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Northwest Notes: Wolves, Jokic, Murray, George, Giddey

March 30th, 2024 at 9:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

The battle for control among Timberwolves‘ ownership isn’t affecting the team’s performance, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. While majority owner Glen Taylor and minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez fight things out in the media and probably in the court system, Minnesota picked up one of its biggest wins of the season Friday night at Denver. The Wolves are now tied with Oklahoma City for the top spot in the West with just nine games remaining.

“I don’t think it affects the players as much,” Mike Conley said of the ownership situation. “Maybe it affects the image of the team, the aura of the team around a little bit. But as far as the players are concerned, I think we just are like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy.’ Then we go back to watching film and worrying about (Nikola) Jokic, Jamal Murray and (Michael) Porter and those guys. It’s a unique situation and it’s something we don’t have any control over. We’re trying to do our job.”

Rudy Gobert didn’t mention Taylor, Lore or Rodriguez by name, but he said ownership in general has improved since he was traded to Minnesota nearly two years ago, creating a better atmosphere for the players.

“Whether it’s nutrition, recovery, facility, family room, how our family is being treated — it’s a lot of things,” Gobert said. “This organization is becoming really a top-notch organization and I think it’s come a long way.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • The Nuggets may need to prioritize health over chasing the No. 1 seed, contends Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Jokic played with his right wrist taped Friday night, and Durando observes that it was clearly bothering him even though he finished with 32 points and 10 rebounds. “His wrist has been giving him a lot of trouble,” coach Michael Malone said. “But as we know, Nikola plays through things that most guys won’t.” Murray missed his fourth straight game with an ankle injury, but Malone said he’s expected to return before the start of the playoffs.
  • The Jazz dropped their eighth straight game Friday night as they deal with the realities of starting three rookies, notes Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. Taylor Hendricks, Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh are struggling with efficiency as they get accustomed to playing big minutes at the NBA level, but the organization is committed to all three players, with coach Will Hardy complimenting George on his mental approach to the game. “Keyonte is really, really smart. He’s really, really smart in general, and that applies to basketball,” Hardy said. “He watches a lot on his own, which is very rare these days. He’s at home watching League Pass, watching games. So with that he has pretty quick recognition of things. He has an ability to learn things fast. He has really good recall. He can remember plays that we ran three weeks ago that we haven’t scripted in a while.”
  • Thunder swingman Josh Giddey said he used to hate it when teams dared him to shoot from the outside, but he’s learned to use it as a weapon, tweets Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. “Now I’ve changed my mindset going into games,” Giddey said, “where it’s like, ‘If he’s gonna leave me open, I’m gonna punish them. I’m gonna make them pay and change their defensive scheme.’”
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Northwest Notes: Trail Blazers, Henderson, Gobert, George

March 23rd, 2024 at 9:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Trail Blazers started five rookies in tonight’s game against Denver, writes Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. The lineup consisted of Scoot Henderson, Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert, Toumani Camara and Duop Reath, marking only the second time that a team has started five first-year players since the NBA began tracking starters in 1970/71. The 2012 Warriors were the first, according to a tweet from the Blazers.

The move was necessitated by the team’s lengthy injury list, which grew even longer when guard Anfernee Simons had to leave Friday’s game in the third quarter after hurting his left knee. Coach Chauncey Billups told reporters that Simons will undergo an MRI on Sunday.

Deandre Ayton missed Friday’s game with tendinitis in his left elbow, which is also keeping him out tonight. Jerami Grant is already sidelined with a hamstring issue, and Malcolm Brogdon has been out of action since early February with elbow tendinitis. Billups expressed hope that Grant and Brogdon can return before the end of the season.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • Friday marked Henderson’s best performance since suffering a groin injury during the Rising Stars game at All-Star Weekend, observes Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (subscription required). The No. 3 pick in last year’s draft, who posted 24 points, five rebounds, 10 assists and two steals in the Trail Blazers‘ loss to the Clippers, talked about his experience with the “rookie wall.” “It’s a longer season now, so you kind of get that wall a little later,” Henderson said. “After 50 games in the G League, you’re like, ‘OK, let’s play another one.’ But when you hit 50 or 60 [in the NBA], it’s a little tougher now.”
  • Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is determined to not let the pain from a sprained rib keep him out of the lineup, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “You got to embrace the pain sometimes. Sometimes the pain of watching hurts more than the pain of the injury itself,” Gobert said. “It is all about playing through that. As long as I can move, able to impact the game, I am going to be out there.”
  • The Timberwolves fired a team employee this week for stealing thousands of files, some of which contained “strategic NBA information,” according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN. Somak Sarkar was charged with felony third-degree burglary.
  • Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune examines the high turnover rate for Jazz rookie guard Keyonte George and how it might impact his NBA future.
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Northwest Notes: George, Jokic, Gobert, Warren

March 16th, 2024 at 10:27am CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have fallen out of the play-in race and are headed for another lottery finish, but rookie guard Keyonte George continues to impress. He scored at least 25 points for a third straight game in Friday’s win over Atlanta, earning high praise for head coach Will Hardy, according to Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune.

