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Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford has been medically cleared to return to coaching the team on a full-time basis.
Clifford will officially re-join the team starting with practice on Tuesday, Jan. 16, before returning to the sidelines on Wednesday, Jan. 17, vs. the Washington Wizards.
He has been away from the team since Dec. 6 to address his health. Hornets Associate Head Coach Stephen Silas served as the team’s acting head coach while Clifford was out.
The Nuggets are 21-20 this season, being led in scoring by SG Garry Harris (16.9 ppg), PG Jamal Murray (16.1 ppg), C Nikola Jokic (15.7 ppg), PF Paul Millsap (15.3 ppg, though he’s been injured and played in just 16 games so far this season, and may return in February), and SG Will Barton (14.5 ppg, mostly off the bench. But right after Barton is young power forward Trey Lyles. Now in his third NBA season, Lyles in just 19.9 minutes per game is putting up 10.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Solid backup numbers. Here’s the Denver Post with more:
At the start of the season, Trey Lyles was the odd man out amongst Denver’s crowded frontcourt. But since Paul Millsap went down, Lyles has used his versatile inside-outside game and admirable work ethic to thrive as the Nuggets’ first big man off the bench. While playing both forward spots and center, Lyles has compiled 13 consecutive double-figure scoring outings while also averaging 7.5 rebounds per game during that span. His emergence is partially why Kenneth Faried has essentially been pushed out of Denver’s rotation. A tip of the cap here should also go to Torrey Craig, who has parlayed a career in Australia into an NBA two-way contract and, now, a rotation spot as a perimeter defensive stopper.
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The Miami Heat are having a very good season. With a 24-17 record, they’re 4th in the East, which is better than most observers expected. But they’re about to lose a key dose of backcourt scoring.
According to a report by Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, guard Dion Waiters, who has been out of action since December 22, “is expected to” undergo season-ending surgery on his injured left ankle.
Waiters’ stats aren’t mind-blowing: 14.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, shooting just 39.8% from the field and 30.6% from three-point range in 30 games played. But he’s provided heart, hustle and a confidence that’s helped the team formulate a winning culture this season.
According to the Palm Beach Post, “The Heat are 7-2 since Waiters was injured (8-2 including the Dallas game in which Waiters played 8:34 before being injured) and have picked it up offensively. In the last 10 games, Miami is averaging 104.3 points and shooting 46.4 percent as opposed to 99.9 points on 45.2 percent shooting the first 31.”
The Wizards currently have the fifth best record in the Eastern conference, behind the Miami Heat. Solid. But more was expected from a team that brought back last year’s roster and should presumably be improving, not staying the same. Here’s the Washington Post reporting:
But now that the 2017-18 Wizards have reached the crossroads of the regular season, they look strikingly similar — or only slightly better, in some instances — to last year’s team.
The Wizards are 23-18, just one game better than last year’s pace despite the organization going all in on its belief that continuity with Wall, Beal and Otto Porter Jr. would lead to greater heights.
Through the first 41 games, Washington has produced an offensive rating of 106.3, the 11th best mark in the league — the exact same number and ranking the team held at this point in the season a year ago. While the Wizards have shown marked improvement on the defensive end, ranking eighth in the league with a 104.0 defensive rating, that progress has not helped the team win more games.
And here’s NBC Sports Washington with more:
The positive side is that the Wizards are comfortably in the Eastern Conference playoff race at fifth despite missing several key players at times due to injury. Wall has missed 11 games, Markieff Morris missed eight and Otto Porter has missed four.
Health has been a big difference between last year and this year. Last season they didn’t have any significant injuries to their starting lineup and after 41 games they were 22-19, a game behind their current pace. That team advanced all the way to the seventh game of the second round of the playoffs.
The New Orleans Pelicans yesterday waived forward Jalen Jones.
Jones was originally signed to a two-way contract by the Pelicans on August 2. He appeared in four games with New Orleans, totaling five points and three rebounds in 19 minutes. Jones has appeared in 17 G League games this season with the Greensboro Swarm and Texas Legends, averaging 19.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
New Orleans’ roster currently stands at 16, including one two-way player (Charles Cooke).
The Milwaukee Bucks yesterday converted guard Sean Kilpatrick’s contract from a two-way deal into a standard NBA contract.
