Clint Capela To Miss At Least One Week
Hawks center Clint Capela underwent an MRI on his knee that revealed no structural damage, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Capela is expected to be re-evaluated in a week.
The 27-year-old injured his knee against the Cavaliers on Friday and has avoided a significant injury. He exited the contest with seven points and eight rebounds, logging just over 13 minutes to that point.
Capela will miss at least the first three games of the team’s first-round series against Miami. Game 4 will be held on Sunday, April 24, though it’s still unclear whether he’ll be able to return by that point. He averaged 11.1 points and 11.9 rebounds per contest as a starter this season.
Former No. 6 pick Onyeka Okongwu will likely receive more playing time in his absence, especially with John Collins‘ availability still up in the air. Okongwu grabbed nine rebounds and finished with a +21 net rating against Cleveland.
Bam Adebayo Exits Protocols, Available For Playoff Opener
Heat center Bam Adebayo has officially exited the league’s health and safety protocols and is expected to be available against the Hawks in Miami’s playoff opener on Sunday, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets.
Adebayo entered the COVID-19 protocols on April 10 and coach Erik Spoelstra indicated on Friday that he expected his starting center to clear them this weekend.
This is obviously a major development in the series, particularly since the Hawks could be without center Clint Capela, who suffered a knee injury during the play-in victory over Cleveland on Friday. Adebayo averaged 22.5 PPG, 6.o RPG and 4.5 APG in two games against Atlanta this season.
For the season, Adebayo averaged a career-best 19.1 PPG, 10.1 RPG and 3.4 APG in 56 games. He hasn’t played since April 8, when Miami defeated Atlanta by four points.
Luka Doncic Won’t Play In Game 1 Against Utah
APRIL 16: Doncic is officially listed as out for Game 1 by the team’s PR department (Twitter link).
APRIL 15: Doncic will miss Game 1 and there’s “significant concern” about his availability for Game 2, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
APRIL 14: Luka Doncic is expected to miss Game 1 of the Mavericks‘ playoff series against Utah on Saturday, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).
A report on Wednesday indicated that there was “a lot of skepticism” that Doncic would be available for the opener after he suffered a left calf strain on Sunday in Dallas’ regular season finale. Muscle strains are notoriously tricky to deal with and there’s a risk that the star guard could further injure the calf if it’s not fully healed.
As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski relayed on Wednesday, Doncic’s injury is “more than just a mild calf strain” and he might miss Game 2 on Monday as well. Game 3 starts next Thursday, so Doncic will have a couple extra days rest after Game 2 before the series shifts to Utah.
The 23-year-old averaged 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 1.2 steals on .457/.353/.744 shooting in 65 games this season (35.4 minutes per night), so his absence will have a major impact on the four-five matchup. In 13 career playoff games from 2020-21, Doncic put up 33.5 points, 8.8 points, 9.5 assists and 1.2 steals on .494/.392/.600 shooting, but Dallas fell to the Clippers in the first-round both seasons.
The Mavs figure to heavily rely on guards Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie with Doncic expected to be sidelined for at least the first game against the Jazz.
Simmons To Ramp Up Activity, Could Play In First Round
Ben Simmons could make his season debut during the latter stages of the Nets’ series against the Celtics, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports.
After running and shooting pain-free for over a week, Simmons will now scrimmage against teammates in practices. His workouts up until now have been limited to 1-on-0 situations (Twitter links).
The possibility of Simmons taking the court adds even more intrigue into what will likely be the most-watched first round series. ESPN and The Athletic reported on Friday that Simmons was aiming for a return somewhere in the Game 4 to Game 6 range of the series. Game 4 is scheduled for April 25, with the remaining games (if necessary) to be played every other night afterward.
According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), there’s growing optimism that Simmons could suit up as early as Game 3, which will take place next Saturday, April 23 when the Nets return to Brooklyn.
However, Kevin Durant said on Thursday he’s “not expecting” Simmons to play in the series, stressing that he doesn’t want to place any pressure on the three-time All-Star. Simmons has been rehabbing from a back injury, which has delayed his Nets debut.
Hawks’ Clint Capela Suffers Right Knee Injury
10:02pm: The team appears to be optimistic that Capela didn’t suffer a major injury, but he’ll undergo an MRI on Saturday to determine if there’s any structural damage, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).
