Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat, Rockets, Celtics Eye Reggie Evans

February 22nd, 2016 at 11:25am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat, Rockets and Celtics have expressed interest in free agent rebounding specialist Reggie Evans, reports Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Evans, 35, has been out of the NBA since his contract with the Kings expired this past summer.

Miami has two open roster spot but is at a disadvantage, since it can’t sign a player before March 6th without creeping back above the luxury tax line. Houston is also poised to open two roster spots, but the Rockets are in limbo as they await more medical exams from the Pistons on Donatas Motiejunas, and the possibility exists that Detroit will void its trade with Houston. The Celtics have only one open roster spot but no mitigating concerns of the sort the Heat and Rockets are dealing with.

Evans, a 13-year veteran, averaged 3.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 16.3 minutes across 47 appearances last season. That translates to 14.1 rebounds per 36 minutes, a rate even better than his career 13.3 per-minute mark in that category. He would seemingly be of greatest benefit to the Rockets among the trio of teams Hamilton invokes, since Houston is 24th in rebounding rate, according to NBA.com. The Celtics are 20th while the Heat are ninth, though the uncertain health of Chris Bosh clouds their interior rotation.

Eastern Notes: Heat, Anthony, Hinkie, Felicio

February 20th, 2016 at 11:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat are at a disadvantage when it comes to signing waived players, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Miami has two open roster spots, but its payroll is just $213K below the luxury tax threshold, meaning the team would go back above the line if it adds a player before March 6th to 8th and keeps him for the remainder of the season. Miami can fill its roster and avoid the tax, but only if it signs one player during the second week of March and another at the end of the season. Players must be waived by March 1st to be eligible for the playoffs, but can join their new team any time before the regular season is complete.

The tax situation is why the Heat made no effort to sign David Lee or Steve Novak when they were waived, Jackson explains. They would have interest in Joe Johnson if he gets bought out by the Nets, but the Cavaliers are believed to be the front-runner if that happens.

There’s more news from the Eastern Conference:

There’s a lot of excitement in New York about the Knicks‘ planned signing of Jimmer Fredette, but Carmelo Anthony doesn’t share it, according to Frank Isola of The New York Daily News. “I haven’t seen Jimmy play in a long time,” Anthony said when asked about Fredette. “I’ve been hearing about what he’s doing down there in the D-League but I haven’t seen him play in action for a long time. I thought you were telling me we were about to sign someone.”
Despite the addition of Jerry Colangelo to the Sixers‘ front office, GM Sam Hinkie isn’t worried about his job, according to Rich Hofmann of PhillyVoice. “Our owners have been very clear with me that they’d like me to be the leader of this organization for a long time,” Hinkie said in an interview on CSN (Twitter link).
Cristiano Felicio, who stayed on the Bulls‘ roster despite coming into camp with a non-guaranteed contract, continues to surprise, writes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Injuries have given the Brazilian big man an opportunity to play, and he responded Friday with eight points, three rebounds and three assists in 14 minutes. “Big Cris plays like that all the time in practice,” Taj Gibson said. “He just has to get better with (communicating). He’s real aggressive and strong. He has great hands around the basket.”

Texas Notes: Howard, Foye, Powell, Anderson

February 19th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Mavericks and Bulls were among the teams the Rockets spoke to about Dwight Howard in the days leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com, reiterating earlier reports that Houston talked with the Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Heat and Bucks. The Rockets held out for one “frontline player” and a first-round pick in return, sources told Stein, though it’s not entirely clear whether he means “frontline” as in “frontcourt” or as in “of importance.” GM Daryl Morey provided a hint, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays.

“It was going to have to take something significant to make us look at anything and even then we probably wouldn’t have,” Morey said in part.

Morey also said that he believes in the combo of Howard and James Harden and was never close to trading Howard, Feigen notes, but according to Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports, the Rockets understand that Howard and Harden are simply a poor fit on the court. The Rockets and other teams had considerable differences about what a Howard trade would look like, even though executives around the league believe Howard is a better scorer than his numbers in Houston show, Mannix writes. See more from the Texas Triangle:

The Mavericks had some level of interest in Randy Foye before the Nuggets traded him to the Thunder instead Thursday, but the Mavs weren’t going to offer either Devin Harris or Raymond Felton for him, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
The Mavs are always looking for another shooter, president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said, according to Sefko, who indicates in the same piece that the team wouldn’t mind signing a big man, either, as the post-deadline buyout market develops.
Teams offered picks likely to fall in the middle of the first-round to the Mavs for Dwight Powell and Justin Anderson, a source tells Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Presumably that means each of them would have netted that sort of pick individually, and not the two of them as a package.
Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News wouldn’t be surprised to see the Spurs replace former assistant GM Sean Marks with Spurs D-League GM Brian Pauga, also noting that ex-Spurs executive Danny Ferry has been hanging around the team of late (Twitter links). Young made his remarks on the evening before the Nets hired Marks as their GM.

