The Wizards have plenty of options at the forward spots and that makes it difficult to project what will happen with Davis Bertans, Fred Katz of The Athletic notes. Bertans had a disappointing season after being re-signed on a five-year, $80MM contract. If Bertans drains 3-pointers at a prolific rate, he’ll play regularly. But if he gets off to a slow start, Washington will have a difficult decision to make regarding the highly-paid stretch four.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Summertime acquisitions Delon Wright and Gorgui Dieng project to play on the Hawks’ second unit, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic says in his look at the team’s likely depth chart. De’Andre Hunter is tentatively penciled in as the starting small forward, though his meniscus surgery in June could alter that.
- LaMelo Ball took an unusual path to the NBA, leaving high school to play professionally in Lithuania and Australia before he was drafted. He has no regrets about that strategy, Scott Gleeson of USA Today relays from a GQ interview with the Hornets point guard. “You want go to the league, so school’s not your priority,” he said. “We not trippin’ off school. … We don’t need school.”
- The Heat have a reputation for developing unheralded and undrafted players, prompting Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald to take a closer look at their program.
I feel like….we should be trippin off school and we definitely need school, kind of an asinine thing to say when your the newest kids role model…I like melo and think he’s gonna be a star for years but that was kind of goofy to say
Have you seen the video of him where he doesn’t know that philly is a city in Pennsylvania? He definitely needs school.
Jared Goff went to Cal and didn’t know where in the sky the sun rose. I wish more athletes would find other areas to showcase their skills and not make a mockery of our universities. Ball has two jobs in life. Play basketball and watch over his money. He is set
At least teach him PR 101. Don’t say obviously dumb things to the media.
Clearly, he can’t even pass that class.
What was it Dennis Green said? They are who we thought they were?
Here are some names that were either “who?”, thought their career was dead, or literal street ballers before going through the Heat system in the last 20 years….. Rafer Alston, Damon Jones, Garrett Temple, Patrick Beverly, Shaun Livingston, Hassan Whiteside, James Ennis, Rodney McGruder, Chris Andersen, Derrick Jones Jr., Kendrick Nunn, Duncan Robinson, Dwayne Dedmon …. and coming soon.. Max Strus, Omer Yurtseven, Gabe Vincent and others…… at what point to people realize this is the best franchise in basketball?
The heat have a good development program but some of those names are off in that they “developed” them.
Garret temple came through the kings I believe.
Patrick Beverly was brought up by rockets after overseas.
Shaun Livingston was a first round pick of clips.
Andersen was noticed by the nuggets.
Dedmon found his groove with hawks a couple years ago.
to both of you… do some research… Livingston had a “career ending injury” with the Clippers… 2-3 years later he was playing for the Heat but spent most of his year with the heat developing in their system rather than spending time on the court. (the Heat also tried to do this for Jayson Williams, but he didn’t even make to camp, he was done) As for others… The heat, not the Rockets brought Beverley to the NBA from overseas… in fact he and Garrett Temple came to the heat together in 2010… they were cut a week before the 2010-11 season… Beverley went to the Rockets and Temple I believe to the Wizards after that… both credit the heat for who they are today. Birdman was nearly banned from the NBA while playing for the Nuggets and Hornets.. then became the NBA darling in a Heat uni. Dwayne Dedmon was ignored by 29 other teams last year before the Heat gave him a shot (same thing they did with Whiteside)… Please learn the difference between “where they started” and where they learned to be what they became.. which was the entire point I was making.
Literally had to create an account to correct your fallacious memory of Birdman. Dude was literally signed to a minimum by the NUGGETS, who developed him into a quality backup big behind Nene and KMart and a huge, HUGE, fan favorite in Denver. Like people in stands flapping their “wings” with him after blocked shots. Even people dressing up due to the unique way he did his hair. Dude participated (poorly) in a dunk contest. As a NUGGET, not Hornet or Heat. This might be why he still lives in CO, huh?
He realized he wasn’t going to start or get paid in Denver so signs in Charlotte and lets a drug problem get out of hand and has a weird extortion attempt, both of which blackballed him from the NBA until resolved and signed by Heat….as a formerly quality backup big who was a risk due to not playing for 2 years.
The Heat had not one thing to do with his development or discovery. His existence was “discovered” by a myopic fanbase that barely realizes other teams/players exist unless LeBron is around or their teams finally gets involved, but prior ignorance hardly gives a fanbase the right to claim fallacies. You may now go back to burying your head in your own little world.
That dunk contest was brutal too. It’s the literal reason they added the attempts rules
The idea that, if the list be true, it makes Miami the “best franchise” just makes you another homer. Do research yourself jeremyn.
Kind of a dubious list by MY research which is only going to go so far, like the players.
Beverley’s first NBA team was the Rockets, nothing to do with Miami.
