The knee soreness that forced Heat center Hassan Whiteside to sit out tonight’s game could become a long-term issue, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. In a video posted on the newspaper’s web site, Whiteside says the knee has been giving him problems since the season began. “It’s really bothering me, man,” Whiteside said. “We’re going to figure it out. We’re going to figure it out when we get back to Miami and figure out what’s wrong.”
Speaking to reporters today at a press conference, Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace acknowledged that there was tension between star center Marc Gasol and head coach David Fizdale, and confirmed that was a factor in the team’s decision to fire Fizdale. However, according to Wallace, it wasn’t the overriding factor, as Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal relays.
“We needed to have a change to try to save the season,” Wallace said. “Looking at where we were headed, there just weren’t a great deal of positive trends. We hope to get a positive reboot.”
Despite ongoing trade speculation, Gasol will be a major part of that “positive reboot,” according to the Grizzlies. New interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff indicated today that he plans to lean heavily on the club’s three-time All-Star center going forward.
“Marc is one of the leaders of this team,” Bickerstaff said. “We need Marc to play his best basketball. In order for us to be the team we want to be a ton of the that responsibility falls on Marc’s shoulders. We need him to be Marc Gasol.”
Here’s more on Fizdale and the Grizzlies, as the NBA world continues to react to Monday’s news:
- In the wake of his dismissal, Fizdale issued a magnanimous statement to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN thanking the Grizzlies and the city of Memphis for the opportunity to represent them.
- The Grizzlies need to come to grips with the fact that the Gasol Era in Memphis is over, argues Chris Mannix of The Vertical. Mannix also passes along a couple more tidbits about the Gasol/Fizdale relationship, along with quotes from Stan Van Gundy, who was “shocked” by the Grizzlies’ decision.
- Firing Fizdale won’t solve the Grizzlies’ problems, says Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Sam Amick of USA Today writes that Fizdale’s firing reinforces the idea that the NBA is a star-driven league.
- Fizdale’s ouster doesn’t come as a major surprise to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, who tweets that Grizzlies owner Robert Pera tried to fire Dave Joerger three games into his head coaching career. Memphis opened the 2013/14 season – Joerger’s first year – with a 1-2 record.
- Is a return to Miami the next move for Fizdale? Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said today that he’d embrace bringing back Fizdale as a consultant. However, having the former Heat assistant return in his previous role isn’t being discussed at the moment, since Fizdale plans to take the rest of the year off from coaching, per Spoelstra (Twitter links via Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel and Andre Fernandez of The Miami Herald).
- The Heat may have invested too much on complementary pieces, Ira Winderman of the Florida Sun Sentinel opines. It’s fair to question whether the club would be better off now and into the future by spending on top players rather than doling out large contracts to players such as Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson, James Johnson and Kelly Olynyk, Winderman adds.
- At this point in the season, Kelly Olynyk is not projected to hit the 1,700-minute plateau that would trigger an extra $1MM in salary, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. The big man is averaging 18.5 minutes per game for the Heat so far in 2017/18.
- Pat Riley’s decisions to bring back most of last season’s roster and use future cap room on a small number of players aren’t working out so far, writes Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald. Miami is off to a 7-9 start and there are concerns that the current roster doesn’t fit well together. The problems have been particularly acute in the second half of games, where the Heat rank last in the league in scoring, field goal percentage and 3-point shooting. The worst move of the offseason appears to be the four-year, $50 million deal for Kelly Olynyk, who at 18.4 minutes per game is playing less than in any of his four seasons in Boston.
Here are Sunday’s G League assignment and recalls from around the NBA:
8:30pm:
- The Cavaliers assigned center Ante Zizic to their G League affiliate, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. The big man has seen limited action for the big league club this season.
5:02pm:
- The Lakers have recalled Ivica Zubac and Josh Hart from South Bay Lakers, Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum Sportsnet tweets. In his latest two-game stint with Los Angeles’ G-League affiliate, Zubac averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds per contest.
- The Knicks have assigned Damyean Dotson to their G-League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, per the team’s Twitter feed.
- The Heat have recalled Derrick Walton Jr. from their G-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the team announces via press release. Walton will continue to shuffle back and forth between the two clubs, as he’s on a newly established two-way deal.
- The Hawks have recalled Nicolas Brussino, Tyler Dorsey, and Miles Plumlee, from the team’s G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, according to a team press release.
Rudy Gay might have been a better free agent target for the Heat than Kelly Olynyk, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. In response to a reader’s question, Winderman notes that Gay was rehabbing from his Achilles injury in Florida and expressed interest in coming to Miami before winding up in San Antonio. Gay got a little more than $17MM over two years, with about $8.8MM of that as a player option for next season. Olynyk received $46MM over four years from the Heat.
