Simmons, Benjamin (1996- )

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      What the Ben Simmons Standoff Means for the Sixers and the N.B.A.

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      Simmons is the latest N.B.A. star to ask for a trade then try to force his way off a team, but Philadelphia is holding firm so far.Over the summer, Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons requested a trade, initiating a standoff that has dragged into the regular season.The organization fined Simmons repeatedly for missing practices, meetings and preseason games, according to ESPN. Simmons did not report to the team until near the end of the preseason and was suspended for the regular-season opener for conduct detrimental to the team. Simmons likely will not play for the 76ers again for a long while, if ever. Philadelphia hosts the Nets on Friday.In response to a report from The Athletic on Friday that Simmons had said he was mentally unprepared to play, 76ers forward Tobias Harris wrote in a tweet: “And we’ll respect his privacy and space during this time. When he’s ready, we will embrace our brother with love and handle our business on the court. That’s it, that’s all.”Here’s how the situation evolved, where it stands and what it could mean for the N.B.A.Here’s what you need to know:Why is Simmons so unhappy in Philadelphia?What is Daryl Morey’s trade history?How does Simmons fit into the larger theme of player empowerment in the N.B.A.?Could N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver intervene at some point?What does the absence of Simmons mean for the rest of the Eastern Conference?What are the larger implications of Simmons’s actions?Why is Simmons so unhappy in Philadelphia?Technically, we don’t know. Simmons hasn’t said anything publicly. Much of this has played out through anonymous reports in the media. There have been some signals from Simmons’s Instagram page, such as when he liked a post detailing how much the Sixers could fine him for missing games and practices.The tension between Simmons and the Sixers has been festering for years, despite Simmons’s signing an extension in 2019. Now in his sixth season, he hasn’t really changed much as a player (he missed his first season with a foot injury). He is one of the most versatile playmakers in the N.B.A. and an excellent defender, but he has not developed a jump shot, which has made him a liability on the offensive end in multiple playoff runs. He’s also a career 59.7 percent free-throw shooter, which means teams often foul him on purpose at the end of games.In December 2019, Brett Brown, the former 76ers coach, publicly begged Simmons to take more 3s. One month later, Brown told reporters that he had “failed” in his mission.Even though Doc Rivers replaced Brown before last season, there hasn’t been much difference. Rivers was Simmons’s steadfast defender last year, but after the Atlanta Hawks eliminated the Sixers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Rivers told reporters that he didn’t know whether Simmons could be a point guard for a championship team. It’s highly unusual to see a coach publicly criticize his own player minutes after a tough playoff loss.On Thursday, Daryl Morey, the team’s president of basketball operations, said on a local Philadelphia radio station: “Doc Rivers defended Ben Simmons more than any human on Earth, maybe ever. If someone wants to interpret one comment out of 10,000, I don’t think that’s very fair to the organization or Doc Rivers.”He added, “To me, it’s all some sort of like, you know, pretext to do something larger by his agent.”What is Daryl Morey’s trade history?Morey recognizes the value of an All-Star, even if that player’s game is limited. He has never been shy about wheeling and dealing, typically swings big and often ends up on the right side of trades.Morey made an eye-popping 70-plus trades during his 13 seasons as general manager of the Houston Rockets and has already made several deals since joining Philadelphia in 2020. His most noteworthy deal helped shape the modern N.B.A.: Morey plucked James Harden from his reserve role with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012 for Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin and draft picks. In Houston, Harden became the focal point of an offensive scheme that centered 3-pointers and high-percentage shots like layups and dunks.Two of Morey’s most memorable other deals involved Chris Paul. Morey landed Paul in Houston in 2017 for a package that sent several players, including Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams to the Clippers. In 2019, Morey acquired Russell Westbrook for Paul and a package of draft picks.How does Simmons fit into the larger theme of player empowerment in the N.B.A.?In recent years, some prominent players have leveraged their looming free agency to force trades to where they want to go. Anthony Davis, for example, got to the Los Angeles Lakers from the New Orleans Pelicans this way.What’s happening with Simmons, though, is unprecedented because of how much time is left on his contract. Simmons is not a free agent until after the 2024-25 season. Even when James Harden, then with the Houston Rockets, forced his way to the Nets, he had just two years left on his deal. In theory, Simmons shouldn’t have much leverage. The closest comparison is Paul George, who had just signed an extension in Oklahoma City before engineering a trade to team up in Los Angeles with Kawhi Leonard. The difference is that the Thunder quickly acquiesced to George’s request, while the Sixers have been unwilling to do so with Simmons.“Player empowerment” is also difficult to gauge in this situation because it’s not clear what Simmons’s value is. While he has made multiple All-Star teams and is one of the best defensive players in the N.B.A., his unwillingness to shoot and his shrinking in playoff games have hurt his trade value. At least so far, teams are unwilling to throw in the kitchen sink and more to obtain Simmons. So is it player empowerment if the player is currently not empowered?Could N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver intervene at some point?The league has rarely publicly intervened in standoffs between a player and a team, and it is uncertain what, if anything, Silver can do to move the situation along under the N.B.A.’s collective bargaining agreement.The N.B.A. stepped in when the New Orleans Pelicans attempted to bench Anthony Davis in 2019 following his agent’s public request for a trade. Davis and Simmons share the same agent in Rich Paul, but the two scenarios are otherwise vastly different. Paul made the trade request for Davis in early 2019 with Davis set to become a free agent in the summer of 2020. The N.B.A. fined Davis $50,000 for the public trade request. Simmons has four years and $147 million left on his contract.