He was the final cut in training camp, in favor of Eddie House before the first season with LeBron. They kept House for loyalty reasoning, and that cost them in the finals when nobody could guard JJ Barea or Jason Terry…leading to them drafting Norris Cole over Jimmy Butler
This isn’t even close to all the names…Bruce Bowen, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Tolliver, Jason Kapono, Khem Birch, Tyler Johnson, etc. Temple was also with them multiple times in summer league/training camp, not just the once. Actually, Beverley might have been twice as well, but I cant 100% remember that. That also doesnt include guys in the 90s who they either gave shots to or helped them with continuing their careers, as well as guys they’ve turned around during the 2000s, to this point, and helped get them paid
…just remembered, Mychal Mulder was also here, and was only let go b/c of Vincent, and they had Damion Lee in summer league before he tore his ACL…Joel Anthony, Willie Reed, Okaro White…Torrey Craig played for their D-league team…and none of us mentioned the most obvious one, Udonis Haslem
Not to mention the recent guys they turned around, like Wayne Ellington, James Johnson, Gerald Green, Dion Waiters, Solomon Hill, etc, plus as mentioned, all the guys like that before that, which would be a really long list
I was trying to stick to “heat culture” years.. which is post Randy Pfund … the Andy Elisburg guys. Forgot about Kapono and Tyler Johnson though.. good catches. (for context… Pfund was gone by 2008 but Elisburg’s scouting program took full hold in the early 00’s.. he’s been with the team since it began)
The current guy they use as their scouting director, Chet Kammerer is extremely good. He knows exactly what profiles as Heat DNA, and when he speaks, I always find myself totally agreeing with everything he says, and can see all of those things he is talking about. Usually, I like to learn about players myself first, and I always feel encouraged when I realize it lines up with things he says. That’s one way how I know when I’m on the right track with 1 of the Heat’s development guys
Man y’all, formerlyz & jeremyn are scraping the bottom of the barrel, right?
I mean a very long list, not even a star player or anyone that any fan in the world would pay a cent to watch playing, right?
I’m sorry. I forgot you only like counting stat, scorer types. Finding an NBA rotation player for nothing is a big deal, and a lot of those guys have had extremely lengthy careers. I also left off a handful of other names from recent times as well, but the point should have been able to get across… by the way, Bruce Bowen’s jersey was retired in San Antonio
@El Dong …… It’s obvious you completely missed the point – about developing useful, serviceable rotational players, not only superstars.
It’s finding and developing talent from those obscure 2nd round picks, undrafted guys or those which other teams had already discarded.
Teams like the HEAT, SPURS, NUGGETS, RAPTORS, etc. excel at player development.
Raptors – One fluke ring
Nuggets – Nothing
Heat – Super team rings
Spurs – I agree with you there but it’s been a looooong time since they reigned supreme. So I would expect a team that ‘excels at player development’ would have done so again by now.
The heat have been in contention all but 3-4 years of the last 25… how many other franchises can say this?
They are guys no one wanted, careers were dead, or went undrafted and lost….. the Heat gave them all careers… are you blind? I also think Duncan Robinson’s 90 mill… Kendrick Nunn possibly starting for the Lakers, Hassan Whiteside’s max contract, and Birdman being… Birdman would disagree with you
It’s a zero-sum game. Jobs are finite. One wins, the other loses. I don’t see how one method is better just by roster achievement. It does make for consistency over time as you say, to have scouts “beating the bushes” for talent. But that’s just one way of roster-filling.
In the end I don’t like Riley going back to the Knicks… he thinks dirty is trying harder… “Heat culture” is whatever gets Riley ahead… ethics are tossed aside and it takes more authority to keep a game a game. Fouling every shooter (Knicks days) makes the game choppy and over-involves the refs. He’s not a HC now, but has not changed. He is restless, but that should be his problem.
I do like seeing grown men playing, such as what his system produces, but I dislike intentionally fouling as a policy even more. Riley does talk freely in pressers so that is something.
Hardest working, best conditioned, most professional, most unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest, most prepared, most disliked team in the NBA. HEAT CULTURE
Bertans is trash. Softest dude in the league.
Sorry, but, rhetoric aside, NBA teams don’t really develop players. Never have, and, until the personnel rules change, never will. Players may develop on a team’s watch (kids between 12-18 generally grow bigger and stronger on their parents watch, but only a very stupid parent would claim credit for it, apart from genetics). Facilitate it, sure, but only as a function of the team culture and the coaching process. Certainly not as a separate undertaking.
Comically, the players cited are not even good examples of players developing on the Heat’s watch. Player development takes years. Most of the players mentioned are pretty much what they were when they first suited up for the Heat, plus inevitable development through experience.
Some teams (perhaps the Heat among them) are better than others at player evaluation (as to talent and fit). That’s the lifeblood of an NBA FO. Of course, even player evaluation doesn’t account for some of the guys listed, but at least its not some mindless talking point. It also ignores the fact that the Heat, due to a shortage of 1st round picks over the past decade, have had more need to take chances on higher risk players.
The league is trying to change, if only to prepare for the time when HS players are drafted again (they want to avoid the s-show that became). But they’ve yet to change the personnel system to incentivize teams to truly engage in player development.
