- There are teams in the NBA that wouldn’t be significantly affected if the NBA’s cap projection for 2020/21 (and potentially 2021/22) dips by a few million dollars. However, the Heat would feel the impact of such a change. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald examines how the NBA’s new financial reality could alter the club’s approach to free agency in 2020 and 2021.
- Two sources close to Heat players praised the way the franchise has been handling the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Team president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra have both remained in constant contact with players and have advised them to put their health and families’ health first, Jackson writes. “Guys consistently have been getting attended to,” one source told The Herald.
Heat big man Meyers Leonard is set to reach unrestricted free agency at the end of the season, but the 28-year-old is comfortable with his current situation in Miami, he explained this week.
Leonard, who was acquired by the Heat in July of 2019, was set to make $11.2MM and has started in all 49 of his games with the team this season.
“I’m in a good place here in Miami,” Leonard said on a podcast with John Canzano of The Oregonian, as relayed by the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. “I really feel as though I help Jimmy (Butler) and Bam (Adebayo) in a lot of ways. I space the floor, I give them opportunities to attack driving lanes and get out in transition. Again, I don’t mind taking the physical demand. I don’t mind boxing out every single time. If the ball comes to me, fine. If we get it, that’s great and that’s what I want.”
Leonard is among multiple Heat players set to reach free agency this summer, along with Goran Dragic, Jae Crowder, Derrick Jones Jr., Udonis Haslem and Solomon Hill. Kelly Olynyk holds a player option worth $13.2MM for the following season.
Leonard has fit in seamlessly with the Heat, spreading the floor alongside Adebayo while shouldering some of the workload on the glass. He’s averaging 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per contest, shooting an impressive 43% from deep.
There’s more from the Southeast Division tonight:
- Wizards guard Troy Brown is looking to improve his lateral quickness in order to defend smaller guards next season, as relayed by Fred Katz of The Athletic. “The thing I want to work on this offseason is definitely to keep on improving my 3-point shooting and then just working on my lateral quickness and guarding small point guards,” Brown wrote.
- In his latest mailbag for the Sun Sentinel, Ira Winderman ponders whether Jae Crowder could become more valuable for the Heat than Andre Iguodala. Miami traded for both players in February, sending away the likes of Justise Winslow, James Johnson and Dion Waiters to Memphis in exchange for the duo.
- Chris Kirschner of The Athletic examines which Hawks players might return in free agency for next season. Jeff Teague, Treveon Graham and Vince Carter (retirement) are all slated to become unrestricted free agents, with DeAndre’ Bembry, Skal Labissiere and Damian Jones set to enter restricted free agency.
Heat forward Udonis Haslem doesn’t believe that forcing players to live under quarantine conditions in a “bubble” city will result in a good product, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel.
Creating an isolated environment, likely in Las Vegas or Orlando, has been a prominent plan as the NBA searches for ways to safely resume its season. However, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts recently questioned what it would take to enforce those conditions, saying it sounds like “incarceration.” Haslem echoes those comments, stating that players need “outlets” beyond just the game or it will result in “bad basketball.”
“There’s a lot that goes on to prepare for a season mentally,” he said. “There’s a lot that goes into going out there and performing at a high level every night, and especially when you put yourself in a playoff atmosphere. I was one of those guys who’s always needed different outlets, for my mental health. So just moving forward, if that is something that we’re going to do, you just hope that both the league and the Players’ Association are smart about making sure we have different outlets, as far not just letting us out to play games and then locking us back up in the hotel, in quarantine.”
Commissioner Adam Silver has responded to those concerned about a bubble, suggesting players could be placed in more of a “campus” setting. Teams would stay at a central location where games would take place, but the players would be able to leave the site and would get a COVID-19 test when they return.
Even under those conditions, players face the possibility of being isolated from their families for two months or more, depending on how much of the regular season gets played before the playoffs begin. That would be unprecedented even for a veteran like Haslem, who is in his 17th NBA season and 18th in professional basketball.
“I’ve never been away from my family for that long,” he said. “Obviously, back in the day, when we would take the West Coast trips with the Big Three, when LeBron (James) first got here, it felt like a month. But, no, never, not even with my travels to Europe, away from the family, have I been away that long. So it will be tough. It will be definitely tough for a lot of us.”
Teams around the NBA continue to reopen their practice facilities to accommodate voluntary individual workouts for their players. The Kings, Pacers, and Heat are among the latest teams to do so.
As James Ham of NBC Sports California details, Sacramento opened its facility on Monday, and a handful of players have already taken advantage of the opportunity to get some work in.
