Inside Hoops – Page 214 – NBA Blog

Should the Lakers use Russell Westbrook as a reserve instead of as a starter?

As the NBA regular season starts to wrap up over the next month, the Lakers still face all sorts of challenges and questions to answer, including exactly how to make the most of Russell Westbrook’s talent. Here’s the OC Register:

There are only 19 games left in the season, and Westbrook is still disgruntled about his shifting role. After Thursday’s loss, Westbrook took a shot at the coaching staff again: “My role and what I’m doing has changed every single night, so I’m just trying to figure that out as I’m playing and to be able to benefit and help my team.”

Not long after, ESPN reported that Coach Frank Vogel was facing internal pressure to bring Westbrook off the bench, including a report of a tense Friday film session between Vogel and Westbrook. So far, according to ESPN, Vogel has resisted making the move. The report cites that the push is coming “among many in the Los Angeles Lakers organization,” which is deliciously vague.

Said Vogel on Friday: “We have discussions, just like the front office has thousands of trade discussions every deadline, and they don’t discuss every one of those. Most of them don’t come to fruition. And that’s where we’re at with Russ. Is there a path where that’s the better option? We have talked about that. We’ve talked about everything we can do with our team. We’re not there.”

The interesting mental exercise comes from imagining what would change for the Lakers by bringing Westbrook off the bench. Westbrook would be out of the Lakers’ starting lineup, which presumably would feature LeBron James and more active defenders and long-range shooters more prominently. Westbrook would play fewer minutes of his inefficient style that has not meshed well, particularly with James. He might get more free reign in those secondary units as the point guard, which could theoretically help him find his offensive rhythm.

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The latest on the Raptors

For the latest on the Toronto Raptors, here’s the Toronto Sun reviewing a pretty basic yet essential thing basketball teams must do to win:

In a make-or-miss league, the Raptors have been woefully amiss with their ability to drain shots.

Not surprisingly, they haven’t been able post wins of late.

With two critical pieces are unavailable in the wake of injuries, the margin for error is slimmer for a team whose depth has always been an area of concern.

In Sunday’s loss to the host Cleveland Cavaliers, the first of a six-game trip for the Raptors, the only bench player to score for the visitors was Precious Achiuwa, who would end the night with a negative-28 rating.

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Jayson Tatum scores 54 points in Celtics win over Nets

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum had himself quite a game today on national TV in a win over the Brooklyn Nets. Here’s Boston.com:

As Jayson Tatum stepped to the line late in Sunday’s matinee game against the Nets, chants of “M-V-P” rained down from the rafters.

How can you argue with them? Tatum’s free throws were his 53rd and 54th points in the Celtics‘ 126-120 victory over a Nets team that was nearly whole — missing only Ben Simmons. Tatum rose to the occasion against Kevin Durant, who has arguably been the best player in the world for much longer than he gets credit. He beat double teams. He worked his way to the free-throw line 17 times. He buried eight of his 15 3-point attempts.

“Obviously, when you kind of get in that zone, the basket just seemed to be a little bit bigger,” Tatum said after the game.

Perhaps most importantly, when the Nets forced the ball out of his hands, he was a willing passer. The biggest shot of the game was Jaylen Brown’s back-breaking corner triple with 39 seconds remaining which was assisted by Marcus Smart, but the advantage was created when the Nets double-teamed Tatum.

“[Tatum] was unstoppable,” Brown said afterward. “I think that helps with your offense, right?”

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Raptors guard Malachi Flynn out with hamstring strain

Toronto Raptors guard Malachi Flynn sustained a strained left hamstring in Friday’s game against the Orlando Magic.

Flynn had started the previous four games for the Raptors, averaging 16.0 points, 5.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 35.6 minutes during this stretch. He scored a season-high 20 points and tied a season best with eight assists in 39 minutes against the Magic.

Flynn is out indefinitely, and his condition will be updated as appropriate.

Knicks forward Julius Randle fined by NBA

New York Knicks forward Julius Randle has been fined $50,000 for initiating an on-court altercation by forcefully shoving Phoenix Suns forward Cam Johnson, making contact with a game official in his attempt to get at Johnson, and for his noncompliance with an NBA investigation, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations.

The incident, for which Johnson was assessed a technical foul and Randle was assessed two technical fouls and ejected, occurred with 2:40 remaining in the third quarter of the Suns’ 115-114 victory over the Knicks on Mar. 4 at Footprint Center in Phoenix.

