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      Houston Rockets to Trade James Harden to the Nets

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonJames Harden Traded to the NetsThe N.B.A.’s Virus CrisisThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyHouston Rockets to Trade James Harden to the NetsThe four-team deal will reunite Harden with Kevin Durant, whom he played with on the Oklahoma City Thunder.James Harden, an eight-time All-Star, had made it clear that he wanted out of Houston.Credit…Carmen Mandato/Getty ImagesMarc Stein and Jan. 13, 2021Updated 7:55 p.m. ETThe Nets will embark on an ambitious attempt to blend three high-scoring stars together after they agreed Wednesday to acquire the All-Star guard James Harden from the Houston Rockets in a four-team trade — just one day after a disgruntled Harden publicly described the Rockets as “not good enough.”The trade, which will reunite Harden with the Nets’ Kevin Durant and send Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo plus four future first-round picks to Houston, was confirmed by a person close to Harden with knowledge of the deal who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.“I can’t comment on the rumors, but we know this is a star’s league,” Nets Coach Steve Nash said Wednesday before his team played the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.Just a handful of games into his coaching career, Nash will soon have the luxury — but also the immense challenge — of overseeing a roster headlined by Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Nets, widely billed as an Eastern Conference title contender, were off to a bumpy 6-6 start before the deal.Harden had been seeking a trade since November, reported a week late to the Rockets’ training camp and — in a nod to his friendship with Durant after three years playing together in Oklahoma City — had the Nets at the top of his list of preferred destinations. But the Nets had to fend off strong competition from the Philadelphia 76ers, who were also pursuing a trade with Houston. Philadelphia’s new president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, has a relationship with Harden after bringing him to Houston through a trade in 2012, when Morey was the Rockets’ general manager.The Sixers had been trying to acquire Harden in trade packages built around the All-Star guard Ben Simmons, according to two people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. The Rockets instead went ahead with a four-team trade involving the Nets, the Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers so they could bring Oladipo to Houston in the final year of his contract — and get a bountiful package of future first-round picks to replenish the draft assets they lost in trades to acquire Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers and Russell Westbrook from the Thunder.The uncertainty surrounding Irving, who hasn’t played since Jan. 5 for personal reasons, made the Nets even more eager to find a workable trade for Harden and bolster their top-end talent, according to one of the people. There will be questions about the offensive fit when Harden arrives in Brooklyn and Irving returns to the lineup. But the Nets will be better insulated against a star player’s injury or absence and, perhaps more crucially, they will have swung a deal for a player Durant wanted to play with again.The trade calls for the Nets’ promising forward Caris LeVert to go to Indiana and for two other Nets — Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince — to go to Cleveland. The Rockets will receive Cleveland’s Dante Exum and the Nets’ Rodions Kurucs in addition to three first-round picks from the Nets (2022, 2024 and 2026) and Cleveland’s first-round pick (via Milwaukee) in 2022. Houston will have the right to swap first-round picks with the Nets in the 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2027 drafts.The Nets pulled LeVert, Allen, Prince and Kurucs out of their game against the Knicks in anticipation of the trade. ESPN first reported the agreement between the Rockets and the Nets; The Athletic first reported Indiana’s involvement in the trade.Harden won three scoring titles and the 2017-18 Most Valuable Player Award in Houston and led the team to the Western Conference finals twice in his first eight seasons there. Yet he was ordered away from the team Wednesday and told not to come to practice in the hours before the trade after blasting the quality of Houston’s roster.“We’re just not good enough,” Harden said Tuesday after the Rockets’ 117-100 loss to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. “I love this city. I literally have done everything that I can. The situation is crazy. It’s something that I don’t think can be fixed.”Harden’s unhappiness in Houston had festered since the team lost to the Lakers in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs last season. Morey and Mike D’Antoni, who was Houston’s head coach last season and is now a Nets assistant coach, left the Rockets after the season. Houston also traded Westbrook to Washington for John Wall after Harden and Westbrook had played together for just one season.Harden, 31, had only grown more distant under the first-year head coach Stephen Silas in the wake of all those changes. Amid increasingly loud criticism of his commitment to the team and his conditioning, he averaged a lackluster 17.4 points on 37.8 percent shooting from the field in Houston’s last five games, four of them losses.Yet neither the potential pitfalls of bringing in Harden, nor the steep cost in draft picks, dissuaded the Nets. Sean Marks, hired as the Nets’ general manager in 2016, has assembled the most talented trio of N.B.A. players since the Durant-era Golden State Warriors or the LeBron James-era Miami Heat.This is not the first time that the Nets have gone this route. In 2004, they traded for a 27-year-old Vince Carter, who was almost as open about his displeasure with the Toronto Raptors as Harden was about his with the Rockets. Though that deal didn’t cost the Nets foundational pieces or many draft picks, and Carter played well, New Jersey only won two playoff series with Carter.Then came the ill-fated deal with Boston in 2013 for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry, who were past their primes. It was supposed to transform the Nets into finals contenders after their move, combining Pierce and Garnett with Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez and Deron Williams. They won one playoff series and were stuck in the N.B.A.’s wilderness for years while the Celtics rebuilt their young core with the draft picks they got from the Nets in the trade. Boston added future stars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown; Pierce left the Nets after one season, and Garnett was traded in his second.If the Harden deal goes as poorly, it will be worse. This time around, the Nets gave up more picks, and two players with significant potential in Allen and LeVert. Allen, a 22-year-old center, was on pace for a career season, and LeVert, 26, is a dynamic guard who can score. The duo was a big reason the Nets were able to emerge from the N.B.A.’s shadows so soon after the failed Pierce and Garnett trade.Even so, the Harden trade gives the Nets three elite scorers and playmakers no team can match. That could mean easier looks for everyone as defenses scramble, but what made Harden successful in recent years was having the ball in his hands full time and breaking defenses down through isolations. Continuing to play like that doesn’t seem feasible with two ball-dominant stars on the floor as well, which Nash, with D’Antoni’s help, will have to figure out.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      No Bubble for the N.B.A. Season? It’s a Problem