Blazers Acquire Brian Roberts; Heat Duck Tax

February 18th, 2016 at 11:55pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nick Turchiaro / USA TODAY Sports Images

5:19pm: The Heat traded Brian Roberts and Miami’s unprotected 2021 second-round pick to the Trail Blazers for cash, the teams announced. The move takes the Heat beneath the luxury tax threshold, according to Wojnarowski (on Twitter), and averts the repeat-offender tax penalties the team had been facing,

Miami progressively shed salary throughout the season, dealing Shabazz Napier, Zoran Dragic, Mario Chalmers, James Ennis, Chris Andersen and finally Jarnell Stokes and Roberts in separate deadline-day deals to avoid becoming the first NBA team hit with the repeater tax, which starts at a rate of $2.50 for every dollar spent. The tax isn’t calculated until the final day of the regular season, and the Heat are only about $1MM shy of the $84.74MM threshold, so they could still add enough salary to again cross it. That’s an unlikely proposition given their months-long efforts, however.

The Heat gain a trade exception worth Roberts’ $2,854,940 salary. It’s the second time the point guard has been traded this week, as he went from the Hornets to the Heat in Tuesday’s three-team Courtney Lee trade. The contract for the 30-year-old Roberts expires at season’s end, and he’ll surely hope for more opportunity to showcase himself for free agency than he saw in Charlotte. His 4.8 points, 1.3 assists and 11.1 minutes per game are all career lows for the fourth-year veteran. Blazers GM Neil Olshey hinted in the team’s press release that Roberts will get a chance to contribute in Portland.

“Brian is an experienced player and a quality person,” Olshey said. “He has a skill set we value and fills a positional need as we head into a critical time in the season.”

Roberts went into Portland’s open roster spot and the team’s ample cap space. Miami’s deadline moves, including the Stokes trade, leave the Heat with the regular-season minimum of 13 players.

Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports first reported the trade (Twitter link). Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel identified the second-round pick going to Portland as a 2021 selection (link to Twitter). RealGM confirms the pick is Miami’s own and carries no protection.

Pelicans Acquire Jarnell Stokes From Heat

February 18th, 2016 at 11:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:17pm: The Heat traded Jarnell Stokes and a little more than $700K in cash to the Pelicans for New Orleans’ top-55 protected 2018 second-round pick. It’s a money saving move for the Heat, even though they’re the ones relinquishing cash. It offloads the team’s remaining salary commitment to Stokes and lowers the team’s projected tax hit by about $2.1MM. Miami wound up wiping out its entire projected tax bill in the Brian Roberts trade. New Orleans is contemplating a buyout with Stokes, according to Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate (Twitter links).

Stokes is making the minimum salary of $845,059, with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season also on his contract. The power forward who went 35th overall in the 2014 draft originally signed a three-year deal with the Grizzlies, who traded him and that contract to the Heat in the Mario Chalmers swap this past November. It’s because he’s on a three-year deal that the Pelicans can’t absorb him using the minimum-salary exception, which is just for two-year deals. The same is true of the disabled player exception they have for relief from Quincy Pondexter‘s injury, which is just for a one-year deal. Thus, the Pelicans took him into the $947,276 trade exception they created in December when they offloaded Ish Smith, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter), reducing its value to a virtually unusable $102,217.

The Heat meanwhile create a new trade exception equivalent to the $845,059 salary for Stokes, as Pincus points out. Miami seemingly had little use for the power forward who appeared for a total of only 14 minutes across five games at the NBA level while a member of the Heat. He meanwhile logged 494 minutes in 16 D-League contests on assignment to Miami’s affiliate. He spent enough time with the Sioux Falls Skyforce that he was named a D-League All-Star.

Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported that the Heat had traded Stokes (Twitter link), and Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports revealed that he was going to the Pelicans (on Twitter). Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel tweeted that a highly protected draft pick was going Miami’s way, with Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald adding that it’s a second-rounder (Twitter link). RealGM provided pick specifics. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported the cash involved (via Twitter).

Latest On Dwight Howard

February 18th, 2016 at 1:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:57pm: Howard will stay with the Rockets, ending weeks of speculation of him getting traded, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

11:07am: There is a strong belief from Howard’s camp that he will not be traded before today’s deadline, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports.

