Heat president Pat Riley provided a major hint on his free agency plans during his post-draft availability on Wednesday night, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, who tweets that Riley said he hopes to “run this thing back.”
The Heat can essentially go one of two directions this weekend. One direction is renouncing most of their own free agents and opening up cap room to pursue outside FAs. The other is remaining over the cap and making an effort to bring back several of their own free agents, starting with Jae Crowder and Goran Dragic. It sounds like Riley is prepared to take the latter path.
Here’s more on free agency:
- Although the Knicks waived Taj Gibson and turned down Bobby Portis‘ option, Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link) hears that the team still has some mutual interest with both players, who could return on more modest salaries. Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News suggests (via Twitter) that the Suns, Clippers, and Warriors are among the other clubs to watch for Gibson.
- Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas said today during an appearance on The Chad Hartman Show in Minnesota that drafting Anthony Edwards doesn’t mean the team doesn’t plan to re-sign Malik Beasley. “We hope that relationship (with Beasley) continues,” Rosas said (Twitter link via Dane Moore of News Talk 830 WCCO). Wolfson (via Twitter) thinks that the Wolves and Beasley could work out a two-year deal.
- Paul Millsap plans to weigh his options at the start of free agency and see what kind of market develops before making a decision, tweets Mike Singer of The Denver Post. No deal is imminent yet for Millsap, who is expected to receive interest from the Nuggets and Trail Blazers, among others.
- Suns GM James Jones said on Wednesday night that his front office will be looking for “Suns fits” in free agency, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes. “I feel really good about our ability to build on the rest of our roster,” Jones said.
Millsap would be a good pickup for the Warriors.