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NBA Canada series: Andrew Wiggins blooms in the Bay with Warriors — Toronto Sun

Canada set an NBA record for most non-American players on opening-day rosters this season. There were 16 in all, as well as four more on two-way contracts, meaning they could split time between the NBA and its development league, the G League. Two more Canadians got called up during the year. In the coming weeks…
NBA Canada series: Andrew Wiggins blooms in the Bay with Warriors — Toronto Sun

Canada set an NBA record for most non-American players on opening-day rosters this season. There were 16 in all, as well as four more on two-way contracts, meaning they could split time between the NBA and its development league, the G League. Two more Canadians got called up during the year. In the coming weeks we’ll continue to take a look at how the brightest lights of this golden generation of Canuck hoopers fared in 2019-20.

Next up, new Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, of Vaughan, ON.

RECAPPING THE SEASON

Season 6 was definitely the oddest one for the former NBA rookie of the year and No. 1 overall draft choice. Yes, even stranger than being drafted and playing summer league ball for Cleveland, who didn’t have LeBron James, then being moved shortly after James decided to return home.

Andrew Wiggins got off to a fantastic start for the Minnesota Timberwolves, looking like a potential all-star in November, when he averaged 27.1 points, 4.1 assists and 1.4 blocks per game in 11 appearances on 48% shooting, including 39.5% work from three-point distance. The most scrutinized Canadian prospect ever had gone through ups and downs for years, but finally appeared to have broken through. But his production slipped from there, the Timberwolves again were one of the league’s worst teams (an injury to star big man Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t help) and, under new management, the Wolves decided to make a big move. D’Angelo Russell, a close friend of Towns, was brought in from Golden State, with Wiggins and some draft considerations going the other way.

All of a sudden, all of the pressure and expectations Wiggins had dealt with for his entire career evaporated. As head coach Steve Kerr has said, Wiggins was looked at as a saviour in Minnesota after being the key return for Kevin Love and then being given a massive contract. Now, he just needed to fit in and play his role.

Yes, the formerly great Warriors were a mess, with the NBA’s worst record, but they are a great organization with a culture of winning and will be in the mix next year when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are back to 100%. Wiggins only ended up getting one game in alongside Curry (a loss to Toronto), but told us during that visit that he was loving life in the Bay Area and with the Warriors. It showed on the court, where Wiggins started to score a bit less (19.4 points per game in 12 appearances), but expanded his overall game, doing a little bit of everything. Like early in the season in Minnesota, Wiggins defended (1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals), rebounded (4.6 per game) and moved the ball well (3.6 assists, though his turnovers were a bit high). He got to the free throw line more often than ever before and his advanced metrics were nearly uniformly career highs.

He looked happy and he looked comfortable.

Wiggins has teased before. He is more athletic than nearly any other NBA player and can score in bunches, but has always fallen back to earth and been inconsistent. This year was the most encouraging of his career on those fronts and something he can build on moving forward.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

Speaking of which, life should be pretty great for Wiggins whenever 2020-21 kicks off. He’ll average about $31.5 million U.S. on the final three years of his contract, but, besides that, he’ll be playing with two of the five best shooters in the history of the NBA, along with Draymond Green and potentially the first pick of the 2020 draft. The game should be easy for him and he’ll get to show off his new-found and still improving play-making skills. “When we’re whole, we’re going to have a lot of shooting out there, we’re going to have the floor spaced and he’s going to be tough to handle,” Kerr said when the Raptors were in town. “It bodes well for next year when he’s playing with two of the best shooters on earth,” Kerr said on The Full 48 podcast recently.

A Wiggins has only made the playoffs once, but the Warriors should be a shoo-in, if healthy for a long time to come. And Kerr’s particularly enthused about what Wiggins can do on defence. He believes Wiggins, 6-foot-7, with long arms and that renowned athleticism, can at least slow down superstars like Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James better than most other players if they meet in the playoffs.

The Warriors have a huge fanbase, so Wiggins will become more of a household name in more than just Canada. Will he play for the national team again sometime? Head coach Nick Nurse thinks so and so does Canada Basketball’s braintrust. Time will tell on that front.

THE BEST OF WIGGINS

The top outings of Andrew Wiggins’s 2019-20 season:

Date Opponent Summary

1/27 Sacramento 36 pts, 9 reb, 8 assists in fourth-last game with Wolves.

11/8 Golden State 40 pts, 5 reb, 7 assists against future teammates.

02/12 Phoenix 27 pts, 5 assists, 4 blks in impressive early Warriors game.

11/11 Detroit 33 pts, 6 reb, 5 assists on 60% shooting.

11/13 San Antonio 30 pts, 8 reb, 7 assists, 4 three-pointers.

12/13 L.A. Clippers 34 pts on 60% shooting against Kawhi Leonard’s team.