7:44am: The Rockets and agent Dan Fegan are hard at work to find a new team for Dwight Howard, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Houston is prioritizing its pursuit of a Howard trade over serious talks with the Jazz on a Ty Lawson/Trey Burke swap, though no favorite to acquire Howard has emerged, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Most executives from teams aside from the Rockets were saying as of Wednesday that a deal involving Howard was unlikely, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

Houston turned down an offer of Al Jefferson and Spencer Hawes from the Hornets, league sources tell Isola, and little chance exists of those teams doing a Howard deal unless Houston’s demands come down markedly, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer hears (Twitter links). The Rockets called the Cavs to offer Howard, but Cleveland didn’t bite, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops (on Twitter).

The Celtics, Heat, Hawks and Raptors have also reportedly spoken with the Rockets about Howard, at least on a cursory level, though Houston has apparently been underwhelmed with the proposals it’s hearing. One GM told TNT’s David Aldridge he doesn’t think the Rockets want to end up with Howard still on the roster after the 2pm Central time deadline (Twitter link), which suggests Houston will bring its asking price in line with the market.

Salary concerns complicate any Howard trade. He’s making more than $22.359MM this season, but a 15% trade kicker in Howard’s contract means teams would have to match salaries based on a $22,970,500 figure for him. The Rockets are also less than $1MM shy of a hard cap of $88.74MM, so they have sharply limited flexibility. The Rockets and others expect Howard to turn down his more than $23.282MM player option and hit free agency this summer.

Southeast Notes: Jennings, Payton, Plumlee

February 17th, 2016 at 12:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

The acquisition of Brandon Jennings in Tuesday’s trade with the Pistons doesn’t mean the Magic have wavered in their belief in Elfrid Payton, GM Rob Hennigan said, though coach Scott Skiles has been looking for more lately from Orlando’s incumbent starting point guard, notes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. Still, the trade was about creating flexibility to chase stars in the summer, as Schmitz sees it, suggesting Jennings and Ilyasova will merely be rentals if the right marquee player comes calling. The deal reduced the Magic’s guaranteed salary commitments by $16.8MM for next season, bringing their total down to $44MM. See more from Orlando amid news out of the Southeast Division, where three teams have made trades within the last 24 hours:

It appears as though the Wizards had talks with the Bucks about Miles Plumlee, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports, citing sources, writes that Washington could revisit discussions about the big man if Milwaukee isn’t hung up on other business.
The Wizards see the return of Alan Anderson as a de facto trade deadline acquisition, and a decent chance exists that he’ll be playing by week’s end, reports Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. The Wizards signed him to a one-year, $4MM deal this past summer thinking he’d be ready for the start of the regular season following ankle surgery in May, but a follow-up procedure has kept the swingman on the shelf all season so far, as Castillo details.
Heat team president Pat Riley pointed to the importance of upgrading Miami’s point guard position in the wake of Tyler Johnson‘s injury as he addressed Tuesday’s trade to acquire Brian Roberts, according to his remarks in the team’s statement. Johnson has said there’s no guarantee he returns to play this season.
It’s likely that the Hornets will use the roster spot they opened in Wednesday’s Courtney Lee trade to sign a third point guard out of the D-League, GM Rich Cho said, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
The Magic are down to four cities in the running to play host to their one-to-one D-League affiliate in 2017/18, CEO Alex Martins told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. All are in Florida: Jacksonville, Kissimmee, Lakeland and an Orlando location not far from where the NBA club plays, as Robbins details.

Northwest Notes: Rubio, Martin, Foye, Green

February 17th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Bucks coach Jason Kidd, who holds sway over the team’s personnel decisions, has a longstanding admiration for Ricky Rubio, and while the Timberwolves haven’t been looking for Rubio trades, they’re likely to do so this summer, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Other recent reports have indicated that Rubio is currently on the block, though Minnesota doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to deal him for the time being, judging by Wojnarowski’s reporting. See more from Minnesota amid the latest from around the Northwest Division:

Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin is unlikely to end up in a trade unless he turns down his player option, worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, league sources told Wojnarowski for the same piece. Martin probably won’t do that, since he’d have a tough time making up that money on the free agent market this summer.
Randy Foye‘s eminently positive locker room presence appeals to the Nuggets, who won’t be quick to give him up, according to Wojnarowski. The Heat reportedly have interest, and Wojnarowski suggests others do as well.
Erick Green, whose second 10-day contract with the Jazz expired Sunday, will return to the D-League affiliate of the Kings, a league source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link).
Joey Dorsey, whom the Nuggets acquired in the Ty Lawson trade this past summer and later waived in a buyout, has left Turkey’s Galatasaray and will sign with Barcelona of Spain, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter links).

