NBA Teams – Page 459 – NBA Blog

Jerryd Bayless out with knee sprain

Philadelphia 76ers guard Jerryd Bayless suffered a sprain of the posterolateral corner in his left knee during practice on Sunday, September 30. He is out and will begin treatment immediately.

The clinical evolution of rehabilitation will determine his return to competition, and he will be re-evaluated in approximately three to four weeks.

Starters for this upcoming season in the Sixers backcourt will definitely be Ben Simmons and probably JJ Redick. Bayless is in the mix for backup minutes, but it’s crowded in the guard spot on that bench.

The big question in regard to Sixers guard this season is if Markelle Fultz will emerge.

Timberwolves announce promotions and additions to basketball staff

The Minnesota Timberwolves have made some additions and promotions in their basketball staff, promoting Todd Checovich to Scout/General Manager of the Iowa Wolves, Nick Restifo to Senior Basketball Operations Analyst and Troy Sutton to Head Strength and Conditioning Coach.

The team has also named Cole Fisher as Basketball Operations Analyst, Kurt Joseph as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach and Danny Wilson as Assistant Equipment Manager.

Checovich enters his sixth season with the Timberwolves after spending the last two years as Manager of Basketball Operations where he helped coordinate the team’s college scouting efforts in preparation for the NBA Draft. Prior to joining Minnesota, he spent one season as Basketball Operations Intern with the Maine Red Claws. Originally from New Hampshire, Checovich played four years of collegiate basketball at Colgate University before earning his law degree from Villanova University School of Law.

Restifo originally joined the Timberwolves in January 2017 as a Basketball Operations Analyst. Prior to joining the Wolves, he was an Associate Data Scientist, Advanced Analytics at Darden Restaurants while also spending time as a writer for NylonCalculus.com and as a Basketball Analytics Coordinator at the University of New Haven.

Sutton is entering his third season with the Timberwolves, first in his position as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach after serving as the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach the previous two seasons. His 14+ year career has included stops with Northwestern and Ohio State, most recently serving as the Assistant Director of Sports Performance at Northwestern under Head Strength Coach Jay Hooten.

Fisher joins Minnesota’s analytics staff after internships with the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors over the last year. In addition, Fisher has also created a web application to help accurately predict future NBA success for current G League players, as well as other web applications.

Joseph joins the Timberwolves after spending last season as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s G League affiliate. Prior to joining the Wolves, Joseph was a weight room assistant with the New York Knicks, where his duties consisted of aiding in team practice, implementing the strength and conditioning program, implementing all prehab and corrective exercise protocols as directed.

Wilson spent the last two seasons as the Head Equipment/Clubhouse Manager for the Saint Paul Saints. Wilson has also served as a Locker Room Assistant during Timberwolves home games since 2000, assisting both the home and visiting teams and referees with their needs before, during and after games.

Nice preseason start for Knicks rookies

For NBA veterans, preseason is mostly a warmup. A time to loosen up and get the joints moving again. But for rookies, it’s a bit more serious. First-year players need to prove themselves worthy of regular season minutes, and until they do that most of them will be sitting watching the vets do their thing.

Here’s the New York Post with preseason debut notes on the Knicks rookies:

The Knicks went 3-for-3 in Washington D.C. during their preseason opener. Not from the field — but with their rookie showings, and that is what general manager Scott Perry’s 2018-19 vision is mostly about after running his first draft as chief operator.

Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson and Allonzo Trier all excelled in different ways.

Knox, their lottery pick who could make a bid for Rookie of the Year, hit the defensive glass with panache, after which he pushed the pace in point-forward fashion and wound up with a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds).

Robinson, in the center of the storm, didn’t back down from Wizards’ feisty veteran Markieff Morris. That led to Morris’ ejection and crybaby act in the locker room after the Knicks’ 124-118 overtime victory. A Knicks security man was seen entering the Wizards locker room with a Washington staffer, ostensibly to ensure Morris didn’t escalate matters.