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storymarc stein on basketballNo Bubble for the N.B.A. Season? It’s a ProblemCoronavirus cases, and game postponements, are piling up less than a month into the season. The league is turning to stricter rules off and on the court, but that may not be enough.The N.B.A. is tightening its rules after a number of teams, including the Boston Celtics, have been hit hard by positive coronavirus tests and potential exposures.Credit…David Butler Ii/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 13, 2021, 10:00 a.m. ETAs long, costly and emotionally draining as 2020 was for the N.B.A., beyond the universal strain of a global health crisis, not every one of those 366 days was dour. The league was applauded often for how it responded to the challenges.Twelve days into a new year, and just three weeks into a new season, echoes of that smartest-league-in-the-world praise are faint. The N.B.A.’s attempt to stage a high-intensity, face-to-face indoor team sport during a pandemic has quickly proved to be as complicated as feared. Five games from the first 23 days of the 2020-21 schedule have been postponed because teams had too many players unavailable, either because of the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols or injuries.League officials had an inkling it might go like this. For the first time, they released a schedule for only the first half of the season, to build in flexibility to cope with coronavirus-related interruptions. They anticipated turbulence after opening night was moved to Dec. 22 and braced for criticism for returning to play less than three months after completing a season in a bubble. Yet there was an unmistakable sense of rising anxiety leaguewide as general managers, players’ union representatives and team owners held meetings Monday and Tuesday in the wake of multiple postponements, even though a review of the league’s protocols had been planned between Jan. 6-13.“This is the N.B.A. in 2021,” Stan Van Gundy, the coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, said Monday after his team’s game against the Dallas Mavericks was called off. “I know it’s cliché, but in this year, it’s absolutely true: It is literally one day at a time.”Van Gundy also spoke about how the situation “scares me,” noting he is 61 years old. The coach’s candor, which doesn’t always land softly, will surely be appreciated by others in the game who don’t feel as emboldened or secure to speak up.The league office, to be fair, would have preferred returning to a bubble like the restricted campus used to complete the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. Officials initially proposed playing in regional bubbles, at least at the start of the season until vaccines were widely available, as a compromise. When pretty much no teams or players wanted to do any of that again, largely because of the isolation and mental toll, it was agreed to start play in their home markets in December. That was the timetable favored by the league’s television partners and, according to N.B.A. estimates, worth at least $500 million in preserved revenue versus waiting until January to give players more time off.The N.B.A. has expanded its rules around masks, requiring players to wear them at all times when they are in the bench area.Credit…Robert Hanashiro/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe league is determined not to pause the season, despite the mounting postponements, in part because officials believe even more players would be infected if they were not subject to the N.B.A.’s health protocols. Money must be assumed to be a key factor, in addition to any protective motivations, but the league’s ability to stick to that stance and avoid at least a temporary pause is being severely tested. While January lives up to the dire projections of health experts who said it would be the pandemic’s worst month yet, multiple teams (Boston, Dallas, Miami and Philadelphia) are struggling to meet the minimum requirement of eight players in uniform for games.“We are committed to proceeding with our industry, and we’re doing it with all the best science and adherence to the protocols, but ultimately we’re not in control,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said.The league and players’ union announced changes to the N.B.A.’s nearly 160 pages of health and safety guidelines on Tuesday, including instructions for players and team personnel to stay home “at all times” for at least the next two weeks outside of team and essential activities. For all the understandable unease at the moment, league officials have maintained that amendments were always likely.“We have a lot of protocols in place, but the protocols are kind of our starting point,” said John DiFiori, the N.B.A.’s director of sports medicine. “We made a lot of adjustments in Orlando and, really, it’s the lesson that we learned. This is an evolving situation — always — from the medical and scientific side, as well as just the experience of not being in a bubble and trying to manage the logistics of travel and people living in their communities and having life events that occur.”The conversation with DiFiori took place on Thursday, before Sixers guard Seth Curry was hustled off Philadelphia’s bench at a Nets game in Brooklyn when his coronavirus test result that was expected to arrive on Friday came back early — and came back positive. To that point, there had been only one postponement: Houston’s season opener on Dec. 23 against Oklahoma City, when the Rockets could not field eight players in uniform.Since the Sixers-Nets game, it has been chaos.A lot of that stems from how thoroughly the league insists on contact tracing after a positive test to try to prevent spread. The time-consuming nature of the tracing was a primary factor in postponements on Sunday (scuttling Miami’s ability to play the Celtics in Boston) and Monday (preventing Dallas from hosting New Orleans). But Tuesday’s new measures requiring team personnel to stay home and outlawing guests at team hotels were essentially an admission that previous efforts to get everyone in a 46-person traveling party to behave as if they were ensconced in a bubble have fallen short.A new set of stricter masking regulations was