Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Westbrook, Herro, Anthony, Hunter

January 31st, 2021 at 10:55am CST by Arthur Hill

Frustrations may be boiling over for Wizards guard Russell Westbrook, who was involved in his second on-court incident of the week Friday night, writes Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. Westbrook was ejected from the loss to the Hawks after a game-long battle with Rajon Rondo. They both received technicals for a second-quarter altercation, then Westbrook picked up another one after shoving Rondo in the fourth quarter.

Westbrook was also involved in a double-technical incident Tuesday in Houston during an exchange with John Wall, the player he was traded for in December. The combination of losing and a sub-par shooting year are undoubtedly contributing to Westbrook’s short fuse.

“Honestly, it’s more on me,” he responded when asked about the dispute with Rondo. “I cannot allow myself to stoop down to anybody’s level. That’s not my character, who I am.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat may have another looming COVID-19 problem, according to an ESPN story. Tyler Herro learned at halftime Saturday night that someone he lives with has tested positive for the virus. He’s not sure yet if he’ll have to quarantine. Kendrick Nunn didn’t play Saturday because the team was awaiting his test results, but he was cleared by the second quarter. Jimmy Butler returned after missing 10 games due to health and safety protocols.
The Magic are being patient with first-round pick Cole Anthony as he goes through the ups and downs of being a rookie, notes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Anthony, who has moved into the starting lineup for the past 12 games, has impressed teammates with his desire to improve. “He’s hard on himself,” said James Ennis, who serves as a mentor to Anthony. “He doesn’t like making mistakes. I give him credit. He’s tough. It’s hard to find young guys like that. He listens, also. So it’s hard to find young guys that come in and listen and want to compete and just want to be perfect.”
The Magic aren’t likely to re-sign Evan Fournier when he becomes a free agent after this season, Robbins adds in the same piece. Although Fournier is only 28, Orlando has some cap concerns after giving extensions to Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz. Robbins expects the team to explore trade offers for Fournier if it falls out of the playoff race before the March 25 deadline.
De’Andre Hunter‘s condition will be reviewed this week after an MRI Saturday showed articular wear and tear in his right knee, the Hawks announced in a press release. Hunter will be held out of Monday’s game against the Lakers.

Jimmy Butler Returns For Heat

January 30th, 2021 at 5:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jimmy Butler will be back in Miami’s lineup tonight after missing the past 10 games due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the All-Star forward won’t be on a minutes restriction (Twitter link).

Butler will be a welcome addition for Miami, which has lost five straight games and is 2-8 since he was sidelined. Butler spent most of the week doing conditioning work and was deemed ready to return tonight.

“He’s worked extremely hard behind the scenes,” Spoelstra said in a tweet from the team.

Butler, whose addition sparked Miami to an NBA Finals run last year, has been limited to just six games this season. He’s averaging 15.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per night and will be crucial to helping the Heat move back up the standings.

And-Ones: Competitive Fairness, Surprises, Olympics, Kuminga

January 29th, 2021 at 11:06am CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA is facing competitive fairness issues stemming from pandemic-related disruptions to the schedule, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The league has postponed 22 games through the first five weeks of the season, and the effects of health and safety protocols are showing up in the standings.

The Wizards are the most obvious example, holding the league’s worst record at 3-11 after roughly half the roster was forced to quarantine. Washington had just one practice before returning to action Sunday after two weeks off. The result was three straight losses by a combined 57 points. The Heat, defending Eastern Conference champions, are off to a 6-12 start while playing with a depleted roster. The teams at the top of the standings — the Lakers, Clippers and Jazz — have been relatively unaffected by the virus.

The Wizards and Grizzlies both had six games postponed and face a difficult road ahead to reach 72 games. Washington is looking at 39 games in 67 days when the NBA releases its second-half schedule, although the league is trying to alleviate that by moving some games to the first half.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The Pistons‘ Jerami Grant and the Hornets‘ Gordon Hayward are the biggest surprises of the early season, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic. Both signed huge free agent deals during the offseason that were questioned around the league, but they have emerged as their teams’ best players. Hayward has gone back to the leader he was in Utah, Hollinger notes, while Grant has taken his game to another level.
FIBA will hold the draw ceremony for this year’s Olympic basketball tournament on February 2, the organization announced on its website. Eight men’s teams have already qualified, including Team USA, and the final four slots will be filled by the winners of tournaments to be played this summer in Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia.
At least 12 NBA teams have started research on Jonathan Kuminga, a projected high lottery pick in this year’s draft, writes Adam Zagoria for NJ.com. Kuminga, part of Team Ignite, will make his G League debut in the Orlando bubble next month. Ignite coach Brian Shaw compares him to Jaylen Brown and Paul George.
Former Net Josh Boone is the latest player to commit to Team USA for the AmeriCup qualifying tournament, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Boone, 36, plays for the Illawarra Hawks in the NBL and was last in the NBA in the 2009/10 season.

