August 3: The signing is official, according to a team press release.
July 18: The Clippers have reached an agreement with free agent center Willie Reed, reports Chris Haynes of ESPN. According to Haynes, Reed will sign a one-year, $1.5MM contract, which suggests it’s a minimum salary deal.
[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
Reed, 27, enjoyed a modest breakout season for the Heat in 2016/17, averaging 5.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 71 games for the club. The Missouri native played just 14.5 minutes per contest, but made his limited playing time count, chipping in 0.7 BPG and a .568 FG% as well. Miami’s defensive efficiency numbers were also a few points better with Reed on the court.
It has been an active offseason so far for the Clippers, who lost Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford, and other veterans, but added Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Danilo Gallinari, Milos Teodosic, Sam Dekker, and Montrezl Harrell. That list of incoming names didn’t include a true center, so the Clippers had remained on the lookout for a backup for DeAndre Jordan, and did well to land Reed, one of the more notable centers left on the market.
The Clippers have a small portion of their mid-level exception left, but as our minimum salary breakdown shows, a player with Reed’s experience is eligible for a minimum of $1,577,230, so the club shouldn’t need to dip into its MLE to sign the big man.
Reed previously drew some interest from the Hawks, Heat, Sixers, Pacers, and Rockets, according to various reports. Haynes adds that the Warriors also had interest in Reed.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nice audition deal, the Clippers are looking scary barring injury to Blake or Gallo
Warrios need to add pau gasol, better player than javale and would not cost that much, great fit there, better shooter passer and high iq guy
Pau made like 15 mill last year. No way warriors could get him.
He wont get payed like that this year, he declined his option and will have to take a big pay cut to go back to the spurs, so the warrior can cut looney and offer the vet min to pau if hes interested in another ring
What? League minimum?! And in LA, so its less money than a place here in miami or in texas. How did the heat pay Kelly olynyk that horrible contract, if they could have had him back for that?? How was San Antonio, Boston, GS not in on this? Wow…this makes me even more salty about the Olynyk contract
Im also surprised that the Warriors didn’t hop on this unless we just don’t know yet that McGee is coming back.
At this point, he probably is
Boston should’ve used the BAE to offer a 2 year deal. They wouldn’t really be impacted by the hard cap and they can’t use it next year since resigning Thomas would hard cap them.
Never mind just re read the mailbag info. It was edited because before it said everyone got the BAE. Now it says for over the cap and under the apron, and Boston operated under the cap in order to sign Hayward.
Still, if anything he could have got the league minimum there. It would have been better than taking the over 13% income tax out in california
True
Shows how much you know about basketball with how highly you rate reed lol
His agent is terrible….also, if that’s what he got, no way Javale gets more than league minimum either, at this point. He might as well stay in GS for the non-bird rights 20% increase
I can’t wait for you to completely change your tune next season and pretend you said none of this
I always admit when I was wrong about something…and I really hope the heat magically turn Olynyk into an actual defender, and/or he shoots the lights out. He’s at least an upgrade over Babbit and an injured McRoberts, but he cant play the 4. Hopefully, Bam can get better at defending pick and roll, but it’s a lot to rely on a rookie like that…
If you say that about Reed, YOU obviously didn’t watch him. As I’ve repeatedly said, he was part of some of our best lineups and finished games for us. As the article reiterates, our defensive efficiency was better with him on the floor. You don’t have to $#!+ on him to defend Olynyk. That makes you sound a lot worse than your perception of me
Olynyk will never be an elite defender (he’s white lol) but he’s no where near as bad as you’re making out. He can and will definitely play the 4 Kevin Love defends 4s and he’s not slower than him. He finished a few games at the start of the year when Whiteside was completely off. Those stats are bull**** I hate how people who don’t watch the games think they mean everything. Avery Bradley and Kawhi Leonard were apparently bad defenders according to the same stat… just watch reed play basketball! He can’t shoot he can’t move laterally all he can do is dunk rebound and rarely block a shot. That’s it. I’m s***ing on him because I find it so ridiculous you rate him anywhere near Olynyk
Bosh was an elite defender and a better shooter and offensive player than Olynyk, but playing 2 bigs together is bad in todays NBA, especially since Whiteside can’t pick and roll defend…
Reed can defend pick and roll very well, and protects the rim/blocks shots, so I don’t know what you were watching. Reed finished games late into the season, including during our 13 game winning streak, playing the entire 4th quarter on more than a few occasions. Whiteside was benched at those times for good reason. Also, in games where Whiteside missed, Reed played like a starting 5, putting up really good numbers, including a double double and multiple blocks per game. You’re hating on him makes no sense at all. Olynyk has more offensive upside, but I need defense from the 5 spot in today’s NBA, especially since Goran and Whiteside aren’t the best defenders themselves, and the PG/big pick and roll is something good teams must be able to defend against in this league
Obviously bosh is better at everything that Olynyk. Bosh is one of the most underrated stars off all time. He can do everything. But the advantage with Kelly is that he won’t start. Bosh obviously had to start and playing 2 bigs the majority of the time is not ideal. But the fact we have that option this year when last year it wasn’t at all is a huge advantage. We have Johnson and Winslow who will be great small ball 4s but Olynyk allows to switch it up when needed
McRoberts played really well in the 2 big lineups before he got injured again. But he has always been more of a 4/5, and is a much better defender than Olynyk…
Right now, our best known defensive big is UD. He has never been a rim protector though. We have JJ and Okaro to play small ball 5 in certain lineups. I see that playing out a lot more than Olynyk at the 4. I think he does give us a dynamic in certain lineups that we lacked last year, although Babbit was fine/shot the lights out on offense from January until the end of the season. Olynyk at the 5 is definitely a better defender than Babbit in any lineup. So hopefully, he can shoot the ball really well in those minutes.