implemented as recently as Jan. 5, but the league mask policy on benches and flights and in team meetings was stiffened again Tuesday. The league also warned against “extended socializing” in a bid to curtail pregame and postgame greetings between players on opposing teams.Whether these prove to be any more than cosmetic changes depends on each team’s vigilance in enforcing them, along with the protocol officer assigned to each team by the league from a private security firm. Skeptics will point out that it has always been against protocol for coaches to routinely pull down their masks to relay instructions to players, but it happens anyway.Philadelphia 76ers Coach Doc RiversCredit…Chris Szagola/Associated PressSacramento Kings Coach Luke WaltonCredit…Rich Pedroncelli/Associated PressLos Angeles Clippers Coach Tyronn LueCredit…Harry How/Getty ImagesToronto Raptors Coach Nick NurseCredit…Jeff Chiu/Associated PressPhiladelphia Coach Doc Rivers revealed recently that he was fined $10,000 by the league for doing so and called it “the right thing to do.” He has since asked one of his assistant coaches, Eric Hughes, the athletic trainer Kevin Johnson and “whoever else is behind me on the bench” to warn him when he is in violation.“I bet 20 times they had to remind me to put the mask back on,” Rivers said. “The players can’t hear me through the mask, so I’m taking it down to talk and I forget to bring it up.”One team I spoke to this week said that the benches, locker rooms and planes had been identified as prime trouble spots for keeping players distanced. That’s in addition to the potential problems on the floor.One that Rivers has mentioned frequently is the risk for overuse injuries on teams that have to play with skeleton squads, since the N.B.A.’s eight-man minimum was not designed with a pandemic in mind. Another possible issue is the league’s contention that the virus is unlikely to be transmitted during live action unless players spend at least 15 minutes within six feet of each other. It is fair to wonder whether those guidelines for close contact properly account for the amount of shouting, heavy breathing and chest-to-chest grappling that takes place on a basketball court.So much to think about, then, as the N.B.A. tries to cope with even meaner curveballs than its outdoor counterparts faced, from Major League Baseball’s coronavirus outbreak with the Miami Marlins in July to the N.F.L.’s need to postpone or move several games because of the virus en route to the playoffs. N.B.A. rosters, compared with baseball’s or football’s, are much more likely to take an irreparable hit when multiple players are lost.“It’s a lot,” Washington’s Bradley Beal said Monday night. “But this is what we agreed to do.”The Scoop @TheSteinLineCorner ThreeYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.(Questions may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Q: The N.B.A. made a deal with the Capitanes de Ciudad de México to become the 29th G League franchise and play this season. What is their status? — @JDogindy from TwitterStein: Capitanes won’t be one of the 18 teams in the forthcoming G League bubble at Walt Disney World, but I’m told that the team is expected to begin playing in the 2021-22 season. The assumption, if we dare, is that neither the N.B.A. nor the G League will be gripped by a pandemic by then, making it easier to finally embark on this long-anticipated grand experiment with the league’s first franchise outside the United States and Canada.The G League bubble will feature 17 of its 28 current franchises and the Ignite select team, which gives elite draft prospects like Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Daishen Nix a different path to the professional ranks than playing in college or overseas. There is a fee of about $500,000 for the N.B.A. teams that are sending their G League affiliates to the bubble. Some parent clubs balked, because of the cost or because they intended to use their players on two-way contracts at the N.B.A. level for the entire season to mitigate potential roster shortages caused by injuries or virus protocols.On the players’ side, there is added incentive for those aspiring to reach the N.B.A. Participation in what some are calling the “glubble,” or the “gubble,” not only showcases them in a well-scouted league but puts players into the N.B.A.’s coronavirus testing program. That will shorten the quarantine-related delays all new players face when they are signed by an N.B.A. team. Monday’s G League draft attracted nearly 200 players for less than 30 available roster spots.Q: We need a better name than “baseball-style series” when a team plays two road games in a row against the same host. They don’t play two-game series in baseball. — @MackMachine80 from TwitterStein: Agreed. I’ve had similar thoughts every time I type the phrase.Sadly that is also an admission that I haven’t come up with anything better. The description stems from baseball’s distinction as the only major team sport known for parking its teams in the same city for three or four days, but I’m with you — and open to suggestions. Send them in.Unclear, though, is whether these are schedule anomalies we will be discussing beyond this season. It’s something the league is studying after the absence of travel was frequently cited as one of the pluses of the Disney World bubble. The reduction in travel these two-game sets provide is sensible this season, when teams are trying to protect their traveling parties from the virus, but I am not a fan because they are yet another factor in teams’ dwindling home-court advantage these days.Mostly empty arenas, the added comfort road teams are finding on those two-game excursions and sudden player absences have contributed to home teams’ underwhelming records through Monday’s play: 41-39 (.513) in the Eastern Conference; 34-39 (.465) in the West. These are obviously small sample sizes, but the early pace is worrisome. In the N.B.A.’s most recent season with teams playing exclusively in their arenas in 2018-19, Eastern teams went 341-274 at home (.554) and Western teams went 388-227 (.631).Q: Are you a big Marvel guy? — Adam HowesStein: Not really. I posted a tweet Sunday praising the San Antonio Spurs for their use of the popular Spider-Man vs. Spider-Man pointing meme from my favorite animated series, but I really didn’t consume much animated programming in my youth (or thereafter).I was infected with extreme sports nerdity so early that, even by age 9, I was already obsessed with playing Strat-O-Matic baseball — to the point that I turned a big white toy chest in the garage into a faux manager’s desk so I could pretend to be Billy Martin or Bob Lemon.Yet I do still love the original “Spider-Man” animated series (especially Season 1) that debuted in 1967. The episode that produced the meme of Spider-Man and his impostor pointing at each other, “Double Identity,” is a top-three episode in my personal rankings. So I applaud any time someone on N.B.A. Twitter finds a well-crafted reason to bust it out.The No. 1 episode