And a usual yearly reminder is, don’t judge any rookies based on just a couple of games, let alone one game, let alone one preseason game. It’s all a process.

LeBron James makes Lakers preseason debut

LeBron James really is a Laker. It wasn’t all a dream.

In his first-ever preseason game in a Lakers jersey, James started alongside a backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and frontcourt of Brandon Ingram and JaVale McGee. The Lakers lost, 124-107 to the Nuggets, but the far bigger story is simply that the Lakers’ LeBron era has begun.

As with all teams who underwent big offseason changes, the Lakers’ preseason will likely be filled with lineup and rotational experiments, and very limited playing time for James, who in this game played just 15 minutes, shooting 2-of-6 for nine points, three rebounds and three assists.

Standing out among Lakers starters was McGee, who shot 8-of-10 for 17 points and seven rebounds in just 20 minutes. The regular season starting center job could go to him, or to James or another forward. Right now, anything seems possible at that spot.

In the win for Denver, forward Juan Hernangomez came off the bench and put up 19 points, five rebounds and three blocks. Starting guard Jamal Murray scored 18. And Mason Plumlee contributed an impressive 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists in just 19 minutes.

Grayson Allen hits five three-points in his NBA preseason debut

The Jazz led the Perth Wildcats 44-13 after one quarter and 75-34 at the half. This thing wasn’t close. Jazz player stats for this game are on the inflated side. Still, a win is a win, and it was a very impressive career NBA preseason debut by Jazz rookie Grayson Allen, who made it rain from three-point range in impressive fashion.

Here’s the Deseret News reporting:

Allen sank the first five shots he took, including four straight 3-pointers, and by the midpoint of the second quarter, already had 14 points. He cooled off a bit in the second half but still ended up leading all Jazz scorers with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting and 5 of 9 from long range.

The rookie from Duke said he wasn’t expecting to lead all scorers, but all in all was pleased with his first performance in a Jazz uniform, even if it wasn’t against a real NBA team.

“I was a lot more comfortable after the first three went down,” he said. “It felt good. These guys are really easy to play with. It’s really seamless when you’re jumping in there with a lot of smart basketball players. It makes my job a lot easier.” …

Besides finishing with 19 points, Allen also had three rebounds and an assist. His only real negative was a team-high four turnovers on the night, which Allen mentioned after the game as something to improve on.

A few extra turnovers comes with the territory. It was a nice debut by Allen.

Preseason for the league began Friday.

Nice preseason debut for Luka Doncic

Luka Doncic is one of the most intriguing NBA rookies in a while. And while preseason isn’t a time to make firm judgments about anyone, it’s still a good sign when a rookie comes out and does nice things right away.

In adding Doncic, the Mavs got a player who has already proven to be able to compete at a higher level than the best of college basketball. He’s one of the main rookies to keep a constant eye on, both now and at least for a solid first month of the regular season.

Here’s ESPN.com on how his career preseason debut went:

Luka Doncic’s performance in his preseason debut provided some glimpses of the unique skill that persuaded the Dallas Mavericks to trade up to draft the European teen star.

Doncic, the No. 3 pick in the draft, scored 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 30 minutes during a 116-63 victory Saturday night over the Beijing Ducks.

“It was great to be out there,” said Doncic, who also grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots. “It’s been a long time since I played a game, so I’m really happy to be here. Always the first game, you’re a little bit nervous — new team and everything. I think everything went well.”

The 6-foot-7 Doncic made a few dazzling plays off the dribble, something the Mavs are expecting on a consistent basis as he serves as one of their primary ball handlers despite playing mainly power forward.

Preseason stats aren’t that important. It’s about the skill level of a player and the potential to do big things at regular-season intensity.

One important note, though, is the opponent wasn’t competitive at all. The Mavs absolutely dominated the Beijing Ducks in a game that really wasn’t even at a preseason basketball level. We can’t hold that against Doncic, though. But the next step of course is an actual NBA opponent.