The same thing happened in Indiana this week, according to J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. Michael’s source didn’t identify the specific players who have been back at St. Vincent Center, but said some players have returned to the facility, even as many staffers still aren’t cleared to enter the building.
As for the Heat, they reopened their facility at AmericanAirlines Arena on Wednesday, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. All but three of Miami’s players are still in the South Beach area, per Winderman, so a number of those players figure to make use of the building.
The Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, Jazz, Hawks, and Raptors are among the teams that have also opened their respective facilities. Raptors forward Malcolm Miller confirmed today that he was the first player back at the club’s facility in Toronto earlier this week (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of The Athletic).
As the list of teams with reopened facilities grows, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday night that the league believes 22 of its 30 teams will have their building opened back up by next Monday (May 18). However, situations remain fluid.
For instance, the Wizards had reportedly targeted this Friday to reopen their practice facility. That target date is now up in the air, since the stay-at-home order in Washington, D.C. has now been extended through June 8, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
Players who have been given the green light to participate in individual workouts at their teams’ facilities face restrictive guidelines. They can only work out for an hour at a time, with no more than four total players in the building. They also must undergo temperature checks before entering the facility and are required to wear a mask when not engaged in physical activity.
After initially targeting Tuesday as the date for the potential reopening of their practice facility, the Magic delayed that target date to Wednesday, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
While there’s a chance that the team hits that target date and opens its facility today, Orlando is still waiting on coronavirus test results for some of its asymptomatic players and staffers, according to Robbins, who tweets that the Magic are in a “holding pattern” for the time being.
Although their plans remain fluid, the Magic appear likely to allow players to conduct individual workouts at their facility soon, something the Hawks did earlier this week.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has questioned the need to reopen his team’s facility, since his players have their own workout equipment and hoops, and the NBA is limiting players to an hour at a time at practice facilities. But Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk sees value in making his team’s facility available to players, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic writes.
“You can certainly get a lot out of this,” Schlenk said. “You can get individual skill work, form stuff. For us, the focus this week is to really just get the guys back in the building and be able to get out of the house. It’s more the mental side than the physical side of things that we can get out of this. I’ve told the coaches that this isn’t the week to prove you’re the best individual coach in the league. This week is about getting the guys in here, getting their bodies moving.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Outside of the young core building blocks on their roster, it’s not clear how many of the Hawks‘ current complementary pieces might be keepers. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic digs into that subject by examining which of the team’s free-agents-to-be are most (and least) likely to return. In Kirschner’s view, Skal Labissiere and Jeff Teague are at least decent candidates to re-sign, but DeAndre’ Bembry, Treveon Graham, and Damian Jones probably aren’t.
- Speaking at a “virtual luncheon” earlier this week, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said the franchise has committed to paying all of its full-time and part-time employees through at least the end of the fiscal year on June 30, per Tim Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- In his latest mailbag, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel explores what it would take for the Heat to lose Derrick Jones in free agency this offseason and how the team would replace his minutes in that scenario.
- We rounded up a handful of Wizards-related items earlier today.
Heat veteran Udonis Haslem is continuing to find ways to give back to the city of Miami despite a number of obstacles standing in his way, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
Haslem, 39, no longer receives much playing time for the Heat, thus limiting his production on the court for fans. The COVID-19 pandemic has also forced many community projects and aspirations to be put on hold for the time being, with some operating in a revamped way due to the virus.
“The way I look at it is that I got to be so much more than a basketball player at this stage of my life and of my career,” Haslem said. “I got to be so much more than a basketball player, man. It’s not like I’m going to be putting up double-doubles like I used to or something like that. So I have to continue to find ways to bring joy to this city.”
“At one point, it was by bringing championships or by my play or something like that. Now it’s like I’m not playing as much, so how can I continue to bring joy to this city? How can I continue to represent this city well? How can I continue to be the voice for the people on the other side of the bridge who don’t necessarily have a voice.”
Haslem did just that last Wednesday afternoon, distributing food to COVID-19 frontline workers around Miami and helping people in a time of need. His impact around the city of Miami unquestionably extends past what he’s accomplished on the hardwood.
For Haslem, a three-time NBA champion and a 17-year veteran, he’ll make a major decision on whether to continue playing or retire in the near future. As of today, however, he remains undecided on what’s next.
“It’s hard to really say now because all the things that I really wanted at the end have been taken away from me,” Haslem said. “You want to walk away on your own terms, that has been taken away. You want an opportunity for the people that have loved and supported you and sacrificed so much for you to be here in this time of your career, that has been taken away. And you want to have something connected with the organization when you walk away.
