The 2015 NBA season is right around the corner and while the NFL and MLB have kept basketball news out of the spotlight, that will certainly change as camps continue and teams prepare for the regular season. There was plenty to talk about this week including another surprise from Los Angeles and the news that New Orleans will be very careful with their point guar set to return from injury. Here is a look at the most important NBA news and notes from this past week.
Jefferson Drops 20 Pounds
Charlotte Hornets big man Al Jefferson was limited to just 65 games last season because of injuries but he has worked hard this offseason to get his body back in shape. He wants to make sure that he is in the best possible position to contribute for a full 82 games in 2015-16.
Jefferson actually dropped 20 pounds and while he attributed the weight loss to cutting out fried chicken from his diet, the reality is that he has done a lot of work to get in the best possible shape. Jefferson will turn 31 years old in January and expectations are is that he should bounce back a little bit after averaging 16.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks last season. He averaged 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.9 steals in his first season in Charlotte.
Randle Not A Lock To Start
The Lakers added a decent amount of talent in the offseason with Lou Wiliams, Brandon Bass and Roy Hibbert arriving via free agency, along with rookie first-round pick D’Angelo Russell. Los Angeles is also going to get a boost from the healthy returns of Kobe Bryant, Nick Young and Julius Randle, although the latest news out of Los Angeles is that the second-year player Randle might not start from the outset.
The Lakers currently have Bass listed ahead of Randle at the power forward position and that’s somewhat of a surprise considering the high expectations for the 2014 first-round pick. However, remember that he missed all of last year with a leg injury and it’s possible the coaching staff just want him to earn it. At the very least, you’ll have to monitor the playing minutes here as Bass could offer some value in daily fantasy as the starter while Randle might be a bit of the opposite if fantasy players over-invest assuming that he’ll get the lion’s share of the minutes which he’s apparently yet to earn.
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Holiday Might Not Play Big Minutes
The Pelicans are taking a cautious approach with their star point guard as they want to limit the minutes point guard Jrue Holiday. He was banged up last season and they want to avoid any possibility of a recurring injury in his lower right leg.
Head coach Alvin Gentry has said that he will put a minute restriction on Holiday this season and that he won’t play in back-to-back games at least for the start of the year. Holiday missed 42 games last year because of a stress reaction injury in his leg and after missing 90 games over the last two seasons, it only makes sense that New Orleans wouldn’t want to push it. While he’s been a regular in the training room in New Orleans, he really wasn’t that way in his first four years in Philadelphia when he averaged 74.5 games played per season.
Jennings Won’t Play Until He’s 100 Percent
Another point guard that won’t play until he’s 100% is Brandon Jennings of the Detroit Pistons, who has been cleared for basketball activities as he continues to recover from an Achilles injury. Jennings averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 13 January games for Detroit last season before succumbing to the season-ending injury. His play coincided with the team’s best stretch of the season as they had won 10 of 12 from December 26th to January 17th. After he went down, the team faded. Even though they now have Reggie Jackson, the Pistons clearly don’t want to risk losing a star point guard for an extended period again this season, so they’ll keep him sidelined until he’s ready.
