Community Shootaround: Heat Rotation
There’s still a lot of uncertainty regarding Dwyane Wade‘s status for the upcoming season. A report late last month indicated that Wade was ‘inclined to play’ another season and if he does, it will be with the franchise he’s played for most of his career.
Even if Wade doesn’t return, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will have a lot of tough decisions to make regarding his rotation during the upcoming season. Miami’s roster is filled with solid but unspectacular players and Spoelstra will have to sort out which are most deserving of steady minutes.
Thanks to team president Pat Riley basically standing pat with his roster this summer, there aren’t a lot of players with clearly defined roles.
Point guard Goran Dragic seems like the only sure thing in terms of the backcourt. Tyler Johnson is the listed backup but Dion Waiters could get some playing time there, as well as Wade if he re-signs.
The shooting guard spot has a major logjam whether or not Wade is added to the equation. Along with Waiters coming back from an ankle injury, the Heat have Johnson, Rodney McGruder, Wayne Ellington and Josh Richardson vying for minutes there.
Richardson could start at small forward but Justise Winslow will also be in the mix, along with summer league star Derrick Jones. Richardson led the team last season in minutes played per game but that was partly due to the injuries sustained by Waiters and McGruder, who started 65 games two seasons ago. Ellington led the team’s rotation players last season with his 39.2% shooting from beyond the arc.
Winslow will also play the ‘four’ in smaller lineups but Spoelstra also has to figure out a way to juggle Hassan Whiteside, Kelly Olynyk, Bam Adebayo and James Johnson at the center and power forward positions. Whiteside brooded about his reduced playing time last season and he won’t be happy with the status quo. But Adebayo’s role should expand in his second season while James Johnson, Olynyk and Winslow all played between 23-27 minutes on average last season.
That’s an awful lot for Spoeltra to sort out.
That leads us to our topic of the day: If you were the Miami Heat coach, what would your starting lineup look like? Which players should get the most minutes off the bench and which should be out of the rotation?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
And-Ones: Bazley, Garnett, Two-Way Players, Munford
Darius Bazley’s curious summer decisions have hurt his draft stock, according to Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated. The 6’9” Bazley backed out of a commitment with Syracuse in order to play in the G League. He then announced he would simply train on his own until next year’s draft. Other than Bazley’s length and defensive effort, there are a lot of question marks about his game, Woo continues. He’s unpolished with a thin build and needs plenty of work on his offensive game, so he would be better off playing competitively for the next nine months. He now has the look of a second-round flier, Woo adds. Woo takes a closer look at several risers and droppers among 2019 draft prospects.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Kevin Garnett is filing a federal malpractice lawsuit against accountant Michael Wertheim and his firm, alleging they helped a wealth manager steal $77MM from him, according to Associated Press report. The suit claims the accountant and his firm enabled Charles Banks IV of Atlanta to defraud Garnett through businesses in which Garnett and Banks shared an interest. Banks, who was sentenced last year to four years in federal prison for defrauding retired Spurs star Tim Duncan, was not named in Garnett’s suit.
- The maximum amount a two-way player can earn in training camp with an NBA team is $50K. The G League salary of a two-way player is $77,250, a mild increase from $75K last season. Those are some of the nuggets offered by Adam Johnson of 2Ways10Days in an examination of maximum earning power for players on two-way contracts during the upcoming season.
- Free-agent guard Xavier Munford is mulling a move to the Chinese Basketball Association, according to Amico Hoops. The 6’4” Munford played on a two-way contract with the Bucks last season and appeared in six NBA contests. Munford, who also played 14 games with the Grizzlies during the 2015/16 season, is a restricted free agent within the NBA after receiving a qualifying offer from Milwaukee early this summer.
Southeast Notes: Heat, Spoelstra, Gates, Porter
The Heat have fired a team executive who is under an FBI investigation into a suspected money-laundering scheme, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. Jeffrey R. David was hired in July as chief revenue officer for The Heat Group after a similar role with the Kings. He had been placed on administrative leave before Miami decided to let him go. David is suspected of diverting $13.4MM in funds from two of the Sacramento franchise’s top sponsors and using it to purchase beachfront property in Southern California.