“It’s something you never like to see as a league,” Silver recently told ESPN of Philadelphia’s situation.What does the absence of Simmons mean for the rest of the Eastern Conference?We’ve spent a few seasons watching The Process come tantalizingly close to fruition.Remember, Simmons and the 76ers were only a cruel bounce away from qualifying for the Eastern Conference finals in 2019 when they were eliminated in the semifinals by Kawhi Leonard’s soft touch on a buzzer beater for the Toronto Raptors in Game 7.An engaged Simmons, the one who is a three-time All-Star, fantastic distributor and a disruptive force on defense, lifts Philadelphia to among the top of the Eastern Conference contenders.Philadelphia earned the Eastern Conference’s top seed last season with a record of 49-23, and Joel Embiid is talented enough to strike fear in any playoff opponent. But expect Philadelphia to regress without Simmons or some type of a return in a trade for him and for teams like the Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat to finish atop the Eastern Conference standings.What are the larger implications of Simmons’s actions?Daryl Morey and Doc Rivers have said publicly that they want Simmons back and playing, though Morey is still trying to trade Simmons but said he doesn’t want role players in return.If the Sixers are successful in getting Simmons back on the court, then the dispute becomes a moot point. However, it would signal that teams might be less willing to give in to trade demands going forward.But if Simmons still doesn’t return, both sides will enter treacherous terrain. For Simmons, he likely will lose significant money during his athletic prime to fines and unpaid salary. Morey has said that this saga could drag on for the rest of Simmons’s contract. This would mean that the Sixers would spend Joel Embiid’s prime with a gaping hole in their roster that would limit their ceiling.As for the league, if Simmons becomes the latest star player, after James Harden, Anthony Davis and Paul George, to engineer his own path independent of the organization’s wishes, it could affect the new collective bargaining agreement, which could come into effect in 2024. League owners might want harsher penalties for players who try to force their way off teams. (Conversely, there likely would be significant pushback from the players’ union on this. After all, teams trade players all the time despite signing them to play for their particular franchise.) More

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      N.B.A. Eastern Conference Preview: The Bucks Aren't Finished Yet

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      The Bucks might be better, while the Sixers and Nets are playing wait-and-see with key stars. The Eastern Conference could play out in several ways.Here lie the N.B.A.’s most compelling story lines.Potential contenders in the Eastern Conference scrambled during the off-season to assemble teams fit to knock off Giannis Antetokounmpo — now with a new, improved jump shot? — and the reigning N.B.A. champion Milwaukee Bucks. Even the conference’s perennial bottom feeders built rosters that will demand attention from basketball devotees. Some teams are just hoping that distractions don’t derail their seasons before they start.Many wonder how the Ben Simmons situation in Philadelphia will end. The 76ers seemed locked in a stalemate with Simmons, a three-time All-Star, who has wanted to be traded for months. Simmons ended his holdout midway through the preseason and reported to the team but has not played. The 76ers have said they want him on their roster, but if they persuade him to stay, can they really go forward with business as usual?Meanwhile, the Nets have a bona fide championship roster. They know this, and even with the distraction of Kyrie Irving’s murky status because he’s not vaccinated, they expect to hoist the Larry O’Brien championship trophy at season’s end.Could the N.B.A.’s balance of power, which has long rested in the West, be shifting to the East? Here’s a look at how the Eastern Conference shapes up this season.Miami HeatIn some ways, it seems so long ago. But little more than a year has passed since the Heat plowed their way to the 2020 finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. Was it a fluke, aided by playing under the unusual conditions of a bubble environment, with no fans? The Heat were up and down last season before the Milwaukee Bucks ejected them from the 2021 playoffs in a lopsided first-round series.Jimmy Butler needs to be efficient. Duncan Robinson needs to be consistent. Tyler Herro needs to recapture his assertiveness. And Bam Adebayo needs to keep making the sort of strides that have pushed him toward becoming a perennial All-Star.The team should benefit from two additions: Kyle Lowry, who at 35 left the Raptors after nine seasons, and P.J. Tucker, who helped the Bucks win the championship last season.Philadelphia 76ersThe Sixers don’t need Ben Simmons to be competitive (they do have Joel Embiid, pictured), but they are better with him.Matt Slocum/Associated PressBen Simmons is, for now, back in the City of Brotherly Love.Simmons, who reportedly demanded a trade in late August and missed training camp, reported to the 76ers ahead of their third preseason game but did not play. Simmons’s future in Philadelphia remains unclear, though. He still has four years left on his maximum contract.With or without him, Philadelphia is antsy to win now. Joel Embiid is coming off the best season of his career, when he finished second in the voting for the Most Valuable Player Award. The 76ers were the No. 1 seed in last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs but collapsed in the semifinals, continuing their inability to turn regular-season wins into deep postseason success.Philadelphia is a better team with Simmons, 25, despite his offensive shortcomings. But even if he doesn’t play anytime soon, Embiid, Seth Curry, Danny Green and Tobias Harris should be experienced enough to keep the Sixers in contention.New York KnicksThe Knicks doubled down on last season’s roster, which unexpectedly made the playoffs then flamed out — albeit after a brilliant flare — in the first round. The veterans Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson are back, but Elfrid Payton, who triggered an influx of gray hairs for fans, is not. The additions of Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker are significant, and should help take the offensive load off RJ Barrett and Julius Randle, who signed a four-year contract extension in the off-season.This feels like a make-or-break year for the 23-year-old Mitchell Robinson, the center who is up for an extension and can jump through the roof. At his best, he protects the rim and is an excellent roll man. But he has had difficulty staying healthy. Look for bigger roles for Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin, who