No Timeline For A Butler Return

January 28th, 2021 at 6:28pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Heat All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler will remain out of commission for tonight’s contest against the Clippers, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. The 31-year-old forward has been out since January 9 due to the league’s coronavirus protocols. He has been doing conditioning work this week, though there is no timetable for him to return to the court, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press (Twitter link).

After a stellar postseason run that resulted in an all-time 2020 NBA Finals performance, Butler has appeared in just six games for the Heat this season. Miami has struggled in his absence, going 3-8 without him. The Heat will also be without several other rotation players tonight, including Goran Dragic, Avery Bradley, Andre Iguodala, Maurice Harkless, Meyers Leonard and Chris Silva, per Reynolds (Twitter link).

Avery Bradley Discusses Positive COVID-19 Test, Potential Return

January 25th, 2021 at 2:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran guard Avery Bradley, one of several Heat players to miss time this month due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, confirmed in a conversation with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Bradley opted out of the NBA’s restart over the summer in large part because he has a seven-year-old son who suffers from a respiratory illness and didn’t want to risk his family’s health. When he tested positive during the second week of January, he had to self-isolate from his family members. He told Haynes that they continued to test negative, much to his relief.

While he was relieved not to have affected the health of his wife and children, Bradley was frustrated to have contracted the virus despite following all the required protocols, as he told Haynes.

“I was upset because I come to work and I do the right things, I come to work every single day and do all the protocols to make sure I’m protected so I can protect my family,” Bradley said. “To come up with the news knowing that I got it at work, I was a little frustrated to be honest. I was frustrated because I felt like it compromised my family’s safety.”

Bradley, who signed with the Heat in the offseason, was off to an impressive start with his new team before being sidelined, averaging 10.0 PPG on .490/.448/.778 shooting in seven games (22.9 MPG), while playing solid perimeter defense. He told Haynes he thinks he’ll be back in action for Miami on Wednesday night when the team faces Denver.

Heat forward Jimmy Butler is nearing a return as well, though Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel hears that the five-time All-Star is a couple days behind Bradley in the protocol process. If that’s the case, a Thursday or Saturday return may be more likely for Butler.

Jimmy Butler, Avery Bradley Nearing Returns

January 25th, 2021 at 10:57am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat may not be without star swingman Jimmy Butler for much longer. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, the expectation is that Butler – who hasn’t played since January 9 – will clear the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Monday.

The Heat will be in action tonight in Brooklyn, but Butler will need a little more time to get his conditioning back up to speed and to pass a cardiac screening before he’s cleared to play in a game. Jackson says there’s optimism that Butler will be able to return later this week and that the same is true of Avery Bradley, who has also been in the league’s COVID-19 protocols for over two weeks.

Atlantic Notes: Irving, Jersey Swaps, Sixers, Len

January 24th, 2021 at 12:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

It hasn’t been a smooth transition since the Nets formed their Big Three, but Kyrie Irving remains confident that the group will eventually work, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn is 3-2 since James Harden joined the team, including a pair of losses this week in Cleveland.

“Don’t trip. It’s a long journey,” Irving posted on Instagram. “We will be on that stage. The stage where the best of the best meet. … You know. The main stage. Where those who can, do. And those who cannot talk about those that are doing. If you rolling with us, great. Let’s rock. If you’re not, you know you wanna talk about our greatness anyway.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

As promised, the NBA is cracking down on post-game interactions between players to minimize COVID-19 risks, notes Liz Roscher of Yahoo. Irving and Miami’s Bam Adebayo were interrupted by a security guard Saturday night as they attempted to exchange jerseys. “I’ll give Kyrie the jersey on my own time,” Adebayo told reporters.
Sixers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are committed to getting the most out of their partnership, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. They are interacting more off the court and trying to mesh their talents together on a Philadelphia team that has the East’s best record at 12-5. “We both see different things, so now for me and Jo, I think the relationship continues to grow,” Simmons said. “We talk a lot more now in terms of being on the floor and certain things we say. Knowing where he wants the ball, all the sets, and just flying, getting into the flow of the game, and just trying to read it the right way.”
After waiving Alex Len on Tuesday, the Raptors have a financial incentive to hope he stays with the Wizards, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. If Len remains on Washington’s roster past February 24, which is the last day to release players before their contracts become fully guaranteed, Toronto will receive a $126,029 offset on his $2.258M salary, which is still on the Raptors’ books.

