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Hornets beat Celtics in NBA preseason opener

The 2018-19 NBA preseason began Friday, with a Hornets victory over the Celtics. Some quotes on the game:

Charlotte Observer: “Jeremy Lamb says his dream growing up was to be an NBA starter. That didn’t look plausible based on most of his pro career to date, but he sure made a case in the Charlotte Hornets’ first exhibition. Lamb, starting at shooting guard, hit three of his five 3-pointers, finishing with 15 points and looking generally impressive in the Hornets’ 104-97 victory over the Boston Celtics at the Smith Center on North Carolina’s campus.”

The Observer on Celtics guard Kyrie Irving: “The Celtics’ point guard looked sharp in his first game back since a knee procedure in March that ended his season.”

Boston Herald: “Gordon Hayward’s first game in roughly a year had predictable rust, and the equally expected self-critique by the Celtics forward when it was all over. But forget about the warts and the Celtics’ 104-97 loss to Charlotte in their exhibition season opener in the Dean Smith Center. He was playing again. “It definitely was (a small victory),” Hayward said after scoring 10 points in 22 front-loaded minutes. “I’ve been through a lot this last year. Just to be out there in front of the fans and playing with my teammates – there were moments last year when I definitely was not able to do that. Definitely a win.”

Lakers hire Kurt Rambis as Senior Basketball Advisor

Legendary former Lakers role player Kurt Rambis is back with the squad. Not as a role player again, which would be fun considering his playing days are long over, but as Senior Basketball Advisor.

Rambis will report to President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson, and support the basketball operations and coaching staffs in their day-to-day functions.

“As a member of the Showtime Lakers, Kurt is a champion and knows how to win,” said Johnson. “He has been an integral part of the Lakers organization winning four NBA Championships as a player and an additional four as a part of the staff. His insights and wide range of experiences will be a huge benefit to our operations.”

Rambis has spent the past 16 years (1994-2009, 2013-14) in various coaching and front office roles within the Lakers organization. During that time, the team made six NBA Finals appearances (2000-02, 2004, 2008-09) and won four NBA Championships (2000, 2001, 2002 and 2009).

Rambis also served as the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2009-11 and for four years from 2014-18 was associate head coach of the New York Knicks, including a brief stint as interim head coach.

“I’m happy to welcome Kurt back to the organization,” said Lakers head coach Luke Walton. “Kurt’s vast NBA experience and knowledge of the game will be a great asset to the team and I look forward to working with him again.”

Lauri Markkanen out 6-8 weeks with elbow injury

NBA preseason is generally filled with minor injuries that are the opposite of serious and generally only require a day or two’s worth of rest to heal.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with Lauri Markkanen. The young Bulls power forward sustained a right elbow injury in practice on Thursday, Sept. 27. He underwent an MRI today that showed a high grade lateral elbow sprain.

Markkanen is estimated to be out six-to-eight weeks.

And according to the Chicago Sun-Times, after averaging 15.2 points and 7.5 rebounds last season and being named to the NBA All-Rookie first team, Markkanen added 17 pounds of muscle this offseason and was expected to be a focal point of the offense. “Lauri looks great,’’ guard Zach LaVine said just days before Markkanen suffered the injury in practice Thursday. “He got a little bit stronger; jumper still looks pretty as all get-out. Still the funniest dude in the world. He looks good, man.”

Is Emmanuel Mudiay ready for a breakout season?

Look. Preseason starts tonight. Which means for the next week or so, there is going to be tons of speculation about which young players are ready for a breakout season.

Of course, players who were rookies last year and showed some skills are almost all expected to do better as NBA sophomores.

But what about guys who have been in the league for a few seasons, and haven’t shown the anticipated improvement, and need to step up sometime soon to keep themselves on the basketball map?

Here’s the New York Post on Knicks guard Emmanuel Mudiay:

Less turnovers. Less pounds.

That’s been point guard Emmanuel Mudiay’s modus operandi during the first week of Knicks training camp.

First-year coach David Fizdale said Mudiay has the lowest turnover rate of anyone during the first week of scrimmages. Mudiay’s loss of 10-15 pounds since the regular season finale has helped with stamina and adjusting to Fizdale’s fast offense.

He looks much improved so far from late last season when he didn’t make a big impression after the February trade with Denver.

Sounds reasonable. If he really did work hard enough to drop that much weight, maybe something is brewing.

Preseason begins tonight with Celtics vs Hornets.

Marcus Smart out for Celtics tonight

Preseason is a warmup period. Many stars play sparingly. Plenty of players suffer very minor bumps and bruises and wind up sitting out more than probably necessary, just to be on the safe side. But personal tragedy, which Marcus Smart recently suffered, as his mother recently passed away, can of course happen at any time. Here’s the Boston Globe:

The Celtics will begin their preseason without guard Marcus Smart, who did not make the trip with his teammates to North Carolina and will miss Friday’s opener because of what the team called personal reasons.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Smart is expected back with the team Saturday or for Sunday’s game against Charlotte and that Smart is physically healthy. Smart, 24, is still grieving following the death of his mother, Camellia, on Sept. 16 and admitted moving on from her passing has been difficult.

