Celtics assistant Micah Shrewsberry will leave the NBA to rejoin the Purdue coaching staff, tweets Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. The news broke shortly after Boston’s season ended tonight with a Game 5 loss in Milwaukee.
Shrewsberry, 42, has been with the Celtics since 2013, when Brad Stevens was hired as head coach. He served as an assistant with the Boilermakers for the previous two years and was an assistant under Stevens at Butler prior to that.
The move has been planned for about a month, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link). Shrewsberry is hoping to someday become a head coach at the college level.
With the NBA’s 2019 draft lottery set to take place next Tuesday night, the league has now officially confirmed who will represent each team on stage and in the lottery room on May 14.
While there are only 14 picks in the lottery – including four determined by the drawings of ping pong balls – there will be 15 team representatives in attendance due to various trades. The full breakdown of each club’s odds in this year’s lottery can be found right here.
Here’s the full list of 2019 lottery representatives, with each team sending two reps — one will be in the lottery room during the actual draw, while the other will be on stage for the broadcast portion of the event.
New York Knicks
On stage: Patrick Ewing (former player)
Lottery room: Allan Houston (special assistant to the GM)
Top-four odds: 52.1%
Cleveland Cavaliers
On stage: Nick Gilbert (son of team owner)
Lottery room: Brock Aller (senior director of basketball operations)
Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon, who last appeared in a game on March 15, will be listed on the injury report as probable for Game 5 of the team’s series against Boston, and is expected to play, as Malika Andrews of ESPN.com relays (via Twitter).
According to Andrews (via Twitter), Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer indicated that Brogdon will be on a minutes restriction and will come off the bench in his return. Brogdon was a fixture in the starting lineup before his injury, but he’ll be eased back into action in the midst of the postseason, with Nikola Mirotic remaining in Milwaukee’s starting five for now.
While Brogdon may have to shake off some rust, getting him back in the rotation could be big for the Bucks, who have built a 3-1 lead over the Celtics even without one of their most reliable contributors available. The 26-year-old was a key ball-handler and floor-spacer for the club during the regular season, averaging 15.6 PPG with an ultra-efficient .505/.426/.928 shooting line in 64 games (28.6 MPG).
A minor plantar fascia tear in his right foot sidelined Brogdon for the final few weeks of the regular season and most of the first two rounds of the playoffs. With the Bucks in a good position to finish off the Celtics – either tonight or in an eventual Game 6 or 7 – Brogdon may have an opportunity to make a more significant impact in the next round.
The Celtics still appear committed to a future with Kyrie Irving, and the idea that Irving and Kevin Durant have already decided to join the Knicks has been shot down by sources close to Irving and to the Knicks, writes Kyler. Still, Kyler notes that most league insiders believe Irving will explore his options on the open market in July, even beyond the Celtics and Knicks.
Three of the NBA’s four conference semifinals appear very much up in the air, as they head into their respective Game Fives all tied up at 2-2. However, with a second consecutive resounding road victory over the Celtics on Monday, the Bucks took a 3-1 lead and now have up to three chances to end Boston’s season.
If the Bucks can finish off the series at home in Game Five, Monday’s loss might be the last time that fans ever see Irving wear a Celtics uniform in Boston. And if that’s the case, then it wasn’t a particularly memorable end to a short-lived era.
As Jay King of The Athletic details, Irving headed to the Celtics’ locker room before the game was officially over on Monday, with fans in Boston booing the club’s second straight home dud. After the game, Irving bristled when he was asked about his shooting woes (he’s 19-of-62 in the team’s last three games), as Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston writes.
“Who cares?” Irving said of his slump. “I’m a basketball player. Prepare the right way. Like I said, it’s a little different when your rhythm is challenged every play down. You’re being picked up full court. They’re doing things to test you. The expectations on me are going to be sky high.
“I try to utilize their aggression against them and still put my teammates in a great position, while still being aggressive. I’m trying to do it all. For me, the 22 shots, I should have shot 30. I’m that great of a shooter.”
While Irving isn’t necessarily wrong, his defiant attitude with the Celtics on the brink may not be the best look, according to Forsberg, who suggests that Boston’s star point guard probably should’ve expressed more frustration and disappointment with himself.
A second-round exit looks like a near certainty for the C’s, in which case Irving’s upcoming free agency will be more interesting than ever. Although he vowed before the season that he intended to stick around long-term, Irving backtracked on that promise during a drama-filled season, and it’s hard to imagine he’ll be eager to re-up with Boston after what has been a disappointing year. The possibility of an Anthony Davis trade could entice him to stay, but that’s no certainty.
Appearing on ESPN’s “Get Up” this morning, analyst Jalen Rose declared that Irving is “done in Boston,” adding that his teammates will probably “help him pack,” since they won’t mind seeing him go (video link).
