A variety of news items to unpack today as we work through the August doldrums of the NBA:
Marcus Smart stays sidelined as Team USA gets back to work
Team USA Basketball was back at it on Tuesday afternoon at the Lakers practice facility ahead of an exhibition matchup with Team Spain on Friday night. Marcus Smart was not one of the players on the floor as he remains sidelined with a sore left calf that has lingered since last week.
“I don’t know for sure when,” Smart told reporters. “It’s just a matter of getting it right.”
Danny Ainge was reportedly on site in Los Angeles to watch the training session, as Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue to get reps with the squad before final cuts are made. Currently, there are just 15 players competing for 12 spots on the final roster after Marvin Bagley (withdrawn) and Kyle Lowry (thumb injury) pulled out of camp over the weekend. That puts Smart in a pretty good position to make the final roster still if he can get back healthy in time for the World Cup to begin next month. Jaylen Brown may also be a bubble roster candidate after his tough scrimmage on Friday but he still has time to earn his spot. Here's a current look at the team's depth chart.
PG: Walker, Fox, White
SG: Mitchell, Smart, Harris
SF: Middleton, Brown, Barnes,
PF: Tatum, Kuzma, Tucker
C: Turner, Lopez, Plumlee
Brown is likely going to have to beat out Barnes or Harris for one of the final wing roster spots. Smart seems like a likely bet to make the team over White if he gets back on the court in the next week or so.
USA will face off with Team Spain at 10 p.m. on Friday night (NBATV).
Terry Rozier talks last season, free agency
The former Celtics point guard was put under the microscope by Jonathan Abrams of Bleacher Report in his latest feature with plenty of nuggets of interest for C's fans mixed in. A few key takeaways.
- Rozier was offered a one-year deal by the Knicks and a multi-year deal by the Suns before the Hornets topped both offers. In what should come as no surprise, both the former offers came well before the official start of free agency since Rozier agreed to the Hornets deal just 12 minutes into free agency.
- Rozier on the Hornets big offer: "I'd be a fool if I was to go anywhere else or turn down that," Rozier told Abrams. "I look at it as just a team, organization believing in me. Knowing that I want to prove myself in this league and giving me that chance is bigger than anything and (their willingness) to pay me a right amount of money, it was just big and the guy that was behind all that was Michael Jordan. It's still surreal to me."
- Rozier on what went wrong last season: "Not liking how me being positioned and me being used as a person, player and I just feel like things could have been done better, could've been handled better on Boston's end and on my end. I feel like things could've been a lot better, and it wasn't."
- The Hornets point guard said he's still tight with Kyrie Irving despite last year's turmoil: "A lot of people don't know how great of a person he is. A lot of people think I hate Kyrie. And a lot of people think that me and Kyrie not cool, but we text, and I text him right before free agency. I sent him the eyes, and he sent the eyes right back, basically like you know what it's going to be."
- Isaiah Thomas still clearly holds a soft spot in Rozier's spot after what he went through during his two years in Boston for being traded: "You got to own your own space in this league because he did a lot for us," Rozier said. "He was a true warrior, a true Celtic. Six-hour surgeries on his tooth, sister died, playing the next day, scoring 53 points. Leaving his heart out there, crying on the court and all. Anything you can think of, him getting shots in his hip right before the game, taking away the pain."