each showed promise off the bench as rookies last season.The Knicks should easily make the playoffs, but their bench depth is a question mark.Milwaukee BucksThe Bucks kept the band together. Same coach. Same star. Same core — mostly. And why not? Fresh off their first championship since 1971, the Bucks seem poised for a title defense.The challenge could be fatigue. Because of the pandemic, their postseason run stretched into July, and two starters — Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday — helped the U.S. Olympic team win gold in August. The Bucks also lost P.J. Tucker, invaluable in the late stages of last season, to the Heat in free agency.But Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time M.V.P., is still the face of the franchise and the proud owner of a newly minted championship ring. And he may be better than ever, showing off an improved jump shot in the preseason. With a contract that runs through the 2025-26 season, he is not going anywhere anytime soon.Atlanta HawksAtlanta guard Trae Young led the Hawks on a surprising run through the first two rounds of the playoffs last season.Brett Davis/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAfter a surprising run to the Eastern Conference finals last year, the Hawks enter the season with the burden of expectations and the benefit of continuity. This team is deep and should compete to be one of the best in the East.Most of the key players are back. The Hawks locked in their two best players, Trae Young and John Collins, with long-term extensions. Coach Nate McMillan will be running the team from opening night, as opposed to being thrust into the job midseason as he was during the last campaign after Lloyd Pierce was fired.Atlanta almost pulled off a miracle run to the N.B.A. finals last season, after taking down the Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers, but were bedeviled by injuries against the eventual champions, the Milwaukee Bucks. Players who were unavailable or not 100 percent, like De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Bogdan Bogdanovic, are expected to start the season with clean bills of health. The Hawks also added some quality veteran bench pieces in Gorgui Dieng and Delon Wright, and an intriguing rookie they drafted late in this year’s first round, Jalen Johnson.Charlotte HornetsLaMelo Ball, last season’s rookie of the year, highlights Charlotte’s promising young core. He’ll likely be the Hornets’ primary facilitator and already has great court vision and playmaking ability, and he is continuing to improve his jump shot.Ball and forward Miles Bridges in the pick-and-roll were elite last season, with Bridges’s power at the basket and Ball’s precise lob placement on display. That pairing should only be better this season.The Hornets already had solid veterans in Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward, and they added Kelly Oubre Jr. and Mason Plumlee. Oubre is an inconsistent shooter, but could be impactful in transition. Plumlee is a versatile big man.This group won’t be knocking at the door of the N.B.A. finals this season, but the Hornets will be a fun team to watch, and have a real chance at a playoff berth.Brooklyn NetsWith the addition of Patty Mills and Paul Millsap, as well as the return of Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Nets, on paper, are one of the best teams in N.B.A. history. In normal circumstances, they would be title favorites, given their Big Three of Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant. But that was the case last year too, and the Nets bowed out in the second round of the playoffs.Health will be the principle factor for determining how far the Nets go. All of the Nets’ top players have significant miles on their legs and have missed substantial time in recent years.If there is a potentially weak point for other teams to exploit, it is defensively, where the Nets struggled last season, and their off-season additions didn’t seriously address that. This could come back to bite them in the postseason, particularly in the frontcourt against players like Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored at will during last year’s playoffs, or Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.But the offensive firepower is top notch. It’s hard to see the Nets being beaten in a seven-game series if they’re healthy.Chicago BullsDeMar DeRozan gives the new-look Chicago Bulls a threat from the mid-range.Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports, via ReutersChicago could be a sneaky-good team this season.Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations, voiced displeasure with the team’s 31-41 record shortly after last season. Since then, he’s added DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Tony Bradley to a roster with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, whom Chicago acquired from Orlando at the March trade deadline.DeRozan is lethal in the midrange, but some have questioned how he’ll fit with LaVine, as both players are most effective with the ball in their hands. Chicago will have an upgrade at point guard with Ball, who is a deft passer. And Caruso will add a rugged spark off the bench. Coach Billy Donovan will have to figure out how they all fit on the court.In any event, Michael Jordan said that with the changes the Bulls made, they could compete in the East. How long has it been since those words were last spoken?Toronto RaptorsIt’s a new era in Toronto basketball. Kyle Lowry, perhaps the most lauded Raptor in franchise history, has gone to Miami. Without him, the Raptors are likely stuck between being too talented to get a top draft pick and not being so good that they’ll contend for a top seed in the conference.But there may be an opening for Toronto in the turbulent East: Scottie Barnes, whom the team surprisingly drafted at No. 4 this year, showed potential in the preseason. And the Raptors’ frontcourt, helmed by Chris Boucher and the newly acquired Precious Achiuwa, will be a force.There are lots of questions for the Raptors entering the season: Is Pascal Siakam, who is expected to miss the start of the season as he recovers from shoulder surgery, a true franchise cornerstone? Will Lowry’s replacement at guard, the 35-year-old Goran Dragic, last the season in Toronto? Or will Masai Ujiri, the Raptors head of basketball operations, flip Dragic’s expiring contract?Detroit PistonsYou’d be hard pressed to find any Pistons fans who haven’t already crowned the rookie guard Cade Cunningham as their Magic Johnson. Johnson, of course, won an N.B.A. title as a rookie after the Lakers drafted him No. 1 overall in 1979.Detroit drafted Cunningham, a savvy scorer and shot creator, No. 1 overall earlier this year to hopefully lift itself out of years of irrelevancy. An ankle injury sidelined him in the preseason, and the team is being cautious.Detroit’s young