NBA Rumors: Latest Buzz Surrounding Brook Lopez, Dave Joerger and More
Nearly two weeks into the NBA regular season, the league has had its fair share of disappointing players and teams.
The Brooklyn Nets weren't supposed to be good, but they've been downright terrible, with a league-worst 0-7 record. The Memphis Grizzlies haven't looked like a playoff team in the majority of their games. And the Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose has not played well at all for a hopeful title contender.
Let's discuss some buzz surrounding the Nets' star center, Memphis' head coach and the declining Rose.
The Nets are about as down on their luck as you can possibly imagine right now. Sitting at 0-7, the Nets are a bad team, have very little young talent and don't even have the hope of a high draft pick, since the Boston Celtics own Brooklyn's first-round selection in next June's draft.
The last thing Brooklyn needed was a serious injury to star center Brook Lopez, who is averaging 20.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Thankfully, Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski says the 27-year-old's right foot issues Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks were nothing serious.
Lopez has already had three surgeries on that same foot, so the aggravation to it was concerning.
Although the Nets will likely only win 20 to 25 games this season, Lopez being out for the season (or at least a significant portion of it) would've left the Nets as the obvious front-runner for the worst record in the NBA.
It'll still be tough giving away that pick to Boston, but at least the Nets have a slightly better on-court product to watch with Lopez suiting up.
Dave Joerger
The Houston Rockets held the unofficial title of "most disappointing team" early on with their 0-3 start, and the injury-plagued New Orleans Pelicans also had a claim to it, but the Grizzlies have since wrested away that title.
A playoff squad for the past five seasons, Memphis has started the season 3-4, including a 119-69 beatdown at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. The Grizzlies rank fourth-last in the NBA with a point differential of minus-10.9 points per game.
According to ESPN's Marc Stein on Friday, the coaching seat could be getting a bit toasty for Joerger, Memphis' head man on the sidelines. Stein says the organization is not pleased with the team's lack of competitiveness in many of its games:
"Yet it’s the manner of the three defeats, sources say, that has led to fears within the organization that owner Robert Pera won’t wait long to make a drastic change. The Grizzlies lost their home opener to the Cavs by 30, got blitzed soon thereafter by Cleveland’s conquerors in the NBA Finals by an unfathomable 50, then fell behind by 26 points in the Pacific Northwest before settling for a 19-point defeat to the Blazers.
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Joerger has not gotten the best play from any of his three stars (Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Zach Randolph), and that's probably all four of their faults.
However, a lot of the blame for the team's poor play has to fall on the team's front office as a whole. Memphis has simply refused to adjust to the league's emphasis on three-point shooting and faster play. Instead of signing deadeye shooters and explosive athletes, the team has, time and time again, opted to go with defensive-oriented players who don't space the floor nearly as well as Memphis needs them to.
Joerger's job security will definitely be something to keep an eye on if the Grizzlies keep struggling.
Derrick Rose
It's been a sad, slow decline for Rose from his 2010-11 MVP season to now. Numerous injuries have taken away some of his previously jaw-dropping athleticism, and he's failed to improve his jump shot and overall skill set to compensate for his losses in explosiveness.
Now, there have been some rumblings that the Bulls are ready to move on from Rose as their point guard.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst went on ESPN Radio's Russillo and Kanell to discuss the situation, saying the following, per NBC Sports' Dan Feldman:
"The Derrick Rose breakup with the Bulls has begun. I don’t know how long it’s going to last. I don’t know if it’s going to be complete. But you can sort of see it. The team and the franchise have moved on to a little bit of a certain extent.
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As you can see, there's nothing concrete here. However, it makes total sense if Chicago is indeed starting to look ahead to a future without the 27-year-old point guard.
Rose has had the worst season of his career so far, averaging 13.7 points, 5.6 assists and 3.0 turnovers on a 36.0/7.7/81.8 shooting slash. He's had one vintage game of 29 points, five rebounds and seven assists in a win against Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder last Thursday, but those performances have become fewer and farther between in the past couple of years.
For a team like Chicago looking to contend for an NBA championship, it will be difficult to continue justifying playing an inefficient, turnover-prone point guard big minutes.
