Larry Nance Jr., who fractured the second metacarpal on his left hand in last night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, had successful surgery today to repair the fracture. The surgery was performed by Dr. Steven S. Shin.

Nance Jr. is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

The third-year pro started all eight games this season, with averages of 10.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.

Sixers rookie Ben Simmons doesn’t just look like a talented first-year player. He appears to be a talented star by any measure, new player in the league or otherwise. Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer reporting:

Ben Simmons is making life difficult for opposing coaches to create a game plan. The rookie point guard’s size alone makes defensive matchups a tricky area to navigate.

“It’s unique in the sense that Simmons is a 6-10 point guard. We haven’t seen that in a long time,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said Friday morning, hours before his team’s game against the Sixers. “LeBron [James] is about as close as a big guard that’s handling the ball as much as he does. Magic [Johnson] was that other guy. The league really hasn’t seen the big point guards in a long time.”

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Despite their loss of Gordon Hayward at the start of the season, the Celtics are off to an excellent start. And they’re about to get better as new addition Marcus Morris is ready to make his season debut. Here’s ESPN Boston reporting:

Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris will make his 2017-18 season debut during Friday night’s visit to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Morris, acquired this summer in a swap that sent Avery Bradley to the Detroit Pistons, missed the start of Boston’s training camp while on trial for aggravated assault in Arizona. He played in only one exhibition game after being acquitted and the team held him out of game action at the start of the regular season while Morris both got himself in better shape and battled knee soreness.

“Very excited, man,” Morris said at Boston’s shootaround Friday morning. “This will be a good game for me to come back, anyway. I’m excited to come back.”

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Here’s the Palm Beach Post reporting Heat broadcast news that will take effect next season:

John Crotty is moving over from radio to television.

Crotty will become the Miami Heat’s next analyst for all TV broadcasts beginning next season, the team announced today. Crotty, 48, will work alongside play-by-play broadcaster Eric Reid, replacing longtime analyst Tony Fiorentino.

Crotty, who played 48 games for the Heat in 1996-97, has been a member of the broadcast team since January 2005 when he became the Heat’s radio analyst. He will become the seventh person to serve as the TV analyst for the franchise and the second former player.

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Here’s the Palm Beach Post reporting on a member of the Heat who the entire squad is rooting for right now:

The Miami Heat are keeping a popular member of the family on their minds while on their longest road trip of season.

Dan Bisaccio, an assistant video coordinator, is in South Florida while dealing with health issues. The Heat have been wearing T-shirts this week that read ’10 Day,’ which is Bisaccio’s nickname.

Spoelstra gave a “shout out” to Bisaccio, 28, on Thursday while explaining the shirts.

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