8:02pm: Hawks center Clint Capela suffered a hyperextension of his right knee in Atlanta’s play-in contest against Cleveland and has been ruled out for the remainder of the game, the team announced (via Twitter).
The injury occurred in the second quarter of the game. After an Evan Mobley pump-fake, Capela fouled Mobley, who then fell backwards into Capela’s right knee, bending it backwards while it was planted.
It was a scary looking injury and Capela immediately went down in pain, grabbing his knee. He had to be helped back to the locker-room with the assistance of teammates.
Atlanta trailed 61-51 at halftime of the contest, which will determine the No. 8 seed in the East. Capela’s absence could be a devastating blow for the Hawks, who were already playing without John Collins, the team’s normal starter at power forward.
Second-year big man Onyeka Okongwu is starting in place of Capela in the second half and figures to see heavy minutes in his absence. Little-used backup Gorgui Dieng could also receive some playing time with Atlanta’s frontcourt shorthanded.
Possible Lottery Pick Ousmane Dieng Entering Draft
French forward Ousmane Dieng is entering the 2022 NBA draft, he told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony.
[RELATED: 2022 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]
Dieng is viewed by ESPN as the No. 12 prospect in this year’s class, according to the report from Wojnarowski and Givony, though he currently shows up at No. 18 on ESPN’s actual top-100 list. Either way, he’s considered a potential lottery pick after a promising season with the New Zealand Breakers.
The first European star to take advantage of the National Basketball League’s Next Stars program for young prospects, Dieng faced older, more seasoned competition in 2021/22 and acquitted himself well, according to Givony.
“Playing in a tough league with really good players was really good for me,” Dieng told ESPN. “I learned a lot. The transition was significant, going up against much better players than I saw in France. The game is faster. Everyone is more physical.”
Dieng, who got better as the NBL season progressed, is considered a very strong passer and defender, with the versatility to guard multiple positions, says Givony. The 18-year-old told ESPN that Scottie Barnes and fellow Frenchman Nicolas Batum are among the players he has studied and whose games he believes he can emulate.
Paul George Out Friday Due To Positive COVID-19 Test
Clippers forward Paul George has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols and will miss Friday’s win-or-go-home play-in game against the Pelicans, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps (Twitter link).
George has tested positive for COVID-19, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said that George started not to feel well on Thursday and registered a positive test on Friday morning (Twitter link via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN).
It’s a brutal blow for the Clippers, who appeared to be getting healthier at just the right time entering the postseason. George recently returned from an elbow injury that caused him to miss three months, while Norman Powell came back last week after being sidelined for nearly two months due to a broken bone in his foot.
The Clippers will still have Powell available for Friday’s play-in game, but star forwards George and Kawhi Leonard, who continues to make his way back from ACL surgery, will both be on the shelf, opening the door wider for the Pelicans to clinch the No. 8 seed.
Of course, head coach Tyronn Lue kept the Clippers competitive and in the playoff picture with both of his All-Star forwards unavailable for much of the season, so it’s certainly not a given that George’s absence will result in a home loss on Friday.
If L.A. pulls out a victory tonight, George should be able to return by Game 3 of a first-round series vs. the Suns. If not, Tuesday’s loss in Minnesota will end up being his final game of the 2021/22 season.
George’s positive COVID-19 test could also be bad news for the Trail Blazers. Portland will receive the Pelicans’ top-four protected 2022 first-round pick if it falls between No. 5 and No. 14, but that pick would land at No. 15 and would be sent to the Hornets if New Orleans wins tonight. In that scenario, the Blazers would instead receive Milwaukee’s 2025 first-round pick (top-four protected).
Baylor’s Jeremy Sochan Declaring For NBA Draft
Baylor freshman forward Jeremy Sochan has decided to enter the 2022 NBA draft and will forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility by hiring representation, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN. According to Givony, Sochan will sign with Jim Tanner and Deirunas Visockas of Tandem Sports.
Sochan only started one of his 30 games in his first and only college season, but made an impact off the bench, averaging 9.2 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 1.3 SPG in 25.1 minutes per contest and earning Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors. Sochan, who won’t turn 19 until next month, also established himself as one of the best defenders at the college level, says Givony.
