Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Re-Open Jimmy Butler Trade Talks

October 26th, 2018 at 10:24am CST by Luke Adams

The Jimmy Butler trade market appears to be coming back to life after briefly going dormant early in the regular season. After word broke on Thursday that the Rockets have made the Timberwolves an offer that features four first-round picks, multiple Friday reports have suggested that the Heat are once again back in the mix.

The Five Reasons Sports Network first reported (via Twitter) that the Heat were engaged in Butler conversations, with Stefano Fusaro of ESPN subsequently confirming (via Twitter) that Miami and Minnesota have re-opened those discussions.

The Heat were the team most frequently linked with Butler during the preseason, with reports suggesting that they nearly reached an agreement with the Wolves that would have sent Butler to Miami in exchange for Josh Richardson, Dion Waiters, and a first-round pick. However, Minnesota reportedly asked for more, causing the deal to fall apart.

In the days leading up to the regular season, discussions between the Heat and Timberwolves temporarily came to an end, with Pat Riley reportedly telling his players that the roster would remain unchanged to start the season. However, just 10 days into the 2018/19 campaign, it appears the Heat are once again exploring what it would take to acquire Butler, perhaps spurred into action by the reports on Houston’s latest offer.

The Timberwolves are said to be showing “no inclination” to accept the Rockets’ offer, so it’s possible that the Heat remain the best bet to ultimately land the All-NBA swingman. The emergence of Rodney McGruder this fall could give Miami another intriguing trade chip or could increase the club’s willingness to surrender Richardson.

Wolves Showing No Inclination To Accept Rockets’ Butler Offer

October 26th, 2018 at 9:52am CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves are showing “no inclination” to move on the Rockets‘ latest trade offer for Jimmy Butler, reports Shams Charania in a video for Stadium.

Charania confirms that Houston’s offer features four first-round picks, along with a pair of injured players — Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss. As I noted earlier today when I broke down the details of a potential Rockets offer, Knight and Chriss will become eligible to be traded in a package next Wednesday.

Even when they eventually get healthy, Knight and Chriss aren’t the sort of players who will come close to approximating Butler’s impact for the Timberwolves, so – as Charania suggests – there’s little incentive for Minnesota to jump on that offer right away. According to Charania, teams around the NBA expect the Wolves to continue to survey the market, perhaps waiting for clubs like the Heat or even the Sixers to get involved again.

The appeal of that Rockets offer to the Wolves may ultimately come down to who is making the final decision and what their top priorities are. We know that president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau and GM Scott Layden have been seeking a package that features some combination of veteran talent, young prospects, and cap relief, so a pick-heavy offer may not do the trick.

The Spurs’ trade of Kawhi Leonard over the summer could be a good reference point for what the Wolves want for Butler. San Antonio sought an impact player who could help the club right away and ultimately accepted Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan-centric offer instead of, say, a Celtics offer loaded with draft picks. Of course, everyone with the Spurs seemed to be on the same page in that scenario — it’s not clear if that’s the case in Minnesota, where owner Glen Taylor may have different priorities than Thibodeau and Layden.

It’s also worth noting that, as the Spurs did with Leonard, the Wolves may prefer to send Butler to the Eastern Conference. Marc Stein of The New York Times has reported multiple times that Minnesota isn’t eager to help the Rockets create another Western Conference super-team.

Latest On Jimmy Butler

October 25th, 2018 at 10:08am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2018/19 regular season underway, trade chatter around the NBA has quieted down for the time being. Typically, teams don’t complete many trades near the start of the season, since they’re still taking stock of what they have on their rosters — plus, many players don’t become eligible to be dealt until December.

Still, given all the Jimmy Butler trade rumors we heard in the weeks leading up to opening night, it’s a little jarring how quickly those rumors were put on the back burner, as Butler plays alongside the teammates he reportedly berated in practice earlier this month.