“Keyonte (has) the opportunity to become a real star in this league,” Hardy said. “… There’s a lot of pressure when you’re the No. 1 guy. Like, you’re driving to the gym and you’re thinking, ‘If I don’t play well, we won’t win.’ Role players don’t always necessarily have that burden in their brain before a game and so these opportunities for Keyonte to be the quote-unquote No. 1 guy for us are imperative for his development.”

George was one of three players drafted by the Jazz in the first round last June, but he’s the only one of the three to have earned a significant role as a rookie.

While fellow first-rounders Taylor Hendricks and Brice Sensabaugh have played a combined 624 minutes, George has logged more than 1,500 across 59 games. The first-year guard has averaged 12.7 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.8 rebounds in 25.9 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .403/.359/.828.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • Nikola Jokic played in his 65th game of the season on Friday night, ensuring that the Nuggets star will be eligible for end-of-season awards, including Most Valuable Player, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Jokic is currently the betting favorite to win this season’s MVP award, which would be his third.
  • Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert underwent X-rays after sustaining a rib injury in Tuesday’s game, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who says those X-rays came back negative. Gobert is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game in Utah due to what the team is calling a left rib sprain, so it doesn’t appear it’s a significant injury for the Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner.
  • With Karl-Anthony Towns sidelined, T.J. Warren got the opportunity to play real rotation minutes in his NBA comeback with the Timberwolves, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Warren’s 10-day contract expired last night, so Minnesota will have to decide whether or not to sign him to a second one.
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Northwest Notes: Conley, George, Blazers, Nuggets

February 23rd, 2024 at 10:43pm CST by Rory Maher

Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley will earn $9,975,962 in 2024/25 followed by $10,774,038 in ’25/26 as part of his new two-year extension, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). It’s a straight two-year contract with no options, and Conley can’t be traded for six months due to the 8% raise in year two of the extension, Marks adds.

Appearing on NBA Countdown, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said (Twitter video link) Conley initially wasn’t thrilled that Utah sent him to Minnesota at last year’s deadline, having instead hoped to land with the Lakers or Clippers. However, he and his family now love the area and he was enthusiastic about staying with the Wolves.

In a story for ESPN.com, Kevin Pelton writes that Conley’s extension looks like a win for the Wolves on the court and off, even though they’re almost certain to be a second apron team in 2024/25. Pelton says the No. 1 seed in the West is well worth spending money on. Minnesota has only paid the tax once in franchise history, but Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are set to become majority stakeholders next season.

Pelton also examines Minnesota’s free agents this summer and ways in which the team could trim payroll, which seems unlikely barring an unforeseen development.

Here’s more from the Northwest:

  • Jazz guard Keyonte George, the 16th pick of last year’s draft, spent the summer watching all 82 of Utah’s games from 2022/23 to prepare for his rookie campaign, he tells Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports. “I watched as much film as I could just so I knew what my role was going to be coming in,” George said. “I knew Mike (Conley) was gone, so I just had to go into a new situation, trying to be a lead guard, and I was trying to speed up the process. My main goal was to be effective as soon as possible so I wanted to put myself in a position to be knowledgeable and not think about what I was doing in a new system and just play.” Known as more of scorer coming out of Baylor, George knew facilitating would be key to NBA minutes. He says he continues to study other players to gain an edge. “As the year has gone on, I’ve felt way more comfortable and my shot is starting to fall,” George added. “Definitely the game is slowing down for me. I’ve been watching games around the league and seeing how other guards get to their spots and just trying to figure out my spots and my shot selection.”
  • The Trail Blazers have reached a five-year “bridge agreement” with the city of Portland that will keep the team in the Moda Center through at least 2030, with the current lease expiring in 2025, per Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. The Blazers own the arena but the city leases the land. President of business operations Dewayne Hankins said the move will keep the team in Portland and owner Jody Allen has instructed the Blazers to get a long-term deal done with the city.
  • The Nuggets are 25-8 with all five starters active but just 12-11 when at least one player from the group is unavailable. With that in mind, head coach Michael Malone says he’s more focused on repeating as NBA champions instead of angling for the West’s top seed, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes. “For me, (the top seed) is not a top one or two priority, to be very honest,” Malone said. “We talked about that with our team today. The good thing is Minnesota is No. 1. We play them three more times. We’re three games out (of first place). So we have avenues to become the No. 1 team. It’s definitely attainable. But I don’t want to win that battle and lose the bigger war. … I think having home court in the first round is very, very important. I think having a healthy team going into the postseason is very important. And if we happen to be the No. 1 seed, that’s just a cherry on top. But we’re not gonna put all our cards in just to attain that and to risk being healthy for a very deep playoff run.”
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Lakers Notes: LeBron, Longevity, Bronny, More