Raptors sign Armoni Brooks to 10-day contract, and release D.J. Wilson

The Toronto Raptors have signed guard Armoni Brooks to a 10-day contract.

And in a corresponding move, the Raptors have released forward D.J. Wilson.

Brooks, 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, is averaging 6.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 16.8 minutes in 41 games (eight starts) with Houston this season. He is shooting .347 (87-251) from the field and has scored in double figures 10 times, including a season-high 21 points Dec. 10 at Milwaukee. The Rockets waived Brooks at the NBA trade deadline who also appeared in two games with College Park in the NBA G League earlier this month.

A native of Waco, Texas, Brooks holds career averages of 7.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 19.8 minutes in 61 games (13 starts) with Houston (2020-22). He signed a two-way contract with the Rockets in April 2021 following two seasons in the G League with College Park (2019-20) and Rio Grande Valley (2020-21). Brooks is averaging 12.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 23.7 minutes in 60 career G League contests.

Prior to the G League, Brooks played three collegiate seasons at Houston (2016-19) where he was named All-AAC Second Team as a junior. He went undrafted in 2019.

Injured Clippers swingman Paul George remains out, but seen shooting around

The Clippers remain without injured stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but at least there was a positive PG13 sighting. Per the OC Register:

Paul George hasn’t been cleared for takeoff, so don’t bother checking the departure board, not just yet.

But the Clippers’ star wing looked characteristically fluid as he put up shots – with his right hand – Saturday before the team’s practice at Honey Training Center.

The seven-time All-Star has missed the past 33 games – a span in which the Clippers are holding steady, at 17-16 – since being shelved with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

It’s the type of injury that often sidelines baseball pitchers for a year following Tommy John surgery to repair it, but that operation is relatively unheard of for basketball players, according to Dr. Alan Beyer, executive medical director at Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine.

George underwent an MRI on Feb. 25, which indicated, Coach Tyronn Lue said that day: “Just that he feels better. He’s making progress, but he’s gonna need more time.”

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Zion Williamson will reportedly at least be around the Pelicans again soon

It’s unclear if Pelicans forward will play at all this season, but at least he will reportedly soon be around the team again. Via the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

While Zion Williamson remains sidelined indefinitely from a right foot injury he suffered last summer, he is expected to rejoin the New Orleans Pelicans next week, sources told The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate.

Williamson has spent the majority of the past two months in Portland, Oregon, with a few members of his inner circle. In early January, the team announced that he would be away from the team while he recovered from right foot surgery.

Williamson has yet to play a game this season after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his right foot. He was supposed to go through a full practice in December, but he began experiencing soreness in his right foot, and he has remained sidelined.

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Pistons coach Dwane Casey is good at beating his former team

Coach Dwane Casey’s Detroit Pistons have been in a rebuilding phase, but despite that, his squad suddenly turns into a winner when facing his former team. Via the Toronto Star:

Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse, frustrated all night by a whistle that was blown a little too often for his liking, finally had it and lost it on an official.

He was ejected, but the 19,548 fans at Scotiabank Arena gave him a hero’s goodbye, cheering him back to the locker-room. Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey, who Nurse replaced as Raptors head coach in 2018, cracked a smile at the scene.

Toronto was down 16 points late in the third quarter when Nurse was ejected but the Raptors almost came back in a 108-106 loss to Detroit on Thursday…

Casey had been Toronto’s head coach with Nurse working as one of his assistants until May 2018 when Casey was fired in the off-season. Casey has a 9-3 record against the Raptors including six straight victories.

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Basketball star Brittney Griner reportedly detained in Russia

Here’s the New York Times reporting on American basketball star Brittney Griner:

The Russian Federal Customs Service said Saturday that its officials had detained an American basketball player after finding vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow.

The Customs Service said in a statement that the player had won two Olympic gold medals with the United States, but it did not release the player’s name. The Russian news agency TASS, citing a law enforcement source, identified the player as Brittney Griner, a seven-time W.N.B.A. All-Star center for the Phoenix Mercury. Griner, 31, won gold medals with the U.S. women’s national basketball team in 2021 and 2016.

The Customs Service released a video of a traveler at the airport who appeared to be Griner, wearing a mask and black sweatshirt, going through security. The video showed an individual removing a package from the traveler’s bag.

The screening at the airport occurred in February, according to the Customs Service, raising the possibility that Griner has been in custody for at least several days.

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