Author: Inside Hoops

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Jeremy Lamb with Pacers in Orlando but still not playing until next season

The Pacers won’t have the services of Jeremy Lamb until next season, but he is in Orlando, working out as he heals from serious injury. Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting:

When the rest of the team was locked out, the St. Vincent Center was open to Jeremy Lamb. Because of his rehab after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee, Lamb was allowed access to the practice facility as he continued to work through his injury recovery.

Lamb suffered his knee injury Feb. 23. Just over two weeks later the NBA shut down its season. When basketball stopped for Lamb, so did it for the rest of the world. But for Lamb, he was progressing as he normally would.

“Because basketball had been postponed, no restaurants, nothing was open,” Lamb said. “So yeah, that definitely helped me kind of keep my mind off things rather than just sitting in the house, feeling down.”

Lamb, who is with the team in Orlando, continues to progress with his knee on the sidelines of Pacers practices. Lamb said he can take one-dribble jumpers, finish at the rim and make some cuts, but during practice he’s relegated mostly to the role of rebounder and passer if the team needs an extra one.

At 39-26, the Pacers are tied with the Sixers for the 5th best record in the Eastern conference.

The latest test results on NBA players for coronavirus / COVID-19

Of the 346 players tested for COVID-19 on the NBA campus since test results were last announced on July 13, zero have returned confirmed positive tests.

In the event that a player on the NBA campus returns a confirmed positive test in the future, he will be isolated until he is cleared for leaving isolation under the rules established by the NBA and the Players Association.

Interview: Joe Ingles discusses idea of wearing headband

In the 2018-19 season, Joe Ingles started all 82 games for the Utah Jazz, averaging 12.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game.

This season, he’s come off the bench in half the games he’s played, averaging 9.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists, in 1.4 fewer minutes per game.

As for much bigger issues? World-changing issues? Championship-deciding issues? Here’s a video of Ingles discussing the decision to start wearing a headband:

It’s not yet clear how this will affect Vegas betting lines.

Rest assured, we will track this carefully, or maybe a little, or not at all.

Utah Jazz a Western conference team to watch in NBA restart

The Utah Jazz are a team to watch. At 41-23, good for 4th in the Western conference, they’re a main contender in the upcoming quest to send one of the Los Angeles NBA squads home earlier than desired in the playoffs. Here’s the Deseret News summarizing the Jazz situation as they settle in at the Disney NBA restart campus in Florida:

The Utah Jazz arrived at the NBA bubble on July 7, isolated in their hotel rooms for two days, then held their first practice in nearly four months. After six consecutive days on the court the team took a day off on Wednesday. On Saturday, they took their second day off from practice…

The Jazz have six more days before exhibition games begin, with their first scrimmage against the Phoenix Suns on July 23. It’s another week after that before the NBA season restarts on July 30…

The players showed up in great shape as far as conditioning goes but there’s still some fear about being ready for the burst movements in games and some of the things that regular weight training can help prepare the body for. This was a big concern of Donovan Mitchell’s leading up to the team leaving for the bubble and Mitchell has mentioned it as a concern even after going through practices in Orlando.

The Jazz went on wildly erratic runs this season, stringing together stacks of wins for a few weeks, and smaller streaks of losses for briefer stretches. It’ll be fascinating to see which squad shows up come playoff-time.

Return of Jusuf Nurkic big for Trail Blazers in NBA restart

As 22 NBA teams prepare to resume play later this month, the Trail Blazers are getting a key player back in action. Here’s NBC Sports Northwest reporting:

July 23 against the Pacers will be the first competitive game the Blazers have played since mid-March.

For Jusuf Nurkic, it will be the first time he is getting up and down the court against someone other than his own teammates since March 2018, when he suffered a broken left leg.

Even though the Bosnian Beast and the rest of the Trail Blazers starters will play limited minutes, Nurkic is excited about Thursday’s scrimmage against the Pacers.

“Just to play the game. I have no restrictions, so I’m feeling great, excited to play the game. I don’t know about that scrimmage, I think it’s more preseason style. We’re going to have jerseys on, so I don’t know why they call a scrimmage that. We televise it too, so I’m not sure about that. I think it’s just excitement… I’m really looking forward to playing.” — Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic

At 29-37, the Blazers sit 3.5 games behind the Western conference 8-seed Grizzlies. Portland will reportedly be without the services of Trevor Ariza, but getting Nurkic back could be a huge boost. He hasn’t played yet this season but in 2018-19 averaged 15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.

Additionally, Zach Collins will also be active for the Blazers once again.

It’s an incredibly tight race just outside the West 8-spot. The Blazers have a 43.9% winning percentage, while the Pelicans and Kings are a 43.8%. We look forward to seeing what sort of effect Nurkic has for the squad.

Orlando Magic reportedly lay off 31 full-time employees

Here’s the Orlando Sentinel reporting that dozens of Magic employees recently lost their jobs:

The Orlando Magic acknowledged Saturday the organization has laid off 31 full-time employees from a staff of about 300 workers.

Magic CEO Alex Martins said in a statement that the franchise, like many organizations across the country, had to take cost-cutting measures due to the adverse financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The layoffs were first reported by The Athletic.

“Our business, as well as many others like us, are significantly impacted due to COVID-19. We have had to make some very difficult business decisions in these unprecedented times. Due to this reality we have had to make the very hard decision to evaluate our overall structure, reorganize and reduce our headcount,” Martins wrote…

In mid-March, the Magic ownership group — the DeVos family — funded a $2 million compensation package to pay 1,800 hourly workers for the Magic, Amway Center, Lakeland Magic and Orlando Solar Bears for remaining regular-season games those part-time employees otherwise would have worked.