in those rankings, for the record, is “To Catch A Spider.” That’s the one in which Spider-Man has to defeat several of his arch enemies, including my beloved Electro, after Dr. Noah Boddy breaks Electro, Vulture and the Green Goblin out of jail.Numbers GameKawhi Leonard played with a mask for six games.Credit…Tony Avelar/Associated Press12:07Washington’s Bradley Beal guarded Boston’s Jayson Tatum for 8 minutes 22 seconds on Friday night, and Tatum guarded Beal for 3 minutes 45 seconds, according to advanced tracking data from the league. The friends from St. Louis spent a combined 12 minutes 7 seconds in proximity to each other without masks during the game and had an extended postgame discussion, leading the N.B.A. to place Beal in its health and safety protocols after Tatum later tested positive for the coronavirus.15Guarding another player during a game is typically not considered close contact by the league for the purposes of contact tracing. The N.B.A. has taken its cues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to define close contact as spending at least 15 minutes within six feet of another person while not wearing a mask. The league said its research showed that it was rare for two players to spend that much time within six feet of each other during game action.60Only 29 players have scored at least 60 points in an N.B.A. game. The most recent two — Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Washington’s Beal — did it three days apart last week.44.4Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers shot a mere 44.4 percent from the field (48-for-108) in the six games he played wearing a clear shield over his face. Leonard is a career 49.0 percent shooter and had 35 points Sunday (including a career-high-tying seven 3-pointers) in his first game after shedding the mask. The protective gear was required after Leonard took an inadvertent elbow from his teammate Serge Ibaka on Christmas Day that required eight stitches in his mouth.3,663The Toronto Raptors had averaged 3,663 fans for their first three home games in Tampa, Fla., before it was announced Saturday that fans will no longer be admitted through at least Feb. 5 because of a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in the area. That leaves five N.B.A. teams currently allowing reduced crowds for home games: Cleveland, Houston, New Orleans, Orlando and Utah. There was a maximum capacity of 3,800 at Tampa’s Amalie Arena, which the Raptors are using as their temporary home this season because of travel restrictions between the United States and Canada.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      The Knicks Are Off to a Decent Start. Is This a Drill?

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Knicks Are Off to a Decent Start. Is This a Drill?A more aggressive Knicks team has excited fans early, racking up big wins over Milwaukee and Utah. But they’ve lost three in a row, a worrisome sign for fans who’ve been let down before.Reggie Bullock celebrated with Austin Rivers as the Knicks beat the Utah Jazz at Madison Square Garden last week.Credit…Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 13, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETThe last time the Knicks won at least half of their first 10 games was during the 2017-18 season, when they were 6-4. They finished the campaign 29-53.This season, the Knicks started 5-5, and some fans are daring to hope that maybe this Knicks team is different. Maybe this one can break the playoff-less streak that began in 2013-14. The bad news is that the season is headed in the wrong direction. The Knicks have dropped three in a row to put them at 5-6, with multiple blowout defeats.Coach Tom Thibodeau has this team playing hard, and the Knicks have beaten good opponents, including the Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks. Entering the Charlotte Hornets game on Monday, the Knicks had the eighth best defense in the league. They are now down to 13th after losing to Charlotte, 109-88.The Knicks haven’t fielded a top-10 defensive team since the 2011-12 season, when their fifth-ranked defense took them to the playoffs. The unfortunate flip side: This year’s team has one of the league’s worst offenses.The Knicks have also struggled with injuries: Alec Burks, Austin Rivers and Obi Toppin have all missed time — three offensive-minded players.Something the Knicks have in their favor is that this season has produced lots of strange results, and not just for them. Night after night, in part because of the shortened season, no crowds, the pandemic and minimal time in training camp, lots of teams are losing big or to opponents who did not seem like threats. Some teams, like the Toronto Raptors (2-8), who are based in Florida because of the virus, are underperforming. Several top players, like Boston’s Jayson Tatum and the Nets’ Kevin Durant, have missed multiple games because they tested positive for, or were potentially exposed to, the coronavirus.The shortened season helps the Knicks in another way. Banking wins early on gives them cushion against the losses that are almost unavoidable as the season grinds on. But it is still early, as Knicks fans learned in 2018.Here is a look at what’s gone right and wrong for the Knicks so far.The New and Improved Julius RandleThe biggest reason the Knicks have been competitive this year is Julius Randle, who has started off strong. Randle is averaging 22.1 points, 11.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game — all on pace to be career highs — on 49.4 percent shooting. He is averaging more assists this year than his last two years combined. If he keeps this up, Randle should deservedly make his first All-Star team.He looks more comfortable on the floor, and Thibodeau has been adept at taking advantage of Randle’s versatility — for example, making sure he’s getting the ball on different parts of the court, rather than simply trying to bulldoze opponents in the post. Randle is skilled at creating for his teammates. The issue is that the Knicks don’t have many playmakers or shooters around him to ease his burden.The Curious Case of RJ BarrettRJ Barrett, 20, is playing a lot of minutes this year — 37.9 minutes per game, vs. 30.4 his rookie year. Barrett is, however, shooting a dismal 36.5 percent from the field and 18 percent from deep, both down from his rookie year, when he also struggled. RJ Barrett is averaging more shots than points.Credit…Adam Hunger/Associated PressWatching the games, you can see Barrett’s improvement in other areas. He plays more aggressively, has developed into a strong rebounder (7.6 rebounds per game for a guard is impressive) and has improved his passing. He is a solid defender.The consistency is not there, though, and the inefficiency is problematic: Barrett is averaging more shots than points. On opening night, Barrett shot 11-of-15 from the field for 26 points against the Indiana Pacers. The next game, against the Philadelphia 76ers, Barrett shot 2-of-15 from the field for 10 points. And then he shot poorly