group showed promise last season, despite finishing with the worst record in the East, but the Pistons are another team in rebuilding mode. Coach Dwane Casey has said that this season’s goal is to earn a spot in the postseason play-in tournament.Cleveland CavaliersOnly someone like LeBron James could render an entire franchise into an afterthought. But that was what he effectively did when he departed the Cavaliers for the glamour of Hollywood in 2018, leaving them to rummage through the wilderness without him. The Cavaliers instantly went from title contender to lightweight, though the team has some up-and-comers — highlighted by Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in the backcourt — who are cause for cautious optimism.None of this is to suggest that the Cavaliers will come anywhere close to sniffing the playoffs. But a slow, steady rebuild — augmented by smart draft picks — is the way back to respectability. And there is more good news: Kevin Love (remember him?) has just two seasons remaining on his gargantuan deal, which could make him a more appealing target on the trade market.Boston CelticsJayson Tatum has shown promise with Boston, but postseason success has so far eluded him.Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFrom the start of training camp, Ime Udoka, the Celtics’ first-year coach, has had a particular emphasis: ball movement. He does not want the ball to stick. He wants his players to work together to generate the best shots.This must have been welcome news to fans who got tired of watching the Celtics’ offense devolve into isolation sets last season. Jayson Tatum, 23, and Jaylen Brown, who will turn 25 this month, form one of the most talented young tandems in the league, but fulfilling their promise in the postseason has so far eluded them.Perhaps Udoka can help them deliver. He replaced Brad Stevens, who moved to the front office after a posting .500 record and losing in the first round of the playoffs in his eighth season as the team’s coach.Washington WizardsWes Unseld Jr., Washington’s new head coach, has a tall task ahead of him.The Wizards are not a championship-caliber team, even after adding solid veterans like Spencer Dinwiddie, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell. So this season will be mostly about persuading Bradley Beal, who can become a free agent next summer, to make a long-term commitment to the franchise.It’s hard to win without multiple elite playmakers, and the Wizards have just one in Beal after trading Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers. But even in a yet another bridge year, the Wizards should, at the very least, have a playoff team. They’ll have the promising center Thomas Bryant back from injury, and the team can hope for some growth from its last two lottery picks, Deni Avdija (2020) and Rui Hachimura (2019).Orlando MagicThe Magic have a young team with a first-year head coach in Jamahl Mosley. They’ve made just two playoff appearances in the past nine seasons, and traded away their best players, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic, in the middle of last season. Then they landed Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs at No. 5 in this year’s draft.Suggs joined a roster that is crowded at guard, with Markelle Fultz, who will return from a knee injury, RJ Hampton, Terrence Ross, Cole Anthony and Gary Harris. Suggs probably has the highest ceiling of those players, though, and he was solid in the summer league before injuring his thumb.The Magic will not be legitimate contenders for a while, so they have plenty of time to sort out their roster.Indiana PacersRick Carlisle, back for his second stint with the Pacers, is the team’s third coach in three seasons. Indiana could use some stability to help develop a young core that includes Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, already a two-time All-Star at 25.But the Pacers, who have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2014, are coming off a 34-38 season, and Caris LeVert is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his back.Carlisle coached the Pacers for four seasons, from 2003 to 2007, while guiding them to three postseason appearances. It will take some hard work to get them there again. More

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      Your N.B.A. Coronavirus Questions, Answered

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyYour N.B.A. Coronavirus Questions, AnsweredCan fans attend all games? Will players be vaccinated? Was All-Star weekend safe? Read on to find out.Fans at a game between the Knicks and the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden, with limited seating.Credit…Pool photo by John MinchilloMarch 11, 2021Updated 5:49 p.m. ETThe second half of another strange N.B.A. season in the pandemic has begun.In the first half, multiple players missed several games because of health concerns related to the coronavirus, even if they didn’t contract the virus. Teams have missed games. At one point, the Washington Wizards did not have enough players to practice. Almost every team in the N.B.A. has been affected in some way.As action resumes, here is where the league stands with the virus, and other story lines to watch.Some of the questions we’ll answer:Are fans allowed in arenas yet?How many games were postponed in the first half?Are enhanced protocols still in place?How many players have tested positive for the virus?Can the Texas teams — the Spurs, the Rockets and the Mavericks — fill their arenas now?Will N.B.A. players get vaccinated?Are fans allowed in arenas yet?So far, 14 of 30 teams allow fans to attend games in varying capacities: Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix and Utah, plus both the Nets and the Knicks. Some other franchises will be allowing fans soon: San Antonio (March 12), Charlotte (March 13), Philadelphia (March 14), Detroit (March 17) Toronto (March 19; this will be in Tampa, Fla.) and Boston (March 22).Will the Knicks make the playoffs?This isn’t the piece for that.But will fans be able to watch the Knicks in person in the playoffs?You got me. It’s possible.How many games were postponed in the first half?A total of 31 games were postponed when teams did not have enough players because of positive tests or contact tracing. All are expected to be made up.Are enhanced protocols still in place?They are. In January, the N.B.A. and the players’ union announced — following a surge of postponements — that players were being directed to spend their time almost exclusively at home or, if on the road, in their hotel rooms. Initially, the tightening was described as at least two weeks. But it is still in place.But didn’t they just have an All-Star Game in Atlanta?Well, yeah.So most of the league’s best players traveled to Atlanta for an exhibition game. Was that an unnecessary risk?So far, no players are publicly known to have tested positive coming out of All-Star festivities. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, who were supposed to play, missed the All-Star Game because of contact tracing after their barber tested positive for the coronavirus. Both will also miss Thursday’s game against the Chicago Bulls.How many players have tested positive for the virus?Beginning with the weekly testing report on Dec. 10, the first after players entered training camp, 60 players have tested positive. According to the most recent report by the N.B.A., two new players have returned positive tests since March 3.Why haven’t I seen Wayne Knight in the ads for “Space Jam 2”?I’m sorry, Mr. Knight. I can’t answer that.Can the Texas teams — the Spurs, the Rockets and the Mavericks — fill their arenas now?Recently, Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican of Texas, ended the state’s mask mandate and said that all businesses could operate without capacity limits.No. All teams must still adhere to the N.B.A.’s protocols, which require social distancing between groups of ticket holders. The Spurs will allow about 3,200 fans. The Mavericks have been topping out at 4,000, but Mark Cuban, the team’s owner, also recently said on a podcast, “We think that by the end of the regular season we’ll have full houses, because like the president said, anybody who would want a vaccine will be able to get a vaccine.” The Rockets allow roughly 4,000 or so fans.Will N.B.A. players get vaccinated?Commissioner Adam Silver has said repeatedly that he does not want N.B.A. players to get vaccinated ahead of their eligibility. He also expressed openness to players receiving the vaccine as part of a public awareness campaign.Last weekend, Silver told reporters that he was unaware of any players who had been vaccinated.“I also think being realistic, around the N.B.A., as I said, we have no plans to mandate that players get vaccinated,” Silver said. “For any sort of large scale, required vaccinations to take place, that can only happen with the players’ association.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Two Players Out of N.B.A. All-Star Game Because of Virus Protocols

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTwo Players Out of N.B.A. All-Star Game Because of Virus ProtocolsPlayers were again questioning the decision to stage an exhibition amid the pandemic after Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers were ruled out of Sunday’s game in Atlanta.Joel Embiid, left, had been named to his fourth All-Star Game. Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans was set to replace him in the starting lineup.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressMarch 7, 2021Updated 9:07 p.m. ETATLANTA — The N.B.A. All-Star Game was rocked just hours before tipoff on Sunday when the league announced it would sideline Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers after they had contact with an individual who was confirmed to have tested positive for the coronavirus.Numerous top players in recent weeks had questioned playing the exhibition at all during a pandemic, and some eight hours before the game’s scheduled 8 p.m. start, Embiid and Simmons were ruled out — with the league also saying their removals would have no impact on other All-Stars or 76ers Coach Doc Rivers and his staff.Their participation would not be affected, the league said, because those people “were not exposed to the individual in Philadelphia” before traveling to Atlanta. The Sixers’ staff earned the right to coach the team captained by the Nets’ Kevin Durant because Philadelphia held the East’s best record at the All-Star break.The news broke as numerous players were conducting video conference interview sessions from their hotel rooms. Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Nets’ James Harden were among those who responded by again questioning the wisdom of staging an All-Star Game amid a pandemic, as LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and other stars had last month.“I don’t want to say we didn’t have a choice, but it’s in our C.B.A., and our C.B.A. says there has to be an All-Star Game every year,” Beal said of the league’s collective bargaining agreement. He added that “there’s still guys” with reservations, and he counted himself among that group.George said he “personally didn’t agree with the game.” Harden described Sunday’s events, which were to include a 3-point contest and a skills competition before the game and a dunk contest at halftime, as “forced.” James, who is captain of one of the teams, called the situation “very unfortunate” and said “it’s all something that we thought could possibly happen.”The N.B.A. flew the All-Star participants to Atlanta on private planes from their cities and required them to stay inside the league’s official hotel Saturday night — preferably in their rooms — after checking in by 7 p.m. Players were permitted to bring up to four guests, but it was not immediately known how many guests accompanied Embiid or Simmons. The players traveled on separate planes and without other 76ers personnel, according to two people briefed on the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.Before arriving in Atlanta, Embiid and Simmons were exposed to a barber in Philadelphia who has since tested positive for the coronavirus. The Athletic first reported their exposure, which was confirmed by the two people. Having both registered negative coronavirus tests on Sunday, Embiid and Simmons returned to Philadelphia on separate private planes before the All-Star game began, the people said.The first scheduled team meetings to bring players from the two All-Star teams together were not until Sunday at State Farm Arena. Both teams were scheduled to meet with Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, and Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, within three hours of the opening tip. The schedule called for All-Star participants to leave Atlanta via private transportation immediately after the game.Ben Simmons was selected to his third consecutive All-Star Game.