Category: General NBA insight

General NBA insight

Rest is a good thing for Thunder center Steven Adams

Here’s the Oklahoman reporting on Thunder center Steven Adams, who plays like his life depends on it and can use rest whenever it’s available:

A defensive anchor. A steady rebounder. A guy who didn’t care if he ever touched the ball. All kinds of entities have people like Stone Cold. Businesses. Families. Teams. Things just go smoother when he’s around. It’s always a little strange when he’s not.

But I’m also delighted when Adams sits. Because I know he’s resting. Adams is big and physical. He deals out plenty of punishment; some day, make yourself watch an entire game without following the ball. Just keep your eyes peeled to Adams and watch how many shoves and bumps and collisions he causes. But for every one of those skirmishes, there’s punishment coming back his way. Adams hits the deck a lot, in part because he does play hard and he doesn’t give up on plays, and it doesn’t take too far into the season before you can see him rising gingerly from the hardwood.

Worries me greatly. Adams hasn’t missed much time – like I said, 16 games total over the last four years and just 31 in his entire seven-season career. But Adams always looks injured. Wrapped up. Worn out. Then like Samson tied to the pillars, his feats of strength break through.

Adams always appears to need about two weeks off, though he never gets it.

Spencer Dinwiddie asking fans to buy his next team-signing decision

Here’s the Detroit Free Press summarizing the latest tech-inspired creativity from Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie:

Since the Detroit Pistons traded him during the 2016 offseason, Spencer Dinwiddie has established himself as one of the NBA’s best point guards and most creative thinkers.

In his Twitter bio, he describes himself as a “tech guy with a jumper,” and some of his recent ideas have supported that. In September, he attempted to convert his three-year, $34 million contract extension with the Nets into a digital investment. The NBA rejected his plan, citing collective bargaining agreement rules.

Dinwiddie’s latest idea is also likely a violation of CBA rules, but that won’t stop him from trying. On Friday, Dinwiddie announced a GoFundMe with a $24,632,600 goal — the rough value of 2625.8 bitcoin. If met, he will allow fans to choose where he signs his next contract. If he falls short of that goal, he’ll donate the money to charity.

When the Sixers traded Moses Malone

Here’s NBC Sports Philly reviewing some of the worst Philadelphia 76ers trades in team history, listing the Sixers’ Moses Malone deal as their worst ever:

Malone had been the missing piece in helping Dr. J get over the hump in 1982-83. His numbers as a Sixer were outstanding (23.9 points, 13.4 rebounds, 1.5 blocks per game) and it was the best era of Sixers basketball during his four seasons here.

But in 1986, the Sixers traded the 30-year-old Malone along with Terry Catledge and two first-round picks to the Bullets for Cliff Robinson and Jeff Ruland. The move was not received well by the players — especially by a young Barkley — and Malone made three more All-Star appearances.

Robinson was a pretty good player here, but not an All-Star. Ruland, who already had foot issues during the previous two seasons in Washington, played just five games with the Sixers before retiring. He made a brief comeback during the 1991-92 season but played just 13 games. This began what Sixers fans call “The Curse of Moses Malone.”

NBA Players Union reportedly pauses search for new executive director

So far, 2020 has been the year of pauses and cancellations. Here’s Yahoo Sports with a report on the NBPA:

The National Basketball Players Association has temporarily suspended its search for a successor to executive director Michele Roberts until there is more certainty on the future of the NBA season, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

With the union in good hands, Roberts, who has two years remaining on her contract, will continue to lead the NBPA through the coronavirus crisis, which caused the NBA to suspend the season on March 11. Critical decisions and negotiations lie ahead that could drastically affect the players’ earnings in the next CBA in the wake of the pandemic.

Will the 2020-21 NBA season start on Christmas?

Here’s the Fort Worth Star Telegram reporting on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s take on fitting the puzzle pieces together regarding how the rest of this season may play out and when the 2020-21 season might begin:

Mark Cuban believes the NBA can still salvage its 2019-20 season, despite it being suspended for two months and counting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Dallas Mavericks owner pointed to Dec. 25 as the start date for next season and then said you just have to work backward for a potential timeline to resume this season. Most teams, Cuban said, would not be playing an extended schedule as there’s a limited number of teams that would advance through the playoffs.

That, he said, would give the league more leeway as to a hard deadline to resume this season.

“How much of an offseason do we need for the draft, workouts and guys to rest?” Cuban said during an interview on ESPN 103.3 FM on Monday. “Worst-case — we kind of squished the schedule and started late July, early August. That’s just me speculating. Go play a few warm-up games to finish out the season and finalize playoff positioning, then play the playoffs.”

Even without the coronavirus pandemic reshaping much of the world’s schedule, it was possible that future NBA seasons were going to start later in the year. The current suspended-play situation only seems to increase that possibility.

At this point, we’re all playing a waiting game that revolves around health and safety above everything else.

Pelicans reportedly plan to reopen practice facility soon

One by one, teams are taking steps towards reopening their practice facilities, but just so individual players can take advantage. As individuals. While physical-distancing. And not yet working together as a team. Here’s the New Orleans Times-Picayune with an update:

The New Orleans Pelicans are planning to reopen their practice facility in Metairie on May 18, a source confirmed.