again for the next three games.His inability to shoot puts more pressure on Randle. Barrett is making only 26.5 percent of his shots when there isn’t a defender within six feet of him. He’s also hitting only 17.4 percent when he catches the ball and shoots it.But Barrett is still impactful for the Knicks, despite his scoring woes. His net rating (essentially a measure of how much better or worse a team is with a player on the floor) is minus 2.8. This isn’t ideal, but it is among the best on the team among those who receive serious minutes. When Barrett isn’t on the floor, the Knicks’ net rating is minus 13.8. That’s a bigger gap than the one for Randle, who is their best player.Mitchell Robinson, the EnigmaIt’s almost time for the Knicks to commit to an extension with Mitchell Robinson, who is now in his third year. It is difficult to gauge his true value. He’s a more traditional center who can’t spread the floor and mostly gets his points on dunks.And like Barrett, Robinson is a mixed bag.Through 11 games, Robinson’s production in several categories has decreased even as he has played more minutes (30.1) than usual, though the extra time seems to have given him room to grab more rebounds than before (8.1 per game). He is also below his per-game career averages in blocks (1.9) and field-goal percentage (68.2 percent; still very efficient).The biggest improvement for Robinson is that he’s been able to stay on the floor. Before this year, he struggled with foul trouble, but now he doesn’t jump for up-fakes as often, making it harder for defenders to draw fouls. That was his biggest weakness. Now, not so much.Elfrid Payton’s PlaymakingThe Knicks don’t have many players who can break down defenses, which is what makes Elfrid Payton essential for Thibodeau. The Knicks cut him in the off-season and re-signed him to a cheap one-year deal. He is probably not a part of the Knicks’ future plans. But he has been a steady, veteran presence on the floor, which they have needed.He is not much of a shooter, but he is skilled at getting into the paint. This year, he’s scoring above his career average with 14.5 points a game, and is tallying 4.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.Payton, 26, now in his seventh season, also does not make many mistakes on the floor. For the most part, he stays within himself and takes care of the ball. (His turnover percentage is an below-average 14 percent this season.) He’ll most likely never be a starter on a championship team, but he’s been a nice pickup for the Knicks.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      N.B.A. Investigating Kyrie Irving Over Maskless Party Video

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Investigating Kyrie Irving Over Maskless Party VideoThe Nets said they were aware of the video, which appears to show their guard attending a large indoor party, which would violate the league’s coronavirus protocols.Kyrie Irving last appeared in a game for the Nets on Jan. 5. He has been out for what the team has called “personal reasons.”Credit…Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressSopan Deb and Jan. 12, 2021Updated 9:59 p.m. ETThe N.B.A. is investigating whether Nets guard Kyrie Irving violated the league’s coronavirus protocols after a video emerged Monday on social media that appeared to show him at a crowded indoor party without wearing a mask.The N.B.A.’s health protocols prohibit players from attending indoor social gatherings of 15 or more people. If the league determines that Irving broke these rules, he could be fined 1/81.6 of his estimated $33 million annual salary (more than $400,000) for each game he has to miss while quarantining. The length of the quarantine depends on several factors, such as the setting of the violation and how long the player was there.Sean Marks, the Nets general manager, said in a statement that the team was aware of the video, which it described as showing Irving at a “family gathering.”“We are reviewing the circumstances with both Kyrie and the N.B.A. in order to determine compliance with health and safety protocols,” Marks said.Representatives for Irving could not immediately be reached for comment.It’s unclear when and where the gathering took place, but the video of it compounds puzzling aspects of the season for Irving, who has not played since Jan. 5 for what the team has called “personal reasons.”Ahead of last Thursday’s game against Philadelphia, Nets Coach Steve Nash said that he had not heard from Irving and did not know why he wasn’t playing. Before Tuesday night’s game against Denver, Nash declined to say more than that the organization had been in touch with Irving.“There’s been communication, but I think that’s all in-house,” Nash said. “We keep that to ourselves, and we try to figure out our home front privately.”Asked if he was confident that Irving would return this season, Nash said: “Sure. Like I said, right now, I’ve got to focus on coaching this team and getting the best out of them. So I can’t make any predictions, prognostications about things that are outside of this building.”In his statement, Marks said that Irving’s return had “yet to be finalized.”“In the meantime, we will continue to stay focused on our organizational goals,” Marks said. “Kyrie will have the opportunity to address his absence when he is ready to do so.”After Tuesday’s win over the Nuggets, the Nets were 6-6 for the season but 4-3 when Irving had played. He was off to a stellar start, averaging 27.1 points and 6.1 assists on 50.4 percent shooting in seven games. The Nets also went without Irving’s co-star, Kevin Durant, for a week because of the N.B.A.’s health protocols.James Harden, the Houston Rockets guard, was fined $50,000 earlier in the season after attending an indoor party with more than 15 people on Dec. 21, the eve of the season’s opening night. Irving was also fined $25,000 that month, for refusing to speak to the media.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      N.B.A. Tightens Rules as Virus Crisis Spreads

