Tag: Jalen McDaniels

Daryl Morey explains bringing in Jalen McDaniels, trading Matisse Thybulle

Daryl Morey explains why the Philadelphia 76ers traded Matisse Thybulle and acquired Jalen McDaniels on deadline day.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers made one move on Thursday when they sent Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers in a four-team deal that included the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks.

The Sixers acquired Jalen McDaniels and a 2024 second-round pick via the Knicks from the Hornets, and they acquired a 2029 second-round pick from the Blazers. That selection from Portland will be the most favorable among the Hawks’, Nets’ and Hornets’ second-round picks.

McDaniels, who is playing his fourth season, has been in the play-in tournament twice, but Charlotte lost both times. Given his lack of postseason experience, there are questions about how much he can help Philadelphia in the postseason.

“We looked at all options for the team and we really think Jalen’s sort of a hidden gem,” said team president Daryl Morey. “Sometimes when teams struggle that much, there are players in there that really need an opportunity to show what they can do on a better team. We feel Jalen’s a player like that. Obviously, we’ll see how he plays down the stretch going into the playoffs.”

McDaniels is averaging 10.6 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 32.2% from deep in the 2022-23 season for Charlotte. That 3-point percentage is a bit worse than Thybulle’s 33.3% shooting from deep, but McDaniels shot 38% in the 2021-22 season when LaMelo Ball was healthy for the Hornets.

“We spent a lot of time on that,” Morey added. “Obviously, shooting is you could argue half the game. Something around that. We spent a lot of time on which players will, in a different environment, shoot better. We feel comfortable. I think he’s had a little bit of a down year.”

Morey is feeling confident McDaniels will shoot better when playing next to a guy like James Harden.

“I don’t really stress about low-30s, high-30s, stuff like that,” Morey continued. “We look at this mix of shots, how open they are, how well they do if an average player got that same mix of shots and Jalen looks like, especially given his defensive prowess, he’ll be a solid shooter in this league.”

McDaniels does come with baggage. While in high school, he dealt with sexual misconduct lawsuits, but all of that is behind him. Morey is comfortable bringing him to Philadelphia.

“We do thorough research both on the floor and off,” Morey stated. “So we’re aware of that, and we felt comfortable making the trade.”

As for Thybulle, he heads off to Portland to continue his career. Morey explained why they moved the fourth-year player out of Washington.

“Some of it was just we think Jalen can really help and some of it was just the challenges of what’s to come, which is the wars in the playoffs,” Morey finished. “We think Jalen will be someone who can be easier for Doc (Rivers) to keep on the floor in tough times in the playoffs.”

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Get to know new Sixers addition Jalen McDaniels after deadline deal

Here are some facts and some stats on new Philadelphia 76ers forward Jalen McDaniels after the deadline deal on Thursday.

The Philadelphia 76ers only made one deal before the 3 p.m. EST trade deadline on Thursday when they acquired Jalen McDaniels from the Charlotte Hornets in a 3-team deal that sent Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Sixers also acquired a 2024 second-round pick via the New York Knicks and a 2029 second-round pick via the Trail Blazers. The deal gets the Sixers below the luxury tax line so they did what they set out to do in terms of shedding salary.

McDaniels is in his fourth season after being the 52nd overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft by the Hornets. He has career averages of 7.9 points and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 34.2% from deep.

Read on to learn more of what the Sixers are getting with McDaniels:

NBA Twitter reacts to Sixers acquiring Jalen McDaniels from Hornets

NBA Twitter reacts to the Philadelphia 76ers acquiring Jalen McDaniels from the Charlotte Hornets in a 3-team deal.

The Philadelphia 76ers sent Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers in a four-team deal that included the Charlotte Hornets before the 3 p.m. trade deadline on Thursday.

The Sixers received Jalen McDaniels from the Hornets in the deal. The fourth-year forward out of San Diego State is averaging 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 44.7% from the floor and 32.2% from deep on 3.6 attempts per game.

Thybulle was named to the All-Defensive second team twice during his time with the Sixers, so Philadelphia will miss his defensive presence despite his lack of offense. McDaniels is a very good defender in his own right, but he isn’t on the same level as Thybulle. He is a better offensive player, though, so the Sixers will be focused on that.

NBA Twitter, fans and analysts alike, gave its best reactions to the deal for the Sixers:

Sixers sending Matisse Thybulle to Blazers in 3-team deal with Hornets

The Philadelphia 76ers are sending Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers in a deal that includes the Charlotte Hornets.

The NBA trade deadline is here and teams now have mere hours to make their final moves. The Philadelphia 76ers have been a team that has been known to want to shed some salary as well as make some improvements to the bench unit.

Matisse Thybulle has been a name that popped up along the way, and now, he will officially be on the move. He will be sent to the Portland Trail Blazers in a 3-team deal that includes the Charlotte Hornets.