If what you just wrote is true.. why didn’t Hassan Whiteside become a 20-20 guy in 2010 with the Kings? Why did Rafer Alston have to play And1 street ball for years before getting a real shot with the Heat? Why did Birdman go from banned player to superhero? How does a divison 3 guy get 90 mill? etc etc etc…. meanwhile teams like the Cavs, Kings, Clippers, Knicks, etc etc never seem to have stories like this… just free agents?
The problem with a Whiteside development story is that he was virtually same guy in his first season with Heat that he was subsequently. If anything, people feel he regressed over that period. Any player development (from the time he left the Kings) occurred overseas, not after joining the Heat.
Alston was a NYC kid, and a lifelong street baller, so what? He was also a star at Fresno State and played with 2 other NBA teams in the years prior to joining the Heat as a FA (and was only there 1 year). Did someone tell you they took him off the courts at Rucker Park and spent time making him an NBA player? If so, they lied.
Birdman wasn’t banned for being a bad player, or needing development. He was a finished NBA product (and relatively old) before going to the Heat.
The Div III guy spent 3 years at Michigan (after Div III and before coming to the NBA). Again, did someone tell you he came right off a Div III campus and the Heat made him an NBA player?
All organizations have stories like these. Heat may have more, but only really the past 10 years since their big 3. In that time, they’ve been short on draft picks and cap space to fill out their team (not surprisingly). So, naturally they’ve been more focused on finding under the radar players, and more flexible in giving troubled players second and third chances. Take more swings, you’ll get more hits. Good FO strategy. Riley has always had a soft spot for the gritty underdog player, and that might play into some of it at the lower price points. But don’t mistake any of this for player development.
Your condescending tone in writing speaks volumes about you brother lol….. 1) Whiteside became a max player in the Heat system.. if he became what he did overseas he wouldn’t have been a minimum salary scrap heap from the D League when they got him 2) Alston failed in the NBA twice (as you pointed out) and even used it in his And1 promo stuff…. the Heat turned him into starting NBA PG and he got a 30 mill contract from the Raptors because of it 3) Birdman went from NBA forced retirement to being the spark of a title team… he wouldn’t have done that anywhere else.. regardless of his age 4) You really think I didn’t know Duncan went to Michigan… then went undrafted.. then spent a year in the G league before riding the heat bench … all before becoming one of.. if not the best 3p shooters in the league? …. no… all organizations do NOT have stories like this….. and none can point to dozens of them over the years lol
Good points, but some teams are really heads-up above other teams – they see potential and have them in the best physical condition possible and put them in the best spots to contribute.
There’s so much evidence, I’d pick just a couple.
Duncan Robinson has stressed on so many podcasts, his and others, how Spo and the HEAT’s staff had hard-wired into him, to get into his spots and shoot without hesitation. Not to mention his shot being tweaked by Rob Fodor.
Coincidentally, a few days after Ben Simmons’ infamous Game 7 against the HAWKS, Brian Scalabrine, tweeted out that (only) the HEAT can fix Simmons.
SPURS Tony Parker’s jump-shot was remade under shooting coach Chip Engelland. Then came another prospect who Engelland remade, Kawhi.
Dont forget how much Duncan Robinson’s body changed in his first summer with the Heat, before he got rotation minutes
“There’s so much evidence” is the problem here. Players getting better are everywhere, a function of natural growth and other regimes.
Do some teams develop players better than others? The better question is, does it make a difference? Free agency evens it all out, and there is a soft cap, so development would not count any more than a rich owner.
Riley himself does not rely on his “culture” for Robinsons more than for Lowrys; He used the beaches to draw Bosh & James.
I don’t even know who the Cavs’ shooting guru is, yet every year Sexton improves his %s. It happens. Players grow up, determine to get better. If you look for that determination in choosing your players, then you look good as a player-developer. If you look for transcendance, there will be misses as all you got was a selfish show-off. (Or both: Sexton!)
Titles for Heat & Spurs have depended on player talent not the development of mediocres. The Heat made Lebron do some post-ups and pick up the pace and be an additive to the game that the team developed with Wade, but eventually they did it Lebron’s way and won titles. He chafed at the non-support for that and came back to Ohio pretty much the same guy that left. Nobody is waving their arms saying they made him (except mom).
The Heat can fix Simmons if they choose him to run their offense. Otherwise they rely on brainwashing and getting him to accept minionship to “Heat culture”.
Robinson needs to learn how to attack a closeout, but that may require being less automatic in his quick release.
I mean…they have helped change guys bodies. They also work significantly on certain skill drills, and also allow certain players to expand their games, where they may have not had that chance elsewhere. That allows those skills to develop further. It’s also the environment which leads to players wanting to work more, b/c of the other people around them, and the also they target specific types of people, which is why Hassan Whiteside didnt work here. They’re obviously not the sole reason guys develop, and other teams do have players evolve. To say otherwise would be extremely cocky…but there is a reason they have the tendency of being able to make a lot out of less, outside of just evaluation. Obviously, you can probably see most of these things in scouting videos, but you still have to cultivate those traits, and form winning habits to bring out the best in those players