Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Restart Notes: Older Coaches, Roberts, Power Rankings, Disney Employees

July 1st, 2020 at 1:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The league won’t prevent older coaches and staff members from working at the Orlando campus, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. “We’ve been assured by the league that no one will be red-flagged by the league from going to Orlando based on age alone,” according to Mavericks coach and NBA Coaches Association president Rick Carlisle. All coaches and staffers will go through a medical screening process, MacMahon adds.

We have more news related to the NBA’s restart:

National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts is unconcerned about losing some fans due to the players’ desire to make social justice messages during the resumption of play, she told The Athletic’s Michael Lee. Among other things, the league will paint “Black Lives Matter” on the Orlando courts. “Anybody that says, ‘I’m done with the NBA,’ see ya,” she said. “I can’t even abide someone that says that because we are saying killing Black people is something we need to talk about. If they don’t want to hear that, I don’t really think they have a place in our game.”
After perusing each team’s eight “seeding” games prior to the playoffs, The Athletic’s Zach Harper places the Bucks and Lakers in the top two spots in his latest Power Rankings. Harper previously had the Lakers on top. The Clippers and Raptors remained in the third and fourth spots, respectively, with the Heat moving up two notches to No. 5.
While NBA teams will be subject to rigorous testing, Disney World employees won’t have similar restrictions, Rich Greenfield of LightShed tweets. There will be no COVID-19 testing of employees at Disney parks before they return to work next week. Instead, they will only be administered temperature checks.

And-Ones: Luxury Tax, Thomas, Scola, Top Defenders

July 1st, 2020 at 12:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Trail Blazers have the highest luxury tax bill at $5.9MM, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Team salaries are now frozen after the one-week transactions period that closed late Tuesday. The Heat ($2.9MM), Thunder ($2.5MM) and Timberwolves ($582K) are also over the luxury tax line but the projected $11.9MM total is the lowest since the luxury tax was introduced in 2002/03, Marks notes.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Former Warriors scout Chris Thomas will become the head coach of Ukrainian club MBC Mykolaiv, according to a team press release (hat tip to Uros Vezonic of Sportando). Thomas, who also worked for the Bulls and Jazz organizations, coached Bambitious Nara in the Japanese B League last season.
Luis Scola has officially signed with Italy’s Pallacanestro Varese, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. The 40-year-old former NBA forward left Olimpia Milano last month. The Argentinian hopes to end his career at the Olympics next summer.
Giannis Antetokounmpo belongs on the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team, according to a coaches poll conducted by The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski and Josh Robbins. The duo polled 33 head and assistant coaches under the condition of anonymity. Rudy Gobert, Marcus Smart, Kawhi Leonard and Ben Simmons rounded out the First Team selections.

Andre Iguodala Discusses Contract Extension

June 30th, 2020 at 3:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Andre Iguodala turned 36 years old in January, but that didn’t stop him and the Heat from agreeing to a contract extension when he was dealt to Miami at the February trade deadline. Speaking to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, Iguodala said that the new deal, which provides a $15MM guarantee for 2020/21 and a $15MM team option for ’21/22, was something both sides pushed for at the time of the trade.

“Both sides knew the window we have — my window and the team’s window,” the Heat forward said. “We all know about when teams want cap space. It’s hard to get acclimated with a group of guys in two months. The locker room is a special place. I wanted to be somewhere where I could grow with the guys, a lot of the young talent that I have a good impression of, help them grow, especially Bam (Adebayo), Kendrick Nunn, Tyler (Herro) and Duncan (Robinson). I didn’t want it to be a two-, three-month thing.”

As Jackson points out, the Heat hadn’t expected to be a major player on the 2020 free agent market, so adding $15MM for Iguodala to next season’s books shouldn’t hurt the team. And in the 2021 offseason, the $15MM team option can be turned down with no penalty if the club needs to create cap room.

And-Ones: Uninvited Teams, Orlando, Diversity, Schedules

June 27th, 2020 at 4:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

Several cities are being considered as possible hosts for the eight teams that weren’t invited to Orlando, reports Sam Amick of The Athletic. Participants in a league conference call this week mentioned Las Vegas and Houston, which were both eyed as potential sites for the 22-team field before Orlando was chosen. Amick states that some of the eight teams involved have expressed interest in hosting the event, citing the Timberwolves as a possibility.