“Me and the Miami Heat will always be connected, that hasn’t been taken away. But I wanted to have the opportunity to sit down and plan something with them. I’ll never have something close to like what Dwyane had. But the organization and myself deserve to have one particular night when we have a situation collectively to represent one another and do it the right away.”
Here are some other notes out of Miami tonight:
- With Erik Spoelstra turning 50 years old later this year, the veteran coach looked back on his successes with the franchise and what’s to come, as examined by Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “My path could have been a whole lot different if I worked for a different organization,” he said. “And I find great purpose in being a steward and a caretaker of this culture. It fills my cup. I absolutely love it. Pat and Micky started this thing with a huge vision, 25 years ago, and then we’ve been able to get to the mountaintop three times, based on that vision.”
- Winderman also examines in his daily mailbag whether Pat Riley painted himself into a corner by comparing Bam Adebayo to Dwyane Wade, examining his comments and how they could have a positive impact on Adebayo. “I’ve never met a man like this, a player, who was so respectful, had so much dignity, was such a team guy, that has grown to a point where he wants this responsibility,” Riley said of Adebayo last week. “And night in and night out, we see the best of the best.”
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald explores which draft prospects are being linked to the Heat and who could be a good fit for the team. Miami has prepared for the draft much like other teams, conducting film sessions and virtual meetings to discuss talent. It remains unclear when the NBA will formally hold the event this year.
Jared Dudley, who serves as a Players Association representative for the Lakers, revealed that the NBA might be willing to play until October to finish the season (hat tip to The Sporting News). Responding late on Friday night to a comment by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that the league is willing to extend the season through Labor Day, Dudley tweeted, “I heard even Oct from Adam Silver today…”
The league has been talking with players and owners for weeks to determine a workable plan to save the season, and this is the latest potential completion date that has been made public. It reflects the growing optimism that has been reported throughout the league since a conference call involving the commissioner and the players Friday night.
There’s more coronavirus-related news:
- Players aren’t excited about the proposed “bubble” concept that would isolate everyone in a host city such as Las Vegas or Orlando, Shelburne said in an appearance on ESPN’s Dickerson & Hood radio show (Twitter link). “Players don’t really want to do a bubble,” she said. “They would much rather stay in their home cities, fly privately to and from wherever they’re going and be home with their families, not have tons of restrictions … players were really against the idea of being cooped up in a hotel for two months, three months or however long that would be.” She adds that strictly enforcing quarantine rules in a bubble setting could become problematic.
- The Heat have received formal clearance to begin player workouts at AmericanAirlines Arena, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Miami-Dade County issued an amendment to an emergency order that permits “use of facilities owned or leased by a professional sports franchise, solely by employees of such franchise for training purposes.” Players are expected to begin using the facility on Wednesday.
- Chinese Basketball Association president Yao Ming said the league is considering three options for resuming play, relays Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando. In an interview with CCTV, Ming explained that the league is still deciding whether to finish a full schedule, shorten the season, or go straight to the playoffs. Under any setup, players will be confined to hotels and fans will not be admitted to games.
- Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports contends it would be a mistake for the NBA to move opening day to Christmas on a permanent basis.
The Kings and Heat are among the NBA teams that intend to reopen their practice facilities for individual, voluntary workouts next week, according to reports.
Sam Amick of The Athletic first tweeted that Sacramento is planning to reopen its facility on Monday, with the City of Sacramento allowing non-contact recreational facilities to open. The Kings issued a press release today confirming that May 11 is their target date and noting that they’ll remain in “constant communication” with the NBA and public health officials during the process.
As for the Heat, after head coach Erik Spoelstra suggested the team is moving closer to being able to resume individual workouts, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press reported this morning (via Twitter) that Wednesday, May 13 is the team’s target date for reopening its facility. As Reynolds cautions, that date is “fluid.”
For the Kings, Heat, and the other teams that plan to make their facilities available to players in the coming days, a series of regulations and restrictions will be in place to ensure the safety of players and staff.
No more than four players will be permitted in a facility a time, no group activities will be allowed, rigorous cleaning and disinfecting procedures must be followed, staffers will have to wear face coverings (as will players when not engaged in physical activity), and certain medical and temperature checks will be required for those entering the gym.
Although teams have been asked by the NBA not to conduct coronavirus tests on any players or staffers who aren’t showing any symptoms, an increase in testing will be necessary if and when the league begins to allow group workouts and takes other steps toward resuming its season. For now, some teams are wary of even reopening their facilities without testing procedures in place — Mavericks owner Mark Cuban expressed that concern on Wednesday, as we detailed this morning.