The Sixers will receive Jalen McDaniels from Charlotte in the deal. The four-year man out of San Diego State is averaging 10.6 points and shooting 32.2% from deep on the season.

Thybulle made his impact on the defensive end with the Sixers as he was named to the All-Defensive 2nd Team twice and he averaged 1.5 steals with the Sixers. As he now heads to the Blazers, he will look to help Damian Lillard and provide that same defensive edge for them.

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Assessing low-cost big and wing trade targets for the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are reportedly on the hunt for some frontcourt depth help on the trade market ahead of the 2023 NBA trade deadline.

The Boston Celtics are reportedly on the hunt for some frontcourt depth help on the trade market ahead of the 2023 NBA trade deadline, and there is no shortage of analysts ready with proposals of who the Celtics should consider going after to such an end.

Boston is reportedly looking for low-cost help as a stipulation, with the team ill-disposed to moving most heavy-minutes players in their rotation. With the best record in the NBA at present, that certainly seems a prudent path, but it can also be said that this team’s depth still needs a bit of an upgrade if the Celtics want to give themselves a real shot at an NBA title. The Athletic’s Jared Weiss and Jay King put together a trade deadline primer in particular with some interesting targets proposed by the duo that could be what Boston might be after.

Let’s dive into the various options they mention we haven’t addressed much elsewhere and their potential fit with the Celtics squad.

Re-ranking the 23 best NBA players under 23 years old, with a new star emerging at No. 1

None of these guys have even had their Jordan Year yet??

The next generation of NBA stars is incredibly promising, and many of them are still young enough to be undergraduate students in college.

Now that the NBA’s 2022-23 season is more than halfway done, we’ve decided to re-rank the 23 best players who are under 23 years old. But why 23? Well, it is not just because that was the number worn by Michael Jordan.

Typically, NBA publications rank 25 players under 25 years old. You can read versions of that here, here, and here. I wanted to try a similar thought experiment, but U25 was too much of a challenge because it is such a wide population.

By the time NBA players are 25 years old, many have already graduated to their second contract and are in vastly different chapters of their careers than the league’s young players. It is harder to compare players like Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum, who will each earn more than $30 million next season, to players on rookie scale contracts.

This story was originally published before the season began, and you can see each player’s previous ranking below their name.

For this exercise, all players included must be born after Feb. 1, 2000. We chose that date because the listed age on Basketball Reference is how old a player is on Jan. 31 of each season.

Additionally, the following rankings are based on performance so far this season, and it is not predictive of their future success or their potential in the league.

NOTE: That means players like Darius Garland (who was born on Jan. 26, 2000) and Cade Cunningham or Chet Holmgren (who are injured for the season) were excluded. 

All the players who could wear a No. 6 jersey in 2022-23 after the NBA’s plans to retire it to honor Bill Russell

The league recently announced plans to retire Russell’s No. 6 jersey across the league to honor the Celtics great, but some players are excepted.

The NBA and Boston Celtics plan to honor Hall of Fame big man Bill Russell for his unparalleled career in the league and his dedication to fighting for civil rights and social justice by retiring his No. 6 jersey league-wide.

The move — unprecedented in league history — honors the singular life Russell lived on and off the court. Russell was the NBA’s ultimate winner with a record 13 titles to his name as a player or player-coach. He also  achieved or was a part of many milestones, including being a part of the first all-Black starting five and the first Black head coach in league history. Through it all, he used his platform to fight for others in a time when that put his career at great risk.

The players in the league wearing No. 6 jerseys in 2021-22 will be allowed to continue to do so until they either switch to a new number or retire from the game. Let’s take a look at the players who could wear that jersey number next season.

Hornets season preview: Is LaMelo Ball ready to become an All-Star?

The Charlotte Hornets are a team that can potentially exceed expectations, especially if LaMelo Ball is able to further improve his game.

The Charlotte Hornets are a team that can potentially exceed expectations, especially if LaMelo Ball is able to further improve his game.

Ball is one of the most exciting young players in basketball and the sky is the limit when it comes to his career. But there are still some questions about if that will translate to winning for the Hornets. For example, will he have enough talent around him to make a splash in the postseason?

Below, check out our preview for the 2021-22 Hornets campaign.

Hornets showcase depth in second preseason duel against Raptors

The Charlotte Hornets showcased their growing depth in Monday’s 112-109 preseason loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Much has been made about the Charlotte Hornets adding LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward, with fair reasoning. Number three picks and marquee free agents command the attention in any proverbial room.

But while those two raise the ceiling of the Hornets, they also pull the floor up with them, particularly with this iteration of the Hornets. Charlotte returns its top eight players in minutes played from last season, so adding Ball and Hayward not only added talent but created depth.