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressEmbiid, a prime Most Valuable Player Award candidate this season, had been selected to his fourth All-Star team and was to start at center for Durant’s team. Simmons, making his third All-Star team after being voted into the game as a reserve, was selected by James. Rivers chose Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans to start in Embiid’s place, but the league did not pursue replacements for either player with only hours remaining before the opening tip, opting for 11-man All-Star rosters instead of the usual 12.The 2020-21 regular season started on Dec. 22 after last season, delayed four months by the coronavirus pandemic, went all the way into October and required three months on a restricted-access campus at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., to complete.In November, the league postponed its traditional All-Star Weekend, giving Indianapolis hosting rights in 2024 instead of this year. But the N.B.A. never ruled out the prospect of resuscitating a game for 2021. The league then hatched the idea to hold several All-Star events on one day, closed to the public apart from 1,500 invitation-only guests, and staged in Atlanta so Turner Sports could broadcast it all in its backyard.Silver said in a news conference on Saturday that “economic interests” were a factor in going ahead with a scaled-down version of All-Star festivities, but he also said that tremendous global fan interest had motivated the league just as much. League officials have said that a specific projection for revenue generated Sunday could not be immediately pinpointed, but various industry estimates have forecast Turner to make more than $20 million in advertising and sponsorship revenue through Sunday’s broadcast.The league, having worked closely on the plans with Roberts and Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul, the president of the players’ union, also dedicated its All-Star festivities to promoting awareness of historically Black colleges and universities, pledging to donate at least $3 million to those institutions as well as communities of color affected by the pandemic.“It’s my job to look out for the overall interest of the league,” Silver said on Saturday. “As I said earlier, I haven’t made it a secret out of the fact that economic interests are a factor. I’ll add, though, when I say ‘economic interests are a factor,’ it’s less to do with the economics of one Sunday night on TNT in the United States. It has more to do with the larger brand value of the N.B.A.“We feel we’ve struck the appropriate balance here, looking out for the interests of everyone involved,” Silver said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      James Harden Is Headed Back to Houston. Too Bad He’s Not Staying.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storymarc stein on basketballJames Harden Is Headed Back to Houston. Too Bad He’s Not Staying.Harden is in a groove with the Nets as they head to face his former Rockets team, which is struggling.James Harden returns to Houston reinvigorated and chatty about defense, while his former team is in the midst of a losing streak.Credit…Daniel Dunn/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMarch 3, 2021Updated 7:13 a.m. ETThe Nets haven’t achieved anything substantial yet. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the newcomer in their star trio, James Harden, haven’t even played 200 minutes together yet.As flammable as the new Nets have looked at their best, in such an inviting Eastern Conference, what we’ve seen so far does not assure the three alphas and their rookie coach, Steve Nash, of meaningful future success.One notable exception: Harden’s return to Houston on Wednesday, 50 days after his last game there, is certain to be triumphant.Entering his first visit to Toyota Center since the weekslong mutiny he staged to persuade the Rockets to trade him, with his former team in the throes of a relentless losing streak, Harden appears reinvigorated, almost reborn, in the wake of the divorce. That was evident on Monday night in San Antonio, where Harden racked up 30 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists — without a turnover — in an overtime victory against the Spurs.“He can literally do almost everything there is to do out there,” Nash said.Harden has been on his best behavior as a Net, embracing a much more watchable share-the-ball approach with a vigor some skeptics thought he no longer had at age 31. The result: Harden’s reputation has rebounded dramatically, with a swiftness and flair few predicted when the Rockets shipped him to Brooklyn in mid-January.I say “few” because there were some, as confirmed when I went back and reread my post-trade analysis. I quoted a Western Conference executive who felt that Harden-bashers in the news media, including the guy who curates this newsletter, had gotten so lost in Harden’s various acts of sabotage that we had turned him into the league’s most underrated player.The executive’s point, if somewhat theatrical, resonates pretty strongly now. As natural, and fair, as it was to fixate on the desultory manner in which Harden essentially quit on the Rockets, it was too readily forgotten that he remains an offensive force almost without peer. With these Nets, everyone, including Irving, saw it immediately: Harden had to have the ball.Kyrie Irving and James Harden have blended their games in the way that quickly became the clear solution: by giving the ball to Harden.Credit…Al Bello/Getty ImagesThe notion that he was some sort of luxury addition greeted Harden when he joined the two incumbent scoring machines at Barclays Center. The Nets then assembled an eight-game winning streak last month, with Durant — his spectacular comeback from a torn right Achilles’ tendon suddenly interrupted by a pesky hamstring strain — playing in only one of those games. Irving is on pace to shoot above 50 percent from the floor (.514) for the first time, and he routinely dazzles with his shotmaking, but by mid-February he was openly referring to Harden, rather than himself, as the Nets’ point guard.It’s why Harden is now more commonly described as a durable, dependable necessity who, in the Nets’ dream scenario, just might make them so dynamic offensively that they don’t have to sweat their shortcomings in depth and on defense. He has seven triple-doubles in 22 games and, on the way to Houston on Tuesday, he was named Eastern Conference player of the month.Rockets fans, of course, won’t need the up-close reminder of Wednesday’s game against the Nets to slam home the reality that The Beard is no longer theirs. They feel it every night.Everything this franchise did revolved around Harden for eight seasons. Without him? While Harden was shredding the Spurs, Houston was absorbing its 12th consecutive defeat, squandering a chance to bring a halt to the skid against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are now 14-21.Still reeling from the news that the city’s beloved football star J.J. Watt had just signed with the Arizona Cardinals, Houston has too many problems these days to know where to look first. The injury-hit Rockets have gone winless since Feb. 4, when their best player this season, Christian Wood, was sidelined by a sprained right ankle. Five of those 12 defeats came by at least 20 points — including a 49-point humiliation at home against Memphis on Sunday.The Rockets are caught between a need to lose for optimum draft position, as they begin a period of heavy reliance on the draft, and the emotional toll of getting reacquainted with losing for the first time in years. This franchise last endured a sub-.500 season in 