3:29pm: The Rockets have now postponed the target date for reopening their facility to May 18, according to Medina (via Twitter).
2:03pm: Although the NBA is still expected to allow teams to reopen practice facilities for individual voluntary workouts this Friday, only a small handful of clubs are expected to take advantage right away. The Rockets, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets intend to reopen their facilities on May 8, according to USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt and Mark Medina. The Cavaliers will do so as well, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Not all players have remained in their teams’ respective cities since the NBA suspended its season in March, so some Rockets, Blazers, Nuggets, and Cavs players may have to return from out of state before they can resume working out at their clubs’ facilities.
As Zillgitt and Medina detail, several other teams – including the Hawks, Heat, and Bucks – could reopen their facilities as early as next week. However, clubs like the Celtics, Mavericks, Grizzlies, and Timberwolves haven’t shared details on their plans, and many other teams will remain in limbo for the foreseeable future, deferring to local government ordinances and health experts.
The Warriors, for instance, are following the City of San Francisco’s lead, as Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. USA Today’s report suggests that Golden State is unlikely to reopen its facility until at least June, since the city’s stay-at-home order runs through May 31.
As for the teams that are opening this Friday, they’ll face strict regulations on the number of players who will be permitted into their facilities at a time (four), and how their workouts will be conducted (no group activities are allowed). The league recently issued a long, detailed memo outlining the safety measures that teams must put in place to reopen their buildings.
“This isn’t a hangout session for the guys,” a Cavaliers source told Fedor. “We’ve read the riot act – so to speak – to these guys. I think they are appreciative of us trying to find the right way to get the building open because they need the outlet and want to work out and this is the safest place for them to do it.”
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), the NBA informed teams this week of updated measures on cardiac screening for certain players prior to their voluntary workouts. Clubs have also still been told not to conduct COVID-19 tests on asymptomatic players, since the league is sensitive to an ongoing shortage in some areas of the country. If and when the NBA is able to open camps for a resumption for the 2019/20 season, there’s an understanding those testing protocols would change, Woj adds.
After rumors of discontent and/or tension with teammates followed Jimmy Butler from Chicago to Minnesota to Philadelphia, we’ve heard nothing but rave reviews this season about his fit in Miami. During a weekend appearance on Instagram Live with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, Butler confirmed that he’s “hella happy” with the Heat, as Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald relay.
“Without a doubt. There ain’t a better place to be for me. Miami is it,” Butler said. “We got the right young guys, we got the right vets. (The young guys) get it. They get it and they’re thirsty to get back to hooping. I think I built bonds with a lot of my teammates on all my former teams. But this organization is special.”
According to The Herald duo, Butler also suggested that he likely won’t be part of USA Basketball’s 12-man roster for the Tokyo Olympics, which have been rescheduled for 2021. The star swingman won a gold medal with Team USA in Rio De Janeiro in 2016, but indicated he’s prioritizing the NBA over international competitions at this point in his career.
“I told (Carmelo Anthony) that if he plays (in the Olympics), I play,” Butler joked. “‘Melo said that he’s not playing.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Appearing this week on NBA TV (video link), Heat veteran Udonis Haslem admitted that the unusual circumstances of the NBA’s suspended season may influence his decision on whether to retire this offseason or return for another year. “One thing that I’ve always wanted is to be able to do is leave this game on my own terms,” Haslem said, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Another thing that I’ve always wanted is to be able to have the opportunity to create a pathway for the next generation, as far as passing on the Heat culture. And the third thing that I wanted to do was to be able to leave this game with an opportunity to make a good playoff run. All three of those things have been taken out of my control right now. So we’ll just have to see.”
- The NBA plans to allow teams to reopen their facilities for workouts as early as Friday, but the Heat don’t intend to start that process until Monday at the earliest, a source tells Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The team also plans to call back Butler and Andre Iguodala soon, according to Winderman, who notes that the two veterans – both in California – are the only two players currently away from South Florida.
- As Winderman observes in another Sun-Sentinel article, if the NBA ultimately decides to shift its annual calendar and start the regular season in December on a permanent basis, it could open the door for the Heat to once again host the All-Star Game. The usual February dates have been problematic for the city, since the Miami International Boat Show and Coconut Grove Arts Festival generally take place on the same weekend. The All-Star Game hasn’t taken place in Miami since 1990 and has never been played at AmericanAirlines Arena.