Heat Notes: Dragic, Bosh, Trade Targets

February 17th, 2016 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat not surprisingly have interest in soon-to-be free agent Mike Conley, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald passes along via Dan Le Batard of ESPN Radio, and Miami is open to hearing offers for Goran Dragic, Jackson writes. However, the Heat are in no hurry to trade their point guard. The Heat like Jeff Teague and Al Horford, but Miami would need to find a third team to involve in a deal to get Atlanta the assets it wants for them, according to Jackson. DeMarcus Cousins and Jahlil Okafor have also held appeal to Miami, at least as of earlier this season, a source who has spoken with the Heat told Jackson. Moreover, the Heat want to further reduce their luxury tax bill and add a shooter, and they’re continuing to try to make the playoffs despite the health scare for Chris Bosh, who has an encouraging prognosis for his long-term health once his latest blood clot issue is resolved, Jackson reports.

See more from Miami:

The most likely course of action regarding Bosh’s health would probably knock him out for three months, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, though agent Henry Thomas told Winderman that it’s too soon to know what will happen.
The Heat probably wouldn’t benefit from missing the playoffs as much as they did last year when they snagged the No. 10 pick and Justise Winslow, making Bosh’s situation potentially devastating for the franchise, contends Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Miami’s first-round pick is again top-10 protected, but lottery and draft-night luck played in the Heat’s favor last year.
Jackson lists Mirza Teletovic, Jerryd Bayless and Wayne Ellington as “options” for the Heat as they look for a shooter, though it’s not entirely clear whether the Heat are indeed interested in them.

Hornets Acquire Courtney Lee In Three-Teamer

February 16th, 2016 at 11:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Bruce Kluckhohn / USA TODAY Sports Images

6:45pm: Courtney Lee is headed to Charlotte as part of a three-team deal involving the Grizzlies, Heat and Hornets, all of whom have officially announced the trade that Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports originally reported. The Heat pick up Brian Roberts in the deal, while Lee is the only asset going to the Hornets, but the Grizzlies come away with two players and four second-round picks.

From Charlotte, the Grizzlies receive P.J. Hairston, Charlotte’s 2018 second-rounder and Brooklyn’s 2019 second-rounder, which the Hornets acquired this past summer. From Miami, Memphis gets Chris Andersen, Miami’s second-rounder for 2017, with top-40 protection, plus Boston’s 2019 second-rounder with top-55 protection that Miami acquired this past summer. USA Today’s Sam Amick and Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal reported the details of the picks changing hands (All Twitter links).

“We are excited to be adding a quality veteran wing player to our roster in Courtney Lee,” Charlotte GM Rich Cho said in his team’s press release. “Courtney has proven to be a team defender, a consistent outside shooter and a solid scorer in our league for the past eight years. Particularly in terms of experience, he adds depth to our roster in a position of need for us and we expect him to fit in to our system and contribute right away.”

The Memphis-bound Hairston had started on the wing for Charlotte in place of Kidd-Gilchrist while he dealt with an earlier shoulder injury that kept him out for the season’s first few months, so presumably Lee will slide into that spot alongside soon-to-be free agent Nicolas Batum. All four players involved are on expiring contracts, with Lee’s worth $5.675MM, Anderson making $5MM, Roberts getting close to $2.854MM and Hairston seeing more than $1.201MM. The Grizzlies won’t be able to re-sign Hairston to a deal with a starting salary of more than $1,253,160 for next season because the Hornets declined the team option they had for next year on his rookie scale contract.

Memphis, Charlotte and Miami are all dealing with significant health issues, too. Marc Gasol has a broken foot, while Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is out for the season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, and mystery surrounds the status of Chris Bosh as he deals with another blood clot. Miami is also missing Tyler Johnson until at least April, if not the rest of the season.

The Grizzlies had reportedly been testing the market for Lee, though they apparently rejected a proposal from the Timberwolves of Lee for Kevin Martin several weeks ago, before Gasol went down. Andersen had been a trade candidate for months, with the latest dispatch indicating that Miami was aggressively trying to trade him as repeat-offender tax penalties loom. The trade as reported lowers the Heat’s payroll by about $2.1MM, but Miami would still need to trim roughly another $3.4MM to sneak under the tax line.