In other news from around the Southeast Division:
- The lack of talent on the Heat roster makes it unlikely that Erik Spoelstra will be on the hot seat during the upcoming season, Winderman opines in his latest mailbag post. Miami is not expected to contend in the Eastern Conference and Spoelstra may have to do his best coaching job just to get the Heat into the upper half of the playoff race, Winderman adds.
- Undrafted small forward Kaiser Gates was among the players who worked out for the Hawks on Wednesday, according to Amico Hoops. The 6’8” Gates started 18 games for Xavier last season and averaged 7.2 PPG and 4.6 RPG. He played for the Bulls in the Las Vegas summer league. Atlanta subsequently firmed up its 20-man training camp roster, so it would have to shed someone if it wanted to add Gates.
- Wizards forward Otto Porter Jr. could get lost in the offensive shuffle with the addition of Dwight Howard and a healthier John Wall, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington speculates. The team has urged Porter the past two years to shoot more often, attack the basket with greater zeal and become a more vocal presence, Hughes continues. That becomes more complicated with Wall, Bradley Beal and Howard carrying more extensive resumes on the starting unit, Hughes adds.
Western Notes: Anderson, Wallace, Kleber, Randle
Suns forward Ryan Anderson lowered his guaranteed salary to $15.4MM for the final year of his contract in 2019/2020 but it can be traded for the prior fully guaranteed value of $21.4MM, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post tweets. Anderson agreed to the reduction to facilitate the trade from the Rockets. However, since his contract was signed under the previous CBA, its trade value remains unchanged. The Suns will have until July 10, 2019 to decide whether they want to guarantee Anderson’s full salary for the final year of his contract or waive him, in which case they’d still have to pay the reduced guarantee.
In other news from around the Western Conference:
- Shooting guard Tyrone Wallace can’t be traded by the Clippers without his consent as a result of Los Angeles matching his offer sheet, salary cap expert Albert Nahmad tweets. The restricted free agent signed a two-year, $2.9MM offer sheet with the Pelicans but the Clippers opted to match it on Wednesday despite a roster logjam. The Clippers are prohibited from trading Wallace to the Pelicans for one year, Nahmad adds.
- Maxi Kleber needs to improve his long-range shooting to earn rotation minutes with the Mavericks during the upcoming season, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. Kleber will be competing with Dwight Powell and Salah Mejri for playing time with DeAndre Jordan and Dirk Nowitzki guaranteed to play steady minutes. The 6’11” Kleber shot 31.3% from deep in his first season with the club.
- Anthony Davis called Julius Randle three times after Randle hit the free agent market to ensure the former Laker would sign with the Pelicans, William Guillory of The Athletic reports. Randle had his rights renounced by the Lakers after LeBron James agreed to sign with Los Angeles and Randle quickly agreed to a two-year, $18MM deal with New Orleans. Randle had more lucrative deals on the table, Guillory adds, but Randle wants to remain with the franchise even though he has an opt-out next summer.
Alfonzo McKinnie Gets Camp Deal From Warriors
SEPTEMBER 7: McKinnie has officially signed with the Warriors, per RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.
SEPTEMBER 5: Former Raptors forward Alfonzo McKinnie has reached a training-camp agreement with the Warriors, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets.
The 6’8” McKinnie appeared in 14 games with Toronto last season, averaging 1.5 PPG in 3.8 MPG.
The Raptors waived McKinnie on July 17, just before his $1,378,242 salary for the upcoming season became guaranteed. Undrafted out of Wisconsin-Green Bay, McKinnie was signed to a two-year minimum contract last summer.
McKinnie, 25, spent most of the season with the G League’ Raptors 905. He posted averages of 14.0 PPG and 7.5 RPG in 35 starts.
He faces an uphill battle to make the club on a roster with 13 players on guaranteed deals and a trio of others currently with non-guaranteed pacts. Golden State also possesses plenty of other forward options beyond starters Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, including Andre Iguodala, Jonas Jerebko, Danuel House, Kevon Looney and Marcus Derrickson, as well as two-way player Damion Lee.
The Windy City Bulls still hold McKinnie’s G League rights, Adam Johnson of 2Ways10Days tweets.