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesA Future With CoronavirusVaccine InformationF.A.Q.TimelineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Tightens Rules as Virus Crisis SpreadsFor at least the next two weeks, players won’t be allowed to leave their homes except for basketball activities and essential activities. Also: No more handshakes.Among the N.B.A.’s new virus rules is a ban on handshakes in favor of elbow and fist bumps.Credit…Kathy Willens/Associated PressMarc Stein and Jan. 12, 2021Updated 7:06 p.m. ETN.B.A. players will be required to spend at least the next two weeks in their homes apart from leaving for games, practices and essential activities, and will be mostly prohibited from leaving their hotels on the road as part of a new range of coronavirus protocols approved Tuesday by the league and the players’ union.The N.B.A. has postponed five games this week in response to its growing coronavirus crisis, which has depleted multiple teams’ rosters. The new measures supplement the nearly 160 pages of health and safety guidelines that guide the league’s attempt to stage a season at teams’ home arenas — without the protective, restricted campus it engineered at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., over the summer to complete the 2019-20 season.The changes include:Until at least Jan. 26, players, coaches and team staff members are required to remain at home when in their home markets unless they are attending team-related activities, exercising outside, performing essential activities or going out for what the league termed “extraordinary circumstances.”Also for at least the next two weeks: When away from team activities, players should avoid interacting with people who do not live or regularly work in their homes.On the road, players and staff will be prohibited from leaving the team hotel except for team activities or emergencies and will be barred from interacting with non-team guests at the hotel. (Players were previously permitted to host up to two guests in their hotel rooms, provided they were family members or longstanding personal friends.)Face coverings are now mandatory for players on the bench at all times, except when players sit in cool-down chairs after exiting a game that are at least 12 feet away from the main bench area. Players are also required to wear masks in the locker rooms, during strength and conditioning activities and while traveling with anyone out of their household.Before and after games, players are only allowed to greet each other with elbow or fist bumps. They have been asked to avoid “extended socializing.”Specific penalties for violations have not been made public.Before the new measures were announced Tuesday, Orlando’s game Wednesday at Boston was postponed. It was the league’s fourth postponement since Sunday and the third involving the Celtics. In recent days, Boston has listed at least a half-dozen players as unavailable under the league’s health and safety protocols — meaning they have either tested positive for the coronavirus or have been exposed to someone who has. “No one wants to see more restrictions imposed,” Michele Roberts, the head of the players’ association, said in a statement provided to The New York Times and other media outlets. “No one also wants to see the infection rate increase if there are steps we can take to mitigate the risk.“Our experts have concluded that these new procedures will add to our arsenal of weapons against the virus. It would be irresponsible and unacceptable to not employ new measures aimed at better promoting and protecting our players’ safety.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      N.B.A. Postpones Two More Games Because of the Virus

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Postpones Two More Games Because of the VirusThe N.B.A. has now postponed four games because of the virus, and said it would be meeting with its players’ union on Monday to discuss changes to health protocols.N.B.A. Commissioner Adam SilverCredit…Jae C. Hong/Associated PressJan. 11, 2021Updated 5:48 p.m. ETThe N.B.A. cited its coronavirus health protocols in postponing two games on Monday, bringing the total number of games postponed for this reason to four.The affected games were Monday night’s matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans, and Tuesday’s Boston Celtics game against the Chicago Bulls. The league also said that it would be meeting with the N.B.A. players’ union on Monday “about modifying the league’s health and safety protocols.”On Sunday, after the league postponed a game for the second time this season, an N.B.A. spokesman told The New York Times that there were “no plans to pause the season” and that the league had accounted for postponements when designing the schedule. Beyond the postponements, several teams have played short-handed when multiple or key players were out because of virus protocols.With three games postponed in less than 24 hours, the N.B.A. is seeing an early but notable challenge to its attempt to finish its 72-game schedule, and it’s happening before the season is a month old. Over the summer, the N.B.A. did not report that any players had tested positive after clearing quarantine to enter its bubble on the Walt Disney World campus in Florida. Since play began this season, with no bubble and cross-country travel, there had been six reported cases through Wednesday.That number should rise when the N.B.A. puts out its next weekly report. Philadelphia 76ers guard Seth Curry and Boston’s Jayson Tatum are reported to have tested positive in recent days. Subsequent contact tracing and injuries led to the Sixers using just seven players in a loss to the Nuggets on Saturday. The Celtics were scheduled to play the Miami Heat on Sunday, but the game was postponed after contact tracing left Miami without the minimum eight players required to compete.But Boston was in poor shape as well: The team said on Sunday that seven players would not be available for the game as a result of the protocols, including their two stars, Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Multiple outlets reported that Tatum had tested positive for the coronavirus after playing the Washington Wizards on Friday night.A league spokesman said the same issue — contact tracing — caused the latest postponements. Boston would not have had enough players to take the floor Tuesday, and Dallas, which is missing four players, was not cleared to resume team activities after closing its practice facility over the weekend.According to the league’s protocols, players who test positive must isolate for at least 10 days, or test negative in two consecutive tests at least 24 hours apart. If a player could have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, the league or team may mandate a quarantine after a risk assessment.So far, five teams have been significantly affected by virus-related player absences: Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia. The Sixers said Monday that they would be without five players for that night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks as a result of coronavirus protocols. On Saturday, in addition to those players, the Sixers were without Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, their two best players. The team said they were dealing with injuries unrelated to the virus. Sixers Coach Doc Rivers said before Saturday’s game that he didn’t think his team should have to play with so few players, citing injury concerns.The Heat said Monday evening that they would be without eight players, including their stars, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, for their Tuesday matchup against the Sixers.The league has said that, because of the wide community spread of the virus, it expected cases and potential exposures among players. Commissioner Adam Silver also has said that he did not want N.B.A. players to “jump the line” to be vaccinated, meaning that teams’ missing players because of protocols may be the norm for the rest of the season.Players and