2005-06, only to get a head start on this season’s theme through a steady stream of high-profile departures that began last September. First it was Coach Mike D’Antoni, then General Manager Daryl Morey, then Russell Westbrook and ultimately Harden.There will probably be more, too, with the March 25 trade deadline looming. The Rockets are weighing whether to shop Victor Oladipo, the former All-Star guard who arrived from Indiana in the four-team Harden blockbuster. The bruising forward P.J. Tucker, one of the few remaining holdovers from a run with Harden that delivered two trips to the Western Conference finals, three scoring titles and one Most Valuable Player Award — but no championships — is eagerly awaiting his own exit in the coming days and a new start with a contender. John Wall replaced Westbrook but watched his close friend and fellow former All-Star, DeMarcus Cousins, negotiate his release last month, so Cousins, too, could search for a job with a playoff-bound team.The Nets’ three big stars haven’t spent much time all together on the court, but individually, and in pairs, they have turned the team into one of the league’s greatest offenses.Credit…Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesTeardowns are never pretty, but this one has even more layers than usual because it wasn’t the only option. The Rockets, remember, could have traded Harden to the 76ers for Ben Simmons, but rumblings persist that Tilman Fertitta, Houston’s owner, pushed for the Nets’ deal built heavily on draft compensation in part because he could not bear to send Harden to Philadelphia, where Morey landed after their frosty parting. Amid the Nets’ surge to No. 1 in the N.B.A. in offensive efficiency (117.9 points per 100 possessions) and the Knicks’ unforeseen rise to No. 4 in the cushier Eastern Conference, I hope you haven’t missed last month’s other major development in the East: Simmons has responded to the sting of bracing himself for a trade to Texas with the best two-way basketball of his life.Last week, Simmons smothered Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks in a way that pretty much nobody else has managed. Simmons hounded Doncic for five of the Dallas star’s seven turnovers in a nationally televised game on TNT. That followed impressive clampings of Portland’s Damian Lillard and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell.“I like taking those challenges,” Simmons said. “Just tell me who to guard.”Ever since I watched Simmons make his case for the Defensive Player of the Year Award so forcefully against Doncic, with his offense also picking up, I’ve been thinking about the Rockets a lot. I was part of the December and January chorus touting Simmons as the ideal return in a Harden deal for Houston’s new front office, led by General Manager Rafael Stone. Now Simmons looks even more like the young franchise cornerstone that Houston had convinced so many rival teams it was holding out for in a Harden deal.For all the inevitable curiosity about what sort of reaction Harden will get from an expected crowd of roughly 4,000 Houstonians, only one question really matters for the Rockets: Did they make the right trade? They can rightfully say it’s too early for final judgments, but the answer, thanks to both Harden and Simmons, is not trending in their direction.The Scoop @TheSteinLineCorner ThreeSome fans wanted Kyle Lowry to play for and coach the Toronto Raptors, but it wasn’t to be.Credit…Todd Kirkland/Associated PressYou 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.(Responses may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Q: Fun read on Luka Doncic and Larry Bird. But I do have one quibble. You wrote:Another key contrast: Doncic didn’t land with a franchise as close to title contention as Bird and, in Year 3, finds himself in his most challenging stretch since he reached the N.B.A.There is a problem with that statement. Bird joined the Celtics in 1979-80 and immediately led them to a 61-win season after the team went 29-53. They won 32 games the season before that. I’m a lifelong Knicks fan, but I have also long recognized that Bird made his team dramatically better right away and for the duration of his time there. — Bill Dailey (Rye, N.Y.)Stein: You are not the only one, Bill, voicing opposition to this sentence. I worded it without the requisite clarity and, as you suggested, definitely shortchanged Bird for the staggering improvement he inspired in his rookie season in Boston. But I’m going to push back on the idea that Bird alone put Boston back in the title mix, because the Celtics did have some things going for them in 1979-80 that you wouldn’t normally associate with a franchise coming off a 29-win season:Dave Cowens and Tiny Archibald were future Hall of Famers and still quality starters, albeit late in their careers, when Bird showed up. Cowens and Archibald clearly could no longer lead a good team at that point, but Bird accentuated (and benefited from) their veteran know-how.Cedric Maxwell, who inspired last week’s Doncic/Bird piece, was in his third N.B.A. season in 1979-80. The next year, Maxwell won the finals’ most valuable player honors. Dirk Nowitzki was in his 21st N.B.A. season when Doncic was a rookie; none of Doncic’s other teammates has looked like a future Hall of Famer or finals M.V.P.The Celtics had enough draft picks stashed, before Bird played a game, to swing the league-altering trade with Golden State in June 1980 that brought Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to Boston. Before that trade, remember, Red Auerbach also won a power struggle with the Celtics’ owner John Y. Brown that kept Auerbach — perhaps the most successful team-builder in the sport’s history — from leaving Boston to take over the Knicks. Brown sold his stake in the team to go into politics, and Auerbach stayed to make the moves that flanked Bird with McHale and Parish.When you take all that into account, I’d argue that the Celtics were indeed much closer to title contention than the two seasons pre-Bird would have suggested — and certainly closer than Doncic’s Mavericks. Don’t forget that only three of the East’s 11 teams in Bird’s first season had winning records. Philadelphia was a perennial power, but Milwaukee’s ascension, which made the East much more competitive, came later.Q: Tree Rollins was a player/coach for Orlando in 1995. — @theregoeshappy from TwitterStein: This tweet came in response to the history lesson we reviewed on Friday about player/coaches in the N.B.A.Despite the Rollins reference, players’ doubling as head coaches, even on an interim basis, was indeed deemed impermissible by the league office starting in the 1984-85 season after the N.B.A. implemented its first salary cap. The league wanted to ensure that teams could not circumvent the limits and provide extra compensation to players, since coaches’ salaries are not governed by the salary cap.Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, in other words, was not eligible to be the Raptors’ interim player/coach when Nick Nurse could not coach because of virus-related health concerns — no matter how badly N.B.A. Twitter was rooting for that to happen.Some of the game’s greatest players served as player-head coach before the salary cap era, including Bill Russell, Lenny Wilkens, Dave DeBusschere, Bob Pettit and Bob Cousy. The last player who doubled as player and head coach in the N.B.A. was Boston’s Dave Cowens in the 1978-79 season.Rollins functioned as a player-assistant coach for his last two seasons as an active player in Orlando, 1993-94 and 1994-95, but he appeared on the Magic’s payroll as a player in both cases and, again, would not have been allowed to serve as the head coach if asked.Q: The Bucks at roughly the same point last year were 27-4 and had 15 double-digit wins. And the discussion was whether Khris Middleton would make the All-Star team as the Bucks’ second-best player. There was not even a discussion about Eric Bledsoe, who had similar numbers to Utah’s Mike Conley. I don’t think that Milwaukee team warranted a third All-Star, and I don’t think Conley should make it, either. I just don’t understand the double standard. — @JoohnSn from TwitterStein: This reader is questioning why I publicly lobbied for Utah to have three All-Stars this season. I can’t speak for every All-Star voter. I can only share the principles I use when I make my (unofficial) All-Star picks, which are similar to the principles I and many other voters apply in M.V.P. voting. In short: Every season is a story unto itself. The circumstances are never the same, especially on the All-Star front, so what may have applied one year doesn’t automatically apply later.When choosing All-Star reserves, just like when trying rank five candidates on an M.V.P. ballot, many voters are trying to pinpoint who has assembled the strongest “best season” cases to that point of the schedule. I don’t think All-Star voters should be getting bogged down by the granular details about previous years when they make their selections. The number of worthy All-Star contenders in each conference fluctuates season to season, which is partly how Atlanta got four All-Star reserves in 2014-15.I said Utah should have three All-Stars this season because the Jazz have been a runaway force in numerous statistical categories. Whether Milwaukee had three worthy All-Star candidates last season, or if you found it fair or unfair that the Hawks landed their four All-Star reserves six years ago, those seasons are largely immaterial to this discussion.I made the case, in print and on Twitter, that Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Conley should claim three of the West’s seven All-Star reserve spots this season because of both Utah’s first-half excellence and the outstanding individual production all three have given the Jazz. I likewise did that lobbying, as stated from the outset, as one last pre-emptive hat tip, because I was expecting Conley to be snubbed and for Utah to get only two All-Stars.There was no double standard at play, just one man’s opinion and voting approach. Western Conference coaches, who picked the reserves, clearly joined you in disagreeing with me.Numbers GameLloyd Pierce was fired as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. He was one of seven Black N.B.A. coaches.Credit…Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesStats entering Tuesday night’s games..402Tuesday marked one full year on the job for Leon Rose as the Knicks’ team president. The Knicks are 18-17, better than many pundits predicted, but the history stacked against Rose is foreboding: This is the 20th season of James L. Dolan’s ownership, during which the Knicks are 661-982 — resulting in the league’s lowest winning percentage in that span, at .402.3The three best regular-season winning percentages during Dolan’s reign belong to the three Texas teams: San Antonio’s .688 (1,131-512), Dallas’s .599 (988-662) and Houston’s .576 (949-698).19.8When the Knicks selected Obi Toppin with the No. 8 pick in November’s draft, Toppin was billed as Julius Randle’s potential successor in the frontcourt. Instead Randle, who has a very friendly team option for next season at $19.8 million, will play Sunday in his first All-Star Game. Without warning, Randle has emerged as the offensive fulcrum for Coach Tom Thibodeau, who is the closest thing to a marquee signing the Knicks made in the off-season.5The former Knicks team president Dave Checketts will join Burnley’s board of directors in June and make it the fifth club in the 20-team English Premier League club with an N.B.A. connection at ownership level. Arsenal is owned by Stan Kroenke, whose son, Josh, is the Denver Nuggets’ governor and team president and also serves on Arsenal’s board. Aston Villa is co-owned by Wes Edens, one of the primary owners of the Milwaukee Bucks. Crystal Palace is owned by the Philadelphia 76ers’ duo of Josh Harris and David Blitzer. And the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James has been a minority owner of Liverpool since 2011.16The diversity of the N.B.A.’s big-picture landscape remained largely unchanged after coaching moves in Minnesota and Atlanta over the past nine days. Of the league’s top 60 positions, only 16 are held by nonwhite coaches and heads of front offices.With a player pool estimated at more than 75 percent Black, the league has just seven Black head coaches. Nate McMillan has replaced the ousted Lloyd Pierce in Atlanta as the Hawks’ interim coach and joined Cleveland’s J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit’s Dwane Casey, Houston’s Stephen Silas, Philadelphia’s Doc Rivers, Phoenix’s Monty Williams and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Tyronn Lue.Charlotte’s James Borrego, who is Mexican-American, and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, who is Filipino-American, are the league’s other two coaches of color.The six Black executives with lead decision-making authority in the front office are Cleveland’s Koby Altman, Detroit’s Troy Weaver, Houston’s Rafael Stone, Phoenix’s James Jones, San Antonio’s Brian Wright and Toronto’s Masai Ujiri. Minnesota’s Gersson Rosas was the first Latino in league history to run a team’s basketball operations.Rosas hired Chris Finch, who is white and had worked with him in Houston, to replace Ryan Saunders as head coach of the Timberwolves on Feb. 22. Rosas has faced considerable criticism for hiring Finch, an assistant coach from the Toronto Raptors, in the middle of the season rather than promoting David Vanterpool, who is Black, from within, or commissioning a wider search. In the front office, Rosas has hired two Indian-Americans, Sachin Gupta and Robby Sikka, and Joe Branch, a Black former player agent.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