Injury/Illness Updates: Herro, Pritchard, Wall, Wood, Porter Jr.

January 22nd, 2021 at 9:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Heat guard Tyler Herro returned to Miami on Friday for the remainder of the team’s four-game trip, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. Herro seemed ready to return to action after practicing on Thursday but woke up Friday with more neck soreness. He has missed four consecutive games and will also be absent from Miami’s two-game set in Brooklyn against the Nets on Saturday and Monday.

We have more injury updates:

Celtics rookie guard Payton Pritchard suffered a right knee sprain against the Sixers on Friday and did not return, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Pritchard was injured during a “friendly fire” incident when Jaylen Brown fell on his leg. Coach Brad Stevens said afterward that Pritchard would undergo testing in the next day or two.
The Rockets are hopeful that John Wall and Christian Wood will be back in uniform on Tuesday for the team’s home game against Washington, Ben DuBose of Rockets Wire relays. Wall missed his fifth straight game on Friday due to knee soreness, while Wood didn’t make the trip to Detroit due to an ankle sprain.
Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. returned to action on Friday after a 10-game absence, according to ESPN’s news feed. Porter had been sidelined due to the league’s healthy and safety protocols.

Heat Notes: Harden, Butler, Haslem, Nunn, Attendance

January 21st, 2021 at 11:49am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat reportedly removed themselves from the James Harden sweepstakes before the regular season began and weren’t believed to be a finalist when the Rockets ultimately moved the former MVP last week. However, a few Heat players were still willing to offer their thoughts on what it might have looked like if Harden had ended up in Miami, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays.

Acknowledging the concerns about Harden’s ball dominance on offense, Jimmy Butler said during an episode of GQ Sports’ Actually Me that really good players “always find out a way to win,” even if the fit doesn’t look perfect on the surface.

“He wants to win a championship,” Butler said of Harden. “And if we were to end up playing together, we’d make it work and we’d find a way to win.”

One of Butler’s teammates, Udonis Haslem, seemed less convinced that Harden would have been a great fit in Miami, joking during an appearance on Complex’s Load Management podcast about how the 31-year-old’s fondness for the nightlife would mesh with playing in South Beach.

“I mean, you can’t bring James Harden to Miami,” Haslem said. “As much as I wanted that to work out, in my mind, I was like, ‘Uh, no way.’ … I would have aged 15 years trying to be his OG down here. He’d have had to move me in the guesthouse, to keep a close eye on him.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

After playing well in the regular season as a rookie, Kendrick Nunn saw his role reduced during the postseason and got off to a slow start in 2020/21. However, the Heat’s shortage of players has resulted in increased minutes this week, and Nunn has taken advantage, with two big games in wins over Detroit and Toronto. If he can build off his hot streak, the 25-year-old guard – who is in a contract year – could substantially improve his value as a trade chip and/or as a 2021 free agent, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The Heat intend to allow “an extremely limited” number of fans to begin attending their home games as of January 28. Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald has the details on the plan, which will fill AmericanAirlines Arena to less than 10% of its capacity and will apply to six games through February 9. Presumably, the team will see how things go before committing to anything beyond that date.
Be sure to follow our Miami Heat team page for all the latest news and notes on the club.

Start Of Monday’s Pistons/Heat Game Pushed Back

January 18th, 2021 at 12:39pm CST by Luke Adams

12:39pm: The NBA has officially announced that the Pistons/Heat game has been delayed to 8:00 pm. According to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link), the move was made to allow for more COVID-19 tests to be processed before the teams take the court. Both clubs are still planning to play tonight, Reynolds adds.

12:20pm: Monday’s game between the Pistons and Heat, originally scheduled to be played in Miami at 3:00 pm eastern time, will be delayed until at least 8:00 pm, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).

As Winderman explains, the delay is related to the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols. The league, which has already had to postpone 14 games so far this season due to the health and safety protocols, still hopes today’s Pistons/Heat game can be played, but it sounds like a postponement remains a possibility.

The Pistons and Heat have each had one game postponed this season, but there hadn’t been any prior indication that today’s contest was in jeopardy. On last night’s injury report, Miami only had Avery Bradley and Jimmy Butler listed as out due to health and safety protocols, while Detroit wasn’t missing any players due to the protocols.

We’ll update this story with the latest info when the NBA provides more clarity. Until then, you can view the list of this season’s postponements right here.