Eric Walden: Didn’t catch it at the time, but Rudy Go…
January 23, 2020 | 7:34 pm UTC Update
I have been told by credible sources that Miami was in serious discussions with Sacramento about acquiring Trevor Ariza before he was ultimately dealt to Portland, though if I was aiming for a deep playoff run, I’d be aiming significantly higher than where Ariza is at this point in his career.
January 23, 2020 | 6:44 pm UTC Update
Former Miami Heat great Dwyane Wade isn’t surprised that new Heat swingman and his good friend Jimmy Butler is having so much success with his old team. Wade, who spent 15 seasons playing in Miami, believes that Butler has the right kind of “crazy” to fit in with the Heat’s culture.
“I think Jimmy’s been very clear, and I think I’ve spoken a few times, it’s conversations that we had about Miami early on, and it’s certain people that you just know are Miami Heat guys when you know the culture,” Wade said during a conference call Wednesday to announce his new role with Turner Sports. “And for me, I always thought that Jimmy was that — not knowing that this would actually happen — but I always thought that Jimmy’s personality and his crazy is perfect for [Heat president] Pat Riley and [coach] Erik Spoelstra’s crazy.”
“I think it’s all based off of honesty, truthfulness, hard work and intention,” Butler told ESPN after scoring 24 points, dishing out 10 assists and grabbing 7 rebounds in a 134-129 overtime win over the Washington Wizards. “And I feel like when you talk about myself, you talk about Spo, you talk about Coach Pat, that’s what all of this thing is based off of: how hard you work, how you can keep it real with one another and not take anything personal. It fits for me here. I’m loving it, man. They’re constantly in my ear, and we’re constantly going back and forth, figuring out ways that I can be better. How I can make everybody else better. But this culture — I’m super happy to be here. I’m fortunate to be here, man. This is a great group of guys. It’s a great organization. But like [Wade] said, this is the right type of crazy for me.”
January 23, 2020 | 6:33 pm UTC Update
Jenkins has given Crowder his blessing to speak up in such situations. Crowder’s been a starter since Day 1 this season due in part to his ability to lead — both by example and with his sometimes harsh words. He barks at his teammates when they are not in position, and he speaks his mind when he disagrees with the coaching staff. And he might even applaud you if you pick up a technical foul.
“He’s an unbelievable leader,” Jenkins said. “Our first conversation, we sat down and had breakfast, and he was super excited about this opportunity. Obviously he’s bounced around the last couple of years, but he’s learned so much. He was freely sharing how much he’d learned from when he started in Dallas, the success that he had in Boston, going to Utah, a successful team. Obviously, as we started the season we had different expectations coming in. We didn’t know what we were going to have. But he was excited about helping these young guys grow and taking on a new role.”
Crowder arrived in Memphis as a piece in the Mike Conley-to-Utah trade. He was initially unsure about his place on the young roster and was apprehensive about playing on a team that many projected would be one of the worst in the Western Conference. Then the front office reached out to him and explained the team’s goals for the season. The Grizzlies wanted Crowder to be a mentor for their young roster. It wasn’t a role Crowder was accustomed to, but he accepted the challenge.
“I was like, ‘I want to be a part of it, I’ll buy into it,’” Crowder said. “Obviously it’s a challenge for me, where I’m at in my career. … I’ve been in the playoffs the last five years. That’s what I want to do. Obviously we’ve been winning games — we’re in the playoffs now. I’ve just been trying to lead and be accountable for myself and accountable for my teammates.”
Sarah K. Spencer: The Hawks fly to OKC this afternoon — that means Trae Young gets to watch from home with family as All-Star starters are announced. “Hopefully some good news comes out of it… For me being able to watch it and tune in, being in Oklahoma, and playing in OKC, that’s a dream.”
January 23, 2020 | 4:52 pm UTC Update
Mavericks, Sixers interested in Danilo Gallinari
Danilo Gallinari stands out as an option. Multiple playoff teams have expressed interest in the Thunder forward, including the Mavericks and Sixers, according to league sources. Gallinari is a potent scorer everywhere on the court, in any play type—whether he’s posting up, isolating, or in the pick-and-roll as a screener or ball handler. Though Gallinari, 31, has never been an All-Star, he’s played like one this season in Oklahoma City and last season with the Clippers. Gallinari can become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but few teams will have cap space, and most of them will be younger teams unlikely to pursue players in their 30s.
The Mavericks are continuously cited by league sources as a potential landing spot for Grizzlies wing Andre Iguodala, who could help them this season as a secondary ball handler without compromising their future cap space. The Mavs have also made offers to the Timberwolves for Robert Covington, but those have been declined, according to multiple league sources. Covington won’t make many plays off the dribble, but he’d be an upgrade over Dorian Finney-Smith as a 3-and-D wing. It remains to be seen whether Dallas has the ammo to complete a trade, but it’s clear that the team is looking to bolster its postseason odds.
