Tag: AJ Griffin

Report: Bulls have shown trade interest in 20-year-old wing

According to a recent report, the Chicago Bulls have shown an interest in a potential trade for Atlanta Hawks wing AJ Griffin.

As the NBA trade deadline rapidly approaches, lots of eyes will be glued to the Chicago Bulls, who have long been considered one of the top sellers. Despite their recent success, having pulled themselves up into the Play-In Tournament race, they could still be looking to shake things up and move away from their current core.

Zach LaVine’s name has consistently popped up in rumors, DeMar DeRozan is in the final year of his contract, and Alex Caruso is a 3-and-D guard that lots of contenders would love to get their hands on. The Bulls have shown a relative unwillingness to completely rebuild, but taking on more young pieces could be worthwhile.

According to Matt Moore of Action Network, the Bulls are one of a handful of teams to have expressed a potential interest in a trade for Atlanta Hawks wing AJ Griffin.

“In other Atlanta news, the Bulls, Rockets and Knicks have expressed interest in AJ Griffin, who has fallen out of the rotation under Quin Snyder this season,” Moore wrote when detailing Atlanta’s potential trade deadline plans.

The Hawks have struggled mightily this season, as the Bulls’ recent surge has led to them being completely out of the Play-In race at the moment. In turn, they’re expected to make some sort of significant move at the deadline.

Griffin has struggled this season after a successful rookie campaign. So far this year, he’s averaging 2.5 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.3 assists while shooting just 30.8% from the floor and 31.0% from behind the three-point line.

That said, at just 20 years old, he’s shown the ability to act as a solid 3-and-D player, so it may be worth it for the Bulls to take a chance on him if the opportunity presents itself in the right trade.

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Report: Rockets have shown trade interest in Atlanta’s AJ Griffin

The Rockets are among three teams to have expressed trade interest in Atlanta’s AJ Griffin, per veteran NBA scribe Matt Moore (@HPBasketball).

As the NBA’s 2023-24 in-season trade deadline approaches in early February, backup center has long been a rumored position of interest for the Houston Rockets. But could general manager Rafael Stone potentially have interest in adding more 3-point shooting?

According to veteran NBA scribe Matt Moore, who is now with The Action Network, second-year Atlanta Hawks forward AJ Griffin appears to be of at least some interest to the Rockets.

In his latest column, which explores the possibility of bigger transactions for the underachieving Hawks, Moore writes:

The Bulls, Rockets and Knicks have expressed interest in AJ Griffin, who has fallen out of the rotation under Quin Snyder this season.

Griffin, drafted No. 16 overall in the 2022 first round (one spot in front of Houston’s Tari Eason), averaged 8.9 points in 19.5 minutes as a rookie, shooting 46.5% overall and 39% on 3-pointers. He’s a versatile 6-foot-6 forward who turned 20 years old last offseason.

But the second-year player out of Duke has largely fallen out of Atlanta’s rotation in his sophomore 2023-24 season. He is averaging 2.5 points in 9.0 minutes per game and just 13 games played.

Houston owns three second-round picks in the 2024 NBA draft, but the Rockets are unlikely to have roster room for that many players next season. Thus, a consolidation trade for a player like Griffin, who needs a change of scenery, could make sense.

For now, stay tuned! The 2023-24 in-season trade deadline arrives in just under one month on Thursday, Feb. 8.

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Adrian Griffin had such a wholesome reaction to watching his son in Rising Stars game

Griffin was among the 11 first-year players in the Rising Stars game on Friday, and the rookie had plenty of fans in attendance.

Atlanta Hawks forward AJ Griffin was among the 11 first-year players to participate in the NBA Rising Stars game on Friday, and the rookie had plenty of fans in attendance to watch him.

Among them: His father.

Adrian Griffin is an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors. He played in the NBA for nine years and even suited up in the first Rising Stars game during the 1999-00 season as a member of the Boston Celtics.

AJ played for Team Deron on Friday and recorded three points, one rebound and one steal in a loss to the eventual champions, Team Pau. The opportunity to watch AJ in the showcase was very meaningful for Adrian.

AJ talks to his father every day, despite the two being on different teams. Adrian watches AJ play as much as he can, and will often send him film to watch. He will also offer him feedback on his performances to help AJ develop on the court.