February 19th, 2024 at 2:35pm CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers may be without star forward LeBron James for their first game after the All-Star break, as he’ll be undergoing left ankle treatment this week, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN. L.A. faces Golden State on Thursday.

An All-Star starter, James played 14 minutes in Sunday’s exhibition game but sat out the second half to manage the ankle injury. He missed his seventh game of the season last Wednesday, the final contest before the break.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

  • James set a record by being named to his 20th All-Star game in 2023/24. Several young players at All-Star weekend said they were amazed by his remarkable longevity, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, who notes that seven Rising Stars participants were born after James made his NBA debut, including Jazz rookie Keyonte George. “It’s crazy. There’s a stat when we played him the first time that he was older than our coach (Will Hardy),” George said Friday morning with a laugh. “… All the young guys coming into the league know who Bron is. To me, he’s the best that ever touched the basketball. … The main goal coming into the league is, ‘How can I stay in it for as long as possible?’ Being a good teammate, with your play. The name of the game is longevity. … I think the shot-making ability, not going to the rim all the time, get to their spots, pick them, play with a good pace. I think that helps with longevity and your body. And then it comes down to skill.“
  • Appearing on TNT’s Inside the NBA before the All-Star game, James said his son, Bronny James, has yet to decide whether he’ll declare for the 2024 draft, as McMenamin of ESPN relays. Bronny is a freshman guard at USC. “It’s up to him, it’s up to the kid,” LeBron said. “We’re going to go through the whole process. He’s still in season now. He has the Pac-12 tournament coming up. … We’re going to weigh all options and we’re going to let the kid make the decision.”
  • Jovan Buha of The Athletic lists five reasons to be optimistic about the Lakers down the stretch, including the new starting lineup of D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, James and Anthony Davis. L.A. is 8-2 when those five players have shared the court together, Buha notes, including 5-0 with them starting.
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Northwest Notes: Wolves, Jokic, Braun, George

February 17th, 2024 at 10:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Timberwolves arrived at the All-Star break with the best record in the West, and they’re determined to finish the season as the conference’s top seed, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. It’s an accomplishment that Minnesota has achieved only once in its history — during the 2003/04 season — but it appears to be within reach. The Wolves are a game-and-a-half ahead of Oklahoma City, and their 20 road wins are the highest total in the league.

“It matters if you’re trying to project everything forward,” coach Chris Finch said. “You want every advantage possible. If you have the best record, then of course you get home court, but it’s too far out to really bank on anything.”

Being in contention for the top spot is a major accomplishment for Minnesota, which had to battle through the play-in tournament last season before being ousted in five games in the first round. Rudy Gobert, who has experience as a No. 1 seed with Utah, said it’s important to keep focusing on business and not get distracted by the standings.

“I can feel that we have a purpose,” he said. “Personally, I came here to help this team win a championship. But last year, it was kind of like a lot of adversity. We realized early on that it probably was not going to be that year, but we could feel that we had the potential. And this year, from day one of training camp, it was a different focus, different mindset. We learned from everything that happened last year, and it made us grow.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • Nikola Jokic isn’t a fan of the NBA’s new 65-game minimum for players to qualify for postseason awards, per Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The Nuggets center believes it puts pressure on players to take the court when they shouldn’t, adding that it likely factored into Joel Embiid‘s meniscus injury. “We saw what happened with Joel,” Jokic said. “… I just don’t like it, how it forces players to play even if they’re injured if they want to achieve something.”
  • Nuggets guard Christian Braun has been dealing with a series of injuries dating back to October, according to Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. The latest is a sprained left ankle that robbed Braun of his explosiveness and made him grateful for the week-long break. “I don’t want to sit here and make any excuses, but it hasn’t been great,” Braun said. “But I feel all right … I think this this break for me, personally, will be great for my body. I think that’s the biggest thing for me right now, is getting my body back. (It) hasn’t felt great all year.”
  • Jazz point guard Keyonte George has been through an up-and-down rookie year, but coach Will Hardy has put him back in the starting lineup to see what he can do, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. George turned in his best game Thursday with 33 points and a rookie record nine three-pointers. “He’s very talented. He plays well with the rest of the guys in our starting unit,” Hardy said. “We just thought it was time to put him back in the lineup.”
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Jazz Notes: Frustration, Markkanen, Hendricks, George, Porter

