Welcome to the weekly NBA stock report where we go around the league and examine whose stock is rising and whose is falling.
In this week’s edition, off-court drama takes centre stage and there’s both some good and very concerning news for the Toronto Raptors.
Stock Rising
Norman Powell: Raptors rookies have disappointed for the most part in the last two seasons. From Bruno Caboclo being the project to end all projects, DeAndre Daniels not even in the D-League until recently and Delon Wright being buried on the depth chart with no apparent path he can take to change his situation, first-year Raptors have had a rough go. That is with the exception of one player.
Maybe it’s because of his all-out defensive attitude, his NBA-ready body, his athleticism or just a combination of all of that, but last year’s second-rounder Powell has clearly impressed Dwane Casey and the team’s coaching staff and he’s getting rewarded with a longer leash and more playing time. It’s paying dividends, too, as he’s looked very strong recently, averaging 14 points per game on 46.5 per cent shooting over his last four games in addition to being trusted to try to slow down stalwart wings like James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyle Korver.
The kid’s got a real future in this league.
Tobias Harris: When the Detroit Pistons first traded for Harris just before the deadline, they were lauded for adding a much-needed scoring punch and athleticism on the wing. Through 21 games with his new team, that’s exactly what the fifth-year man has given them.
Ever since leaving the Orlando Magic, Harris has been averaging 16.4 points per game on 47.4 per cent shooting, an increase over the 13.7 points and 46.4 per cent figures he was putting up in 49 games with the Magic. The comfort level Harris has found in Detroit has helped the Pistons’ fortunes as well, as they’re 13-8 since he joined, a better record than the .500 ball they were playing beforehand.
Rodney Hood: One of the main concerns of the Utah Jazz all season long has been tertiary scoring. Outside of Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors, Utah doesn’t have much in the way of offensive killers. Enter Hood, who turned it on late last season and appears to be doing so again right in time for the Jazz’s desperate playoff chase. In his last three games he’s averaging 21.7 points per game, including a 30-point effort that saw him drill eight triples against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Stock Falling
Kyle Lowry: Is it happening again? In each of the last two seasons, Lowry’s performance has dropped off mainly due to either trying to play through an injury or fatigue.
Well, the all-star point guard just had his elbow drained and he appears to be deciding to play through it instead of resting. That certainly sounds like he’s playing through pain, and he’s shooting a dreadful 23 per cent in his last four games. This could be potentially be chalked up to the toll that a career-high 37.3 minutes per game can do on the body through the 72 games he’s played.
I’m not saying, but I’m saying.
D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young: Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days you know what the story is. Long story short: Lakers rookie Russell attempted to prank teammate Young by taking a video that shows Young talking about cheating on his fiancée Iggy Azalea. The video leaked out somehow and Russell was promptly frozen out by his teammates, forcing him to answer embarrassing questions about the incident and publicly apologize.
Three things here to talk about. The first being it’s totally understandable why Russell’s teammates would freeze him as a locker room is all about trust, and last time I checked, taking a secret video – no matter if it was for a prank or not – isn’t the most trustworthy thing to do.
Secondly: What the hell is Young doing cheating with a 19-year-old girl he met at a club when he’s 30 and engaged. Be better, homie.
Lastly, this entire situation is reminiscent of the time Kobe Bryant told investigators after being arrested for sexual assault that Shaquille O’Neal paid women he was allegedly having affairs with hush money to keep his extramarital flings secret.
Lakers drama is the best.
Kyrie Irving: Want more off-court NBA player relationship drama? Of course you do. In this case, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Irving may have been at the heart of everything, but nothing was really his fault.
The story goes like this: On Monday, OVO artist, and Mississauga, Ont., native, PartyNextDoor posted an Instagram photo of him and his ex-girlfriend Kehlani, a Bay area-based singer, holding hands while in bed. From that photo it was assumed that Kehlani was cheating on Irving as the two started seeing each other in January, a supposition that had gasoline poured onto the flames by the Instagram photo Kehlani posted on Monday night when she explained that she tried to take her life. Reading the text in the post, however, the singer explains that she didn’t cheat on Irving, a claim substantiated by Irving himself who took to Twitter to clarify that he and Kehlani had already broken up before PartyNextDoor’s photo was taken.
All those social posts have since been deleted (In Kehlani’s case she closed her Instagram account), but basically Irving was caught in the middle of some bizarre and sad celebrity drama, and because of it his name will be associated with all of this instead of his sick handle for the next little while.