He earned the selection after averaging 9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and one assist in 55 games on 47.7% shooting from the field. He is second among all rookies in 3-point percentage (39.4) and fourth in total 3s (82) at this point of the season.

AJ and Adrian became the second father-son duo to appear in the Rising Stars game, joining Domantas Sabonis and Arvydas Sabonis. AJ called it an honor to compete in the event at All-Star Weekend.

“It is a dream come true,” AJ said on Friday “I’m reaching these accomplishments early on in my career, I think it just shows how the blueprint and the hard work (I’ve) been putting in and continue to stay the course.”

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NBA Rising Stars 2023: Full rosters revealed in draft announcement

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the four seven-player teams for the 2023 NBA Rising Stars game.

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the four seven-player teams for the 2023 NBA Rising Stars competition set to take place on Feb. 17 as part of All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The showcase will feature four seven-player teams competing in a mini-tournament consisting of three games for the second straight year. Each game will be played to a final target score, meaning a game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of a running clock.

The pool of 28 players for the game consists of 11 first-year players, 10 second-year players and seven players from the G League. The rookies and sophomores were selected by assistant coaches, and the G League players were chosen by the league office.

The G League players will comprise one of the four teams.

The three teams from the NBA will be coached by Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Deron Williams. The three former players each selected seven players to their teams on Tuesday in an order determined by career All-Star appearances: Gasol (6), Williams (3) and Noah (2).

Here are the four rosters for the NBA Rising Stars competition.

NBA Rising Stars 2023: Player pool revealed for annual showcase

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the list of 28 players set to participate in the annual Rising Stars game on Feb. 17.

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the list of 28 players set to participate in the annual Rising Stars game on Feb. 17 as part of All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The showcase game will feature four seven-player teams competing in a mini-tournament consisting of three games for the second straight year. Each game will be played to a final target score, meaning a game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of a running clock.

The pool of 28 players for the game consists of 11 first-year players, 10 second-year players and seven players from the G League. The rookies and sophomores were selected by assistant coaches and the G League players were chosen by the league office.

The 21 NBA players were selected by assistant coaches across the league. Each team submitted a rookie ballot and sophomore ballot featuring four frontcourt players, four guards and two additional players of any position, in order of preference.

The three NBA teams will be coached by Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Deron Williams. Jazz assistant coach Jason Terry, who previously coached the Grand Rapids Gold, will lead the G League team. Assistants from the All-Star Game staffs will also coach in the event.

TNT will televise the competition beginning at 9 p.m. EST.

Rookie Power Rankings: Jaden Ivey is efficiently finding his way for Pistons

Rookie Wire took a look at the top first-year players over the last two weeks of the 2022-23 season.

The 2022-23 season is through the much-anticipated Christmas Day slate of games as the NBA schedule progresses toward the start of a new year.

The rookie class looks to be rounding into form with several first-year players performing at a high level. The latest group of standouts includes several high picks along with others drafted down the board emerging.

To make sense of it all, we looked at the best recent performances of these first-year players and ranked them in the latest edition of the Rookie Wire Power Rankings. The rankings are not for Rookie of the Year purposes but, rather, to illustrate the best players week to week.

Rookie Power Rankings: Paolo Banchero claims the top spot again

Rookie Wire took a look at the top first-year players over the last two weeks of the 2022-23 season.

After some bumps and bruises, the top of the current rookie class looks back on track and performing at a high level over the past two weeks.

Several high draft picks recently experienced some minor setbacks with injury or on-court struggles, but appear to have gotten back on track and are impressing once again. Elsewhere, others selected later in the draft are also putting up strong performances.

To make sense of it all, we took a look at the best recent performances of these first-year players and ranked them in the latest edition of the Rookie Wire Power Rankings. The rankings are not for Rookie of the Year purposes but, rather, to illustrate the best players week to week.

10 candidates to win the inaugural Jerry West Trophy for the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year Award

There are a lot of candidates from a team coached by Mr. Big Shot.

How do you define clutch when it comes to NBA basketball?

It’s a question that even NBA executives don’t know how to answer. But starting this year, voters around the league will have to come up with some measurements to define this word because the league announced that at the end of the season, they will begin handing out the Jerry West Trophy for the NBA Clutch Player of the Year.

Even if the idea of what it means to be a clutch basketball player feels immeasurable, someone is going to hoist the trophy at the end of this NBA campaign. So we wanted to look at who the top candidates are based on how the season has played out thus far.