Appearing this week on The HoopsHype podcast with Alex Kennedy, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst revisited the Butler situation, exploring where things stand at the moment, and discussing when a deal might get done. Here are a few highlights from that conversation:

Although team owner Glen Taylor acknowledged that the Timberwolves almost certainly have to trade Butler before February’s deadline, Windhorst thinks it might be “a while” before a deal is completed.
As Windhorst observes, the Heat always appeared to be the most logical trade partner for Minnesota, but they didn’t want to bid against themselves. When Miami backed off trade talks before the season began, the club was betting that the Timberwolves had no other viable trade possibilities out there for Butler, and that might be true, says Windhorst.
While the Heat and Rockets, who won’t have cap room in 2019, have reason to pursue Butler in an in-season trade, teams with cap space can afford to be more patient, especially if the four-time All-Star won’t turn them into a title contender right away. Windhorst points to the Clippers as one team that won’t go all-in for Butler on the trade market when they could have an opportunity to go after him in free agency in the summer.
Interestingly, Windhorst identifies the Mavericks as one of the teams that still has interest in Butler. We heard last month that the Mavs had gauged the asking price for the All-NBA swingman, but a report out of Dallas suggested that it wasn’t a realistic landing spot for him. Like the Clippers, Dallas will have cap space in 2019.
Windhorst believes that, while they won’t say so publicly, several of the young players on the Timberwolves‘ roster will be “excited” if and when Butler is dealt.

Whiteside Playing Because Of Salary?

October 24th, 2018 at 7:34pm CST by clarkcrum

Heat big man Hassan Whiteside is bigger and a better rebounder than his backup, Bam Adebayo, but according to Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel, it’s simply the size of Whiteside’s paychecks that keep him starting over Adebayo.

Heat Still Figuring Out Rotation

October 21st, 2018 at 4:43pm CST by Eric Spyropoulos

In the loss to the Raptors, Porter played just 25 minutes and attempted nine shots, with seven of them coming in the first half. Porter was even less active in the opening night loss to the Heat, attempting just seven shots. As Hughes expresses, Brooks believes that Porter should be more active in setting himself up for opportunities.

With the Heat playing in some high-scoring, fast-paced games so far this season, Ira Winderman wonders if such a strategy fits the team’s current roster. In his mailbag for The Sun Sentinel, Winderman questions if a roster that boasts Hassan Whiteside, Dwyane Wade and Kelly Olynyk (among others) can outscore teams and play at such a pace.
Winderman also analyzes how Erik Spoelstra has divided playing time up among his bigs, as Whiteside, Olynyk and Bam Adebayo bring different skill sets to the table. With the league continuing to trend small, it will be interesting to monitor how Spoelstra deploys his centers this season and how the Heat can keep up.

McGruder, Jones Make Rotation Decisions Tougher

October 19th, 2018 at 8:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Rodney McGruder and Derrick Jones Jr. have been effective as starters during the first two games, which further complicates the long-range plan for the Heat’s rotation, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel notes. With Dion Waiters, James Johnson, Justise Winslow and Wayne Ellington currently sidelined, finding enough playing time for rotation-worthy players hasn’t been an issue, Winderman continues. When those players return, Miami will have 13 players who arguably should be in the rotation, Winderman adds.

NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots

October 19th, 2018 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

When the Kings sign Troy Williams to a two-way contract after he clears waivers today, as is expected, they’ll become the 16th NBA team to fill all 17 of their available roster spots, with 15 players on standard contracts and two more on two-way pacts.

Still, that will leave nearly half of the league’s teams that will still have at least one opening on their rosters, either on the standard 15-man squad or in their two-way slots.

For many clubs, that decision is primarily financially motivated. Teams like the Warriors, Rockets, Thunder, Raptors, and Wizards all project to have pricey luxury tax bills at season’s end, so there’s no need for them to push those projected penalties higher by carrying an extra player they won’t use.

Other teams may simply prefer to preserve some roster flexibility rather than carrying a full 15-man squad. The Lakers, for instance, aren’t close to the tax line, but have an open roster spot for now. That could allow the team to make a trade or signing later to fortify its roster without costing anyone a job.