01/18 Toronto 18 pts, 11 assists, 10 reb for first career triple-double.

03/05 Toronto 21 pts, 10 2 blocks in lone game with Stephen Curry.

03/03 Denver 22 pts, 5 reb, 10 assists in a win over an elite team.

02/08 L.A. Lakers 24 pts, 5 stl, 3 three-pointers.0

California Governor Disputes Trump’s Timeline Of Sports With Fans — NESN.com

United States President Donald Trump held a conference call with commissioners of the 13 major U.S. sports leagues Saturday, saying he believes the 2020 NFL season should start on time. He’s also hopeful spectators will be allowed back in stadiums and arenas in August and September, but who’s to say if that’s an accurate timeline,…
California Governor Disputes Trump’s Timeline Of Sports With Fans — NESN.com

United States President Donald Trump held a conference call with commissioners of the 13 major U.S. sports leagues Saturday, saying he believes the 2020 NFL season should start on time. He’s also hopeful spectators will be allowed back in stadiums and arenas in August and September, but who’s to say if that’s an accurate timeline, as we’re all at the mercy of the coronavirus outbreak. For California’s governor, that feels like a long-shot.

“I’m not anticipating that happens in this state,” Governor Gavin Newsom said on MSNBC. “We’ve all seen the headlines over the last couple days in Asia where they were opening up certain businesses. Now they’re starting to roll back those openings because they’re starting to see some spread. There’s a boomerang.”

Newsom’s biggest concern is setting a concrete date prematurely amid an unprecedented period of uncertainty. That’s why, when people in the sports world have reached out to him with questions, he’s urged them to be careful and not jump the gun.

“One has to be very cautious here, one has to be careful not to overpromise,” Newsom said. “It’s interesting, I have a lot of friends that work in Major League Baseball and in the NFL. They’ve been asking me, in fact, a well known athlete just asked me, a football player, if he expects to come back. I said, ‘I would move very cautiously in that expectation.’ Look, I’m not here to second guess anybody, but I am here to say this. Our decision on that basis, at least here in the state of California, will be determined by the facts, will be determined by the health experts, will be determined by the capacity to meet this moment, bend the curve and have the appropriate community surveillance and testing to confidently determine whether or not that’s appropriate. And right now, I’m just focusing on the immediate, but that’s not something I anticipate happening in the next few months.”

The first coronavirus case in the state of California was reported on Jan. 25 with 12,573 cases reported and 282 deaths, according to the New York Times.

NBA, along with Knicks, Nets, contribute 1 million surgical masks to New York —

The NBA, along with the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, are donating 1 million surgical masks, necessary PPE as medical workers fight coronavirus.
NBA, along with Knicks, Nets, contribute 1 million surgical masks to New York —

New York has been one of the epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. As of Saturday, New York City had accounted for more than 1,900 deaths, according to the latest tracking data from Johns Hopkins University.

With hospitals overwhelmed, medical workers are running low on the personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to keep themselves protected from the virus. That’s what makes the latest gesture from the NBA and the two local teams, the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, all the more important.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the league, in collaboration with the Knicks, Nets and China’s Consul General Huang Ping, is contributing one million surgical masks for the state’s essential workers.

“New York thanks you,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter. “We are beyond grateful for this gift of critically needed PPE.”Andrew Cuomo✔@NYGovCuomo

NEW: The @NBA is contributing 1 million desperately needed surgical masks for New York’s essential workers in collaboration with @nyknicks, @BrooklynNets and China’s Consul General Huang Ping.

New York thanks you.

We are beyond grateful for this gift of critically needed PPE.19.7K 3:08 PM – Apr 4, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 3,370 people are talking about this

New York reported 630 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, the deadliest day thus far. Earlier Saturday, Cuomo announced the donation of 1,000 ventilators from the Chinese government.

The New England Patriots sent their team plane to China this week to pick up 1.2 million masks, with an additional 500,000 on the way. Owner Robert Kraft sent 300,000 of those masks to New York.

Paul Pierce Shares Why Ex-Celtics Teammate Kevin Garnett Is Hall Of Famer — NESN.com

Not many saw Kevin Garnett’s work ethic and intensity up close and personal like former Boston Celtics teammate Paul Pierce did. So, on the same day Garnett was named among the Basketball Hall of Fame honorees, Pierce told ESPN’s Rece Davis on SportsCenter what made his former teammate, and friend, so special on the court.…
Paul Pierce Shares Why Ex-Celtics Teammate Kevin Garnett Is Hall Of Famer — NESN.com

Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett Headline 2020 Basketball Hall Of Fame Class — NESN.com

The 2020 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class might be one of the best ever. Headlined by former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, fellow honorees include ex-Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Tamika Catchings, Patrick Baumann, Barbara Stevens, Kim Mulkey, Eddie Sutton and Rudy Tomjanovich. The Basketball Hall of Fame officially released the…
Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett Headline 2020 Basketball Hall Of Fame Class — NESN.com