Southwest Rumors: Gasol, Nowitzki, Lauvergne, Finney-Smith
Spurs center Pau Gasol hopes to play for Spain in the FIBA World Cup next summer, according to a Sportando report. Gasol told the Spanish website El Dia he’ll wait until after the NBA season to make a final decision whether he’ll play for his home country as it attempts to qualify for the 2020 Olympics. “I am about to turn 39,” Gasol said. “I love playing with the national team and I would like to continue, and qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo and help the team with my presence, if I am physically well my belief and my wish is to be in the World Cup.”
We have more from around the Southwest Division:
- Dirk Nowitzki scrimmaged with his Mavericks teammates for the first time since undergoing ankle surgery in April, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reports. Coach Rick Carlisle said Nowitzki should be available for training camp, which opens September 21, Sefko continues. Lottery pick Luka Doncic and J.J. Barea were among the other players in the scrimmage, Sefko adds.
- Former Spurs big man Joffrey Lauvergne said he would have stayed in San Antonio if he didn’t get an offer to play with Turkey’s Fenerbahce, he told Fenerbahce TV in an interview relayed by Sportando. Lauvergne declined a $1.656MM player option to sign a two-year deal overseas with the anticipation of getting more playing time. “I wanted to come back to Europe and the team that I wanted to play is Fenerbahçe,” he said. “I accepted the offer without thinking but if Fenerbahçe didn’t offer me i would probably stay in Spurs for one more season.”
- Mavericks swingman Dorian Finney-Smith should find more playing time in the frontcourt rather than the crowded backcourt, Sefko writes in a separate story. The club hopes he can develop into a 3-and-D player and he’ll earn more minutes if his outside shot improves, Sefko continues. It’s a pivotal year for Finney-Smith, who will become a restricted free agent after the season if he receives a qualifying offer or unrestricted if the club declines to do so, Sefko adds.
Clippers Match Offer Sheet For Tyrone Wallace
The Clippers have matched the Pelicans’ offer sheet for guard Tyrone Wallace, according to a team press release.
“We identified Tyrone as a versatile, competitive and tough-minded player who adds to the organizational culture,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement. “Ty worked hard with our staff at Agua Caliente and Los Angeles, and his growth has been a reflection of his commitment to getting better. Together with our team’s player development program, Ty demonstrated impressive improvement and contributed meaningfully to our team last season. We are excited to welcome Ty back to the Clippers.”
The Pelicans signed Wallace on Monday to an offer sheet worth the veteran’s minimum, approximately $2.9MM over two years. The Clippers had two days once Wallace signed the offer sheet to decide whether to match it or let him go.
It was generally assumed the Clippers wouldn’t match the offer sheet for the 6’5” restricted free agent, who played last season on a two-way deal. With Wallace back in the mix, the Clips now have 15 players with guaranteed deals, plus non-guaranteed contracts for Wallace and Patrick Beverley, so they’ll have to trade or release a couple of those players by the end of the preseason.
Still, as ESPN cap expert Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter), even though retaining Wallace doesn’t help the Clippers clear their roster logjam, there’s little risk involved in bringing him back for the time being. His new deal features a partial guarantee of $300K (as of September 12), but won’t become fully guaranteed until the new year, and the second season is fully non-guaranteed, with no trigger dates.
The Clippers will now have the opportunity to evaluate Wallace and the rest of their roster in training camp, and will only be out $300K if they decide that the second-year guard isn’t part of their plans after all. That wouldn’t be a terrible outcome for Wallace either, as he’d have the opportunity to reach unrestricted free agency after having collected $300K for a few weeks of work.
With 17 players now vying for 15 spots in L.A., Jawun Evans‘ roster spot becomes even more precarious. The 6’0″ Evans has a guaranteed contract, but it’s only worth the minimum and doesn’t feature any guaranteed money beyond 2018/19. The Clippers also have numerous point guard options, including Patrick Beverley, Avery Bradley, Milos Teodosic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nets Notes: Napier, Dinwiddie, Faried, Russell
The opportunity to frequently play off the ball was the selling point that convinced Shabazz Napier to sign with the Nets, according to Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily.com. Napier would seemingly have a limited role on a team that already has D’Angelo Russell at Spencer Dinwiddie to run the offense but coach Kenny Atkinson plans to give Napier the chance to play both guard spots. Napier was the primary backup guard with the Trail Blazers last season and shot 45% on catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts and 37.7% overall from long range, Puccio notes. “I don’t need to be on the ball,” Napier said. “I proved that when I was in Portland.”