February 14th, 2024 at 11:21am CST by Luke Adams

Following the Jazz‘s 129-107 loss to Golden State on Monday, Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune wrote that the team’s locker room was as frustrated as he’d seen it following a regular season game. As Larsen explains, Utah players weren’t just upset about the loss but by the trade-deadline deals that sent out three rotation players (Kelly Olynyk, Ochai Agbaji, and Simone Fontecchio) and returned none.

Asked prior to the 2023/24 season about Lauri Markkanen‘s desire to make the playoffs, Jazz CEO Danny Ainge said the front office shared that desire and was on board with it, Larsen notes. But with the team in a play-in position in the West entering last Thursday’s deadline, Ainge essentially sold off players for draft picks, leaving the remaining players feeling as if “they were sold a bill of goods,” Larsen writes.

Jazz general manager Justin Zanik explained the front office’s thinking in a post-deadline press conference last week, essentially saying that the goal is to build a roster capable of legitimate contention in the long term rather than focusing on sneaking into the play-in tournament in the short term.

“All of us want to win,” Zanik said, per Tony Jones of The Athletic, pointing out that Utah hasn’t won more than a single playoff series in a season since 2007. “But I want to win for a long time. We don’t want to just have a year where we had a good run. The goal isn’t the play-in or the first round of the playoffs. Those aren’t the goals. The goal is to win a championship.”

Since the trade deadline, the Jazz have gone 0-2 while the Warriors have gone 3-0, pulling ahead of Utah by 1.5 games for the No. 10 seed in the West.

Here’s more on the Jazz:

  • The primary focus for the rest of the season in Utah will be the ongoing development of Markkanen and rookies Taylor Hendricks and Keyonte George, according to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. Todd takes a look at what to look for and what the Jazz will be expecting from those three players down the stretch.
  • There has been some confusion over the health of newly acquired forward Otto Porter Jr., Todd writes in a separate Deseret News story. Zanik said during last week’s presser that Porter is “not fully healthy right now, which we knew,” and the veteran forward was ruled out on Monday due to left foot soreness. However, when asked on Saturday how he was feeling, Porter stated that he was “OK, health-wise.” Informed of Zanik’s comments, the former Raptor replied, “Just got to figure some things out as far as my health. There’s some things that I just can’t go into detail with, but with the new training staff here, they should be able to get me back.” As Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca tweets, Porter wasn’t on Toronto’s injury report and was active for several games prior to the trade sending him to Utah. He’s not on the Jazz’s injury report for Wednesday’s contest vs. the Lakers.
  • As we wrote on Tuesday, Utah is one of many teams around the NBA that currently has an open 15-man roster spot. The Jazz could create a second opening by waiving either Porter or Kira Lewis if those newly acquired players on expiring contracts aren’t in their plans, but there has been no indication yet that such a move is coming.
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NBA Announces Player Pool For 2024 Rising Stars Event

January 30th, 2024 at 3:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially revealed the 11 rookies, 10 sophomores, and seven G League players who will take part in the Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend in Indianapolis next month.

The following players, as voted on by NBA coaching staffs, made the cut:

Rookies

Sophomores

G League Players

As was the case last season, the Rising Stars event will consist of four teams and three games. The seven G League players will comprise one team, coached by former NBA forward Detlef Schrempf. The other 21 players will be drafted to three squads coached by former NBA and WNBA stars Pau Gasol, Jalen Rose, and Tamika Catchings.

The four teams will be split into two first-round matchups and the winners of those two games will face one another for the Rising Stars championship. The two semifinals will be played to a target score of 40 points, while the final will be played to a target score of 25 points.

All three contests will take place on Friday, February 16 as part of All-Star weekend’s opening night.