Gay would have given Miami a proven alternative at small forward when Rodney McGruder was lost to a left tibia stress fracture. The Heat couldn’t have known in July that McGruder would be unavailable, but Winderman says depth at that position would have been desirable if the plan all along was to move Justise Winslow to power forward. Gay is averaging 11.8 points and 5.3 rebounds through 16 games with the Spurs, while Olynyk is putting up 9.2 points and 5.5 boards in 15 games.
- In the same piece, Winderman questions whether the Heat will be willing to make another max offer to Hassan Whiteside if he opts out of his current deal after next season. As small-ball continues to spread throughout the league, some teams are re-evaluating the worth of traditional centers. Whiteside will have an early-termination option on his salary of slightly more than $27MM for 2019/20.
- The Heat aren’t rushing out to replace Okaro White just yet, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. Head coach Erik Spoelstra says that he feels the roster currently has enough on board.
Heat forward Okaro White is out indefinitely after breaking a bone in his left foot during Tuesday’s practice, the team announced in a tweet. Surgery is set for Thursday for White, who fractured his fifth metatarsal.
The second-year player has appeared in just six games this season, but started four times in late October and early November. He is averaging 3.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per night.
“It just kills you when you see something like this happen,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra. “He’ll be back, he has a lot of resiliency.” (Twitter link)
The Heat still have their $4.3MM room exception available, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks, but they would have to clear a roster spot to use it (Twitter link). Miami is already missing swingman Rodney McGruder, who had surgery last month on a left tibia stress fracture.
NBA rosters will undergo some changes over the course of the 2017/18 season, particularly around the trade deadline, and those changes may have an impact on teams’ cap sheets for future seasons. Based on the NBA’s current rosters, however, we can identify which teams are most and least likely to have cap room in the summer of 2018, which will dictate the type of moves those clubs can make in the offseason.
We’re taking a closer look at each of the NBA’s 30 teams by division this week. Today, we’re tackling the Southeast division. With the help of salary information compiled by Basketball Insiders, here’s how the summer of 2018 is shaping up for the five Southeast teams:
Miami Heat
Guaranteed 2018/19 team salary: $117,444,952
Projection: Over the cap
Since the start of the 2016 offseason, the Heat have handed out lucrative long-term contracts to Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson, Dion Waiters, Kelly Olynyk, and Josh Richardson. It will be Tyler Johnson‘s deal that will be the toughest to swallow in 2018/19 though. Because of the way his 2016 offer sheet from the Nets was structured under the old CBA, Johnson’s cap charge will jump from about $5.88MM this season to $19MM+ next year.
Barring major cost-cutting moves, the Heat will be well over the cap in 2018/19, and may end up surpassing the luxury tax line too.
Charlotte Hornets
Guaranteed 2018/19 team salary: $116,377,251
Projection: Over the cap
The Hornets have six players on their roster set to make at least $12MM apiece in 2018/19, including two – Nicolas Batum and Dwight Howard – earning about twice that. Most of those contracts won’t be easy to move, and Charlotte won’t want to dump the more team-friendly salaries from that group, like Kemba Walker‘s $12MM expiring deal. As such, we can expect the Hornets to head into the 2018 offseason as an over-the-cap club.
Washington Wizards
Guaranteed 2018/19 team salary: $115,896,497
Projection: Over the cap
Despite the fact that John Wall‘s super-max extension won’t go into effect until 2019/20, the Wizards have nearly $116MM committed to just eight players next season. Even if the team were to trade a non-core player on an eight-figure salary, such as Ian Mahinmi or Marcin Gortat, it wouldn’t be enough to create meaningful cap space.
Orlando Magic
Guaranteed 2018/19 team salary: $78,180,655
Projection: Up to approximately $19.5MM in cap room
The summer of 2018 will be a good test for just how attached the Magic’s new front office is to the old regime’s top draft picks. Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton will be restricted free agents, and if Orlando intends to retain both players – or even just Gordon – the team’s cap room will disappear. Letting Gordon and Payton walk and waiving Shelvin Mack and his non-guaranteed salary would get the Magic up to nearly $20MM in cap space.
Atlanta Hawks
Guaranteed 2018/19 team salary: $56,232,915
Projection: Up to approximately $41MM in cap room
The Hawks’ maximum available cap space for 2018 will hinge in part on whether Dewayne Dedmon and Mike Muscala decide to pick up their respective player options. Those options being exercised would reduce the Hawks’ max cap room to about $31MM, which would still be more than enough to make a major addition or two — or to take on a couple undesirable contracts along with picks or young players, if Atlanta isn’t ready yet to accelerate its rebuilding timeline.
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Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.