Listed below, with the help of our roster counts breakdown, are the teams that aren’t carrying full rosters.

Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:

Charlotte Hornets
Cleveland Cavaliers
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
Los Angeles Lakers
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
Oklahoma City Thunder
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards
- Note: The Wizards have two open roster spots and will need to fill one of them by October 30.

Teams with an open two-way slot:

New Orleans Pelicans
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
- Note: The Blazers have two open two-way slots.
San Antonio Spurs

Heat’s Josh Richardson Discusses Trade Rumors

October 19th, 2018 at 11:12am CST by Luke Adams

Heat swingman Josh Richardson hasn’t expressed any dissatisfaction or requested a trade like Jimmy Butler has in Minnesota, but he has still been the subject of several trade rumors this fall since he’s viewed as the potential centerpiece of a Miami trade for Butler. Speaking to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel, Richardson acknowledged that the NBA is a “cutthroat business” but added that he’s trying not to let the speculation affect him.

“For like the first hour, I was hearing from everyone,” Richardson said, referring to when his name first came up in the Butler rumors. “But after that, it is what it is. I don’t get too much into it. When it first came out a little bit, yeah, it was hard to ignore.”

Richardson, who added that the trade chatter was “a distraction at first,” hasn’t demonstrated any signs of being bothered by those rumors during his first two games of the 2018/19 season. The 25-year-old has poured in 24.5 PPG to go along with 4.5 RPG and 4.0 APG so far, showing exactly why the Timberwolves insisted on including him in a potential deal for Butler.

Minnesota’s Butler trade talks are “mostly dormant” at the moment, and multiple reports have suggested that Heat president Pat Riley told his players before the season that he has pulled the plug on Miami’s involvement in those discussions — at least for now. With Butler still expected to be moved by the February trade deadline, Richardson isn’t totally safe in South Beach yet, but for the time being, he’s welcoming his increased role in the Heat’s offensive attack.

“I pretty much embrace it now,” Richardson said of being Miami’s leading man on offense, per Winderman. “I had a whole summer of it and at times it was like that last year. So I’m pretty much used to it.”

Southeast Notes: Heat, Clifford, McRae, Wizards

October 18th, 2018 at 8:55pm CST by JD Shaw

Heat president Pat Riley met with the team’s players this week and explained that he is “pulling the plug” on a potential Jimmy Butler trade, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. Riley did not state a future trade was completely off the table.

The Heat and Timberwolves have discussed several packages centered around Butler in recent weeks, with Minnesota eager to acquire young players Josh Richardson and Bam Adebayo in any potential deal. The Athletic’s Shams Charania (link) first reported the Heat’s plans to start the season with its current roster.

Butler played in the Timberwolves’ season opener in San Antonio on Wednesday, competing alongside Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns in the starting five. His grit-and-grind style appeals to a hardworking team like the Heat, explaining their longstanding interest in his services. It’s unclear whether Miami will revisit these discussions with Minnesota before the NBA’s trading deadline.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

Magic coach Steve Clifford believes the team has enough talent to make the postseason, Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel writes. The team features a fearsome frontcourt headlined by Aaron Gordon, Mohamed Bamba, Jonathan Isaac and Nikola Vucevic.
Jordan McRae has a leg up in the race for the Wizards‘ 14th roster spot, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Washington must fill that spot soon after trading Jodie Meeks, so McRae could have his two-way contract converted into a standard deal.
The Wizards have made a series of changes to their coaching staff, the team announced in a press release this week. Robert Pack and Ryan Richman will join the front of the bench, with Kristi Toliver joining the back of the bench as an assistant. Alex McLean and Landon Tatum were also promoted to assistant coaches.

Woj, Lowe Very High On Erik Spoelstra

October 18th, 2018 at 12:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Both Wojnarowski and Lowe raved about Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, with Woj suggesting that Spoelstra could command $10MM annually as a “free agent” coach. An executive from a rival team asked Lowe last season if he thought the Heat would be willing to part with Spoelstra for a first-round pick — both Woj and Lowe agree that they wouldn’t.

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