Earlier this week, the NBA began allowing teams to open their doors in municipalities where stay-at-home orders have been lifted. Louisiana’s stay-at-home order runs through Friday. The Pelicans plan to start allowing players in for individual workouts three days after it is set to expire.

NBA practice facilities have been shuttered since March 20. Even though players are being let back in, there are strict regulations on what they’re allowed to do. According to a memo the NBA sent out, no more than four players are allowed inside practice facilities at one time. Only one staff member can work with each player, and that staff member can’t be a head coach, a front-of-bench coach or a front office executive. Anyone with a temperature above 99.1 degrees is not allowed to enter.

Hopefully there are some video cameras at some of these workouts, to at least give us some basketball to watch. Even if it’s just one player’s shooting drills or something.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra discusses his career

Here’s the Miami Herald reporting what Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had to say to Ernie Johnson via the NBA’s Twitter feed:

Spoelstra addressed other topics in a wide-ranging interview with Johnson:

▪ He said this week marks his 25th anniversary with the Heat after joining the team as an intern to help with the 1995 draft.

Pat Riley was hired as Heat coach and president that summer and Spoelstra said “the only reason I survived that turnover was it was September, and they just needed somebody to cut tape” and didn’t want to train someone from the outside.

“I had a one-year leeway to prove myself,” he said. “Twenty-five years later, they haven’t found a way to get rid of me.”

▪ How did Riley tell him he was being promoted to head coach in 2008?

“It would be like you imagined, a Godfather scene,” Spoelstra said. “He brought me in on a Saturday, after we won 15 games. … The lights were down. I sat on the other side of the desk. I could barely make out his face; he could see me.

“He said, ‘I’m done. You’re ready for it. This will be like you’re in a bird’s nest and I’m going to push you off the branch and you are going to have to figure out how to fly. You have enough experience, you’ve worked for great people. This is happening. Take a couple days to get your S-H-I-T together and Monday is the press conference.’”

Spoelstra’s story is pretty fantastic. His rise up the Heat ranks would make a great documentary.

Catch up with the Utah Jazz through VP Dennis Lindsey

Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune with an update from Utah Jazz VP Dennis Lindsey:

Lindsey also cited the synergy between the player development/health performance side and the bench coaches. Individual players have been evaluated, as have collective units. He noted that, with no playoffs ongoing and no Chicago combine to attend, he personally has been doing a deep dive into video and statistical work — that is, when he’s not on one of the myriad general managers’ calls or board of governors’ calls that are increasingly taking place…

As for whether it’s even a worthwhile endeavor at this point to try to salvage anything of the 2019-20 campaign, Utah’s key decision-maker is of the opinion that it is.

“As far as my opinion, whether the league should try to come back, it’s overlaid simply by, ‘Can we come back safely?’ If the health permits, then let’s try to come back,” Lindsey said. “I’m all for naming a champion, even if it’s a truncated champion. Those teams that are in the midst of playoff chases and championship chases, we want to compete and name a champion.”

The NBA’s decision on how to handle the remainder of the 2019-20 season and of course the playoffs, comes down to input from doctors, science and health professionals as much as it does anyone else.

Pelicans season ticket-holders offered refund for remaining home games

We’re all waiting to see what will happen with the remainder of the NBA season, and the playoffs. Here’s the New Orleans Times Picayune with a Pelicans-related update:

Pelicans season-ticket holders now have the option of receiving a refund for the nine home games postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, the team told season-ticket holders they could get their money back or receive credit toward next season for games New Orleans was supposed to host between March 16 and April 13.

“While we await a decision from the league office, we wanted to begin proactively communicating with you now in an effort to present you with options for a refund or credit toward future ticket purchases,” the email to season-ticket holders read.

The Pelicans are one of the NBA’s hot young teams to watch, due to a talented core that should only get better.

But for now, we wait.

Some insight on the state of the Timberwolves

Truly changing a franchise starts at the top. The front office dictates the direction. Then comes roster changes. Then comes player development, team chemistry, etc. Here’s the Minnesota Star Tribune reporting on the Timberwolves:

When Gersson Rosas became president of the Timberwolves, he promised to remake the roster by making it younger and finding talent that could play an up-tempo style of basketball. He added that one of the primary ways he would accomplish that was through trades.

Rosas wasn’t hiding much in those statements, because as Rosas marks his one-year anniversary on the job, the Wolves roster looks nothing like the one he inherited — and even nothing like the one he assembled after his first free-agent cycle. Just Josh Okogie and Karl-Anthony Towns remain from the roster Rosas inherited. Several came in the days preceding the trade deadline: Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, James Johnson and the apple of Rosas’ eye from the moment he took the job, D’Angelo Russell.

“Building an organization, building a foundation, the DNA and the values of who we’re going to be, I feel like we’ve done that in a very tangible way after Year 1,” Rosas said in a phone interview. “Rosterwise, our front office staff deserves a ton of credit because as we sit here, we’ve changed over 13 out of 15 roster spots. … That typically takes organizations two to three years. That we were able to do it by the trade deadline was quite an achievement for our staff.”

Right now, the Timberwolves core is Karl-Anthony Towns up front and D’Angelo Russell in the backcourt. Roster-wise, there’s much work to be done, and it won’t happen overnight.