Whereas Marc Gasol is positionally adept and can occasionally draw charges or make life difficult with his no-jump verticality, Ibaka makes a scorer pause, think and sometimes change his shot. Both players’ defensive versatility is growing, though. “The good thing is this year we’ve been trying to give them the same coverages,” Fred VanVleet said of the two centres. “It doesn’t always work. But last year, it was like two different teams — when Serge was at the five and Marc was at the five, it was completely different. But I think this year, they’re in the same coverages a lot. We’re challenging them to switch and be up and move their feet. It gives us a lot in the toolbox at the end of the year.”
“I think there’s a plan of being more aggressive and looking at the basket as a first option,” Gasol said. “And after that, just playing out of that. Some games, the ball is going to go in more, sometimes it’s not, but I’m someone that always looks for the next play, next action, and try to get guys involved. … Sometimes I overthink the game, trying to get going some of the guys that are not getting going. And you know, by being sometimes too unselfish, you can be selfish in a weird way.”
Justin Kubatko: Most triple-doubles by a player in his first five NBA seasons: 135 – Oscar Robertson. 59 – Magic Johnson. 36 – Nikola Jokic*. 29 – Grant Hill. 26 – Jason Kidd. 26 – Ben Simmons. * 19p/12r/10a last night.
Justin Kubatko: The @utahjazz have tied the team record for most consecutive 20-point wins with three. They also recorded three straight 20-point wins in December 1990, November 1995, and November 2004.
Nets Daily: DeAndre Jordan has received the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for December, presented in recognition of his efforts to brighten the holidays for children and families through his “6 Days of Giving” initiative.
January 23, 2020 | 4:04 pm UTC Update
Malik Monk on Knicks' radar
On the trade front: some in the Knicks organization see Charlotte’s Malik Monk as a trade target worth pursuing, per SNY sources. It’s unknown if the Knicks have had conversations with the Hornets about Monk, the No. 11 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Multiple contenders continue to monitor the Marcus Morris situation with the hope that New York considers moving the veteran. As SNY previously reported, there are people in the Knick organization who see Morris as an important part of the club’s future and would like to re-sign him.
“It’s not something that I think the coaching staff was overly comfortable with, just conceptually. But I also don’t really care. We’ve spent 14 weeks putting him in position to have a sustainable future, and we’re going to be very mindful of that moving forward.” David Griffin on Zion playing in limited minutes.
ESPN Stats & Info: Zion Williamson scored 22 points in 18:18 of action Wednesday, or 1.20 points per minute. That’s the most points per minute in a player’s NBA debut in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55). h/t @EliasSports
Justin Kubatko: Zion Williamson is the 48th player in the 3-point era to score at least 20 points in his NBA debut. Among those players, he’s just the third to finish with more points than minutes played, joining Willie Burton and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. pic.twitter.com/6daWElkyQd
That one stretch left Pelicans fans less bothered by the loss than downright giddy about what the future will hold. His teammates weren’t that impressed, though, because they believe this is just the beginning. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet. He had some explosive rebounds and explosive (plays) to the rim,” said Brandon Ingram, who had 22 points on 6-of-22 shooting. “But I think as he gets comfortable, he can be even better.”
Privately, though, expectations for the 2019-2020 Knicks were set during the team’s first official meeting. Members of the front office addressed the players in the meeting and conveyed two distinct messages, according to SNY sources familiar with the discussions: 1. They said, in no uncertain terms, that they believed that the Knicks were a playoff team and anything less than that was a disappointment. 2. Players who were entering free agency in the summer of 2020 were told that they would be judged much more heavily on the team’s win-loss record than their individual play.
Anthony Chiang: NBA All-Star starters will be announced today at 7 p.m. Bam Adebayo is not expected to make it in as a starter, but it’s expected to be a close call for Jimmy Butler.
Why is LaMelo shutting it down now? We’re six weeks out from the original injury, and questions were starting to arise about his future there. Few NBA executives are surprised by this news, and even fewer who have spoken with The Athletic believe this is wholly about the injury. There has been an assumption throughout league offices that from the time Ball injured his foot, he was going to shut it down. That’s not to say the foot injury is illegitimate.
Simply put, folks within NBA front offices believed that Ball would come to the conclusion he had done enough to place himself into a comfortable position entering the pre-draft process. While one executive did make a case to me that Ball could legitimately help himself by playing, no one really expected it. Also, there wasn’t much left for him to compete for from a team concept either.