team staff members have agreed to a number of restrictions on their professional and private activities to help reduce infections, like not going to bars and clubs, or indoor social gatherings with 15 or more people. James Harden, the Houston Rockets star, was fined $50,000 by the league for attending an indoor party with more than 15 people on Dec. 21, the day before the season began.Instead, the league has recommended that players take up “cycling, hiking, boating, golfing, frequenting parks or beaches, or like activities.”But the latest wave of infections and contact tracing suggests more may need to be done. Before the season, Silver said at a news conference that the season could be paused if the league thought the protocols weren’t working, “meaning that not only did we have some cases of Covid but that we were witnessing spread either among teams or even possibly to another team, that would cause us to suspend the season.”He added: “I think we are prepared for isolated cases. In fact, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason, based on watching other leagues operating outside the bubble, unfortunately it seems somewhat inevitable.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      N.B.A. Postpones Heat-Celtics Game

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Says ‘No Plans to Pause the Season’ as Virus Cases IncreaseA game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics was postponed and several teams have been left without key players because of players’ testing positive for the coronavirus and contact tracing.Boston’s Jayson Tatum was one of seven Celtics ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Miami Heat because of virus protocols. The game was then postponed when the Heat, also because of the protocols, did not have enough players.Credit…David Butler II/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 10, 2021Updated 6:43 p.m. ETThe N.B.A. postponed a game on Sunday night between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics when the Heat did not have enough available players because of the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols. It was the second game of the season postponed after the protocols left a team short-handed.“Because of ongoing contact tracing with the Heat, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with tonight’s game against the Celtics,” the league said in a statement.The Celtics on Sunday were also missing a significant portion of their roster, including their stars. Less than a month in, the season is trending in the wrong direction, with a growing number of players missing games after testing positive for, or potentially being exposed to, the virus.“We anticipated that there would be game postponements this season and planned this season accordingly,” Mike Bass, a league spokesman, told The New York Times. “There are no plans to pause the season. We will continue to be guided by our medical experts and our health and safety protocols.”Along with the Celtics and the Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Dallas Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls listed at least three players on their injury reports over the weekend in connection with the league’s virus protocols. Multiple other teams also had at least one player listed, a marked contrast from the N.B.A.’s conclusion to the 2019-20 season at the Walt Disney World campus in Florida over the summer. No games were postponed then, and no players were said to have tested positive.The N.B.A. postponed a game between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder on just the second day of the season when the Rockets did not have enough available players because of injuries and virus protocols.The league’s injury reports do not say whether a player is out because he has tested positive or was just potentially exposed. A player who tests positive could be isolated for at least 10 days, and one who is exposed could be in quarantine for several days. Each week, the N.B.A. announces how many new players have tested positive. In its most recent report on Wednesday, four players had tested positive, up from zero the week before and two in the first week of play.“We’re all dealing with a vast set of circumstances, so we’ve got to remain calm, and we’ve always got to have a plan for adversity,” Coach Rick Carlisle said before the Mavericks’ game against the Orlando Magic on Saturday, when Dallas was missing three players because of virus protocols. “We’ve been expecting that this sort of thing was certainly a realistic possibility, and now we’re dealing with it.”The Sixers used only seven players against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday after Philadelphia guard Seth Curry tested positive. Four players missed the game because of virus protocols. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the Sixers’ stars, also missed the game, although Coach Doc Rivers said their absences were because of lingering knee (Simmons) and back (Embiid) injuries. Before the game, in response to a question about whether he had told the league he did not want to play with so few players available, Rivers said he was concerned.“I don’t think we should,” Rivers said. “It’s not for me to express that. I do worry about our player health on the floor.”The Nuggets won Saturday’s game, 115-103. Tyrese Maxey, a Sixers rookie, scored 39 points in his first career start to help Philadelphia keep the game competitive. But the Nuggets overwhelmed the Sixers in the second half.The Celtics, who were scheduled to play the Heat on Sunday at 7 p.m., Eastern time, would have been without seven players because of virus protocols. Before the postponement, the only player the Heat said would be out because of the protocols was Avery Bradley. The Heat’s next game is against the Sixers on Tuesday.The Celtics played the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Afterward, the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and the Wizards’ Bradley Beal stood near each other having a conversation on the court. The Athletic reported that the conversation, with Beal’s exposure to Tatum, was what led to Beal’s having to miss a game against the Heat on Saturday night. According to multiple reports, Tatum learned after Friday’s game that he had tested positive for the virus.Even before the weekend, some teams had played games without key players because of the protocols. Kevin Durant of the Nets missed most of the last week, but he was available for Sunday evening’s game against the Thunder. The Nuggets have been without forward Michael Porter Jr. all month, and it is unknown when he will return.Commissioner Adam Silver said at a preseason news conference that he was confident that the N.B.A. would be able to finish its planned 72-game season.“If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have started,” Silver said.But as to what it would take to suspend the season, Silver said: “The view is, I think, if we found a situation where our protocols weren’t working, meaning that not only did we have some cases of Covid but that we were witnessing spread either among teams or even possibly to another team, that would cause us to suspend the season.”He continued: “I think we are prepared for isolated cases. In fact, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason, based on watching other leagues operating outside the bubble, unfortunately it seems somewhat inevitable.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Sixers’ Positive Virus Test Challenges N.B.A.’s Health Protocol