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Northwest Notes: Dunn, George, Wallace, Wolves

January 20th, 2024 at 11:37am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Jazz are 12-3 in their past 15 games, establishing themselves as one of the hottest teams in the league. Since mid-December, they rank top 15 in offensive and defensive rating, and a huge part of their recent surge is the point guard play of Kris Dunn, writes John Coon of the Associated Press.

Utah is 13-4 on the season with Dunn starting, and he’s averaging 4.8 points, 6.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks in 21.8 minutes during this recent stretch.

“Kris Dunn’s voice is more prominent now because his role is different,” head coach coach Will Hardy said. “Kris has always talked a lot. He’s always been a great presence in our locker room and a great presence at practice with our team. But now that he’s starting, his voice is heard in a different way and at different times.”

After being selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Timberwolves, he was part of the deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. Dunn struggled with injuries in Chicago and then later Atlanta before he was waived and out of the league. The Jazz signed him to a pair of 10-day deals last season and he impressed. However, he wasn’t immediately given the reins to the point guard position over the offseason and his role fluctuated to begin the year. Now, it’s clear his patience is paying off for both him and the team.

“I’ll be doing myself a disservice and the team a disservice if I try to go out there and try to go get 20,” Dunn said. “I got to play my role and I understand my role and I have no problem playing it. Go out there and guard and distribute the ball. The main thing is keeping that energy alive.”

We have more from the Northwest Division:

  • Jazz rookie Keyonte George is another major factor in Utah’s recent success, averaging 11.1 points and 4.4 assists on the season. The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor catches up with George, writing that while his flashes have been impressive, the former Baylor guard recognizes he has room to improve, particularly with his finishing. “I’m already adjusted to the speed of the game. The reads are slowing down for me,” George said. “So it’s just about now just getting stronger and continuing to learn, continuing to slow the game down for me. So when I’m in between those lines, it is patterns.“
  • Thunder wing Luguentz Dort missed Oklahoma City’s Thursday matchup with Utah due to an illness, and rookie guard Cason Wallace started in his place (Twitter link via Bally Sports Oklahoma’s Nick Gallo). Wallace finished that game with a career-high 16 points, making six of his seven shot attempts in his seventh career start. “He’s not flinching. He’s really been like that from the getgo,” head coach Mark Daigneault said (Twitter link via Oklahoman Sports’ Joel Lorenzi).
  • After Thursday’s victory over the Grizzlies, the Timberwolves are 30-11, atop the Western Conference standings and on pace for what would be the organization’s first-ever 60-win season. The Wolves have the best defensive rating in the league and they’ll need to keep up that tempo if they want to crack the 60-win club, writes Star Tribune’s Chris Hine. Hine explains Minnesota also needs to continue to improve on offense in order to help their chances of emerging as a true contender.
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Jazz Notes: Lineup, Preston, George, Confidence

January 9th, 2024 at 10:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz coach Will Hardy has been doing a lot of tinkering with the starting lineup and rotation and it’s paying off, according to Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. Utah has had 12 different players in the starting lineup at some point.

“I think it just shows our depth and that we can win in a lot of different ways,” guard Collin Sexton said. “You’ve just got to be ready when your number is called.”

In their win over Milwaukee on Monday, the Jazz started John Collins, Lauri Markkanen, Simone Fontecchio, Sexton and Kris Dunn.

We have more on the Jazz:

  • Jason Preston received a two-year two-way contract from the Jazz on Monday, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Preston will get the maximum two-way guarantee for next season, which is equivalent to an Exhibit 10 bonus –that figure was worth $75K this season and will increase at the same rate as the salary cap. Utah waived Josh Christopher to make room for Preston, who had been playing for the Memphis Hustle in the G League.
  • Keyonte George admits it’s been a struggle for him since returning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for six games, he told Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune. The rookie has been relegated to a bench role, though he delivered a 19-point, four-assist performance against Milwaukee on Monday. “Yeah, to be honest, a little difficult for sure. I mean, I’m human,” George said. “It’s gonna take some time to get back to where I was and try to figure out times be aggressive and times where you’re trying to get people involved.”
  • After winning eight of their last 10 games, including road victories over Philadelphia and Milwaukee, the Jazz are feeling better than they have all season, Walden writes. “I like to call it ‘swag,’ and our swag is a little up right now,” Dunn said. “We just keep doing the right things. We have a lot of talent on this team. If we move the ball, if we guard at a high level, good things can happen, as we showed in this three-game road trip.”
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