Having said that, the early indications from scouts that I’ve talked to have been largely positive. He’s put his head down and worked since he’s been in Australia. People who have come into contact with him have come away impressed with his maturity level after he’s had to deal with a lot of personal upheaval in his life over the last few years. His mother had a stroke. He was pulled out of high school. He’s traveled the globe trying to find a basketball home. It’s been a lot in the last 24 months. All of this occurring while achieving a level of viral internet fame that few people his age have received. And yet, sources say he’s adjusted to it all and is a good kid.
Several veteran executives observing from the outside were surprised at the way things unfolded. “I don’t think I’ve seen a coach address the media, coach practice and get let go,” one exec said. “Terrible optics.” When reached by SNY for comment on the information in this story, Fizdale declined to discuss the specific details. But he did say that he hopes Miller gets “a chance to stay on as head coach after this year.” “I hope Mike, who I remain in touch with, and the players there can continue to build on what we started together,” Fizdale added.
As the losses mounted early in the season, the preseason playoff expectations weighed heavily on some of the Knicks. “They were definitely playing tight,” one person in touch with those players at the time said. “(Some of the players eligible for 2020 free agency) were already worried about next summer.” Those early-season losses also led to immediate speculation about Fizdale’s job security. The speculation increased, of course, after Mills and Perry held their impromptu press conference in early November.
Two people close to the head coach said that he is bothered by the suggestion, from some media reports, that he was content with being fired because he’d be collecting the money remaining on his $22 million contract. When asked about that theory after Miami’s recent game in New York, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra strongly refuted the idea. “That’s total BS. That’s not him at all,” said Spoelstra, who worked with Fizdale for 10 years in Miami. “I’ve worked with Fiz for a long period of time and he’s a great teacher and committed to his craft. Being content with anything is not in his DNA.”
January 23, 2020 | 12:53 pm UTC Update
The Hawks were close to a deal that would have sent Chandler Parsons and the Nets’ 2020 first-round pick to Detroit for Drummond, but Atlanta was unwilling to add the pick because Drummond’s contract extension demands are currently too high, according to multiple league sources.
The Spanish Charlotte Hornets player, Willy Hernangmez, said it will be “a dream to play again with Luka Doncic” before the ‘NBA Pars Game 2020’, the first regular season game on French soil in history to face the Friday Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks. “Of course it will be a dream to play again with Luka (Doncic) and with Kristaps (Porzingis), who have been my companions. You never know what is going to happen and where you are going to be, but right now I am focused on trying to take advantage of the opportunities, on playing anywhere and being able to give the maximum of m, “Hernangmez said. “With Luka we are always supporting each other, always playing the game console, talking on FaceTime… It makes me very happy for how he is playing, for how he is dominating the league and that he is always there, giving us courage to my brother and me, because he knows they are difficult times, “he added about the Dallas Mavericks Slovenian.
On Christmas Day, DeLooper, 28, of Fishtown, set off on an epic quest crisscrossing North America to see all 30 NBA teams play at home in 30 days. His goal: to get on every NBA arena’s Jumbotron. As of Thursday, DeLooper had 29 very successful and very silly Jumbotron appearances under his belt, with just one more to go Thursday night.
His strategy, he said, is all about location, costumes, and “subpar dance moves.” “It’s definitely taught me a lot about myself,” DeLooper said of his odd odyssey. “Be open to new things and put out good energy and good energy should return.”
January 23, 2020 | 7:12 am UTC Update
Karl-Anthony Towns untouchable?
Despite recent rumors and speculation with the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline quickly approaching, Rosas insists that Towns, 24, is Minnesota’s franchise guy for now and the future. “Karl-Anthony Towns is as untouchable as they come,” Rosas told ESPN. “He’s the best player on our team and he’s the guy we’re building around. Everything we do is to help him become the best player and to help us become the best team we can be. He’s a special talent that we’re going to do anything possible to help him achieve his highest potential.”
Brandon Ingram a max player?
The team is high on Jaxson Hayes and Nickeil Alexander-Walker moving forward. It also doesn’t have a ton of cap flexibility with the expected restricted free agency offer sheets coming Ingram’s way. League sources are expecting his play this year to earn him max money in offer sheets this summer.
Bucks not moving Eric Bledsoe?
The 39-6 Milwaukee Bucks have the best record in the NBA and have refuted a report that they would be willing to deal guard Eric Bledsoe if offered an enticing return package. “We have no talked to any teams about trading [Bledsoe], since the day that we traded for him,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. “And I think it’s evident, pretty strongly, in the fact that we extended Eric, what he means to us. The fact that we currently have the best record in the NBA, had the best record last year in the NBA, he’s an All-NBA First Team defender and a guy that we feel strongly should be an All-Star for the Milwaukee Bucks this year. We have not had those conversations, and we are not going to trade Eric Bledsoe.”