The team also parted ways with Joel Bolomboy, waiving the forward.
Since signing a Two-Way contract on Dec. 18, Kilpatrick has played in five games with the Bucks. He’s averaging 5.2 points on 52.6 percent shooting, in 9.2 minutes per game.
Kilpatrick was waived by the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 7 after averaging 4.9 points and 2.2 rebounds over 16 games.
Bolomboy played in six games with the Bucks this season, averaging 1.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 6.3 minutes per game. Bolomboy was also on the active roster for 10 games with the Bucks’ G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, and averaged 15.0 points and 11.2 rebounds per game while shooting 54.3 percent from the field.
The Bucks roster now stands at 16 players.
The Milwaukee Bucks have signed guard Xavier Munford to a Two-Way contract, and have converted forward Joel Bolomboy to a standard NBA contract. Munford, who attended training camp with the Bucks, had previously spent all season with the Bucks’ G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd. Bolomboy had been on a Two-Way contract with the Bucks since Oct. 20.
Munford, 25, is currently fourth in the NBA G League in scoring, averaging 24.1 points per game, and second in 3-point field goal percentage (.476). He has appeared in 20 games (19 starts) with the Herd this season and is also averaging a team-high 5.4 assists with 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 52.5 percent overall. In November, Munford was named to the 12-man USA roster for the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers, where he averaged 13.0 points per game on 52.6 percent shooting in two games.
Undrafted out of Rhode Island in the 2014 NBA Draft, Munford spent last season between the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League and FC Barcelona Lassa (Spain). He played in 14 regular season games for the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2015-16 season, averaging 5.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, and also appeared in all four of the Grizzlies playoff games in 2016.
Bolomboy has played in six games with the Bucks this season, averaging 1.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 6.3 minutes per game. In nine games (all starts) with the Herd this season, Bolomboy averaged 15.0 points and 11.2 rebounds per game while shooting 54.3 percent from the field.
The Bucks roster now stands at 17 players.
The Wizards dropped a competitive game to the Milwaukee Bucks last night, 110-103. The Wizards fell to 4-2 this season in the second game of a back-to-back.
The loss snapped a five-game home winning streak for the Wizards, who last lost at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 17.
Markieff Morris recorded his third consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Three-straight double-doubles is the longest streak of Morris’ career. Morris has also led the Wizards in rebounding for six-straight games now.
John Wall tallied 16 points and 16 assists in the game, a season high for assists this year. It was the most assists Wall has recorded in a game since his career-high 20 against the Bulls on March 17 last season.
The Wizards lost for the first time this season when all five starters scored in double-figures, Washington is now 5-1 in those games this season.
— Wizards Notes
LaVar Ball is currently in Lithuania, where his teenage sons will soon be playing pro basketball against disgruntled 30-year-olds with something to prove. Like anybody else, he can watch Laker games on TV. But unlike almost anybody else, son Lonzo is a key part of the team and obviously has a pulse on the squad’s situation. Here’s ESPN.com reporting LaVar’s take on the current state of the team, who have lost nine games in a row and have the second-worst winning percentage in the league:
Ball, who was up at 5 a.m. local time Saturday to watch his son Lonzo Ball in his first game back with the Lakers since suffering a shoulder injury on Dec. 23, expressed his frustration with Walton in an exclusive interview with ESPN.
“You can see they’re not playing for Luke no more,” LaVar said from the spa resort in Birstonas, where he is staying while his two youngest sons get ready to make their professional debuts. “Luke doesn’t have control of the team no more. They don’t want to play for him.”
“That’s a good team,” he added of the Lakers, who have lost nine straight games. “Nobody wants to play for him. I can see it. No high five’s when they come out of the game. People don’t know why they’re in the game. He’s too young. He’s too young. … He ain’t connecting with them anymore. You can look at every player, he’s not connecting with not one player.”
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Andrew Bogut’s time with the Lakers is over. The young team, built for the future, waived the veteran center today.
Since becoming a Laker on September 19, Bogut appeared in 24 games, including five as a starter. He did little, putting up 1.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 9.0 minutes per outing.
The team’s roster now consists of 16 players, including two Two-Way players.
The Lakers are a disappointing 11-27 this season, which is the second worst record in the NBA, just above the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks (10-28).