Full Article

Magic forward Gary Clark knows fishing

Orlando Magic forward Gary Clark obviously knows basketball. But when it’s time to go fishing, he’s ready to shine. Here’s the Orlando Sentinel reporting:

Clark said he recently caught his biggest bass ever during the coronavirus shutdown.

“It was actually during quarantine, I was at my grandpa’s house and I caught like an 8½-pound bass,” Clark said of the fish he caught in Angier, N.C. “It’s in my freezer right now, still waiting for it to get mounted.”

His grandparents have some land near Angier and he likes to fish on their property whenever he gets a chance.

“[During quarantine] I’d go down there every weekend to see my grandpa and my grandmother,” said Clark, who lives near Wake Forest University. “It’s about 40 minutes from Raleigh. … They have a pond on their land where they live on and nobody’s ever fished it because it’s private property.

“The fish after that, I had, I was actually scared of what was on the other end of the line because it was pulling so hard. It was one of those moments when I was like, ‘Is this a beaver or what’s going on?’ … I was terrified. It had to be bigger than my 8½-pound bass, but I lost it right at the bank.”

Enjoy the fishing content while you can. Because by next week, the main focus at the Disney NBA restart campus will be team scrimmages. And in just 1.5 weeks, actual real game action will resume.

Lance Thomas happy for opportunity with Nets at NBA restart

The Nets, with much of their top talent unavailable for the upcoming NBA restart, recently added forward Lance Thomas. Here’s the New York Post reporting:

The 32-year-old Thomas is thrilled to have the opportunity. The defensive-minded forward spent training camp with the Nets, but he was waived on Oct. 18. Nobody picked him up following four seasons with the Knicks. He stayed mostly at home in his New York City apartment due to the virus until June, but stayed in shape and had recently been working out at the NBAPA’s gym…

“Me, personally, I’m going to just be tenacious,” Thomas said. “Make open shots, do whatever the team needs me to do, probably guard the other team’s best player, do things that got me into the league, things that I enjoy doing. … I play the hand I’m dealt. I think myself being a player who’s been in the league you learn how to quickly adapt to any situation. Again, I’m ready for whatever comes my way.”

Thomas helps add depth, but the team’s likely biggest need may be scoring. But points may be hard to come by. Look for Nets shooting guard Caris LeVert, by far the best bucket-producer on the team who will be active during the league restart, to have a serious green light.

Steve Kerr discusses the past Warriors season

The Warriors had a rough season in 2019-20. And yes, that’s putting it very mildly. But, had Stephen Curry been active all season? Things still would have been tough, says head coach Steve Kerr. Here’s NBC Sports Bay Area reporting:

When 95.7 The Game’s Damon Bruce asked Kerr what Golden State’s season would’ve looked like with Curry healthy the whole year, Kerr said the Warriors still would’ve faced an uphill climb into contention.

“Well to be honest, I think it still would’ve been a struggle, Damon,” Kerr said on “Damon, Ratto & Kolsky.” “I think there were just too many factors that were going against us. Obviously, we would’ve won a lot more games. Steph is so talented that he would’ve undoubtedly won plenty of games on his own.”

Curry, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and Jacob Evans were the only Warriors who dressed in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals and in the first game of the 2019-20 regular season. The Warriors had seven new players in their opening-night lineup, aside from Damion Lee, who played 32 games with Golden State during the previous regular season but none in the playoffs.

The Warriors still have a lot of work to do in free agency this coming offseason. Their frontcourt is thin and their bench is limited. On paper, they should be a good team in 2020-21. Certainly a playoff team. But as for contending for a championship, roster moves need to happen.

Nets sign Justin Anderson as Substitute Player for NBA restart

The Brooklyn Nets have signed guard/forward Justin Anderson as a Substitute Player for the remainder of the 2019-20 NBA season.

The Nets are incredibly short-handed going into the NBA restart, which tips off July 30 at the single-location NBA campus at Disney Wide World of Sports in Florida, with 22 participating teams.

Anderson (6’5”, 231) was previously signed to a 10-day contract with Brooklyn on Jan. 6 and appeared in three games. He also saw action in 16 games (14 starts) this season with Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, averaging a team-high 20.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 33.6 minutes per game en route to All-NBA G League Third Team honors.

The Montross, Va., native has appeared in 219 games across five NBA seasons with Dallas (2015-17), Philadelphia (2017-18), Atlanta (2018-19) and Brooklyn (2020), recording averages of 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13.1 minutes per contest. He has also seen action in 38 career NBA G League games, registering averages of 21.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 34.5 minutes per game.

With a 30-34 record, the Nets sit 7th in the Eastern conference, above the 8th place Magic and 9th place Wizards. Although Orlando is a healthy squad, the Wizards are without backcourt stars John Wall and Bradley Beal. The Nets face a tough road during the “seeding games” they’ll be playing, but the Wizards, who are 5.5 games out of the 8th spot, face an incredibly difficult task.

Anderson was originally selected by the Mavericks with the 21st pick in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft following a three-year (2012-15) collegiate career at the University of Virginia. While playing for the Cavaliers, Anderson earned National Basketball Coaches Association All-America Third Team honors and was named to the All-ACC Second Team as a junior. He was also named the ACC Sixth Man of the Year by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association as a sophomore.