That depth was on display on Monday as six players scored in double figures for the Hornets in their 112-109 loss to the Raptors. Two of those players – Ball and Jalen McDalies – came off the bench and 10 players played at least 15 minutes. That figure also doesn’t include Malik Monk, who made his debut after testing positive for COVID-19 entering training camp.

“It’s a good problem for a coach,” head coach James Borrego said. “These guys have been working on their game, we’ve added depth to our lineup. It’s going to be very competitive, you’ve got to earn minutes out there so it puts me in a position to- it complicates it for me. But that’s a good problem to have as a coach.”  

There may be no bigger sign of the team’s depth than Miles Bridges, who has put together strong preseason. In the first game, Bridges tallied 12 points, six rebounds and three assists. Game two saw him finish with just two points, those coming on a spectacular alley-oop from Ball, while still grabbing six boards and handing out a trio of assists.

“He’s been special,” Borrego said of Bridges. “I’m really proud of his approach to the season, he’s locked in defensively, he’s making plays for others, he’s making quick decisions, he’s getting to the rim, he’s kicking it out and playing with great energy. He’s not dictated by making shots and making plays for himself, his play is really dictated out of making plays for his teammates and doing what he needs to stay on the floor defensively.

“I’m proud of his approach I think this is the best I’ve seen Miles mentally, physically, and he understands his role on this team… so I’m extremely proud of him.”

Adding to their depth has been the development of other young players from last year’s roster, namely Jalen McDaniels. Despite playing just 16 games last season, McDaniels has figured into the Hornets’ plans this preseason and showed why on Monday, scoring 15 points and connecting on all three of his long-range attempts.

“I like Jalen [McDaniels] putting pressure on me to play him and a number of other guys,” Borrego said. “But Jalen is a great example of hard work and his commitment to development. I love his size and versatility, he had an excellent game tonight and that’s not just tonight he’s had a very good camp. He’s a versatile wing and four for us as well. He can play in both forward positions so I hope he continues to put pressure on me to play him.”

The depth has created competition for the Hornets, especially after strong preseason from their new additions. Ball scored his first points on Tuesday, tallying 12 in total after grabbing 10 rebounds in his debut. Hayward has tallied 25 points in the two games combined.

The competition has only bonded the group, though, as they navigate through a busy and brief preseason. In just under two weeks, the Hornets have held training camp and two games with two more yet to come.

“They’re a feisty group, a competitive group,” Borrego said. “They’re absorbing quite a bit right now and we’ve thrown a lot at them conceptually at both ends of the floor and they’ve been able to handle it. I think the thing that stood out to me tonight is this is a high basketball-IQ team. Now we’ve got to be smarter at times obviously we’ve got to clean that up. Obviously, in two games, that’s been an issue for us.

“But in general this team has shown me a higher basketball-IQ than expected, a team that’s together and that wants to fight for each other.”

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Report: Washington’s Jaden McDaniels emerging as a likely Top-5 pick

Washington Huskies freshman Jaden McDaniels, the younger brother of Charlotte Hornets rookie Jalen McDaniels, is making his own NBA push.

Washington Huskies freshman Jaden McDaniels, the younger brother of Charlotte Hornets rookie Jalen McDaniels, is making his own NBA push.

The forward is ranked No. 7 overall on HoopsHype’s latest aggregate mock draft. He is currently considered a Top 10 pick by ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated and NBADraft.net.

Draft expert Sam Vecenie recently spent time with evaluators and league insiders at the G League Showcase and the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas. He reported that McDaniels has been one player who has improved his draft stock so far this season (via The Athletic):

“One player evaluators did note as having helped himself so far this season is Jaden McDaniels at Washington. Due to the general unrest throughout the lottery, I’d say McDaniels has settled in as the No. 5 guy right now — with a heavy emphasis on right now given how uncertain everything is across the board with this draft. Some evaluators are actually willing to throw him into the conversation with the aforementioned four players at the top, but there is also a group of evaluators who are lower on McDaniels than anyone  else in that top grouping. Thus, I feel most confident putting him at No. 5.”

The 6-foot-9 freshman has a 7-foot-1 wingspan and was a five-star recruit for the Huskies. The power forward was the highest-rated player at his position in his class as well as the top player coming out of the state of Washington.

Vecenie noted that scouts have been most impressed with his defensive skill set as a freshman. But on the offensive side of the ball, McDaniels is a tough-minded player currently averaging 14.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game for the Huskies.

His best game of the season came against Ball State during the CBS Sports Classic. He recorded 22 points while shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. The following game, his scoring was quieter but he pulled down 13 boards against Hawaii.

Overall, McDaniels has scored some flashes of greatness but needs to be more reliable and more consistent at the next level. However, in a draft relatively weak at the top, the potential may be enough to earn him Top-5 consideration.

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