That’s such a ridiculous statement. So I guess you’re one of the people the really wants to trade Whiteside
And are you implying that reed is a better defender than Whiteside??
Reed is hardly an nba player. How did you not see this watching heat this season?? The market always dictates how much players get and reed got the minimum because he’s a minimum player. Olynyk is a versatile Big who can shoot, handle, pass and has a nastyness to him. If we didn’t pay him 4 for 50 someone else would have. (Riley said he had larger offers)
Anyone, except obviously Riley in this scenario, that would have paid Olynyk more than $5-7 million for 1 year, or $9 million per for 2 at absolute most, should be fired. The other team was probably the Bulls, confirming that exact thought…
Reed should have at least got $5 million after Dedmon signed for the $7 million he got from Atlanta. I would also prefer Dedmon to Olynyk, by the way…Reed was the victim of a bad market for bigs this off-season, and others taking a long time for decisions. By the time he signed, the needs for bigs out there were on teams with no money. It sucks to see a guy work so hard and take advantage of his 1st real opportunity, and then when it’s time to get rewarded, other factors make him have to prove it again
There is no money for bigs who are 1 dimensional and can’t shoot. Bigs who are versatile and can shoot are all being payed well because that’s what the NBA is about now. How do you think a stretch 5/4 who can shoot, pass and handle well is overpayed??? Ryan Anderson got 4/80. Getting Olynyk for nearly half that is fine.
And Meyers Leonard, Channing Frye, Ryan Anderson have unmovable contracts…
Bigs like Reed don’t get paid? How about Biyombo, Dedmon, Tyson chandler before he totally fell off defensively, Robin Lopez, Steven Adams, Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond, DeAndre Jordan, Nerlens Noel, John Henson, Miles Plumlees terrible contract, Brandan Wright, Festus Ezili, Alan Williams, Ian Mahinmi
Meyers, channing and Ryan can shoot. That’s it. Olynyk can shoot, pass and dribble plus has a nastyness that none of those players have.
Biyombo is way more athletic than reed (he can actually move laterally) and his contract is untradeable. Dedmon got 7 mil that’s not getting paid in today’s NBA. Tyson was like 3 years ago? NBAs changed a lot since then. Howard, Jordan and Drummond are all basically an ultimate version of reed and Howard got traded for nothing and apparently Drummond and Jordan were shopped so what does that tell you formelyz??? can’t be bothered addressing the rest but none of them have real trade value
You just described Spencer Hawes, which was also a bad contract
You need to get through your head how valuable versatility is. Reed can’t dribble the ball up the floor he can’t shoot, Olynyk can. Heat can now play 2 big lineups (either whiteside and Kelly or bam and Kelly) or play 5 out at the 3pt line with Kelly as centre. This versatility is invaluable and spo will absolutely utilise it.
Versatility is super important. You need guys that can defend multiple positions. I agree.
Also we drafted bam…. bam is going to be the same kind of player except he won’t move like a 50 year old with back problems
The real issue with reed is he isn’t 6’11(he is more 6’9 ish) and doesn’t have ELITE athleticism, nor can he shoot. He is strictly a 5 because he cannot guard wings or athletic 4s, also he doesn’t have a big body, so it would be hard to rely on him as your starter and bang every night for 82 games. Reed is just one breakout season or one great playoff series away from a huge contract, but now he is just minimum/Lou amundson type player.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe he needs to do it 1 more time, kind of similarly to Dedmon’s situation last year, and getting rewarded for a 2nd straight really good year, this summer. The rest i dont agree with b/c he absolutely showed last year that he is a good defender at the 5 spot, and can play his role on offense