Justin Verlander to donate paychecks to charity during coronavirus pandemic — HardballTalk | NBC Sports

Verlander and Kate Upton announced that they’ll be donating each of Verlander’s paychecks to different charities.
Justin Verlander to donate paychecks to charity during coronavirus pandemic — HardballTalk | NBC Sports

NBA focused on figuring out plan for possible cancelled season, report says —

The NBA is preparing for the possibility of a canceled season
NBA focused on figuring out plan for possible canceled season, report says —

When the NBA suspended its season in the middle of March, it initially did so with a 30-day timetable. The hope, at that point, was that the coronavirus could be contained enough for games to resume in the middle of April and for the postseason to take place under relatively normal circumstances, even if fans wouldn’t be allowed into arenas.

But now, as the outbreak continues to worsen in the United States, the league needs to consider other arrangements. In fact, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the league is preparing at the moment as if the season will be canceled.

“The talks between the players union and the league this week, I’ve talked to both sides of this issue, and it is clear that the NBA is angling to set up a deal that enables them to shut the season down,” Windhorst said. “Now they don’t have to do that yet, and the way they’re negotiating they’re leaving themselves an option either way, but they’re not having talks about how to restart the league, they’re having financial talks about what would happen if the season shuts down, and I think there is a significant amount of pessimism right now.”

Among the problems currently preventing a renewed season are limited testing capabilities, the issues that quarantining players in a single location would create and the integrity of next season.

“There comes a point where you go too far and start looking at damaging two seasons, and that is what the NBA is trying to evaluate. They do have runway here, I do think that if they had to go into August or September to finish this season, but I’m not sure they feel confident about that right now, and a big factor is testing. We just don’t have the testing. At some point not only does there have to be a test that’s quick and can evaluate whether or not a player is healthy enough to enter a game, but you have to know whether you have the tests available so you’re not taking them away from people who need them, and so right now, that’s not here. If in six or eight weeks, if it is here, we can have a different conversation, but the league is preparing for that answer to be no.”

It is far too early to say anything definitively at the moment. For now, the league and union are attempting to negotiate a pay-reduction that splits the burden of lost revenue fairly between the league and its players. For the rest of this season and next season to be viable, the two sides will have to agree to an altered financial structure that recognizes the severity of this situation.

Logistically speaking, holding the postseason as late as August or September would force next season to be pushed back to compensate. Christmas has been mentioned in various reports as a potential start date for the 2020-21 season, but doing so would force the NBA to either compress the schedule in order to fit enough games into a campaign with an eye on moving the schedule back to its original state by 2021-22, or permanently move the schedule back so that it always begins in December and ends in the late summer, as has been discussed by the league even before this crisis.

The league has billions of dollars on the line. If at all possible, it will attempt to save that money by putting some sort of postseason on the court. But with that growing less and less likely by the day, it makes sense for the NBA to at least begin considering what a world without a 2020 champion might look like.

NBA focused on figuring out plan for possible canceled season, report says

These Stats Show How Impressive Reported NBA HOF Draft Class Is — NESN.com

Some seriously impressive career stats are to be enshrined in Springfield this summer. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Friday that Kevin Garnett, the late Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan are to be inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Formal announcements will be made on Saturday, but it was alcready announced that Bryant…
These Stats Show How Impressive Reported NBA HOF Draft Class Is — NESN.com

Nurse hopes special Raptors get to ‘keep this thing going’ but thinking safety first — Toronto Sun

On a conference call with the daily beat media, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse made it clear that while he’d love to resume his duties sometime soon, there are far bigger things on his mind. Read More
Nurse hopes special Raptors get to ‘keep this thing going’ but thinking safety first — Toronto Sun

On a conference call with the daily beat media, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse made it clear that while he’d love to resume his duties sometime soon, there are far bigger things on his mind.

Nurse’s priority, for weeks now and continuing for as long as the COVID-19 pandemic goes on, is encouraging his players, staff and fans to focus on safety and best practices during all of this.

“I’ve been really adamant on our safety and health, and doing the right thing,” Nurse said. “I was trying to make those messages clear that we needed to make sure … You know, people were concerned about working out and going to the OVO (training facility in downtown Toronto) and all this stuff, and I was really, really strong in my messaging to everybody that we’re gonna close this and stay shut,” he said.

“(The focus was) lead by example. Let’s make sure we get out and if we can provide any messages, washing hands and those kind of things.”

more….

Nurse hopes special Raptors get to ‘keep this thing going’ but thinking safety first — Toronto Sun

Leafs’ Rielly hopes comeback wasn’t for just one game — Toronto Sun

VIRTUE AND RIELLY ‘TRYING TO KEEP EACH OTHER SANE’ Read More
Leafs’ Rielly hopes comeback wasn’t for just one game — Toronto Sun

It took eight weeks of hard slogging in the gym and on the ice before Morgan Rielly finally made it back from a broken foot — to play just one game.