Although Baylor claimed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Bears didn’t last long, having been eliminated in the second round by North Carolina. Despite the disappointing end to his season, Sochan made a strong impression on NBA scouts and projects as a potential lottery pick, according to Givony, who ranks him No. 13 on ESPN’s big board.
“I always knew that I’ll be in the NBA, whether it took one year or four,” Sochan said, adding that he’s looking forward to showing teams how mature his game is for his age. “I have my own game that takes from many different players and positions. Some players that I think I can learn a lot from are Mikal Bridges, Bam Adebayo, Draymond Green, Jaylen Brown, Aaron Gordon, Boris Diaw, just to name a few.”
Sochan is the third Baylor prospect to declare for this year’s draft, joining teammates Kendall Brown and James Akinjo.
Hoops Rumors’ 2021/22 NBA Award Picks
No Hoops Rumors writers are among the 100 media members who voted on the NBA’s award winners in 2022, but we still have some thoughts on which players are most deserving of hardware for their performances this season.
Here are our choices for the six major awards:
Rory Maher
- Most Valuable Player: Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
- Rookie of the Year: Evan Mobley (Cavaliers)
- Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
- Sixth Man of the Year: Tyler Herro (Heat)
- Most Improved Player: Desmond Bane (Grizzlies)
- Coach of the Year: Monty Williams (Suns)
There are plenty of statistics that indicate Jokic was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, but these are the most convincing, in my opinion: Denver was +19.5 points per 100 possessions better with Jokic on the court vs. off (compared to +11.3 for Joel Embiid and +10.8 for Giannis Antetokounmpo), per Cleaning the Glass. And despite missing their second- and third-best players, the Nuggets had a .622 winning percentage when Jokic played (a 51-win pace), compared to .250 when he didn’t (a 20.5-win pace).
Mobley and Scottie Barnes were neck-and-neck for Rookie of the Year for me, but I gave Mobley the edge due to his defensive impact.
The Jazz had a 104.5 defensive rating when Gobert was on the court — 1.7 points stingier than Boston’s league-leading mark — and he led the league in rebounding, was third in blocks, and opponents shot significantly worse than expected when he was defending them.
Bane was a solid rotation player as a rookie and a borderline All-Star as a sophomore, nearly doubling his scoring average (9.2 PPG to 18.2 PPG) while maintaining fantastic efficiency for a 56-win Grizzlies squad (the team was just 3-3 without him). There were many other worthy candidates, including Tyrese Maxey, Darius Garland, Jordan Poole, Dejounte Murray, Josh Hart and Jarrett Allen. I didn’t seriously consider Ja Morant because putting a player who was already really good as MIP just felt…wrong.
Herro and Williams look like well-earned shoo-ins for their respective awards, but Taylor Jenkins, J.B. Bickerstaff, Nick Nurse, Erik Spoelstra and Ime Udoka also deserve recognition for leading their teams through a challenging season.
Dana Gauruder
- Most Valuable Player: Joel Embiid (Sixers)
- Rookie of the Year: Cade Cunningham (Pistons)
- Defensive Player of the Year: Mikal Bridges (Suns)
- Sixth Man of the Year: Tyler Herro (Heat)
- Most Improved Player: Jordan Poole (Warriors)
- Coach of the Year: Taylor Jenkins (Grizzlies)
Embiid gets the nod over Jokic and several other worthy candidates because his stellar play saved the Sixers’ season despite the turbulence caused by Ben Simmons. Controversies and awkward situations typically tear teams apart. Embiid carried Philadelphia to a tie for the second-best record in the East – the Sixers were 45-23 when he played and just 6-8 without him.
Cunningham got off to a slow start after spraining his ankle in training camp. He lived up to his status as the top pick after the All-Star break, averaging 21.1 PPG, 6.5 APG and 5.7 RPG. He gets a slight nod over Mobley and Barnes.
The Suns rolled to the best record in the league behind a defense that held opponents to the third-worst field goal percentage. Bridges was usually assigned to the other team’s top offensive threat and quietly shut many of them down.
Herro is the easiest pick among the awards. He averaged 20.7 PPG and 4.0 APG in 32.6 MPG for the team with the best record in the East.
The Warriors had to wait for Klay Thompson to return, then lost Stephen Curry for the last few weeks of the season. Poole filled the scoring void during those absences, averaging 18.5 PPG and 4.0 APG in his third season.