Sources tell Amick that the Cavaliers, Pistons and Hawks have been the strongest advocates to the league about setting up some type of eight-team arrangement so their players can have the benefit of competition before next season begins. However, the Knicks have been reluctant because they have so many potential free agents who may refuse to participate. He suggests New York would be more willing to get involved if it could use G League players to fill its roster.

We have more from around the basketball world:

The NBA isn’t doubting its decision to bring the restart to Walt Disney World, even though coronavirus cases are rising sharply in Florida, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. He spoke with several league and team officials who expressed confidence in the plan for a bubble environment. Mannix adds that the league might eventually reconsider its policy of not testing some Disney employees, noting that the guidelines issued last week can still be changed.
Commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA president Chris Paul are both calling on teams to increase diversity in their coaching and front office hires, writes Mark Medina of USA Today. The league currently has just 11 Black head coaches, nine female assistants and nine Black general managers. “There is no doubt there is more we can do internally, the league and our teams and in terms of our hiring practices,” Silver said on a conference call Friday. “The league needs to do a good job, in particular, when it comes to hiring African Americans at every level in the league. It’s something we have been focused on with our teams.”
John Hollinger of The Athletic assesses each team’s schedule for Orlando, finding that the Pelicans have the easiest slate and the Heat have the most challenging. Six of New Orleans’ eight games will be against teams with losing records.

Practice Facility Closed For Workouts Through Weekend

June 26th, 2020 at 8:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat have closed their practice facility for player workouts until at least Monday in the aftermath of Derrick Jones Jr.‘s positive COVID-19 test, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. Jones, whose positive test was revealed on Thursday, is eventually expected to rejoin the team for the league’s restart in Orlando. A Heat staff member has also tested positive, Jackson adds in a separate tweet.

Derrick Jones Jr. Tests Positive For Coronavirus

June 25th, 2020 at 9:05am CST by Luke Adams

Heat wing Derrick Jones Jr. has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming Miami’s first player known to have contracted the virus, according to a report from Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Jones has been asymptomatic and expects to join the Heat for the resumption of the 2019/20 season at Walt Disney World this summer once he has been medically cleared to do so, per Jackson and Chiang. He’ll have to self-quarantine for the time being and will need to return two negative coronavirus tests, at least 24 hours apart, before being cleared to travel to Orlando next month.

Jones, a minimum-salary player during the first four years of his NBA career, will be a free agent this fall and appears to be in line for a substantial raise. However, he previously stated that his contract situation wouldn’t dissuade him from playing in Orlando, and it sounds as if his positive coronavirus test won’t either, assuming his condition doesn’t worsen.

This year’s Slam Dunk Contest winner, Jones has averaged a career-high 24.5 minutes per contest in 51 games for the Heat, averaging 8.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 1.1 SPG with a .514 FG% in his regular rotation role.

Reports of NBA players testing positive for COVID-19 have been popping up with increasing frequency this week because teams began mandatory testing on Tuesday in advance of next month’s restart. Nikola Jokic, Malcolm Brogdon, and three Kings players (Jabari Parker, Buddy Hield, and Alex Len) are among the others who have tested positive.

Southeast Notes: Fournier, Bertans, Gordon

June 23rd, 2020 at 7:00pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Evan Fournier is not a fan of Wizards forward Davis Bertans sitting out of the NBA’s return. The Magic wing tweeted, “This is what’s wrong with the NBA nowadays” in response to the report that Bertans wasn’t going to Orlando.

“Seriously tho. If you think its ok to sit and watch your teammates play while you re perfectly healthy its says a lot about you,” Fournier continued in a second tweet.

Bertans, who is one of multiple NBA players expected to sit out the resumed season in Florida, will be a free agent at the end of the season, though the Magic are not expected to have the cap space to make a reasonable offer to the 27-year-old power forward, so Fournier will not have to worry about Bertans joining his team.

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

Heat swingman Derrick Jones plans to play when the NBA returns, as Anthony Chang of The Miami Herald relays. Jones will hit free agency after the season and figures to be in line for a significant raise after earning the minimum during his first four NBA seasons.
Trading Aaron Gordon for a perimeter threat could be the best way to maximize the talent on the Magic, John Hollinger writes for The Athletic. Trading away Gordon would allow Jonathan Isaac more playing time.
Clint Capela, who was traded to the Hawks at the trade deadline, recently spoke about what it takes to win in the league, which is something he’ll look to help his young teammates learn. “The main goal is really to be a winning team, have this winning mentality, be able to night in, night out go get wins,” Capela said (via Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “…It doesn’t matter if you play good or bad, but you have to have that dog mentality to make stops, to at least get a win.”