Now it could be much longer down time than that before putting on his Maple Leafs sweater again.

But holed up in his North Vancouver house, Rielly does not consider the recovery period or the unplanned hiatus that’s followed as wasted energy.

“Yes, it was terribly long trying to heal, to keep yourself in shape,” he said Thursday on a conference call with Toronto media. “Eight weeks goes by and to come back and play one (game) is certainly not ideal. When you’re training at the gym and trying to get back to play, you’re picturing 12, 13 games and playoffs, not taking a pause again.

“But in that same breath, if I hadn’t came back and still hadn’t played since Jan. 12, I think it would’ve made things worse.

“You have to take the positives. I came back, played and we won (2-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, just before COVID-19 put the NHL on hold). Look at the big picture, you have to be happy you got one game in. I’d be going crazy if I hadn’t played since early January.”

The 26-year-old defenceman, the rest of the players and team management have slowly de-escalated, respecting that what’s going on around them is far more serious than sports, yet totally out of their element at home this time of year.

more….

Leafs’ Rielly hopes comeback wasn’t for just one game — Toronto Sun

Happy birthday to Raptors’ Pascal Siakam, here’s to better times for all of us — Toronto Sun

You can bet Pascal Siakam didn’t spend his 26th birthday the way he wanted to or has in the past. Siakam, a noted gym rat who likes nothing better than working on his game, would, in normal times, have been getting a few shots up at the Raptors practice facility on the bridge day between…
Happy birthday to Raptors’ Pascal Siakam, here’s to better times for all of us — Toronto Sun

ou can bet Pascal Siakam didn’t spend his 26th birthday the way he wanted to or has in the past. Siakam, a noted gym rat who likes nothing better than working on his game, would, in normal times, have been getting a few shots up at the Raptors practice facility on the bridge day between games against NBA-leading Milwaukee, Toronto’s opponent in last year’s Eastern Conference final.

Instead, he was cooped inside like the rest of us. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entire world and also put a pause on Siakam’s second straight breakout season. The league’s reigning most improved player took several more steps forward in 2019-20, emerging as Toronto’s top scoring option, as well as an ultra-elite defender.

The good news for Raptors fans is that there is no reason to think he is done improving and he’ll do it in Canada. Siakam signed a long-term, max-deal before the season, which should keep him in Toronto for at least four more years.

“(He’s) somebody we’re definitely going to keep for a long time here,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri had said before the deal was even signed. “And we see what the potential of that could be.” In a recent Instagram Live chat, DeMar DeRozan said Siakam had “the blueprint” to become the greatest Raptor ever in time.

more….

Happy birthday to Raptors’ Pascal Siakam, here’s to better times for all of us — Toronto Sun

Celtics’ Kemba Walker Down To Get Wild With Revamped NBA Playoff Format — NESN.com

It sounds like Kemba Walker just wants to play. It’s unclear when the NBA season will resume, but several team and league officials told SI.com that any chance of a traditional postseason is out, suggesting this year’s path to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy could get weird. NBC Sports Boston recently floated the idea of…
Celtics’ Kemba Walker Down To Get Wild With Revamped NBA Playoff Format — NESN.com

t sounds like Kemba Walker just wants to play. It’s unclear when the NBA season will resume, but several team and league officials told SI.com that any chance of a traditional postseason is out, suggesting this year’s path to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy could get weird.

NBC Sports Boston recently floated the idea of a single-elimination playoff format — a la the NCAA Tournament — to Walker, and the Celtics point guard acknowledged he’s open to such a change.

“I guess I wouldn’t mind it,” Walker said. “I love to hoop. At this point it doesn’t really matter because of the way things went and suddenly the season just got postponed.”

The NBA suspended its season indefinitely on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Several other players since have tested positive, including Celtics guard Marcus Smart, and a dark cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over the entire sports landscape as the world fights the coronavirus pandemic.

But sports will return at some point, and the hope is the NBA will be able to salvage its 2019-20 campaign, even if that requires radical changes to the usual postseason format. If nothing else, a one-and-done tourney sure would be entertaining, and Walker already knows a thing or two about thriving under such conditions, having won a national championship with UConn in 2011.

“It would be fun,” Walker told NBC Sports Boston. “It would be different.”

The Celtics (43-21) currently sit in third place in the Eastern Conference, trailing just the Milwaukee Bucks (53-12) and Toronto Raptors (46-18). All three teams have clinched playoff spots. Walker, an All-Star in his first season with the Celtics, also told NBC Sports Boston he’s “doing well” with his lingering knee issue during the current sports pause. More Celtics: How C’s Staff Prepares For NBA