For this story, we used resources from Inpredictable as well as PBPStats and NBA.com. You can learn more about Inprecictable’s Clutch Win Probability Added (clWPA) or how PBPStats defines high-leverage possessions.

AJ Griffin: First rookie with multiple game-winning shots since 1993-94

Griffin became the first Hawks player over the last 25 seasons to drain multiple game-winning shots in the same season.

AJ Griffin on Sunday produced 17 points, including the game-winning shot to beat the buzzer and lift the Atlanta Hawks to a win in overtime over the Chicago Bulls at State Farm Arena.

The final sequence unfolded when DeMar DeRozan hit three free throws with 0.5 seconds left to put the Bulls up by one point. The Hawks immediately called a timeout to set up a final play but called another one when they didn’t get the right defensive look they wanted from the Bulls.

With Jalen Johnson as the inbound passer, the second-year forward found a cutting Griffin into the paint. Griffin then caught the ball, turned in mid-air and flung the ball toward the basket to sink the shot and send the Hawks to the 123-122 win.

It was his second game-winning buzzer-beater this season.

“It is starting to happen consistently, I guess you can say,” Griffin said. “The second time, the same thing was going through my head. I’m shocked at just how fast it happens. I think Coach drew up a great play and, JJ, that was a great pass. I called I’m QB1 right after that.”

Griffin drained his first career game-winner on Nov. 19 versus Toronto.

The Hawks executed a perfect play in the final seconds of overtime of that contest to set up Griffin with the game-winning layup. Trae Young maneuvered past four Raptors players and then floated the ball up to Griffin and the rookie tossed the ball in off the glass to beat the horn.

He became the first rookie to have multiple game-winning buzzer-beaters in the same season since Toni Kukoc during the 1993-94 season. He is also the first Hawks player over the last 25 seasons to accomplish that feat.

“He has confidence in himself,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “He works hard. When he has a rhythm as he did tonight, you want to try to get that ball in his hands because he can shoot the ball and make plays, and tonight he did. That play was the biggest of the game tonight.”

The 16th pick often credits the coaching staff and his teammates for having the confidence in him to put him in those situations. He has performed well in stretches this season, and is emerging as a key player for the team in either the starting lineup or off the bench.

Griffin is averaging 10 points, two rebounds, 1.1 steals and one assist on 33% shooting from 3-point range in 23 games. He ranks seventh in scoring among all first-year players and is fourth in 3-pointers and seventh in field goals made.

He is the second-youngest player in the NBA this year at 19 years, 109 days, and is emerging as a key rotation player in the early going. He is flourishing on the court through the first quarter of the season and looks poised to have a strong rookie campaign.

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The courtside camera angle of Hawks rookie AJ Griffin’s buzzer-beater is jaw-dropping

AJ Griffin has quickly become the most clutch rookie in the NBA.

Atlanta Hawks rookie AJ Griffin is just having one of those seasons where you can already tell he was picked far too late in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Griffin, who only just turned 19 years old in August, is the second-youngest player in the league currently in an NBA rotation. He was selected at No. 16 overall by the Hawks during the offseason, but even though it is still early in his professional career, he looks more than ready to contribute.

After yet another appearance in the starting lineup, he proved as much yet again on Sunday with a jaw-dropping game-winner against the Bulls.

Here is how the possession, which was a backdoor layup with 0.5 seconds left on the clock, looked in real-time:

This is the second game-winner of the season for Griffin, who was making his sixth appearance in the starting lineup for the Hawks.

His buzzer-beater against the Raptors (where his father, Adrian Griffin Sr., is an assistant coach) was excellent, too. But there was just something magical about last night’s shot against Chicago.

You can tell as much with this view from the court that captured the wild, acrobatic nature of this improbable alley-oop.

If that view didn’t get you jumping up from out of your seat, though, here is every other view that was captured on camera:

Griffin currently leads all rookies in clutch win probability added (clWPA), per Inpredictable. He ranks No. 13 overall among all players in the NBA in this metric.

Atlanta is outscoring opponents by 4.7 points per 100 possessions during clutch minutes when Griffin is on the court, via NBA.com, which is the highest of anyone on the team who has played at least 20 such minutes.

If the season ended today, based on what we have seen so far, Griffin would merit serious consideration for First-Team All-Rookie honors.

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