Preseason begins tonight, with the Celtics facing the Hornets.

Will Rockets defense hold up in 2018-19?

The Rockets were an excellent defensive team last season. It was a total team effort, but a couple of key individual reasons why the squad defended well are no longer wearing Rockets jerseys. Presumably, they’ll drop off a bit in that department then, yes? Maybe. Here’s the Houston Chronicle reporting the words of head coach Mike D’Antoni, who of course isn’t about to agree that the team will drop off in any way.

For the second time this week, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni on Friday expressed great confidence about his team’s defense despite the departures in free agency of Luc Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza. He specifically cited the defensive abilities of Eric Gordon and James Ennis III who have both worked extensively with the starters in training camp.

The above will certainly be worth watching. Especially the role Carmelo Anthony winds up playing.

No matter what, the Rockets should be one of the West’s best squads again, but whether they can match last season’s success of course remains to be seen.

Kyrie Irving focusing on staying healthy

Yes, every pro athlete tries to stay healthy. That’s probably your first reaction to the headline. But it’s not that simple, obviously. NBA players are paid to give their all. And in the playoffs, more than that. Sure, players take it slightly “easier” in the regular season than the postseason, but nothing about playing pro basketball is easy. And now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s the Boston Herald reporting on Kyrie Irving:

There’s a lot of miles in those 26-year-old legs, and as such the Celtics guard is tweaking his pre-game routine – most mundane, but all geared to readiness.

“It’s figuring out what works best for you,” said Irving. “My routine has been pretty much the same for eight straight years, but now it’s time to do things to better suit my body.”

Health has always been a major consideration for Irving. He’s never played a full NBA season, with only three times when Irving played 70 or more regular season games. His high-usage mark was a 75-game season in 2014-15.

Last season’s travails limited him to 60 games, so now’s the time to make adjustments.

The Celtics are the clear East favorite entering the 2018-19 season, and Irving remains a big key to their success.

The Utah Jazz backcourt is crowded

The Utah Jazz are a talent-filled serious Western conference team that won 48 games last season and should only keep getting better. Their backcourt is on the crowded side, however. Which can make it tough on a coach to fully maximize the talent. Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune reporting:

While coach Quin Snyder called it “a good problem to have,” the depth the Jazz have at the guard positions still is a problem.

Just look at the Jazz’s roster and you’ll see seven players with a “G” next to their name: Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell, Dante Exum, Royce O’Neale, Alec Burks, Grayson Allen, and Raul Neto all will make the roster, and all have pretty good cases to earn playing time at their preferred position.

Rubio and Mitchell will take up the lions’ share of the minutes, though. Mitchell, after his meteoric rise, is the Jazz’s best scorer and face of the franchise, it seems reasonable to pencil him in for 35 minutes a night. Rubio has become part of the Jazz’s identity too, and it’d be a shock to see him play significantly less than 30 minutes a night.

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Celtics notes as NBA preseason opens tonight

NBA preseason action begins tonight with Celtics vs Hornets as the lone matchup. The Celtics remain built around Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford, with support from Marcus Morris, Marcus Smart, Aron Baynes and Terry Rozier. The Hornets are built around Kemba Walker, aging new addition Tony Parker, Jeremy Lamb, Nicolas Batum, and a big supporting cast, some of which will have to emerge as leaders for the Hornets to go anywhere. Here’s the Boston Herald with some notes on key Celtics items to watch:

Having gotten to see Gordon Hayward for all of five minutes and 15 seconds last season before he suffered an horrific lower leg injury, it will be interesting to see how he’s moving in the first game with brighter lights and referees and a crowd…

Kyrie Irving’s season-ending surgery wasn’t as traumatic in nature as Hayward’s injury. And, by all accounts, he’s been just fine physically in camp and in the pickup games that preceded it. What we’re interested in more is how he runs the show…

In that it won’t be a regular game rotation, it will be hard to get a handle on how Stevens will use his bigs. But if Al Horford is going to play mainly at center, we’ll be curious to see how Aron Baynes and Daniel Theis are able to find their respective grooves…

Even with being such a high draft pick (third overall), Jayson Tatum still had a better than expected rookie season. Now he’s had time to catch his breath and put in offseason work that included time with Kobe Bryant. His mates all say he’s demonstrably better, and even with the limited looks that come in the preseason, we’re looking forward to seeing it.

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Magic sign Devin Davis, waive Gabe York

The Orlando Magic have signed free agent forward Devin Davis. The team has also waived guard Gabe York.

Davis (6’6”, 225, 3/29/95) played in 55 career games (48 starts) during two seasons (2016-18) at the University of Houston, averaging 9.9 ppg., 5.9 rpg. and 1.2 apg. in 24.1 minpg. As a senior (2017-18), he played and started in all 35 contests, averaging 10.9 ppg., a team-high 6.3 rpg. and 1.3 apg. in 26.0 minpg. Davis was the only Cougar to start all 35 outings and ranked seventh in the American Athletic Conference in rebounding.