In other news concerning the Nets:
- Speculation that Dinwiddie could be dealt is reasonable, given his modest contract, but the Nets like him a lot and may re-sign him, according to a Net Income post. The Suns are searching for a starting point guard and the chance to acquire Dinwiddie, who will make $1.65MM during the upcoming season, on an expiring contract would be attractive. However, the Nets could also offer Dinwiddie a four-year extension in December or try to re-sign him next summer at a bigger number than others can offer due to owning his Bird rights.
- Forward Kenneth Faried pled not guilty on Wednesday after being charged with unlawful possession of marijuana in the fourth degree last month, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets. Faried was arrested in Bridgehampton on the misdemeanor for allegedly possessing more than two ounces of the drug. The Nuggets traded Faried and his expiring $13,76MM contract to Brooklyn in mid-July.
- Should the Nets give Russell an extension? We examined the pros and cons in our Extension Candidate series. Check it out here.
Community Shootaround: Lakers’ No. 2 Option
The Lakers will have enough salary-cap space to sign another top-level free agent next summer and there’s sure to be plenty of speculation about who will join LeBron James in Los Angeles. Will it be Kevin Durant? Kawhi Leonard? Jimmy Butler? Klay Thompson? DeMarcus Cousins?
However, there’s still a full season to be played before those stars hit the market. Someone will have to emerge as the No. 2 scoring option from the current roster and establish himself as a top-level performer in his own right.
After securing a commitment from James, the Lakers front office brought in an eclectic mix of free agents on short-term deals. It’s more likely that James’ right-hand man will be one of the young holdovers.
Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma are the most obvious candidates. Ingram, the second overall pick of the 2016 draft, showed significant improvement in his second season. He averaged 16.1 PPG and shot 47% from the field and 39% from long range. He also display playmaking ability by averaging nearly four assists per contest.
Kuzma made an immediate impact despite lasting until the 27th pick of the 2017 draft. The stretch four also averaged 16.1 PPG last season while connecting on 45% of his attempts and 36.6% from deep.
It’s logical to assume they’ll play together when the Lakers go small; in more conventional looks, one or the other will be on the bench when James is on the court.
That could open up the possibility of a guard becoming the secondary option. If that’s the case, then Kentavious Caldwell-Pope could wind up as the second-leading scorer. Caldwell-Pope averaged 13.4 PPG in his first season with the Lakers and re-signed on a one-year deal. He’s improved steadily as a 3-point threat, making a career-best 38.3% last season.
And while Lonzo Ball‘s first year in the league didn’t go as smoothly as planned, the Lakers thought enough of him to use the No. 2 overall pick last summer on him. His shot needs a lot of work but he’s always a threat to post a triple-double and he’ll play more off the ball with the additions of James and Rajon Rondo.
That leads us to our question of the day: Who will emerge as the Lakers’ No. 2 scoring option during the upcoming season?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
Josh Huestis Receives Camp Invite From Spurs
Former Thunder swingman Josh Huestis has received a camp invite from the Spurs, Fred Katz of MassLive.com tweets. The news was confirmed by Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).
There’s been little news regarding Huestis since he entered unrestricted free agency this summer. The Thunder didn’t pick up his fourth-year option prior to last season.
Huestis wasn’t able to establish a steady rotation role with Oklahoma City until his third and last season with that organization. He saw action in 69 games and averaged 2.3 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 14.2 MPG but shot just 28.7% from long range. He also saw spot duty in four postseason games.
The Spurs currently have 14 players with contract guarantees, so there is a roster opening if Huestis shines in training camp. The Spurs have Rudy Gay, Lonnie Walker and Dante Cunningham as small forward options but the retirement of Manu Ginobili could open the door for Huestis.
The 6’7” Huestis was a late first-round pick in 2014 out of Stanford and spent the bulk of his time in the G League prior to last season.