Still, a nice first showing.

Pelicans sign center Brandon McCoy

The New Orleans Pelicans have signed free agent center Brandon McCoy.

It is very likely a non-guaranteed deal that merely brings McCoy to training camp.

McCoy, 7-1, 250, went undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft. The Chicago native spent one season at UNLV, appearing in 33 games and averaging 16.9 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks.

McCoy will wear #12 for the Pelicans. New Orleans’ training camp roster now stands at 20.

Michael Carter-Williams has nice opportunity with Rockets

Many of you have forgotten about Michael Carter-Williams. Or you’ve written him off. But he’s in an interesting situation now, as a backup in Houston to some of the league’s best guards. It’s tough to predict how many minutes he’ll get this regular season but he certainly has an opportunity to earn a pretty big supporting cast role, off the bench.

Of course, watching him as a rookie it was presumed he’d be a starter in the league. Maybe he will be again. But for now, the Rockets are a nice opportunity. Here’s the Houston Chronicle with more on him:

Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said Carter-Williams has looked ready to be a fill-in at the point if Harden or Paul are out, but that the play is still to have Paul work as the backup point.

“We keep either James or Chris on the floor all the time,” D’Antoni said. “We’ll still stagger James and Chris so MCW will be off the ball more than he does in scrimmages. That’s just the way our team is made up. But if we needed him if someone got injured or was out of the game, he would be the backup point. He can play off the ball, too. He’s in a good spot. James and Chris like to play together (in practices) because they’re still learning what they can do.”

The Rockets have another serious guard to bring off their bench: Brandon Knight. Though he still needs to get healthy, and that has been a lengthy concern. So for now, MCW has a very clear window of opportunity.

Pistons training camp report

Training camp came, then preseason quickly started. There’s basketball being played. It’s just preseason basketball, but the teams are actual NBA teams, and therefore everything is amazing, even if stars played limited minutes and the main goal is to loosen up.

As for the Pistons, here’s the Detroit News reporting:

The Pistons finally got away from the grind of practice and got closer to a game atmosphere. Sort of.

The Pistons wrapped up a week of training camp in Ann Arbor with an open scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Crisler Center, before a crowd of just more than 4,000.

The standout was Andre Drummond, who had 25 points on an array of scoring — including a 3-pointer — and helped the Blue Team to a 73-66 victory.

The starting lineup for the Blue Team was Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Stanley Johnson, Blake Griffin and Drummond. That could be the starting lineup to start the regular season, but coach Dwane Casey said it was more to balance the lineups.

The Pistons are worth keeping an eye on. Reggie Jackson, Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond form an intriguing core. However, it’s one that isn’t great enough to do monster things on their own. Serious Pistons talent needs to emerge (or be found) in the shooting guard and small forward spots. And the entire bench.

Even so, if Jackson, Griffin and Drummond are actually all healthy, they can do some things.

Championship or bust, says John Wall

Every NBA player wants to win a championship, but for most, of course, it simply won’t happen. And of course, simply making the league is a great accomplishment, let alone enjoying a full career, especially as a star. But Wizards guard John Wall, he definitely wants that ring. Here’s NBC Sports Washington with more:

Wall, naturally, wants to win an NBA title. But it’s not just a goal, it’s the benchmark for which Wall will measure his basketball career.

“I think for me to have a heck of a career – if I don’t win a championship, I feel like my career was a failure. So that’s my ultimate goal,” Wall said.

Wall, 28, has never been past the second round of the NBA playoffs. The closest his Wizards team has been to advancing further was in 2017 when they lost in Game 7 of the second round to the Boston Celtics.

The Wizards as they currently stand face an uphill battle in reaching the 2019 NBA Finals, but they remain one of the East’s better teams. But several key players on the squad must emerge as serious difference-makers for the team to reach that elusive next level.