The Grizzlies went from four games over .500 last season to 30 games above .500 this season. Even when Morant was injured late in the season, Memphis continued to win. Jenkins deserves plenty of the credit for the dramatic improvement.
Arthur Hill
- Most Valuable Player: Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
- Rookie of the Year: Evan Mobley (Cavaliers)
- Defensive Player of the Year: Marcus Smart (Celtics)
- Sixth Man of the Year: Tyler Herro (Heat)
- Most Improved Player: Ja Morant (Grizzlies)
- Coach of the Year: Taylor Jenkins (Grizzlies)
Jokic’s brilliance kept the Nuggets competitive despite playing nearly an entire season without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. His offensive production has exceeded what he did when he won the award last season, and his defense has gotten better as well.
Mobley landed on a perfect team for his skill set and he helped the Cavs become a surprise contender. With a unique mixture of offensive talents and a dominating presence on defense, he excelled amid the pressures of a playoff race.
Smart became a full-time point guard this season and played an important role in Boston’s smothering defense. Smart has been openly campaigning for the award, touting his ability to guard all five positions, and there’s a good chance that voters will listen to his argument.
Herro provides Miami with the league’s most dangerous weapon off the bench, averaging 20.7 PPG and shooting 39.9% from three-point range. He has a chance to win several Sixth Man awards during his career if he remains in his current role.
Morant was already really good, but he has taken his game to an elite level during his third NBA season. He posted career highs in every major category and seemed to provide a few highlight-reel plays every night. His presence will make the Grizzlies a difficult playoff matchup for anyone.
No team has exceeded expectations more than Memphis, which climbed to the No. 2 seed in the West. Jenkins gets contributions from nearly his entire roster and has put together a young, exciting squad that is both successful and fun to watch.
Alex Kirschenbaum
- Most Valuable Player: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Rookie of the Year: Scottie Barnes (Raptors)
- Defensive Player of the Year: Mikal Bridges (Suns)
- Sixth Man of the Year: Tyler Herro (Heat)
- Most Improved Player: Desmond Bane (Grizzlies)
- Coach of the Year: Monty Williams (Suns)
The MVP race has come down to a contest between three big men for the first time in eons, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. Among them, Giannis Antetokounmpo – the reigning Finals MVP and two-time regular season MVP – is the best player on the best team. While Nikola Jokic boasts some surreal offensive stats, I don’t love giving my vote to players on teams that occupy the bottom halves of their conference’s playoff picture. A team’s place in the standings should matter, though the injuries to Jokic’s two best teammates certainly limited Denver’s ceiling.
Scottie Barnes is a quintessential Masai Ujiri player — a big, switchy, athletic forward who already looks destined to become an impact defender. His game is incredibly fun to watch, and it’s always nice to see players with so much two-way ability get recognized with end-of-year hardware. Between Barnes and Evan Mobley, it has been a heck of a year for big two-way rookies.
Miles Bridges has been a critical and somewhat under-appreciated piece for a stellar 64-18 Suns team that appears to be the heavy title favorite, assuming Chris Paul holds up for four playoff rounds. It’s time for the wings to reclaim this award from the trees! Bridges’s stifling defense has been a crucial cog for one of the best two-way teams in the league. The premiere swingman defender of the 2021/22 season deserves this nod.
Someone on Miami should win something, but that’s not why Herro is the Sixth Man of the Year. He deserves this, as the de facto late game bucket-getter for the top club in an unusually competitive Eastern Conference. His defensive liabilities are the reason he’s a sixth man rather than a starter, but this award isn’t for Starter of the Year, so that’s not really a problem. The 22-year-old third-year guard out of Kentucky, in line for a lucrative contract extension this summer, averaged career-bests of 20.7 PPG (on .447/.399/.868 shooting), 5.0 RPG, 4.0 APG and 0.7 SPG in 66 games for the 53-29 Heat.
I’ve loved to see Desmond Bane’s transformation while with the Grizzlies. It’s always exciting to watch a young non-lottery player (he was the No. 30 pick in 2020 out of TCU) without a traditionally definable role evolve into a crucial part of a playoff contender, and Bane is this year’s model. In his second season, the resilient wing has established himself as the full-time starter for the second seed in the Western Conference. His counting stats have seen a massive uptick from his rookie numbers of 9.2 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.7 APG in 22.3 MPG during 2020/21. This season, in 76 games (all starts) for a 56-26 Memphis club, Bane averaged 18.2 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.2 SPG. He also posted elite shooting splits of .461/.436/.903.
