible value to the team through his veteran leadership and understanding of the game, says Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Additionally, since the Raptors acquired a second-rounder from San Antonio in the Young deal, they only ended up moving down 13 spots in the draft, from No. 20 to No. 33.
- In his latest mailbag, Fred Katz of The Athletic addresses a series of offseason questions facing the Knicks, weighing in on Mitchell Robinson‘s upcoming free agency, whether Tyus Jones or Malcolm Brogdon make sense as offseason targets, and more.
Ben Simmons, Rich Paul Meet With Nets’ Leadership
Nets guard Ben Simmons and agent Rich Paul met with team leadership, including general manager Sean Marks, on Monday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
As Wojnarowski explains, the goal of the meeting was to determine how the two sides will continue to address the “physical and mental hurdles” that must be cleared to get Simmons back on the court. During the sitdown, Simmons reiterated his desire to play for the Nets, tweets Wojnarowski.
Simmons, who has dealt with mental health issues and a back injury this season, had reportedly been planning to make his Brooklyn debut in Game 4 on Monday after missing the entire season up until this point. However, the Nets announced on Sunday that he had been ruled out for that game — Simmons apparently experienced some back pain during the final stage of his ramp-up process.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Nets believe Simmons has made progress in his efforts to get mentally and physically ready to play, but they recognize there’s still some work to do.
Addressing Simmons’ status on Monday, Nets head coach Steve Nash suggested it wasn’t the team that was leaking those reports about the three-time All-Star gearing up to play in Game 4.
“I mean, I wasn’t really expecting him to play (on Monday),” Nash said, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Like we’ve said all along, he’s trying to improve, he’s working through it. Reports that he was playing were from the outside, I don’t know where that came from. So we kind of stick to what we’ve always said; he’s still building himself up, still working through things, still trying to get strong enough and put himself in a position to play.”
Nash didn’t rule out the possibility that Simmons could play later in the series if the Nets win on Monday, though a Game 5 return in Boston seems unlikely.
For what it’s worth, Simmons isn’t scheduled to undergo another MRI on his back, according to Lewis, who says that both Nash and a source close to the 25-year-old have said he shouldn’t require surgery in the offseason to address the injury.
Heat’s Kyle Lowry Out For Game 5
Heat point guard Kyle Lowry will miss a second consecutive game due to his left hamstring strain, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link). The team has ruled out Lowry for Game 5 in Miami on Tuesday.
Lowry, who injured his hamstring in Game 3, also sat out Game 4 on Sunday, but the Heat didn’t miss a beat without him. Gabe Vincent stepped into the starting five in Lowry’s place, while Victor Oladipo entered the rotation. Neither player had a huge game, but Vincent was a plus-19 and Oladipo was a plus-28 in Miami’s 110-86 victory over Atlanta. They’ll likely continue to play key roles as long as Lowry remains on the shelf.
As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald notes (via Twitter), Lowry’s hamstring strain is the sort of injury that would sideline him for at least a week – if not more – during the regular season. While the 36-year-old would certainly love to be back as soon as possible, the Heat won’t rush him back now that they have a 3-1 series lead over the Hawks.
The Heat have also listed P.J. Tucker (calf) and Caleb Martin (ankle) as questionable for Tuesday’s game, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Draft Updates: Diabate, Nance, Wong, Gach, Mocks
Michigan freshman power forward Moussa Diabate will test the 2022 NBA draft waters, a source tells Jeremy Woo of SI.com (Twitter link).
In his first college season, Diabate averaged 9.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG on 54.2% shooting in 32 games (24.9 MPG), earning Big Ten All-Freshman honors. He’s currently the No. 69 prospect on ESPN’s big board, making him a borderline candidate to be drafted. If he can improve his stock during the pre-draft process, he would presumably be more inclined to keep his name in this year’s draft pool rather than returning to the Wolverines.
Here are a few more draft-related updates:
- Northwestern senior power forward Pete Nance, the No. 95 prospect on ESPN’s board, has declared for the draft, he announced on Twitter. Although Nance says his “pure focus” is on making it to the NBA, he’s maintaining his college eligibility for now. The younger brother of Larry Nance Jr. averaged 14.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 2.7 APG on .497/.452/.768 shooting in 30 games (27.2 MPG) in 2021/22.
- Miami junior guard Isaiah Wong will test the draft waters for a second straight year, he announced on Instagram. Wong, who has made back-to-back All-ACC third teams, averaged 15.3 PPG in 37 games (33.9 MPG) in 2021/22.
- Dutch point guard Keye Van Der Vuurst is entering the draft, agent Keith Kreiter tells HoopsHype (Twitter link). Van Der Vuurst has won three Belgian League champinoships with Oostende since joining the team in 2018.
- Utah senior wing Both Gach, who previously tested the draft waters in 2020, will enter the 2022 draft and forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility, he tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link).
- Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer and ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz (Insider link) published new, updated mock drafts on Monday.