Kris Dunn Meets Starter Criteria, Increases Value Of QO

June 23rd, 2020 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Bulls guard Kris Dunn has been deemed to have met the starter criteria as a result of the shortened season, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). As a result, Dunn will receive a qualifying offer of $7,091,457 instead of $4,642,800 this offseason if Chicago wants to make him a restricted free agent.

We broke down Dunn’s situation in greater depth earlier this month, but the abridged version is this: A player eligible for restricted free agency receives a more lucrative qualifying offer if he starts 41 games or plays 2,000 minutes in the season before he reaches free agency, or if he averages 41 starts or 2,000 minutes in the two seasons before his free agency.

Dunn, who started 32 games this season and 76 in total over the last two years, fell slightly short of the 41-game-per-season requirement, but the criteria became prorated due to the Bulls only playing 65 of their 82 games this season. As a result, the former No. 5 overall pick was considered to have met the starter criteria, increasing the value of his qualifying offer.

As we’ve previously pointed out, the $2.5MM difference could have a real impact on Dunn’s free agency. It’s possible the Bulls will be less inclined to tender a qualifying offer now that it’s worth $7.1MM instead of $4.6MM. If they do move ahead with the QO, it’s possible Dunn will be more inclined to accept it.

If Chicago doesn’t tender a qualifying offer to Dunn, he’d become an unrestricted free agent.

As Marks and ESPN have previously reported, the NBA and NBPA also agreed to prorate the criteria for bonuses and incentives available to players in 2019/20, based on the shortened season. As a result, the following players have now achieved bonuses, according to Marks (Twitter link):

Rudy Gobert (Jazz): $250K for a rate of one rebound per 2.52 minutes in 62 games played.
- Original criteria: A rate of one rebound per <3.2 minutes in 67 games.
Solomon Hill (Heat): $532K for 992 minutes played.
- Original criteria: 1,000 minutes.
Jrue Holiday (Pelicans): $255K for 1,922 minutes played; $255K for 55 games played; $255K for 4.9 RPG in 55 games.
- Original criteria: 2,075 minutes played; 66 games played; 3.15 RPG in 67 games.
Tyus Jones (Grizzlies): $858K for 32 wins.
- Original criteria: 33 wins.
Kyle Lowry (Raptors): $200K for All-Star berth and 52 games played.
- Original criteria: All-Star berth and 65 games played.
Patty Mills (Spurs): $250K for 149 three-pointers made.
- Original criteria: 185 3PM.
T.J. Warren (Pacers): $250K for 184 three-pointers made and .375 3PT%.
- Original criteria: 185 3PM; .370 3PT%.

Heat’s Gabe Vincent Named NBAGL Most Improved Player

June 22nd, 2020 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Heat two-way player Gabe Vincent has been named the NBA G League’s Most Improved Player for the 2019/20 season, the league announced today in a press release.

Vincent, who went undrafted out of UC Santa Barbara in 2018, played for the Stockton Kings – Sacramento’s G League affiliate – in his first professional season, averaging 8.4 PPG, 2.4 APG, and 2.2 RPG on .382/.291/.710 shooting in 25 games (17.8 MPG).

He took a major step forward in 2019/20, first for Stockton and then for the Sioux Falls Skyforce – Miami’s NBAGL affiliate – after he signed a two-way deal with the Heat in January. In 31 total games (29.3 MPG), Vincent recorded 21.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.1 APG with a .450/.406/.923 shooting line. The 6’3″ guard also made his NBA debut earlier this year, appearing in six total games for the Heat.

The runners-up in the G League’s Most Improved Player vote are also under contract with NBA teams. Raptors two-way player Paul Watson finished second, with Warriors guard Mychal Mulder coming in third.

Erik Spoelstra Set To Make Difficult Roster Decision

June 14th, 2020 at 5:00pm CST by JD Shaw

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra could be facing a difficult roster decision as the team prepares for the league’s restart in Orlando, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes in his latest mailbag. Barring an unforeseen change, Miami must choose 13 active players from its notably deep roster, a decision that could leave veterans such as Udonis Haslem inactive entering the postseason.