Yes, Taylor Jenkins is nipping at Monty Williams’ heels for Coach of the Year honors this season. But awarding the hardware to Williams for what he’s done with the Suns in 2021/22 is not a “make-up” award (the NBA equivalent of Al Pacino winning his first-ever Oscar, about two decades too late, for Scent of a Woman). Williams was the head coach for the team that has by far been the best in the NBA this year, not an easy feat to achieve following a disappointing 2021 Finals loss. Over the course of his tenure in Phoenix, Williams has taken a lottery-bound 2019/20 club to the class of the league in just three seasons. Yes, personnel moves had an impact on that, too, but Williams has been able to guide the Suns’ many young guns to maximize their potential, alongside the team’s savvy vets.
Luke Adams
- Most Valuable Player: Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
- Rookie of the Year: Scottie Barnes (Raptors)
- Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
- Sixth Man of the Year: Tyler Herro (Heat)
- Most Improved Player: Tyrese Maxey (Sixers)
- Coach of the Year: Monty Williams (Suns)
It’s a brutal year to pick an MVP and a Rookie of the Year — the top three contenders for each award would be runaway favorites in most other seasons and any of them would be worthy winners.
I ultimately gravitated toward Jokic and Barnes, in part because they played significantly more than the other top MVP and ROY candidates. When two or three players are producing at such a similar rate, the one who performed at that level for an extra few hundred minutes is inherently providing his team more value over the course of the season. Jokic’s staggering on/off-court numbers and Barnes’ impressive defensive versatility (he guarded every position and often took on the most challenging perimeter assignments) were also among the deciding factors.
Voter fatigue and Utah’s up-and-down season will likely result in a new Defensive Player of the Year this year, but I couldn’t find a compelling reason not to pick Gobert, who remained elite in 2021/22 and whose presence in the paint does more to alter an offensive game plan than a single perimeter stopper can. Despite a relative lack of strong defenders around Gobert, the Jazz played like the NBA’s best defense when he was on the court and were the equivalent of the league’s 21st-best defense when he sat. Bam Adebayo and Draymond Green rivaled Gobert’s impact, but missed a little too much of the season — 26 and 36 games, respectively.
Most Improved Player is nearly as difficult to pick this season as MVP and ROY, with a larger pool of legitimate candidates. I don’t subscribe to the notion that second-year players don’t deserve this award (sure, they’re “supposed to” improve, but the award isn’t Most Unexpectedly Improved Player), so I’ll give the nod to Maxey, who played the most minutes of any Sixer this season and whose huge jumps in both production and efficiency helped the team withstand Simmons’ absence without missing a beat.
Herro averaged over 20 points per game and shot nearly 40% from beyond the arc for the East’s No. 1 seed, while Williams led the West’s No. 1 seed to a 64-win season (and an incredible +33.4 net rating in “clutch” situations) despite missing Paul for a few weeks in the second half. Herro and Williams are betting favorites for their respective awards for good reason.
Stephen Curry On Track To Return For Game 1 Vs. Denver
As long as he doesn’t suffer any setbacks in Thursday’s scrimmage, Stephen Curry is on track to return for Game 1 of the Warriors‘ playoff series against Denver on Saturday, sources tell Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Curry was able to practice on Wednesday for the first time since suffering a left foot sprain and bone bruise on March 16 vs. Boston. Golden State was just 8-10 in games Curry missed this season, but finished out the season strong by winning its last five games to secure the No. 3 seed in the West.
The two-time former MVP had a down season by his spectacular standards, but still had a tremendous impact on both ends of the court. In 64 games this season (34.5 minutes per night), he averaged 25.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.3 steals on .437/.380/.923 shooting.
Curry’s potential return and health will be key factors in Golden State’s chances for a deep playoff run. If the Warriors can defeat the Nuggets in the first-round, they’d face the winner of the Memphis/Minnesota series in the semi-final.
The Warriors returned to the playoffs in 2021/22 after a two-year absence, finishing with a 53-29 record. The team famously went to the Finals in five straight seasons from 2015-2019, winning three Championships in the process.