“A lot of guys want to be All-Stars. A lot of guys want to do this. That’s a fact,” Simplis said. “De’Andre is actually getting the opportunity. A lot of guys have to go through adversity. Some guys are in situations that aren’t maximizing their skillset. He went from 12 (points) a game last year to (19.6) this year. I think in Atlanta’s system with their young nucleus, they’re going to be in the playoff hunt for years to come. Atlanta is going to have a lot of visibility on them. I think he can be one of their Big 3. In today’s NBA, if you’re one of the Big 3 (on a team) and your team is winning, there’s a chance you’ll get an All-Star nod. He’s in a good place. On top of that, you have the size, the length, the athleticism, the business approach and the work ethic. All of these guys have the work ethic. But I think he’s in the right situation to be an All-Star. His job is to get better and evolve.”
“A lot of guys want to be All-Stars. A lot of guys wa…
March 4, 2021 | 2:02 am EST Update
Pelicans keeping Josh Hart?
Zach Lowe: From what I’ve heard from teams who have inquired about Josh Hart, the Pelicans absolutely love him. He’s a restricted free agent this summer and have shown very little interest in dealing with them.
Thaddeus Young: Ayyyyy 🔥 “Thaddeus Young is currently viewed by league executives as a potential game-changer for contending teams: “We took a straw poll of league executives on which player outside of Bradley Beal could change the landscape of the playoff race. The unanimous answer was the veteran Thaddeus Young.” – via @bleachernation ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’m humbled and grateful. But as I have said, my focus is on what is here in front of me right now; and that is my team the @chicagobulls and our season 👊🏽🏀🏆 Let’s get it.
Donovan Mitchell blasts officiating
After Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell was hit with technical fouls on two separate plays in the final minute of overtime and was ejected with 30.5 seconds to go in Utah’s 131-123 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the All-Star said he’s tired of the Jazz being “screwed” by the referees, calling the way his team’s games are officiated “f—ing ridiculous.” “First off, you know, give the 76ers credit. They played a hard game. Joel [Embiid] did what he does, and at the end of the day, they’re a good team. We competed. But it’s tough. It’s tough to go out there and see how we fight and compete, and to have a game like that taken from us,” Mitchell said Wednesday night.
“Now, I’m never ever one to blame a ref, to blame an official — I can say I could have done more — but this is getting out of hand. There have been games like this that we’ve won, there have been games like this that we’ve lost. But this whole refereeing stuff. … We’re nice, we don’t complain, like, we don’t get frustrated, we fight through things, and the fact that we continually get … screwed, in a way, by this. You know?
“We won this game, in my personal opinion. You know? But like I said, I’m going to give them credit. They won. Whatever. Cool. But it’s been a consistent thing, and the question is, ‘Can we do it? Can we sustain it? Are we for real No. 1? And, yeah the hell we are. And it’s getting f—ing ridiculous, that this is what is happening.”
“We have a whole second half of the season to go and get ready for, and I’m sick of it, to be honest with you,” Mitchell said. “We all are. This is something that just it eats me. It eats at me, man. “Y’all know what it is. We all know what it is. But it’s really getting out of hand. It’s really, really, really getting out of hand. And the league needs to do something about this. “I want to see the last two-minute report. I want to see it. But it’s getting out of hand.”
That disparity also drew the ire of Gobert, Utah’s other All-Star — who, like Mitchell, also earned himself a certain fine from the NBA sometime Thursday after repeatedly calling out the officials during his own postgame media session. “Our guys are not able to get calls everybody else in the f—ing league gets,” Gobert said. “We know we are the Utah Jazz, and maybe some people don’t want to see us go as far as we can go, but it’s disappointing. “Three times in a row, Mike Conley is going to the rim, and they’re grabbing him right in front of the officials and there’s no calls. And, on the other end, there are calls that are invisible that are being made.