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySixers’ Positive Virus Test Challenges N.B.A.’s Health ProtocolThe Philadelphia 76ers and Nets continued a game even though a player who had been on the bench learned during play that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.Sixers guard Seth Curry was placed in isolation after learning during Thursday’s game against the Nets that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressSopan Deb and Jan. 8, 2021Updated 9:50 p.m. ETIn the latest challenge for a major North American sports league trying to navigate the pandemic, the N.B.A.’s Philadelphia 76ers remained in New York on Friday to undergo contact tracing and coronavirus testing after one of their players learned during a game against the Nets on Thursday night that he had tested positive.The positive test result was returned while the player, Seth Curry, was on the Sixers’ bench during the first half of their loss to the Nets at Barclays Center. The game was allowed to continue, raising questions about the league’s health and safety protocols as it plays without the restricted setup it used to finish last season in Florida.The Sixers lost, 122-109, and a full evaluation to determine whether Curry had been in close contact with any Sixers players or staff members began in earnest the next morning — after the Nets had flown to Memphis for their next game.The 76ers will need eight players in uniform to go ahead with Saturday’s scheduled 3 p.m. game against the Denver Nuggets in Philadelphia, but it was unclear Friday night whether they would have enough players to avoid the league’s second postponement of the season.With the team still in Manhattan as of the N.B.A.’s injury report at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, seven Philadelphia players (Joel Embiid, Danny Green, Tobias Harris, Shake Milton, Vincent Poirier, Paul Reed and Matisse Thybulle) were listed as questionable because of the league’s health and safety protocols.Four other Sixers — Curry, Terrance Ferguson (personal reasons) and the injured duo of Mike Scott and Furkan Kormaz — have already been ruled out of the game. The Sixers have a 17-man rosterCurry, held out of Thursday’s game with an ankle injury, was removed from the Sixers’ bench and placed in isolation after being notified of the positive test during the first half, according to two people familiar with the circumstances who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly.“An initial positive test received during a game, when a player has already tested negative that day, results in the player’s immediate removal but does not trigger the cancellation of a game,” said David Weiss, the league’s senior vice president for player matters.Before Thursday’s game, Curry had taken two daily coronavirus tests as required by the N.B.A.’s health and safety protocols — one rapid polymerase chain reaction test and one lab-based P.C.R. test.Weiss added: “The testing strategy we have implemented of two daily P.C.R. tests creates a process that aims to identify an infected individual before they become infectious to others. Combined with our data that analyzes contact time and distance during on-court play, our experts believe that the game can safely proceed in these circumstances.”Major League Baseball faced a similar challenge of a positive test result received during competition, in Game 6 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays in October. The Dodgers’ third baseman, Justin Turner, learned during the seventh inning that he had tested positive, and was pulled from the game before the start of the eighth inning. The game was not stopped then, either, and Turner later apologized for returning to the field to celebrate winning the championship with his teammates.Curry’s rapid test came up as negative, allowing him to be on the bench with a mask, according to one of the people familiar with the situation. The 76ers then received the result of his lab test, which was positive, and took him to an isolated room at Barclays Center as play continued. He left the arena separately from the rest of the team.The Nets still played the Grizzlies, as scheduled, on Friday night. Nets Coach Steve Nash said before the game that he and his players “weren’t aware” of Curry’s positive coronavirus result as they played the Sixers, but he added that since then “the talk or chatter about it amongst our team was pretty minimal.”On Thursday, Curry had been seated on the front row of Philadelphia’s bench in the first quarter against the Nets in street clothes, with the assistant coach Sam Cassell to his right and, for portions of the quarter, Philadelphia’s star center Joel Embiid to his left.After the game, Embiid, who recently became a father, told ESPN that he planned to quarantine from his family until he was sure that he did not have the virus.The Washington Wizards, who played Philadelphia on Wednesday night, played the Celtics in Boston on Friday night. The Celtics announced earlier in the day that three rotation players — Tristan Thompson, Grant Williams and Robert Williams III — would miss that game because of possible exposure to the coronavirus. Other top players in the league have also been in quarantine, including Kevin Durant of the Nets, despite not reporting a positive coronavirus test.Players are required to quarantine for at least seven days if they are exposed to someone who tests positive. If a player tests positive, he could be required to isolate for at least 10 days. Several players have had to quarantine since the season began Dec. 22, but only one game has been derailed: Houston’s season-opener against Oklahoma City on Dec. 23 was postponed when the Rockets could not field the league’s minimum requirement of eight players.The N.B.A. announces the results of the leaguewide coronavirus testing weekly and said Thursday that four players out of 498 tested since Dec. 30 had tested positive. Last week, the league announced zero confirmed positive tests out of 495 players tested.According to the N.B.A.’s protocols, a positive test requires a team to “notify any close contacts of the confirmed positive case of their status and appropriate next steps,” including retesting or quarantine. A player that has tested positive must isolate for at least 10 days or return two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart before he can take steps to return to play, such as working out by himself when no other players are present.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More