What do you think? Is it premature to assume Irving will sign elsewhere in free agency, or do you agree with Rose that we’re seeing his last games as a Celtic?
Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts!
The Raptors will bring in six players in their first pre-draft workout on Tuesday, Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweets. They’ll take a look at center/power forwardJosh Sharma (Stanford) and Tanor Ngom (Ryerson in Canada), forwardTres Tinkle(Oregon State), swingmenJordan Davis (Northern Colorado) and DaQuan Jeffries(Tulsa) and point guard Daishon Smith (Louisiana-Monroe).
We have more draft info:
Vermont junior forwardAnthony Lamb (Vermont) will work out for the Cavaliers and Celtics this week, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets. Lamb previously worked out for the Hawks. Lamb averaged 21.2 PPG and 7.8 RPG in his junior season.
The Hawks will bring in four guards among six players they’ll workout on Tuesday, the team’s PR department tweets. The backcourt group includes Allen-Shabazz,Aubrey Dawkins(Central Florida), Marial Shayok (Iowa State) andQuinndary Weatherspoon (Mississippi State). Forward Mamadi Diakite (Virginia) and center Trey Porter(Nevada) will also pay the Hawks a visit.
Celtics combo guard Marcus Smart is available to play in Game 4 of the conference semifinal series against Milwaukee on Monday, the team’s PR department tweets.
Smart hasn’t played since April 7th due to a left oblique tear. His return provides a boost to the rotation with his versatility and ability to defend multiple positions. Boston needs all the help it can get against the high-scoring Bucks, who have racked up 123 points in each of the past two games to take a 2-1 series lead.
Smart had been listed as questionable after practicing on Saturday without any issues.
Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown have received the bulk of the backcourt minutes during the postseason, with Terry Rozier backing up Irving and Gordon Hayward swinging to the shooting guard spot at times.
Smart averaged 8.9 PPG, 4.0 APG and a career-high 1.8 SPG during the regular season. During Boston’s postseason run a year ago, Smart posted averages of 9.8/5.3/1.7 in those same categories.
RJ Hampton has decided to graduate high school early and reclassify to the Class of 2019, he told ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Hampton is the No. 4 player in ESPN’s top-100 class of early 2020 rankings, explaining his major decision to reclassify to Givony.
“I’ve decided to reclassify to the 2019 class,” Hampton told ESPN. “I am doing this because I feel that from a development standpoint, this is the right move for me at this time in order to play against the highest level of competition possible. I am eager to test myself against older and more physically developed players in order to help improve my weaknesses and prepare me for reaching the ultimate goal of playing in the NBA.”
With his decision, Hampton will enroll for college this summer and be eligible for the 2020 NBA Draft. A 6-foot-5 versatile player at 188 pounds, Hampton is one of the most promising young point guards in high school, now shifting his focus to interested schools such as Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis and Texas Tech, according to ESPN.
“This is a move we’ve been contemplating for some time and we don’t take lightly,” Hampton’s father, Rod, told ESPN. “As someone that played in college as well as professionally in Europe, I know that you can’t skip steps in a player’s development. Thankfully, because of the hard work that RJ has put in in the classroom — achieving a 3.75 GPA and a 1280 SAT — he was able to have this option. This weekend playing against the top players in high school basketball at the Nike EYBL, as well as earlier this month at USA Basketball, my wife, Markita, and I realized that RJ is ready to take the next step and challenge himself by taking the next step in level of competition.”
Here are some other draft-related notes today:
In speaking with some agents and executives around the NBA, there appears to be some confusion over whether prospects attending the NBA G League Combine are only working out for teams in the G League, according to Givony (Twitter link). The combine is set to include officials from all 30 NBA teams.
The Hawks will hold a pre-draft workout on Monday, the team announced today. Tennessee center Kyle Alexander, St. Louis forward Javon Bess, Terence Davis, Shaw guard Amir Hinton, Xavier guard Paul Scruggsand Stanford center Josh Sharmaare all set to be in attendance.
Smart, who has missed all of Boston’s seven playoff games to date, has been rehabbing from a left oblique tear since early April. He told reporters that he’s hopeful to make his return in Game 4 and responded well to 3-on-3 contact on Saturday, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“Feeling good today,” Smart said after Boston’s practice. “Today was a good day. I was able to participate with the team. … The boxes are being checked.
“We’re taking it one day at a time, but we’re definitely in the right position, right time, progressive phase to where I’m getting really close to coming back here.”
The Celtics have missed Smart’s defensive intensity and energy, going down 2-1 in the series and losing home court advantage after Friday’s defeat. Should Smart not play on Monday, he could still return when the Celtics travel to Milwaukee for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Smart became a permanent starter in November and was a key cog for the Celtics during the regular season, averaging 8.9 points, four assists and a career-best 1.8 steals per game. He appeared in 80 contests on the year before suffering the injury, which was also a career-high.