Новости за 15.05.2023

Denver: Jamal Murray (non-COVID illness) has been downgraded to questionable for Tuesday’s Game 1 against LA Lakers.
Source: Alberto De Roa @ HoopsHype

With the NBA draft lottery set to take place on Tuesday night and teams hoping for the No. 1 pick in order to add generational prospect Victor Wembanyama, we thought it would be a fun time to look back on history to see how teams have fared historically with their luck in the lotto.

Harrison Wind: LeBron James on the Nuggets: “They’re a better team (than they were in 2020). We come in with the utmost respect for them.”
Source: Twitter @HarrisonWind

DeMar DeRozan: It’s so frustrating. We played in the era where you had to earn everything. So you got so many guys coming in thinking they should be playing because their friend told them they’re good at basketball. Bro, you’re not good. I definitely got LeBron James’ standpoint of that, because you’d be surprised. 75 to 100 players in the NBA stink.
Source: YouTube

Anthony Chiang: Erik Spoelstra says Tyler Herro won’t play in Game 1 of the East finals, as expected. But Spoelstra declined to give an update beyond that, noting that Herro still can’t shoot or dribble.
Source: Twitter @Anthony_Chiang

First Take: Stephen A. Smith: “You can’t make this up… Ja Morant has been associated with guns more than he’s been associated with winning… I’ve got people in the league texting me saying Ja Morant should be suspended for the year.”
Source: Twitter

However, some within the Warriors organization say those relationships haven’t recovered, and that the incident furthered a growing divide between the members of each timeline within the team. “I don’t have no answer for you,” Jordan Poole tells me when asked where his relationship with Green stands now. “Other than that, we was just on the court and teammates, and we was out there trying to win games. “What I do recall saying at the beginning of the season is that, ‘We’re coming. We’re going to come out here. Читать дальше...

“I don’t know why I wouldn’t be [back],” Jordan Poole told me a day after the Warriors’ season ended. “It wasn’t a bad year. I mean, career highs in two categories. I was able to make history with Klay and Steph. My first game-winner. It was a lot of good things that happened this season. It wasn’t a bad season. Yes, I’m in the fabric. Yes, I belong here in this organization, bridging the gap. And I’m a young guy who was drafted here. We won a championship last year, and we have another chance to do it again. Читать дальше...

Sources close to the situation have consistently insisted that Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all continuing to be Warriors next season is the most likely scenario.
Source: Marc Stein @ marcstein.substack.com

Get Up: Woj says there’s “a very real possibility” that James Harden returns to Houston 👀. “It was a real possibility back on Christman and it remains so now that the Sixers are in the offseason, that we’re started to head towards July free agency. Houston is a very real possibility for James Harden in free agency. They’ve got upwards of $60 million in cap space, they want to be much better next season. And James Harden certainly pushed his way out of Houston when he felt he had reached the end... Читать дальше...

Get Up: Woj speaks on Ja Morant after his latest video: “If the league finds out this was not a doctored or enhanced video… if that was indeed a gun in his hand, he’s facing a significant suspension to start next season. I think the feeling all around the league is that Adam Silver, there was so leniency with that eight-game suspension. He took Morant at his word that he was contrite and understood his behavior had to change and it wasn’t just the gun incident with the gun at the bar in Denver... Читать дальше...

After the scandal broke out, a video surfaced where former NBA player Kwame Brown passionately talks about the subject, calling Morant stupid. “So, Ja Morant, you like to play with guns, huh? You like to play with guns, huh boy? You like to play with guns… Instead of you just being at your house buying all the guns you want, playing with all the guns you want off camera, you want to get in trouble for having a gun at a club, give a bull**it apology and show a gun on Instagram Live. I’ve heard of NBA Youngboy but you NBA dumb boy. Читать дальше...

When asked a short time later what he hoped his next opportunity would look like after free agency, Harden said, “I just want to have a chance to compete.”
Source: Tim Bontemps @ ESPN

Embiid, meanwhile, was effusive of his praise of Rivers, though the center also said that — as the league has seen with the recent firings of Monty Williams in Phoenix and Mike Budenholzer in Milwaukee — the coaching business is a tough one and he is glad he isn’t the one making these decisions. “Coach has been fantastic,” Embiid said, “and he’s done a great job, in my opinion.”
Source: Tim Bontemps @ ESPN

After the game, Jaylen Brown was asked about the incident and made it clear he wasn’t in agreement with the double-tech call. According to Brown, “He made a play and I responded to it. And here comes Scott Foster. Right away before even deciphering the situation, gives me a tech.”
Source: James Salmon @ Clutch Points

Clutch Points: “I can’t win alone. Me and James [Harden], we just can’t win alone. That’s why basketball is played 5-on-5.” Joel Embiid after the Sixers’ Game 7 loss to the Celtics 👀 pic.twitter.com/L3KB6geaUT
Source: Twitter @ClutchPointsApp

“Irresponsible,” “reckless,” and “potentially very dangerous” is how Silver framed Morant’s actions just two months earlier. What must the commissioner be thinking now? A 20-game suspension has to be automatic. Rival executives believe half a season—or more—isn’t out of the question. Another exec tells SI, “[Silver has] got to set an example.”
Source: Sports Illustrated

Chris Mannix: Asked about Harden, Embiid says, “We have an unfinished job. We haven’t won anything. We have a chance to win … I still believe we have what it takes to win.”
Source: Twitter @SIChrisMannix

Tim Bontemps: James Harden, when asked about what he wants in his next opportunity, be that Philly or elsewhere: “I just want to have a chance to compete.” Asked about his relationship with Doc Rivers, and whether he wants Rivers to be back, Harden said, “Our relationship is OK.”
Source: Twitter @TimBontemps

Kevin O’Connor: Instant classic performance by Jayson Tatum 51 points 13 rebounds 5 assists 0 turnovers 17/28 FG 74.6% TS +33 in a Celtics Game 7 win over the Sixers pic.twitter.com/V1MYysEMWV
Source: Twitter @KevinOConnorNBA

The Boston Celtics blew out the Philadelphia 76ers 112-88 in Game 7 and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row.

Adrian Wojnarowski: “Ja Morant is facing the real possibility of a suspension, a lengthy suspension to start next season after this latest incident when he ended up [with] an apparent firearm in his possession. This is twice in two months now. The league suspended him for 8 games, really two of them retroactively to just two games this season.
Source: Twitter @ESPNNBA

The Philadelphia 76ers are entering a critical offseason that could shape their direction over the next four years. James Harden could become a free agent and he will be seeking one last big contract. Tyrese Maxey and De’Anthony Melton can sign extensions that would balloon roster expenses. Along with enormous luxury tax payments, they’d have roster-building restrictions if they cross the newly implemented second tax apron.